Christmas came!

Now that it's almost 2009, I've got a minute to write about our Christmas fun.

We spent Christmas at our house (as we usually do) with all the family here. It was a full house at times, but I wouldn't change that for the world. Our list of visitors included Matt's parents (Nana and Pap-paw), his sister (Sara), his aunt (Cindy), my mom (Patty), my brother (Mason), my grandmother (Faye), my dad (Mike), and my uncle-Mike's brother (Tex). Full house, but fun times! The girls loved all the activity! :-)

Here are some pics I took. I'm a little bummed because I forgot to get a family picture of the four of us though. I can't believe I forgot! :oops:



On another note, Matt and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary yesterday. Thank you SO MUCH Nana, Pap-paw and Aunt Sara for taking such good care of the girls so that we could have a few days alone. They had a fantastic time with you and are worn out from all the fun! :-)

Bonk!

After dinner tonight, C took quite a tumble. She slipped on the floor and bonked her head on the corner of our baseboards. Surprisingly, it didn't bleed at all. It did exactly what you see here. She's got a knot and a bruise to go along with that as well. Thank goodness the Christmas Cards are done! ;-)







Oh, and please excuse her dirty face. Matt and I hadn't quite finished our dinner and we didn't get a chance to wipe her clean before the fall. :-)

Holiday Fun

Wow. I see it's been two weeks since my last post. EEK! We've been pretty busy, so I will give myself a pass this time. ;-)

Here's a little of what we've been up to.

Turkey Day!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We traveled to Greensboro and made the rounds up there. Wednesday, we spent at the Alberty's working outside and in the attic getting Christmas decorations down. A and C had a blast playing with one of their dogs, Buff. They helped Nana make taco soup for dinner, too. They're great little chefs!

Thursday was busy! Thanksgiving lunch at my Grandmother's; Thanksgiving dinner with the Albertys. (Yep, that's 2 Turkey Day meals in a matter of hours!)

Friday, Daddy spent some time helping Pap-paw put up Christmas lights on their house. Then he helped cut down a couple of trees. EEK! While they were busy working, the girls and I headed for some socializing. We visited with my mom where the girls (as usual) had fun feeding the chickens. They played in a leaf pile too. :) Then we headed over to my dad's. We got there just in time to go on a walk into the woods to help put out some feed for the local deer population. Dad hooks up a still camera to a tree so he can get some awesome pics of the wildlife on his property. My dad has a yellow lab so the girls got some more doggie loving there too! A and C thought that was a pretty neat trip!

We got home Friday night and worked on our own Christmas lights over the weekend. I'll post a pic of our work soon. :-)

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged! I was tagged by Stacey to share Eight Things About Me. Here are my replies:

8 Favorite TV Shows
Survivor
Amazing Race
CSI
CSI Miami
CSI New York
24 (Can’t wait ‘til January!)
The Unit
Kitchen Nightmares

8 Things I Look Forward To
Christmas!
Peaceful nights after the girls are in bed
A clean house
Summer
A good snow to play in
Watching my girls grow up
Spending time with my family over the Holidays
Snuggles

8 Things on My Wish List
New countertops in the kitchen (It is a wish list right?)
Heck, a bigger house!
Losing those last few stubborn pounds
Finish the Christmas shopping
A Carolina Panthers Superbowl win
A Carolina Tarheels NCAA Championship in ‘09
A maid
The ability to remember things without writing them down!

8 Things I Did Yesterday
Went grocery shopping
Helped Ainsley try on boots
Purchased said boots
Laundry
Washed dishes
Swept the kitchen
Went to Home Depot
Gave the girls a bath

8 Favorite Restaurants
Salsarita’s
Sullivan’s
On the Border
Panda Express
Olive Garden
Bucca di Peppo
Macaroni Grill
Beef N Bottle

8 People to Tag
I am supposed to tag eight bloggers here, but I can only come up with three bloggers I know well enough to pester to update their blogs (hint, hint). Copy what's here and do the same on your blog if you can. I totally understand if you don't want to join in, but let me know if you do!
Kim D
Marla
Elaine
Rules, Rules here are the rules: 1.Post the rules on your blog.2.Answer all 8 of the six items listed.3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog or emailing.

Cowgirl Cadence

Maybe we should have dressed her up as a Cowgirl for Halloween?

(Oh, and yes, that's a diaper she's using as her cowgirl hat!) LOL!

Home Improvements

We had a bit of home improvement done in our home this week. We now have hardwood flooring throughout the downstairs! The crew of 3 arrived around 9:00 in the morning. Matt and I were impressed at how quickly they moved in the living room and dining room. We figured they'd be done with everything around 4:00. Of course, the living room and dining room are pretty open spaces. They didn't have much to work around in those rooms. The work slowed a bit when the workers moved to the kitchen and half bath though. Between the island and little nooks and crannies, the work slowed quite a bit. We signed off on the job just after 8:00 that evening. So, in around 11 hours, our home improvements were done. (Until I find something else I want done!) ;-)








Here are some pictures of the project.

Dinner Time Conversation

We were at the table eating dinner tonight when C holds up her piece of broccoli and proclaims that it is a cactus. The conversation went something like this (use your imagination to hear C's words):

C: Dis look like cactus.
Us: Yes, it does look like a cactus.
C: Hi cactus. I'm Cadence.

Then she promptly ate the cactus's head. Nice, huh? :-)

Her next piece of broccoli was a tree. She didn't introduce herself to the tree, but she did eat it.

Halloween

Trick or Treat!





I hope everyone reading had an enjoyable Trick or Treat night. Our girls certainally did! We took them out to a few houses in the neighborhood before heading back home to check out the loot and pass out candy to those who came to our house. A and C racked up quite a bit of candy! I've added a slideshow (Fall 08) with some pictures. Here's one for now though. ;-)

Matt's Big Win

As many of you know, Matt's been playing softball with our church's team. Last night, his team won the league championship! The girls and I didn't make it to the game because it was late, but we were with them in spirit. A and C love watching Daddy play ball with his friends. It will be April before the start of next season. It will be warmer then too! :)

We're proud of Daddy and his team. Way to go guys!

My TV Debut

I've blogged before about my part-time job at the Halloween store. A few days ago, one of the local moring news shows came out to interview the owner and shoot some footage. One of their weekly features is the "Friday Morning Dance Party." Somehow they convinced me and a co-worker to dress up and dance. You can't tell, but I'm the hippie on the right. To see my debut - click here.

Halloween Preps

We've been busy these last few days getting ready for Halloween. A decided a while back that she wanted to be Snow White. C picked a bumble bee costume. Both of them are very cute and they're so excited for it finally to be Trick or Treat day tomorrow.

Over the weekend, we went to one of the local churches that had a pumpkin patch. I snapped a few pictures while the girls picked the perfect pumpkin. This isn't the best picture, but it was about the best I could get with two excited girls.

When we got home, we cleaned it out. Then we toasted the pumpkin seeds in the oven. It was something I'd never tried before, but it turned out to be a fun experiment with the girls. We made two batches--one sweet, one salty. A's favorite was the salty, C's was the sweet.

After we'd cleaned out the pumpkin and toasted seeds, I let the girls paint some little pumpkins our neighbors had given us. Here's our results:

Last night, we finally settled on our pumpkin face. Daddy (with a little help from the girls) carved it's face. I think it turned out fantastic! A loves it and likes to sit by it, while C is a little more reserved and isn't too fond of the lit up pumpkin. I know the picture is a little fuzzy, but here's our family Jack-O-Lantern. :-)

NC State Fair

Saturday we went to the NC State Fair. It's a trip we look forward to making every year. The food, the rides, the sights...it's all fun! There are always a few things I look forward to the most though. Pickles, apple cider, and fried candy bars--definitely my favorite things about the fair. It's a little embarrassing to admit what I ate, but I figure I walked most of it off so it all works out in the end, right? (By the way, Matt and the girls had their "fair" share of food too. We didn't leave hungry!)

Here's the rundown for me:
Cup of apple cider
Ear of roasted corn (A & C promptly stole the first one so I had to go get another for myself!)
Steak & Cheese sandwich (with yummy onions, peppers and cheez whiz!)
Huge Mt. Olive dill pickle
Caramel Apple
Ham biscuit
Ear of roasted corn (yes, I ate 2)
Deep Fried Three Musketeers candy bar

It's a good thing the fair is only once a year! :-) I've posted a slideshow so you all can see the girls in action. They liked seeing the farm animals and the rides. They both even milked a cow!
Enjoy!

Fall Harvest

Tomatoes from the vine in October? Yep. We've got 'em.

Fresh green peppers? Got those too.

For some reason, our peppers and tomatoes seem to think it's spring. We've been surprised by a recent resurrection of the plants. The results from today's harvest are amazing. Look for yourself:

Crash and Burn

After dinner tonight, I took the girls out to play with the neighborhood kids. (We had a new family move in next door. They have a little girl A's age, and 2 more! A's very excited!) The kids were all playing and riding bikes. C was riding her worm and pushing another little boy in his car. Everyone was having a great time! Parents were chatting, kids were playing, all was well. There were a few close calls between bikes, but nothing too bad. It's pretty amazing how all the kids sort of watch out for one another. Some of the girls (A included) were starting at the top of our road and going as fast as they could pedal towards the cul-de-sac. This was going well and the girls were having fun. Until...A crashed and burned. She had turned her bike just a bit and was going so fast that she tipped over. I ran to her (I wasn't far. She was pretty much right in front of me when it happened.) scooped her up, and inventoried injuries. What looked to be a pretty bad crash only resulted in a scraped knee, elbow and hand. A was wearing her helmet, but the way she fell it looked like she had scraped her face. Thankfully not. I was expecting a pretty bad scraped knee, too. Thankfully, it wasn't either.

Now, you're probably thinking that this spill was the end of A's biking adventures for the evening. No. She stayed outside and rode bikes until dark! We came in and cleaned the injuries and promptly put 3 band aids on. :-)

Fall or Summer?

The calendar says fall, but the temps are saying summer. Last week, I dressed the girls in jeans or pants every day. Wednesday on A's class field trip we needed jackets too. This week looks to be like a summer week of shorts and T's.

Normally, I love warm weather. I would much rather be hot than cold. But, it just seems like this happens every year. I get all geared up for fall only to be turned upside down again back to summer clothes. Now, I'm sure that in a few months I'll be begging for warm weather again. I just don't want to pick out a pumpkin wearing shorts!

More busy times...

Gee, I was thinking that after preschool started for the girls, we'd be less busy. Yeah, not so much it seems! The Charlotte Alberty clan has been running full force here lately. I'll try to give a bit of a run down with this post. ;-)

I've taken a part time job at a good friend's Halloween store. I work very little (5 hours per week) but it's something to do for two of the days the girls are in school. Plus, it's fun and I have a wonderful boss. I do have a new found respect for all things "Halloween" now. What's even better is that I haven't had any nightmares from being around all those creepy masks and such! Yay!

This past weekend we headed down to Oak Island (again) for a few days fall beach time. The weather was perfect, the ocean was calm (although chilly), and we got in some good quality family time. We couldn't have asked for a better vacation! Well, except for the wrong-way driver we met on highway 74. (He was heading eastbound in our westbound lane. We saw him in our rearview mirror turn around just after he passed us.) That made the drive home a little more nerve-wracking than we anticipated!

This week, I worked on Tuesday (usually my off day), went on a field trip with A's school class on Wednesday, and worked today. We're having dinner with 2 other couples from our Bible Study group tomorrow night. Saturday, we've got a birthday party to go to for one of A's friends and on Sunday I'm going to a baby shower. At some point (maybe next week!) I'll actually be able to rest up!

I'll try to remember to add some pictures to this post too. ;-)

What will we do when she learns how to add?

I've got a short minute to retell a story that happened at dinner just tonight. ;-)

We had told the girls that after dinner (if they ate well) they could have some ice cream with M&M's on top. C ate amazingly well, but A was him-hauling around. We told her she had to eat 5 more bites then she could be done. Of course, she didn't want to go for that. So, a compromise was born. I asked her if she could eat 2 bites for me, 2 bites for Daddy and 1 bite for C. She was agreeable to that and promptly ate the bites she was asked to eat. When she was all done, we told her that she had, in fact, eaten the 5 bites after all. It's a good thing she can't add yet! :-)

Potty!

YAY!!!!

We've been working (I use the term "working" loosely here) on using the potty with C. Over the weekend, we stepped it up a bit with wearing panties here at the house and giving her the option of a diaper or a pull-up (she calls them "princess panties") when we go out. She's been doing really well with the panties and we're definitely seeing progress. Today was a school day though. I was wondering how it would go. C decided to wear princess panties to school today. I reminded her to let her teachers know when she needed to potty. I told her teachers about our weekend and they said they'd let her try to use the big girl potty at school.

At pick up time, C had a gold star sticker stuck to her forehead. Her teacher told me that the star was because she'd used the potty! :) I think we still have a bit to go with having the potty thing perfected with C, but we had a huge step forward today.

Pictures!

We had some professional pictures taken a few weeks ago. Even though we were dodging raindrops here and there, the results were fabulous! Here's a sample of what we got. I'll try to add some to a slide show later...

The Close of the Pool

Yesterday was the final day of our neighborhood pool season. Of course we had to spend a little of our time there. A has made tremendous strides this summer with her confidence in the pool. We are so proud of her! Yesterday, she was wearing her goggles and actually swimming under water. Like, really swimming--arm strokes, kicking, the whole nine yards! It's amazing how much she's learned this summer alone. Already, we can't wait for next summer's pool season!

C loves the water just as much as her sister. Her bathing suit (we actually have 2 of them!) has "floaties" that can be inflated to or deflated to get the buoyancy just right. It keeps her upright in the water but allows her to doggie paddle through the water. She can get herself all around the pool rather quickly. It will be interesting to see how she does next year when her floatie bathing suits don't fit her anymore. I'm sure she'll do just fine, though!

The little dancer

Well, I'm an official member of the "Dance Moms of America" now. (I'm not sure that really exists, but it should, right?) A had her first dance class yesterday. She talked about going to dance all day and even told me that we couldn't be late. She was ready!

We practiced putting her ballet and tap shoes on and taking them off so she could do it on her own in class. I wasn't sure if her teacher had an assistant (she does, as it turns out) so I wanted to make sure A could do it by herself if she needed to. The ballet shoes are still a bit hard for her but the tap shoes she can do in a flash. Ballet class is first, so I can help her with those shoes.

I snapped a few pictures of my dancer girl. This one is a full length view. You can see her dance bag (with ballet and tap shoes safely inside, we don't wear those outside), her leotard and tights. She wears her crocs to and from class. ;-)

First Day of Preschool!

What a morning! :-)

A started 4 year-old preschool today and C started 2 year-old preschool. There were definitely some nerves going in (for everyone I believe!) but they both had a wonderful time. C's teachers said she made them laugh all morning and A's teachers said she talked and volunteered information during circle time! Last year, it took quite a while before A would talk to her teachers. I'm glad she's gone into this year feeling comfortable enough to talk. Here's my girls ready to go.

The End is Near

Yes, it's the end of August, which typically isn't always the end of the hot weather around here. Even though the hot weather may hang around for a bit longer, our days of free-flying through the summer are almost over. :-(

Last week, we took our annual Alberty family trip to Litchfield Beach. Tropical Storm Fay made our last few days a bit interesting. It was windy and the ocean looked (and sounded) furious. The waves were pretty big and the tides were quite a bit higher than normal. At one point the water came all the way up to the dunes, so even if we had wanted to play on the beach we would have to wait until the tide would let us. I was able to get some good pictures though. I'll try to get those loaded at some point this week. ;-)

Speaking of this week, it will be another busy one for us. Daddy and I have Parent's Night at the pre-school where A and C will go. Then there's Meet the Teacher day for the girls. Then, I go to the beach (again!) with my girlfriends for a weekend away. That is the true signal that summer is over. The girls both start pre-school the day after my return. Sigh. I'm sure you'll read about that next week.

One more thing before I end this tonight, I bought A's first pair of ballet shoes and tap shoes today. They are incredibly cute and emphasize the fact that my little girl is growing up. Double sigh.

A Weekend Away

Matt turned the big 3-0 this past Thursday. To celebrate, he and I headed down to my dad and step-mom's house at Oak Island. The girls stayed at our house with my mom. Matt and I had a wonderful weekend to ourselves at the beach. We sat on the beach and read books, watched the waves, went for walks on the beach (it's a favorite past-time of ours), and had nice dinners. The weather was beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

While we were away, the girls were in full blown spoil mode. :-) My mom took them to the pool, to the mall, out for ice cream, and was at their every beck and call. Matt and I were proud of how well the adjusted to our being away, but we knew that they were in good hands. Mom had a terrific time with them and I'm sure she's back home in Summerfield in withdrawals still. ;-)

Swimming!

We spent a great deal of the weekend at our neighborhood pool. The girls love the water and it's a great way to spend the day before C's nap. :-)

Yesterday, we had a bit of a break through with A. She has been getting braver and braver as the summer has progressed, but yesterday she went UNDERWATER on her own! In a matter of minutes, she was putting her face in the water and "diving" down to get her dive sticks. She was having a blast tossing them out and swimming over and down to get them. We are so proud of our little fish!

C had a fantastic time as well. She just loves it when Daddy lets her fly. He tosses her up in the air then catches her just as she's hitting the water. The water splashes up in her face, but that doesn't keep her from wanting to do it again and again. Hopefully, I'll remember the camera the next time we head up to the pool. I'm sure the description of "flying" just doesn't do justice to it!

The Things Mothers Do...

I'm sure I'll utter those words many, many times over the course of A & C's lifetimes. I'm pretty sure I've said them before, actually. ;-)

A has been talking about taking a dance class for quite some time. Aunt Sara has been teaching her a few steps here and there, and the dance bug has bitten. I found out from one of A's pre-school teachers that she teaches dance at the Y branch that I frequent. A adored this particular teacher last year, so I looked into the Y's dance program. The sign-ups were scheduled for August 1st (yesterday). My initial reaction was that I'd definitely sign A up at some point during the day just to make sure we got a space in the right class. After bumping into a few people (A's pre-school teacher was one of them) I found out that I needed to be on the ball for these sign-ups. People got there early, like REALLY early and classes fill up quickly.

So, I set my alarm for 4:15am (which I might add--there is nothing "morning" about 4:15. That's still the middle of the night!) and was out the door by 4:30. I made it to the Y by 4:40 to find that I was the 13th or 14th person in line (it was still the middle of the night, my counting wasn't exactly up to speed yet!). Sign-ups started at 5.

I was out of there by 5:25 with A's spot secured in Miss Camille's class on Monday afternoons at 4:00. Her first day of class is on Sept 8th. I'll be sure to give a full report then. ;-)

Crazy-ness!

Obviously, it's been a while since the last post. Things have been a bit crazy around here for sure.

Sadly, our Chocolate Lab, Hoops passed away very unexpectedly on July 13th. He was only 5 and a half years old, so we were blindsided by this. It was a huge blow to our family and we miss him very much.

C got to spend her 2nd birthday at the beach at Dad and Deryle's place at Oak Island. It was a different experience for us, as we've always been in the late spring or fall. Being there in the summer was fun though. We got to see the town in action! The girls had a great time as usual and it was a good chance for us to recover from the loss of Hoops.

This week, we've been busy running here and there, doing this and that. I don't think we'll slow down until the girls start pre-school in September!

Ainsley's 4th Birthday!

Wow. I simply can't believe that 4 years have gone by! It's amazing how fast time flies when you're having fun. It seems like just yesterday when I was 37 weeks pregnant, didn't have a bag packed, thinking A still had plenty of "cooking time" left. Wrong! She was ready and now here we are. :)

I spent most of the day icing A's birthday cake. She wanted a Cinderella cake and that's what she got. Daddy worked from home today so while C was napping A and I headed off for some Mommy/Daughter time. We went to a cute girly shop called Libby Lu for A's make-over and hair up-do. She had a fantastic time and the ladies in the shop are just wonderful at making our princess feel like a real princess! A loves girly stuff and this store is right up her alley! After she was all dolled up, we headed over to the cookie store and got some cookies for a snack. A even wanted to bring some home for C!

When we got home, we had just enough time for me to change shoes before heading off to dinner. **Back track a bit here** A has been talking of her plans for her birthday for months. Her plan was to go to the mall for cookies, go to Libby Lu and have dinner in the city. Nachos for dinner to be exact! **Story resumes here** Since it was rush hour, we decided to skip the interstate and take city streets uptown. A fell asleep on the way, so she missed seeing most of the big buildings on the way into town. We got to dinner at Rock Bottom where we ordered A her very own plate of nachos. The staff was kind enough to split some off of ours so she only had chips and cheese. It was perfect--exactly what she wanted! The plate was HUGE and she almost ate every single one of them. Our dinners were wonderful too. After eating, we headed out to walk around uptown to check out the big buildings since A slept most of the trip up. We saw a horse and carriage ride stand and A was hooked. She wanted that buggy ride. Daddy was happy to oblige, so we loaded onto the carriage and took a ride around the city. It was such a fun trip and it was awesome seeing the delight in A's eyes as we rode through town. C of course was her usual "ham" self and was happily waving to the cars and people walking on the street. I think this might have been the highlight of her day!

We finally made it back home for cake and presents. A had a blast opening her gifts from Mommy/Daddy and from C. We sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles (twice) and dug into that cake that I spent so much time icing this morning. It was all worth it though. ;)

The River

We spent the 4th of July weekend on the Pamlico River with our good friends Forrest and Elaine. (And their baby, Mackenzie. She's just about 8 months old.) A and C had a blast riding on the boat and even hopped into the tube for a slow ride with Daddy. I was definitely proud of them for being so brave!

Shortly after my turn on the tube, C wanted to swim with me, so she got into the water for some river play time. Daddy decided he was going to jump in and splash us and not 5 seconds after he jumped in something grabbed me! It was a jelly fish (the river is brackish water, so it wasn't unusual for jelly fish to be there) and it had wrapped it's way around my entire left leg. It hurt! I was screaming trying to get C away from me towards Daddy, while trying to get back to the boat as fast as possible. Once we were all in the boat, I had a chance to survey the damage on my leg. It wasn't that bad, but there were definite welts on my thigh and behind my knee. We headed home for some meds and I took it easy the rest of the day. I'm so thankful that it didn't get a hold of C. That surely would have meant a trip to the ER!

All in all, we had a fantastic weekend with our friends. It was good to see them for an extended amount of time. The girls certainly enjoyed playing with M, too!

Father's Day

Yeah, I know Father's Day was this past Sunday. I'm just now getting to update though.

We spent the day at the pool. A is getting more and more confident each time she goes swimming and C, well, she's getting around quite well too. I've added a slide show that has pictures from our Father's Day afternoon.

I think Daddy had a pretty good day. The girls and I got him some new shorts and shirts. The girls gave him a framed picture of them from the beach to go on his desk at work. He requested meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and collard greens for his Father's Day dinner. It's one of his (and the girl's) favorite meals. I don't make it very often because of the time involved, but I know everyone in the family loves it! I enjoyed making it for the special Daddy in our home. :)

We're leaving on Saturday to go to Atlanta. It will be C's first trip to a Braves game. Our trip will include a stop at the Georgia Aquarium on Monday before returning home on Tuesday. We are all looking forward to this trip!

I'll post some pictures from our trip when we get home. Have a good weekend everyone!

Soft Opening

We were invited to the "soft opening" of a new local restaurant last night. It's a made from scratch BBQ place called Jim-N-Nicks. Basically, we were guinea pigs for the wait staff and the cooks. They were still training, and we got our dinner on the house as part of the deal. We've been looking forward to the opening of this restaurant for a while now, as the concept seemed cool and we're always up for good new restaurants in the area.

Wouldn't you know it, after having temps in the upper 90's for over a week with no rain in sight, as we were heading to dinner last night it started raining. No, wait, I think pouring would be the better word here. Thunder, lightening, torrential downpours of rain, the works. Daddy pulled us up as close to the door as he could (which wasn't really close), I grabbed A and bolted towards the door. I guess I should add here that I was wearing open toed sandals, so running in the rain carrying A was quite difficult! Daddy parked and just when he thought there was a break in the rain he and C made a run for it with the umbrella. Unfortunately just then, a huge gust of wind came. It blew the umbrella upside down. By the time they made it to the door, they were both dripping wet! What a way to start dinner, right?

After we dried off, we sat down for dinner. Wow! We weren't able to pick from the full menu, but we did get to pick from quite a few options. The staff requested we order an appetizer to share (we went with the chicken nachos--huge plate and they were wonderful!), an entree salad to share (some sort of fried chicken salad with in-house made honey mustard dressing), then we each got to pick an entree. Daddy had the full rack of ribs (mac-n-cheese and collards for his sides), I had the hamburger steak (mac-n-cheese and cucumber salad for my sides), and the girls shared the 1/4 BBQ chicken (cinnamon apples and fries for their sides). The kid's meals weren't being offered yet, so that's why they got their own entree. Then, we got to share a dessert. We picked chocolate pie and it truly was some of the best I've ever eaten! Now, I'm sure you're thinking "Wow, that's a lot of food!" Yes, it was! We brought home quite a bit and enjoyed our leftovers for lunch today. :-)

Overall, we had a great night. It was good to get some much needed rain, too.

Wii Loss

I lost a Wii bowling game tonight. Not to Matt, but to A! She beat me fair and square, 154 to 141. She's getting better and better each game she plays, where I seem to be getting worse. At least my Wii bowling is better than my actual bowling still! ;-)

We definitely have been enjoying our Wii. Matt likes to play the sports games (Wii Sports and Tiger Woods Golf) and I like playing a bit of everything. A few weeks ago we downloaded the old version of Mario Brothers and have been having fun with it. It's amazing what we remembered even though it's been probably 15 years since either one of us has played it!

Catching up!

Wow! I'm sorry it's been almost a week since my last post! I'll try to give a quick catch up here.

I believe I last posted about A's step mess. As you might have guessed, she did take Daddy up on the offer to go outside to play in the sprinkler and I was left to clean up. It wasn't bad, I was able to get it all done and still head out to snap a few pictures too. I'll get those posted soon.

Monday we went with some playgroup friends to ride the Lynx (light rail) uptown to Discovery Place. A had been talking about this for several days and was definitely excited to ride the train. C was quite the little train rider, too. She kept saying "Choo-choo! Chugga chugga choo-choo!" while we were riding. They had a ball at Discovery Place. It's a short walk (2 blocks maybe) from the end of the light rail line. A loves going to the "city" and I was happy I didn't have to hassle with uptown parking and traffic!

Wednesday and Thursday, C and A had their Little Gym Shows. They both were great performers. Daddy and I were so proud of our girls getting their medals. I'll post some pics of that as well.

Today we've been on the go most of the day. We went to the Y this morning, to a playgroup friend's house for some water slide play this afternoon, and Daddy's softball game tonight. The temps are supposed to get close to 100 this weekend, so I imagine we'll spend some time at the pool trying to stay cool!

Whew! That's our week in a nutshell. :)

Right now...

A has taken quite a few of her small kitchen toys and has them lined up all along the railings of the steps. She says she's going on an adventure to the city and she needs all of this stuff to take with her. I've asked her if she's going to clean this up and she assures me that she will. We shall see... ;-)

C is napping and Daddy just came in with a proposition for A. He wants to know if she would like to put on her bathing suit and play in the sprinkler. Something tells me, I'll be cleaning up the adventure mess afterall!

Swimming

Our neighborhood pool opened this weekend. A was so excited when Daddy told her it was open, she just had to go swimming. Saturday, the weather wasn't as warm as we thought it would be. It was kind of overcast and dreary, so he told A after the sun comes out, they'd go to the pool for a bit. Wouldn't you know, the sun poked out for a bit, and she insisted on going. Off they went, Daddy and daughter to the pool. Daddy said the water was freezing, but A got in and played anyway.

Yesterday, the air temperature was much warmer, but the water was about the same. C and I joined them yesterday. Believe me, it was chilly! We had a good time and stayed for about 2 hours or so.

Today, we went again--same conditions as yesterday. We had a great time, but I will say that I won't be submerging myself completely until the water warms up quite a bit! These nights of temps in the 50's don't help the warming of the water much. ;-)

I know we'll spend many days at the pool this summer. I'll try to remember to bring my camera some so I can share the pictures with you all.

The beginning of summer?

Wow. Where has time gone? We just got home Monday night from our first beach trip this year. We went to Oak Island and although it was a tad windy, we still had a great time. The girls love the beach, and Mommy and Daddy love seeing their girls have fun. I'll add some pictures after I finish posting this entry.

We left for the beach as a family of 5 (4 Albertys and 1 Hoops), but came home a family of 7. We've added 2 hermit crabs to the mix. Ermie and Pinky are our newest household family members. A found some crab holes on the beach Monday morning and wanted to bring them home. We figured it would be easier to transport hermit crabs than the crabs from the beach (and a LOT easier to care for!). A and I headed to one of the beach shops and picked out her hermit crab. She'd already named him while we were still on the beach, so there was no turning back! On our way back to the beach house, Daddy brought up a great point. We only had ONE crab, but TWO girls. Back we went to the store to get yet another hermit crab. A named this one Pinky. Why Pinky? Pink shell? Is that your guess? It would make sense, but Pinky's shell is white. :))) In A's defense though, the very tip top of Pinky's shell is pink, so I'll give her a pass on this one. We got back to the house and A just had hold Ermie. Wouldn't you know it? Ermie pinched the daylights out of her little finger. She was quite upset, but after we got him unlatched, she declared that she still loved him because she is his crab mommy. Poor kid, she's not even 4 yet and has learned that love hurts sometimes. ;) Anyway, Ermie and Pinky traveled home to Charlotte in their little carrying case. I went out on Tuesday morning and bought them a proper home. A has them proudly displayed on her nightstand in her room. Who knew that hermit crabs could be such entertainment? A and C both will stand and watch them for the longest time. I think A must have picked out the most active hermit crabs ever!

On another note...tomorrow is A's last day of preschool this year. Tomorrow is the last day that A will go to school and C will stay at home with me. C starts 2-year old preschool in the fall. That doesn't seem possible! Where has the time gone? :(

Mother's Day

Today marked my 4th Mother's Day (well, 5th if you include when I was pregnant). It amazes me how fast these years have gone by!

I had a wonderful day with my girls. A made a hand print tile at preschool that she couldn't wait to give me this morning. She was so excited to help me open it. Daddy and I kept nursery at church this morning and A made a little notebook for me in Sunday School. After church we went over to The Fresh Market to grab some steaks for dinner tonight. We came home, had lunch, and had planned to go get strawberries, but C had other ideas in mind. She wanted to nap early, so while she napped, Daddy mowed the lawn and went to the Y, A played and I napped too! It's always a good day when I get to nap too! We did manage to get those strawberries after our naps and treated ourselves to some strawberry ice cream. Daddy made dinner, we got the girls in bed and now we're watching the finale of Survivor. (What a shocker on the winner!) All in all, a good day. ;)

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there. What a blessing motherhood is!

Knock, knock. Who's there?

That's the question around here lately. A has been bit by the knock, knock joke bug. It's so cute! She's really telling jokes. Mostly ones that she's heard at school or ones we've taught her, but I love how she's really "getting" the funny parts of stuff now. Here are two of her favorites:

A: Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
A: Boo
Me: Boo who?
A: Aww! It's nothing to cry about!

A: Knock, knock.
Me: Who's there?
A: Lettuce
Me: Lettuce who?
A: Let us in you silly goose!

She makes up some pretty silly ones too. It's always related to something we're doing at the time, but A always finds the humor and plugs it in. I love how her little brain is working now. :)

"Edgies" (Lots to write about tonight!)

A has in the last few months learned about the dreadful wedgie. She calls the "edgies" 90% of the time. She knows how to say "wedgie" but I think she just gets a kick out of calling them "edgies." Silly girl. Anyway, this morning on the way to preschool, she says to me, "Mama! Drive faster! I've got a edgie! I can't get it! I need help! Hurry up, Mama!" We made it to school and amazingly, she'd forgotten about her edgie by then.

Later, after school, we took Daddy to the airport. Poor A had yet another edgie that required me to do all sorts of maneuvering to help her. (Daddy was driving, I can't help with edgies and drive!) I really think she likes playing up the edgie just to see us giggle at her.

Counting

C has been hearing her big sister count for 21 1/2 months now. It's no surprise that she's picked up on many things A does and counting is one of them. Counting for C however, isn't like counting for us quite yet. She's got her own system. It goes something like this:

"un, do, tee, fibe, heaben, nine, den, webbin, dewlb" (One, two, three, five, seven, nine, ten, eleven, twelve) It is the cutest thing to see her count out all sorts of things!

Planes

Both girls love going to the airport to drop off Daddy for his trips. We go over to the airport observation area after leaving him and watch the planes land and take off. A is so proud of herself for being brave when they take off. She's not big on loud things, so for her to ask to have the windows rolled down is a pretty big deal. C (again, monkey see, monkey do) saw A cover her ears the last time we were there. Ever since then, every single time she sees a plane--be it at the airport or at home--she covers her ears and says, "Pane! Loud!" She sure does love her big sister, and would do anything she could to be like A!

Busy, busy, busy!

Wow, what a busy weekend!

Friday, Daddy and Pap-paw went to the Wachovia golf tourney. C stayed at home with Nana while A and I headed to Carowinds to meet up with some play-group friends. It was a beautiful afternoon and A got to ride all of her favorite rides. Her current favorites are the yellow roller coaster, carousel, and the flying boats. Those things really fly high! Apparently, A gets her daredevil side from me. ;)

Saturday morning, Nana and I went shopping. We picked A up some new clothes including some PJ's from the "big girl" sizes. I can't believe that she's already moving into a whole new section of the store! My girl certainly is growing like a weed! Afterwards, we went out to IHOP for breakfast then I joined Daddy and Pap-paw at the Wachovia. While the weather wasn't quite as warm, it was still a great day to walk around the golf course. A and C spent the day with Nana and Sara. They had a great day and were worn out from all of their fun. A had a sleep over with Nana and Pap-paw at their hotel and met up with us at church yesterday. It was her very first sleepover. :)

Yesterday, we spent a lot of time outside. A and C helped Daddy wash his car. A does a pretty good job of "washing" while C does a pretty good job of playing in the soap bubbles. She was a wet soapy mess when she came inside, but she had fun and that's what matters. A was amazed at all the earthworms that appeared when the water drained into the yard. She made sure I turned them around before they made their way into the garage. Worms are OK outside, but not in the garage!

The rest of this week's weather is supposed to be beautiful as well. I'm sure we'll spend quite a bit of time outside. We have several trips coming up, too. I'll be sure to post about those as I'm sure there will be all kinds of tales to tell!

Spring has sprung!

Yes, it's April here and spring has definitely sprung! We've had a garden for a couple of years now, and just started this year's two weeks ago. Last year, we got bitten by a late frost, so this year we waited an extra week or so to get our started. A (and C this year, I'm sure) loves to help with it. Tending to the garden is one thing we do every day!



We're growing tomatoes, zucchini, green peppers, basil, cucumbers, and we're trying a watermelon again this year. (Last year's got over taken by the cucumbers, who knew that cucumbers would grow such long vines??? Yeah, I'm still a rookie on some gardening things ;) )



Last year's frost also zapped the peaches. We planted a peach tree 3 years ago. Last year was the first year we had buds--that is until the frost. It got every single last one of our peaches! This year, we hope to at least get one. One peach from the tree and all will be well! We're seeing lots of small little ones, so we're keeping our fingers crossed! I'll try to update the pictures as the garden grows. :)

Softball Update

Church team off to our first ever 2-0 start. 17-1 and 22-7 W's last week. I had a good week 4-7 with a HR and 4RBI's. Next game is tonight at 7:45.

Work team - not so good - 19-8 loss. First regular season loss in 2 years. Two out hitting killed us. Next game is Tuesday at 7.

Oh yeah - and one injury for me so far .. :-). Bum knee.

Oh, what a night!

Well, the Alberty family has now made 2 ER trips--once for each girl. A's arm, and now C's head. Here's the story...

Last night, the girls and I had dinner with two of our also "Daddyless" (our Daddy is in Miami for work) friends. We got home and C decided she didn't want to come inside from the garage. I came on in, thinking C would follow. Yeah, not so much. She got mad, threw a fit and fell, bonking her head on our concrete garage floor. She knocked herself out! I scooped her up and did everything I could think of to wake her up. I was *this* close to calling 911 when she woke up. She was only out 5 seconds at the most, long enough for me to walk from the garage door to the phone by the living room. I, of course, was hysterical by this point and poor A was starting to freak out too. (She's such a good big sister!) After calming down and seeing that she was OK--by this point she was playing and acting normally--I called the on-call number for our ped. Like me, they were also concerned and advised me to head to the ER just to be safe.

Since Daddy is OOT, Marla (a neighbor and good friend) came over to sit with A until Sara could get here from UNCC. C and I headed uptown to the Children's ER for what would become a 5 hour trip. Once there and checked in, the staff did all they could to keep us comfortable. We had to wait quite a while for a CT scan, two traumas came in so we got bumped, and I tried my best to get C to rest/sleep while we waited. By this point it was midnight, obviously well past bedtime! The nurses brought us a sippy of chocolate milk (it's the only milk she'll drink, but at least it's milk!) and a passy in hopes that they would relax her enough to drift off to sleep while we waited. No such luck though.

We finally got the CT scan just before 1:00am. Everything was normal, so we were sent on our way just before 2. All is well this morning, C is playing/acting normally and A made it to school on time! Daddy comes home this evening and I'm planning to go to bed super early to catch up on some Zzz's!

A new way to keep up with us!

Hello all!

With all the other things I've got on my plate now, I've decided to add one more thing to it...blogging. I hope this becomes a way for you to keep up with our family; our comings and goings. I'll *try* to update this fairly often, no promises though!

Happy reading!