Life With Kids

First Day of Preschool

2011-06-09T14:46:00.003-04:00

September 8th, 2010

(This post is out of order, but I forgot to put it in earlier.)

Travis was so excited to start preschool. He went to Little Hands Preschool, the same one Dylan went to. We love his teacher Miss Amy.

Grandma Jo & Grandpa Visit

2011-06-09T14:12:00.006-04:00

My parents flew in for a few days to see the kids. It was the first time my dad has been able to visit since we moved to NC. Kim's family came over from TN as well.

September 30-October 4, 2010

Fall Baseball 2010

2011-06-09T14:01:00.005-04:00

Dylan played machine-pitch baseball for the first time.

September 2010

Orange County Speedway

2011-06-09T13:50:00.005-04:00

A co-worker of Bruce's works on the weekends at this local race track. We loved it!
September 18, 2010

First Day of School

2011-06-09T13:34:00.004-04:00

August 2, 2010

Courtney
6th Grade
--First Day of Middle School

Dylan
1st Grade

Happy 4th Birthday Travis!

2011-06-09T13:13:00.004-04:00

July 19, 2010

(celebrated July 30, since we were traveling on the 19th)

That Took Long Enough

2011-06-09T12:59:00.002-04:00

It only took me 11 months to finish blogging about that road trip. Somehow, life just gets busy and blogging goes way down on the list of priorities. I'm now going to post pictures of what has been happening since that trip. I probably won't write much, so that I can get them posted quickly and somehow get this thing up to date.

Summer Road Trip Part 7: McMinnville

2011-06-09T12:33:00.005-04:00

With lots of good memories, and one sick little boy, we headed out of San Jose. I now had 3 days of driving ahead of me. 3 Very Long Days! My mom drove most of the way back to Utah, and we bunked at Jeff and Jay's again.

I left my mom in Utah, and headed out early the next morning with the kids. I was originally going to take 3 days to go from Utah to Tennessee, but we were all pretty tired of the car at this point. So I decided to drive as fast and far as I could. We drove for 2 days, spending 12-14 hours in the car each day.

Courtney had to take lots of pictures of the arch as we drove by. I probably have 20 of them.

The first night at the hotel was tough. I was exhausted and grouchy and had no patience. When I first arrived, I couldn't drive into the garage because my car top carrier was too tall. I had to park on the street, throw all the luggage into the car wherever I could cram it, and get the carrier off. The problem was that one of the straps had broken earlier that day. I had tied it down with a lot of knots and now I couldn't get them undone. I was almost in tears because I was so tired, so I just left the carrier on top empty and drove into the garage. I figured if someone stole it during the night, good for them for getting it untied. We went to sleep totally exhausted.

The next day was long, but the kids were such great travelers. They were happy and content to watch movies and play in their seats the whole day. Dylan decided to get the bug that Travis had, and threw up right after lunch. So we had to stop and clean that up before continuing.

I somehow made it to my sister Kim's house that night and slept great in her comfy and dark and quiet guest room.

Bruce flew into Nashville the next day. Yay! I was no longer a single parent. I had help!

We went to Tim's Ford with Kim's family and rented a pontoon boat, just as we had last year. I didn't get any pictures this time. We had fun swimming and tubing all morning. Then, soon after lunch, we saw lightning in the distance. We made the kids stay out of the water and we drove around, hoping it would pass. Justin made a comment that we should let Courtney and Cara ride on the tube, he thought the lightning was far enough away. I wasn't going for that, but I didn't have to say anything. Before anyone could decide, a huge bolt of lightning struck right near us. The kids were freaked out and it started pouring rain. We quickly made our way back to the marina, unloaded the kids and supplies, and huddled under the marina's covered porch. This storm wasn't going anywhere. So with some sad faces we loaded up the cars and headed back to Kim's house. This was our 3rd time at Tim's Ford, so we have a lot of great memories that can make up for our short day. And we plan on going again every year.

The only pictures I got while in McMinnville were these, and a few other similar ones. Apparantly, Travis found my camera and took shots of himself and Gracie.

That's the last part of this trip. Bruce drove us home to Holly Springs.

It was fun, long, exhausting, and full of great memories. The whole trip was slow and relaxing. In each location, I didn't have much planned. We just did what we wanted each day, whether it was full of activities, or just hanging out with family. Becuase we didn't have a stict schedule to stick to, it made everything so pleasant. We could play when we wanted, and rest when we needed. That's the only way this long trip was full of fun and not tears. I definitely want to do something like this again, in a few years. I need to rest my cross-country driving skills for a while.

Summer Road Trip Part 6: San Jose

2011-06-09T12:14:00.005-04:00

After a fun day on the coast, we headed to San Jose to see some friends from my childhood.

We met my mom at the hotel, and settled in for a few relaxing days.

The kids and I went to Logan's birthday party. He's the son of my high school best friend, Amy. It was great to visit with her and her family, and see my other girlfriends from high school.

(The second picture's lighting is bad because my camera was still on the aquarium setting.)

I don't have pictures of the rest of our stay in San Jose, but here's what we did:

Dinner with the Fraziers, Kalivodas, and Olsens, 3 of our neighbors. The Olsen's are Brooke's parents. (See Trip Part 2.) Her mom was there, but her dad had left to take Brooke's kids back to Utah. Too bad we missed them both times.

Church at our old ward, San Jose 26th

Lots of swimming in the hotel pool

Hunting down our favorite Mexican resaurant, Super Taqueria. It hadn't changed a bit and was still sooo good.

Spending a few minutes with Ben, another best friend from high school. Unfortunately our schedules didn't match so we only had about 20 minutes together.

Driving around, remembering all the old haunts.

Travis got sick part way through this leg of the trip, so the last 2 days I was confined to the hotel room. He was still feeling crummy when we left, but at least he was done throwing up.

Summer Road Trip Part 5: Monterey

2010-11-03T08:43:00.006-04:00

After our nice visit with Aunt Allee and Uncle Alan, my mom and I parted ways. She rented a car and went to visit a friend from high school and attend a reunion. I had a free day, with no where to be, so I packed up the car and headed to the coast. We went to Monterey to visit the aquarium and have a little fun.

{In hind sight, I wish I would have just found a nice beach to play on all day, but we had fun and spent too much money!!}

Summer Road Trip Part 4: Modesto

2010-11-01T13:13:00.008-04:00

After leaving Grandma Lyman and Aunt Carolyn's family, we headed a few hours south to Modesto to stay with Aunt Allee. These few days gave us some much needed rest and relaxing, along with laundry catch-up.

Allee kept the boys busy with Legos and playdough. I told the kids that Allee was the one that taught me all about eating cookie dough raw, so she let them help her make some.

Her 3 boys and families came over for dinner, (we missed cousin Sara who is in AZ.) It was great to meet more cousins' families and see my kids have so much fun with them. Courtney held her ground with those second cousins (or whatever they are) during a fierce water fight. Nobody could mess with her.

A neighbor let us use their pool one hot afternoon. It was great until right after we left and I broke out in hives. Something in the water was not going over well with me. After a Benadryl, a hot shower, and a nap I was good to go.

Uncle Alan took each of the kids out for a ride on his motorcycle. Courtney LOVED it. The boys were both a little nervous at first (you can really see it on Travis' face in the picture below,) but Alan kept it slow and they really enjoyed it. He has a microphone and speakers in the helmets so they can talk to each other. Before they left he would make sure they could hear him okay. When he asked a question, Travis was so nervous that he would just nod his head. It was pretty cute. Courtney got a long ride through town and out to the canal. The highlight was seeing a possom cross the road right in front of them.

It was great to see uncles, aunts, and cousins at both Carolyn's and Allee's homes. I hadn't seen most of them since I was a teenager. I also loved watching our kids play so well together. Dylan spent hours and hours and hours at both houses playing legos with these new cousins. I know he'll remember that for a long time.

Summer Road Trip Part 3: Sacramento

2010-10-31T19:41:00.006-04:00

This leg of our trip was the main reason for the whole affair.

But let me first start back in Utah.

We dropped Bruce off at the airport so he could get back to work (someone had to pay for this trip!) The next morning, my mom, the kids, and I took off for California. I was pretty excited to get back after so many years away. The drive through Nevada is still just as long and boring.

We arrived in Applegate, CA at my aunt Carolyn's house. The next morning, we went to visit my Grandma Lyman. I hadn't seen her in about 8 years! She just turned 95 in August. I have been thinking a lot about her lately and had a strong desire to go visit her. So the whole trip was based around this one visit.

She had just broken her leg recently and had been in a lot of pain. She couldn't always remember why her leg hurt and her confusion made for some bad days. So we weren't sure what to expect when we got there. She lives in a home with few other elderly residents. It's an actual house in a really nice, quiet neighborhood. The caretakers are wonderful to her.

When we walked into the living room, she took a few seconds to realize who we were, and then she was all smiles. I introduced her to Dylan and Travis, Courtney was the only one who had met her before. We talked and visited for a while, went on a walk to a nearby park, and took lots of pictures. The kids drew her pictures that we hung up in her bedroom. Since she was having such a good day, we called my aunt Carolyn to come pick her up and take her home with us.

Back at Carolyn's house, 4 of my 8 cousins came by for dinner. It was a lot of fun to meet their spouses and kids and visit, all the time having my grandmother next to me.

The next morning, we packed up and made one last stop to see Grandma. It was a teary goodbye, but wonderful being able to see her one last time.

We love you Grandma!

4 Generations

The kids loved spending time with Great Grandma Lyman. They were all loves for her.

mother and daughter

We sneaked some M&M's into her. If you're 95, you deserve to eat your favorite food whenever you want!

We made her cast pretty!

Travis loved her wheel chair. He and Grandma Jo fought over who got to sit there.

Summer Road Trip Part 2: Utah

2010-10-31T18:12:00.006-04:00

(Okay, I'm actually going to finish these road trip posts so I can move on to the other exciting events happening around here.)

After having a wonderful visit in Lander with my parents and grandmother, we headed to Utah for a few days. My mom drove her car down also, reasons I will explain later. We stayed at our favorite Bed and Breakfast: chez Jeff & Jay, (aka my brother and his wonderful wife Jayleen.) They are so good to always let us crash at their house when we are in town.

We spent time hanging out with Jeff and Jay and their 2 kids, Ian and Morgan. Jay and I went to the salon and got pedicures. We took the kids to a local pool for some fun. Well, it's much more than a pool. It's located next to the Utah Olympic Oval, where the speed skating events took place. There are 3 outdoor pools: one for diving with diving boards and diving platforms; two for fun swimming with all kinds of slides, fountains, waterfalls, etc. There is an indoor pool with a big waterslide. There is a huge tank that fills with water and dumps on anyone hanging around. The kids had a blast. Courtney and Ian spent lots of time going off the diving boards and lower platforms. They couldn't work up enough nerve to go off the highest platform, only Bruce was brave enough. Dylan, Travis, and Morgan had fun splashing around with all the equipment in the pools. My mom took a lot of pictures, but for some reason they dissappeared from her camera or computer when she got home.

We were able to visit our good friends, Dave and Kathy. They have 2 boys that our kids love playing with. They got out the arsenal of Nerf guns and had a blast. Bruce and I got addicted to Rock Band. Dave and Kathy were patient with us as we stumbled our way through song after song. But it was so much fun. (Bruce loved it so much he surprised us with the game at home a month later.)

I was able to visit my best friend from San Jose, Brooke. Her newest little guy was only 3 weeks old. Her husband and 3 older kids were on their way to Grandma and Grandpa's house in San Jose. (By the time we got to her parent's house they had already headed back to Utah.) The whole gang went: Bruce and I and our kids, my mom, and Jeff and Jay and their kids. I took lunch so Brooke wouldn't have to lift a finger. After a little while, everyone else went back to Jeff's house while Brooke and I got some long-overdue bonding. It was great to hang out and giggle and remember all our crazy growing up years.

Bruce's brother Matt and sister Karen live in Utah, so we made time to see them. Our kids love Uncle Matt and Aunt Karen. The boys were in awe as Matt showed them his police car. We went to Fat Cats, where we bowled, rode bumper cars, and played games. Lots of fun. We went back to Matt's house and played a litte Guitar Hero. The guitar was the only thing working, but you'll see from the pictures, that didn't stop the boys from rockin out.

I was really bad about taking pictures during the whole trip. That along with all of my mom's lost pictures, and we just don't have many. Here are the ones I got from our visit with Matt and Karen.

The boys had food on their minds during our jam session. They were making up rock songs about their favorite foods. "Oatmeal" and "Peanut Butter and Jelly" were particularly catching.

Summer Road Trip Part 1: Wyoming

2010-09-08T17:27:00.011-04:00

The Cook Family Road Trip 2010, aka "Leave No Potty Behind"

***WARNING*** Since I use this blog to not only share pictures with friends and family, but to journal about everything going on with our family, these posts from our trip will be long. Just skip all the long boring details and jump to the pictures if wanted.

We were planning this trip for a long time. Originally we were going to fly into Salt Lake City, rent a car, and do all our west coast traveling from there. After moving to NC, I didn't want to make that long drive again. But the airline companies messed with my master plan. Ticket prices were so high for months and months and months. I kept checking every week to find something good. Usually the prices will eventually come down. I was looking right up until the day before we left. But alas, no good prices. So in order to make the trip, we had to drive. After a lot of schedule juggling and mapquesting, we came up with a plan to fit everything in our time frame. We made the drive to Lander in 2 1/2 LONG days and spent 4 days with my parents and grandmother.

Since we didn't have a lot of time to spend in Lander, I hadn't told many people we were coming. I figured we would just call a few friends when we arrived and try and stop by to say hi. Unfortunately, Courtney couldn't get ahold of anyone. But I was able to see one of my good friends. And Bruce stopped by his old job to talk with a few coworkers. It was a nice, relaxing time with my parents.

Love those Wyoming skies!!

We arrived really late on July 4th, so missed all of Lander's great festivities and chances for my kids to show off their pyromaniac skills. I had picked up some snappers along the way, so that was our Independace Day celebration that year! Woohoo!!

Once again we were in Lander for Dylan's birthday. I took him to the store to pick out a fun cake, and we had a nice celebration for him.

A little running around in the wide open spaces is always necessary!

Bruce and Courtney spent many hours driving the 4-wheeler all over the fields. Dylan and Travis went along for the ride. My mom was even brave enough to let Courtney take her for a spin around the driveway.

{cough, cough, cough}

And of course, we spent time riding my dad's horse, Nugget. It's always a highlight of our visit.

Courtney just loves her horses!!

School's Out!

2010-08-12T10:33:00.011-04:00

Both Courtney and Dylan had end-of-year celebrations last June. Here are the pictures from those events.

Dylan's Kindergarten class had a fun celebration. They invited the parents to class, sang us a bunch of songs they learned, read us a book they wrote about the school year, gave a slide show, and served us ice cream sundaes. It was a lot of fun to see how much they have grown throughout the year.

Dylan's best friend, Spike, is the 4th kid to his right, the blond boy. They are inseparable at school.

Here are a few pages from Dylan's book:
"We learned words that are word walls that are easy. And I learned the alphabet and count to 180."

"My favorite time of day is recess because I like to play. I like to play police and I like to play with Spike."

Courtney's last year of elementary school was celebrated with 5th Grade Graduation. It was a really nice ceremony for the kids and parents. I'm usually not very emotional with my kids' school advancements. I don't cry when I send them off to Kindergarten. But I broke down during graduation. Looking at her up on the stage, thinking about how far she has come since Kindergarten, and feeling so blessed to have a wonderful, strong, beautiful, and smart daughter caused me to lose it. I was just a little choked up until they had each student take a flower and give it to their Mom in the audience. That was it, I was bawling like a baby. Even now, remembering is getting me teary eyed.

I had a hard time taking pictures during the ceremony. The ones I managed to take came out blurry because my camera was on a weird setting. So this is all you get.

Courtney receiving her diploma.

The specials teachers (art, music, PE, library) gave out awards to a few kids who displayed outstanding work during the year. Courtney received one from PE, which she was so excited about. She loves PE so this meant a lot to her. (I didn't have my camera ready so I only got a picture of her heading back to her seat.)

With Mrs. Penland, her teacher.

With one of her good friends, Jacob. Her other really good friend, Jonah, was out of town so we didn't get his picture.

The kids in her class wrote down words to describe each of their classmates. When they recieved their diploma, her teacher read a few things that were written about each of them. It was really special so hear the different things they came up with.

Now we're off to another school year!!

Fun in PA

2010-08-09T12:06:00.011-04:00

For Father's Day weekend, we went up to Pennsylvania to visit Bruce's parents. We had a great weekend hanging out with them and Bruce's brother, Tim and his family. We helped with some yard work, Grandma took the kids hunting for toys at garage sales, swam in their pool, practiced our archery skills, and just played.

The highlight for the kids was our trip to Kennywood. These are the only pictures I took from the whole weekend. Tim's wife, Hilary stayed home with the babies. The rest of us went and baked in the sun, but had a great time.

Bruce and I took Travis and Rachel to Kiddieland for some great rides for little ones, while the big kids went with uncle Tim, Grandma, and Grandpa for some big rides.

We met up for lunch, then got soaked on the water rides.

Travis and Rachel were pretty tired, so they left with Grandma and Grandpa. We took Courtney, Erin, and Matthew on some big rides, (Dylan was too scared to go on most,) then Tim took Erin, Matthew, and Dylan home.

We stayed with Courtney so she could ride the 2 big roller coasters, Thunderbolt and Phantom's Revenge.

She was a little nervous before-hand, but loved them so much and wanted to ride again and again. Unfortunately we only had time for one ride each since the lines were so long. While waiting for Phantom's Revenge, one of the cars got stuck on the first hill going up. They got it down and everyone out safe, but we had to wait about 45 minutes for them to fix and test the ride. It was a lot of fun, although I've decided my roller coaster days are about over. I love them, but I came off feeling really sick and dizzy. Getting old stinks!

Just Because He's So Cute

2010-08-08T17:32:00.004-04:00

Here are a few shots of Travis that I had to share. He loves to have his picture taken and will ham it up any time. The little girl is our next door neighbor, Candice. Her mom and I were canning peaches that day while the kids stayed busy with cartoons.

She's A Poet & I Didn't Know It

2010-08-04T19:16:00.003-04:00

Courtney's 5th grade class had a poetry reading at the end of the year. Most read poems they had written themselves, a few read works by famous authors. I knew they were writing poetry in class, but I never saw what Courtney was working on until the day of the reading. Parents were invited to come. They served us snacks and juice and presented their works to us. I was very impressed with Courtney's creativity (peotry always freaked me out in school, I was really terrible at it.) Here is her brilliant piece:

Wyoming

Wyoming. Wyoming.
The best state in the world,
With rivers and mountains and prairies galore.
In Yellowstone Park you'll be snug and sound,
Or Devils Tower with steep slopes all around.
You'll be sure to go back again,
When you have been to Lander and Sheridan.
Wyoming is the best place to be,
The best place from sea to sea.

All I Want For Christmas . . .

2010-08-04T11:22:00.004-04:00

Way back in June, Dylan lost both of his front teeth, on the same day!

The first one was very loose, and during his t-ball game, it fell out somewhere on the field. He couldn't find it, but was okay with not actually having it in his hand.

Later that day, while playing in the kiddie pool with Travis, his second one fell out. It wasn't as loose, but he worked it hard. This time he made sure to hang on to it so he'd have something to put under his pillow that night.

The tooth fairy came, left him double the money, and he's happy as can be. He has a little lisp that we laugh about. I try to get him to say lots of things with an S. And we laugh together.

So here it is, 2 months later, and those 2 teeth are still missing. The new ones haven't come in yet. I think he may actually get to sing, "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth."

I'm Still Here

2010-08-01T23:30:00.001-04:00

I promise more posts with plenty of pics are on their way.

We're finally back after a really long and really fun vacation.

I just have to sort through all my pics and memories and decide how to get it all on here.

***patience***

Girls Night

2010-05-21T12:24:00.002-04:00

I had a girls night out with Courtney and our next door neighbors, Anna and Alexis. There was a 5th grade dance at the school, which to me is totally ridiculous. 5th graders don't need a dance. Come on. Have an end-of-the-year party, a movie night, anything but a dance. Thankfully Courtney and her friend Alexis weren't really interested in going so it wasn't a problem when I said she couldn't attend. Instead, I told them we would go out and do something fun.

The girls chose Adventure Landing. It has mini golf, arcade, go carts, batting cages and laser tag. Alexis' mom came with us so we made it a fun girls night. We let them choose 3 activities. It was so much fun, I need to take our whole family there sometime. We would all have a blast.

Afterwards we treated ourselves to Cold Stone Creamery, mmmmmmm!

Can Rotation Shelves

2010-05-21T08:04:00.005-04:00

I can get excited over little things and this is one of them. We made these rotation shelves in Relief Society this month.

You can purchase some really nice shelving units, but I really don't want to pay for them, and anyways I don't know where I would put one. These are great because I can use them on the shelves I already have. I thought cardboard would not hold up well, but they are surprisingly sturdy. Some people who have made them have been using theirs for years. (Tip: use a glue gun to put the pieces together.)

Bruce wants to make me some nice ones out of plywood, but I know what happens when he wants to do a project. It won't get done for a very long time. So I'm not waiting for him. I've made 2, and have a big pile of cardboard in the garage waiting to be cut into more. I plan on painting them and putting labels on the front so they look nice all lined up together. (Maybe I'll include a picture of that later.)

I need to do a lot of organizing of shelves so this project is great for me right now. Here's a few links to directions. You can make them any size you need for all the different sizes of cans.

The Pantry Panel
Food Storage Made Easy

So Sleepy

2010-05-20T17:19:00.002-04:00

Travis was up late one Sunday night. I was on the phone and so didn't pay attention to his crankiness escalating. Until finally it dawned on me, "Oh, he must be getting tired. It is quite late." Of course in the next moment I was absorbed in my phone conversation once again. I'm a great mother, I know. A few minutes later I walked into the kitchen to find this:

Poor guy, he just wanted to go to bed.

TBall & Softball Season

2010-05-20T17:12:00.002-04:00

Marbles Kids Museum

2010-05-20T14:18:00.006-04:00

We love our children's museum, which is why we go at least a few times each year. Here are some pics from our recent visit in April.

Historic Yates Mill

2010-05-20T13:48:00.004-04:00

We took a field trip in April with Travis' preschool buddies to Historic Yates Mill. Courtney and Dylan were tracked out so they got to come along. Because I know you all are curious, here's an excerpt from their brochure:

"The 174-acre park features Historic Yates Mill, a fully restored
18th century, water-powered gristmill, which is maintained
and operated by the private, non-profit group, Yates Mill
Associates. The mill is an excellent example of the evolution
of early industries in piedmont N.C."

It's a beautiful setting with a large pond, a trail circling the pond, picnic areas, and lots of wildlife.

The kids enjoyed being outside and wandering the area. We visited the exhibit hall where the kids saw how the mill works and got to try some of their hands-on activities. We walked a little of the trail, but the little legs couldn't make it the whole mile around, so we only walked a few minutes before turning around. We had a nice picnic lunch before leaving.

Travis' preschool class: Travis (far left), Logan (green shirt), Rachel (red scarf), Rebecca (purple & white shirt, far right).

So Sweet

2010-05-20T13:44:00.002-04:00

I looked outside the other day and saw Courtney pushing Travis on the swing. I have good kids, but they aren't always as helpful and loving to each other as they could be. So to see her pushing him on her own just made me feel good. I love them.

For some reason the picture came out fuzzy, but you get the idea.

Sewing Lesson

2010-04-21T16:51:00.003-04:00

Courtney asked if I would help her make a little bag. I found this one online that was fairly simple and really cute.

We took a trip to the fabric store and she decided on an animal print theme. The fabrics look really cute together. She saw some cute little embelishments she wanted to add to the outside.

It only took us 2 work sessions to finish it and she did all the work herself. The only thing I did was sew the stars on the side. I was very impressed with how well she did on her sewing. She picked it up very quickly. It was a great project to work on together.

The directions said to use one fabric for the outside and a second fabric for the inside. Of course Courtney likes doing things her own way. She wanted each side of the bag to be different, and the inside to have the same fabrics, only opposite. I warned her that it meant an extra step of sewing, but she was determined. It ended up even cuter.

Easter Morning

2010-04-10T19:14:00.004-04:00

Okay, I'll actually start with the night before, when we dyed our Easter eggs. Kim had the genius idea to use wire whisks for the younger kids. You put the egg inside the whisk, then they can dunk and check to their hearts content without breaking the egg or spilling dye. The kids always love dying their eggs, and I love that it is over in about 10 minutes and I can clean up the mess.

We woke up to a beautiful warm sunny day, perfect for a backyard Easter egg hunt, (after checking out what the Easter bunny left and gorging on candy.)

We spent the rest of the day watching the LDS General Conference and eating a yummy ham dinner. It was a perfect weekend with our family.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens

2010-04-09T16:34:00.006-04:00

Easter weekend, while my sister Kim's family was visiting, we drove up to Durham to visit the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. It's a 55-acre piece of land next to the college filled with gardens, ponds, walking paths, bridges, and wildlife. It was beautiful with all the spring flowers and it smelled heavenly!! I want to go back because we didn't even see half.

The kids beat us to these little wishing pools with the cute naked cherubs. When the adults came up, there were the kids, staring and giggling and whispering to each other. It was hilarious.

Dylan and Caleb, always best buds.

Courtney was my model today.

I love you Dylan!

Really, we have too much fun together.

This cutie is why I didn't get any pictures of Travis. Joshua will not let you take his picture. So I kept trying to surprise him. I have a million of them, mostly with him already turning away. As I was going through my pictures later, I realized I completely neglected my Travis. Good auntie day, bad mommy day.

1st Beach Trips

2010-04-08T12:12:00.004-04:00

We were able to take our first 2 beach trips of the year this last week. We went twice and it was GREAT!!

The first day was with some friends who were on Spring Break. We are actually tracked out for 4 weeks right now. It was a gorgeous day, just hot enough to lay on the beach. The water was freezing, but that didn't stop the kids from playing in it. It did stop Mom though, so they couldn't venture out too far.

The next time was with Kim's family, who came for Easter weekend. Again the sun was shining, but it was also windy this day. So we were a little cold when trying to get our toes wet. But we still had fun and enjoyed the lazy day in the sand. We got to see 2 dolphins swim by very close to shore. That was exciting.

Farm Days

2010-03-27T14:38:00.005-04:00

Travis and I went on a field trip yesterday with the preschool co-op kids. NC State puts on a free Farm Days event every year, geared towards young kids. They have a lot of animals on display and some you can pet. There is free ice cream from the college creamery for everyone.

Travis loved all of it, except holding the baby chicks. He was fine petting them, but freaked out when I tried to put one in his hand. He laughed hysterically at the turkey's pink bottom. And he thought the tractor was the coolest thing ever.

Daddy/Daughter Night

2010-03-27T14:23:00.003-04:00

Bruce and Courtney went to a fun Daddy/Daughter activity at church for the activity day girls. They played beach ball volleyball, made a key holder, and played a trivia game. Since I'm one of the Activity Day leaders, I got to be there and watch them all have so much fun.

First in Fitness

2010-03-27T13:47:00.005-04:00

In PE class, the students were given some fitness tests in 6 different areas. The best boy and girl in each event from each grade got to compete with other students in the school district.

Courtney had the best standing long jump of all 5th grade girls. I was able to go with her and watch her compete. There were about 20 other schools and a million kids running around. It was a lot of fun for everyone. Each student got a t-shirt that represented their school, with all the kids' names and events on the back.

Cheering for their school. You can see Courtney in the middle back.

They got to jump 3 times, and kept their best distance. Her best was 5 feet, 5 inches. She practiced at home a lot before this day, and her best distance at home was 6 feet, 4 inches.

She didn't place, and was a little disappointed at how much better some of the other girls were, but she had fun.

With 2 other students from her class:

How to Catch a Leprachaun

2010-03-27T13:33:00.003-04:00

Dylan's leprachaun trap he made for school.

He'll climb the ladder, follow the path to the gold . . .

. . . fall down the secret hole and he's trapped!!

His class set up all the traps they made the day before St. Patrick's Day. In the morning they were hoping someone would have caught that sneaky little man. But unfortunately, he got away!

Hobo Bag

2010-03-27T13:26:00.003-04:00

I wanted a new bag to use at church that would fit my scriptures, various church books, and a few extra things I like to take each week. I came across this great pattern, and feeling rather ambitious, decided to make it. It was actually pretty easy to do, (except for those tight rounded edges on the strap.) I'm pretty proud of how it came out, so I just have to show it off.

It wasn't quite as big as I was hoping, but I love it so much I don't really care. I might try making another one that is a little wider, and can maybe hold a little more. I just love it!!

**I included the link to the pattern above, but the site is down for a few weeks while they redo things. Hopefully they will still have the pattern when they come back. If not, I printed out a copy. If anyone would like it, I can mail it to you.

Snowstorm 2010

2010-03-27T12:50:00.005-04:00

I'll try to catch up on all that's happened over the last few months, since I have not done anything since New Year's.

Here is our big snowstorm we got at the end of January. I love living in a place where I can do a post on our one big snow of the year!! It's great.

We actually did get snow a few times this year. It was the coldest winter NC has had in about 30 years. But this storm was the biggest and the snow actually stuck around for 4 days. It was more ice then snow, and a biting cold, so I only stayed out long enough for some pictures. Then I quickly headed inside for hot cocoa and a warm fire!

My pictures aren't wonderful quality. I actually used my little Flip Video camera and just pulled pictures from the videos. So here are the kids in action!!

Courtney is enjoying the first snow flakes falling at night.

Snowball Fights!!

Sledding
Travis
Dylan
Courtney

and falling!

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-07T14:46:00.006-05:00

We had our usual family New Year's Eve party. We watch a movie (being sure to end by 9:00 so Dylan doesn't fall asleep), play lots of board games, and eat lots of yummy junk food (including our favorite, chocolate fondue.) My sister Kim and her family were going to join us from Tennessee, but her baby was sick and they had to stay home. We sure missed them.

Making our party hats.

Plenty of board games to get us to midnight.

Dylan's happy dance when he wins a game.

Good food is always required.

Looks like a party!

The sparkling cider is ready to toast in the New Year.

Countdown, then popping confetti balloons at the stroke of midnight.

We love a good New Year's Eve party. Come join us next year.

Family Time

2010-01-07T14:29:00.005-05:00

The day after Christmas was a really nice sunny day, cool but not cold. We needed to get out of the house and decided it was a great day to spend outside. Perfect day for a bike ride.

Bruce spent a couple hours getting the bikes ready, with 2 trips to the store for some parts. We got them loaded into the trailer and headed out.

Our first stop was Harris Lake. They are supposed to have some nice bike trails, one is really short, perfect for our 6 year old rider. As we pulled into the park, we saw signs saying the bike trails were closed. I don't know if they are always closed this time of year, or if they were just too wet. We had gotten a few days of rain. So now what?

Bruce thought he remembered an entrance to the American Tobacco Trail not too far up the road. So off we went. We had never used this trail, so we weren't sure what to expect from it. Sure enough, it was right where he thought. And even better, as we pulled into the parking lot, there were a few other families unloading bikes. As we began unloading the bikes, we found something bad. Dylan's bike had shifted during the drive, and his tire was up against the trailer's tire. He now had 2 huge holes. It was already getting late in the day, no time for another trip to the store for a new tire. I guess bike riding just wasn't meant to be for us that day.

Since we were there and it was such a nice day, we decided to just head down the trail on foot and see what was there. It's a great trail, very flat and pretty, with lots to see. There were plenty of bikers and a couple of horseback riders. We even spotted an otter swimming along in a swampy area. We made it 1 mile, and then headed back to the car. We'll have to try bike riding it another day.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-07T14:05:00.004-05:00

We had a nice quiet Christmas with just the 5 of us. It was our first Christmas alone, without extended family since Courtney was 1! We had a great day together.

Of course we started with presents. The kids woke us up at 6:45, not too bad. I try to get them to take it slow and let us see each gift, watch each other open them. But they always want to rush through it and open the next one. So it always goes too fast for me.

In the afternoon, we decorated a gingerbread house. The kids loved this, of course eating it was even better.

Courtney's side

Dylan's side

Mom and Travis did the roof.

mmmmmmmm . . .

It was nice to relax, enjoy a day together with nowhere to go and nothing to do. I made a nice but super easy dinner to end the evening.

Only 365 left until next Christmas!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas!

2009-12-24T18:32:00.007-05:00

We have been having a merry month of Christmas fun and activities.

Our favorite Christmas tradition is to read a Christmas story almost every night. At the beginning of the month, I wrap up all of our Christmas stories, some nice, some fun. I've been getting one new one each year to add to our collection. The kids get very excited when it's their turn to rip that paper open.

I've also been trying to record a bunch of Christmas shows that are on TV. So the kids have had their fill of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer, Polar Express, and many more!

On Christmas Eve, we did our family Christmas program. It's a combination of scripture, songs, and pictures. It's so nice to sit and read the Christmas story from the scriptures and sing some great hymns. It always fills me the Spirit along with a chance to reflect on Christ and why we worship him.

This week, with the kids off of school, I've kept them busy with crafts. And they've come up with few of their own activities as well. Here are the highlights:

Courtney helped Dylan and Travis dress up as Santa and Rudolph. They did this in the garage while I was making dinner, so I had no idea what was going on until it was done. It made me laugh so hard. Hope you enjoy it also!

We made some ornaments out of Perler beads. They did a great job, even Travis getting into it.

On Christmas Eve, we made sugar cookies. Yum! Yum! They each chose one to leave for Santa, then promplty gobbled up the rest.

Spreading out reindeer food in the front yard. It's almost time!!!

I love Christmas and what it means for my family. May your home be filled with peace and love and the spirit of Christ this season.

A bunch of little happenings

2009-12-07T09:10:00.006-05:00

I haven't updated the blog in a while. I don't have too many pictures of recent events, but here's a few things that have been going on.

1. Here's my latest project. I painted the dining room (it's hard to see but there are stripes on the blue), and we added a chair rail and molding at the ceiling. I still need to do work on the chandelier and do some paint touch ups. But it's nice to have this much done. We were hoping to have it finished in time for Thanksgiving and a visit from Bruce's parents. I got the painting done, but the molding had to wait until after the big dinner.

Next will be the kitchen and half bath, then I'm done with the downstairs.

2. Just a few fun pitures. Courtney needed some shots of family for a school project and I thought these came out too cute to pass up sharing on here.

3. My sisters came to visit for a weekend in October. It was so fun and we laughed and ate and had a great time as only sister can. I didn't have my camera with me, so I'm counting on their pictures. You can check out Kim's blog for a great recap. (Her blog is private so sorry if you can't see it.) This is the only normal picture we have of all 3 of us. We (Jill) can't take a picture without being goofy!

4. I ran my first race on Halloween, a 5K. Some friends and I trained together in our attempt to lose some weight. We had a great time. I actually did a lot better then I thought, taking almost 1 minute off my mile time. My goal was to not walk at all, and I accomplished that, so SUCCESS!

I did an 8K charity race on Thanksgiving morning, but didn't run the whole thing. A friend and I walked about half of that one, but it was fun. We're going to keep entering these shorter races hoping it will keep us running regularly. If I could just stay away from all the yummy food that is so so bad for me, I wouldn't have to worry about this. But for now, where's my running shoes?

Soccer Star

2009-12-07T08:53:00.004-05:00

Dylan played soccer for the first time this fall. He loved it. Just like with T-Ball, he had a smile on his face the whole time. There were a few kids that were really good and had obviously played a lot. Dylan couldn't keep up with them, but he never quit running the field. He even got a goal during his last game!!

Go Dylan Go!

Huddle time.

Celebration lunch. Can you see their faces when they got a look at the trophies? I love it.

So happy to add another trophy to the shelf.

Team Lynx.

Halloween '09

2009-11-01T09:06:00.006-05:00

As always, the kids had tons of fun this Halloween. Our holiday lasted all month, which made this post quite long.

During their track out time at the beginning of the month, I let them decorate the house. We also went to the Dollar Store so they could each choose one new decoration. Then we made this really cute craft.

Our spoon creatures
Travis hard at work
Dylan, after stripping off his costume so no paint would get on it.
Courtney was a pro

We had a fun ward Fall Festival at the church. The kids got to dress up in their costumes, we had a yummy chili cook-off, (mine never wins!) and a trunk-or-treat in the halls of the church. The exciting moment of the evening came when the youth's spook alley set off the fire alarm because of their fog machine. The alarm system automatically notifies the fire department, so before long, the big truck came. All the kids thought it was great, the leaders not so much.
I didn't get any pictures of this night, so on to the next.

On Friday the 30th, the Kindergarten and 1st grade classes had a book character parade. The schools don't allow kids to come in their Halloween costumes, but they got around that rule by incorporating reading into dressing up. The kids were supposed to bring a book and dress up as a character. Of course, most of the costumes were just their Halloween costumes, and some kids didn't even bother with the book. But it was still a fun event. We had a fireman costume from a previous year, so I found some firemen books at the library and let Dylan choose one to use. Courtney's class also dressed up. They had been doing some fun dress up things all week to celebrate Red Ribbon Week, (pajama day, wild hair day, crazy sock day, wear red day.) Because their Kindergarten reading buddies were dressing up, her class also got to dress up as a book character. Again, I just found an old costume, which happened to be a Little Red Riding Hood cape she had worn when she was about 4.

A quick picture before school
Walking the halls during the parade
Mrs. Spina, Dylan's teacher, had a great costume
Dylan's Kindergarten class
Courtney's 5th Grade class

And finally, Halloween day. I told the kids I wouldn't buy costumes this year because we had plenty of things they could wear. Courtney chose to go as a ninja again, just like last year. Dylan decided to save his own money to buy a power ranger costume. His favorite guy is Green Ranger. It was going to cost $40 from online. After saving and saving, he only had about $18, and not much time left. We found Red Ranger at Walmart for $20, so he chose that one instead. Travis used his ninja costume last year at our Ward Fall Festival. Courtney wanted him to go as a cowboy and got the outfit all ready. Each day, if you asked Travis, he would have a new answer as to which he would dress up as. But Halloween day he decided on the cowboy outfit.

Travis the cowboy
Dylan, aka Red Ranger
Courtney the ninja
Showing me their best poses
Displaying their artwork
Handing out candy to the last of the trick-or-treaters

Courtney turns 11!

2009-10-18T17:36:00.004-04:00

My little girl has only one more year of elementary school, one more year of Primary. How is she growing up so quickly? She's turning into a beautiful, kind, loving girl. I feel very blessed every day to see what a great person she is, to be taught and loved by her, to share in her learning and growing. I always pray that others will see her the way I do and see what a wonderful daughter of God she is.

----------------------------------------------------

Here are some pictures from our family party for her.

She has a new love of Babel cheese, because she loves to play with the wax afterwards. (Although she will tell you its only because she likes the cheese.) Since Mom is too frugal to actually buy some, so Travis got it for her as a present. Now she can go a few days without mooching the neighbor's cheese.

Mom and Dad finally broke down and bought her the Harry Potter movies. She's only read the books about a dozen times each.

Showing off her loot.

Her pokeball cake.

This is what I found in the kitchen while letting her cake cool. I also found a 3 year old with chocolate cake covering his face. He thought it was hilarious. I didn't.

Camping at Hanging Rock

2009-10-06T19:07:00.003-04:00

We had a great camping trip last weekend. We stayed 2 nights in Hanging Rock State Park. After getting lost on the way, (and me complaining for the millionth time about not have a GPS,) we finally made it and set up camp. We roasted hot dogs that first night and then went on a short hike down to the lake. We ended the first day with s'mores. It was a beautiful area and perfect fall weather. We had a heater in the camper, although we couldn't get it to work. Thankfully I had packed tons of blankets so we stayed pretty warm at night.

Our first big hike the next day was to Hanging Rock, a beautiful area that looks out over the Piedmont Valley. It was only a 1 mile hike, so we thought it would be no problem. Well, we didn't know it was uphill most of the way, pretty steep for some of it. But the kids did awesome and made it without complaining. We had a lunch up on the rocks, played a little, then hiked down, ready for a nap (at least Bruce and I were.) Travis made it almost the whole way. About 1/4 mile from the parking lot he decided he just couldn't go any farther, so Bruce carried him the rest of the way.

Later that day and the next day we hiked some shorter, easier trails that led to waterfalls. The kids loved climbing all the rocks and exploring the area. We love this park and can't wait to camp there again.

I love these photos.
Courtney wanted me to take her picture on this rock.

Then, Dylan decided he wanted to copy Courtney and climbed up so I could take his picture.

Then, Travis couldn't be left out, so he climbed up and copied Dylan's pose with a hand on his hip. It was so funny and cute.

2 Milestones

2009-09-30T11:23:00.003-04:00

Courtney and Dylan both had some big events recently.

Dylan lost his first 2 teeth within about 2 weeks of each other. The first came out and was lost while in the shower. We aren't sure if it dropped down the drain or if he swallowed it. Luckily, the tooth fairy visited him anyways. The second one he managed to pull out and hang on to. He was so proud to put that one under his pillow.

Courtney came home from school a few weeks ago with a note explaining that she failed the eye screening. We've never noticed any problems with her vision. Her grades are good, she doesn't complain of things being blurred, no headaches, nothing unusual. I took her to the eye doctor and it turns out she is practically blind in her left eye, while her right eye is perfect. He prescribed glasses, which she was pretty upset about. But during the next week while we were waiting for her glasses to be made, she had a change of heart. I pointed out all of the kids in her class, including her teacher that wears them. We explained that she only needs to wear them for school work and reading. And we talked to her about how important it is to have healthy eyes. I don't know what did it, but by the time her glasses were ready, she was actually excited to get them. She takes great care of them, cleaning them and putting them in a safe place. She showed them off to her friends. And she is so beautiful with them.

Great Quotes

2009-09-27T08:11:00.006-04:00

These are some of my favorite quotes from the LDS Relief Society Broadcast last night. I can't promise that they are the exact words, but I tried to get them down as accurate as I could. As usual, it was wonderful and inspiring and uplifting.

Julie B Beck (Relief Society General President)

"Visiting teaching is more a way of life than a task."

"Never supress a generous thought." (quoting Sister Kimball)

(This is not an exact quote, I couldn't get it down fast enough to get her exact words.)"Women should be worthy of and magnify their membership in Relief Society just as a man does his priesthood."

Silvia H Allred (1st Counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency)

"True heroines are women who value being righteous above all else."

"Teach women with love what Relief Society will do for them."

Barbara Thompson (2nd Counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency)

"Mind the Gap"

"Nothing can separate us from the love of God."

"Recognize the Lord's approval in your life."

President Henry B Eyring (1st Counselor in the First Presidency)

"Charity is born of faith in Jesus Christ."

"Through charity we can do uncommon things for others even when the unmet needs of self are great."

Lessons in the Kitchen

2009-09-24T08:18:00.005-04:00

I left Courtney home a few days ago while I went to the grocery store with the boys. Bruce was home for a few minutes and then left for a meeting. She called me on the phone, here's our conversation:

Courtney: "Mom, can I make popcorn using the air popper?"

Mom: "Let me think for a second." (Trying to decide if this is a dangerous appliance.) "I guess it's okay. Do you know how to put the butter on?"

Courtney: (exasperated) "Yes, Mom!"

Mom: "Okay, tell me how."

Courtney: "I just cut up a few pieces and put it on the popcorn and stir it up."

Mom: "Well, the popcorn won't be hot enough to melt the butter by itself, so you actually need to melt it in the microwave."

Courtney: "oh"

Mom: "Put a few tablespoons in a bowl, melt it for about 15 seconds. If its not melted, try again for 5 seconds at a time. Then pour it over the popcorn and stir it up."

Courtney: "Okay Mom. Thanks. Bye."

{About 30 minutes later, as I walk in the door, Courtney has just finished making her popcorn and is fixing some hot cocoa to go along with it. I peek into her bowl.)

Mom: (pausing and thinking for a moment) "Um, Courtney, how much butter did you use?" (As I stare at a bowl of very glossy popcorn.)

Courtney: "Well, it was kind of bland after one stick so I added another."

Mom: (mouth hanging open, speechless, then laughing hysterically.)

I let her eat just a small amount, but told her she wasn't allowed to give herself a heart attack just because she loves butter.

Life's little lessons.

Horse Show '09

2009-09-12T14:57:00.008-04:00

Courtney had her first horse show today. It took place at EE Stables where she trains, and today's event was for all of their beginning riders. She was AWESOME. She's been working hard to get ready for the show and it payed off. She did great and had a lot of fun. Here are pictures from her 5 events.

Trail Skills
They created an obstacle course for the riders to navigate. This course was new for everyone. The riders had received a paper a few weeks ago with the course drawn out, and had to memorize it, but could not actually do the course with a horse until the competition. She did great remembering everything. It included turning around 2 barrels, trotting over a jump, weaving through cones, stopping the horse for 3 seconds, grabbing a potato and dropping it in a barrel, turning the horse 360 degrees, dropping stirrups and picking them up again, and trotting to the finish line. She got 2nd place in this event!

Cone Weaving
This event is just as it says. They had to weave through a set of 6 cones 2 times. It isn't timed, just supposed to demonstrate their skill. They are allowed to walk or trot. She did good. The first time she tried trotting and missed a cone. The second time she slowed down and got through them great. Her horse loped a little at the end which isn't allowed. She didn't place but got a participation ribbon.

Flag Exchange
In this timed event, they hold a baton at the starting line, have to get to a bucket by walking or trotting, walk around the outside of it while exchanging their baton with one in the bucket, and get back to the starting line. If they go around the front of the bucket or drop the baton, they are disqualified. She was super. She completed it in 25 seconds, coming in 1st place!!! (She was worried about not be able to beat the first rider who got 1 minute 30 seconds.) I put the video of this event since it was her best.

Jumping
They teach the kids to jump over a small obstacle. They don't ever get much higher, unlike English style. It's supposed to simulate a fallen tree or a ditch in the trail. She loves jumping. They had to go over the jump 2 times at a walk or trot. Her horse loped during the second jump, so she didn't place, but again got a participation ribbon.

Cloverleaf
This event is like barrel racing, but it's not timed. They are just testing the riders skill at controlling the horse. If they go around the barrels the wrong way they get disqualified. Because Courtney had problems with her horse loping some of the other events, she decided to play it safe and walk. She did really good and got 2nd place.

This show was great because it comes almost exactly 1 year since she started lessons. It was a great showcase of how much she has learned and how far she has come. I don't think we'll ever get her away from these horses now.

Courtney & Ben
who she rode for 3 events. He is one of her favorites at the barn.

A group shot of all the kids and instructors.

Sleep, Is That How It Works?

2009-09-11T10:15:00.002-04:00

So if you've ever heard me complain even a little about my insomnia, you'll understand this post. It's something I've been dealing with since I got pregnant with Courtney. After each baby, it's gotten worse. I've tried different things, but have put off taking any medication. So here's a small thing that happened, but quite exciting to someone who doesn't sleep.

I actually got to sleep last night at 10:30. 10:30!!! I consider anything before midnight to be good, but this was unheard of. I've fallen asleep at 8 or 9 before, but that is after a really bad week of 3 or 4 hours of sleep for many nights in a row. Last night was a normal night, not overly tired or sick. So what happened?

A few night ago, when Bruce had to work until about midnight, I decided to try something. I'm usually feeling pretty tired around dinner time, but by 8 or 9, when I get the kids to bed, I'm wide awake again. So that night, after dinner, I put my pajamas on and just hung out in my bedroom. I watched a little TV, read a book. The kids were actually quite content and happy that night to just do their own thing. I was able to get them off to bed without any problems. Around 11:00, I drifted off to sleep. It was great. So I thought, maybe that's the secret. To not let myself really wake up again after dinner. The problem is I'm a mom. I can't just check out every night after dinner. There's just too much going on.

But last night I wanted to try it again. Bruce was going to be up late watching the Steelers game. So I put him in charge of Travis, who was going to be up late because of a 3 hour nap. Courtney and Dylan were hanging out in Courtney's room while she taught him to play checkers. (They never play together so I had another reason to rejoice last night.) And it worked, again. I turned the light off at 10:00, and was asleep by 10:30.

I feel really good today. I never feel fully awake and well rested. It's a great feeling actually. I got on the treadmill today, after 3 weeks off. I'm trying not to get too excited. Who knows if this will happen again. But I'll take even one day.

1st Day of School

2009-08-01T13:21:00.003-04:00

Herbert Akins Hawks

The first day of school came this week. For those who don't know, we have year-round school, which is why is starts pretty early. Courtney and Dylan actually started on different days, so I'll explain each of them separately.

Courtney started on Monday. I can't beleive she's a big 5th grader all ready. She likes being the part of the oldest in the school. Last year was a really tough year for her. She was upset about having to leave Lander and South Elementary. Plus she had to change schools twice. Once when we first moved here, then another time in September when we bought our house and were in a different school zone. So all of that alone was enough to put her in a bad mood all year. But then she got a teacher at the second school that made things difficult. This teacher always focused on Courtney's weaknesses and what she wasn't doing good enough. Courtney never received much praise from her. No "Good job on that" or "You are sure good at ___." I didn't say much to Courtney about how I felt because she did like her teacher. But she was so frustrated all year and a lot of it came from this teacher's actions.

So this year, we are at a brand new school that was just built, a new teacher who seems great, and Courtney is actually excited to start the year. She hasn't been excited to start the school year since about 1st grade. This is going to be her year. This will be the year that will make her like school again, and get her ready for Middle School. Yikes!

Dylan is in Kindergarten!! I don't know who is more excited, him or me. He's excited to go to a big kid school, to go to Courtney's school, and to be one of the big kids wearing a backpack. I'm excited because he is very ready to be in school. He gets so bored now at home. Having more structure and activities each day will really help. And a little of me is selfish, thining of all the things I can get done with only one child at home during the day.

He only went to school on Tuesday this week. They have 2 Kindergarten classes, but they don't assign them to a class right away. They bring the kids in for just one day so they can do assessments. At the end of the week, they assign classes based on those assessments. We were able to go to the school on Friday and find out who his teacher is going to be, look around his classroom, and meet his classmates. On Monday, he will begin attending every day. He's pretty excited because one of his friends from preschool will be in his class.

He had a great day on Tuesday and loved everything about school. He was a little nervous about a few things. He was buying a school lunch and on the way to school told me about his concern about the counters being too high for him to reach the food. I assured him that his teachers would be there to help. But he was glad to see that the counters were low enough even for him. It's funny to see what worries him. He did have one little incident that day. I got a call from one of the teachers telling me that he had gotten a bloddy nose. She didn't know how it happened. The kids were sitting in the reading corner when they noticed it bleeding. Dylan had to change his clothes, which is why they called. She didn't want me wondering why he was wearing a different outfit when I picked him up. She said he was fine with the whole thing, it didn't seem to bother him. After school, I asked him about it. He told me one of the other kids accidentally kicked him and that's what started the bleeding. Poor guy. What an experience for his first day. But he took it all well and didn't really care. It will be fun to see him grow during this year, learn to read better, and write better, and become a smart young man.

July Birthdays

2009-07-28T14:08:00.004-04:00

July is a busy month for us since all 3 boys have birthdays. We always have a lot of fun trying to fit those days into our schedule. So here are a few pictures from each of their special days.

Dylan, July 6th

We celebrated his birthday while in Lander. He loved having his cousins and grandparents with him that day. He had just finished t-ball season, hence the cake idea.

Loving his cake. It was hot that day and the sides started melting from the weight of the M&M's. But it still tasted good.

Opening presents with cousins looking on.

A fun building set from Grandma and Grandpa.

Bruce, July 7th

We didn't celebrate Bruce's birthday until we got back home, so he had to wait a few extra days. But he doesn't mind. I try to make his and Dylan's birthdays separate so they can each have their own day. Bruce doesn't really care though. And I always make different cakes, even if we celebrate on the same day. Again, Bruce doesn't want me to do all that, but I have to make 2 cakes. It's too fun and everyone should have their own cake on their birthday.

His yummy ice cream cake.

The kids picked out these mugs for him. Now he can enjoy nice cold soda while watching his Steelers.

Travis, July 19th

This was Travis' first birthday that he really understood what was going on. He was so excited for his cake and to open presents. He talked about his cake for days after. And he keeps reminding me that he's 3 now. He's just too cute!

He loves anything to do with balls, so I just had to use my pan that makes a round cake.

Present time!

Checking out his garage and car wash from Grandma and Grandpa.

Dylan made him a bird out of his new building set. These two fight like crazy sometimes, but they are best friends.

Lander Trip #7

2009-07-17T20:59:00.001-04:00

Last one!!!

Friends

Courtney, Dylan, and I each got to spend time with our friends from Lander. It was so good to see each of them and renew our friendships. I got some great shots of Dylan with his friends, but for some reason I never got any with Courtney. Maybe next year.

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Shane was like a member of our family while we lived in Lander. I babysat her for about 4 1/2 years. Her and Dylan just love each other, although it took a few minutes for them to stop being shy and remember what good buddies they are.

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We went to the park with our best friends, the Shearins and the Goulds. It was great to catch up with Amber and Joni and remember one of the reasons I miss Lander. Here is Dylan with Mina and Samantha.

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We went back to our old neighborhood and played with our friends there, the Nielsens and the Welshs. It was great for the kids to pick up right where they left off with these friends. And Courtney got to have a sleepover with Johanna and Ella, so fun for her.

Dylan and Sam, they were supposed to have a 2nd play date, since the first one didn't last very long. Unfortunately Dylan got sick and we had to cancel. He sure misses you Sam!

Dylan and Anna

What a great trip we had, getting to be with family and friends. We're hoping to make it back out to Lander next year. After all, we get our dental work done at the same time. See everybody next year!

Lander Trip #6

2009-07-16T20:26:00.005-04:00

Grandma Jo Camp

Every year that at least a few grandkids are visiting my parents, my mom holds "Grandma Jo" camp. The kids love it and hate if they aren't in Lander when it happens. She even makes matching t-shirts for everyone. They had a great day filled with lots of fun activites.

Kicking off Grandma Jo Camp. They look good . . . and clean.
Front Row: Carter, Gracie, Travis
Back Row: Courtney, Grandma Jo, Joshua, Ian, Dylan, Caleb

Having fun!

Dylan and Caleb are such good buddies.

While waiting for Grandma Jo to get some things ready, I took the kids on rides on my dad's 4 wheeler. They had so much fun and wanted to just keep riding.

Courtney later learned how to drive it herself, with me on the back.

Taking Travis for a spin.

Then Kim and I took over when I taught her how to drive. This picture was when I convinced her to go fast. She was scared to death, but loved it.

Bubble Time

MMMM, watermelon is so good!

Hot Dog Roast

Can't have a campfire without s'mores!

Such a fun day.

They ended the day with a campout in the front yard. Actually, only the 4 oldest slept in the tent. The others played for a while, then went inside to their safe, warm beds where mom and potty were nearby.

Lander Trip #5

2009-07-16T19:34:00.005-04:00

Root Beer Floats

I loved these pictures, so I just had to do a whole post on this activity. Grandma Shane bought stuff to make Root Beer floats for everyone. MMMMM! Even the kids that didn't really want them, had fun sipping up the foam.

Grandpa pours them out.

Courtney

Ian, prefers an Orange Float

Gracie

Travis

Dylan

Caleb

Carter

Lander Trip #4

2009-07-16T17:11:00.009-04:00

Are you sick of all these Lander posts yet? Not too many more, I promise.

Fun Outings

We did a lot of fun little outings with the kids while in Lander. I have a lot of pictures, so bear with me.

Pioneer Museum
We made 3 different trips to the museum, trying to do a little each time, without the kids getting too bored.

They have a lot of old farming equipment displayed outside. My grandma told us how each piece was used.

They spent quite awhile trying to figure out how this hay baler worked.

Little Joshua, Kim's youngest, along for the ride.

Dylan testing out the equipment.

Ian, Jeff's son, trying it out.

Courtney, posing in a buffalo sculpture.

Reading Indian stories in the teepee.

Experiencing the old school house.

Courtney and Ian in the old chapel.

Caleb, Dylan, and Carter, in the old chapel.

The kids each got a turn at ringing the church bell. It was pretty funny to watch the younger kids get lifted off the ground as the rope went up.

Travis just didn't have the muscles to make it ring.

Dylan was pretty proud of himself.

Courtney, showing off her one-handed technique.

Swimming

We took our usual trip to the Lander pool, always a hit.

Lander Trip #3

2009-07-15T17:17:00.004-04:00

4th of July

We had a lot of fun on the 4th, with a day filled with activities. Unfortunately, no one was taking pictures, so I don't have too many to show what we did.

In the morning, Kim, Jeff, Matt, and I woke up early and went down to Main Street to participate in Lander's Half Marathon. Matt and Jeff were awesome and ran. Kim and I had decided to do this just for fun and walk the whole thing. We has a blast. We talked and laughed the whole way. We thought it would take us about 4 hours, we weren't going to push ourselves. But we got a little competitive out there and tried passing a few people, (especially when Kim had to pee and we sprinted so fast to be first in line at the port-a-potty at the half way point.) Towards the end of the race, we turned onto Main Street and walked the last 2 blocks to the finish line. That part was kind of fun. Everyone was out getting ready for the parade, so the street was lined with people. A lot of them clapped for us and gave us lots of encouragement. We finished the race in 2 hours, 57 minutes. 1 hour sooner then we had planned, and we weren't the last racers out, coming in during the parade. I'm glad we did it, even though I got 2 blisters and it took me 5 days to quit being sore. We'll probably try again another year.

After the race, and eating all the free food they provided, we headed over to watch the parade. It's a typical small town parade, full of horses and tractors. The kids love catching candy and getting sprayed with water from the fire trucks.

We then went to my parents house to relax for a while. I should have taken a nap, which I would later regret, but there was always something to do or someone to talk to. My cousin Natalie came with her family. I hadn't seen her for so long so it was good to meet her kids and visit. My parents made a great BBQ for us and I ate and ate some more. (I was so hungry that day.)

We started setting up to do fireworks. (In Lander, anything goes. Out of town, where my parents live, they can do anything they want, any day of the year. In town, it is only allowed on the 4th. But seriously, anything is allowed.) I parked myself in a chair, since I could barely move and was pretty much sleep walking for being so tired, while I waited for everyone to get ready. Then a big wind storm came up. We headed inside to wait it out. But at that point, I didn't think I could stay awake, especially knowing we might not even do the fireworks if the wind kept up. This is Wyoming after all, where the wind can last for a week. So Bruce, Travis, and I headed to our camper. (We were sleeping in a friend's camper bacause of Bruce's cat allergy and the cat dander that is all over my parents house due to the cats that lived there before they bought the house.) I was a little nervous to try and sleep that night. We were right in town, where it usually sounds like a war zone from 9-12 pm every 4th of July. But I didn't need to worry, I was so exhausted that I crashed hard and didn't hear a thing.

The rest of the family did end up doing fireworks and having a great time. My sister Kim sent me some pictures that she took that night.

My parents with 7 out of 14 of their grandkids.

Grandpa, Grandma Jo, Dylan, and Courtney.

Lander Trip #2

2009-07-14T13:12:00.004-04:00

Fireworks on the 3rd

Every year a family in Lander puts on a huge fireworks show at their house. It is the best show I've ever been to, better then any big city fireworks show. Part of the show is narration about the founding of our nation and it is all set to patriotic music. If you want to be totally inspired and go away feeling prouder then ever to live in America, be in Lander on July 3rd. (He does them on the 3rd because the 4th is the city's show and when people do their own fireworks at home.)

Carter and Dylan, getting to be buddies.

Carter, Caleb, and Dylan. Dylan hates loud noises, so we gave him these headphones to wear, but he still hated it and buried his face into me the whole time.

Bruce and Travis relaxing before the show. Travis hated the noise too and ended up sleeping through the whole thing.

Courtney got ahold of my camera for a while and took some crazy pictures of herself and others.

Another of Courtney's shots, this time of her cousin Ian.

I have a "fireworks" setting on my camera and decided to try it out for the first time. It didn't work as well as I wanted, but here's a few shots of the show.

Thanks Bills Family for a wonderful and inspiring night!

Lander Trip #1

2009-07-13T17:07:00.005-04:00

The next few posts will be all about our fun trip to Lander, WY to visit my family. It was so fun to be there and see my parents and grandma, and visit with lots of friends. Hopefully we'll make it back again next year.

Horseback Riding

One of the first things the kids got to do was ride Grandpa's horse. Courtney has been looking forward to showing off her horse skills for a while. They loved it. Unfortunately, Nugget was being a little stubborn and only wanted to eat the grass, instead of let Courtney perform.

Grooming Nugget before riding.

Courtney and Ian waiting on the fence while the little kids took their turn first. Carter wanted to join them.

Dylan was all smiles.

Travis was a little nervous at first, but relaxed and enjoyed the ride. Seeing Courtney ride a horse so often I think helped him to not be afraid.

Travis loved posing with this hat. So cute!

Morgan would not smile for me, but she's just too cute anyways.

Courtney, the pro.

Ian, just hanging out.

A natural cowgirl.

Lots to Come

2009-07-07T09:40:00.000-04:00

We're in Lander right now, visiting my family. We're having a great time and seeing some old friends. When I'm home next week I'll post tons of pictures of our many adventures out here. Be warned . . . it's a lot! Parade, fireworks, museum, swimming, park, s'mores. It's been fun!

Dylan's TBall Season

2009-06-27T17:54:00.006-04:00

Dylan had a great TBall season. This was his first time playing a team sport and he loved it all. It was so fun to watch him play, especially running the bases. He wasn't the fastest player, but he had the biggest grin the whole way around. He loved it and can't wait for soccer season to start in August. Here's some shots of him throughout the season, and a video that Courtney took of him batting during the last game. Great job Dylan!!

a big hit
hey batter, batter!
running with a big grin
heading home
a hot day in the outfield
throw it home
catching a grounder
another big hit
playing catcher
end of the season

Learning to Jump a Horse

2009-06-20T17:06:00.003-04:00

Courtney has been learning how to jump on a horse. The boards are really low right now, but she's doing great. Last week she was on this little pony named Prince that actually had to jump a little to get over the boards.
In this video, she's on a big horse named Harley that really just steps over them. She loves it and is getting better every time.

Beach Day #2

2009-06-16T16:51:00.004-04:00

We had another great day at the beach on Saturday. It was our last chance to go until about August, so we dropped everything and headed out. We love it!

A Cry For Help!

2009-06-07T17:21:00.003-04:00

I'm in desparate need of help from my fellow moms out there. I'm trying to potty train Travis, but NOTHING is working. Everything I tried on my other 2 kids is failing. Other ideas I've heard of are failing. He absolutely refuses to go. He'll sit on the potty forever and just smile at me. Then immediately after he'll pee, on the floor, in his underwear, in his diaper, wherever! If I could just get him to go even once in the toilet, I'd feel like there was hope. But nothing. How do you convince a stubborn 2, almost 3 year old to try. I know I have time, but he's very ready in every other way. Plus, he's pooping about 5 times a day and his little bottom is always so red and sore. I try to convince him that using the potty would mean his owies would go away, but to no avail.

Help!

Preschool Graduation

2009-06-04T11:46:00.004-04:00

Dylan had his preschool graduation. Now he's all set for Kindergarten. Preschool was so good for him. He used to be so scared in new places, with new people, or just in groups. When he first started, he wouldn't talk at all, especially if asked a question in front of everybody. Now he loves school, his teachers, and playing with friends. He talks and participates and loves everything about it. We're so proud of him and how far he's come. It'll be exciting to see him continue to grow in regular school

We love you Dylan!!

My pictures didn't come out too good, but it's all I've got.

Here they are getting ready for the ceremony. They sang us their preschool song, then were presented certificates from their teachers.

Dylan getting his diploma.

With his teachers, Ms. Amy and Ms. Missy. They do such a great job. We love them.

A class picture taken on the last day of school.

Travis is signed up for this preschool for the 2010-2011 school year. He'll attend for 2 years before he starts Kindergarten. I can't wait!

We love the beach

2009-05-24T14:10:00.005-04:00

North Topsail Beach, NC

Cajun Chicken

2009-05-20T19:44:00.002-04:00

This is such a great recipe, I thought I'd share it with whoever happens to be lurking on my blog. It's fast and easy and yummy and different. All good things in the world of "What am I going to make for dinner tonight?" (It came from Eating For Life.)

4 oz uncooked whole wheat penne
2 chicken breasts
2 T Cajun seasoning
1/2 cup skim milk
5 oz baby Spinach
8 oz fresh sliced mushrooms
1 T Butter Buds
1 tomato, chopped

Prepare penne according to package directions. Lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Coat chicken breasts with Cajun seasoning. Place chicken breasts in skillet; cook for approximately 6 minutes; turn and cook for 6 more minutes until no longer pink inside. Transfer cooked chicken to a plate; cover with foil to keep warm. Add milk, cooked pasta, spinach, mushrooms, and Butter Buds to skillet; mix well. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through, approximately 5 minutes. Divide pasta mixture into two portions and top with a portion of Cajun chicken. Garnish with tomatoes, serve and enjoy!

Makes 2 servings

*I've made this with the Butter Buds, and it's really good. I couldn't find them last time at the store. So I just used a little regular butter, which adds fat, but it's only 1 tablespoon.

*Bruce hates spinach, but still loved this recipe. The spinach wilts down so much that its easy to pick out for picky eaters.

*I think the pasta is more like 3 servings, so if you're doubling or tripling the recipe, you can cut back a little on the pasta and spinach part.

Owww!

2009-05-13T16:45:00.002-04:00

I hurt everywhere.

Really hard workouts this week.

Trying to lose some weight before our trip to Lander this summer.

My neighbor is trying to kill me with an exercise video she brought over.

Ow!

(I know I'm whining, but IT HURTS!)

13 Years Ago

2009-05-09T21:17:00.003-04:00

I can remember our wedding day so well, as if it just happened yesterday. And yet, I can't remember what it feels like not to be married to this man. He is so good to me. He's not very sentimental or romantic, but he knows I am and he lets me do silly things. He takes care of me and the kids and we've never had to question what is first in his life. What a great life we've made with each other! I can't wait to see what the next 13 years holds for us!!

YUM

2009-05-04T08:38:00.003-04:00

My sister Jill discovered this absolutely yummy and delicious recipe for Banana Cranberry Bread. I like banana bread, but I LOVE this, and its so easy to make. It's not exactly on my diet, but I figure I'm eating fruit right? . . . Right? Although I have to time it just right when coming out of the oven so it's after I've already eaten. If I'm hungry, I'll eat the whole thing. When its warm . . . mmmmmmmm. Here's the recipe from Oceanspray. They also have a recipe using fresh or frozen cranberries.

Cranberry Banana Bread

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup mashed banana

1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1 6-ounce pkg craisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan. Mix sugar and butter together in a medium mixing bowl until completely blended. Add banana, milk, and eggs, mixing well. Add dry ingredients, mixing until just moist. Stir in nuts and craisins. Spread batter evenly in a loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or unitl a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool.

Roanoke Island

2009-04-19T19:18:00.006-04:00

This is a week late, we actually went last weekend. But I'm finally getting pictures posted. We wanted to drive out to the coast and do some sight seeing while Bruce's parents were visiting, so we chose Roanoke Island. It has an awsome history, first US colony, people were lost with no clues as to what happened to them; and a first place of refuge for slaves during the civil war.

We had a great time walking around and visiting the sites. They have a replica ship to tour and a small army camp. They let you try using the woodworking tools, put on armor, and Travis' favorite, playing a game similar to bowling, I forget what they called it.

It was a fun day, and we hope to go back to the coast often. There is so much to see along NC's coast. We're pretty excited to visit it all.

Walking along the nature trail at the visitor's center. There were plaques along the way that showed how the colonists survived on the land.

Courtney, Dylan, and Bruce's mom, Roberta. There was one little spot to walk down to the sand, so this is the most we saw of the water. I figure we'll have plenty of time to play on the beach during the warm months, so not being able to spend time in the sand and surf was fine this day. Plus I think the water was about 60 degrees. BRRRR!

Courtney, showing off the nail that the blacksmith made for her. It was pretty cool to watch him work.

Courtney, trying on some armor. She's ready for battle.

Bruce and Amy, being silly.

Travis, wanting in on the fun.

This was the kids favorite part of the museum, getting to be pirates. The museum was great, with tons of hand-on exhibits for the kids to use. They showed stuff from the past: colonists, fishing, pirates; and stuff from present day: finding shipwrecks, duck hunting, the local lighthouse.

I wish I had gotten more pictures, but my camera still had the original memory card, which only holds about 8 pictures. I'll have to get the ones Bruce's mom took that day.

I finally bought a new memory card a few days ago. The kids spent the day trying to take all 1200 pictures that it would hold. I have plenty of shots from the inside of my car, up someone's nose, a blurry shot out the window, and many others if anyone is interested!! But that's a new post entirely.

Monkey Joes

2009-04-14T09:06:00.004-04:00

I took the kids to Monkey Joes last week, a place full of huge inflatables for bouncing, sliding, climbing, etc. Dylan's friend Eve wanted to take him there for her birthday and I took Courtney and Travis along also. They had a blast. Its a great concept, the kids love it, but too expensive to do very often.

Dylan and Eve. These two get along so well, in fact they tell us quite often that they are getting married when they get older.

Travis

Courtney

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T16:14:00.007-04:00

We've had a great Easter day so far. Bruce's parents came to visit for the weekend and have been jumped on, talked to, and dragged around nonstop by Courtney, Dylan, and Travis. I'll post our fun outing we had yesterday later on this week.

The kids woke up to their Easter baskets overflowing with candy along with some fun presents that the "Easter Grandma" brought them.

We got ready for church, somehow making to the chapel early despite the fun candy-induced morning.

After church and a quick lunch that I insisted was at least somewhat healthy, we went in the backyard for an Easter Egg Hunt. They loved showing off all of their loot.

The day ended with a yummy dinner of spiral cut ham and a bunch of other yummy things, followed by strawberry shortcake while watching "The Testaments," a wonderful video on Christ and His life and Resurrection and Atonement. Great day!

RAIN RAIN RAIN

2009-04-08T19:30:00.003-04:00

It's been raining off and on the past few weeks. The other day it was also pretty warm out, perfect for playing in the rain. I got some shots of Courtney and Dylan with 2 friends on the trampoline. They loved it. When they were done, they came in for some hot cocoa. Perfect day.

Wild Animals

2009-04-07T14:30:00.003-04:00

Since Courtney has 3 weeks off from school, I've been trying to do some fun activities with the kids. On Monday, we went to the North Carolina Zoo. It was very fun, but exhausting with all the walking. I rented a double stroller so both Travis and Dylan could have a break. But the park is uphill for the first half and downhill for the second half. I got my workout with those boys. We all had lots of fun and want to go back soon. (I got a year pass so we can visit the zoo and aquariums all year.)

Posing with the baboons.

The highlight for Dylan. A few weeks ago he decided he wants to be a zookeeper when he grows up and take care of the giraffes. We had to visit them twice that day. They were very cute, 4 little ones were running back and forth playing.

Another fun pose.

Courtney got a boost onto this bison from some teenage boys that were climbing it before her. She loves to climb.

They had this fun helicopter to sit in and pretend you were driving over the savannah tracking animals.

More adventures are coming soon...

1st Day of Spring

2009-03-20T13:05:00.003-04:00

I'm loving the first day of spring this year. Usually it just depresses me seeing cold and snow outside and no hope of it leaving for months. But now, I look outside to the sunshine, warm temperatures, and FLOWERS!!! Blooms are everywhere, it is so pretty and happy. I get the faint scent of a nearby tree full of delicate petals when I go outside. It's so exciting to me. Here are a few pictures I've taken over the last few weeks in my excitment at having a real spring!!

Once I get used to all of this, I may have to move near my aunt Terri, where you can see it's always so beautiful.

Babies Babies Everywhere!

2009-03-09T17:56:00.006-04:00

Here is the newest addition to our family.

Sarah and Lily

Tim (Bruce's brother) and Hillary's new twin girls.

So sweet. Congrats you guys!

Adventures in Tape

2009-02-22T14:46:00.004-05:00

Dylan's been asking for tape a lot lately to hang his artwork around the house. While I was upstairs the other day, he got creative with the tape around the downstairs. I took off a bunch of pieces from walls before I thought to take pictures. So here's a little of what he did. The last few days, I've found more around the place. He had fun!!!

Trip to Tennessee

2009-02-09T11:14:00.005-05:00

Me and the kids traveled to McMinnville, TN to visit my sister Kim a few weeks ago. It has just taken me forever to get these pictures posted. We had so much fun spending time with her family and meeting her newest little guy, Joshua. Our kids play really well together. They were out in the family room almost the whole time, we never really saw them much, which gave Kim and I lots of girl time. We watched movies, went shopping, made a ton of meals for her freezer, and ate really yummy but bad-for-you food. It was so great. Here's a bunch of pictures from that week.

The proud new mama. So sweet.

Joshua is such a sweet baby. He fusses when you try to lay him down in his bed. He's a little spoiled with all of us there holding him nonstop. But he's really a good baby and doesn't cry much.

Dylan and Caleb are such good buddies. They had lots of fun playing. Later, Caleb and Courtney found some things to do together, so Dylan and Gracie played together. Dylan will play with whoever will have him.

Here's pictures of all the kids taking turns with Joshua.

Big brother Caleb

Big sister Gracie

Courtney made a great babysitter for Kim. She would sit and hold Joshua for a while so Kim could get things done. She loves her little cousin. Her and I had to fight over him a few times.

Dylan, figuring out this baby thing.

Travis thought Joshua was great. I thought he'd get a little jealous with me holding him a lot, but he loved it. Is that a sign I need another one???

GO STEELERS!

2009-02-01T18:34:00.001-05:00

I Thought We Moved To NC!

2009-01-28T11:39:00.005-05:00

Last week, we got a big snow storm. Okay, it wasn't huge, especially considering what we used to live with. But for this area, it was big. Record snow falls of 4-6 inches. The entire area shut down for the day. All the schools were closed for 2 days. Bruce's office shut down. We had dentist appointments that were cancelled. Many businesses were closed. Basically, nobody left home unless they really had to. We didn't have problems driving, but for people who don't see this very often, driving is pretty dangerous. It's actually dangerous for us too because we have to be on the road with them.

The kids had lots of fun. They had a snowball fight with our neighbors, tried to build a snowman, jumped on the snow-covered trampoline. They stayed outside for a couple of hours enjoying this rare occasion. I stayed outside for about 20 minutes to take pictures, but then went inside for hot cocoa. That was enough for me!

It was pretty much gone within 2 days. Hopefully we won't get another storm like this for a few more years. Isn't that why I moved out here?

Our newest family member

2009-01-02T15:36:00.002-05:00

Who is this cute little boy???

Find out here.

Can't wait to come see you next week!!

Happy '09

2009-01-01T19:42:00.010-05:00

We had a fun little New Year's Eve party at home with just the 5 of us. Well, actually just the 4 of us, Travis went to bed quite early. We had such a great time. Even Dylan made it up past midnight. We were having so much fun that I kept forgetting to take pictures. But here's some I mananaged to get.

The kids have been asking to rent Star Wars: The Clone Wars for a while now. So that started our fun evening.

Then on to a few games. We got both of these for Christmas, and finally were able to break them out.

Bruce beat us all at Sorry. Dylan came in second, Courtney third, and I was last. It was a pretty ruthless game, no mercy given.
The teams: Dylan and I against Bruce and Courtney. Bruce and Courtney just killed us. They know way too much about Disney movies.

We had yummy chocolate fondue for dessert. I forgot to take a picture of our whole spread, so you just get the dirty pot. I cut up a bunch of fruit; Courtney and Dylan made super yummy cake balls earlier that day. I'll put the recipe at the end, if you dare try it. They are really good, so good luck having any left.

Getting ready for the countdown. I had a few poppers, and Bruce poured us Sparkling Cider.

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Cake Balls
(from sis-in-law Jessica)

1 cake mix
1 tub frosting
melted chocolate

Make the cake as directed on the box. Cool completely. Break up into small pieces in a bowl and mix with frosting. Shape into small balls, about 1/2 inch. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze. Dip in melted chocolate and freeze again. Enjoy!!!

***We used chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and white cake with vanilla frosting, adding mini chocolate chips to both. Instead of dipping in melted chocolate and freezing, we just used them with our fondue. They were super good. Thanks Jess for the great recipe.

The Best Chocolate Fondue

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup milk
10 large marshmallows
1/4 cup whipping cream

Put chocolate and milk in fondue pot. Turn on heat to low setting. Stirring constantly, add marshmallows until melted. Gradually add whipping cream.
Serve with fruit pieces, pound cake, marshmallows, cheese cake, cookies, etc.
Makes 3 cups

Christmas Program

2008-12-22T15:39:00.002-05:00

Dylan had a little Christmas program at his preschool last week. It was so cute. The kids all had their reindeer antlers that they made and their red noses. They sang a bunch of songs, a poem, recited the alphabet and some counting that they've been working on, and served us cookies they made along with a Christmas present for moms and dads. It was so fun to go to his class and let him show everything off.

Dylan with his good friend Eve. The two of them just love each other. They run up and give a big hug whenever they see each other, even in the middle of church.

Santa showed up, which worked out great since we haven't had a chance to see him yet this season. Dylan is still pretty nervous to sit on his lap, but once there, he knew exactly what to say. And then I handed Travis off for a quick picture with both of them. Travis hated it, but he did pretty good considering.

My Secret Addiction

2008-12-18T14:07:00.002-05:00

Here's another blog about food and restaurants and eating. Can you tell I live for eating. I get such pleasure out of good food.

Travis and I were finishing up some Christmas shopping on Wednesday while Courtney and Dylan were in school. We left Toys R Us just in time for Sweet Tomatoes to open, with just enough time for a yummy lunch before picking up Dylan.

I do love this place. Everything about it is just so wonderful.

First of all, it's perfect for Travis. We can eat right away, not having to try and keep him entertained for 20 minutes while we wait for our order. And I can pick and choose what to get him, meaning he will eat just about everything, not just one thing on his plate. And he eats the whole time. If for some reason he starts to get a little fidgety, here's some more jello! He loves it.

Now on to my food.

They had a soup featured this month which I wasn't too sure about, but decided to give it a try. It was a creamy turkey and cranberry soup with a made-from-scratch stuffing to put on top. It was sooooo good I had to get seconds. I kept thinking how great this would be for Thanksgiving dinner instead of the usual fare.

And then the best part of the whole visit . . . the bread. Soft sourdough, hearty indian grain, and these yummy sweet orange and cranberry muffins. I won't tell you how many times I went back for more bread.

It just makes me so happy to eat somewhere that is so good, that makes me feel full in a good way, that lasts for hours after. I'm constantly thinking where to go next and how soon can I get there. It's an addiction really, this need to eat out at my favorite places. And living in this place, with so many more options then Lander, has only fed my addiction. But I don't think I'll be signing up for any 12 step programs any time soon. I'm enjoying myself too much.

On to the next one . . .

Decorating our Chistmas Tree

2008-12-08T21:43:00.003-05:00

We got our tree on Saturday. It is a really beautiful Frasier Fur, but the pictures don't do it any justice. The picture actually looks pretty sad and pathetic. But it's so much better in person. We had fun getting all of our ornaments on tonight, trying to avoid Travis' constant swats at the low hanging ones.

Thanksgiving Weekend- Day 4

2008-12-04T09:21:00.005-05:00

Final Day! I promise.

Carolina Beach

Here is the view from our hotel room.

We woke up to lots of rain on Saturday. But we were determined to make the most of it. Justin brought us all breakfast, then proceeded to feed the leftovers to the seagulls outside our balconies. That is, until a hotel employee started yelling at us from below. Oops! Peeking over from my balcony.

After breakfast, we took the kids to the beach to look for seashells. It was just sprinkling, but cold. Kim and I were miserable, but the kids didn't care. They loved running from the waves and finding treasures. After that cold activity, we went to the hotel swimming pool and hot tub.

Since it was so cold and wet, we decided to take the kids to the aquarium. It was really fun and the kids loved it. But that just put Bruce in the mood for seafood, so we found this great little resaurant nearby. It was such a yummy lunch. I had a blackened shrimp and mango salsa quesadilla. YUM!

After lunch we decided to head on home. Kim and Justin stayed in town for a little longer then took off for the first leg of their trip home. It was sad to have to say goodbye, but we had such a great weekend together. It's nice to be only 8 hours away from each other. We'll get to see them again next month when Kim has her baby. Courtney is out of school for the first 3 weeks of January, so we have lots of time to visit.

Now that we've had out first trip to the coast since moving here, I'm already planning when we can go again. There are so many things to do, even in the cold season: lighthouse tours, Captain Blackbeard, Wright Brothers museum, WWII battleship, Roanoke Island, civil war sites, and much more!

Thanksgiving Weekend- Day 3

2008-12-03T08:42:00.003-05:00

We had a big work day on Friday.

Bruce, Justin, and Darlene worked hard to finish the fence. There's just a little work left on the gates, then some staining, then it is done!!! Yay!

I raked the leaves in the backyard. The kids were a big help carrying boards for the fence and helping me get the leaves to the street. Then they had to jump in them and throw them around for a while. This is the first time we've had big trees in our yard so it was fun to play in the big pile.

Kim tidied my house up and then made us a yummy lunch with our Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. Yum. That evening we took off for a quick trip to the coast. We got there late, but it was still really nice out. So Kim, Courtney, and I went for a quick stroll along the sand with our free hot cocoa we got from the hotel lobby. We all slept really well after a hard day, then had fun playing on Saturday. But I'll save that for tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Weekend- Day 2

2008-12-01T18:06:00.003-05:00

The big day. I didn't get too many pictures this day because I was so busy in the kitchen. It went really well and wasn't too chaotic. I was on my feet most of the day and they really hurt by the end, but things really weren't too crazy. I didn't make too many dishes or plan anything too fancy. It just turned out really simple but very yummy. I worked hard to use really good recipes, and I always make everything from scratch for this one day. Lots of thanks to Kim and Darlene for their help in preparing food and huge thanks to Darlene, Bruce, and Justin for the great job they did on clean-up duty.

These two cousins are just the best of friends. They get so excited to visit each other and are inseparable the whole time.