What ARE Those Faulkner Girls Up To Now?!?

What, you might ask, are those Faulkner girls UP to these days?  Well Anna Clare had her 18 month check up yesterday - a bit delayed - and is up to exactly 32 inches.  Which means she is in the 41st percentile in height!  41st percentile!  Meaning Anna Clare might NOT be the shorty her mommy and her sister are!  Go figure!!!  Whoda thunk?!?  On the other hand, she is below the 1st percentile in weight.  Which meant mommy got another "talking to" from the doctor about making sure baby eats enough and gets enough fatty foods.  Sigh, been there done that.  (Kate was below the growth curve at 9 months)  Guess I better buy some butter!

Kate is up to almost crossing the width of the pool in freestyle in swim class!  She may be a shorty but that short girl can swim!  She's been in swim class since the beginning of March at our gym in preparation for The Guppies.  The Guppies is the "little kid" version of our neighborhood swim team, which begins in late May.  They are serious - they practice daily from late May thru early July and have 4 Guppy swim meets.  Though the Guppies is only entry to the big swim team - they practice twice daily and have swim meets throughout the summer!  They really don't mess around.  This momma grew up in a wwim team community and knows the value it holds! (for the kids AND the parents -- hello social hour)  We are all super excited!  Okay at least Kate and Mommy are super excited.  

Hanging out by the hot tub prior to swim class!

Everyone's ready to swim!

Swim Kate Swim!

 

 

A Time to Play

We had a big week!  The playset we ordered (and paid for - these things are expensive!) about a month ago was finally installed!  It went in on one of the many, many cold and somewhat wet days in Greenville.  Kate couldn't have cared less.  The men were literally packing their truck and she was out the door and ready to climb!

Thankfully it did warm up this week.  The girls and I enjoyed some time in the sun today - we even had a little tea party in the tree house as we like to call it!  Its nice that the fort part is actually big enough for a couple of kids, an adult (or two) and a tea party!  And as we discovered later, there's even room for Max.  I never would have believed that Max would actually climb the ladder.  Only Max...

So after playing in the tree house a little while it was time to come down.  No one really wanted to go inside.  Finally after coaxing Max down the ladder and the girls down the slide it was time to come in.  I'm just not sure that Brett's method of carrying Anna Clare is okay!  After all, she isn't a kitten!  Anna, of course, thinks its fun and was all smiles!

Time for Mommy to get with the program!

I am not the creative type.  I'm just not and I have finally come to terms with that.  Every week in preschool Kate's class studies a letter of the alphabet.  On Friday they have show and tell where they are supposed to bring something that starts with that letter.  We've sent a princess barbie for "P" and her princess kitty for "K".  However most weeks Kate goes to school empty handed on show and tell day.  Not only am I not creative I'm forgetful too!  This week's letter was X.  What the heck starts with the letter X?!?  (some bird called a Xenop but my printer didn't cooperate when i hunted it down on the internet!)  So I was pretty impressed with myself for throwing this together 20 minutes before school started today! Hopefully Kate can explain that XOXO means kisses and hugs to her class. Hmmm....

Adventures in Greenville!

So on the occasional relatively warm day in a winter that doesn't seem to want to end we hit the road in search of a park or playground!  Here are some highlights from a few of our favorite finds thus far.

 

While Greenville has the Greenville/Spartanburg International Airport it also has a small airport used by local pilots and small businesses.  This little airport has a restaurant and a playground just off (and I mean just off) the runway.  It is truly a family experience.  I think Brett enjoyed watching the little airplanes taking off and landing as much as the kids loved the playground and riding (or being pushed) around the little track!  Plus after playing a while we sat down for a yummy lunch where we could continue our airplane viewing.  Definitely one of our favorite new places to go! 

 

 

 

The girls and I also recently joined some friends for our first visit to the Greenville Zoo.  The zoo is located in downtown so its also a pretty drive through a beautiful, historical area. While I personally think the zoo is more like a large park with animals that shouldn't be in a park (like giraffe and cheetah) it certainly makes for a nice walk through a pretty area.   After strolling through the zoo we stopped to play on the massive playgrounds located just outside the zoo's entrance.  While it doesn't compare with the zoos of bigger cities (like Dallas or Ft Worth) the Greenville Zoo and Cleveland Park is definitely another one of our new favorite places to go!





 

 

 



Last week was Hello Kitty tattoo week at Casa De Faulkner.  Though Kate had the most tattoos even Brett got in on the action!  Only to be heckled at the gym...









My sweet baby is growing up so fast.  I notice this most when I see Anna Clare doing, or trying to do, something she sees her sister do.  And doing it a whole lot earlier than super-timid Kate ever did it.    Like climb a ladder to get to the top of a slide (which Kate wouldn't do until she was 3), or ride Kate's scooter (which Kate only recently became comfortable riding), or grab for my phone and, my personal favorite, take a selfie.  Yes, both my girls are quite fond of the camera... Thankfully Anna Clare hasn't yet figured out how to take photos of herself while running away with my phone and leaving me with about 20 shots of a half-smiling face!