Around here recently photo drop

Howdy doo

Long time no proper blog.  This is just a generic catch up.  Keep up if you can!

So couple of weekends ago we went to NASCAR again.  This was completely unplanned.  The Charlotte race in the Chase (like a play off to determine the overall winner of the season) was supposed to take place on a Saturday night.  But it was postponed until the next day due to rain.  We gave the track a call, they still had tickets, so we booked some there and then.

Charlotte is only 90 minutes form here, so is fine for an afternoon race.  The day was bright and sunny, and pretty warm.

We had some fairly good seats too! Half the fun of NASCAR is the crowd.  They were a special bunch at Charlotte! We all had a great time, and in a 4 hour race only took 2 breaks.  One for fries and one for ice cream, as you can tell by Isaac.....

We all have our favorite drivers.  Paul's is the 41, Kurt Busch.  Oliver is the 18, Kyle Busch (yes they are brothers).  Isaac likes the 4, 3, and 42, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson respectively.  But he is partial to a few others too.  Seb likes the 20 of Matt Kenneth and the 48 of Jimmy Johnson.  I like the 2 of Brad Keslowski and the 22 of Joey Logano.  I am swaying more towards the 22 at the moment though.  Good job, he won Charlotte!  He then went on to win the next race at Kansas, so is firmly in the next round.

All of us love the NASCAR.  It is certainly something we will miss when we return to the UK.  We have one more race to see this season, and that is the last one at homestead Miami.  By then the chase will be down to 4 drivers, and whoever finishes highest at Miami will win the championship.  I really hope it is someone one of us supports! 

This bird appeared in our yard.  I am told it is a broad shouldered hawk.  It was huge.  It stick around for about 5 minutes on the fence, then got something off the ground in the garden.  Good job the cat wasn't out there, it is bigger than her!  We see them flying around he house a lot, we think they  are after next doors small dog.  The birds nest in the woods behind the house. So beautiful 

Isaac was off last Thursday and Friday for conference.  He is doing so well at his new school. His teacher rocks, I love her! She knows him already and understands what makes him tick.  It has taken her less than a month.  He is the second fastest reader in his class, and is up at the top academically.  The amount of work he comes home with is starteling.  He really wants to please her, and not get told off.  I am so proud of him for doing better.  His behavior at school has improved drastically too.  So amazing.  His teacher reminds me of my mum, and her teaching methods.  Might be part of the reason he is doing so well.  My mum always knew how to work Isaac too.....

On the Friday he was off we headed to the zoo with Sebastian.  The whole of Greenville county schools were off, so the zoo was really busy. We still had fun, and Isaac ran into one of his friends from school too.  They had all the decorations up for Boo on the Zoo.  This seems to get bigger every year! 

Isaacs behavior at school may be better, but we still have our moments at home.  We have stopped the occupational therapy completely.  He seems better for it.  We are learning what works and what doesn't.  It's a family effort, and we are all getting there.  Plus, it's fun! 

Last Sunday we discovered a new Park.  Cedar Falls Park is about 10 miles south of Simpsonville, and very pretty.  It has a great play park, which the kids loved.  We then went on a walk to find the falls.  They were nothing spectacular, but pretty to look at, and just enjoy being outdoors now it is not so hot and buggy.

We even managed to get a family photo in 

My dad flies in tomorrow.  I am so darn excited it is ridiculous.  I haven't seen him in a year, and miss him terribly.  He was supposed to come in the summer, but couldn't fly due to health reasons.  I am so looking forward to seeing him. I am also looking forward to the lovely peaceful drive to Charlotte to pick him up tomorrow afternoon.

His room is all ready for him.  The spare room had kind off turned into another playroom, but I managed to get it cleared and cleaned this week.  Dad and I are doing an overnighter to charleston on Monday.  I am really excited about this!  We are going to a plantation on Monday afternoon, then on to fort sumtner on Tuesday morning, plus dinner and a walk round charleston on Monday evening.  Can't wait!!!!

In between cleaning my house, I have also been busy making more bracelets.  Please like my Facebook selling page, you can find the link here. For those of you on Etsy, our  Etsy shop link can be found here 

I look forward to my first Etsy sale, it is taking a while.  Suggestions on how I can improve my adverts are most welcome.  Paul has sold loads of vinyls through our eBay shop, link here.  His vinyl sales are keeping me in beads!!!  He has said that once I sell something on etsy he will buy some champagne to celebrate, so please get buying! 

That's all for now, take care xxxxx

General catch up, Oliver is 9

Ok, so this is going to be more of a photo drop than anything else.  It's been a while.....

Here are 3 monkeys looking lovely in their 80 cent hats.  Yes, 80 cents.  Thats about 50 pence in English terms.  They are Angry Bird Star Wars baseball caps, and brand spanking new.  Thanks K-Mart!

The fair came to Heritage Park in Simpsonville. It was there for like 10 days.  Of course, the boys wanted to go.  They had special offers running pretty much every day, but we didn't really take any notice of them.  We chose to go one saturday morning, just as it opened.  We were fortunate, all the rides were FREE for the first hour. Couldn't have done that any better.... What could have been exceedingly expensive ended up being really good value.  Typically Isaac wanted to feed the butterflies, and that cost money ($4 for him and me), but he loved it.

The pool opened a couple of weekends ago, hurrah!!!!  We have already had Isaac swimming without his armbands.  Think he surprised himself as to how well he did.  Sebastian also wanted to try.  He sank a lot, but we gave him an A* for his efforts.  He has been having swimming lessons 2 times a week, which he loves.  Not sure his teacher does though..... We have not been given a form for re enrollment.  Wonder if it has got something to do with him wanting to jump in consistently.....

Look at my adorable boys.  Their school has been clearing out all their bookstore clothing, so I managed to pick these t-shirts up for $5 each.  So lovely.  Ignore the fact thats this posing session turned into a fight 20 seconds later....

Oliver has been in a school play! Isaac got to see it in the day, and I went a long in the evening.  He had to audition and everything.  He ended up being chosen to play a Furman football (Thats a college American Football team, for those in Europe) fan, and had lines too!  He did very well.  The play was entitled 'A Salute to South Caroliona' and was very informative to an outsider like me, I would highly recommend it!

It was Oliver's birthday on saturday just gone.  Can't believe he is 9..... So scary, and so big.  We were initially going to throw him a party, but his ENT doc said no to bouncing, so that idea went out of the window.  But we wanted to do something.  Last year we went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  He wanted to do that again, but we said no.  There is a local NASCAR race on at Charlotte over his birthday weekend, but it was the Coca-Cola 600, a 4 hour evening race. The younger 2 just wouldn't have had the stamina.  Instead, we decided to go to the NASCAR Xfinity series race.  This is the second tier of the NASCAR sport, and has many up and coming drivers, plus a few of the pros take part too.  It was in the afternoon, and was called the Hisense 300. It was even on the day of his birthday, and half the distance of the full race.  

Because it was a full racing weekend at Charlotte, NASCAR had set up camp.  The fan zone out the front was tremendous, and because it was the Xfinity race, the crowds were less, and there was a more laid back environment.  The seats cost us less also, and were pretty good, on the start finish straight.

Because I am the best mum ever, I emailed Charlotte Motor Speedway and informed them it was my sons birthday.  During the race they text me to ask where we were sitting.  They managed to get the people behind us on the big screen.  They then asked who his favorite driver was.  Unfortunately he picked a Sprint driver, not an Xfinity driver!!! Not to worry though, as they came and presented him with an American Football.  So awesome!!!

We all really enjoyed the day.  The seats started in the sun, then went into the shade which helped a lot.  Charlotte is an awesome speedway.

We travelled home, and enjoyed some cake.  The rest of Memorial Day weekend was spent relaxing.  We are fortunate to have our kids birthdays fall over American holidays.  Isaacs is the day before Thanksgiving this year, and Seb's fell on Martin Luthur King Day!

Now the fun begins..... I wanted to get this done now, as Oliver and Isaac have a half day tomorrow, and then they are done for the summer.  Yes that's right, for the SUMMER.....

Luckily we are going away this weekend, and again in July, and hopefully in August.  They have 3 weeks of camp each too, though those are half days and 1 week of full days.  They are in for lots of fun with all the school work and chores I have planned.  I am going to let them get as bored as possible, so they relish the thought of going back to school next year....Their orientation for 1st and 4th grade respectively is 21st August. 

Only 86 days to go.......