Hardys do High Hampton

In August, the extended Hardy family gathered in the mountains of North Carolina for a weekend reunion.  I've written before about how much I love Robert's family and feel blessed to have married into such a genuinely fun, loving, adventurous, full-of-life bunch of folks.  I'm thankful to have known all of his grandparents (more than I can say for my own!) and to have been welcomed and included in this crowd as if I'd always been there.  It seems to me that, more often that not, once a patriarch or matriarch passes, that family connections start to slowly crumble.  It's a testament to the love of these people, as well as their value of family, that all thirty-some of Robert's aunts, uncles, first cousins and beyond still make it a priority to gather together every year.  I know Daddy Hardy would be proud. 

I did a lousy job of whittling these photos down to a reasonable number for one post, but I'm going to post them all anyways.  I'll try to make up for it by whittling down my words instead. 

Here are Camille and Eloise meeting each other for the first time and checking each other out.  

The threat of rain didn't keep folks from gathering for a giant game of kickball.  I'm not sure that anyone kept score, but The Hardys won.

 (That's Clara, inside the ball bag, being dragged around by Eleanor -- to both girls' delight!)

One of the traditions of High Hampton Inn is to have afternoon tea, so we braved the rain and got all four of these cousins dolled up in their seersucker on Saturday afternoon.

This is one of my favorites.

Here are some potential Mama K Christmas cards, but she said I could post them anyway.

And each night for dinner was a lot of eating, laughing and loving.

 Clara and Eleanor helped to decorate this cake at Mama K Camp the week before.

Thanks be to God.

Bookmarks Festival

We had a great day today at Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors.  I can't believe that this was Bookmarks' TENTH Festival and my first!  It was a super fun day.  Part of the festivities included a parade where kids dressed up as their favorite book character and Clara chose to go as Alice the Fairy (David Shannon).  Here she is, trying out Alice's spell on Rufus:  "Hawkin Tawkin Riggin Fawkin!"  I think, like Alice, she still needs to work on that one a bit.  

Eric Litwin, author of the first four Pete the Cat books was presenting and signing and since Clara is a big fan, we wanted to be sure to check him out.   He gave a super lively "book talk" that was perfect for the big crowd of kids that gathered.  Here's Clara and Miles rocking out to his introduction with their daddies.  

He performed Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons (the Pete the Cat book that Clara had brought for him to sign!) and then gave a great reading/singing of his newest book from his new series: The Nuts | Bedtime at the Nut House. (Listen to the song here)

Finally, he invited all the children on stage to teach them the dance and song to his next, yet to be released Nut Family book.

After his performance, the kids in costume began their parade. Clara joined some friends from church who were dressed as fabulous Fancy Nancys.

And after scoring the last copy of his new Nut book, Clara got to meet Mr. Eric and have him sign her new book and her Pete the Cat book.  After a brief interaction he asked, "Is she precocious?"  Yes.  Yes, she is.

We stopped at a few more booths before totally succumbing to the heat and calling it a day.  Thanks, Bookmarks for such a great festival and a cool experience for Clara meeting her first author in person.  We'll be back next year!

Back to School

It's back to school time!   I know that means I still have about a month's worth of blog to catch up on (and maybe now I'll have the time to do it!), but I have to fast forward to these first day of school pictures.  When we saw this bird dress, we knew Clara just had to have it and she sure was precious for her first day.
 

We had fun the night before picking out flowers and making these cute colored pencil vases for her teachers for a back to school happy.

It's amazing to me the confidence that this girl has gained in a year.  There was not an ounce of trepidation or worry (from her or from her mama... well, maybe a teeny bit of anxiety for me about the car line, but I even mastered that!).  It helped, I know, that she has her same teachers from last year, but she was so excited and eager to return to a preschool she loves.  And I know that she'll learn and grow lots this year and be safe and loved and who could ask for anything more?!

 Her first day's report: "We did NOT paint.  We did play with yellow playdough though.  Graham had TOO MUCH playdough.  We ate animal crackers for snack.  And I played family with McKenzie and Harper and I played with a new friend named Nash.  We went outside and I did not hold Ms. Bri's hand because they told us to just tickle the fence as we walked and then we got to the playground.  The bathroom is not in our room this year; we have to go out in the hallway!  I used some kind words, but I also got mad when [child's name redacted] didn't share and we were grabbing and I yelled.  But next time I will use my loving words....."  And on and on and on.   What a difference a year makes.  (And see why those teachers deserve so much more than just some flowers?!)

Here's to Three Year Old class with Ms. Anissa and Ms. Bri at Clemmons United Methodist Preschool.  I think it'll be a great year!