Disney on Ice

Keira and I had a girls day out last weekend and went to see Disney on Ice. She loved it! We got there a little early and went to the Princess Preview before the show started. We walked around and saw all of the princess dresses (which she honestly could have cared less about), but she did get a kick out of seeing Cinderella (although she has no idea who she is). Keira's favorite part of the show was the Cars...she talked about them all the way home, and couldn't wait to tell Daddy about them. (obviously Keira is not a girly-girl...at least not yet!) She's never seen the movie, so we may have to get it for her for Christmas now. She loved seeing Minnie, Mickey and Donald Duck too. She got a little tired towards the end, and halfway through Tinkerbell, she crawled up on my lap. But as soon as "Spring arrived" she perked up as all the flowers were blooming and she thought that was really cool.

We probably won't get a chance to blog before the holidays....so we'd like to wish all of our friends and family a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Caps vs Canes

The original plan was for Chris and I to go to the Capitals vs Hurricanes game on Sunday - with a few hours of tailgating beforehand. Unfortunately our babysitter's son got sick, and we couldn't find anyone at the last minute, so it ended up being a family affair. Maggie and I went to the tailgate about 2pm, and Chris joined us after the kids woke up from their nap. Tailgating for hockey was quite the experience...especially with my crazy Canes-fans family! Linda, Keith and their friends were the first ones there and got a prime spot on the grass next to the road. This way they could see all of the players drive in. They had made a few signs for the players to read as they were coming in...and a few for the Caps bus as it made it's way in. I have decided to embrace my new town...so I wore a Canes t-shirt for the game. Chris was not very happy about this, but who are we kidding, I wasn't a huge Caps fan anyway (sorry Jon Browning!). And it's a little more fun to have a rivalry in the house! :) The tailgate crew made Chris hold the Craps sign when he got there. He was a good sport about it all.

I want the record to show that Chris got Liam dressed for the game. He put the Hurricane onesie outfit on Liam (that Linda/Keith/Maggie got him for his birthday!). He said the only reason he did it is because the two other times Liam has worn the outfit, the Canes have lost. So he thought it was good karma for Liam to wear it. Looks like third time was a charm, as the Canes won 3-1 over the Caps (now I'm not sure if Chris will let Liam wear the outfit again...at least when they are playing the Caps!).

Surprisingly, the kids did great during their first hockey game. We actually were able to stay for the entire game and no major problems. Although we've decided we still will get a babysitter for the next Caps vs Canes match-up in March (and hopefully the tailgating will be a little warmer)!

Scandinavian Christmas Fair

As a salute to my family heritage, we headed downtown to the Scandinavian Christmas Fair on Saturday. It was honestly a pretty small affair - with Scandinavian crafts, food, music and dancing. We got there just as they were doing the traditional dancing around the Christmas tree....which Keira probably would have enjoyed doing if we had gotten there a few minutes earlier. After the dancing was over, they had a band playing and we had fun listening to the music. We had Swedish meatballs and waffles for lunch and made a stop to Pippi Longstocking's house where she was reading to the kids. Both kids were a little freaked out by Pippi...must have been her hair!

Thanksgiving Weekend (click here for more photos)

Thanksgiving weekend was a whirlwind trip to Northern Virginia to visit friends and family. We left Raleigh at 4am on Thursday, and got to Chris's parents house around 8am. Thanksgiving Day was spent with Chris's family - 10 adults, 10 kids and 4 dogs! It was a lot of fun....the cousins had a blast playing with each other....and the dogs enjoyed some great table scraps!

On Friday morning Chris's sisters, his mom and I headed out at 5:30am for some Black Friday deals. We hit four stores, got a lot of Christmas shopping done, and headed home just as the kids were waking up and having breakfast.

Shortly thereafter, we hit the road for our NOVA tour....First stop was a visit and lunch with Brian, Brandy and Zoe Loomis. It's amazing how big Zoe is getting...we hadn't seen her in quite a few months (she's almost 10 months old now and is on the move!). Our second stop was to the Johnson's for playtime and dinner. It was great to catch up, and the kids had fun playing together in the basement.

(back) Nate, Keira, Reese, Abby

(front) Ethan, Liam, Chelsea

The final stop of the night was a visit to the Maletick's. Regina looks great (she's due December 25th) and we took a peak at the nursery. The kids had a blast with the dogs. Actually I'm not sure who had more fun...the dogs or the kids! They played fetch, tag and climbed in and out of the crates (the kids!) for nearly 2 hours. Which was great because they were entertained while we caught up with Chris and Regina. After a long day we headed back to Chris's parents for some much needed sleep!

Saturday we went out to lunch with my aunt Barb and cousins (Deb, Brian, Haley, Kylan, Tessa and Ethan) at a local vineyard where my cousin Jen was working. Keira was a little cranky at first (she was still recouperating from the days before!)...but she finally warmed up and had a good time with her cousins in the playroom. (yes, every winery should have a playroom adjacent to the tasting room!) After lunch we headed back to the house to watch the second half of the VT/UVA game (GO HOKIES!).

After dinner on Saturday we drove home and enjoyed sleeping in our own beds Saturday night. But we were back on tour on Sunday, as my grandmother was in town. So we met up for brunch with she and Raleigh locals cousin Maggie and aunt Linda. We had a nice visit, and the kids took 3 hour naps when we got home...so Chris and I enjoyed a nice (quiet!!) Sunday afternoon.

We had a great whirlwind tour, and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting with friends and family....but we are so thankful to be spending Christmas at home this year!!

Growing boy!

Liam had his 15-month check up today. The tubes are doing their job, and he's doing great overall. He weighed in at 29 lbs 7 oz and 33 inches (which is the 95th percentile for both). That's up almost 3 1/2 lbs and 3 inches from his one year checkup!! Which explains why he's eating us out of house and home....

Liam gets tubes

Poor Liam has been on antibiotics for back-to-back ear infections since his first birthday (that's over two months straight!). After trying four different antibiotics, and nothing working, we went to visit an ENT. We saw the ENT on Friday, and Monday morning Liam was in surgery (talk about fast!). We were lucky he had an opening so quickly, and Liam is now a new man. The doctor said there was a lot of fluid and puss in his ears, so it was good we had the tubes put in. He's been talking a lot more this week, and falling considerably less...so we can already tell he's hearing better and the tubes are working. Liam was great at the hospital, he had fun playing peek-a-boo around the curtain in our waiting room, and flirting with the nurses.

Halloween Weekend

The weekend started with the Halloween parade at daycare....Keira was Dora and Liam was a fireman. It was a lot of fun to see all of the kids dressed up...I love Halloween!! After the parade we went home, grabbed a quick dinner and headed out trick-or-treating. We went to the first house and Keira was a little timid and not quite sure what was going on. But our neighbor Miranda gave her a piece of candy and she turned around and screamed "next house!"....so she figured it out pretty quickly. Liam rode in the wagon, and after we hit the houses on our street, Chris and Liam headed home to hand out candy to the other kids. Keira wasn't done yet, so she and I went down a few more streets. She was exhausted, but was having so much fun, she just kept saying "next house!" and kept going. Funny thing is, she really didn't care about the candy, she just loved the trick-or-treating part of it. Her favorite houses were the ones that had play-dough, crayons or stickers in the bowl...she'd pick those over candy every time. And she didn't eat any candy, all she wanted was raisins when we got home! Liam was too young this year to understand, but I really don't think we'll get off as easy next year with him!

The day after Halloween, the farm down the street had an Open House so we went to go see the animals (there's a recurring theme with our weekends...Keira is in love with animals these days!). The kids got to pet and feed the goats, a rabbit and a chicken. There was also a moon bounce which of course Keira had a blast on.

There are a ton of photos on Snapfish from our Halloween/Fall festivies...click on the blog title to see them all.

Getting ready for Halloween

In order to get ready for Halloween, we made cookies and carved pumpkins last week. Keira was not so sure about the pumpkin guts last year, but this year she got in there and got her hands dirty. Of course Liam dug right in! After the kids went to bed, Chris and I carved the pumpkins....his was a skull and mine was the Count.

Trip to New York

I went to New York on business at the end of October to work two trade shows. My friend Christine came up to attend one of the shows and stayed with me. It was great to spend time with her in the evenings and catch up. We wandered around after dinner one night and just had to sit on the new red bleachers in Times Square. At the time (after a few Guinesses at a nearby Irish bar) it didn't seem so corny!

Visit to the State Fair

The weekend of October 18th we visited the State Fair in downtown Raleigh. The kids had fun looking at all of the animals. Keira held a chick (which pooped on her hand and freaked her out) and we all had fun feeding the goats carrots at the petting zoo. We stopped to say hi to cousin Maggie who was working at the turkey shoot (don't worry, there weren't real turkeys there!) and the kids had their first cotton candy. Next year they will be a little older and will be able to go on the rides...but this year we just stuck to the animals. (Click on the blog post title for more photos on Snapfish)

Having fun at the UNC Kids zone.

Girls' Weekend

We had a girls' family weekend October 18th at the cabin in Lake Gaston, North Carolina. Nana, my mom, Regan, cousin Maggie, and aunts Linda, Barbara and Jaye were there. Lots of food, booze and political talk (thank goodness we're all on the same side or it could have gotten ugly!). It was great to see everyone and spend time with the girls. We missed Deb and Jen, but hopefully they can join us next time. Regan has totally "popped" in the past 2 weeks, and is glowing....here's a current photo for those who haven't seen her recently (along with one of my mom, Regan and I below).

Liam's first haircut

Liam's hair is getting longer, and started to curl....so Chris decided it was time for a trim around the ears. Luckily Liam was a good sport and sat (somewhat) still while Chris cut his hair. It's amazing how much older he looks now...he's not my baby boy anymore! Now Keira keeps asking to get her hair cut...I'm ignoring her hoping she'll forget about it and stop asking. But if she doesn't stop, I may have to break down and take her to get her hair cut (Chris will not be cutting her hair!). Her hair is pretty long now with gorgeous curls and natural highlights (yes, I have hair-envy)....and I can't bring myself to get it cut....so I'm hoping she'll stop asking soon!

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

October 11th we headed to the pumpkin patch...we went on a hayride, picked out pumpkins and Keira played on all of the moonbounces/slides. Liam found a bowling set and used the ball as a soccer ball and kicked it all over the place - it's great to see we have a future soccer player on our hands! We attempted the kids rope maze, but after 15 minutes the kids were bored and Chris and I got frustrated....so we "cheated" our way out and headed back to the play area. Good thing we didn't try the corn maze (that takes 1 1/2 - 2 hours).....it'll be a few years before we attempt that with the kids! A great time was had by all, and there are a ton of photos on Snapfish if you click on the blog title above.

First bike ride in the buggy

Now that the weather has finally cooled down a bit, we've dusted off our bikes and took the kids out for their first ride in the buggy. I still don't understand why Liam was fast asleep by the end when I'm the one who was hauling the extra 60 lbs on the back of my bike! But a good time was had by all, and as soon as the rain is outta here we'll get the bikes back out....they say it's supposed to be a nice weekend...

Hokies invade Nebraska

My sister Tiffany and I traveled to Lincoln, NE to see the Hokies play Nebraska. A record crowd at Nebraska's Memorial Stadium saw the Hokies pull out a 35-30 victory. I must say, the people in Nebraska are first class all the way. Everyone we meet greeted us warmly and welcomed us to Nebraska. Our tailgating consisted of going to a couple of bars before the game... Sidetracks and the N Zone. It was a very early flight back the next day, but it was a great trip and I can't wait until next year when Nebraska travels to Blacksburg

Road trip to Virginia and the golf tournament

We headed up to Northern Virginia last Thursday for the 9th Annual Allan E. Bergere Memorial Golf Tournament. The tournament is in memory of my cousin who passed away of colon cancer (and raises money for the cause)...and we play every year. Or I should say Chris plays every year and I've had a newborn (literally) attached to me the past two years, so I haven't played for a while. But I was back this year, and boy was it UGLY....it was very clear I hadn't played golf in a few years! Thank goodness I had a great team that were not only a lot of fun, but were awesome golfers! I played with two friends of the family (Jeff and Lou) and my step-mother Mary..... I believe our team ended up 4th in our flight, so we didn't do so bad.

Now also teeing off at the tournament was Chris, who played with a friend of ours from high school (Jon), his boss (Don) and his dad. The men had a lot of fun, but didn't fare too well....they ended up being the team "farthest from first"....or as they like to say the team that was "the most honest". They did walk away with a nice Tiger Woods book on how to play golf though...so all was not lost.

Chris's mom watched the kids while we played golf, and brought the kids to the golf course when we were done so everyone could see them. We don't see my dad's side of the family very often...but when we do, it's always great to spend time with them.

The night of the tournament we headed back to Chris's parents house and the Engelbrecht's came over for dinner. We had a nice dinner and fun catching up. That night Keira took a bath with her cousins Tyler and Nicole (Liam was in bed by this point), and the three of them ran around the basement naked jumping from couch to couch afterwards. It was hysterical, however posting any photos/videos may be mistaken as child porn, so I'll refrain from sharing.

The next day we headed home for the weekend. We picked up sandwiches along the way, and stopped at a rest area for dinner so the kids and dogs could run around half way through the trip. Liam and Keira thought it was fun to have a picnic in the woods, and of course the dogs enjoyed barking at all of the people walking by.

Saturday Chris volunteered at the World Beer Festival in Durham. He had a great time pouring beer, but unfortunately couldn't taste much out while he was there. They are going to have a party for the volunteers at a later date...so I'm sure he'll get to enjoy more than his fair share then. He just bought two kits to finally start brewing homebrew again. A pumpkin ale just in time for Fall...I can't wait.

Fall Festival

Liam and Keira had a Fall Festival at their daycare to celebrate the first day of Fall (Sept 22nd). Keira bobbed for apples .....and of course ate hers promptly after catching it. While Liam had fun on the playground with his friends and the balls.

Visit from Regan, Ryan, Cash and "the bump"

I've been busy at work, and a little slacking on the posts! The weekend of September 27th, Regan and Ryan came for a visit. The kids had a great time playing with their aunt and uncle and their "cousin" Cash the newfoundland. It was nice to visit with them and it was the first time I had seen Regan since her big announcement....and now at 20 weeks, she has quite the bump :) She looks fabulous (of course), and next time I'll get better photos to post. Cash is quite the talk of the neighborhood when he goes for walks! Regan and I took the kids and all 3 dogs for a walk while Ryan made us dinner Saturday night. We got stopped a million times asking what kind of dog it was, how much he weighed....and someone even pulled over as they were driving to say there was a "bear sighting" in the neighborhood. Regan is used to the specticle since she walks him every day....but I got quite a kick out of it! Chris was gone for the weekend to Nebraska (he'll post stories/photos seperately), but had an early flight home on Sunday so was able to see everyone before they left. We look forward to spending more time with Ryan and Regan now that we're a little closer to them, and can't wait to meet Lil' Shriver in February!

H - O - K - I - E - S - HOKIES!

The Keleher family came for a visit this weekend and we went to the UNC/VT game at Chapell Hill. It was a rough start...but the Hokies came back from a 3-17 deficit to win the game 20-17!

While Kim, Ryan, Chris and I enjoyed some tailgating and the football game...the "Little Hokies" hung out at the house with the babysitters. We had a great time with the Keleher's and look forward to hanging out with them again soon.

Jack (2 1/2), Justin (6 months), Liam (13 months) and Keira (2)