cute as buttons

Traveling Days

2010-06-16T02:01:00.005-04:00

Thursday, June 10th we headed to the Greensboro airport at around 2pm for our 4:45pm flight to Seattle, WA. We managed to get 5 suitcases, 3 car seats, 3 backpacks, 3 carry-ons and 4 kids into the airport. The people at the airport were all very helpful and patient getting us checked in and all the bags and car seats checked. We ended up having lots of spare time to pull out games and toys and play before our flight.

We had about a 3 hour layover in Cincinnati where we ate some Chick-fil-A and played some more. At almost 10pm NC time we boarded our plane for Seattle. We let the kids watch a movie on our borrowed portable DVD player and then got them settled down to sleep. They managed to sleep about 1 1/2 hours before we landed in Seattle. Our only issue was on our descent into Seattle when Bastian woke up with his ears hurting and cried for a while. Other than that the kids were amazingly well behaved!

We landed in Seattle at about 10:15pm (1:15 NC time) and managed to navigate the airport subway and elevators to pick up all our bags and car seats and find the location to pick up our shuttle to the hotel. We waited about 30 min. in the chilly Seattle night air for our shuttle and headed to the hotel. By the time we were unloaded and settled in our hotel it was about 3am NC time. What a long day! I managed to get a few hours of very interrupted sleep (due to my littlest) before getting up and ready to head to downtown Seattle to get Dave his passport. I guess this needs explanation. Dave and I applied for passports about 6 weeks before we were leaving for our trip to Canada. About 10 days before we left I got my passport and Dave got a letter from the passport agency saying his birth certificate was not valid for passport application. We did not know what to do and couldn't talk to anyone until the Tuesday after the holiday weekend. After a couple of phone calls we figured we didn't have time to wait for a birth certificate, send it back and have time to get our passport back so we ended up scheduling a special appointment in Seattle in the hopes that he would manage to get it that day. My dad picked us up at our hotel and we got all our stuff loaded in the van and headed downtown with the kids to the Federal building. We dropped Dave off and walked around Seattle with Opah while we waited for news. We saw some cool totems and toured the Gold Rush Museum.

We also peeked into this glass shop which had some really beautiful things. I made the kids wait right in front of the doors and look from there, where Bastian danced around to the Michael Jackson music playing in the store. That made me just a little nervous! The price on the salmon chandelier (upper right) was $25,000!

We got a call from Dave around noon with the good news that we would get his passport, but had to go back to the office just before they closed at 3pm to pick it up. We had a little more time to kill, so we ate some bread from a bakery and some other snacks and walked down by the bay and around Seattle some more. We picked up a postcard to send to Grandmom and Pop-Pop and headed back to the Federal building where the kids and I waited outside and wrote our postcard. At about 3:15pm Dave came outside with his passport and we were all very excited!

We loaded up the car and were on the road up to Whistler, Canada. Woohoo! We were all very excited to be on our way!

We had a six hour drive with some great views of Horse Shoe Bay and a stop for an English Fish and Chips dinner. Yum!

Halloween

2010-03-08T10:46:00.006-05:00

We started our Halloween celebrations with cupcakes for Corbin's class party. It was fun (and just a little bit frustrating) to make our two dozen spider cupcakes, which I thought turned out super cute!

We had a fun and full Halloween day! I surprised my kids by digging up the remnants of my Sydney Bristow costume from many years ago, which they all enjoyed trying on.

When it came to pumpkin carving time, we had a table full of kids and pumpkins! After Mommy cut off the tops the kids got to work cleaning out their pumpkins, including Hero's neighborhood friend, Ngan, who joined us for the day. Mommy carved the pumpkins according to each kids specifications (silly face, scary face, fangs, etc.)

For dinner we ate a jack-o-lantern faced chicken pot pie and drank blood-like juice with gummy eyeballs floating in it.

After dinner the kids all got dressed in their costumes. Poor Bastian started running a fever Halloween day and had to stay home with Mommy and Beckham, while we handed out candy. Hero had had the H1N1 virus the week leading up to Halloween, but was fever free and well enough to go out trick-or-treating, while poor Bastian started coming down with it that day and could not. We had our little monkey, Yoda, Luke Skywalker, a ballerina and lumberjack Daddy who took the rest of the kids out in the rain to trick-or-treat around our neighborhood. When everyone returned home we drank cinnamon steamers (a sweetened hot milk flavored with cinnamon extract - yummy!).

These are the finished products of our pumpkin carving efforts.

During the day Daddy also labored over our house-o-lantern, which was up in our front window with a strobe light flashing behind it. He did a great job and it looked very cool!

Dixie Classic Fair

2010-03-07T16:38:00.002-05:00

I chaperoned Corbin's first Kindergarten field trip to the Dixie Classic Fair. As a class we saw many farm animals, visited the petting zoo and watched the pig races and sheep herding dogs. I did not get many pictures as my hands were full with my 3 month old, but we had fun and enjoyed our time together. We were able to visit Hero's artwork and went home with our favorite fair treats - fudge, cotton candy and a gourmet rocky road caramel apple!

Father and Son

2010-03-07T16:29:00.003-05:00

Daddy with Beckham, his little mini-me after his first hair cut. What cute boys!

Miracle of Miracles

2010-03-07T15:52:00.003-05:00

So after almost 9 full months away from blogging, here I am trying to get caught up. Although I love to blog it is a task I have been dreading, knowing that every day I wait I get more and more behind. I've also felt with piles of laundry still to fold or dishes in the sink or one of the many other household chores left undone that blogging was something of a lesser priority. Here I am almost 9 months to the day after Beckham was born tired from over a week of sickness in my house, 8:30am church and a list of other things, giving up my much treasured Sunday afternoon nap to get just one, but hopefully more than one blog post accomplished. I will try to keep things short and sweet so that it will be easier for me and less daunting to those of you trying to read.

And so I will start with a couple of pics of Beckham ranging from 2-3 months smiling, finding his feet and sitting up in his Bumbo seat. He has been the most smiley of babies and every time someone has looked his way or talked to him, he has returned their attentions with the biggest of smiles. We love our smiley boy!

Baby Beckham is here!

2009-06-12T16:46:00.003-04:00

Beckham Kellan Westbrooks was born around 8:30 this morning, June 12th. He weighed 10lb 0.8oz. Beckham has a full head of brown hair, which I still need a good picture of, but we will post more pictures very soon. Labor and delivery went well for both Mommy and baby and both are healthy and well. At 2 weeks overdue we were anxious to see Beckham and are very excited he is finally here!

Hero, Corbin and Bastian love their new brother and are very excited to hold him, gaze at him and bring him home tomorrow!

Saturday Morning Cartoons

2009-05-25T22:56:00.003-04:00

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the scene Saturday morning when I came downstairs. The kids all snuggled up together on the floor watching Saturday morning cartoons.

No More Training Wheels!

2009-05-23T22:50:00.001-04:00

Friday night Corbin finally decided he was ready to take the training wheels off after seeing the younger girl across the street doing it. He couldn't have her showing him up, so we took the wheels off and he did great! He even rode his bike along with me while I walked a portion of the 5K held by our church for Memorial Day. Way to go Corbin!

Visit from Uncle Mike

2009-05-15T22:16:00.005-04:00

Uncle Mike was in town for a few days to visit and on Friday the whole family took a trip to the Asheboro Zoo. We love the zoo and usually go there a few times a year.

This was the first time we've been to the zoo since Bastian has been talking, so it was fun to hear all he had to say about the animals.

I look forward to going back to the zoo soon, because they have built a platform next to the giraffes where you will be able to feed them right out of your hands. The opening was delayed so we'll have to go back after it opens in June and give it a try.

I love elephants, especially baby ones! So cute!

It was amazing this time around because it seemed like we saw pretty much every animal up and about. A lot of animals are usually hiding and we don't get to see them, but even the nocturnal animals were all up and running around. Usually all you see of those are their tails hanging down from the highest back corner. Even the grizzly was up on the rock posing for the cameras.

After the zoo trip, we all went to Little Italy for dinner and then on to our house for a Guitar Hero jam session.

We all loved having Uncle Mike come visit!

Easter

2009-04-12T22:04:00.000-04:00

We had a fun Easter weekend dyeing eggs on Saturday and having Easter dinner and an egg hunt at Grandma and Popop's house after church on Sunday. Her are some pics of the kids in action.

Bastian Turns 2!

2009-04-09T17:09:00.002-04:00

On Bastian's birthday we had a small party with some family and friends. We had ice cream cone cupcakes and ice cream and then opened presents.

Bastian got some roller skates, a tricycle, a large Galactic Heroes set, a toy chainsaw and the movie, Bolt.

Bastian is our crazy kid, but he is so much fun! He is our little comic and is always making us laugh! We love him so much and love watching his personality grow!

Trip to Utah in March

2009-04-01T14:37:00.004-04:00

Day 1 & 2 - I stayed with my brother Kenneth and his family and the first day it snowed all morning, but cleared up enough for Kenneth, Dylan and me to go out in the afternoon. We went to P.F. Chang's for lunch (yummy!) and then went to see Race to Witch Mountain. The next day the kids had a half day of school, so we headed over to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point in the afternoon. I had tons of fun getting to see their family, since I had not seen Jennifer or the kids for four years.

Evening of Day 2, Day 3 and Morning of Day 4 - Eden came and picked me up after work and we headed over to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. When we got there the wait was 90 min.+, so we walked over to the mall and looked around for a while until it was time to eat. We ate some delicious steak and after we finished eating, we headed to the $2 movie theatre, only to realize it was 9:30pm and most of the movies had already started. We decided to watch a movie back at her house and then stayed up until almost 3am talking.
The next morning we did brunch at a restaurant called Mimi's Cafe. This is the best place I've ever been for breakfast! It was soooo good! We went back to Eden's house, where I took a nap before we took off for an Indian festival. We stopped off on our way out of town for some gelato and started on what we thought would be a half hour trip down to Spanish Fork. Little did we know what was in store! When we got off the exit we ended up in mounds of traffic. Cars were parked on both sides of the street over a mile before the temple. As we realized we would not be finding any parking before we reached the temple, we decided to continue to inch slowly through town in the hopes that if we passed the temple we might find something closer, so we had fun talking and people watching. We were right and ended up parking not too far from the temple. As we were walking towards the temple we saw a huge cloud of pink rise over the temple. We had come all this way and missed the throwing of the colors, a ceremony where people throw brightly colored powder all over each other and into the air. We continued on to the temple where we passed people covered from head to toe in bright colors. It was quite the sight! When we got there it was a crazy mass of brightly colored people (who we tried to avoid touching as we squeezed through the crowd). We toured the temple and followed the trail of people waiting in line for food to its end. After finding out from someone they had waited an hour in line for food, we decided to leave and go to an Indian restaurant after we left. Unfortunately the traffic to get out of town was almost as bad as coming in, so we decided to eat somewhere else so we would make it to the movies. We had so much fun hanging out together! Eden took the pics at the festival, so if I happen to get a hold of some, I will post them.
The next day we woke up to snow again and headed out in the cold and snow to church. After church we went to Naomi's house for a big family dinner, where we finally got to eat our Indian food. Naomi had made butter chicken and mango lassi's - yum! I had a great time with Eden and Kenneth and Naomi's families.

Day 5 & 6 - I spent the remainder of my trip with my sister, Naomi and her family. Monday morning we went to an English store, where I picked up some English treats I haven't had in a while: pork pies, salt and vinegar hula hoops, and Kinder eggs for the kids for Easter. In the afternoon I had my first IKEA experience. I bought a couple of small things I knew I could fit in my suitcase, but made a mental list of the many other things I would like to get when I make a trip to the IKEA that just opened in Charlotte, NC. Naomi and I went out and had a great dinner, just the two of us at a place with a bakery. After 10 min. of drooling over the many varieties of pastries, we decided on two we would take home and split, while watching Australia. I made it through the dessert, but not through the movie! The dessert was super yummy and the movie...I guess I will have to rent it and try watching it again. I think I made it through 45 min. of the 3 hour movie. The next day we went to the church distribution center to pick up some things, had a ginger scone at the English bakery and headed over to the airport to say goodbye.

I had so much fun getting to see my siblings and their families in Utah! It was such a great trip and I was so spoiled while I was there. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband, who offered to take a week off of work and stay home with the kids, so I could enjoy a trip minus the kids before baby #4 arrived.

Snow Day!

2009-03-02T13:02:00.005-05:00

We finally had a real snow here in NC! The kids were so excited to go out sledding and Daddy stayed home for the morning to take them out in the snow (luckily for Mommy, since she is not in sledding condition at the moment). They had fun and came in and took a nice warm bath. Seeing we don't have snow often they were really not used to being that cold! After they got dressed we fixed soup for lunch and had some rest time.

Baby Boy Name

2009-03-02T00:21:00.002-05:00

We have always had names picked out for our babies before we even knew the sex. This time we had a name picked for a girl, but none for a boy. I spent hours looking through names online and made a long list which has been narrowed down to two. Dave and Hero prefer one name and Corbin and I prefer the other and no one has been willing to budge yet. I stole the idea two other friends have done to poll friends and family on their baby name preferences. I was curious to see everyone's thoughts on our two names and which one will win out. It may be our deciding factor, but it may not. I still think it would be fun to see what everyone thinks, so if you have a second, please vote on which is your favorite.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-20T15:15:00.002-05:00

For Valentine's Day this year I decided we had way too much candy (we still have tons left from Halloween), so instead of making cute treat bags for everyone, I splurged and bought a fondue pot as a family gift. It was mostly selfish on my part because I've been wanting one for a while now, but everyone seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did! I decided we would go all out and do fondue for dinner and for dessert as well.

These beautiful flowers on my table are from my father-in-law, who buys flowers for me every year for Valentine's Day. It is really very sweet of him and this year they are absolutely gorgeous and a week later still going strong!

For dinner we did a cheese fondue from a recipe of Rachel Ray's called Welsh Rarebit Fondue. We had cubed roast beef, chicken sausage, broccoli, toasted bread cubes and grape tomatoes sliced in half with a piece of bacon in the middle for dipping. Everything was so good!

Bastian loved the dipping, but pretty much ended up just eating bread and cheese for dinner. Oh well! It was Valentines Day!

Hero and Corbin were having so much fun with the fondue, they requested doing it every night. As much as I loved it, it was still a little pricey, so we settled on having a special fondue night once a month. I am looking forward to trying some different recipes!

Bastian was exhausted (ended up only napping about 30 min. that day), so we decided to get him in bed before doing dessert. For dessert I made a chocolate fondue and we had strawberries, bananas, apples, oranges, pretzel thins, coconut marshmallows and toasted pound cake. Wow was it good! We will definitely get plenty of use out of our new fondue pot. In fact we had some friends come to visit this week and made some marshmallow fondue which was also very yummy!

Y Chromosome Wins Again!

2009-01-02T21:53:00.002-05:00

As much as I would have loved another girl, we are being blessed with another boy, boy #3. I was pretty positive it was going to be a boy and I've been right with all the others, so I wasn't overly disappointed. Hero on the other hand was really betting on a sister and was almost in tears, but a few days later and she is hugging and kissing my belly and telling her baby brother she loves him. We have not decided on a name yet, so if anyone wants to give a list of suggestions, feel free, you may be a winner!

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T21:10:00.005-05:00

We went to get Bastian out of his crib Christmas morning and he had managed to take his shirt off. He was quite proud of himself!

Santa brought Corbin a guitar, which he had really been wanting. Now we just have to teach him how to play it!

Santa put all kinds of snacks in our stockings. I guess he knew we would be taking a long car trip to Atlantic City, NJ the next day! Once Bastian saw the granola bar, he didn't care about anything else. We had finished stockings and moved on to presents under the tree and Bastian was still working on that granola bar.

Hero with a new set of Pet Shops, a whale and a fish.

Naomi, Dave just couldn't contain the excitement when he opened up your package of bag clips! :)

We finished opening our presents under the tree and prepared to have breakfast with Dave's family, then we exchanged gifts with them.

Here we are trying out Guitar Hero, which Dave got from his parents. It is a lot of fun! Dave and I have spent a few nights together playing it.

And for the finale...............Dave's family had gone in together and bought our kids a nice swing set. I evacuated the house with the kids on Christmas Eve, so Dave and his dad could put it together. It was dark when we got home and we had also closed all the blinds and covered the back door window with wrapping paper. After we finished exchanging gifts with Dave's family we told the kids they had a big surprise and to rip the wrapping paper off the back door. They were so surprised and happy. They love the swing set! It will be real nice when we have grass grown or mulch laid down and the kids no longer come inside covered in mud!

Our 11th Anniversary

2008-12-19T16:00:00.002-05:00

Dave and I decided we would like to get away for a night this year for our anniversary. With baby #4 on the way we knew it would be our last chance for a while. Dave's parents were willing to stay the night with the kids, so we made our plans. We went out for an early dinner and headed over to the Bed and Breakfast around 6pm. What a beautiful house! Our room consisted of a large living room with 6 windows across one side of the room overlooking their private lake and Pilot Mt., a large bathroom with a whirlpool tub and a beautiful bedroom with the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in! In addition there were two fireplaces, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. They delivered a wonderful breakfast (so large I couldn't finish it) to our bedroom. The people there were some of the nicest you would ever meet! We really had a wonderful, relaxing stay!

The Scenic Overlook Bed & Breakfast

The Living Room

The Oh So Comfortable Bed

The Large and Spacious Bathroom

My Super Cute Husband and the Delicious Breakfast

Me and Dave with Our Gorgeous View

Nana and Opa Come for a Visit

2008-12-12T15:07:00.001-05:00

Nana and Opa made a special visit to NC for Hero's baptism. We were all so excited they could make it! It had been over 18 months from Nana's last visit when Bastian was born and the first time Opa had ever visited us in the 9+ years we've been in NC. Nana was here for a week and Opa was able to stay for 2 1/2 days.

Opa's famous reading of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" with all the great voices (it is the story Opa read to us every Christmas Eve growing up).

We made a trip on the way to the airport to Duke University, Dad's alma mater, to visit the campus. It gave the kids a chance to run around after a 1 1/2 hour car trip and we got to see some of the beautiful architecture on campus.

Nana used to make gingerbread houses with us every year and I thought it would be a fun thing for the kids to do with their Nana. Nana applied the frosting and Hero and Corbin put on the candy. They did a great job and had a lot of fun!

We went with Nana to eat lunch at Hero's school.

Corbin took a picture of me and Nana at the airport before she had to board her plane. We loved having Nana and Opa visit and hope they will both be able to come back and visit when the baby comes in June!

Hero's Baptism

2008-12-06T13:27:00.001-05:00

What a special day for Hero! I can't believe she has grown so much! She is such a wonderful, beautiful girl!

This is Hero at home before heading to the church.

Hero is enjoying her cake after the baptism wearing a necklace her friend, Morgan, had made her for the occasion.

Hero is here with two of her friends, Morgan and Kaelyn, who sang a song for Hero's baptism. They did a beautiful job!

After Hero's baptism we all headed over to a restaurant called Kimonos for dinner. We enjoyed having some family time with Dave's parents and my parents who were able to visit from out west for Hero's special day.

Bastian is enjoying eating a lemon and making lots of fun faces for us!

The kids always enjoy eating at Kimonos, because they can watch the chefs at work. The chefs always like to entertain the kids by throwing vegetables at the window, squirting oil on the window or making flames shoot up.

Corbin turns 5

2008-11-26T12:50:00.000-05:00

We started out Corbin's birthday by going to our local science museum to see their new dinosaur exhibit. We went to see "Bolt" in 3D in the afternoon. We enjoyed the movie, but Corbin was a little tense during the beginning chase scene, which had a lot of 3D effects. After the movie we took the kids to IHOP for dinner, which is their favorite place to eat out, then we came home for presents and pumpkin pie (Corbin has never liked cake much and requested the pumpkin pie.) I had planned on making homemade, but the day got kind of crazy and I ended up running to Costco to pick up one of their pumpkin pie's instead, which was still very good!

Corbin's biggest requests for his birthday were for the "ultimate lightsaber" and a knight costume he loved playing with at a friends house. Dave and I got him both of those as well as the movie "Kung Fu Panda" and a couple of Star Wars figurines. He also received a large lego set, a Star Wars helmet, a Star Wars puzzle and some money he used to buy some TMNT toys. Corbin was very excited about all his gifts!

Happy Times!

2008-11-21T12:20:00.000-05:00

I love those happy times when all three of my kids are enjoying playing together. It brings me so much joy! Bastian was having so much fun pushing Hero and Corbin around. They would get to the end of the hall, turn around and do it all over again. I can't tell you how many times Bastian pushed them back and forth.

8th Birthday Party

2008-11-20T09:37:00.003-05:00

Saturday Hero had an awesome birthday party at a horse stable in town (one of Dave's Xebweb clients was very generous in offering to do this party for Hero). All the children were able to ride two different horses, C.C. and Turbo, then Hero got a special turn to ride Turbo and steer him on her own, turn circles, etc. They also got to feed one of the horses, groom and lead the miniature pony, paint a horse craft, get their faces painted and get tattoos. Hero had a blast!

I found a picture of a horse cake online I thought I might be able to pull off, but I still thought I might be making a run to Walmart to buy a cake because mine wouldn't turn out. I love doing pretty much all things crafty, but I am not very confident in my cake decorating skills, so I was pretty surprised when the cake turned out better than I thought it would!

I heated hot dogs in a crockpot and we had hot dogs, chips, fruits and veggies. I bought bubble gum machines at the dollar store, filled them with bubble gum, attatched the star balloons, then wrapped them in pink bandanas. These then doubled as decorations and party favors.

I was so amazed that Corbin was so willing to get on a horse (considering I have a difficult time getting him to even pet animals in the petting zoo). He really enjoyed it! I also thought Bastian would be scared, but we got him up on the horses without a fuss. He seemed pretty sober about the whole thing, but didn't seem upset about riding.

Hero had a great time with all her friends! She got lots of horse related gifts - a pet shop horse suffed animal, a petshop horse t-shirt and a bratz doll with a horse. She also received two Disney Fairy books, some littlest pet shop animals and a Target gift card. She loved all her gifts and we were so glad so many of her friends could come! I think they all had a great time!

#4

2008-11-06T08:42:00.003-05:00

Baby #4 is coming on or around May 29th (which of course means this will be a June baby)! We are very excited and wanted to share the news with all our friends and family now we are around the 12 week mark. I'm hoping the morning sickness will be done in the next 2-3 weeks and that I will regain a little more energy. Other than that everything is going well so far.

Halloween

2008-11-06T08:30:00.002-05:00

I managed to finish making Corbin's Luke Skywalker tunic on Halloween day. I think it turned out pretty well! We followed our yearly tradition and went to the Scribner's house for dinner and took the kids trick-or-treating together. The kids enjoyed themselves of course (how many kids don't like trick-or-treating?) and Bastian who refuses to speak was excited enough to say "trick or treat" a few times. Of course when asked to repeat it later, refused to perform for us as usual. That kid!

Field Trip

2008-11-06T08:21:00.004-05:00

We went to the zoo for Hero's 2nd Grade field trip. It was the coldest day this season and windy to boot! We froze, but I think the kids still had a lot of fun! I think even the ostrich was cold!

Halloween Party

2008-10-26T20:32:00.002-04:00

We had our church Halloween party and chili cook-off on Friday. The kids had decided to go with the Star Wars theme this year. I thought it would be pretty easy to make the costumes, but last weekend I started thinking more about it and realized that I had gotten in a little over my head considering I hadn't started making anything yet and I don't really sew anyway. I called up my friend Shelley, who was so wonderful to agree to help me make Hero's Princess Leia dress. So Thursday night I headed to Greensboro, where Shelley and I got to work coming up with a pattern. We worked hard for hours, but had so much fun hanging out. I ended up getting home around 2:30am with a good portion of the dress done, but needing to wake up at 6am to get the kids ready and take Hero to school. Working on very little sleep I somehow managed to get the rest of the dress finished on my own Friday, but was still sewing at 5:30 and the party started at 6pm. We were an hour late, but we made it and the kids still had fun! I'm pretty proud of how the dress turned out and Hero loved it! I couldn't have done it without Shelley though, so Shelley thank you sooooooo, soooooo much! I definitely owe you! I hope you managed to catch up on your sleep. Corbin was Luke Skywalker (I plan on making a better costume this week before Halloween, but just didn't have time to get both done before the church party) and Bastian was Yoda. I bought his costume and he loved it and didn't try taking off the hat. He actually really wanted to wear it!

Fair

2008-10-11T10:07:00.008-04:00

After a couple of months hiatus from blogging, we're back (some of you are saying it's about time!) I figured I would start with the present and work backwards, so when you check out the blog, scroll backwards because I'm going to try and insert all the events from the past couple of months in chronological order.

So we took off for the fair yesterday as soon as Hero got out of school. We had tons of fun and did a lot of things. The first thing we did was ride the ferris wheel. Hero had been begging on the drive over to fair to ride the ferris wheel and it happened to be one of the closest things to the entrance where we came in. I took the kids up while Dave stayed with Bastian at the bottom. Hero and Corbin really enjoyed it and we got some airial pics of Dave and Bastian, the fair and downtown.

We decided we would do all the rides first before the Friday evening crowds showed up and didn't end up waiting in any lines. I wasn't sure how Bastian would do, since this was his first year on the rides, but he wasn't nervous at all and actually got upset when he had to get off of the rides.

It was a little nerve-racking to let Hero get on one of the bigger kids rides, but she had a blast!

I think Corbin's favorite rides were the roller coasters. They rode the caterpillar coaster first and that wasn't enough, so they rode the dragon coaster as well.

Dave and Corbin sitting together waiting for the pig races to start. We never miss the pig races (which Nana said was her favorite event at the fair the year she came with us.) Hero even got to be a cheerleader for our section on the final race, but unfortunately our pig was very lazy and wasn't even close to winning the race. Hero was pretty bummed she didn't win the poopin' pig key chain and a pack of oreos you get if your pig wins when you're the cheeleader.

These card towers were amazing, but even more amazing was watching the guy (who has a Guinness world record for card stacking) stack cards while talking on his cell phone. His name is Brian Berg and you can see even more amazing stuff from him at http://www.cardstacker.com/gallery.html

We ended off the evening going to the figure eight races, which all the kids loved. It got late though and we had to leave before the final race and the demolition derby at the end, but the kids were not overly upset because they finally got their cotton candy. Let me just say I have never seen Corbin handle getting so messy so well. He really liked it and handled it really well, but for those who have seen the show "Monk", Corbin was ready for his "Wipe! Wipe!" as soon as he was finished.

We had lots and lots of fun and returned home and ate some chili that had been cooking in the crockpot and put the kids to bed. Dave and I were so exhausted we went to bed shortly after the kids, but not before tasting our chocolate peanut butter fudge. Sooooooo good!

Apple Festival

2008-09-20T11:52:00.002-04:00

We went to the Apple Festival at Bethabara Park, which has become a yearly tradition. This year we took our neighbor, Johnny, with us. The kids ate ice cream, tried out tin can stilts as well as wooden ones and waited in about an hour long line to ride the hay ride. We also watched a potter, a weaver and handspinner spinning wool at work in one of the old houses. Dave and I shared a barbecue sandwich and an apple cider slushie. Yum!

Two Front Teeth

2008-09-12T15:12:00.003-04:00

Labor Day we went for a hike and then came home. I went to run a couple of errands and got a phone call from Hero telling me she had lost a tooth, but not the one that was super loose and really ready to come out. Daddy had thrown her onto the couch and her knee hit her mouth and knocked out the other tooth.

The other tooth continued to hang by a thread and despite begging Hero to just pull it out, it fell out 2 or 3 days later while she was eating a bowl of cereal. What a cute little window!

Pilot Mountain

2008-09-08T15:30:00.004-04:00

We went to Pilot Mt. for a hike Labor Day morning. The weather was gorgeous! It was probably in the mid-70s on the mountain with a nice breeze. The perfect hiking weather! The kids loved it too and kept requesting to hike more at the end of each trail. We hiked two trails and climbed to the scenic outlook to see some great views. The last trail we did I carried Bastian and there must have been something about the way I walked because I managed to lull Bastian to sleep.

Zoo Trip

2008-09-06T16:10:00.004-04:00

We went on a trip to the zoo with Dave's family. It was a lot of fun, as always!

Our Growing Boy

2008-09-01T16:46:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics of our little boy who is growing up so fast. Corbin says he wants to be a chef when he grows up, but I think Bastian wants to follow in his brother's footsteps. Bastian plays with Hero's kitchen all the time.

First Day of School

2008-08-25T16:27:00.003-04:00

We woke up on the first day of school to a beautiful rainbow, a foretelling of a great year we hope! Hero starts 2nd grade this year. Wow! They grow up so fast!

Sunsets

2008-08-24T16:37:00.000-04:00

We have great views of the beautiful sunsets from the back of our house. Some of these came out a little blurry, but they still show the beautiful colors.

Science Museum

2008-08-15T17:09:00.004-04:00

We went to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. It is the best museum in the state of NC we've visited so far. The inside of the museum was full of science adventures, while outside there was a water play area,outdoor musical instruments, petting zoo, playground, zoo area, and best of all was the building with insects and a whole butterfly room. We spent over an hour alone in this room watching and identifying the butterflies. Hero must have smelled really sweet, because she kept having butterflies land on her. They were really cool! We went back later for the butterfly release. They have a room where all the chrysalis are hung. All the butterflies that have emerged that day are released together. The man allowed everyone to put their hands into the box and coax the butterflies onto their fingers. We enjoyed this the best I think. The only downside to this trip was forgetting our camera and getting only a couple of pics on the camera phone, which were not the best quality.

Lavender and Lemon Mousse with Blueberry Soup

2008-07-23T17:02:00.001-04:00

I made this dessert when I hosted book club. It was absolutely wonderful! You can find the recipe on Oprah's site.

New House Pictures

2008-07-22T23:16:00.002-04:00

Well I know there are quite a few people who have been waiting to see pictures of our new house, so sorry for the wait, but it took some very late nights painting the kitchen and more unpacking before hosting book club at my house to get things in order. The downstairs is pretty much done now. The walls are still looking a little bare because we haven't hung pictures yet, but I wanted to get some pictures while it was nice and clean. I also have more painting to do upstairs, so I will post pictures of the kids rooms after they've been decorated. We just love it and can't believe it is our house!

Fourth of July Fun

2008-07-04T17:50:00.000-04:00

For the 4th we let the kids play in the sprinkler, then we cleaned up and had a cook out with friends. We then headed over to Shallowford Square, where we met up with some more friends to watch the fireworks (and forgot our camera.) Hero and Corbin loved the fireworks. Bastian on the other hand freaked out at the loud noise and was completely traumatized. Hopefully he'll get over his fear of loud noises and enjoy the fireworks next year.

Closing Day

2008-05-23T17:46:00.002-04:00

This is the day we closed on our house and had friends take a picture of the family in front of our new house.

Pretty, Pretty Princess!

2008-05-11T22:52:00.007-04:00

Tonight we had some time to play a game before bed and the kids decided on "Pretty, Pretty Princess." Well who else should win, but our very own Dave, so I had to take a picture of him completely accessorized. Here are my boys showing their toughness, despite their beautiful accessories...

...until they finally gave in to their inner princess! I can't stop laughing, even now, looking at these pictures! It's great!

Father and Son Campout

2008-05-11T20:31:00.003-04:00

This weekend was our Stake's father and son camp-out. Dave took Corbin and Dave's dad (otherwise known as Popop) went as well. Corbin had so much fun and can't stop telling me what fun he had. When they got there they had dinner and set up the tent. Around 8pm or so, Corbin was telling Dave how tired he was and a little while later they went and got ready for bed. Corbin got so excited to be in the tent that he was still awake when I called Dave around 10:30pm. I wasn't planning on calling Dave, but I had put Hero to bed after watching a movie with her and settled down to try and read some of my book club book, when our neighbors decided to listen to extremely loud rap music in their drive-way at 10:30pm. I was concerned they were going to wake up Bastian, since he sleeps on the side of the house closest to that neighbor. Anyway I walked over there to ask them to turn it down, because I had children sleeping. When they saw me coming they turned the music off and I could not believe their audacity in turning their music back on at the same volume, before I had even reached the front door. Needless to say I was absolutely fuming and called Dave to vent. I would have called the cops, but they now knew which neighbor was most likely to call the cops and because I was home with Dave gone, I wasn't sure it was the best idea. So of course I had to endure the loud music until midnight when they finally cleared out. Sorry for the tangent, but it just makes me grateful we are moving soon and won't have to endure this from these neighbors for the rest of the summer season (they are consistently playing loud rap music outside during the summer months.)

So I'll get back to the camp-out. I had bought whole grain pop tarts for Dave and Corbin for breakfast as something easy for breakfast. Needless to say, pop tarts are not a usual item in our home and Corbin was super excited about eating it and kept asking Dave all night if he could have it. Of course Dave would respond "no, it's for our breakfast" and Corbin would say "OK." Well Dave wakes up at 6am to find Corbin awake and the first thing Corbin says is "Daddy, I'm hungry! Can I have my pop tart now?"

Corbin had fun on the swing, but definitely loved swinging on the rope, because he felt just like Spiderman, one of his favorite superheroes. He keeps telling me he wants to be Spiderman when he grows up. He also wants to be a chef, so I don't know if he plans on being both, or he can't make up his mind from day to day.

Almost There!

2008-05-02T10:01:00.003-04:00

Well all the last of the big things are done. We had appliances put in last week, as well as our vinyl flooring. This week our carpet went in, which makes our house now look complete. Except for a couple of minute things our house is done! We even had our bushes put in and our mailbox put up. Wow! I am so excited about moving into our new house, but at the moment the whole packing and getting ready to move is stressing me out more than anything! I have no idea how I'm going to do it. I'm sure everyone feels this way when they are getting ready to move, but just the thought of it makes me queasy with nervousness. We just got our tentative closing date for May 19th, which is just a little over 2 weeks and we weren't expecting to close until the end of May/early June. Yikes!

Little Details

2008-05-02T09:42:00.003-04:00

All the plumbing has been finished now. There are sinks and faucets as well as the toilets.

After that they came in one day and did all the little details: closet shelving, door knobs, light fixtures, vents, light switches and outlets.

Teacher Appreciation Dinner

2008-05-02T09:23:00.002-04:00

Here we are at our church's annual Teacher Appreciation Dinner. This year we were able to have both of Hero's teachers and both of Corbin's teachers there. The theme was the 50's and they did a great job decorating. Everything was really nicely done and we had a really fun time with the kids teachers! Hero really, really, really enjoyed that banana split!

Sunday Dress

2008-04-21T00:44:00.002-04:00

Corbin and Hero were desperately needing some new Sunday clothes. It was warm enough this Sunday to wear them and I thought they looked so beautiful (and handsome!)

House Update

2008-04-21T00:30:00.002-04:00

We now have cabinets and counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms. The whole house has also been painted. Things seem to be getting close now. It is scary and exciting all at once! Scary mostly because I have not packed a thing yet and I'm starting to stress a little.

Our door has had it's first coat of paint. The color looks a little off, but that changes once it gets its extra coats.

We have doors as well...

...and a hand rail for the stairs. The kids were pretty excited about this, because they were a little nervous going up and down the stairs without anything to grab on to. Now they are good!

Cake Eating

2008-04-20T23:44:00.003-04:00

Bastian's 1st Birthday

2008-04-20T22:39:00.005-04:00

We decided to have Bastian's birthday party at the park. The weather was perfect! It was sunny and in the 70s. We started out playing with friends on the playground until everyone was there and then moved on to the cake and ice cream.

We chose a ball theme for Bastian's party. Every time Bastian goes into Corbin's room he goes straight for the ball basket and empties it out. He loves any and every kind of ball!

I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting on top. Bastian really enjoyed his cake and managed to not get very messy considering.

Good to the very last crumb!

Bastian loved all his presents, but especially the balls. They really are his favorite!

I'm giving my new ball a kiss!

After we went home we opened Bastian's new ball popper. He really loved it! He stayed up for a while past bed time having fun with it!

Shopping

2008-04-20T22:35:00.003-04:00

We went to the grocery store to pick up the ice cream for Bastian's birthday party. The kids looked so cute in the cart, I decided to take a picture.

Swim Lessons

2008-04-20T22:21:00.002-04:00

Grandmom and Popop got Corbin and Hero swim lessons at the YMCA for Easter. They were pretty excited, but as we got a little closer to the day of the lessons, Corbin became a little nervous. He was afraid he would drown, since he wasn't bringing his floaties. I promised him that the teachers would have things there to keep him safe and after a little warming up to the teacher he was having fun. By his third lesson, I had to drag him out of the pool kicking and screaming. Hero and Corbin have both had tons of fun and are really coming along! We don't get to take the kids swimming very often, but I really think it is important for them to learn how to swim.

2008-04-20T22:00:00.002-04:00

On the last day of spring break, we went to the Children's Museum with the Scribner's. We held a puppet show for Bastian...

...and sat in the Giant's chair...

...and we climbed the beanstalk to the second floor (Corbin was brave enough to climb all the way up for the first time - Mommy was very proud of him!)

We had a really fun day!

Spring Break

2008-04-04T00:48:00.005-04:00

This week has been Hero and Corbin's spring break, so we were hoping to get in some fun activities. Unfortunately the forecast said it was supposed to rain all week, except Wednesday. The Natural Science Center of Greensboro has a small zoo outside and I had been wanting to go back with Hero, as our first trip was with our Mommy and Me group while Hero was at school, so Wednesday seemed like the perfect day to go. We really had a great time together! Hero, who wants to be a Veterinarian when she grows up, got to practice her talents in her lab coat and also managed to just barely escape the jaws of the T-rex. Corbin actually pet one of the goats in the petting zoo, which was a really big deal for him and made me lots of pizzas in the pretend kitchen. It was so nice to have the kids play room there because it gave me a place to let Bastian just get down and play. He actually did really well, considering we ended up staying almost 4 hours and part of that was during one of his nap times.

The rest of the week we have tried to come up with some indoor activities. We had an indoor picnic while watching a movie one day. Another day we met Daddy at lunch time and played air hockey at his work, then we went to the mall and did a little shopping followed by a Chick-fil-A ice cream. We still managed to have lots of fun despite the rain!

Walls and Siding

2008-04-04T00:34:00.003-04:00

We now have walls! It is amazing how different the house seems once that is done. We were so used to walking in and being able to see right through the house. It is weird to have to walk around corners, instead of right through the walls. It really seems so much more like a house now. Since I'd taken the initial drywall pictures, they've been taped and spackled.

I can't believe it, but they finished the siding in one day. I absolutely love the color! I think it looks beautiful! Have I mentioned yet how excited we are?!

Bastian Walking

2008-04-03T23:47:00.002-04:00

Tuesday, March 25th - For approximately 2 months now Bastian has been taking steps, but he was only brave enough to walk between two people who could catch him at the end, which is probably why he was pretty hesitant to walk to Hero or Corbin. After his afternoon nap though, he decided he was going to start walking and started toddling back and forth between couches. It was very exciting, considering he has been on the verge of walking for 2 months now. We hope you don't mind sharing in our excitement.

Egg Decorating

2008-04-03T20:47:00.002-04:00

After returning from the park, I put Bastian down for a nap and we all sat down to decorate eggs. I have to say this is one of my favorite Easter traditions. I really have a lot of fun doing it and the kids enjoy it a lot too. This year we got an egg decorating kit with tattoos which allowed the kids to make their eggs unique.

Egg Hunt

2008-04-03T20:25:00.004-04:00

On Easter Saturday we went to an egg hunt and picnic hosted by our friends at the park. It was an absolutely beautiful day in the 70s and the kids had a lot of fun hunting for eggs and playing on the playground. It was Bastian's first egg hunt and we managed to get him to hunt a couple of eggs, but he really seemed to be interested in the crinkly candy wrappers on the inside. Corbin got the courage to try the fireman's pole on the playground and was very proud of his accomplishment. We had quite the turnout and about 11 families joined in the fun. We all had a great time together!

Tree Climbers

2008-04-03T10:04:00.004-04:00

Hero and her friend Evan are having fun climbing a tree on a play date just before Easter. They hid eggs in the yard and had an egg hunt and played in the sandbox.

More House Progress

2008-04-03T09:38:00.004-04:00

We now have a shingled roof and a garage door. It is amazing how quickly all these things can be done.

The next things to go in are the duct work, the electric wiring, and the AC. It was suggested to us that at this stage to go around and take pictures of everything so we would know where all the plumbing and electric wiring are placed to avoid any picture hanging catastrophes and such.
Next comes insulation and drywall. We are really excited to see what things will look like once we have walls.

House Progress

2008-04-03T09:04:00.005-04:00

Things are moving along really quickly. After windows, the trim went up and the next day the trim was painted.

The kids are still so excited about the house. We go over every day to inspect the progress. On this particular day we walked in and saw the plumbing had been added and we were walking around taking a look. Right before I took this picture, Hero got really excited and said, "Mommy! You have to come look at this!" So after I took the picture I followed her into the bathroom and there was our beautiful garden tub. Dave and I are very excited about our garden tub after the past few years with a teeny, tiny shower.

Music Lover

2008-04-03T08:55:00.003-04:00

Corbin is our little music lover, so last November we bought him an MP3 player for his birthday. Dave has loaded a bunch of Corbin's favorite songs onto it and Corbin will walk around listening and singing along. It is sooo cute! On this particular occasion, Corbin was so exhausted he fell asleep listening. I just had to get a picture!

Framing Process

2008-03-13T20:45:00.008-04:00

We have been so excited about our house going up! We go over pretty much every day (and sometimes a second time when Dave gets home from work) to check on progress. I'm sure the crew working over there thinks we're absolutely crazy, but we couldn't be more excited and the kids love it too! Every day when I pick up Hero from school, she requests we drive over there and see it. It has become our routine to swing by and take a look. Luckily it is only 5 min. out of our way and doesn't take much extra time out of our day. This is the neighborhood we are building in. As you can see the neighborhood has only just started being built and we are only the 6th house going up. It looks like things are starting to take off though and two other homes have just been started as well.

Day 1 - The first floor and some of the second go up.

Day 2 - The second floor is completed and the roof is added.

Day 3 - The windows are put in and the trim is added.

Cement Truck Video

2008-03-02T23:20:00.002-05:00

Car Time

2008-03-02T23:10:00.003-05:00

Corbin and I get to have some time hanging out in the car waiting for Hero to get out of school every day. Most of the time we play Go Fish or practice learning our ABC's with flash cards, but we had the camera in the car, so we took some pictures. I really enjoy this one-on-one time Corbin and I get!

Our House - Week 1

2008-03-02T22:37:00.005-05:00

After searching for many, many months for a house and not finding anything that fit what we needed and wanted within our budget, we happened to check out a new development going up nearby and found exactly what we were looking for within our price range. We are building a 2043 sqft., four bedroom house and can't be more excited! This past week they started the building process. They dug the footers last weekend, then this past Thursday we bundled up Corbin and Bastian and dropped Hero off at school and headed over to watch our foundation being poured. I wanted to take pictures and thought Corbin would love to see a cement truck in person. So here are some pictures of the beginning stages of our house and the view of Pilot Mt. we will have from the back of the house.

It Had to Happen Sometime!

2008-03-02T22:08:00.005-05:00

We got back from our trip and Monday the kids were out of school for President's Day. Just before dinner and before Dave got home from work I had some people come over to look at some furniture I was selling. While they were here Corbin fell out of his bed and hit his head. He came out of his room crying and Hero told me what happened. I was trying to comfort him and tell him he was fine when I saw a trickle of blood on the back of his shirt. I searched through his mass of hair and found the source of the bleeding, but considering the things I heard about head wounds, it didn't seem to be bleeding too badly. With a closer look though, it seemed to me that it might need stitches, so Dave's mom came over to watch Hero and Bastian until Dave got home from work and Corbin and I headed over to the urgent care clinic down the road. After some waiting, then some crying (he actually did fairly well considering), Corbin left with 4 staples in the back of his head and Mommy with some lingering nausea. After a trip to the McDonald's drive-thru to get Corbin a Happy Meal with a chocolate milkshake, Corbin was right as rain. He hasn't complained once about his head hurting since it happened. I'm very impressed! Besides the normal bumps and bruises kids get, this was our first trip to the doctor for something serious. With two boys, I'm sure it won't be our last! I apologize to those who are squeamish, but I had to document the injury with a picture.

Trip to the NC Coast

2008-03-02T21:52:00.004-05:00

The day after Valentine's we drove to the NC coast and stayed in a hotel with a heated, indoor pool. The kids loved swimming in the pool that evening, so we ate breakfast the next morning then went back to the pool in the morning before we checked out. Then we went to the aquarium and had a great time. Hero's favorite things were the octopus and the baby sea turtle. Corbin loved the giant, clawless lobsters (I can't remember the specific name, but they really were enormous.) We also really loved the huge puffer fish, the jelly fish and the 2 story tank with sharks, stingrays, eels and other large fish. Unfortunately I forgot the camera, which I'm still beating myself up about. We had lots of fun though and that's what counts!

Valentine's Day

2008-03-02T21:11:00.007-05:00

The kids woke up to some snow Valentine's morning and of course in NC that also means no school. Since we don't often get a lot of snow the kids were not too disappointed about missing school Valentine's parties. They were too excited about building their first snowman of the year, which was decked out in heart sequined mittens and hat and conversation hearts. Of course Mommy was a little disappointed that some of her hard work the day before slaving over batch after batch of pink, heart shaped rice crispy treats was slightly in vain. We had a fun day making Valentine's crafts and playing together!

For Valentine's we made a special dinner for the kids. One of their favorite things is breakfast for dinner, so I made heart shaped pancakes with eggs, bacon and fruit. I also made a special strawberry slushie drink. The kids had fun eating then opening a Valentine's present. They each got a game and we played games until bedtime. Dave and I waited to eat until after the kids went to bed. We used a gift certificate we got for Christmas to our favorite Indian restaurant and got a big spread of our favorite dishes. We ate by candlelight then watched a romantic movie while enjoying some dessert.

Bastian in the Snow

2008-01-18T01:04:00.000-05:00

Snow Day

2008-01-18T00:39:00.000-05:00

Anytime snow is in the forecast here in NC, school is canceled, which is what happened today. Actually they canceled school last night before any snow had come down. We were excited though! It wasn't much snow, but it is the first time Corbin and Bastian have played in the snow. Hero taught Corbin how to make a snowball and then threw it in his face. He cried, but then he got over it (so the picture came out blurry, but it was great nonetheless - try taking pictures with a squirming 9 month old strapped to your front). Hero made a couple of snow/mud angels. That was lovely! Bastian was crawling around and smiling and eating the snow. He was having such a ball! I'm so glad I got video of it too!

Bastian Laughing

2008-01-18T00:19:00.000-05:00

Bastian woke up while I was in the middle of doing something, so I sent the kids in to keep him happy until I got there. Hero had Bastian just cracking up! I didn't get the best of it on video. I've never heard him laugh that hard before. What I did get was still pretty darn cute though!

Trying Out the Skates

2008-01-18T00:11:00.000-05:00

Isn't it great when a child can get rollerblades for Christmas and try them out for the first time in 70 degree weather in JANUARY! Hero was a little nervous to be heading out onto the pavement for practice, with no furniture to hang onto, but I strapped on my rollerblades and we rolled around together to help get the hang of things.

Trip to Atlantic City

2008-01-17T23:42:00.000-05:00

We left the day after Christmas to visit with Dave's family in Atlantic City, NJ. Dave's Aunt Anita lives between the Bay and the Boardwalk there. We enjoyed lots of good food (as always) and good company. Dave's parents drove up Christmas day and we joined them the next day. We got to hang out with Anita and Connie and got to see Uncle Mike and Jen, who live up there as well.

While there we visited The Atlantic City Aquarium (thanks to Dave's Aunts' treat) where Hero, Dave and I fed the stingrays and sharks. Corbin, our timid one, didn't touch; he just watched. We also held starfish and pet horseshoe crabs. We saw a large sea turtle, an enormous Moray eel, seahorses and many other beautiful sea creatures. What fun!

Dave and I also had the opportunity to go out for dinner on our own. That was also very nice! Since Bastian was having sleeping issues while we were there (he was still running a fever the first two days and was sleeping in a new place), we were missing out on our traditional evening strolls along the boardwalk in the evening after the kids were in bed. It was very nice of Dave's family to watch the kids so we could go out dinner! The kids got to enjoy shrimp and crab pasta while we were gone.

We had a wonderful, safe trip and enjoyed coming home as well!

Christmas Day

2008-01-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a nice quiet Christmas Day at home, although poor Bastian was running a fever all day and was not very happy. Santa brought Hero some rollerblades, Corbin, the Nightwatcher Ninja Turtle and Bastian some puzzles. Aunt Megan came over in the afternoon for a little while and then we enjoyed a simple meal, as we were going to be traveling the next day.

Christmas Eve

2008-01-17T22:13:00.001-05:00

On Christmas Eve, Dave's parents came over and exchanged gifts before they left for Atlantic City. We all had fun eating dessert together and opening gifts. The kids also opened their new pair of pajamas. We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and sprinkled our reindeer food on the front porch. Hero and Corbin both had their own pile of reindeer food on the porch. Unfortunately the reindeer only saw one of them, so we think the reindeer might have been too full to eat both piles!

Visit to Santa - December 22nd

2008-01-17T21:43:00.000-05:00

We braved the mall the Saturday before Christmas and stood in line to see Santa. We have a great Santa at our mall and couldn't miss the opportunity for the kids to see Santa this year.

Corbin's Birthday

2007-12-14T21:16:00.000-05:00

Corbin had a great birthday! We were able to go to the Transportation Museum two days before and then have a little get together on his birthday. He has never really been into cake on his birthday, so I decided to decorate a brownie instead. That wasn't really a success either, so next year I think it will just be ice cream or ice cream cake. He loved all his gifts. He got an MP3 player (he loves music and looks so cute walking around listening to it), a stunt rider TMNT, the TMNT van, some cars from "Cars", a book, some clothes and money. Thanks to everyone for their generous gifts.

Transportation Museum

2007-12-10T13:26:00.000-05:00

Our family birthday activity for Corbin was to visit the Transportation Museum. We saw some cool cars, airplanes, trains and a 1920s firetruck. We even got to see the train pull onto the turn table at the end of the day to be parked inside. It was a chilly day, but we enjoyed it, especially Corbin who loves all those things.

Hero's Birthday

2007-12-10T12:53:00.000-05:00

Hero turned 7 on Nov. 21st. She got some books, littlest pet shops, a bead kit, a disney princess drawing kit, Connect 4, clothes, her very own digital camera and money. She loves it all, so thank you to grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. She had flower cupcakes and bubble gum ice cream. She also got to invite a friend to go see the movie "Enchanted" with us that afternoon.

BaaMoo Farm

2007-12-10T11:45:00.001-05:00

Corbin and I took a trip to BaaMoo Farm to see the animals with our Mommy and Me group that meets every Monday. We went the week following Halloween and had great weather. You've got to love NC weather! We got to take a wagon ride, feed a calf and feed the chickens. We saw many other animals as well and were given the chance to pet many of them and milk a cow. Corbin was a little shy of the animals and wasn't quite ready to get so up close and personal with them. He did enjoy looking at the animals though and enjoyed being with his friends and eating a picnic lunch with them.

Horne Creek Farm

2007-12-10T11:31:00.000-05:00

Hero had a field trip to Horne Creek Farm the day after Halloween and I joined the class to help out. Horne Creek Farm is a working historical farm. The kids saw the animals and learned about farm life in the early 1900s. They all got turns grinding the corn off the cob with a special machine and peeled, sliced and cored apples. They got to play some old fashioned games and tour the family home in which 12 children lived, 11 boys and 1 girl. It was fun to spend some special time with Hero.

The Incredible Halloween

2007-12-10T09:53:00.000-05:00

The kids wanted to be Incredibles for Halloween. We realized we had the right ages and gender to be the whole Incredible family, so Hero was Violet, Corbin was Dash and Bastian was little Jack Jack. We had a lot of fun going to our Ward Trunk or Treat and also trick or treating with our friends the next evening.

Naomi in NC

2007-12-10T08:54:00.000-05:00

Naomi came to visit NC for the first time. It was a short visit, but we enjoyed our time together and had fun seeing Sierra for the first time. The kids also had lots of fun playing with their cousin.

Sitting Up Bastian

2007-09-28T16:00:00.000-04:00

Bastian is now sitting up really well! He has also started getting in the crawling position and rocking back and forth. The time has come to baby proof again!

Three Cuties

2007-09-17T13:17:00.000-04:00

Here are some fairly recent pictures of my three cuties.

Baby Bastian

2007-09-16T23:35:00.000-04:00

Here are a couple of recent shots of Bastian. He's definitely growing! At 5 months old, he weighs 20 lbs and has outgrown his infant car seat already. Because of this we had to buy a new car to accommodate 3 full size car seats. I am now the proud owner of a minivan and a part of the mom minivan club.

Gaps

2007-09-16T23:19:00.000-04:00

Hero has been losing teeth! She lost her first tooth on July 26th. She went to the dentist that day with a loose tooth and her new tooth growing in behind it. The dentist said she needed to pull it to make room for the new tooth, so later that day we tied dental floss around it and it was out with one quick yank. The second one happened in pretty much the same way on August 9th, except Hero was a little more timid about pulling it out and ended up jerking away from me while I had a hold of the floss. I'm sure you can all figure out how that ended!

Myrtle Beach Trip

2007-09-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

We had our first real vacation in Myrtle Beach at the beginning of August. The kids loved the beach. Corbin, who doesn't like being dirty, surprised us with how much he loved playing in the sand. He helped me make a sand castle, but couldn't resign himself to be buried in sand with his sister. Hero loved the water the most and managed to not get stung by jellyfish like Dave and me. We took the kids to play miniature golf for the first time, but unfortunately I forgot the camera. Corbin and Hero both did really well at it!