The McNierney Family

Blog Poll: Which would you prefer?

2011-03-23T11:32:00.000-04:00

A little background first. We are going on vacation soon with two other families to Florida. We drive because it's only 12 hours and flights for 4 people are outrageous. Not to mention how much crap you need to bring to a beach house for a week with kids. Chris found out a few weeks ago that he had a conference the week before our vacation, and would be flying home the day we are leaving. This made me nervous, because we would have to leave a few hours later than originally planned, and if his flight was delayed or canceled, the kids and I are stuck waiting for him to get on the road (i.e. I am stuck with two anxious preschoolers who want to be at the beach!). I suggested he find an airport on the way down so we can just pick him up on the way. He found a flight that works perfectly with the travel schedule. And if something happens with his flight, we are more than half way to our destination, and the kids and I will just get a hotel room for the night. I will be driving the kids 7 1/2 hours by myself before we pick Chris up at the airport to finish out the trip. Reminder my kids are almost 5 yrs girl and almost 4 yrs boy.

Now Chris was relaying this plan to his sister last week, and she thinks I'm crazy (and can't believe I agreed to this). A little background on her. She lives in Houston, and has 3 kids: 3 yr boy, 4 1/2 yr girl and 7 yr boy. Due to the high costs of flights, this year she and her husband are driving from Houston to upstate New York (28+ hours) this summer with the kids for vacation. They figure it'll take 3 days (each way). (one way ticket to the loony bin anyone??)

Chris's sister told him she would rather drive 3 days with her kids and her husband, than drive 7 hours with her kids by herself. I'm curious what others think.

So which would you prefer 7 hours by yourself, or 28+ hours with your significant other?? (I know most would say NEITHER!!!!, but it's my poll, and that's not an option!)

(by the way, love ya Tiff!)

Funny things kids say

2011-03-01T13:21:00.000-05:00

I picked up a friend's son from preschool yesterday and it was hilarious listening to he and Keira talk in the back of the car. Like little adults. Sometimes I forget they listen to EVERYTHING, and when they use slang correctly, it just makes me giggle.

Me - Did you guys do anything fun at school today?
Keira (4.5 years old) - We painted a picture of a turtle. The letter of the week is T.
Nate (5 yr old) - I dunno.
Me - Well I guess your mom should stop sending you then, huh, Nate?
Nate - WHAT? Your pulling my leg, right?

I really should have written down this stuff last night, because I suffer from CRS (can't remember sh!t), and I can't remember anything else. It really was funny, and you'll just have to take my word for it. I know there was 'awesome' and 'totally serious'....amongst many others. All used correctly.

Nate did end up scoring a playdate at our house (after telling me he didn't want to go home and Keira asking me for him to come over). And after playing outside for a bit, he excused himself to go in and use the bathroom. I told him he could, but he could also use a tree in our backyard (like he does at home)... to which he replied 'no thanks, I wouldn't want a squirrel to bite my butt.' Um, ok.

Now don't even get me started on lunch today. Let's just say there was Toy Story Mac & Cheese... and lots of Woody talk. Liam likes lots of Woodys and Keira prefers Buzz. But will eat Woody because he tastes good. I'm sure Pixar knew EXACTLY what they were doing with the character names in that movie...

Check-in time

2011-02-14T11:40:00.000-05:00

I hit 25 jazzercise classes on Saturday, so I thought this would be a good time to check in on how I'm doing with my New Years goals...

*Keep exercising. My goal for 2011 is 194 classes. So I'm doing good with this goal, since I'm at 27 now. My 20-year high school reunion in August and my maid of honor duties in October are keeping me motivated. A friend of mine from jazzercise class asked me to be her partner for Jazz it Off in March/April, so I'll do that and maybe that'll help keep me away from the girl scout cookies in the freezer ;)

*Blog more. Well, I could probably get better at this... but there are only so many hours in the day. The work blog started a bit earlier than I thought (check out www.pay4schoolstuffonline.blogspot.com), so between the two I'm still trying to write more.

*Get the house organized and stay organized. Still working on this one, but it's going well. I was clearing out a closet this weekend and found an old diaper bag...full of snacks, too small underwear for Keira and a few diapers for Liam. Since Liam has been potty trained for a year and a half, let's just say it's been shoved down there for a while.

*Craigslist. I actually did get everything on craigslist. Now, not all of it has sold yet... so I need to put it back up and/or donate it. Programmable thermostat anyone? And, I did use the money I made to buy a bike trailer for Liam, so we could go on longer rides. He loves it (and it's way better than the bike trailer both kids sat in....dragging 90 lbs up hill was killing me).

*Donate. Yay, no more donation pile in the garage! I actually brought it over (and filed my receipt for next year's taxes instead of throwing it on the growing stack of papers in the kitchen). Progress. It's the little things I tell ya.

*Integrate cleaning in my daily life. Nope. Not even one bit. In fact, the house is a disaster and I'm hosting bunco tomorrow night. It'll be presentable by then, hopefully (and I promise to clean the downstairs bathroom). Luckily I did convince Chris that we need someone to come clean this summer while there is no school and I'm working two PT jobs. I mean, I'm not a machine. I just have to do it until then, sigh.

How's everyone else doing with their New Year's goals and resolutions??

Can Keira come out and play?

2011-02-02T14:30:00.001-05:00

Keira's growing up. I mean, I knew it was coming, but I didn't know we were quite here yet. Registered her for kindergarten, no problem. But the other day we were at the park and Liam was ready to go. Really ready to go. We'd been there for a few hours and he was tired and hungry and on the verge of a meltdown. Time.to.go! Normally I'd grab Keira and we'd all go home. But she was having so much fun with her friends, and didn't want to leave. One of my friends said they were leaving soon (it was almost dark anyway), and Keira could stay and they'd bring her home. Ok, sounds great. Then on their way to our house, they called and said "Can Keira come over to play?" Now this doesn't sound like a big deal...but up until now, if someone watched one of the kids, they were babysitting. Or if one of the kids played at a friend's house, I was there. But to have one of the kids go over to just play, without me, that sounded so grown up. I was making dinner while she was at the park, so I told her she needed to come home for dinner and then she could go back after dinner to play. Chris and I were talking about it afterwards, and realized Keira is at the age where she is going to go over to a friends house to play, and may even stay for dinner. And her friends will come over here and do the same. That's the big reason we moved to this neighborhood. Lots of kids to play with. So next time her friends ask if she wants to come over and play, we'll let her. When she's hungry she'll either ask to come home or will just eat with them. And I know to expect the same here. I just thought I still had a few months before my little girl was going to be 'on her own' out in the neighborhood!

Keira the Kindergartener??

2011-01-13T23:17:00.000-05:00

Well, not yet... but soon! Keira is officially registered for kindergarten!! She is so excited, and would start tomorrow if she could. She was able to check out her school a little bit when we registered, and saw some of the kids walking around. She's been asking a lot of questions lately...especially about the school bus, which I think she is more excited about than school! Now we sit and wait to find out when she'll start. We are at a year-round school, so depending on what track we get, she'll either start July 11th or August 1st. We've requested Track 4, which would give us more time at the New York lakehouse in the summer. Track 4 "tracks out" immediately, so she'd have the entire month of July off, and wouldn't start school until August 1st. If we don't get Track 4, then she'll start July 11th. We find out at the end of April. At least once we are assigned a track, Liam will automatically get the same one, so we don't have to play the waiting game again next year. It's hard to believe one more year and both kids will be in elementary school!

No school. No snow. Just ice.

2011-01-11T09:52:00.000-05:00

I love our mild winters in North Carolina... but do not like that we often find ourselves on that line between snow and rain. Which means ice. And ice is not fun. Ice cancels school, playdates and isolates us to our house. At least if it was snow, we could enjoy the day off from school sledding, playing with our friends, and making snowmen and snow angels. This morning is one of those ice days. Schools are closed, gymnastics is canceled, and our driveway is a skating rink (which makes even walking to the neighbor's house to play treacherous). I'm armed with lots of crafts and books and we'll make the best of it. Special shout out thanks to Maggie for the awesome brownie kits and gummy making kits she gave us for Christmas. They'll definitely be pulled out today as well! (too bad Jazzercise is also closed, sigh)

Keira summed it up best when she said she "dreams of the days the ice is gone and she doesn't have to wear a coat any more". She's one smart girl.

I love my kids, but I like them more and more each day

2011-01-09T12:10:00.000-05:00

It's true. I love my kids....but I LIKE them more and more each day. They are little people and are so much fun to be around. Not to mention they sleep through the night, feed themselves, wipe their own a$$es and can tell you what they want.

Here's an example of why I LIKE my kids... the other day, we went to the museum. We were there for over five hours, and what did I carry? MY PURSE! Yup, that's it!! If they have to go to the bathroom, they use the pubic restroom. If they are thirsty, they get a drink out of the water fountain. If they are hungry, I tell them to shut up until lunchtime. No strollers, no diaper bags, no bag of clothes 'just in case', no snacks, no water bottles, nothing. Just my purse. Ahhhh, it was so nice!!!

It constantly amazes me when people see the light at the end of the tunnel, and start over again. I'd kill myself. No, I'd kill the doctor that botched my husband's surgery.

My New Year's Goals

2011-01-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

I refuse to call them my New Year's Resolutions, because no one seems to keep those. So I'm calling them goals, and am hoping by putting them in writing, I'll actually do them. Here they go, in no particular order...

*Keep exercising. I was really good this year about getting to jazzercise. It's fun and I've met some really great women there. I went to 193 classes last year, so my goal is 194 this year. I should round it up to 200, but that just sounds like a lot, so I'll stick to 194. Quick math, I need to go about 4 times a week. Totally do-able. (Now if I could cut out the wine/beer, homemade chex mix, the need to "help" my kids eat their Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day candy, etc...I may even look like I jazzercise that much. But let's keep this simple, and worry about that goal for 2012.)

*Blog more. I started this blog for my family/friends a few years ago and wanted to keep everyone up to date on what we were doing. As I stated in my first blog post of the year...this is a new blog, new format. And I really do want to keep up with it. But I have another reason for wanting to blog more too. More and more businesses are blogging, and the trend is just going up. The company I work for has been toying with blogging. But I have no idea what to blog about that would be remotely interesting to the customers (not that my personal blog is remotely interesting either, but...). I'm hoping to "practice" blogging personally, and then start blogging for the company later this year. Everyone wants to read "Musings of a New PTA Mom", right?

Brief Commercial break - If you are a parent, teacher and/or administrator...you want to check out www.Pay4SchoolStuffOnline.com. Eliminate checks at school and pay for all your kids' stuff online. Give time back to the teachers and make it easier on parents. It's FREE for schools to use! Nearly 100 PTAs are using it around the country... is YOURS?

*Get the house organized and stay organized. If it doesn't have a place, it's outta here. Either craigslist, trash, or donate. Which leads to...

*Craigslist. Put the ever-growing pile of stuff in the garage on craigslist and make some wine/beer money. (see 'keep exercising goal' above)

*Donate. Next time I go to the donation place on New Year's Eve, I need to remember to bring the ENTIRE lot with me. Not leave half in the garage, and only bring the half that was growing in my bedroom closet. Now I have a pile all ready for a 2011 donation, I just need to load it in the car and BRING IT THERE.

*Integrate cleaning in my daily life. The house gets so behind, that I then have to spend hours cleaning at one time. No fun for anyone. I tried the spreadsheet of 'bathrooms on Monday, living room on Tuesday, etc'... but who really cleans the bathroom every.single.week? And when I did have time to clean the bathroom, I didn't have time to do three bathrooms, so then I'd just feel behind and wouldn't even do the one. So I'd like to get better about cleaning a little at a time. Like when the kids clean up the playroom before they go to bed (yes, this really should be a separate goal itself), I should take the extra 2 minutes to vacuum the floor every few days. Or when they are putting their jammies on, I should switch the laundry that is right outside their room. This will most likely be the one goal that I will give up on first, but I'll try....

So it's January 7th...I've been to 4 jazzercise classes, I've blogged 3 times, the house is a mess, the craigslist and donation piles are still in the garage, and did I mention the house is a mess? All in all, I'm not doing too bad for the first week. :) Check back in a few weeks and I'll give an update.

Happy New Year everyone! I'd love to hear from you as to what your New Year's Goals/Resolutions are and if you have any advice on how I can attain my goals for 2011!

Adventures at the Museum

2011-01-06T22:18:00.000-05:00

The kids and I went to the Museum of Natural Sciences museum today with friends. We've been a million times. It's a free museum, kids enjoy it, 20 minutes from the house. What's not to love. But today was a little different. There's a special exhibit called Animal Grossology. You walk in and right away there is a life size burping and farting cow. Never mind that you learn about the 4 stomachs of the cow....the cow burps and farts. Move on to the exhibit where you match the animal with the poop it makes. Tons of poop, blood sucking and slimy exhibits. Fun for everyone. But the most.disturbing.exhibit.ever... the flies. Yes, your average, run of the mill fly. I'm not sure if I can EVER eat outside in the summer again after all I learned about flies. I'm seriously disturbed. But glad I'm still alive from all the fly urine I apparently ingested after Liam's outdoor birthday party last summer. Can you say indoor party this year?!

For all my Raleigh friends (that weren't with us today), this exhibit was great for kids. Even better if those kids are boys and/or LOVE potty humor.

New Year, New Blog

2011-01-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

I originally started this blog for the grandparents and other family that wanted endless photos of the kids, always asking us what we were up to, and how the kids were doing. I decided that if I created a blog, they were in control and could check in on us whenever they wanted to. In an ideal world, I'd keep the blog up to date, they'd check it, and everyone would be happy. Enter Facebook. All the grandparents and family found it, and started keeping tabs on us on a daily (or sometimes hourly) basis. So I've been remiss about using the blog. I've gotten slack, and it's even stressed me out a bit that it's 'one more thing I am not getting done'.

Now it's a new year, and I have a new approach to the blog. Less of a scrapbook of photos and 'what are we up to this week'... and more of a 'these are the crazy things my kids say/do' and 'life is a crazy world'. Inspired by my friend Jen (who if you don't read her blog, you need to...see is the funniest person I know http://boymommynyc.blogspot.com/).

So I'll end with a quote from Liam today:
"Girls are pretty and boys are awesome."
Chris: Why are boys awesome Liam?
Liam: Because boys pee out of their penis.

Well of course. Enough said.

Have a fantastic 2011 everyone, and stay tuned with future McNierney adventures and craziness...

Catching up: June and July!

2010-09-15T17:01:00.000-04:00

JUNE:

"Happy birthday dear Keira"....

Keira is four! Keira celebrated her 4th birthday with friends and family at Harris Lake Park. It's one of her favorite parks, and we picked it because it's a great place to ride bikes....and she got her first big girl bike for her birthday! Keira loves to ride her bike, so we wonder how long it'll be until she's taking off the training wheels. Although it was a hot day, we had fun celebrating. We grilled out and the kids rode bikes and went looking for bugs. Keira is a girly girl, but still likes her bugs... so it was a bug birthday theme full of ladybugs and pink and purple butterflies!

Daddy, Mommy and the birthday girl!

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Nine family tents lined the perimeter of the Willis' backyard

In honor of National Wildlife Federation's Great American Backyard Campout, we camped out in our friend's backyard with eight other families. There were 17 adults and over 20 children (at one point...some did leave in the middle of the night...boo!). It was a really hot day and night, but thankfully we were in the Willis' backyard, so we were able to use extension cords and box fans to stay comfortable. We grilled out, played in the sprinklers and of course roasted marshmallows. We had a great time, and were thankful the kids did too! Now that the kids are older, and we know they like camping... we plan to do many more camping trips in the future.

Marshmallows and glow sticks!

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JULY:
Our annual trip to Brant Lake! We started our trip to Brant Lake (in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York), with a short trip to the Engelbrecht's. We decided to stay there Wednesday night and caravan to the lake on Thursday morning. We got an early start (5am!), and made it up to the lake by lunchtime. The long trip is worth it, as it's cousins cousins and more cousins... and everyone has a great time. We were up there with Cheryl, Tyler and Nicole; Cheryl and Dave; and Tiffany, Chelsea and Nate. Not to mention four dogs! We did a lot of swimming, boating, tubing, and overall just having a great time. We had one not-so-great weather day, and we went to an indoor water park (the rest of the family went to the movies). It was nice to spend a little time with just our family of four and play together. The kids loved the waterslides... and the bigger the better for Keira. Unfortunately she was a half inch short of the big slides, but was able to go on the big family slide, which she did over and over again. Liam was not a big fan, so we had to alternate going with her. We'll definitely have to go back next year so she can try the big slides! Keira is quite the dare-devil on the lake too. She started out tubing with Liam, but she wanted a faster and bumpier ride, so she kept going with different cousins until the perfect match was found... her older cousin Nate! After a week at the lake, we had a caravan back to the Engelbrecht's, and we stayed there another night before heading home.


Cousin fun on the hammock... Nate, Tyler, Nicole, Chelsea and Keira

Keira and Liam getting ready for their first tube ride


we've taken this same photo the past 3 years... I'll need to put them on here side by side			(Keira, Liam, Tyler, Nicole, Chelsea, Nate)

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Cousins weekend in Richmond!

On our way back from New York, Chris dropped the kids and I off in Richmond to spend the weekend with the cousins on my side of the family. The kids did a lot of swimming in Regan's pool, and playing in the backyard. It was great to catch up with everyone, and hope that we can do another cousins weekend soon!

Kylan, Liam, Tessa, Indie, Haley, Keira and Ethan

Jen, Indie, Regan, Maggie, Debbie and Poppie

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Family in Raleigh!
Whenever I get a chance, I get a four generation photo! My mom, Nana, Barb and Jaye came in to town for the weekend to hang out (and plan Nana's 90th birthday party!)... so I took the opportunity to get a photo after lunch.

My mom Pat, me, Liam, Keira and my grandmother Helen

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Liam starts gymnastics!
Keira has been doing gymnastics for about a year now...and ever since she started, Liam wanted to do it too. We told him as soon as he turned 3 he could try it. Well, he started about a month before his 3rd birthday (that's when the new session started), and he LOVES it. It'll be great for him to learn some coordination and balance for his sports career later on. (at least we hope so! Liam eats so much we keep telling him he needs to get a college scholarship because he's eating his college fund right now!)

Let's just cover the big stuff....April and May

2010-09-12T21:22:00.068-04:00

(I'll cover the other months over the next few days...)

APRIL:

Easter on Parade... it's all about the bonnets (which the kids made themselves!)

Let's see...there was Easter.

We went to Richmond (which has become an annual event). My sister has a great backyard, so we hid Easter eggs, had a potluck brunch and then headed to Easter on Parade. Great time as always!

Liam decorating Easter eggs

Showing off our Easter tattoos... Barb, Debbie, Me (with Keira on top), my mom Pat and my sister Regan

Keira decorating Easter eggs

All dressed up for Easter and ready to hit Easter on Parade!


Daddy's turn! (unfortunately we didn't get a shot of the 4 of us together)

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APRIL AND MAY were the months of MANY home improvements. We used some tax return money to re-sod the front and back yards, and paint the majority of the inside of the house (I had already painted the kids rooms and the kitchen/breakfast area and playroom). We put in a vegetable garden in the backyard, and went to the Raleigh State Farmer's Market to get plants for it. We planted cucumbers, several types of tomatoes, lots of peppers, carrots, strawberries and several herbs. Some did well, and others didn't... but at least we will have a better idea of what to plan for next year. The kids loved watching the vegetables grow, and had a great time going out with their buckets picking the ripe veggies. The cucumbers and grape tomatoes did especially well. (tomatoes are still doing well in September)


Before the sod went down, Chris built a large raised vegetable garden in the backyard (with Keira's management).

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MAY:
Wedding bells for Erin and Marc! Marc Evans is a high school friend of mine - our friendship continued to grow through college, and we have remained great friends since then. We enjoyed getting to know Erin throughout the years, and were so excited they finally got married. And what a great wedding it was! They got married in a HUGE house in the Outer Banks (2 miles up from where the road ends... you have to drive on the beach to get there). We stayed in the house where the wedding/reception took place, and it was a family affair. We spent a few days playing on the beach, swimming in the pool, and living it up with the other friends and family in the house.

Wild horses right on the sand dunes in front of the house!

Congratulations Marc and Erin!!

Party time!!

Dancing queen!


The 18-bedroom "shack" we had to spend a week at :) Best place ever for a wedding!

The kids and I on the house boardwalk to the beach

Total slacker

2010-09-12T20:35:00.000-04:00

So I clearly haven't kept up with the blog. Most people have been "following" us on Facebook, so I just haven't updated the blog lately. But then I was told I don't have many pictures on FB either, so here I am... I'm going to give it one more go to keep this updated. :)

March Review

2010-04-19T21:57:00.000-04:00

Maybe I can keep up with this monthly...we'll see. March was a FUN month, and busy as always.

March 6th: The Home Depot has a monthly kids workshop, and Chris likes to take Keira for some father/daughter bonding time. Liam and I tagged along this month, and the kids made rain gauges. Although he had fun, we decided Liam is still a little too young, so it will continue to be a father/daughter event for another few months.

March 9th: I had a great birthday! A few days before my birthday, Chris spent time alone with the kids, and I went and got a pedicure. It was nice to get away for a little while and pamper myself. On my birthday, Chris and the kids got Indian take-out (my favorite, and a little far away so we don't do it very often!) and we had birthday cake for dessert. Ever since I went to college, my mom has sent me a cake for my birthday....my favorite, an angel food cake. Yes, she makes the cake, packs it up, and ships it to me! This year she sent the cake, but instead of decorating it, she sent the icing and sprinkles for the kids to decorate for me. They had a great time decorating it with Chris and were so proud of their creation. It was yummy!

March 10th: The kids preschool class had a field trip to Lowes Foods. They learned about leading a healthy lifestyle...and had a great tour! We started out in the toothpaste aisle; then went to see the fruits/veggies (they tried watermelon and avocado); then visited the bakery (and tried whole wheat bread); the seafood department and the dairy department (they tried milk and yogurt). They also talked about exercise and marched, skipped and hopped throughout the grocery store to the different departments.

The class in front of the veggies (Keira is holding the cabbage and Liam has an avocado)

Learning about the lobster (and getting to touch it!)

March 13th - 21st: We went on vacation to Ft Myers Beach, FL with our friends Emily, Dirk, Ava and Jenna Shimpach. This is our 2nd year, and hopefully it will continue to be an annual event. Emily and I are friends from WI and our kids are the same age (Ava is 2 days older than Keira, and Jenna is a few months younger than Liam), so they are a great family to vacation with! We rented a house with a pool on the canal, and a short walk from the beach. It was a 12-hour drive for us, and the kids did great. We were thankful that we didn't have the 24-hr drive the Shipmach's had though! We spent the week relaxing, playing on the beach, swimming in the pool and watching basketball (March Madness). It was a great time, and we can't wait to do it again next year!!

Beach bums Ava, Keira and Liam

Ava and Keira hug good-bye...hopefully it won't be another year before they get to see each other

Liam and Keira get one more swim in the ocean in before we leave

March 27th: We visit Bass Lake Park quite a bit, and participate in their monthly story/craft time (which is free). So we decided to give back to the park and participate in their clean-up day as a family. We hiked around the park for about an hour picking up trash. Luckily the park is pretty clean and we didn't find much trash. Most of what we found were cigarette butts (ick!) and fishing line. At the end of the clean-up, we all got shirts and the kids were so proud to wear theirs!

After the Bass Lake clean-up, we headed to Womble Park for our town Spring Fling. The kids had a great time in the bounce houses, making crafts and ending the day with an egg hunt.

Stay tuned for our April adventures!

Indie Turns One!!

2010-02-25T18:51:00.007-05:00

My nephew Indie turned one on February 22nd, and the kids and I went to Richmond to celebrate. My mom came up on Friday afternoon and we all drove to Richmond together. Chris is super busy at work, so he stayed home to get a few things done. It was a great party, and my sister did a fantastic job with The Hungry Caterpillar theme! Indie is getting so big...he's walking now, and the cousins had fun together.

The birthday boy!

Cousins...Liam and Keira (in their butterfly wings), and Indie

Regan, Indie (enjoying his birthday cake) and Ryan

Valentine's Day

2010-02-25T18:41:00.004-05:00

Chris and I have never been huge fans of Valentine's Day (we celebrate our anniversary and say 'I Love You' EVERY DAY!), but it's been fun to celebrate with the kids the past few years. Our neighbor had a Valentine's Day party, a few days before Valentine's Day. There were about 20 kids there (plus adults), so it was fun, but a little crazy. The kids decorated bags (below), exchanged valentines with their friends, did a flower with a heart thumbprint craft and had a potluck lunch.
I have been going to Jazzercise since October, and on Valentine's Day they had a Sweetheart Class where you could bring someone with you. They don't normally have childcare on Sundays, but they did for this class (so men could have no excuses to back out!). Chris went with me, and had a good time. There were actually a lot of men there (some people brought their moms or another friend).... and Chris did really well. He was surprised how good of a workout it was, and was still a little sore on Tuesday. :) He was a good sport, and after our workout, we went out for Mexican food with the kids for dinner.

Out and about...of course!

2010-01-30T15:03:00.017-05:00

For those of you that know me, I'm not a stay-at-home type of stay-at-home mom. The kids and I are having a lot of fun exploring Raleigh and playing with our friends. Here's a few things that we've been up to lately.

Visit to the Holly Springs Fire Station with some of our friends. The firemen were GREAT with the kids! They gave us a tour of the fire station, showed us the trucks and put on full gear for the kids (and taught them some fire safety too!).

Explore-A-Story at Bass Lake Park is one of our favorites! Once a month we go to the park, hear stories, do a craft and then an activity outside. This month was about squirrels. After the program, it was so nice outside we went for a walk and had a picnic. Before leaving, we went in to the "animal room" and the park ranger pulled out a snake for the kids to touch and "hold". Keira loved the snake and thought it was funny it gave her a "hug" on her wrist (above).

It does snow in North Carolina! The kids enjoyed the first (and probably last) snowfall of the year by sledding and playing with their friends outside.

Keira just started gymnastics and LOVES it! In her first class she practiced handstands (left) and backwards rolls (right).

The kids Ready-to-Learn preschool class took a field trip to PetSmart. They learned about different animals and how to take care of them. They got to pet a guinea pig and two different types of lizards.

My grandmother gave us some money for Christmas, and we used it to buy a membership to the Marbles Children's Museum in downtown Raleigh. We go at least once a month and the kids have a blast! Last week there was a new exhibit open, which was a lot of fun. Liam and his friend Tucker (left) at the lemonade stand and Keira (right) making pizzas in the pizza restaurant.

yes, I'm a total blog slacker!

2010-01-30T14:06:00.014-05:00

Here's the last few months in a nutshell...

Thanksgiving: went to Topsail Beach, NC for the We AHR Family reunion. We spent the week with extended family in an 8-bedroom beach house (28 people!), and had a great time.

Christmas: We headed up to Northern Virginia to
spend a week with the McNierney family. The first few days we had almost two feet of snow, so the kids had a great time sledding and playing with their cousins. We went and saw the ICE Show outside of DC, and of course the ice slides were a huge hit (family photo to right)! We visited with numerous friends, and enjoyed catching up with them too. Christmas with 2 grandparents, 8 siblings, 10 grandkids and 5 dogs is always crazy, but fun!

Enjoying the snow! Family photo (left) and Tiffany helping the cousins, Chelsea, Keira, Liam and Nate build a snowman in the front yard (right).

Halloween weekend

2009-11-01T15:27:00.018-05:00

We had a family night on the Thursday before Halloween and carved pumpkins and watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Keira loved getting her hands dirty and pulling out the pumpkin guts...but Liam wouldn't touch them. All he wanted to do was put the "lid" back on the pumpkin when we were done.
We started out Halloween day by going to Hollyfest, which is our town's annual festival. It just happened to fall on Halloween this year. We spent most of the day there playing on the moon bounces, making crafts, playing on the playground, enjoying treats and visiting with friends.

Liam and Keira painting luminaries (looks like Liam might be a lefty like Mommy!)

After Hollyfest, we headed home for (wishful thinking) naps and quiet time, before the evening festivities began. Some of the kids' friends (and cousin Maggie and Adam) came over for pizza dinner and then we all headed out for trick or treating. This year the kids picked out what they want to be for Halloween, and Keira was a turtle and Liam was Tigger.

Keira understood Halloween last year, but this is the first year Liam got it, and they both had a great time. We trick or treated for a couple of hours, and then headed home. We ended the night going to our neighbor's house for a (30th) birthday celebration.

Conner (pumpkin), Tucker (Army man), Liam and Keira trick or treating

On Sunday the kids' friend Cameron had his 3rd birthday party at the New Hope Valley Railway station. To start the party, we took an hour long train ride with the steam engine. We were on the caboose for the first half of the ride, and then the train stopped to move the engine to the back of the train, so we were in the front of the train on the way home. It was cool to get an up-close view of the engine hooking up to our train car. After we returned, they had the birthday party on the stationary caboose at the station. The railway also has a Santa train in December, so since the kids had so much fun, we are planning on doing that one too.

Keira and Issac get a front-row view of the steam engine hooking up to our car at the half-way pointKeira, Liam and Chris checking out the scenery from the upper seats

Liam is a big boy!!

2009-11-01T15:21:00.002-05:00

It's official...Liam is potty trained! He's been potty trained for a few weeks, but I didn't want to jinx it by putting it in writing just yet. :) We started out with naked potty training over a weekend, and we weren't sure he was going to get it at first. But the following Wednesday night, something clicked...and he's been doing fantastic ever since! We even went to the zoo that Thursday (armed with 5 pairs of pants/undies just in case!), and he only had one accident. For the past month, he's had relatively few accidents, and is now asking to go potty (before it was more us making sure he went every hour or so). We were worried about training him because we heard boys were hard, but he was very easy and caught on quickly. We're so proud of him...and he's proud of himself!

State Fair

2009-11-01T15:11:00.007-05:00

Friday, October 23rd we went to the Raleigh State Fair. This was our 2nd year going, and we again had a great time. The animals are always the highlight of the fair for the kids...we visited the rabbit barn, the main building where the cows/calves were (unfortunately the line was ridiculously long, or we would have milked a cow!), and the kids favorite place, the poultry tent.... which is where they can hold the baby chicks and ducks (Keira is shown holding a baby duck below).
We also went to the petting/feeding zoo, which the kids just LOVE. They fed the goats, camels and other animals carrots. After feeding the animals (and washing hands!), we grabbed dinner and walked around to the rides. The fried foods are always big at the fair, and Chris and I decided to try fried cookie dough and chocolate covered bacon...which were both really good! The kids had fun on the rides (below with Chris on the whirly worm), and it was overall a fun time at the fair!

Light the Night Walk

2009-11-01T14:48:00.002-05:00

On Thursday, October 22nd we participated in the Light The Night Walk, which is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's evening walk and fundraising event. We walked in honor of my friend Emily Shimpach who is living with CML (a type of leukemia). Emily is a friend of mine from Wisconsin, so we (of course) wore Badger red! Emily's daughter Ava is 2 days older than Keira...and Emily found out she had CML when she was pregnant with her 2nd daughter Jenna. Luckily Jenna was born healthy and recently celebrated her 1st birthday. We walked with the hope that a cure will be found and Emily can celebrate many more birthdays with her family! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our team!!

Trip to Northern Virginia

2009-10-25T22:08:00.007-04:00

The weekend of October 15th we went to NOVA for a visit with family and friends. We headed up Thursday night and stayed at Chris's parent house. On Friday, Chris worked from the house in the morning, and then had lunch with his boss. While he was doing that, the kids and I met Regan and Indie at IKEA for shopping and lunch. It was great to see my sister and my nephew.... what a cutie! Saturday was a whirlwind tour! Saturday morning we met Chris, Regina and Natalya Maletick for breakfast. Natalya is ten months old, and it was the first time we got to meet her. We then headed to the Browning's house for playtime and lunch (and to meet their newest addition Sam). Keira and Liam had a great time playing with the girls, and it was nice to catch up with Jon and Sherri. After a few hours of visiting, we drove to the Engelbrecht's house to celebrate Nicole's 6th birthday and Tyler's 4th birthday at their pirate party. After the birthday party, it was nice to spend the night at the Engelbrecht's and not drive any where!

The pirate kids
(back) Liam, Rose, Tyler, Keira, Nicole
(front) Joe, Corinne, Madeline, Adam, Marie

Sunday morning we had breakfast with Brian, Brandy and Zoe Loomis... before heading home. It was great to visit with friends and family, and of course we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to. We'll be back up for Christmas, and hope to see more people on that trip!

Trip to Blacksburg with the kids

2009-10-25T21:22:00.011-04:00

So I'm a little out of order blogging....oops!

The weekend of September 19th we went down to Blacksburg for the VT/Nebraska game. Chris has been excited for this game since last season when he and his sister Tiffany were in Nebraska for that game. During the tailgate we had a great time hanging out with friends, checking out the other tailgates and visiting the duck pond. After tailgating, Chris and his sister Cheryl went to the game, while I took the kids back to my friends Marc and Erin's house. Marc's daughter Kaitlyn came back to the house with us, and she and Keira watched a movie, while I watched the game on TV (and Liam napped). The kids and I left the house to go back to campus for post-tailgating with a few minutes left in the game. As soon as we got in the car, we turned on the radio just in time for the Hokies to score a touchdown in the last minute to win the game! It was fun to drive through Blacksburg with everyone honking horns and excited about the win! A special thanks to Marc/Erin for their hospitality!

Getting Hokie tattoos before the game (Liam, Keira, Erin and Kaitlyn)

Liam and Keira at the tailgate
Walking through the duck pond...Liam, Kaitlyn and Keira
Keira crashed post-tailgating!

Visit from the Engelbrecht's (click here for more photos)

2009-10-25T20:47:00.010-04:00

Hokie family tailgating!
(back) Jeff, Tyler, Poppie, Keira; (middle) Cheryl, Chris; (front) Nicole, Liam

Jeff, Cheryl, Nicole and Tyler came down for a visit the weekend of October 2nd...and we had a great time! On Saturday we went to Durham for the VT/Duke football game. We headed to the game around 9am for a little bit of tailgating with the Triangle Alum Club before the noon kick-off. The game was HOT, and unfortunately a little too close for comfort, but still a fun time (and a "W" for the Hokies!).

Nicole, Tyler and Keira visiting with the Duke Blue Devil before the game

The McNierney's in our Hokie gearCheering for the Hokies!

On Sunday we went to the Amazing Acres Farm by our house to visit the animals and pick out a pumpkin. The kids got to feed the goats, pet a rabbit, play a few games and see several other farm animals. It was a beautiful Fall day, and nice to spend it outside. We had a great weekend with the Engelbrecht's and are glad they came to spend the weekend with us!

Liam, Tyler, Keira and Nicole

Field trips

2009-10-25T20:19:00.006-04:00

The kids have taken two field trips so far with their pre-school class. The first one was to the fire station. They have been to fire stations before (while Chris was a volunteer), but this is the first time they learned some fire safety and got to see the firemen get dressed. The kids learned that they should go to the window if there is a fire, and how to "stop, drop and roll". Keira was great, but Liam got scared as soon as the fireman put on his mask and ran and jumped in my lap. We are planning another trip to the fire station with some friends soon so Liam can see them in their outfits again. In case there is a fire in our house, we want to make sure Liam won't be scared of the firemen and hide under the bed!
The second field trip was to the Great Harvest Bread Company. The kids got to learn how bread was made (and even helped knead some), tasted a few different kinds and we picked out a few loaves to take home (the cinnamon swirl was the best!).

Trip to Blacksburg

2009-10-25T19:59:00.008-04:00

Chris and I went to Blacksburg the weekend of October 10th to visit friends and watch the Hokies play Boston College for Homecoming. Gramps/Grammy watched the kids, and we had a nice weekend getaway. There were 12 of us that rented a house in Christiansburg, and we took the Hooptie Ride to and from Blacksburg. We had a great time in the Mystery Mobile (which was definitely needed, as there was a lot of partying going on!!).

Our party mobile...
(back) Tiffany, Iris, Leah, Chris
(front) Susi, PoppieThe girls at the Hokie House! Iris, Poppie, Tiffany, Leah and Erin

It was great to catch up with friends (and family), and watch the Hokies play a great game! Saturday was a long day....we started tailgating at 8am, game was at noon, we post-tailgated for a few hours, and then headed downtown...not getting home until after 1am! Unfortunately that's the last trip we'll take to Blacksburg this season, but we'll see the Hokies play ECU (in Greenville) in November.

Hanging out with my old college roomie and sorority sister Jenn, Friday night at Champs

Pre-school

2009-10-05T19:26:00.004-04:00

Keira and Liam are taking a pre-school class through Wake County Public Schools. It meets once a week for an hour. It's not a lot of time, but since they've been in full time daycare since they were 12 weeks old (and only home for a few months), we figured this would be enough for this year. It's parent-involved, so I am there for the hour and help the kids when they need it. They've enjoyed meeting new kids, learning new songs and doing the art projects. Their teacher is Ms. Sue and they really like her. The first class they learned about the letter "V" and made a volcano as their art project (below). The class runs for the entire school year, and they have several field trips as well.

Vacation - Part 4 (Atlanta)

2009-10-02T08:25:00.004-04:00

Thanks to the generosity of the Walters' family....Chris and I went to Atlanta for the weekend while the kids stayed in Williamsburg. The kids had a great time over the weekend, and we are very thankful for the weekend away!

Liam, Keira and Adam swimming at the Queenslake pool

Chris and I flew out of Richmond on Friday and went down to Atlanta. We arrived late, so we just went to the hotel and got a good night's sleep to get ready for the Saturday festivities. Saturday morning we took the MARTA downtown and went to Centennial Park to look around and catch a bit of College Gameday. When we got off the MARTA we ran into the Dragoncon parade...which was quite interesting. It's a convention for comic books/trekies/sci fi/etc...so you can imagine it was a little crazy! We did get to see some storm troopers and the entire Harry Potter cast before moving on to Centennial Park. Downtown was packed, and there were a lot of Hokie fans (few Bama ones too). We left Gameday a little early and took a tour of the World of Coke. It was a fun tour, and which ended with trying over 40 Coke products from around the world. (after hitting the bathroom) ... we took our sugar buzz and walked around downtown a little more and grabbed a bite for lunch. We then took the MARTA out a few stops, where some friends picked us up, and we joined them for tailgating. It was a beautiful afternoon, and Dan and Lindsay threw a great tailgate at their house. About an hour before gametime, we all piled in the cars and drove downtown to get ready for kickoff. We did a little more tailgating in the parking lot and then headed to our seats. It was a great game (despite the Hokie loss) and we had a fun time. We flew out on Sunday, and headed back to Williamsburg to get the kids.

Chris, Poppie, Marc and Erin at the downtown tailgate

When we got back to the Walters' house on Sunday night, the entire family was at the pool for their year-end pool party and BBQ. It was a great way to end our vacation, as we finally headed home on Labor Day - Monday, September 7th. We had a great vacation, but it was nice to be home and sleep in our own beds. I think the kids and the dogs agreed!

Vacation - Part 3 (Williamsburg, VA)

2009-10-01T21:36:00.010-04:00

A quick drive from Richmond, we arrived at the Walters' house in Williamsburg on Wednesday night in time for dinner. More cousins for Keira and Liam to play with! On Thursday, we went to Busch Gardens for the day...and what a fun time!! They have a new Sesame Street area, and the kids were able to meet all of their favorite characters. Liam was a little shy, but loved seeing the characters if someone was holding him. He kept asking for Big Bird, and unfortunately that was the only character who he wasn't able to meet. Keira got to ride her first roller coaster, and although she wasn't sure about it at first, she loved it. We also spent a lot of time in the sprinklers at Dragonland, which was a favorite of Keira and cousin Adam.

Adam and Keira get a big hug from Cookie Monster
Liam, Madeline, Adam and Keira with Abby

Chris, Poppie, Keira and Liam with the Oscar bushKeira's first roller coaster! (Chris and Keira are in the car right above the tree)

Vacation - Part 2 (Richmond, VA)

2009-10-01T21:26:00.006-04:00

We left the lake house on Monday, August 31st, and arrived at Chris's parent's house in NOVA just after 10pm. On Tuesday we went to the playground, visited IKEA and then headed down to Richmond to visit (my sister) Regan, Ryan and Indie. On Wednesday Regan and I took the kids to the gardens at Lewis Ginter and had a great time! There was so much for the kids to do! They had fun playing in the little houses, the water/sprinkler area, the sandbox and climbing in the big tree. The photo below is in the big treehouse (and trying to get all 3 kids looking at the camera at the same time was like herding cats!)...

(back) Regan and Poppie
(front) Indie, Keira and Liam

It was a quick visit, but great to see my (not-so-little) nephew and spend time with my sister! On Wednesday afternoon, we hit the road again....

Vacation - Part 1 (New York)

2009-10-01T20:45:00.016-04:00

So here I am slacking again...it's been a while since my last post, so a lot to catch up on! Since I am at home, and Chris can work remote, we decide to take advantage of our flexibility, and go on a (nearly) month-long vacation!

Our first stop was Chris's family's lake house in the Adirondacks, upstate New York. It's a 12-hour drive from Raleigh, so with two kids, two dogs, and trying to avoid the DC, Phili, and NY rush hours... we decided to break up the trip. We left Raleigh on Wednesday, August 12th after Chris's softball game, and arrived at Chris's parent's house in NOVA around midnight. We spent the night there, and hit the playground near their house in the morning to burn off some kid energy. Around 9am on Thursday we started out on our 8-hour trip to NY, and made it to the lake house by dinner time. There was a full house at the cabin, and we all had a great time with family over the weekend!

Silly cousins...Keira, Liam, Tyler, Nicole, Chelsea and Nate

Most people left on Sunday, but we enjoyed the lake for about two more weeks before heading south again. We did a lot of swimming, boating, skiing, tubing, playing in the sand...and overall just relaxing. The dogs really enjoyed themselves too, and for the most part hung out on the beach with us while we were playing. Conner decided he liked to swim and did a lot of swimming too (Riley wouldn't touch the water!). While we were at the lake, we celebrated Chris's birthday (August 14th), Oma's birthday (August 17th) and Liam's birthday (August 24th). I wrote about Liam's birthday in a previous post. And thanks to Oma, Chris and I enjoyed a date night to see Harry Potter, and a day date to visit our friend Jason in Vermont. While we were in Vermont, we went to visit the Magic Hat brewery and several brew pubs. Jason is a homebrewer, so we were also able to sample quite a few of the beers he's been working on lately. Next summer we hope to go for an overnight trip, so we can really enjoy all that Burlington has to offer (i.e. lots of brew pubs that didn't open until 4pm!).

Poppie (left) and Chris (right)...neither of us had been water skiing in a few years, but were both up on our first tries!

Chris and I at the Magic Hat brewery (Burlington, VT)

Liam and Keira having fun in the hammock

Keira and Chris tubing

On Monday, August 31st, we left the lake, and started our road trip back home....

Keira's first haircut

2009-08-29T09:40:00.004-04:00

I know she's 3, but Keira finally got her first haircut. She has refused to get it cut or trimmed until now, and I was afraid to do it myself until she was on board. She finally agreed to get a trim, and went with me to the hair salon. I got mine done first, so she could see the process. She was very excited when she got in the chair, and was very good for Lindsay! Now that she knows it won't hurt, she said she'll let me trim it...so we'll do it at home until she's ready for a much shorter 'do!

Liam is 2!!

2009-08-29T09:17:00.006-04:00

Liam has had the year of the endless birthday! Since Keira loves to ride her tricycle, we decided to get one for Liam, and gave it to him in July so they could ride together. Liam can't quite reach the pedals, but is learning to steer in the meantime (as I pull him with a dog leash attached to the handlebars!). At the beginning of August, Gramps and Grammy were in town and gave Liam his birthday presents while they were visiting. Then we arrived at the lakehouse in NY mid-August... The cousins weren't going to be around for Liam's birthday, so we decided to celebrate Oma and Liam's birthdays early while everyone was still here. Liam's side was Cars and Oma's side had margarita glasses. (photo below)
Finally his true birthday arrived, August 24th, and Liam officially turned 2. We made him waffles for his birthday (photo below) and had an ice cream cake for desert. He's had a great birthday and I can't believe our baby boy is already two years old!!

Visit to Hilton Head

2009-08-20T21:29:00.010-04:00

Barb has a time share in Hilton Head, so the kids and I went for a long weekend to visit everyone. We left Saturday morning and stopped on the way at my mom's for lunch with her and Nana. We then spent the rest of our time in Hilton Head hanging out on the beach and the pool. A great time was had by all!! Keira and Liam had fun with their cousins, and I had a blast with mine (and my aunt too!).

Good times on the beach

(back) Barb, Keira, me, Liam, Brian, Jen, Deb
(front) Haley, Tessa, Ethan, Kylan

Kids having fun in the condo with their cousins
(left) Haley giving Liam some tattoos
(center) Tessa showing off her tattoo handiwork on Keira
(right) Kylan and Liam with their tattoos

Liam's big boy room

2009-08-05T15:27:00.012-04:00

We've been working on Liam's room for quite a while, and it's finally finished! He is still adjusting to his big boy bed, but it getting better about staying in it. Or we pick him up off the floor as we head to sleep and put him back in his bed. :) The stripes took a lot of time, but they were totally worth it, and look great! I pulled the colors out of the beautiful quilt my friend Andrea made for Liam when he was born.

View standing at his doorway (straight ahead)

View from the doorway to the left
View from his bunkbeds

His ceiling is full of stars that glow in the dark, complete with the constellation Orion (of course!).

We also have been working on the back yard, and Chris built a box around the playset and we replaced the mulch with sand. It was a lot of work (moving nearly 2 tons of sand by wheelbarrow around the house takes a little time!)...but it turned out great, and the kids love their new (huge) sandbox.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago and it's amazing to look at the grass (or lack there of) in this photo. With all of the rain we have gotten lately, or backyard is actually a yard and looks much greener than the photo!!

Light the Night Kick-off Event

2009-08-05T15:04:00.009-04:00

We are once again participating in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night evening walk and fundraising event. It is the nation's night to pay tribute and bring hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers. We walk in honor of my dear friend Emily Shimpach who found out she had CML while she was pregnant with her 2nd daughter. She is doing great and responding to her medicine, and we are thankful for that! Her oldest daughter Ava and Keira are two days apart, and in February we shared a beach house with their family in Florida. We had a great time and we hope to do this annually for many years to come!

We'll be walking in Raleigh on October 17th, and would love for everyone who is interested/available to join us! If you can't walk with us, but would still like to support our team, click on the blog title above and you can give us a donation. Any amount is appreciated!

On July 27th, there was a kick-off event for the fundraising season, and our family went up to Durham for it. We listened to a few speeches and then headed out to the Durham Bulls game. We had a great time (even though we only lasted a few innings before the kids were ready to go home).

The kids burned some energy at the playground on the upper deck before the game started.

Liam and Keira watching the game. They had more fun watching Wool E Bull than the actual game!

Keira gets here chance to meet Wool E Bull up close and personal!
Liam wanted no part of it, and held on to Chris for dear life!!

Brewery Tours

2009-07-27T14:08:00.007-04:00

Thanks to some great friends and a babysitting swap, Chris and I toured some of our local breweries with a few other couples. Our first stop was the Carolina Brewing Company in Holly Springs (photo on right). We got there about 15 minutes before they opened, and there was already quite a line forming. Once they opened the doors, the taps were flowing and we were free (literally!) to taste any of their beers on tap. Chris and I opted to each taste their anniversary beer first which was a Belgium triple (over 8% alcohol). It was delicious (we bought a six-pack of this one), as were most of their other beers. I was already feeling the first beer, so I opted out of round 2, but everyone else we were with got back in the line for another free pint before the tour began. The taps were shut off for about 1/2 hour while the tour was going on, and as soon as the tour was done, the taps were turned back on again for another hour or so. Enough to get down a few more free pints, and by this time I was thankful we were not driving!

Stop number two was the Aviator Brewery in Fuquay Varina. They have quite a few beers on tap (for purchase) that you can try - most of their beers were good, and their Saison was fabulous (we filled our growler with this one). We went on a tour of their brewery (much smaller than the first), and had a free sample on that tour as well. Luckily there was popcorn in the tasting room so we could get something in our stomachs besides beer!

To end the night, we all headed back to Debra/Jamie's house for a fish fry with a bunch of friends and the kids. It was a great time, and a special thanks to Nikol/Collins for watching our kids all day, and to Debra/Jamie for driving us around!

Fort Fisher Aquarium

2009-07-27T13:53:00.007-04:00

The kids and I took a road trip to visit the aquarium outside of Wilmington, and met Gramps and Grammy there. It was just over 2 hours for us to drive there, and about an hour and a half for them...so a great place to meet up and spend the day together. Unfortunately it was raining at the beach, so that meant everyone on vacation had to be inside, which meant the aquarium was PACKED. Next time we'll pick a nice sunny day to go there! :) Even though it was crowded, we still had a great time. There were a lot of fish to see (of course both kids got excited about "Nemo"), and they really liked the moray eel (so much so, that Liam had to take one home with him...photo below, which is how he fell asleep with it on the ride home!). After the aquarium, lunch and a short walk around the beach area, we headed home. It was a long day, but a lot of fun!

4th of July

2009-07-12T20:40:00.027-04:00

We took a road trip to my mom's in Bluffton, SC to spend the 4th of July holiday weekend. We arrived Thursday night in time for dinner at Nana's house. Jaye, Jamie, Allie and Drew arrived later that night, so we were able to catch up a little bit before heading to bed. They hadn't seen Keira since she was 6 months old, and had never met Liam, so it was great to see them again. And I hadn't seen Allie and Drew for a few years, so I can't believe how much they've grown up as well! Friday morning we went over to Russell's for a boat ride before it got too hot. Chris and I, the kids and Allie went out on the first ride. Allie got a chance to drive the boat (photo right), and we saw a lot of dolphins! Liam fell asleep shortly after the boat ride started, so he got a great nap in. After we got back to the dock, Russell took the next group out, and the rest of us had a picnic on the dock. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing and hanging out. Russell caught some shrimp and Keira loved to touch them (Liam was a little freaked out by them). A few of the shrimp were used as bait to catch fish, but most of them went safely back in to the river (as did the fish).

Dini shows Keira and Liam a shrimp out of the bucket (left); Keira touches a fish that Russell caught of the dock (right)

After dinner Friday night we went on a sunset boat ride. Keira got a chance to "drive" the boat, and it was beautiful to watch the sunset over the river!

Saturday was the 4th of July, and we started out the morning by going to the beach and swimming in the river and playing in the sand. Later that day we went to a BBQ, played on Russell's dock, caught fiddler crabs on the beach and rested before the fireworks. This was the first year the kids had seen fireworks, and Russell's dock on the river was the perfect place for it! We saw numerous firework displays along the river and the dock next to us shot off fireworks as well. The kids liked the ones farther away since they weren't loud. The kids/grandkids next door joined us on the dock for fireworks, and all of the kids had fun playing with glow in the dark bracelets.

Hope everyone else had a safe and wonderful 4th!

Father's Day

2009-06-28T21:22:00.012-04:00

Since Chris had to share his weekend with Keira's birthday, I figured he should get his own blog post. :) Regan/Indie, Gramps/Grammy and Oma/Pop-pop spent the night after Keira's birthday celebrations, and we celebrated Father's Day on Sunday. We hung out in our pjs in the morning, sipping bloody marys and mimosas....and then we had a nice brunch and everyone headed home afterwards. I am lucky to have such a wonderful husband and father to my kids...as well as a wonderful father myself. I am also thankful to my father-in-law for raising such a great son/husband/father. I'm glad I got to spend Father's Day celebrating with them all, and I hope they had a fabulous day!

(below left - Gramps and Grammy have pj time with the grandkids; below right - Keira just HAD to hold Indie...and Liam didn't want to be left out! No morning photos of Chris...we let him sleep in!!)

Getting a photo with my dad and the kids was like trying to herd cats!

Keira turns 3!

2009-06-28T21:02:00.017-04:00

Hard to believe our baby girl is already three! We had a weekend-long celebration for her birthday, which also fell on Father's Day this year. Saturday morning I made her a special birthday breakfast (pancakes, one of her favorites!). Saturday afternoon we had a party at our neighborhood pool, and invited a few of her friends. She had a great time swimming. Keira is a huge Dora fan, and her favorite episode is the one with Turtle River, so she also now loves turtles. We combined her two favorites by doing a Dora themed birthday party with turtle cupcakes.

After the pool party, we headed back to our house and had a family dinner with Regan/Indie, Gramps/Grammy and Oma/Pop-pop. Pizza, more presents, more happy birthday singing, and a turtle cake. Keira had a great birthday, and thank you to everyone for making it so special! (and a special thanks to Oma for doing all of the piping on the turtle cake/cupcakes!!)

Girls weekend

2009-06-22T15:09:00.006-04:00

Every year my girlfriends from Wisconsin and I get together for the weekend....ok, a long weekend...and it's so great to see them and catch up. Most of us have moved away from Wisconsin, so it's even more fun to get together since it's usually only once a year we get to see each other (although maybe this year there will be a wedding?!)... This is our seventh year getting together, and we rented a beach house in Folly Beach, right outside Charleston. We spent most of the weekend laying at the beach or pool and relaxing, and lots of drinking (too much drinking for me, I am out of practice!). We did manage to get to Charleston one morning for sight-seeing. I had never been to Charleston before, and it was a cool city - we hit the Farmers Market and the Market Street Shops. And of course a cocktail before heading back to the house and hitting the beach again. Destination is still TBD for next year, but I know it'll be a great time, and I can't wait to see my girls again! The photo to the left was taken in Charleston (front to back): Katie, Leah, Emily, Susi, me, Kristi and Iris)

We've been busy!!

2009-06-18T22:47:00.030-04:00

I've been a blog slacker lately....but not because there's nothing to post...it's because we've been so busy! I promise to get better about blogging weekly...but in the meantime, here's a snapshot of the past month (ok two months)....

The Engelbrecht's came to visit us the weekend of May 2nd.
Saturday we went to the opening day of the Holly Springs Farmers Market (not too many veggies, but we did get some buffalo sauce flavored peanuts and kettle corn), and then the kids played at Womble Park. Sunday we went hiking and played on the playground at Harris Lake Park. Aside from the MANY ticks, it was a great time. The cousins had a blast together, and it was great catching up with Cheryl and Jeff. (Picture to the right is Keira, Nicole, Liam and Tyler playing in our backyard)

The kids and I have kept super busy since I've been home with them. Almost every day we go to a playgroup or do an activity in the morning...then home for lunch and/or nap...and then usually at home in the afternoons. It's amazing how much there is to do in the Raleigh area...and most of it is free! Now that it's summer, we're at the pool most afternoons, which both kids LOVE. Keira is a fish and swims all over the pool (with the help of her swim vest)...she's even starting to venture in to the deeper part of the pool, and Chris taught her how to get out of the pool via the ladder last weekend. Liam is not as brave yet, but is starting to get there. Both of them are going to grow gills and fins by the end of the summer (and the pool doesn't close until mid-October here!).

Here are a few highlights of some of the things the kids and I have been up to during the weekdays....

Strawberry picking

Explore-A-Story at Bass Lake Park is one of our favorites! They read a few stories, do a craft, and then do something outside. On the left, the theme was insects and the outside activity was catching insects and looking at them in the bug jars. Keira found a centipede (which is not an insect, but was still cool to look at) and Conner and Jasper watch her put it in the net. On the right, the theme was worms, and Keira and Liam had a great time with their worm art project.

NC Zoo...this photo was taken on the new giraffe feeding deck. Unfortunately the giraffes were at the other end of the field, so we didn't get to feed them. Next time we'll hit the giraffes first and hopefully be able to feed them. (Tucker, Conner, Keara, Liam, Jasper and Keira)

One of the local movie theaters has free movies in the summer, and last week Keira and Liam saw their first real movie in the movie theater...Charlotte's Web. Keira did great, while Liam got a little restless towards the end....so Chris is going to take Keira on a special night out with Dad and see Up soon.
One of Keira's favorites is "What's in the Box?" at the NC Art Museum...Liam is a little too young for it still, but we sometimes go because Keira loves it. The week pictured above was themed Spills and Stains...and both kids loved helping create this masterpiece with the other kids by spilling paint on the canvas.

NC Museum of Nature and Science - we went to story time when we got to the museum and learned about alligators... and the kids even got to touch one. Then we spent the rest of the morning/afternoon exploring the museum and having a picnic lunch on the grounds of the Capitol Building. On the left, Keira, Tucker, Liam and Conner are sitting in a dinosaur footprint. And on the right, we're trying to see how many of the 8 kids we had with us could fit in the base of the tree (answer: all of them...but not long enough to get a good picture!).

MS Walk 2009

2009-05-11T19:51:00.010-04:00

The kids and I headed up to NOVA for the MS Walk April 26th. It was a hot day, but we had a great time and raised quite a bit of money. Thank you so much to everyone who donated, we greatly appreciate it!!

We AHR Family 2009 (Brian, Poppie, Liam, Jen, Tessa, Barb, Haley, Deb, Kylan, Ethan, Keira)

The cousins did a PSA, with Haley as the spokesperson

I'll spare everyone the long story about our adventures (i.e. broken down car), but I did want to say I have the BEST FAMILY EVER! Thank you to everyone who picked us up, dropped us off, fed us and/or chauffeured us numerous times! We love you all!!!

Visit to Sunset Beach

2009-05-04T20:15:00.012-04:00

The kids and I took a road trip to visit Gramps and Grammy...and they took us to the aquarium and alligator farm. A great time was had by all, and the kids are really excited to go back again this summer. They both just love animals!

Day 1: Aquarium

Liam almost got to touch a sting ray...it went right under his hands, but he just wasn't tall enough to reach.
Touching the horseshoe crabsThe sting ray tank was really cool...my personal fav

Day 2: Alligator Farm
Keira is recently obsessed with turtles (I think it's because of a Dora episode she saw with "Turtle River" in it)...so she was so excited to get to touch a Galapagos turtle!

Keira came home and told Chris all about her trip...and that she got to pet an alligator. Chris said "Honey, I don't think you got to touch an alligator." But she had the photo to prove it!

Family Fun Day

2009-05-04T19:13:00.005-04:00

Keira and Liam's old daycare had a Family Fun Day on April 18th. It was nice to go back and see their teachers and friends since their last day at school was April 10th (my last day of work too!). There were a few moon bounces, and it was Liam's first time on one. He was a little scared at first, but once he started jumping, we literally had to DRAG him out of there! Keira got her face painted...a pink butterfly over her eye. I was surprised it lasted through her nap...but unfortunately didn't last through Liam splashing in the bathtub! She was a good sport about it, but really wants to get her face done again.

Easter (click here for more pics)

2009-04-18T21:27:00.003-04:00

We went to Richmond for Easter, for a visit with Regan, Ryan and Indie...along with several other members of the family! We arrived Saturday afternoon, along with my mom, Russell and Nana. We decorated Easter eggs and grilled out for dinner. It was a little chilly, but we still played in the backyard and the guys had fun playing cornhole while the kids ran around. Sunday morning Barb, Deb, Haley, Kylan, Brian, Tessa and Ethan arrived and we had brunch and an egg hunt in the backyard. Afterwards we all went to Easter on Parade, which is a fun Richmond tradition. It was a gorgeous day, and the streets were packed...which meant great people watching checking out all of the Easter bonnets (on people and dogs!). We also saw Kristy, George and Peter Appleton (friends of mine from Wisconsin who just moved to Richmond)...and it was great catching up with Kristy and finally meeting Peter! The cousins all had a great time together, and we look forward to seeing them again soon in NOVA for the MS Walk.

Keira's big girl room

2009-04-18T21:15:00.006-04:00

Keira's room is finally done - complete with a big girl bed. Up until now she's been in a toddler bed, so we moved her up to a trundle bed. This way we have an extra bed for visitors! Liam also got a new bed (and painted room)...but it's not done yet, so those pics will be coming shortly. Keira loves her finished room....and I think it turned out really cute. The pics don't do it justice, so you'll just have to stop and see it for yourself!

Looking through the door in to her room

From her bed, looking towards the door. We kept her toddler bed and turned it in to a "couch" which she loves to sit on and read. And we figured she could sleep on it and there'd be two beds for adults in her room with visitors.

School Photos

2009-04-18T21:11:00.002-04:00

The school photos the kids took a few weeks ago, turned out great! How they got Liam to pose, I will never know :) I know I am biased...but they really should be paying the mortgage. I updated their pics to the left with some new shots as well.

Visit from Gramps and Grammy

2009-04-07T15:35:00.004-04:00

Gramps and Grammy came up for a quick visit last weekend, and it was nice to see them and catch up. The kids had a great time playing with bubbles in the backyard, reading books and taking a long walk. (and Chris and I were able to get some stuff done in the house!) The kids and I look forward to visiting them in a few weeks and going to the aquarium and alligator farm. Actually, I'm not sure who is more excited about the animals...my dad or the kids! :)

MS Walk 2009 (click here!)

2009-03-30T12:32:00.005-04:00

Our family is getting ready to do the MS Walk 2009 in Reston, VA on April 26th. We walk in honor of my cousin Debbie who was diagnosed with MS several years ago...and need your help! If you are interested in donating and/or walking with us...please click on the blog title to be taken to our team web site. Thank you in advance, and check back at the end of April for a photo of this year's team and our results!
The team in 2008...a little soggy so half of the team was already in the bar by the time we took the photo! My sister Regan, cousin Tessa, cousin Debbie, my mom, Regan's husband Ryan, me, Chris with Keira and Liam in the stroller.

Family Update

2009-03-27T09:34:00.006-04:00

Last weekend we went downtown to the St. Patrick's Day parade. I know, it was AFTER St. Patrick's Day....but the parade was rained out on the 14th and moved to the 21st. It was the first parade the kids have seen, and both had a good time. They especially loved the music and all of the dogs! And I can't believe how many Irish Step Dancing schools are in the area...there must have been at least four participating in the parade! Maybe in a few more years Keira can take a class (and she and cousin Tessa can put on a family show).

Sunday night Chris and I went to the Canes/Caps hockey game. It was nice to have a night out without the kids, and an even better night because the Canes won! We had a great time tailgating with the Patenaudes (and friends) before the game...and I'm secretly hoping that the Canes/Caps will be 3 and 6 in the final standings so they'll meet each other in the playoffs.
Most of you have probably heard my recent job news...but just in case not, I wanted to update everyone. I was laid off on March 11th, but they gave me 30 days notice, so my last day with Nielsen will be April 10th. I am going to take my time finding something else, and in the meantime am looking forward to being home with the kids. I have a lot of SAHM friends here, and there are a ton of things to do in the Raleigh area. I am thankful we moved to Raleigh, as it gives us the flexibility we wouldn't have had in NOVA. Stay tuned to the blog for more family adventures!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2009-03-17T09:05:00.002-04:00

Wishing all of our friends and family a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. Cheers!

Vacation! (click here for more photos on Snapfish)

2009-03-10T14:44:00.018-04:00

Last week we went on vacation with the Shimpach Family to Ft Myers Beach, FL. We rented a house about a block from the beach and all had a fabulous time. It was cool our first few days, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the beach or the heated pool (it was just a little cold when we got out!). Luckily we had some great weather to finish out the week.

We decided to drive down there (about 12 hours each way)...and were surprised the kids did great. (although if I have to listen to the Cars movie one more time, I think I'll scream!) On the way back home, we stopped at my mom's house and spent some time with her, Nana and Russell to break up the trip.

Our families got along great, and decided we'll try to make it an annual event. Keira and Ava are 2 days apart in age, and Jenna is 9 months old....so with four kids under 3 in the house...there was never a dull moment! Keira and Ava are great swimmers and really enjoyed the pool. And all of the kids had fun playing in the sand. The week flew by, and we hope to see Dirk, Emily, Ava and Jenna again soon. I wish we lived closer to them!

First Dentist Appointment

2009-03-10T13:03:00.004-04:00

We took Keira and Liam to the dentist for the first time Feb 26th. They both did great! The dentist only works on kids, so the entire staff made it a great experience for the entire family. Keira let them brush her teeth and poke around without any trouble at all. She earned quite a few "tickets" throughout the exam and cashed them in for some bubbles before we left. Liam wasn't as cooperative as Keira, but they did manage to brush his teeth and verify there was no damage to his teeth with his fall last month. He earned a few "tickets" as well, and picked out some crayons when he was done. Let's see if they are both as good in 6 months when they have to go back!

The newest member of the family is here!

2009-02-23T09:14:00.011-05:00

Congrats to Regan and Ryan on the birth of their son!

We are so excited to welcome him to the family...and I'm grateful that I got to be a part of it. My nephew is absolutely beautiful and everyone is doing great!

Indie Clay Shriver

Born: 2/22/09, 6:23pm
6 lbs, 10 oz
19 3/4 inches

UPDATE: I went to visit Regan, Ryan and Indie a few days after he was born and everyone is doing well. Regan is adjusting well to motherhood, and is managing to get a little sleep. My nephew is still the cutest!

Adventures in Atlanta

2009-02-17T12:41:00.002-05:00

I went to Atlanta on business for a week, and was able to mix a little pleasure with business. On Friday night I went out with Emily and Jon Kent for some yummy mexican food and drinks. It was great to catch up with them, as I hadn't seen them since the last time I was in Atlanta a year ago. Saturday night I headed to the Gwinnett Gladiators (minor league hockey) game with Megan (Augis) and her two girls. Doug was working that night, so we got to see him too. The girls are getting so big and were so much fun during the game. (aside from when the Gladiator mascot came over and scared Kenzie to death!) And it was nice to catch up with Megan, who I hadn't seen since my last trip to Atlanta as well. Looks like our whole family will be heading to Atlanta over Labor Day weekend to see VT beat Alabama! So I can't wait to see our Atlanta friends again soon!

It's definitely good to be home (single-dad-for-a-week Chris agrees!)...and I have a few more months before I have to travel for work again. Next stop is Vegas, and the family may come out for a long weekend...that is if Chris is brave enough to endure a cross-country plane ride home by himself with the kids!

Debbie's Birthday!

2009-02-04T11:26:00.003-05:00

Deb turned 40 this year, so we ventured up to NOVA to celebrate for the weekend. We drove up early Saturday morning, and met Deb, Haley and Kylan at Chuck E Cheese for lunch and playtime with the cousins. It was Keira and Liam's first time at CEC and they had a great time. After lunch, we headed to Chris's parents house and had a surprise visit by Cheryl, Nicole and Tyler. It was nice to catch up with them, and of course the cousins had a fun time playing. Saturday night the kids stayed with Chris's parents, and Chris and I went to Deb's birthday shindig. It was nice to have a (overnight!) night out without the kids. Deb's party was a blind wine tasting party, so much wine was drank, and fun was had by all. Happy Birthday Deb! Glad we could celebrate with you!!

Liam's first stitches

2009-01-26T10:05:00.007-05:00

Friday afternoon we received a call from daycare notifying us that Liam had fallen down and probably needed to see the doctor, so we should come over right away. When we got there, we learned that he had fallen down face first, and broke his fall with his sippy cup...causing his bottom teeth to go through his face below his bottom lip. I took him to the urgent care and Chris took Keira home. Liam was a trooper through it all and did great at the doctors office. He ended up with 2 stitches underneath his bottom lip (they said they couldn't do anything for the inside of his mouth, that would heal on its own in a few days). It was a little traumatizing to be in a baby straight jacket (for both me and Liam!) during the procedure....but both the doctor and nurse were very impressed with how he handled the situation, and said he did better than most adults. As soon as we got home, he immediately chased Keira around the house and gobbled up her goldfish. He's a resilient kid and didn't seem to skip a beat!

Snow Day!

2009-01-21T13:00:00.016-05:00

Raleigh had it's last significant snowfall in 2004...so it was pretty amazing we got a snow storm with 6 inches our first winter here! I wish I could say the kids loved the snow and wanted to play in it all day, but that sadly was not the case. Of course the dogs loved it and played and romped for hours!

First try outside in the backyard...Liam screamed the whole time.

After the unsuccessful venture in the backyard, we went inside and started taking off all the snow clothes. Liam pointed to his other coat and wanted to put it on. As soon as that was on...he started heading towards the garage. So we decided to go back outside, the front of the house this time, and Liam had a much better time. As long as he stayed on the path Chris made with the snow shovel, he was a happy camper (apparently he wasn't a fan of the snow on his shoes either!).

Different coat (and mom's gloves because his were wet)...Liam finally smiled!

Chris showed Keira how to make a snow angel...which she did not want to do herself! She didn't mind the snow on her feet like Liam, but she was not going to put her whole body in the snow either.

Keira is quite the helper and insisted on helping Chris shovel the driveway! I first gave her a broom which was more her size, but that wasn't enough "like daddy's" so she used the shovel that was bigger than she is!

Regan's Baby Shower

2009-01-14T10:32:00.009-05:00

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails...that's what little boys are made of!!

Last weeked we hosted Regan's baby shower at her house in Richmond. It was definitely a team effort by the family, and a good time was had by all! Only 6 more weeks left and Lil' Shriver will be here!

Top Left (Mom, Regan and Me)

Top Right (The Proud Mama to be!!)

Right (The cousins...Me, Regan, Debbie and Jennie)

Durham Museum of Life and Science

2009-01-07T15:46:00.012-05:00

(left) checking out the frogs...too bad you can't see them in this photo, they were bright blue!

Last weekend we went to the museum, and the whole family had a great time. We got there when it opened at 10am, and thought the kids would last until lunchtime... but boy, were we wrong! They were still going strong until nearly 3pm, when we dragged them out of there before the no-nap meltdowns began! There's an indoor and and outdoor part - and because it was such a nice day, we got to explore both. The kids had fun on the train, and of course loved the animals (especially the brown bears!). We went through the butterfly exhibit and the insect exhibit. There is an awesome outdoor playground which Liam loved beating on the drums and playing in the huge sandbox. After a brief lunch, we explored the inside of the museum and there was a 6 and under room that they had a blast in. Keira had fun on the climbing wall, and actually got pretty good from going side to side. Her favorite part was the stable area where she could clean and brush the (stuffed) horses. She definitely loves her animals!

I just love this photo of my boys!

Christmas Festivities (click here for more photos)

2009-01-03T15:57:00.028-05:00

It was wonderful to be at home for Christmas, especially in our new house! Christmas Eve was a beautiful day, so we spent the morning taking the dogs for a long walk and playing outside in the backyard with the kids. My mom arrived to our house in the early afternoon, and the majority of my Raleigh family (Linda, Keith, Maggie, Sarah, and Bridget) came over for dinner. We had a traditional Swedish smorgasbord for Christmas Eve dinner and ended the evening sitting outside and doing a yankee-swap alcohol exchange.

Christmas morning we woke up and checked out our stockings and opened Santa gifts. Keira was excited to see the boot (soot) footprints that Santa had left in the house, and is starting to understand it all (Liam is still clueless, but will get it next year). We then headed to church, and Regan and Ryan came over in the early afternoon. We had a yummy pork roast for Christmas dinner and opened family gifts. We all got some great stuff for Christmas (thanks everyone!!), and Keira and Liam especially loved their easel from Dini!

The Sunday after Christmas, Dad and Mary came over for our Christmas celebration with them. It was another beautiful day, and we spent the afternoon outside playing with the kids. Chris and my dad put together the picnic table gift for the kids (which they of course sat on as soon as it was ready!). We had a wonderful Christmas, and we hope that all of our friends and family have a happy and healthy New Year!!

Disney on Ice

2008-12-15T15:51:00.011-05:00

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

2008-12-08T15:17:00.008-05:00

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

2008-12-08T15:04:00.005-05:00

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)

2008-12-02T10:19:00.035-05:00

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!

2008-12-01T14:45:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-08T10:42:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-03T21:33:00.012-05:00

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

2008-11-03T21:24:00.004-05:00

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

2008-11-03T21:13:00.006-05:00

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

2008-11-03T20:42:00.013-05:00

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

2008-10-27T12:17:00.005-04:00

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

2008-10-27T12:06:00.004-04:00

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

2008-10-27T11:48:00.008-04:00

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

2008-10-10T14:20:00.007-04:00

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

2008-10-10T12:13:00.007-04:00

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

2008-10-09T16:10:00.040-04:00

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

2008-10-09T15:47:00.011-04:00

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"

2008-10-09T09:01:00.004-04:00

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!

2008-09-23T13:26:00.005-04:00

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)

Light the Night Walk

2008-09-18T10:34:00.018-04:00

Last night we participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk in Durham, in honor of my friend Emily who was recently diagnosed with Chronic Mylogenous Leukemia (CML). Since Emily is from Wisconsin, we only thought it fitting to wear our Badger shirts to walk!

We arrived early for the pre-walk festivities - we had dinner, the kids ran around and Keira had a great time on the moonbounce (so much so she screamed when she had to get off!). We then grabbed our balloons and started the walk with everyone else. The weather was fantastic and it was great to walk around the city with all of the balloons lighting up the sidewalk. We walked right past the ballpark where the Durham Bulls play, and as we approached some train tracks, we were lucky enough to see a train come by. I don't think the kids have seen a train that close up before, and Keira said the "choo choo train" was her favorite part of the night. (she even told her teacher about it this morning)

I hope that Emily and her family have as great a night as we had last night, when they walk next weekend. We love you Emily!

Liam Hits the Toddler Room

2008-09-18T10:34:00.012-04:00

Liam moved up to the toddler room at daycare on Monday, and is doing great! He loves all of the space he has to run around, all of the new toys and of course his new friends.

Last Thursday night Keira and I made cookies for all of the infant teachers as a thank you on Liam's last day in the infant room. Of course both kids had to test them out to make sure they tasted good before we gave them to the teachers Friday morning!

Trip to the 'Burg

2008-09-18T10:34:00.006-04:00

Last weekend I headed to Blacksburg to watch the Hokies beat Georgia Tech. While VT didn't look that great - a win is a win - and a fun time was had by all. I went to the game with my girlfriend Christine, and it was nice to visit with my Hokie friends (and have a little me-time). I quickly learned on Sunday that I'm not 21 any more and 1:00am is way past my bedtime...but it was still fun! :) Thanks to Marc and Erin (and the rest of the crew) for a great tailgate and a bed to crash on....see you guys at the MD game in November!

Note: For any of you that watched the game on TV, the orange WAS as impressive live as it was on the screen. I couldn't believe how many people had on orange shirts for the "Orange Out"! (this photo totally doesn't do it justice!!)

Hanna shmanna...

2008-09-09T08:37:00.005-04:00

TS Hanna was in and out of Raleigh pretty quickly, so it didn't damper our weekend festivitites. We had a lot of rain, some wind and a large tree branch fall in our backyard....but otherwise escaped without a scratch. Pretty mild for all of the hype Hanna received! Hanna was gone by noon on Saturday, so we spent the afternoon and evening at Raleigh Wide Open in downtown Raleigh. It was a beautiful afternoon and the streets were packed with people and vendors. Unfortunately the carnival was cancelled (the inspector couldn't get there due to the storm), but we still had fun anyway.

Jimmy Buffett Concert

2008-09-02T12:01:00.005-04:00

Chris and I...along with several of our Parrothead friends....had a great time at the Jimmy Buffett concert on Saturday at Nissan. We hit the parking lot when it opened at 2:30pm and enjoyed a beautiful day outside tailgating! It was nice to spend time with everyone...especially since we're in Raleigh now and don't get to see them as much. And what happened to our Hokies?! Better luck this weekend with Furman!

Liam's First Birthday!

2008-08-28T15:23:00.008-04:00

Liam turned one last weekend and we had a firetruck-themed (of course!) birthday party for him. Thank you to all of our friends and family that helped us celebrate...a great time was had by all! (click on the title above for more photos from the birthday weekend)

Just like his sister, Liam wasn't too sure about that birthday cake thing...it took him a few tries to enjoy it...and once he did....he landed in the bathtub quickly thereafter!

Family Update

2008-08-28T14:42:00.002-04:00

The kids have each hit a major milestone this week....

Keira is potty trained! Yesterday was her first no-accident day at day care, and we were very excited not to have a big bag of dirty laundry accompany her home! We're now in the "maintenance phase" making sure she remembers to use the potty....and she's still wearing diapers during naptime and overnight....but she's getting better every day.

And Liam is officially walking! A few days after his first birthday he decided it was time to walk everywhere, and is really getting the hang of it. He'll now be heading to the toddler room at daycare shortly. And it couldn't have come too soon....at his one-year appointment he weighed in at 25.9 lbs and 30.25 inches....so he was getting awfully heavy to carry everywhere!

Tonight we are hoping the weather holds up so we can go hear the music at the Rockin' in the Crossing with our friends Amy and Matt. And this weekend we are heading to Virginia where the kids will spend some time with Oma and Pop-Pop while Chris and I throw back some margaritas and cheeseburgers at the Jimmy Buffett concert at Nissan! We can't wait to spend some time with our Parrothead friends!

Trip to Dini's and the beach

2008-08-19T09:38:00.005-04:00

The kids and I headed to my mom's last weekend for a visit in Bluffton. I was on a business trip in NY at the end of July (for about a week), so it was payback time, and Chris stayed at home for some peace and quiet. He also had his live fantasy football draft on Saturday, which would have been hard to do from Bluffton. We all had a great time hanging out on Saturday at Dini's. Nana stopped by for a visit in the morning, and we went to Russell's in the afternoon to look for dolphins. Unfortunately the tide was coming in and everyone was leaving the sandbar (the party in the middle of the river) - so there was too much boat traffic for the dolphins to come by for a visit. The kids still enjoyed playing on the dock and seeing the boats.

Sunday we headed to Hilton Head where Aunt Barbara and all of the cousins were spending a week at the beach. Keira had a great time playing in the ocean (she really has no fear unfortunately!). Both the kids had a great time with all of their cousins playing on the beach and in the pool. We ended the night with an early birthday party for Liam. The cousins gave him lots of great toys...including a fire truck that he absolutely loves! (click on the title for more photos)

Keira's Singing Debut... well sort of

2008-08-16T04:04:00.004-04:00

Keira's daycare put on a concert for the parents and while she will not be "making it" on Broadway anytime soon, she sure looked mighty cute.

Liam is starting to walk

2008-08-15T21:19:00.004-04:00

We have been working hard getting Liam to walk... and that hard work is starting to pay off. He still would rather crawl or cruise his way around though. Only 8 days till your 1st birthday little guy.

My new favorite photo

2008-08-12T13:27:00.002-04:00

Busy week!

2008-08-12T12:47:00.008-04:00

Wednesday night we went to the National Night Out at Womble Park, where we met McGruff the Crime Dog and Keira had a great time on the moon bounce and playground. Liam practiced walking - which he is so close to doing on his own!

Nana was in town all week, and Thursday night we went out to dinner with her, Linda, Keith and Maggie. It was great to see them all. Keira has been hard at work this week potty training and loves to show off her Elmo panties!

Visit to Gramps and Grammy's

2008-08-04T13:58:00.007-04:00

Last weekend we headed to Sunset Beach to visit Gramps and Grammy. The kids had a great time playing in the pool and the ocean. It was Liam's first time in the ocean, and to our surprise, he loved it! As an added surprise, cousin Ashley and little Jordyn (she's 8 months old) were also visiting...so it was great to see them as well. Liam and Jordyn had a great time crawling around chasing each other. (click on the title for more photos)

Rockin' at the Crossing

2008-08-04T12:49:00.004-04:00

Last Thursday we headed to the local brew pub where they had an outdoor concert in the parking lot. The weather was great - much better than the nearly 100 temp at last month's concert! The cold beer was refreshing...and we all had a great time listening/dancing to the music. This time we remembered the chalk (last time Keira drew with the crayons I had in the diaper bag...what a mess...crayons and hot pavement do NOT mix!).... (click on title for more photos)

2 going on 20....

2008-07-22T11:02:00.003-04:00

Daycare gave us this photo yesterday of Keira (taken last week).... I just love it, but boy, are we in trouble!

Out and about in Raleigh

2008-07-20T14:07:00.006-04:00

We have decided to explore one new thing each weekend, in an effort to get to know our new hometown. Last weekend we went hiking in Harris Lake Park. Liam had fun hanging out in the backpack ....and Keira did pretty well hiking (Daddy did have to carry her on his shoulders for a little bit). She especially liked walking around the lake and seeing all of the boats of fishermen. Unfortunately we didn't see any animals, but maybe next time.

This morning we visited the State Farmers Market in downtown Raleigh and picked up some great vegetables to make salsa tonight (plus a few herbs for our expanding window garden). The kids loved munching on fresh blueberries as we strolled around the market.

Keira turns two!

2008-07-18T21:58:00.013-04:00

Keira turned two on June 21st and we had a family BBQ at the house...which turned in to a slumber party with all of the out-of-town guests! We bought the kids a playset for their birthdays, and it was quite the project for the men to put together. Keira and Liam love it, and we thank everyone again for all of their work during the weekend to get it built! (Click on the post title for more photos)