Adventures in Food

So we are all back in school and into the routine of being in school.  Each day, we get up early, get everyone dressed and fed.  Daddy heads out before the kids are up.  Mommy heads out after Grammy gets to the house.  Abram and Katie head to school.  Followed by lunch, naps, then time for Mommy to pick up the kids.  Go home fix dinner and get everything ready for the next day.  Followed by bedtime and then we start it all over again.  The days can get kind of montoneous, so to spice things up we are trying some new food ideas.  The latest excitement was homemade pasta.  The kids were so excited to help in this adventure. 

 Abram was great at scooping out the flour, while Katie stirred up the dough.

 As Mommy cut apart the noodles the kids hung them up to dry.  They loved seeing how long they could get the noodle and keep it together.  Notice Katie had to have a wardrobe change...not really sure why, just seems to be what she does now a days!

 After all the noodles were cut and hung up, we had to get them in the pot of water.

Then we added some of our homemade pasta sauce and waaa-laaaa a wonderful meal from scratch.  You can't tell from the picture but the kids ate all of their noodles and asked for seconds!  I think our next food adventure will be sushi?

First Day

The first day of school rolled around for the kids.  Isn't it funny how sometimes you forget the excitement of the first day of school even when you do it every year.  We were once again reminded of that excitement as Abram woke up in the morning with a giant smile on his face and a "I get to go to school today!" 

They got to walk up all by themselves...well actually they walked up alone with Mommy right behind them.

Katie walked right in, found her cubby and got right to business...

building with those blocks, again.  That's okay, she's a girl she can do anything she wants!

Abram's room was next. He had to check and make sure his name was still on the door, Yeap, still there!

Big surprise, he went straight to the computer.  Sadly, someone was already there.  So we quickly found "the real Gunnar" and life was okay.  "The real Gunnar" was his friend who has been with him in class since he was 2.  Sadly "the real Haley" was not there.

As Fletcher tradition has established, Mommy takes the kids to school on their first day and Daddy picks them up.  Daddy got there early enough to see Abram and his friends crossing over to the big boy playground (another big thing when you are 4).

Then time to big up big 3 year old Katie.  Her teacher brought Katie to the car with a giant smile...

which Katie shared with her Daddy along with some apples and a beautiful red finger painted picture.

Then across the parking lot again to the big boy playground where Abram gets picked up this year.  As the story goes, he told his teacher to let Daddy know he was not quite ready and could Daddy please wait just a minute.

Abram finally decided it was time to head out and with another giant smile he too climbed in the car.

Big smiles and "I can't wait to come backs" from everyone as the car started out for the next part of the tradition Kilwin's on Main Street for chocolate of choice.

 If I haven't already said it THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR for the Fletchers.

Back to School

It is that time of the year again.  All of the Fletchers are headed back to school.  Daddy and Mommy have been back at it for a couple of weeks but the kids just got started.  Mommy took a few minutes off to take Abram and Katie to meet their teachers.

On the way to school the kids got into a discussion in the backseat about walking in by themselves (a big deal when you are not 2 anymore).  The next thing to be seen was this picture.  They rode like this the whole way to school.

Once we got to school, we all hooked up and traveled together through the parking lot and into school.

They had to practice walking in alone, so Mommy and Grammy had to stay behind and take pictures.

Katie's room was the first stop.  She walked in the door, saw the blocks and started playing.  She basically stayed at the blocks the whole time we were there.

She did ask Mommy to help her build for a few minutes.

Then it was off to Abram's room, to check out all of the new excitement.

Hermit crabs, goldfish, and a gerbil!!!!

And a computer, that he can play all by himself!!!

THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR for all the Fletchers!

Tube Time

Abram got brave at the lake this year and decided he was ready for the tube.  I think it had a lot to do with the fact that Will was riding it!  After some thought Mommy and Daddy decided it would be okay as long as a "big person" rode with him.  Surprisingly, he crawled right out there and held on.  He rode like a champ while Daddy bounced him around on the tube.  He even learned the proper hand signs from Papaw so he would be able to tell him he was ready to stop, go, speed up, slow down, and I'm OK!  We were so proud.  Katie got brave the next day and decided to ride too, unfortunately noone got a video of her and Mommy on the tube, but she did a great job too!

Lake Trip 2010

It is time once again for the annual lake trip.  For the past 5 years, we have gone with Mommy's family to the lake for a week.  It is great to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often and to get to enjoy all the pleasures that are lake life. 

Mommy and Katie enjoying a boat ride.

The 3 Amigos (every waking moment was spent together).

Painting t-shirts with squirt guns.

One of our nightly shows.  Always entertaining.

Ice cream was enjoyed, they even got some in their mouths.

Decorating Uncle Luke with foam stickers!

All of the grandkids in their outfits from Papaw and GramT.

We even found an island one day for a picnic.   Too bad it started storming!

Kisses for Daddy for helping her learn to swim.

A man on a mission (think he was helping Will build a moat for the castle)

Abram, Daddy and Will riding the tube.

Mommy and Katie riding the tube.

Abram, Daddy and Landon riding the tube.

We all had a great time at the lake this year.  The kids are getting to the point that they can play in the water a little on their own, which was much more relaxing for everyone since there wasn't the battle of when to be in and out of the water.  Most of all it was great to have some quality family time with all of our family.  Until next year!

Astronaut Down

Astronaut Daddy's rocket crashed, thankfully Doctor Abram and Doctor Katie were there to save him!

Amelia Island 2

More pictures from our wonderful trip.  These are from Day 2, while Aunt Dottie, Uncle Chad, Will, Landon and Aunt Dot were still with us.  All of these wonderful people made our great trip even better.

Daddy and Abram trying out some wake board surfing.

Uncle Chad became the expert on the throw net.  He caught at least 5 fish and lots of shells.

Katie and Aunt Dot checking out all the wonderful shells that Katie collected throughout the day.

Uncle Walter and the boys playing "how deep can we bury our hands in the waves and sand?"

Our space on the beach.  We seemed to claim the same space everyday.  We did get better about taking down only what we needed and not the whole house everytime.

Good Buddies!

Amelia Island 1

It is nap time at the beach.  Abram and Katie are in their beds, Daddy is on the couch, and the house is very quiet.  I am sitting at the computer looking out over the sand dune to the ocean with the waves rolling in and out and I realized this is the life.  So while you are not here to enjoy (although we wish each of you could visit), I will try to share some of this with you.
We arrived on Saturday evening to a welcoming crew of some of our favorite cousins, aunt and uncle.  Everyone was very eager to get to the beach...

 but it was dinnertime so we took one quick peek and then headed down the street for some seafood.

After dinner the books came out and Aunt Dot was in heaven.  All of her babies pile on top for some reading like only she can do.

 The next morning started bright and early.  The kids were up and ready to head out.  Aunt Dottie made a yummy filling breakfast and we lotioned up to head for the beach (all except Daddy who throughly enjoyed his morning catching up on some sleep!). 

Abram tried out wake board surfing.  He liked it until a wave hit him in the face and then he was happy to just lay on the board in the shallow water .

 Aunt Dottie got her little girl fix playing with Katie.  I also think she got her arm workout helping her jump waves for a long time.
Will tried to show Abram how to ride the board.

 Katie spent a lot of time just running back and forth to try to keep out of the waves. 

 Then the weather started clouding up and a storm started rolling in.  We took that chance to take the kids for a little Aunt Dot shopping.  While we are gone Aunt Dottie fixed some awesome snacks in new buckets.  We went to the top deck for our yummy snack.  The kids played and the adults just relaxed and listened to the ocean we could hear over the screams.

Snack time!

 After what seemed like forever, the storm passed enough for us to head back out.  It was much cooler and overcast but there was still water and sand to be enjoyed.  Uncle Chad showed us his skills with a throw net, something we learned from our Papa in the Inlet Waterways of NC.  We didn't have much luck that night.

 Daddy showed off his kite flying skills with the great kites Aunt Cynthia sent down. 

What beach trip would be complete without something written in the sand!

 So that was day 1.  We have 6 more to go and lots of fun to share...hopefully sooner than later, depends on how well naptimes work.