Tag Archives: grandmama

Children’s Theater

My Grandmama is so sweet.  She found out that a highly rated play was being performed at the Imaginon Children’s Theater and bought our family tickets so that we could go with her.   The play was based on the children’s book “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse”.  The book is very cute and Grandmama brought it over for us to read in the weeks prior to the play.  There is even a boy in the book named “Wilson”.  That went over very well in our household.  :)

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After church we all ate together at the chicken pie luncheon (Yum!!) and then drove downtown to Imaginon.  We had great seats, although I don’t think there is a bad seat in the entire theater.  (null)

 

The play was adorable and the kids really enjoyed the show.  Miller started to get a bit restless towards the end, but he did great.  I think the show was a little over an hour long.  I hope to take the kids to more plays so that I can expose them to the theater and other new experiences.  This a perfect first play.

After the play, Grandmama offered to take us out for ice cream.  The only ice cream shop that was near us was the Ben & Jerry’s near the church.  It was another warm and sunny day so the place was packed (and only one person behind the counter).  We waited in line for a long time, but it was worth it.  Miller and I couldn’t decide what flavor to eat so we chose to split a quart of S’mores ice cream.  Honestly, that was the cheapest way to go.  I told Tom that if we ever go back as a family we were just going to get one quart and four spoons.  I love Ben & Jerry’s because they support food labeling and have decent ingredients, but man, their ice cream is expensive!  But as Tom tells me continuously, “sometimes the experience it is worth the cost”.  Grandmama was so sweet to treat us to a play and ice cream.  It is so wonderful having her in town to do these things with us.  Thanks Grandmama!(null)

American Girl Doll Store

Faith and her American Girl Doll Julie have been inseparable for months. They sleep together, eat together, Faith gets her dressed in the morning and puts on her pjs at night. It is really cute (and sometimes inconvenient).

She has been asking to go to the American Girl doll store here in Charlotte so that Julie could get her ears pierced. Yes, a doll can get its ears pierced for $14 at the store and it comes with a pack of earrings. Not bad pricing for the American Girl store. :). As a Christmas gift, Grandmama Pat said she would take Faith to the store to browse, get the dolls ears pierced and eat with her at the cafe. Faith was so excited! She waited over a week for the special day to arrive and was giddy with excitement.

The first item on the list was Julie’s ears. They took Julie in the back and drilled holes for the earrings (of course faith doesn’t know that is what they did). This store has thought of everything! They have an entire salon of services for these expensive dolls. Thankfully, we were able to purchase her Julie doll for a small donation to the church. That is where her second Christmas present doll came from as well. The dolls are typically $135 each.

The next event on our agenda was to eat at the cafe. The three of us got a chair at the table and Julie was given a baby seat that attached to the table. Julie also got her own cup and saucer that she could take home. The meal was surprisingly delicious and not too overpriced. The servings were small, but we were eating in a restaurant geared towards children and dolls. :) We had fruit and yogurt, French fries, and soft pretzel bites as the meal and then ice cream for dessert.

After we ate, faith walked around the store and pointed to everything that she wanted in the store….which was just about everything there. Grandmama, Faith and I had a delightful afternoon together and Faith got exactly what she wanted for one of her Christmas presents.

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Fun Family Day

We had the best family day on Saturday.  We don’t get too many days that we do things all together.  Tom and I tag team parent more than anything else.  With three kids it is just easier to divide and conquer, especially if either of us wants any quiet time away to do something by ourselves.  In addition, Tom has been working crazy hours over the past month so this was an unusual treat.

We started the day by going to Grandmama Pat’s place for lunch.  She moved to Charlotte about six months ago and lives in a nice retirement community here in Charlotte.  She had invited us to lunch and then to play in her apartment for a while.  The kids were so well behaved!  Better than I have ever seen them!  We ate lunch in the dining room and then went upstairs to hang out for a while.  My parents joined us as well.  There were Christmas trees all over the lobby and in each hallway.  The kids loved it.  Grandmama loves spending time with the kids and I am so glad that she lives here now.

Here is Faith and Grandmama at lunch….

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In her apartment she showed the kids an intriguing decoration that I remember as a child.  The heat from the candles causes the fan to spin which in turn causes the people on it to spin.  Very cool….

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Here are the kids with Grandmama next to the Christmas tree….

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After we spent a few hours with Grandmama we decided to go on an adventure. Grandmama’s place is pretty close to uptown so we decided that it was time to go see the Singing Bears.  We try to see the bears every Christmas because the kids really enjoy it.  They really aren’t very exciting because they move so slowly, but it is entertaining for children.  Instead of driving 20131223-201557.jpguptown we decided to take the Light Rail.  The Charlotte Light Rail is only on one side of town, which we don’t live on, so none of us had ever ridden it before.  Here is comes…..

 

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Here are the Singing Bears.  They move very slowly and sing songs…..

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While at the Bears, there was a Joseph A. Banks store so Tom and I did a little bit of shopping.  It took a while so by the time we were finally ready, we were REALLY ready to go home.  Tom took the kids downstairs while I paid for the clothing.  As I came down the escalator I found them in all belly up to the bar.  The kids had sodas, Tom a beer and my loving husband had already ordered me a margarita and it was sitting there waiting for me!  What a fun surprise!  We enjoyed our beverages, ate some free peanuts and relaxed before we had to catch the train back to the car.

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It was such a wonderful and exciting day.  We got to spend some quality time together doing things that we had never done together.  I loved it!  I hope that we can do it more often.

Fun Stay at Home Tuesday

We had a great time today. We were at home all day, but it was enjoyable and full of fun. Maybe it was my attitude and relaxed demeanor. I don’t even know what we did all day. We cooked together, ate canteloupe, played in the woods, and rode bikes. We are finally getting some use out if the woods in the back. I tried to built a fort for them but I obviously have never built a fort out if sticks before. Pitiful!

It is nice that Tom and I are both exercising. This afternoon Tom took wilson for a ride in the bike trailer while I ran with miller in the jogger and faith ride her bike. We could all be outside at the same time.

This morning Grandmama Pat came over to play Barbies with Faith. They played for a while and then she came up to just hang out and watch the chaos. It was very nice to have her here and I know that the kids enjoyed it.

Here are Grandmama and Faith

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