Making Cookies

Finally got our last batch of cookies done and had some help decorating. Don't worry, I separated their masterpieces! Of course, Addy devoured hers immediately. Now if I could only get those Christmas cards out! Hope you're better organized than me.

Peace

Do you hear that?
Listen closely?
Yeah, me neither. That's because they're both asleep. Addy at 6pm and Evelyn by 7:30. Unheard of in this house. Addy and Evelyn hit Monkey Joe's today for a couple hours of running around and bouncing. Evelyn's friend Jade turned 6 and was having a sudo b-day party there. Evelyn and Addy have such different personalities. Evelyn started her worrying in the car on the way there while Addy was singing Monkey Joe's, Monkey Joe's to the tune of Jingle Bells. Once we got there she took off like a cray person while Evelyn continued worrying about if she would know anyone else. She got over it eventually and had a good time until the tiredness kicked in. We left when Addy was putting her head down next to her plate and Evelyn was crying about the crappy prize she got because she only had 12 tickets. Time to exit. Addy was asleep a few minutes down the road and transferred to her crib even with a diaper change and Brian putting on her PJ's. Evelyn of course had to have her treat before she was off to bed.

Hitting another birthday party tomorrow so hopefully they won't be up at 5 am. I can only hope. Speaking of birthday parties, Addy's is turning two in 10 days and I have nothing planned.

Little Singer

Got a new flip camcorder and am testing it out. Addy is all about her Jingle Bells and Sannanana so got a quick video of her singing. She is quite the character lately.

The Cold is Here

Not a whole lot going on these days. Just busy with Christmas shopping and keeping up with A & E. We are headed to Florida on Tuesday for Thanksgiving. Hoping the weather is warmer there than here.

Addy with her Hippies

Hippy

No, not the long haired kind.

Not the pear shaped kind.

The lip kind, you know Hippy! Ok, so you don't know. That is Adeline's favorite word and item. Hippy is .......................Lip Gloss and Chapstick.

The first words out of her mouth in the morning, the thing that calms her in the middle of a tantrum (sorry bunny, looks like you have some competition), the thing that is all over her face, ottoman, clothes. That Hippy!

Here is a picture of her lounging with one of hippys. Evelyn has been a trooper about sharing them with her. Of course, when Addy gets done with one, they are ready for the garbage.

Halloween 2008

Ok, so I'm slacking a little bit. Time seems to fly and by the time I sit down to blog, my mind is so tired and empty. Addy is much better. I took her off her medicine early due to the side effects. I hope it doesn't come back to bite me but she is getting rechecked next week.

Halloween was great. Evelyn was a cheerleader and Addy a flamingo. She wasn't to fond of the hood so you wouldn't be able to guess that was her costume from the pictures. We met up at 6pm with three of our neighbors and their kids and went around the neighborhood together. This was the first time we hit the whole neighborhood. Both the girls had a great time but Addy seemed more excited about the candy than Evelyn. When we got home, Addy was ready to eat her goodies but Evelyn just wanted hot chocolate and go to bed. It was cold, colder than in the past, but still a far cry to when I was young. I remember bundling up in our snowsuits and then putting our costumes over it. Here are some pictures of Halloween and some of the mountains.

Brian and the Girls in Blowing Rock

Evelyn and Addy at the Trout Farm and Evelyn's 4lb Trout

The Mountain Gang

A Few Mountain Facts

We went to the NC Mountains with some friends this past weekend. We love the mountains and were so looking forward to some R&R and beautiful foliage.


Wednesday I had to pick up Addy from preschool. Her teacher called and said she just is so sad today and doesn't want to play.


Thursday - Whoo Hoo, Happy Birthday to me. Ugh! Can't believe I'm 37. Every year since we've been in NC we go to the Mountains the weekend closest to my birthday. Kind of my b-day present.

Addy's sick, somethings not right. Doctor can't see her until 2 and we are leaving at 1pm. I'm sure she'll be fine.

Big mistake. Addy is miserable. We are miserable. Sleepless night.

Friday - Rain, rain and more rain. Weather is miserable, Addy is miserable and we are miserable. Off to Urgent Care. Addy has a wicked ear infection, ruptured eardrum, fever and cold symptoms. Ahhh, vacation.


Saturday - A break in the clouds, Yippee! Off fishing we will go! Addy still miserable but has moments of happiness, albeit short. Just get to Grandfather Trout Farm and get the pole in the water and our neighbor who went with us gets a call that her daughter little Ri-Ri and her Grandma were in a car accident. Chaos and confusion and off they go to pack up everything from the cabin and drive back home. Awful. Fortunately, everyone is fine, just shook up, but mountain trip is cut short.


When all this was happening, Evelyn caught a fish. She screams, and screams. Fish are very scary you know. Addy thinks it's funny. Those two are so different.
The place filets the fish for us and after a view photo opps with a fish statue and the garbage bag with the deceased fish and Ice in it, we are off to lunch.

Addy throws 2 amazing tantrums and we decide to bail on more fun. On the way home Addy falls asleep and then after a 1/2 hour sleep we decide to see how she will be at the Halloween festival in Blowing Rock via way of Boone.

Catch a shot of the ASU game via the hilltop in Boone and pull over for a moment to see them score.

It's freezing but Addy does well at the festival and mommy finds a nice birthday gift for herself in one of the shops. Thank you Brian!

Back to the cabin for some R & R if that is possible with Addy. Evelyn has had a ball playing with Jack and Maddy, two of her friends came with us.

Sunday, The medicine seems to be kicking in for Addy. She actually is pleasant and enjoys playing in the cabin.
Not sure what to do next, we head down the road to check out and return the keys. Addy starts whining and holding her other ear. We decide to head straight home with only a quick stop to a roadside apple stand. Before we get there we hear, among the whimpers, "Gargle, blat, gargle, splat". Ah, the sound of a toddler getting sick in the car. As we look for a place to get off the road, she does it again. A lot!

We stop at that cute mountain roadside stand but spend the whole time cleaning her, the car, luggage, my computer, and ........Bunny. I kept hearing that song in my head, "OOh OOh, that smell! Can't you smell that smell?

We get home, exhausted, stinky and more stressed than when we left, but it is great to be home. Maybe next year will be relaxing.

I will get some pictures and the video of Evelyn and the fish soon.

A couple old pics that made me laugh

No story here, just came across a few old photos that put a smile on my face and thought I would share.

Addy & Evelyn March 2007
Addy

Evelyn 10/2003

Bunny just can't get a break

I have a long story to tell but only have a minute. I promise to bring you up to speed soon. Long story short bunny hasn't had it easy these past few days. Addy has been sick, very sick and she refuses to eat. Bunny on the otherhand is very hungry. Addy pretends to feed bunny. After her lunch (bunny's that is) Addy got down and played while I cleaned up bunny's mess. Next thing I know, Addy hands me Bunny and says "Uh oh". She decided to give bunny a dirt bath in the plant. The dirt stuck nicely to the grease she got on it from lunch. Rewind to Sunday. We were on our way home from the mountains and Addy threw up all over Bunny, and many other things. Poor Bunny, just got a bath from the projectile vomit, now will be back in the wash when she gets up from her nap. Lucky for you I didn't get a picture of Bunny with Pomegrante/Blueberry and Banana all over her. Note to Self: Never bring a child with an Ear Infection to the Mountains. Bad Idea.

Halloween Package

The girls got a package today from Uncle Dave. They had so much fun ripping into it and playing in the box, I had to take some pictures. They seemed perfectly content with the box of packaging peanuts but were even happier when they opened up their Halloween baskets. Thank you Dave!

Addy kissing a baby in her lamb costume.

Addy hugging it. Can you tell she really likes it!

When I Grow Up

Thursday I took Addy to Sesame Street Live with two friends from the neighborhood and their 2 year old. I had been talking it up. Saying, "were going to see Elmo. Do you want to see Elmo?" She of course would say, "ELMO!, YES!" Two words she knows well. Our seats were great, 3 rows back. The venue wasn't all that big so I'm sure all the seats would have been fine but I wanted to make sure she got a great view. She really enjoyed it. It took a little warming up. She was on my lap and holding my arm tight. Every time I tried to make her let go, she would grab it again and put it back where she wanted it. By intermission, she was all good and didn't even need to be on my lap. I'm sure there were a lot of tense children there that day. A six foot monster in your face with the sound blaring tends of get that kind of reaction. Sorry about the poor quality photos, all I had was my camera phone.

The show was titled "When Elmo Grows Up" and coincidentally, on the way to school this morning, Evelyn said she wanted to be a Teacher, Artist and a Bus Driver.

Zoe

Just the Two of Us

I know I should be paying more attention to the debate but I lost interest an hour into it. So I thought this was a perfect time to write a quick blog then go to bed. I had my first parent/teacher conference on Monday morning. Evelyn is doing well academically but needs work on her self-esteem. This is holding her back from trying new things at school. She reminds me a lot of myself. Or at least I think. I just keep hearing my Mother saying "you're making yourself have a mental block, you can figure this out if you just stop thinking that you can't". Evelyn continually works herself up the littlest things and doesn't think she can do anything new. She is a smart kid and just needs to get past this (I hope) stage. I hope she breaks out of her shell sooner than I did. One funny thing her teacher said: I came in the other day to have lunch with Evelyn and she was talking up a storm. Mrs. Jenkins (her kindergarten teacher) said, "it is so nice to hear her voice, she never talks." Evelyn?? Really? The same girl that can't stop talking at home? The same girl that says her favorite thing to do in the morning is lay in bed and talk? Say it isn't so.

Addy has preschool on Mondays so Evelyn and I had a day just the two of us. After hearing how she was doing in school we headed out to breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (her choice). Had a quick bite to eat then went to the skating rink. We had taken her once before and she loved it. We had a great time. She was determined but didn't do as well as last time. I think she was too busy looking around and trying to see who was there that she knew. The rink was open to the public but since there was no school, they had special pricing and 50% of the profits went back to the school.

After two hours of skating, we had a quick bite to eat at McDonalds (again, her choice) then had to go pick up Addy. It seems like forever since Evelyn and I got to spend one on one time together like that. She had so much one on one time for four years, then Bubba came and time alone became difficult.

Sorry no pictures of us skating. I was too afraid we would fall and break the camera. Evelyn does have a bunch of bruises on her legs. Next time I think she'll wear knee pads. Now if I could just convince her to take lessons. She's too afraid to try them.

More Fall Fun

We love the Fall. Our absolute favorite time of the year. This weekend was a little warmer than a usual Fall day. In the 80's. Brian and I took the girls to a pumpkin patch to pick out their pumpkins, some mum's and corn stalks for the front porch and a few fresh veggies. Addy has mastered the word pumpkin now and has been saying it as much as her famous AIRPLANE. When we are outside or even in the car, I swear that is every other word out of her mouth. Airplane, snack, airplane, eat, airplane, sissy, airplane, stop, airplane. Ok, you get the idea.

After the pumpkin patch we took the girls to the park and then to lunch. Quick stop to the grocery store where the girls ran with the shopping carts. What a beautiful day.

Okay, enough fun for the girls. Time for some fun for Mommy and Daddy. Our good friend Melissa came over and babysat the girls while we went with some of our neighbors whitewater rafting. Charlotte has a one-of-a-kind man made rafting center. http://www.usnwc.org/. 12 of us went and we split into 2 boats of six. After some instructions, we were off. We had a great time. Already looking forward to going back. Can't say I'm ready to hit the Gauley or anything. I think the Class 4's are enough for me. Soaked from head to toe, we all dryed off, changed and went to the restaraunt for some drinks, dinner and talk about our adventures of the day. The Whitewater center takes photos of us while we are on the water and you can view them if you go to the website, click on photos for sale, water gallery and look for October 4, 5-6 and 6-7pm. Image 453, 454, 455, 490, 491, 515, 516, 517, 520-523.

Corn Maze

Well, this blog is one week late. Last Saturday we took the girls to a corn maze with friend of ours. They both seemed excited but after a little way through the maze, Addy had a melt down. She didn't want to be carried, she didn't want to walk, she didn't want to move. She just dropped to the muddy ground. Nice. Well, kicking and screaming we yanked her up and slowly started going. At that point, Evelyn was out of sight with the rest of the gang. In hind sight, we think this is why Addy had her "moment". After kicking off her boots, we put her up on Brian's neck and she was fine. We finally got through and then took a hayride (I say that loosely). We had a great day. We even got Addy to call the pumpkins "pumpkins" instead of "apples". Here are a few pics.

The Gang

Too Many Goodbyes

"Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will."


This year we have lost our last three Grandparents. Brian's Grandmother Elsie Brown died in the Spring followed by my Grandfather John Green in August, then Brian's Grandmother Wilma Koch died this past Friday. Todays blog is to honor their memory. Our wonderful memories will always bring smiles to our faces. We love you and will always cherish our time together.


Grandpa Green with Evelyn and Adeline



Grandma Koch with all of us

Grandma Koch with Evelyn

Grandma Brown, Evelyn and Grandma Koch



Grandma Brown with Addy


Duane, Grandma Brown, Evelyn & Brian

Mom E-mailing Folded Notes - Expressionery

Mom E-mailing Folded Notes - Expressionery

My Dearest Bunny

Wherever I go
Whatever I do
We'll always go through it together!

Dear Bunny, Thank you for...


Playing with me outside

Going to school with me

Afternoon naps

Putting up with my crap. (yes, bunny is in there somewhere)

Hanging around

helping me smile for the camera














Car rides

Stroller rides

Hanging during tea parties














In your honor
Love, Adeline