Laugh with us

Changing it up

2011-02-24T10:13:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm starting a new blog. Not long after I started blogging, I decided it would be nice to not have our last name all over the internet. You know, security and privacy and all that. But it was kinda hard to change when my last name was in the URL. So, this little photo limit dilemma gave me the kick in the pants that I needed to go ahead and make the change.

If you'd like to visit our new family blog, please e-mail me at nmwife13 [at] gmail [dot] com and I can send you the link. Thanks!

My new toy

2011-02-18T14:30:00.001-05:00

We got our tax refund and I immediately bought myself a dSLR camera. Woo hoo! I am as giddy as my kids are when we go to Chuck E Cheese's! I obviously still need some time to figure out all the bells and whistles, but here a few of my first shots with it.

Fun!!

I was going to include a couple more, but blogger just informed me that I have met my maximum photo quota for this blog. Ummmm....what do I do now? Might have to start a new one because blogging without photos just ain't gonna cut it. My writing's not that good.

Figure Skating

2011-02-13T22:14:00.001-05:00

When my good friend, Jayne, called to see if I would be willing to take some tickets to the US Figure Skating Championships off her hands, I was THRILLED. Yes. Yes! YES! I've never been to anything like that and felt lucky that it was right here in our hometown this year. I just called this my hometown. Guess I'm settling in for the next couple of years since Andrew found out we're no longer relocating. :)

April came with me.

We LOVED it.

We watched the pairs finals and the ice dancing finals.

We saw the death-defying-lay-down-spin.

Like my skating terminology?

Also saw lots of lifts,

throws,

gliding,

and jumping.

But the throws were my favorite.

We also saw lots of falls.

But I was too busy audibly gasping to catch any of them on film.

The skaters can thank me later.

B's hoops & W's cheer

2011-02-06T22:56:00.000-05:00

For the first time in our family, both older kids are participating in an extracurricular activity AT THE SAME TIME. Whoa. Big step for us. It has gone okay, but I'll happily revert to one-activity-at-a-time when this season ends.

Brandon is playing basketball. The league we've been playing in for years has practices on Sunday for his age group. Boo. So, he's playing at school instead. The level of competition isn't as strong, but he likes playing with and against lots of friends.

Here are some video highlights from the first half of his season. Andrew is helping to coach the team, so I'm the camera woman. And I stink. Brandon is on the Tarheels, light blue shirt with silver and blue shorts, #4.

And after watching that, I say to myself, "He thinks he's too wimpy for football? At least he'd have on pads and would be playing on grass!"

A little pregame smile (smirk?) for the camera.

Practicing layups.

Taking a shot.

Love his little hop while waiting to shoot free throws.

Little Miss Whitney is a rookie cheerleader and loving it. She looks adorable, has fun, and is good! Unfortunately, since she's tall, she ends up on the back row all the time. Kinda difficult to take pics that way. Here's her little highlight video. Her favorite part is when she gets to be a "base" and hold the little girl up during the stunt at the end.

Woo hoo!

Go team!

Gotta love those pom poms.

They have a short season, only six weeks. And we're halfway through. Go, fight, win for three more weeks, kids!

Roamin 'round Raleigh

2011-02-03T14:36:00.002-05:00

The kids had school off for a teacher workday on a Friday a while back. We took a little family field trip up to Raleigh for our own educational experience.

First stop: NC State Capitol

As we walked up, I talked to the kids about how each state has their own lawmakers and that THIS building is where ours work. And then we went on the tour. And found out that in NC, the house and senate actually meet in a different building. Oops. So it was more of a historical tour than a political learning experience. It was still good, just not what I expected.

The docent who was giving our tour, taught us about an

artistic motif known as the "Greek key."

And we proceeded to find it all over the building.

It was a little scavenger hunt!

And Whitney was good at it.

We also learned that you can find rocks and debris in the

barrel of old WWII cannons out on the grounds.

Next stop: Spize Cafe

We don't know our way around downtown Raleigh at all. The receptionist at the Capitol Building pointed left and told us, "There are lots of restaurants down that street." So we went exploring and the first place we found that looked interesting was Spize. I read the kids the menu and they thought it sounded good, so we gave it a try.

It was so yummy.

I got cumin chicken over rice.

The kids both ate baguettes--shrimp for W, chicken for B.

Caroline ordered rice.

Then refused to eat it.

She nibbled on the chips that came with the baguettes.

Then we visited the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. We've been there once before and LOVED this second visit. And...it has FREE admission. Highly recommend it.

We learned:

that Caroline fits nicely in a dino footprint,

that baby rats are pretty darn cute,

that you can order volcanic ashes on the internet

for your pet chinchilla to roll around in.

But the rodent expert does NOT recommend chinchillas as pets.

Too bad, because Whit was getting her hopes up.

And that Darwin frog daddies hold eggs in their mouth
then burp their babies out when they hatch. Nice.

They have a traveling exhibit there right now called "Animal Grossology." You can imagine it, right? Blood, poop, slime...the kids LOVED it. It normally has an additional cost, but our science center membership got us in free. Great investment.

At the end of this exhibit, there is a submarine with an eel slide.

The kids went on it over and over and over again.

B-train had fun chasing and being chased by this little girl.

He's growing up.

Out of the Mouths of Babes--January

2011-01-31T14:05:00.001-05:00

1/4--Caroline and I were playing with Play-Doh, one of her favorite pastimes. When I made a snake, she said, "I'm proud of you, Mommy!" So sweet.

1/5--Now that the kids are back in school, I asked Brandon what his friends got for Christmas.
B: I don't know.
Me: You didn't ask them?
B: No! That's a GIRL thing, Mom.
I had no idea. I'm already uncool, I guess.

Note to self: Don't ask nine-year-old boys

what they got for Christmas.

1/10--We were asking the kids about ideas for Spring Break. When we asked Caroline where she wanted to go, she said, "Home Depot." Interesting idea.

She IS a fan of that store and even wore her

orange apron to run errands one day.

In this pic, she was saying,

"Look how big my shadow is!"

1/12--This, my friends, is what I would look like if the kids chose my hairstyle and accessories:

Not gaining any points on the coolness scale.

1/16--We drove by a church that had a sign outside that said,, "Real people. Real relationships. Real belonging." Brandon said, "Good thing they have real people at that church. I thought they were all cyborgs and jelly-filled mannequins." That boy cracks me up.

1/17--Brandon came walking downstairs today and said, "Genius is 98% awesomeness, 1% smartness, and 1% ponajeeism. Copyright 2011, Brandon." Ponajee(sp?) is a word B came home with a few weeks ago. He tells us it means to dominate in sports or video games. Now I feel really uncool.

1/20--We were watching a movie that had a lot of farm animals in it. Caroline told me, "When I grow up, I want to be a horse."

Practicing her gallop?

1/26--When C woke up this morning, like most every morning, I asked her, "How did you sleep?" I didn't expect her reply: "Fancy."

1/27--Some of the thoughts going through Whitney's head today, "When I think of Santa, I think of Martin Luther King. Is Santa an old man? Is he in a nursing home?"

Profile 2011: Me

2011-01-27T19:09:00.003-05:00

Andrea

Favorite Sport: Football to watch. Tennis to play.

Is really good at: Not taking myself seriously.

Wishes she was better at: Using my time wisely.

Best part about my job: Getting to play with my kids throughout the day. It rocks.

Favorite pastimes: Reading, playing the Wii (bowling and tennis with Drew, Just Dance by myself or with B & W), hanging out with my friends, taking my kids on adventures, blogging and reading blogs.

Favorite recent reads: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland

Favorite restaurant: Bonsai Japanese

Notable changes/events in 2010: Finished Psych 301: Psychological Statistics (Only eight more classes to go!) Played competitive tennis for the first time and loved it, especially our one and only win. Continue to work in the nursery at church and love hanging out with those cuties each week. Became a part of the newly-organized High Point Stake of our church--exciting!

Hopes for 2011: Finish the Child Development class I started this month as well as one more class toward my degree. Also finish my continuing ed credits to renew my dental hygiene license this summer. Purchase a dSLR camera and figure out how to use it. Continue to have daily personal scripture study in the mornings before the kiddios wake up. Get some exercise on my bike once the weather finally warms up.

Profile 2011: Andrew

2011-01-24T18:45:00.000-05:00

Andrew

Favorite Sport: Football

Is really good at: Fantasy sports

Wishes he was better at: Playing classical music on my acoustic guitar

Best part about his job: Seeing business results improve and knowing that I had part in structuring the organization, developing talent, and hiring the right people.

Favorite pastimes: Reading, playing flag football, playing basketball, and playing tennis with Andrea

Favorite recent reads: Surround Yourself With Greatness by Chad Lewis, Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and every book about extreme survival situations that the library carries.

Favorite restaurant: P. F. Chang's

Notable changes/events in 2010: Transitioning from overseeing HR for our US manufacturing operations to our US sales organization; visiting Times Square and going to the top of the Empire State Building; touring Independence Hall in Philadelphia; putting down a dunk at the Stake Center after one of my church games; and getting a lot more gray hair.

Hopes for 2011: No emergency room trips, organizing consistent flag football games with my buddies, for the right thing to happen around staying in Greensboro or moving to Dallas (I don't know what the "right thing" is though), lots of fun dates with Andrea, seeing the kids be happy as they do their best, BYU basketball makes a deep tournament run, the Lakers win another champship, and the Carolina Panthers win more than two games.

Profile 2011: Brandon

2011-01-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

Brandon Trey

Age 9

What's one thing you're really good at? Video games are my talent.

What's one thing you wish you were better at? Nothing. [There's confidence for ya.]

What's your favorite treat? Ice cream
Which flavor? Whatever's in the freezer...unless it's pistachio or lemon.

What's your favorite game to play? Sonic Racing for the Wii

What scares you the most? When I hear sounds in a dark place

How tall do you want to be when you grow up? Seven feet

What job do you want to have when you grow up? Football player or something to do with Legos
[I thought you didn't want to play football.] Well, not right now because I'm a wimp.

If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Pop tarts. Any of the ice cream shop flavors or the oreo ones.

If you could choose a different name, what would it be? Oranjello

Oranjello?

I'm not seeing it.

What rule in your house would you get rid of if you could? Chores. Totally.

If you had a million dollars, what would you buy first? A big house somewhere on the beach.

If you were a teacher, what subject would you teach? Math

Favorite color: Blue
Favorite TV show: I don't really watch that much TV
Favorite movie: Harry Potter series
Favorite pastime: Video games
Favorite animal: Hedgehog [Really?] I really like Sonic and he's a hedgehog!
Favorite book: Harry Potter series

My thoughts: Brandon cracks us up. I love his quick wit and smart sense of humor. He can be really helpful. He is very responsible with all of his school assignments. He has a big vocabulary. He continues to devour books as fast as he can. He still wakes up at the crack of dawn every morning. Even though he complains about his chores, he is good at doing them. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that he's not a little boy anymore. I struggle with knowing what games/movies/books are OK for him. The lines were much more clearly drawn out for me when he was younger. He doesn't eat a whole lot at meals, but has a huge sweet tooth like the rest of us. When he's in charge of the treats for FHE, he always wants to try baking a new recipe. One night he even made us warm chocolate melting cakes. They rocked! He loves watching sports of all kinds, especially football with his Dad. Can't believe he'll hit double digit age this year AND start his last year of elementary school this fall.

Profile 2011: Whitney

2011-01-18T20:26:00.000-05:00

Whitney Amelia

Age 6

What's one thing you're really good at? I'm really good at jump roping.

What's one thing you wish you were better at? I wish I was better at basketball.

What's your favorite treat? My favorite treat is ice cream.
Which flavor? Peppermint.

What's your favorite game to play? My favorite game to play is Memory.

What scares you the most? Bats.

How tall do you want to be when you grow up? As tall as Mom.

What job do you want to have when you grow up? I want to be a rock star because I've thought up many songs.

Future rock star?

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Vegetables. Broccolli, lettuce, and carrots.
Why? Because I like those vegetables. And I like the colors green and orange, too.

If you could choose a different name, what would it be? Elise.

What rule in your house would you get rid of if you could? Homework before video time.

If you had a million dollars, what would you buy first? A bunch of candy.
What kinds? Bubblegum, lollipops.

If you were a teacher, what subject would you teach? I would teach math.

I was thinking entomology...

Favorite color: violet

Favorite TV show: Wild Kratts [a new show on PBS kids]

Favorite thing to do in your free time: Read

Favorite book: Midnight on the Moon with Jack and Annie [Magic Tree House Series]

Other random snippets from Mom: Whitney is about as sweet as a girl can be. She is constantly giving us compliments, loves to help me in the kitchen, and will often color pictures then wrap them up and leave them at our bedroom door as presents. She prefers playing inside to out. Very artistic--loves coloring, drawing, painting, making things out of the Bendaroos she got for Christmas. She is the best eater, not picky at all. She is the most difficult of our children to wake up for school in the morning and most mornings just takes a little baggie of cold cereal with her for breakfast because she's running late. She is such a great big sister to Caroline, often reading her books at night before they fall asleep. She is on a cheerleading squad for the first time this year and likes it so far. She LOVES school and her first grade teacher, Mrs. Garrison. She does NOT want to move, so is hoping Daddy's job does NOT take us to Dallas this year.

Profile 2011: Caroline

2011-01-15T23:17:00.000-05:00

Time for the annual snapshots of each family member. Care Bear's up first. I decided to go ahead and interview her this year. Some of the responses are a little nonsensical, but others are perfectly accurate.

What's one thing you're really good at? Coloring.

What's one thing you wish you were better at? The mall. [I'm not sure what she meant here, but she did throw a couple of tantrums last time we were at the mall, so maybe she's aiming for better behavior?]

What's your favorite treat? A cookie.
What kind? Chocolate chip.

What's your favorite game to play? Toy Story 3. [We have a Toy Story Memory game.]

What scares you the most? Chuck E. Cheese when he walks around.

What job do you want to have when you grow up? A farmer.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Mint. Mint Chocolate Chip.

If you could choose a different name, what would it be? Cupcake.

Cupcake?

If you had a million dollars, what would you buy first? Chuck E. Cheese's.

What's your favorite color? Yellow and green and gray and red.

What's your favorite tv show? Piglet [I don't think she's ever seen Winnie the Pooh. I would say Diego is really her fave]

What's your favorite movie? Incredible Me [I thought she meant Despicable Me, but when I tried to correct her, she said, "No, Incredible Me."]

Favorite thing to do in our house? Take a shower. [She takes baths...and does love them.]

Favorite animal? Dogs and Cats

Favorite place to go? Chuck E. Cheese's to ride the pony.

Are you seeing a theme here?

Other random tidbits from Mom: Caroline Rose is still our little sweetheart. She is very loving and affectionate. But the terrible twos are just beginning to show. She has started saying NO a lot. She loves doing puzzles and playing with Little People and dishes. Afternoon naps are happening about 75% of the time, but she happily plays in her room for an hour of "quiet time" on the days she doesn't nap. She loves to hop, sing, color, and do somersaults. She hates getting her hair combed and leaving fun places.

We're looking forward to seeing what 2011 holds for our little Care Bear!

Ringing in 2011

2011-01-08T11:48:00.001-05:00

I've been on an organizing, book-reading, class-registering, continuing-ed-taking kick. And the blog has been put on the bottom of the list of priorities. But I wanted to document our fun week between Christmas and New Year's. Andrew had vacation time that he needed to use, so he took the whole week off and we had such a great little staycation.

MONDAY
Drove up to Winston. Visited SciWorks.

Brandon found a hidden monster truck.

Whitney built a cool Kapla block tower.

Caroline cried when it was time to leave.

She's cute when she cries.

Stopped at Chuck E's.

The kids score BIG TIME when Andrew comes with us.

Made our first visit to the festival of lights at Tanglewood.

It's one of those things I've wanted to do for the last seven years,

but never got around to.

Wow, were we missing out!

The pictures don't do it justice.

These were HUGE light displays.

It was fantastic.

Cool castle with penguin and polar bear.

Candles and poinsettias.

My favorite: The pirate ship and lake monster.

TUESDAY

Mary watched the kids all day long, so Andrew and I could have an extended date. Fabulous.

Went ice skating downtown at the seasonal outdoor rink.

We had a great time.

The rink is small and the ice was not so smooth, though.

We were glad there weren't many people there on a weekday morning.

Most of the time, I was busy just trying not to fall.

I didn't. Yippee!

But Andrew got tricky.

Check out his arabesque!

Glad to see the orthopedist's phone number on the wall.

Thankfully, we didn't have to call.

Stuffed our faces with cheesecake.

Filled our souls at the temple.

WEDNESDAY

Brandon and I went to the "Bodies Revealed" exhibit at the science center with our friends. It was amazing. And a little creepy. Ok, the 4th grade boys thought it was more creepy than amazing.

Then Brandon got to help Indiana Bones with her show.

Andrew, our fantasy football league commissioner,

presented Michael with trophies for winning the last

two super bowls. Then the two of them drove down

to Charlotte to watch a Bobcats game.

Andrew got some sweet action shots.

I think he has new aspirations of becoming a sports photographer.

THURSDAY

We were supposed to head to Asheville to spend New Year's with our cousins, but Andrew woke up with pink eye. Instead we just played the Wii all day long.

FRIDAY

After starting his antibiotic treatment, we headed to Asheville a day late.

The boys played video games.

The girls played dress up.

All of us had fun taking our turns holding Chapel,

the happiest baby in the world.

Ate lots of yummy food.

After putting the kids to bed, we stayed up

playing Settlers through the new year.

Ryan won.

With the rest of our family so far away,

we love having these cousins nearby.

It was hard to go back to the normal routine of work and school after having such a fun week of play. But we did it. And we're already looking forward to our next break. Martin Luther King Day?

Out of the Mouths of Babes--December

2011-01-02T22:21:00.001-05:00

12/2--Whitney is reading a scary book right now about a haunted castle. It might be too much for her. This morning she told me, "It makes my tummy feel tingly!"

12/2--Whitney's Christmas Wish: "I want a robot that looks just like me. And I'll just hold still and pretend I'm the robot. And the robot can do all my homework and get all the answers right and do all my Saturday chores and come up with lots of great ideas."

I'm sure that's Robot Whitney picking her nose.

12/4--This, my friends, is what happens on a snowy Saturday when you don't leave the house:

Whitney gives Caroline a makeover.

Then she turned her sights on me.

Luckily, she went with a less dramatic palette for my new look.

12/6--When I'm deep in thought, which happens ALL the time (?), I find myself furrowing my brow. That must have been the case today when we were playing upstairs and Caroline asked me, "Are you mean?"
No.
"Because your eyebrows are mean."
I think she has noticed that all the bad guys in cartoons have large, pronounced eyebrows.

My mouth is smiling, but my eyebrows are still scowling.

12/6--Caroline is way into telling other people, "That's not nice." She must hear it too much from me. Tonight at dinner she told us, "Someone killed me...and that's not nice."

12/7--Right when I'm done Christmas shopping for the kids, Caroline decided she wants to add something to her list: a bunny.
Me: What kind of bunny?
C: A working bunny.
Me: What's a working bunny?
C: With a button you can push.
Oh, great. She wants a toy that doesn't exist. I'm having flashbacks to the year Whitney was dead set on getting a REAL unicorn.

12/8--C's wish list keeps getting worse. Now she has decided that it needs to be an ORANGE bunny with an ORANGE button. D'oh!

This was as close as Santa could get--

a white bunny with a pink button.

She seemed happy with it.

(But has hardly played with it since Christmas!)

12/8--We were out for dinner tonight and I told Caroline, "You have crazy hair today." She did.
Her comeback?
"Yea, like you."
She's got a point.

Exhibit A: Crazy Hair

Exhibit B: Two heads of Crazy Hair

12/13--Whit found my old cell phone and she and Brandon have been playing with it for the last two days non-stop. They have figured out how to do things with it that I didn't know how to do after using it for two years! The thing that cracked me up is that Brandon programmed contacts such as "Ima Dummy" and "Monkey Bums" and then walks around having the electronic phone voice say them over and over. Hilarious.

12/14--I took Caroline shopping at a sporting goods store.

She was sure the football tees were meant to

be used as high heels.

12/30--I got a video game called "Just Dance 2" for Christmas. You dance along trying to follow the moves on the screen. It is SO fun. I was playing with the kids today and Brandon was doing really well. He said, "This could be the launch of my dance career!"

We've got moves.

Maybe if the dance career falls through, he

could try pastry chef

or cartoonist.

Random photos of the month:

On one of our many snow days this month,

Whit and I played restaurant.

I love her menu for "Ladey's Lala."

Also love Caroline's unprompted silly face.

Brandon and Caroline fell asleep with books on their

faces on consecutive nights. Cracked me up.

Peek a boo!

Christmas Fun

2010-12-27T21:01:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy posting family pictures and spiritual thoughts that I left out all the holiday fun we've been up to this month. Now I just have to throw it all together into one big long post.

Caroline sat on Santa's lap.

And didn't even cry.

Enjoyed a Christmas breakfast at church.

The kids sang with the primary,

Whitney sang a solo,

Brandon played a couple of piano songs,

and I sang a duet with Kelly.

We love Christmas music.

Went to the Festival of Lights downtown.

Missed the tree lighting because I thought it was

five blocks away. It was actually right across the street
from where we parked. Oops.

Went to the Nutcracker with Whitney.

We loved it.

Except the theater was hot.

Andrew and B went to the Longhorns-Tarheels basketball game.

Brandon has become a huge Texas fan.

They missed most of the first half because traffic was horrendous.

But the game was intense and Texas won.

Hook 'em Horns!

Pajama Day at school where Whit watched

Polar Express and was chosen by Santa

to get a sleigh bell.

The kids helped me bake Christmas goodies.

And watched to make sure they weren't overdone.

Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange with my preschool friends.

Except we exchanged white elephant gifts instead of cookies this year.

Another flag football game for the boys.

Andrew gets less sore each time they play.

And he LOVES it.

Brandon gets to be all-time center.

There are risks involved when you play football with

people three to four times your size.

But they are risks B is willing to take.

Care Bear had fun watching the game.

Made gingerbread houses as a family.

Brandon, Caroline (ate hers before pics could be taken), Whitney,

Andrew's homage to the Lakers championship, and mine.

Yummy Christmas Eve dinner of shrimp and artichokes.

Served separately.

Christmas Eve family pic.

Read the nativity from Luke before bed.

And then... Christmas Day!

I love being a mom on Christmas morning.

SO fun to watch the kids reactions.

Brandon got a little helicopter.

Now Andrew wants one.

Caroline loves this little tutu skirt.

Whitney can't wait to use her Easy Bake oven.

(I didn't realize we needed a 100 watt light bulb. D'oh!)

All of us are enjoying our big family gift:

a Wii!

Ate a scrumptious brunch with our friends.

Then played Curses, a hilarious board game

for people who don't take themselves seriously.

Had a super fun night with the Peos who were on their way to Florida.

Five little girls had a blast playing with PlayDoh.

It was a short visit, but we loved it.

And to top it all off, we ended up having a White Christmas!

And this time it was enough to cancel church.

It was even enough for Brandon, Andrew, and I built a snow fort.

Our snow endurance isn't very long, so this is as far as we got.

Not a whole lot of shelter, but it looks cool.

Christmas Giving

2010-12-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

During the First Presidency Christmas Devotional earlier this month, President Monson mentioned that he reads "The Mansion" by Henry Van Dyke every Christmas. I'd never heard of it or ready anything by Van Dyke. I was intrigued. So I hopped online to reserve a copy. But our library doesn't carry it. Boo. But they did have several other books by Van Dyke. So I reserved a few of them. I loved one of them (Story of the Other Wise Man). Two of them were kind of boring to me (The Spirit of Christmas and The Van Dyke Book). And one of them(The First Christmas Tree and Other Stories) contained a wonderful little essay called "Christmas Giving and Christmas Living." I loved it.

Van Dyke talks about Christ as a gift giver. He says:

"The great gift of Jesus to the world was himself. He lived with and for men and women. He kept back nothing. In every particular and personal gift that he made to certain people there was something of himself that made it precious.

"When he gave bread and fish to the hungry multitude...the people were refreshed and strengthened by the sense of Jesus' personal care for their welfare as much as the food that he bestowed upon them.

"The gifts of healing that he conferred upon many different kinds of sufferers were, in every case, evidences that Jesus was willing to give something of himself...Jesus thought before he gave, because he desired to satisfy the deepest need, because in fact he gave something of himself in every gift. All true Christmas-giving ought to be after this pattern.

"Not that it must all be solemn and serious. For the most part it deals with little wants, little joys, little tokens of friendly feeling. But the feeling must be more than the token; otherwise the gift does not really belong to Christmas.

"It takes time and effort and unselfish expenditure of strength to make gifts in this way. But it is the only way that fits the season."

When I think of the true meaning of Christmas gifts, I think of the supreme gift of the Father to give us His Son. And I think of Christ's selfless gift of sacrificing His life for us. But I hadn't thought of the gifts the Savior gave throughout His life. And I appreciated this new perspective on Christmas giving.

Christmas Card Photo Rejects

2010-12-19T17:03:00.001-05:00

So...I shared the photos I loved. Here are the ones that were not sent out in any Christmas card. And for good reason. Enjoy the outtakes of our photo shoot.

Love Caroline's face.

We've been asking him to take his finger

out of his nose for nine years now.

Still hasn't worked.

Don't get any ideas, Caroline.

I forgot to put on my happy face.

Yikes.

I apparently wasn't amused.

He's visionary.

Andrew looks great in this one.

But he's the only one.

How B-train wears his head bands.

Look at those manly faces!

They can break stuff!

We tried a couple of family jumping shots.
Go, Andrew.

We need some training to improve our verticals.

Oh, but watch out for me when I go solo.

And also Brandon...

when he gets thrown by his dad.

Family pictures 2010

2010-12-16T22:10:00.000-05:00

Living up to my reputation as a cheapskate, I swapped family-picture taking with Shelley this year rather than pay a photographer. I was thrilled with the results. (Thanks, Shelley!) And they were free! When I started printing copies, it made me long for a DSLR, though. I tried to enlarge one to 11x14 for the wall. It was grainy. You can definitely tell it was taken with a point and shoot. Dang.

Here are some of my favorites.

I LOVE Andrew's Siberian husky eyes.

Brandon has a REAL smile.

One happy little girl.

My fave family shot.

Walking into the sunset....

I like a good standing shot where you can see

just how much taller Andrew is than Caroline.

Cute smiles.

Sweet Whitney.

Pure joy.

Bottle it.

Two happy girls.

My two favorite boys.

We're comin to getcha.

Five of us all in a row.

I love the way annual photos capture our little family at this moment in time: Andrew still looking hot, as always. My discovery of (and close relationship with) the flat iron. Brandon's face slimming into such a mature boy. Whitney's permanent incisors coming in. Caroline's adorable little blond braids.

Makes me wonder what next year's photo will look like. Will I find my first gray hair? How much closer will Brandon be to my height? Will Care Bear still be a blondie? Only time will tell.

Let it snow?

2010-12-12T16:54:00.000-05:00

I love Carolina winters because they are so mild. And even though it gets cold and we have ice storms, we'll also have days of 50 or 60 degree weather. But this December is feeling like a real winter. Brrrr... Here's what happened last weekend:

Snow!

A couple of inches!

And we didn't even cancel church.

Amazing.

Caroline LOVED it.

Look at that smile.

She was singing and dancing as she frolicked about.

I love seeing that cute little face under a stocking cap.

Brandon was braving the elements at the city Christmas parade with a friend.

Whitney made snow angels,

built a snowman with Daddy,

had a snowball fight with Daddy,

then turned her sights on Frosty.

I took all these pics from the comfort of the warm indoors.

Wimp.

Giving our thanks

2010-12-04T00:29:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year. It was the quietest one we've had in years. Marianne came into town from Wichita to visit. And it was just our little family and her for the big Turkey Day. So we decided to just have a little turkey breast instead. Andrew still brined it. Yum.

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped a bottle of balsamic vinegar on my flat top stove. Instead of the bottle of vinegar shattering, which I expected, the stove top cracked. What??? I didn't even realize that could happen. It was an expensive lesson to learn. When we purchased a replacement, we discovered that it wouldn't be delivered until after Thanksgiving. I was worried that our feast would be jeopardized. But we pulled it off. And it was delicious.

Thankfully, these two burners still worked.

Marianne braved the territory between Brandon and Whitney.

Most likely spot to get food on your clothes and/or body.

I guess with Caroline on the other side of the table,

all of us were fair game for spills or other eating mishaps.

But the meal actually went really smoothly.

I think the only pieces of food that went flying were the

mini-marshmallows from the top of the yams.

They were hard to scoop.

Especially for kids were intentionally avoiding the yams.

We watched lots and lots of football.

And Andrew even got out with his friends and played.

It had been a long time. Too long.

Look at those moves.

"Old Man Sweat"?

I think not.

(But he WAS feeling it in his hammies for several days afterward.)

We watched Tangled.

It was a great show.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Marianne and I attended Clare's wedding on Saturday.

It was beautiful and we had a great time.

Our gratitude activity this year was a Thankful Wall.
We posted little slips of paper here.
Along with turkeys the girls made in school.

They included the major things: the Gospel, family, the Savior, temple.
Some of my favorite random ones: electricity, football, playdough, money, hair spray, babysitters, piano lessons, and parallelograms.

It was a fabulous holiday filled with friends, family, fun, and food.
And I only gained one pound.

Out of the Mouths of Babes--November

2010-11-30T18:13:00.066-05:00

11/4--Andrew was sitting on the floor doing something on his laptop when it was time for the kids to go to bed tonight. Caroline came up behind up, wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "You. are. the best. daddy. in the world."

11/7--When she woke up (at 5:45 am thanks to DST!), it was still dark outside and Caroline said, "Someone needs to turn on the sun."

11/8--Brandon's financial commentary for the month: "If I had a hundred and fifty dollars and went to Michael's [craft store], I could buy enough things to keep me entertained for three years. They have bouncy balls, model toys...everything a boy could want!"

Since he doesn't have $150,

he can have fun for free in the backyard leaves.

11/9--We were at the pediatrician's office today, waiting in our exam room for the doctor. We were playing a game of "I Spy" (Caroline's current fave) to pass the time. When it was her turn she said, "I spy an animal that lives on a farm. It has two legs, two noses, two hands, and two stripy arms." Any guesses on that one, folks???

11/9--Caroline has reached the age where we can understand almost everything that she says. But she has one word that we couldn't figure out: "Stegment." She would use it at random times and from the context, I could understand what she meant. I think for now we decided that it is her word for belly button.

11/10--Sitting at the table eating lunch today, Caroline said, "There's a place called Sydney. And there's a girl called Sydney." What a smart observation!

Geography expert.

11/13--Tonight Brandon shared a talent that surprised and amused all of us. He can suck in his tummy and his belly button completely disappears. He can play peek-a-boo with it. Hilarious. When Whitney tried to see if hers would do the same thing she said, "I can't do it. Mine just looks like a ninety-thousand-year-old dog." Whoa.

At least she has the face of a cute six-year-old girl.

11/14--In nursery today, we had a little girl visiting. I don't think she's used to calling people by Sister Smith or Brother Jones. When I told her my name was "Sister Sweat," she gave me a funny look. Later when we were having snack-time, she said, "Sweaty sister, can I have some more water?" Cracked. me. up.

11/14--Care Bear's observation on tonight's dinner salad, "These cucumbers are so cucumby."

Her smile is so smiley.

And the cake was pretty cakey.

11/17--One of Caroline's cute little quirks this month: In the middle of dinner, she'll stand up in her chair, raise her arms high in the air, and say, "Everybody raise your hands!" We play along and cheer with our hands up, then she sits down and we finish our meal.

11/19--Whitney's deep thoughts from the back of the van, "I wish I was a dog...in France. They live like kings I tell you!" I think she's read one too many picture books about French poodles.

11/23--The boys made a fire in the fire pit tonight and Whitney asked me, "Mom, why are fires hot?"

11/25--One of the things I love about vacations is that Andrew gets to change half (or more) of Caroline's dirty diapers. After he finished changing her today, Caroline was walking around singing this song, "Lucky lucky Daddy. Lucky lucky Daddy." I'm sure he'd disagree.

Mom Prom

2010-11-20T17:36:00.002-05:00

In 1994, there was Junior Prom.

Love that hot pink dress.

(It was on sale.)

In 1995, there was Senior Prom.

My date was taller than me.

Even in heels.

In 2010, there was Mom Prom.

And it rocked.

Our friends, Jamie and Gordon put together this fabulous date night and I'm SOOOO glad they invited us. Eight couples came. We played the most hilarious get-to-know-you game at the beginning. I haven't laughed that hard since I first watched Brian Regan.

Then we ate a yummy potluck dinner

at tables with linens, china, goblets, and name cards.

I felt sophisticated.

And then...the dancing began.

When we were getting ready at home,
Andrew told me, "You know I don't fast dance."

But when the evening started out with two brothers having a dance-off with everything from Russian folk dancing moves to arabesques,
he changed his mind.

It. was. awesome.

We did the electric slide, the rumba, a little bit of country swing.

Phew. It was a workout.

And, of course, there was an abundance of slow songs.

Andrew kept me entertained.

We realized that we each have a "dance face"

when we're trying to just wing it on a fast dance.

I get this cheezy smile with raised eyebrows

and flail my elbows about.

Andrew kinda bites his lower lip.

It's cute.

Thanks to Jamie and Gordon for the most fun and memorable date night we've had in a long time. Let's do it again sometime.

Another year older

2010-11-18T21:41:00.001-05:00

Old Man Sweat added another year onto his age this month.

But he hasn't really been living up to his moniker.

In fact, it was one of the youngest-feeling years he's had in a while:

*no visits to the ER

*no surgeries

*promotion at work

*completing his fifth year as bishop, which he loves

*cheered as the Lakers won another NBA title

*showed off his dance moves with Whit at the talent show

*felt manly at the hunt and fish day with Brandon

*stays in touch with his soft side as he hugs and snuggles with Caroline

*had a blast river rafting with me for our anniversary

Wow, that WAS a great year.

We celebrated with a low-key family dinner here at home. He took it easy on me and requested Hawaiian haystacks. I didn't even have to marinate a steak? I love that guy.

We enjoyed his yummy chocolate cake for dessert.

I scarfed mine down because I was SOOO excited for him to open his gift:

A photograph of La Portada.

This is a landmark off the coast of northern Chile that is a symbol of Andrew's mission. I knew it meant a lot to him and tried to find a painting or photograph of it a few years ago. I figured the internet would make it easy. But I was wrong. I couldn't find what I wanted and gave up. This year I decided to try again and came across this gorgeous photograph by Juan Contreras. I e-mailed Juan to inquire about purchasing a copy. When he learned that Andrew had served his mission there he said, "Please accept this as a gift from me. I think if your husband served the Church then he has already paid." Isn't that awesome? I was so grateful for his generosity.

Now the beautiful photo hangs above our mantle.

It makes me happy.

Oh, and I think the birthday boy likes it, too.

Random tidbits

2010-11-13T10:38:00.001-05:00

*Andrew has been playing a new game with the kids called "Red Zone."

I don't know the rules, but they love it.

Neighbor kids have joined in and even Whitney has been out playing
football, which I never thought would happen.

She is adamant about her hatred for the pigskin.

*I love my ipod. A few years ago, Andrew spent fun money he had ~~hoarded~~ saved for a LONG time on an nice video ipod. Since I promptly spend my fun money each and every month, I bought myself a refurbished ipod shuffle for twenty-four dollars. A few months ago, before the road trip, Andrew offered to trade with me. What? He said he only ever listens to podcasts on his (which is true) and a shuffle would work just fine for him. True again. I hurried and accepted his trade proposal before he could change his mind. I love having playlists, seeing the names of songs that are playing, AND

it came in handy during soccer games when the girls could watch episodes of Dora or Hannah Montana.

*Caroline has become a big fan of Wal-Mart, just like her mother. Mainly because she loves to check for samples in the bakery department.

This doughnut was a little more than she could handle.

*Andrew and I went on another little overnight getaway in October.

We are forever indebted to Mary Topp.

I think she has a first class ticket to heaven solely based

on the service she has given to our family.

We went to the temple.

And the Cheesecake Factory.

Two of my very favorite places on earth.

*We saw these four parallel sky scratches when

we were out driving around the other evening.

We thought they were pretty darn cool.

*The kids tried on some alternative costumes

when Halloween was over.

Creepy.

*Andrew roasted pumpkin seeds this year.

They were really good.

He loved them and wants to make more.

*We took some family pics with the tripod

while we were at Pilot Mountain.

I find it hard to believe that Brandon is harder to

photograph than Caroline. But he is.

*We installed a new kitchen faucet.

I am in love with it.

*We don't get a whole lot of good sunsets in NC.

This one was gorgeous.

I drank it in.

And grabbed my camera.

Fall Break

2010-11-04T13:23:00.001-04:00

The kids had a couple of days off of school at the end of last month. Yippee! We took full advantage of the time off and played as much as we could. Brandon and Whitney planned out the first day: Chuck E. Cheese's and the Natural Science Center.

We got to Chuck E's right at 9 am, when they open. We had the whole place to ourselves. It was wonderful!

Caroline challenged her big sis to air hockey.
She could use some practice.
And a longer reach.

At the science center,

Brandon made friends with Darth Vader,

the black rat snake.

It was another gorgeous day.

We danced

and jumped around the fountains.

Hung out with the gibbons.

Lounged around with Axle the tiger.

Posed on a bench with a bit of fall foliage in the background.

(I couldn't believe how difficult it was to get a decent
shot of these three cuties! I think I took fifty.)

The next day, I was in charge of the itinerary.

Andrew took the day off from work and we made

our annual trip to Pilot Mountain.

We love this place!

Caroline and her Daddy.

This was our first chance to break out the winter coats.

It was COLD!

Like 43 degrees, friends.

I told Whit she looks like a supermodel in this pic.
Lots of supermodels are still getting their permanent teeth.

We went on a little hike around that pinnacle you can see in the back.

We climbed on rocks.

Pondered the meaning of life.

Explored little caves and crevices.

Played in the crunchy fallen leaves.
It was somehow relaxing and exciting at the same time.

After a disappointing lunch at Taco Bell,
we made a quick stop at SciWorks in Winston-Salem.
The kids got to watch their first laser show in the dome theater.

Thanks to the school system for scheduling some teacher work days
so that we could have a random family fun day in the middle of the fall.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

We couldn't come up with a good theme for a family costume this year, so we all did our own thing. Here's what we ended up with.

Caroline insisted on dressing as a dragonfly.

Not quite sure where she came up with that one.

I did my best.

Luckily, she would look cute even in a burlap sack.

(See last year's Dobby costume.)

Princess Whitney.

I tried to convince her that she would make a FABULOUS Snow White.

But she just wanted to be A princess, not a Disney character.

She looked very regal.

(I found this dress on clearance at Target for $6 a few weeks ago.

I COULDN'T leave it sitting on the rack for that price!)

Brandon, the Mad Scientist.

I loved this costume idea.

He came up with it on his own and it is SO him.

The three cuties at the church Trunk or Treat.

I thought if we weren't going to do a family costume,

at least Andrew and I could do some sort of couples theme.

We thought about going as Katniss and Peeta.

But I thought it would require too much explaining.

So we did our own thing, too.

I threw on the polyester bell bottoms that we

got at DI about 10 years ago. I'm not sure exactly

what I was supposed to be dressed as.

Halloween was just a good excuse to put on some crazy clothes.

Andrew dressed as a Chilean miner.

It was very fitting since he served his mission

in northern Chile, and lived in Copiapo twice.

The trunk or treat was great and the kids got their load of sugar.
I've got the candy wrappers all over my house to prove it.

Out of the Mouths of Babes--October

2010-10-31T13:39:00.000-04:00

10/2--Caroline was just being her cute little silly self and I was giggling. She said, "I funny to you, Mom."

Yes, you are.

10/2--I was blowing my hair dry, which is a rare occurrence. Caroline came walking into the bathroom and said, "You look amazing."

Thanks, sweetheart.

So do you.

10/5--Brandon's deep thought for the day: When we say "they", who are we talking about? Like "they" added preservatives to my food? Who are "they"?

They say that building Bionicles leads to increased dexterity.

10/6--While eating tortilla chips with her lunch, Care Bear got one that was curled up on the edges. She said, "It's like a potato chip dancing."

Dancing hair

10/11--I smelled a smell coming from Caroline's way. A dirty-diaperish smell. I asked her, "Are you stinky?" She said, "No. It's an alien."

Already testing conspiracy theories.

10/19--Whit was in bed tonight and I slipped into her room to put some laundry away. She was staring at her lamp and asked, "Mom, how does electricity work?" Whoa--how much time do you have, sweetheart?

"How does corn grow?

How did I get this cute?"

10/21--We had ice cream cones for dessert after dinner tonight. Brandon did this with his:

and said, "Look! I'm a narwhal!"

10/23--I came downstairs in my fancy dress and high heels for a special date night tonight (more to come on that in a post later) and Brandon told me, "You look like a princess. And you look really tall." How super sweet is that?

Charmer.

10/24--Whit was wearing a dress that tied in the back, but by the end of church, her ties had come undone and were just hanging at her side. She told Drew, "I wish I could duct tape this tie to my bum so I could chase my own tail."

10/24--We sat down for a chili dinner tonight. Caroline called it her, "spicy cereal."

10/28--At the science center, Whitney was putting on a puppet show for us with a pterodactyl and a triceratops. The dialogue was about how one was a walking dinosaur and one could fly. The triceratops said, "We have diversity! That means we are different."

Welcome to Diversity Theater where we value our differences.

Reluctant Soccer Mom

2010-10-26T12:11:00.006-04:00

Andrew and I were vocal about our disappointment that Brandon chose to play soccer over baseball this year. Not that we have anything against soccer, we just both LOVED playing little league every summer growing up. And we felt like a little piece of our lives was missing this year. (Although B. did get to play ONE game as a sub for our friend who had several players gone. Yippee!)

Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised at how fun it was to watch him play soccer this year. I fully embraced my soccer mom title.

He was on the Ninjas. They struggled. Their record was 0-6-2. Ouch. Brandon hung in there, though. I was afraid he would get frustrated and want to quit when they kept losing. But after his final game this week, he said, "I am SO playing baseball next year. Or maybe football." If we're in Texas, he HAS to play football, right?

Some pics from the season:

Warming up.

That's a look of determination.

Cool action shot at practice.

He's #5. He was always willing to sacrifice his body.

And here a couple of video clip highlights.

This first one is just about two minutes.

It has special effects and music.

And snowboarding graphics.

(My video editing software took over!)

This next one is about four minutes.

Whitney's singing is the only background music.
I apologize for the number of times that I shout,
"Good job, B!"
Apparently I need to come up with a new cheer.

We're proud of you, B-train and will support you in whatever sport you choose to play next year. Really.

Fall fun: Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-24T15:16:00.002-04:00

We took our (somewhat) annual trip to Mr. B's pumpkin patch in Graham yesterday. Caroline was having one of those days. She cried over every little thing in the morning. I wondered if it was a good idea to put off her nap....but we went for it anyway. (She was perfect at the patch and then whiny/crying for the drive home until she finally gave in to the fatigue....five minutes before we got home.)

The kids with vampire Winnie

And sitting on the hay bales.

And posing as scarecrows.

Get outta here, crows!

Then we got to pet a bunch of animals.

Sweet pea, the goat

Our favorite was Freckles the cow.

We had our own personal hayride.

Which dropped us off at yet another maze.

This one was not nearly as tricky as the corn maze.

The kids actually liked it.

The maze led us to the Bubble Forest,

which led straight to the pumpkin patch.

Well, it's sort of a patch.

There are a bunch of pumpkins.

In a field.

And you get to "pick" one.

Just not off the vine.

I love pumpkins. Especially large gatherings of them. They scream of fall. Except it felt more like early summer. I am so happy that the weather has been warm so far this fall. I'd be completely satisfied if it would stay like this forever--a little nippy in the mornings, comfortable during the day, with no need for A/C or heater. Fabulous.

Chasing Waterfalls

2010-10-19T23:55:00.000-04:00

With Andrew's new job, he's in a different division of Avery. Which has a slightly different holiday schedule. And on the Friday before Columbus Day, he realized that he had a three-day weekend. Woo hoo! Unexpected vacation day!

Unfortunately, I was scheduled to get my teeth cleaned. (One of my favorite days of the year!) And the big kids didn't have the day off from school. So Andrew watched Care Bear while my hygienist worked on my lovely smile and then we drove up to Hanging Rock State Park. We didn't have a whole lot of time since we had to beat the bus home. But lucky for us, they have some short little hiking trails there.

Care Bear posing at the Rock Garden

We set the timer to get some pics of the three of us.

Oops. Guess I need to set it for a few seconds longer.

But Caroline's smile is so cute!

And by the time I get in the shot, she's no longer looking.

Oh, well. At least we have proof that all three of us were there.

After an easy two-tenths-of-a-mile hike,

we made it to the waterfalls!

I love waterfalls.

Even measly little ones like this.

So relaxing.

Caroline danced for us before we headed back to the van.

We caught a glimpse of fall on our way home.

Great little daycation.

Fall fun: Corn Maze

2010-10-17T22:33:00.001-04:00

The temperature still felt like summer, but we wanted to get started on our fall traditions, so we headed down to Kersey Valley to try out their corn maze. I was also tempted to try out their zip line course, but with the fear of heights that runs in our family, I couldn't talk anyone into joining me.

Brandon and Whit bounced on the giant jumping pillow.

I love how Whit looks as straight as an arrow in this pic.

Who jumps like that?

After seeing how tall we are this fall,

(Andrew's still 6'6")

we were ready to take on the maze.

Our challenge:

To make our way through this!

I loved how they had it set up.

We were Farm Scene Investigators (FSI) and had to figure
out who killed the farmer. We had a little guidebook with 7 suspects,
7 possible weapons, and 7 locations. Hidden in the maze were six stations
that eliminated suspects, weapons, and places one by one.

We were off!

It took us a long time to find the first station

and figure out what we were doing.

I think I had more fun than the kids.

They kept saying, "I'm tired of walking. I'm thirsty. Are we done yet?"

But we hung in there and solved the crime.

Yes.

Outside of the maze, they had this little fossil dig.

The kids had more fun with this than the maze.

Andrew's NYC trip

2010-10-08T22:13:00.000-04:00

One of the perks of Andrew's new job? He gets to travel to some cool places.

Like New York City!

The Avery office there is on Times Square. How cool is that? I sent the camera up with him. Here are some of sights. I asked him to be my guest blogger. I SO miss his blogging. He respectfully declined. Dang.

Empire State Building

Times Square...I think

Broadway

Whitney was SO excited to see the McDonalds!

People and advertisements as far as the eye can see.

He faced his fear of heights and rode to the top of the Empire State Building.

What a view from the top.

And he even went shopping on Fifth Avenue

and brought me home this super cute sweater and necklace.

Now the big question is, how am I going to scheme a way to tag along on his next business trip to the Big Apple?

Ocean wildlife

2010-10-05T15:52:00.000-04:00

When we were down at the beach, the fish were crazy. They were jumping right out of the water.

And Andrew and Brandon had front row seats for the action. Watch:

When he felt that he'd been up close and personal with the fish for long enough, Drew asked if I wanted a turn. I jokingly told him, "No way. Why do you think those fish are jumping OUT of the water? Predator. Underneath." I refused to go in for a while.

When we were back in the comfort of our hotel room, I was scrolling through some of the still photos I took while he was out there and look what we found:

Do you see that dark spot in the background?

Zoomed in:

When I first saw it, my heart skipped a beat.

Were we swimming out there with sharks????

But I think it was a dolphin.

What do you think?

This was the next photo in the series.

A sea monster?

We may never know.

Out of the Mouths of Babes--September

2010-09-30T22:48:00.003-04:00

9/3--I guess I wasn't the only one impressed with the Egypt exhibit at the museum we visited in Alabama. This evening while Whit was working on her craft at Fun Friday she said, "This will go perfectly with my sarcophagus costume." I didn't even know she HAD one of those.

A girl who knows her Egyptian terminology.

9/5--Random Whitney comment: "I can see perfectly. But I bet you can't. You don't have eyes like a hawk."

"Mom, can you SEE what Brandon's about to do to me???"

9/5--A little Mormon humor: Andrew designed an avatar for his fantasy football team that is completely opposite of his personality. He loves it and told us, "It's so ironic."
Brandon said, "The priesthood?"
Andrew, "Not Aaronic, Ironic."

9/6--We have a little clip-on tie in our dress-up trunk. Caroline was wearing it today and said, "Welcome...to the church...of the stadium..." in her most authoritative voice. Cracked. Me. Up.

This little princess has a flair for the dramatic.

9/9--We were waiting in line to check out at a store and Caroline looked up at me and asked, "Are you my grandfather?"

Apparently she misses her grandpas.

9/11--The boys and I are SO excited that football season has started. Whitney is not. Today she said, "I don't care about football! I care about science!"

Hooray for science!

9/16--Whit hurt her head and came to tell me about it.
Me: I'm sorry that happened. Do you want a kiss?
Whit: No. Kisses don't make it feel better. They just make it wet.
Me: [silent frown]
I guess she's outgrown that phase.

9/21--Caroline and Whit play so cute together right now. They are in a phase of playing "food" where they cook for each other and eat their pretend meals. This morning Caroline made me some ice cream out of legos. When I asked her what flavor it was, she told me, "Umbrella and chocolate."

Yummm....umbrella and chocolate.

9/21--Fuming over having to unload the dishwasher AGAIN, Whitney told me, "I wish I was a gorilla so I didn't have to do chores."

9/24--Whit's not the only one who wishes she was a member of the animal kingdom. Today B told me, "I wish I was a lizard cause I would get a lot of attention and could climb up anything."

Feeling attention deprived?

Act like a lizard!

9/24--Deep thoughts by Brandon Trey, "Can you imagine how much the world would change if everyone took everything literally?"

9/26--Over dinner tonight, I was asking the kids about their favorite parts of the beach trip.

Brandon's? Magiquest

Give the boy a working wand and he is a happy camper.

Whitney's? Finding mussels in the sand at the beach.

Are these actually mussells? That's what we called them all weekend.

And our kids were dang good at finding them.

Caroline's? Snacks.

She'd rather be eating.

9/27--Caroline is going through a phase where she can tell if she has done something wrong and wants to do everything in her power to not get in trouble. She has two main tactics. The first is to close her eyes and pretend that no one can see her. That's what she did at the Wal-Mart register when she opened a bottle of sunscreen and squeezed half of it out.

You can't see me!

Her other method cracks me up. When we come into a room and she has done something she knows she shouldn't have done, she quickly pipes up, "I love you, Mommy!" before I can talk to her about the problem. Hilarious.

How could we get upset at a face like that???

9/30--When Care Bear woke up this morning, she told me, "I'm SO hungry and drinky."

The Beach

2010-09-26T22:45:00.001-04:00

Ha, Summer.

You thought you'd slipped away from us for another year.

But we found you.

Hiding out at the beach of all places.

We can't blame you.

We love it there, too.

The sun.

The sand.

The surf.

The splashing.

The shells.

The smiles.

The spells.

The spinning.

What's not to love???

Oh, and don't forget about the things that don't begin with S.

(Or maybe they could if my vocabulary was larger and more creative.)

One of my favorite one dollar investments: bobbers.

We throw them out in the waves and race to gather them.
Great fun and quite a workout, too.

Flying kites in the breeze.

We had a fabulous long weekend down at North Myrtle. The temps were in the low 90's both days we spent at the beach and then it rained our whole drive home. We couldn't have planned it better. Kept wondering if this was our last trip to the Carolina coast. Made us sentimental. If so, this was the way we'd want to go out.

Andrew's New Job

2010-09-21T13:56:00.000-04:00

HUGE congratulations to Andrew! As of last Tuesday, his responsibilities at Avery have changed. He has been managing the Human Resources for several manufacturing plants here in the U.S. Now he will be in charge of HR for the U.S. Sales organization. He is excited for the new challenge. We definitely feel blessed with the opportunities he has been given at Avery.

To celebrate, we went out for Japanese at Bonsai. Yum.

Cheers!

We discovered that the kids like scallops.

They have much more adventurous tastes than their mother.

Caroline loves Japanese food.

She kept asking for leftovers for the next three days.

Too bad they only lasted for one.

So, what does the new job mean for our family? The amount of time that Andrew spends traveling will increase. The kids are getting old enough and independent enough that we both feel OK about that. While we won't be relocating immediately, it is probable that we'll be moving to Dallas early next year. The kids might just get those cowboy boots they wanted.

Labor Day 2010

2010-09-17T09:12:00.001-04:00

I keep putting off my Labor Day post because I can't think of a good commentary. So instead, I'm just putting up our pics for documentation's sake.

Except for Saturday's.

Because I forgot to take my camera to the water park to capture our last day there for the season.

It was fun, but just a few degrees too chilly.

Battleground Park

(Who am I kidding? I have to add a captions.)

We can feel the history in the air here.

Up close and personal with the local wildlife.

We're convinced Caroline is going to be a track star.

She is always running.

Geocaching at Piedmont Environmental Center

Andrew had never been before.

An he found the first (and only) cache!

Love the greenway.

Also love taking pics of my kids jumping off things.

Awesome hair, Whit!

Caroline was drinking out of a big girl water bottle.

No sippy cup.

I think she's wearing more water than she drank.

Backyard cook out

Another cub scout requirement: Help prepare an outdoor meal.

A hallmark of summer: al fresco dining.

Mmmmm....s'mores.

Farewell, summer. You are such a fun, laid-back, adventurous season. We'll miss you. See you next year!

Fire fighters

2010-09-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

You gotta love fire fighters. For one of Brandon's cub scout requirements, we visited our local fire station. The guys that were working were so great with the kids. We loved it. The kids keep asking if we can go back. Maybe one of these days, but we should let them have a break for now. We don't want them getting sick of the Sweat kids hanging around all the time.

They showed us all of the equipment.

Our favorite piece was the thermal imaging camera.

They use it to detect body heat in smoke-filled buildings.

But they taught us that it is sensitive enough to pick

up the heat left behind if you write your name

on the floor of the station with your finger.

Amazing.

The kids got to sit in the driver's seat of the truck.

And try on some of the equipment.

And now B is one step closer to earning his Wolf badge.

HUGE thanks to the Pinecroft-Sedgefield Fire Department.

You guys rock!

Tooth pullin' contraption: take two

2010-09-11T15:56:00.000-04:00

Whitney's teeth are dropping as fast as the fall temperatures. Her right central incisor was just barely hanging in there. She decided to follow big bro's example and try the string-tied-to-the-stairs technique. Here's how it went.

The quality is less than stellar. My camera apparently wants more lighting than that. Movie-making is ALL about the lighting.

She was super brave! She is saving her tooth fairy money until she has $49 to buy an expensive toy. Only she doesn't have a specific toy in mind. She wants to walk around Target to find something worth saving for. Interesting.

And here she is in all her toothless glory:

Ta da!

First Friday Downtown

2010-09-07T22:44:00.000-04:00

My friend, Kelly, told me about First Friday a couple of months ago. It is series of free outdoor concerts downtown. Well, our last experience with a free outdoor concert did NOT go well, so I had my hesitations. But on her recommendation, we gave it a try.

Loved it.

All of us had a blast.

We ate red vines.

Relaxed on the lawn.

Listened to a couple of bands.

A little on the hard rock side.

Just enough.

We liked em.

Visited the craft table where the challenge was to
get creative with a paper plate.

Whit was up for it with this feather-laden mask.

While Caroline carefully cut a fringe all the way around hers.

She's a fan of scissors.

Whit had some cute one-on-one time with Daddy.

Brandon challenged complete strangers to lightsaber duels.
All the cool kids were doing it.

And everyone tried to console Caroline when she
inadvertently took a lightsaber to the eye.

Other than her minor injury, the night was a huge success.
We hope to go again next month.
Anyone care to join us?

While they're in school...

2010-09-04T23:13:00.000-04:00

In the week and a half since Brandon and Whitney started school, here are some of the things I have accomplished:

*Changed the oil on the lawnmower. This was a first. I was proud of myself. But it didn't fix the shaky engine problem and I still had to pay a professional to repair it. Boo.

*Replaced a sprinkler head that I had run over with previously mentioned mower. Props to Andrew for getting the old one out of the ground. Try as I might, that thing wasn't budging for me. When I got the new one in the ground and turned on the sprinkler system, I discovered that the default setting is for the sprinkler to go around 360 degrees. That was fun to adjust. I got soaked.

*Got the deck re-stained. Love, love, LOVE it. It makes me happy every time I open the back door. We used J&J Pressure Washing. They did such a great job at a fair price. I highly recommend them.

Here is what the deck looked like

before.

And after.

And a close up:

Before.

Yea, it was in pretty desperate need.

Not anymore!

It looks brand spankin new.

*Bought an old, ugly little night stand at a thrift store for ten bucks and re-painted it to look like this:

I wish I had a "before" picture. I am thrilled with the result. I want to go buy out all of the ten dollar furniture and stuff our house full of colorful pieces. Great idea, right?

*Finished Chapter 15 for my Stats class. Only four chapters to go!

Pretty productive, huh?

Not to worry, though. Caroline and I also met some girlfriends for lunch, met our friends for a pool play date, have gone on five morning bike rides, and watched plenty of Dora and Diego episodes. It's good to be back into a routine.

Out of the Mouths of Babes--August

2010-08-31T23:21:00.000-04:00

8/4--Whit tried a new flavor of slush during happy hour at Sonic: Blue Coconut. When I asked her how it was she said, "It makes me do the taste bud dance!"

Go taste buds. Go taste buds.

8/5--As we were driving through all the beautiful rock formations in southern Utah, we looked for shapes in the rocks.

We founds formations that looked like a turtle, a submarine, and a snake.

(Not all at the same time.)

Then we passed this:

Whitney said, "That one looks like a windmill!"

Because it was.

8/15--Andrew and the kids were playing "Skipping Lady" upstairs. Whitney didn't want the boys touching her Polly Pockets. She told them, "No one with grubby sensibilities can touch them." What has she been watching lately?

8/16--We went out for lunch today and were talking about school starting. We were debating about college start dates--whether or not they started before elementary school. Out of nowhere Caroline chimed in with, "I hate college." Wha???

They LOOK like kids who would appreciate college.

8/20--We ate s'mores at the ward campout tonight. Caroline calls them candy, graham crackers, and "smashmellows." Love it.

8/24--At the science center today, one of the wallabies was being very friendly.

B said, "How many nine-year-olds can say they touched a wallaby today?"

8/25--While Whit was packing her lunch this morning, "I wish I had three hands. I need one to hold the top of the baggie, one to hold the bottom of it, and the third one to pour in the animal crackers." I guess she could just ask for help.

8/29--I made hush puppies with dinner tonight. It was a first for me. Another step toward becoming official Southerners. Caroline took a bite, scrunched her nose, and said, "Tastes poison."

NOT doing the taste bud dance.

8/29--Care Bear has been ultra-affectionate lately and we are eating it up. Tonight she walked up to me, gave me a BIG hug around my leg and said, "I love your knees!"

And I love your knees, too, sweetheart.

8/31--While shopping today, Caroline got SO excited to see this:

"Mommy, it's paper towels! For doggies!"

The new Fourth and First Graders

2010-08-29T15:14:00.000-04:00

I loved the first day of school when I was a kid. I remember it was hard to fall asleep the night before. Kinda like Christmas Eve.

I'm so happy my kids were just as excited to start their school year.

Brandon started fourth grade.

I moved to Winslow when I was his age.

It was a pivotal year for me.

I remember A LOT from that time and am still good friends with some of my classmates.

Strange for me to picture B as a fourth grader.

Anyway, he is very excited about his teacher, Mrs. Rodgers. However, due to some health problems with her husband, she is not starting the year out with the kids. He has a sub that he is not so excited about. I'm hoping the time will pass quickly and Mr. Rodgers will have improved health soon. Very soon.

One of his best friends, Cole, from third grade is in his class, as are a few friends from previous years. He thinks it is pretty cool that he will switch classes for Math and Science. And he is very excited to continue working on Successmaker, a computer program that can help you advance in Math and Reading skills. His favorite parts of the day are his specials: PE, Music, and Computer Lab.

Miss Whitney started first grade.

She LOVES her teacher, Mrs. Garrison, who taught one of her reading groups last year. She is already making new friends, Chase and Pita. She also loves running into kindergarten classmates in the hall and on the playground. She is looking forward to learning subtraction. Lunch is her favorite part of the day.

There is just one family member who is NOT happy about school starting.

Caroline bawled when B and W left for the day.

She just knew she was missing out on something good.

Our morning bike rides have helped ease her sadness.

But you should see the smile on her face

when she wakes up from her afternoon naps

to find that they are home.

Our Road Trip Playlist

2010-08-23T11:33:00.000-04:00

One of our road trip traditions is for me to burn a CD of fun songs that I think we'll all enjoy on the drive. I start listening for songs as soon as we get home and buy one or two each month for the next year. I also let each kid choose a song. This year's CD was my favorite so far. Here's the list:

Replay by Iyaz
I'm a Gummy Bear by Gummibar (Caroline's favorite and she continues to ask for it every day.)
Fireflies by Owl City
One Time by Justin Bieber (Whitney's pick)
Rockin' Robin by Bobby Day
Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus
Follow Me Down by 3OH!3
Barking at the Moon by Jenny Lewis
Already Gone by Kelly Clarkson
The Hard-Knock Life from Annie soundtrack
Cells by They Might Be Giants
Time On Your Side by Emily Jane White
Daddy-o by Frances England
I Don't Want To Live On the Moon by Ernie and Shawn Colvin
Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
Fire Burning by Sean Kingston (Brandon's pick)
Falling by Iration

We also listened to some fun audio books. I got a whole bunch off ebay. Too many--we didn't even get through them all. Whit's favorites were from The Magic Treehouse series. Brandon liked Alice in Wonderland. I preferred The Secret Garden.

Major props to my kids who were AMAZING travelers. Even though I was SO ready to be done by the end, I think those munchkins could have just kept on driving.

The Last Leg: Weatherford, TX to Home Sweet Home

2010-08-21T11:43:00.001-04:00

We made the short drive to Weatherford to spend a day with Aunt Irene and Uncle Bill. Irene took us to the Lido Fun Center. I can't help but think of our cruise every time I say that name. It was like Chuck E. Cheese. On steroids.

They have a pizza buffet.

We ate twice.

Caroline was particularly fond of the slushies.

We loved mini bowling.

Whit continued to channel her inner cowgirl.

Even though I didn't buy her the boots.

W and I attempted to give each other whiplash on the bumper cars.

Brandon came even closer to getting injured on the go-karts.

I didn't know it was possible to wreck these.

Caroline won the safest driver award for the day.

This place was perfect for escaping the 109 degree heat.

Thanks so much, Aunt Irene!

Also while at her house,

the kids befriended the miniature donkeys

and ponies.

They grew attached quickly and were so sad to bid farewell

to Nick-Nick, Beauty, Summer, Scout, and Vanilla Wafer.

And Misty, one of my best girlfriends from elementary school, also

stopped by for a visit. So good to see her and meet her cute little boy.

I was NOT excited about the last two days of driving.

I was ready to be done.

I longed for my own bed.

But I still had a thousand miles to drive.

So we drove.

Stopped in Shreveport again.

Sci-Port is a great place to stretch your legs and cool off.

B tried the bed of nails again.

Then we tried the space walk.

Whitney hates space.

We stopped at a crappy hotel in Meridian, Mississippi.

Made me want my own bed even more!

On our last day of driving, we stopped in Anniston, AL

at their natural history museum.

I kinda hurried the kids through.

We saw lots of taxidermied animals.

I thought these Egyptian sarcophagi were fascinating.

After having to drive through pouring rain and bumper-to-bumper traffic (in Tuscaloosa, AL of all places), we made it home! It was SO good to see Andrew and to relax in our own space. Next year we might have to make the road trip two days shorter so I don't burn out. Or hire someone to drive me home from Texas.

Next up: Texas. Yee haw!

2010-08-20T08:43:00.001-04:00

We tore ourselves away from those cute little babies and headed out for TX. Grandma hadn't been home in almost four months. (And I thought WE took long trips.) We decided to let her sleep in her own bed for a couple of nights before heading out to NC. Plus we wanted to visit with our San Saba relatives.

On the way...

We drove through more beautiful desert landscape.

Stopped at a very fun museum in Albuquerque

where the kids performed experiments with water

and air.

This nail table was my favorite.

Whitney lost her front tooth which had been loose since March. (March!) And had been flopping in the wind for the last few days. She said it just popped out as we were driving.

We had a blast playing with our cousins in San Saba.

Making bunny ears with Abby and Alexis.

Eating yellow watermelon with Jenna and Jada.

Swimming with Josh.

We basically had the pool to ourselves.

So fun.

Also stopped at Harry's western wear store.

The sharp leather smell is nostalgic of all my

childhood visits to San Saba.

The kids decided they were fans of cowboy boots.

I see potential here.

Arizona, Yes I Did

2010-08-17T23:37:00.002-04:00

The post title is the name of a song Brandon wrote when he was four. Very catchy. Maybe it will be famous one day.

Anyway, after ALL that fun in Utah, we said good-bye to grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, siblings and siblings-in-law, and all those cousins. We got back in the van and headed south to good ol' Winslow, AZ.

I have driven from UT to AZ at least thirty seven times. But I always took the boring route down I-15. This time, I took US 191 down through Moab.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

It was a desert-and-rock-lover's dream come true. It was so beautiful it was almost painful. The red rocks were calling to me, "Come climb us!"

We listened.

The kids loved the rocks as much as me.

Or maybe they were just happy to be out of the van.

Brandon is quite the little climber.

And Caroline held her own.

Even in flip-flops and a skirt.

I called Andrew and asked, "Um, why have we never been to Moab before?" I think we need to plan another trip soon. When we can stay longer than twenty minutes.

After we pulled ourselves away from the rocks, which continued calling to me but I learned to ignore them, we eventually made it to AZ. It still feels like home to me.

The kids rode the jackrabbit.

Caroline asked to go back for the next several days.

And then we made it to Winslow!

Where we got to snuggle with these cuties:

Marcos

and Gabriel.

Mark and Taylor are my new heroes.

Six-week-old twins are A LOT of work.

And they are also SOOOO sweet.

I wish I was cuddling with them right now.

We played tourists and went down to THE corner.

Brandon was off fishing with Uncle Mark.

Or hiking, depending on who you ask.

It's a girl.

In a flatbed Ford.

Grandma Cuca was also at Mark and Taylor's.

So we got to eat her YUMMY tortillas and beans.

And Modie's tamales.

Believe it or not, I only gained ONE pound on this trip.

It was SO good to meet our new little nephews/cousins.

And we even talked Grandma Cuca into joining us for the

rest of our road trip.

How many great-grandmas can say they've

driven across the country with their great grandchildren?

We are blessed.

Utah fun

2010-08-15T17:27:00.000-04:00

More of our adventures in Utah.

*Did a photo shoot with Olivia Mae.

Sure miss this little cutie pie.

I love baby toes.

*Took pics with as many cousins as we could.

Learned that building a cousin pyramid is not so easy

when two-year-olds are involved.

That's more like it.

Figured Olivia wasn't ready to take her place at the top yet,

so went with the traditional couch shot.

*Played Singstar

Rock on!

*Went for afternoon tea--make that hot cocoa--at the Grand America

The women's table

The young women's table.

These crazy girls refused to even try the salmon mousse with caviar.

Go figure.

So the waitress brought out ham and cheese finger sandwiches.

Also little ones with piped PB&J.

Can food be cute?

Because I think this was.

None of us were afraid to try anything on the dessert cart.

Mmmmm....I wish I was eating my fruit tart right now.

Thanks, Grandma!

*Walked Petunia

So glad my kids can visit pets.

We may never own one.

*Ate shaved ice.

Why, oh, why don't they sell this stuff in NC?

*Hiked Harper's Corner at Dinosaur National Monument

It is a two-mile round trip hike.

Not too strenuous.

My parents were a little worried about Caroline making it.

I told them I could carry her if I needed to.

Turns out Brandon was the one we needed to worry about.

He has developed a fear of heights.

And there are some steep drop-offs.

He and Gigi headed back to the van where he played his DS for hours.

He really missed out.

The views were spectacular.

The girls made it to the end!

With Grandpa's help.

I love hiking.

Wish I did this more often.

We even saw some rafters on the Green River.

Made me wonder if anyone was spying on Andrew and I

when we went a couple of weeks ago..

*Went geocaching

This is one of my parents' favorite pastimes.

My kids love it when we can join in.

Our first cache of the day.

We found about six.

I had requested some time to go hiking the desert.

And I got my wish.

Loved it.

Thanks, Dad and Mom!

*Celebrated Grandma Ranquist's birthday

What a blessing to still have several grandparents with us.

We had fun eating ice cream,

playing volleyball,

jumping on the trampoline,

and posing for pics with the birthday girl

at my insistence.

Tony was less than excited about it.

Thanks to everyone who let us stay with them, fed us, and made our stay in Utah so much fun! Let's do it again. Next year?

Pineview

2010-08-05T20:16:00.001-04:00

We met Andrew's fam up at Pineview Reservoir for a little reunion, minus Amy and Dave and their three cuties. It was three days full of good food, lots of sun, cousin fun, games, and boating. LOVED it.

Andrew pulled Care Bear and Vivi around in the raft.

The three 9-year-olds dug a cave.

Then it collapsed.

We were thankful none of them were injured.

Between my driving halfway across the country

and then Andrew and I taking our getaway,

it was good to have some time with our whole little family together.

A FIRST:

Andrew and I both got up on the wakeboard.

Woo hoo!

Andrew looked like a pro out there.

Me? Not so much.

But we both had fun.

And then were sore for the next several days.

I went down about two seconds after this pic.

There was always a flurry of activity on our little spot of beach.

Whit tried knee boarding for the first time.

You go, girl!

I got to take a turn driving the boat.

I felt powerful.

Ang and Forrest enjoyed the gorgeous sunset.

Other highlights: all the school-age cousins staying in a condo with Grandma and Grandpa, the cute little clubhouse where they played games, getting to share our condo with Ang, Forr, Tone, Cind, and the "babies" (any child age 2-5), staying up way too late visiting and playing Wits and Wagers or Settlers, Whit and Eli playing with Bendaroos for hours, and Wyatt giving his best parade wave from the knee board.

Our getaway

2010-08-03T19:28:00.001-04:00

My awesome mom agreed to watch our three munchkins again this summer so Andrew and I could sneak away for some time to ourselves. Love you, Mom!

We decided to visit the exotic and romantic Vernal, Utah. :) We decided it would be fun to go golfing together. It was a first. In fact, it was only my second time golfing ever. We reserved a tee time at Dinahland.

Not that I have anything to compare it to,

but I thought it was a cute little course.

Not quite as many trees as we're used to.

First we hit a bucket of balls.

Andrew gave me golfing pointers.

It's harder than it looks.

We had a great time.

Golfing is more of a workout than I realized, too.

I ended up scoring a 78.

I hit the ball fairly straight and about 80 yards at a time.

Andrew did awesome.

I think he ended up with a 54.

We probably won't go again for a long time.
Golf is a sport that takes too long and costs too much.

Maybe as the kids get older, though.

After golfing and drinking slurpees (mmmmm.....7-11), we watched Inception, the Leonardo DiCaprio movie. We LOVED it. It was intense and mind-boggling.

The theater had dinosaur heads mounted on the wall like hunting trophies.

Then a late dinner at Cafe Rio.
Oh, how I wish we had one in NC.
But my waistline is grateful we don't.

The next morning, we got up early to go rafting down the Green River with Don Hatch River Expeditions. We did the Split Mountain Canyon Day Trip. It was perfect for us. Just enough white water to keep it exciting, but we never feared for our lives. Most of the time we were just floating along, enjoying the beautiful landscape.

Before we got in our rafts, we stopped to view some petroglyphs.

I love stuff like this.

After our safety briefing, we were fitted with helmets and lifejackets

and we were off!

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather.

Check out that blue sky!

Our raft-mates:

Andrew, Jose, Julisa, our Trip Leader Scotty (a total Jack Shepard look-alike),
Iliana, and Oscar.

We had the best seats in the raft--front and center.
Woo hoo!

Andrew even spotted some big horn sheep along the way.

It takes an eagle eye.
Can you find them?

How about now?

It was a wonderful little escape for us.

Out of the Mouths of Babes--July

2010-08-01T23:39:00.000-04:00

7/1--Brandon and his friend came up with a new pastime: Noodle Jousting.

Fun. Exciting. Fairly safe.

7/2--Andrew asked Whit about our visit to the water park today. While on the lazy river, she was using her imagination so she told him, "We went on a panda hunt in a bamboo forest." When Andrew asked if she found any she replied as condescendingly as possible for a six-year-old, "Panda bears don't live in the United States, Dad."

I thought all adults knew that.

7/3--Whit and I were shopping at Target and decided to try on the hats. She put one on and I told her she looked so cute. When I tried the same one on she said, "Well, of course it looks good on you, Mom. You look just like me!"

Twins.

7/12--B's new travel plans: I'd love to go to a place that sells gourmet cotton candy. That would be heaven for me.

Take me with you!

7/13--In the van today, Brandon said, "Wouldn't it be cool if there was an animal called an Octohorn? It would have eight horns and each horn could control a different element." I thought that was so creative and told him he should write a story about it. When we stopped the van, I needed to write something down in my planner. Brandon asked, "Are you writing the Octohorn down for Out of the Mouths of Babes?" No. "Well, I think you should." At your service, sweetheart.

He also requested that I take his pictures with this short tie.

7/15--I didn't realize B was the history expert of the family. As we were driving through West Virginia today, he informed us, "If we lived in colonial times, this would still be Virginia."

7/29--We ate lunch at a Japanese restaurant. When they brought out our miso soup I asked Caroline if she wanted to try it. She said, "No. It's too exciting."

Apparently doesn't want to be over-excited.

7/31--Caroline wanted something to eat this morning, but Grandma Sweat and I were having a hard time figuring out what it was.
Grandma: Do you want cereal?
C: No.
G: A banana?
C: No.
G: Some crackers?
C: No.
G: (running out of options at this point) Celery?
C: No.
G: Do you want a hundred dollars?
C: No. (pause to think) Yea. Yea! YEA! Dollars.

Smarty pants.

7/31--Caroline is enamored with the word "exciting," but doesn't know what it means. She drank Sprite at a party tonight and after making her scrunchy face said, "It's exciting."

Harding's Hideout

2010-07-27T19:10:00.000-04:00

We are having SO much fun in Utah with our family. Really squeezing every ounce of fun that we can into this vacation. Love it.

While visiting with my parents, we went to a place called Harding's Hideout.

A man has built this recreational spot for his family, but if locals call him, he'll let anyone come use it. For free. What a great guy! We stayed almost four hours and I didn't want to leave.

Here are some of the fun things we did.

Relaxed in the shade.

Hung out with our cousins.

Swung on tire swings crafted to look like horses.

Went down this big, steep waterslide that was so much fun.

Andrew even got in on the action.

You could ride down on these boogie boards.

They were FAST.

And the momentum would take you all the way across the pond.

Robby and I went over and over again.

Exhilirating.

We stood around in our swimsuits looking as cute as baby monkeys.

We rode in paddle boats.

Played in the sand.

Rode on rope swings.

One of which was VERY high and made my stomach sink.

In a good way.

Olivia napped.

Whit had fun with Uncle Robby on the teeter-totter swing.

I was so happy that my mom introduced us to this super fun spot and hope it becomes an annual tradition.

A smorgasbord of scenery: CO to UT

2010-07-25T09:40:00.000-04:00

I was all excited for my favorite day of driving. It ended up being a good day, but didn't quite go as I had envisioned. You see, we've done this enough times now that I have a few of my favorite stops along the way. One of them is a picturesque lake in Georgetown, CO. I was so looking forward to stopping there again and snapping pictures of the kids on the shore and throwing rocks in the water. But Caroline fell asleep about five minutes before we got there. And I felt too bad to wake her up. So here's my annual pic of Georgetown Lake:

Don't blink or you'll miss it.

We stopped at my favorite outlet stores in Silverthorne. They have an Old Navy outlet where I found a replacement for one of Andrew's shirts that I washed with a tube of lip gloss. Oops.

Then it started raining. I don't especially enjoy driving in the rain. Then it started snowing! I kid you not. The van thermometer said it was 52 degrees outside, but there were honest-to-goodness flakes coming out of the sky. In July. Remind me never to move to the mountains. Even if they are breathtakingly beautiful.

We packed a picnic lunch at Scott and Diana's house, so I was looking forward to finding a fun rest area and letting the kids run around while we ate and I relaxed with a good book. Ha! The rain changed those plans. We sat in the van and munched on sandwiches while observing this sign:

Brandon and I decided that whoever was in

charge of it did not change it regularly.

On Diana's recommendation, we walked around the little train car at Eagle, CO's rest area.

The girls checked out the bunk area.

B attempted to walk on air.

The rain kept a-coming for a good part of the drive. The kids watched lots of movies and played several video games.

Then it stopped.

Caroline cried for 30 minutes straight because we ran out of Teddy Grahams.

Then she proceeded to fall asleep again.

Five minutes before we passed a beautiful reservoir where I wanted to go throw rocks.

Foiled again!

We passed through Rangely, Colorado,

home of Colorado Northwest Community College,

where Andrew was offered a basketball scholarship back in the day.

But turned it down to go to Ricks.

Also home of a very large fish mailbox.

And we made it to Utah!

Home of all four of my kids' grandparents,

three great-grandparents,

six aunts and uncles,

and ten cousins.

Most definitely worth the trip.

The kids got to meet their second new cousin of the trip:

Olivia Mae.

The sweetest little bundle of almost-three-month old joy.

With eyelashes that are meant to be coveted.

Here are the views through the windshield for the day:

The absolutely gorgeous Rockies.

A tunnel.

Taken just for Caroline.

Glenwood Canyon.

Awesome.

Love the contrast of the red rocks with the green vegetation.

Cool sunbeams.

And the driving day ended with one of the most

spectacular sunsets I've ever seen.

Friends and Cousins

2010-07-22T10:30:00.000-04:00

Had a great time hanging out in Colorado. We stayed with some good friends from our college days,

Scott and Diana,

and their kids. Brandon was in little boy heaven: a wii, legos galore, a trampoline,

And three new friends to enjoy them with.

Loved exploring the Wildlife Experience.

Eight kids and two moms.

And we didn't lose any of them....

at least not for long.

The tanks of tropical fish were my favorite.

Beautiful.

The kids loved climbing on this display.

I'm not sure if I should have told them to

"Get down!" instead of "Smile!"

This ball avalanche was a favorite for the girls.

In the evening, we were SO excited to go meet

the first of four brand new baby cousins.

Beautiful little Carly with her parents who look

surprisingly spry for having a two-week-old baby.

Had a great, though too-short, visit with them.

I loved snuggling with Macy, who is sweeter than cotton candy.

We love cousins!

Wichita to Highlands Ranch, CO

2010-07-21T09:49:00.000-04:00

530 miles? No problem.

*Drive through a skunk smell. It has been forever since I've smelled that. Do they even have skunks in NC? Not a smell you can forget. Peee-yooooo.

*While driving through the middle of rural Kansas, the check engine light comes on . Noooo! In all of the road tripping we've done, this is a first. What do I do?

*Apparently I have my priorities straight, because we stop at the Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas before investigating.

Whoa. Not sure what's up with that camera angle.

They had lots of models of dinos/prehistoric creatures.

AAAAAGGGGHHHH!

The big kids thought they were pretty cool.

Caroline was terrified and insisted that I carry her.

Until we found this baby.

She thought he was adorable.

*After our quick tour of the museum, found an auto part store to run diagnostics on the van. They inform me that nothing is wrong with it. But the check engine light is still on. Hard to relax.

*Andrew makes some calls and the dealership says that they probably used the wrong diagnostic machine at the auto parts store. Finds a dealer about 100 miles along my route who can do a more specific test. We stop there. Guess what was wrong? Nothing. Yay for not having to get repairs! Boo on all the time and stress we wasted on that. I guess if you let the fuel level get dangerously close to empty, which I tend to do, it can cause a problem with the fuel level indicator switch. The guy resets it for me and says I shouldn't have any more problems with it. So far, so good.

*Roadside wisdom for the day: Happiness is a crock of beans.

*Views through the windshield

A crop duster at work

A wind farm.

We've reached the Rockies!

The Long Haul: Louisville to Wichita, KS

2010-07-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

You know what? It wasn't so bad. Having a non-driving day before AND after made this long day bearable. I think I would maybe even do it again. The worst part was a fight that Brandon and I got into over a kick in the shin, stolen pink lemonade, and a lost iPod. But after a couple of hours, I got over. And we found the iPod.

*Passed a truck like this:

What is the Ronald McDonald Show? I was tempted to follow him and find out. But he was driving too slow. We've got places to go, people.

*Caroline's new obsessions: Water towers and bridges. She points out every one. And on the way out of Louisville there are LOTS of bridges to note. Water towers used to just blend into the landscape for me. But not anymore.

*Most festive city name: Santa Claus, Indiana

*Worst names for businesses: Feedmill Restaurant and Sirloin Stockade restaurant. Is it just me? I don't want to feel like a farm animal when I go out to dinner.

*I'm listening to a great audiobook when the kids are occupied. It's called A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel. (Thanks for the recommendation, Nicolle!) It cracks me up. What a fun way to pass the time. Only now I finished it. I need to find another good one. Quick.

*Brandon is reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He loves it and is almost done.

*City I would least like to live on based solely on the name: Burnt Prairie, Illinois. Um, I'll take the Prairie that has not been through a fire recently, please.

*Stopped at a fun rest stop in what I thought was Missouri, but turned out to be Illinois. They had a cute little playground that was mostly in the shade. Met a cute Mormon mom with her three kids (what are the chances?) and bonded over road trippin.

Tire swing--weeee!

The kids discover that the top of these plants

function just like a magic worm.

And they're free.

They each take a couple for the road.

Discover that they shrivel up within a couple of hours.

But were fun while they lasted.

*Passed a home that had stryofoam cups in the fence creating the message: Become my facebook friend I-70 Fence Lady.

That's one way to build your friends list.

*City most likely to make me think I've taken a terrible wrong turn somewhere: Mexico, Missouri.

*Also had a great visit with Marianne and Patrick in Wichita. Loved going to church with no responsibilities and Caroline even went to nursery just fine, so I could go to my classes and listen. Ahhhhhhh.

Played games.

Read books.

Popped party poppers just for fun.

Fun in Louisville

2010-07-17T17:16:00.000-04:00

We are so grateful for the friends and family members who let us crash their homes for a month while we venture across the country. Our first victims: Uncle Alex, Aunt Stephanie, Jessica and Jonathan in Louisville.

Played ping pong and a fun card game, Zurts

Visited Squire Boone Caverns,

named after Daniel's younger brother.

Skipped around while waiting for our tour.

Loved visiting the cave, learning all about

stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, and draperies.

The photos don't do the formations justice.

They are beautiful.

This underground waterfall was awesome.

Ahhhh...That was a perfect little break. Next up? The longest leg of the trip: Louisville to Wichita. 700 miles. Last year I said I wouldn't drive that far in a single day again, but here we go anyway. Wish us luck!

Road Trip: NC to Louisville,KY

2010-07-16T17:11:00.000-04:00

The road trip is off to a great start! The seven hour drive from home to Louisville flew by. The kids were great. The weather was perfect. I hope we have many more days like this.

Fun stop for the day:

Clay Center in Charleston, WV

This was our second time to visit this museum. It was a good break, but not as fun as I remembered it being.

Gotta love the power of pulleys.

Relaxing with reptiles.

Random observations of the day:

Cities most likely to be the home of a superhero: Max Meadows, VA and Nitro, WV

Cities I would not want to live in solely based on their names: Bland, VA and Salt Lick, KY

Craziest sighting of the day:

I wish I would have had my camera handy when we passed a huge stretch limo mini van. I've never seen anything like it.

It looked a lot like this one. Tony and Cindy, is this what you were thinking of for your next vehicle? :)

Caroline's silly sayings

Care Bear was cracking me up today. We drove over a river and I pointed out the water. She said, "Please drive in water?" I told her that our van was not equipped for amphibious adventures. "Please?" Sorry, sweetheart. We can't drive in the water. She proceeded to break down crying because her mean mom refused to drive into the lake.

She also loves driving through tunnels. And there are a couple of doozies in WV that go right through the middle of mountains. She would get so excited as we drove through them and then when we got out she would ask, "Another tunnel?" The first time she did this, I calmly told her that we might have to wait a while for the next tunnel. I quickly learned that she was looking for a different answer by the screaming and kicking in the backseat. After that, when she asked for another tunnel, I'd just tell her that we'd probably come to another tunnel in a while. She'd just have to wait. And then she'd forget what she was waiting for. No tears involved.

Views through the windshield

One full day of driving down. Eight more to go.

Summer fun: July pre-road trip

2010-07-12T15:52:00.002-04:00

The kids and I are taking off on another one of our cross-country road trips soon. Yippee! Thought I better document some of the fun we've been having in July before we take off.

Jumping Rope

Fourth of July Party at Miss Shelley's

Played with water balloons

Got wet.

Patriotic parade.

Water Park

We have spent many, many hot summer days here.
My crazy kids get bored (bored????) when I take just them.
They're happy when Lauren and Leann meet us there.
Caroline and Lauren are so cute together.

Weee! B on the Scooter Run.

Jamestown Fourth of July Parade

After our negative experience at the Greensboro parade a
few years ago, we head down to Jamestown instead.
It is a cute and super short parade.
Perfect for Caroline's attention span.

Fireworks at Home

We thought about going out to watch one of the big shows.
But then Caroline refused to take a nap.
AND we worked out a deal with Michael and Shelley
so that we could go watch Eclipse.
Alright, kids, we're just doing our own fireworks here at home.

The girls watched from the comfort of the front lawn.

The boys put on a great little show for us.
And we finished in time for bed.
Woo hoo!

B's birthday

Had a low-key celebration for the birthday boy here at home.
He got a new video game and just wanted unlimited video time.

He also got an erector set and built this cool helicopter with moving rotor.

Natural Science Center: Greensboro

We decided to head here on Andrew's Monday off.

The peacock was showing off.

Caroline LOVES him.

Pulling Teeth

I probably shouldn't include this in the summer "fun" post.
As much as I love dentistry, I understand that there are some
visits that are just painful.
B had a consult with an orthodontist who recommended
removing two primary canines to give him a little more room.
He was a brave kid and hardly complained.

I'm still getting used to his new smile with those big gaps.
He already spent his tooth fairy money. On candy.

Museum of Life and Science: Durham

Bea and I have been trying to get together all summer
but our schedules have just not matched up.
We finally found a day that worked and decided to take
our seven kids up to Durham.

They're a good looking bunch.
This was my first visit to this museum and it was awesome.
I HIGHLY recommend it.
It is is not cheap. I paid $40 for me and my kids.
And they don't reciprocate with our local science center. Boo.
But it is a fabulous museum.
We stayed from 10:30 until they closed at 5.
And I still had to drag Caroline out kicking and screaming.

The boys loved the bug exhibit.
Especially this roach collection where they eagerly
watched a bug get eaten alive.
Made my stomach turn.
Fascinated these three.

Caroline had fun banging away on the outdoor drum set.

I was having LOST flashbacks when Whit conjured

up this smoke monster. Aaaaagggghhhh!

The sailboat pond was a big hit.

I wish the weather would have been a little cooler.

It was HOT and humid.

But we spent a lot of time in the shade while the kids

sailed these remote control boats all around the pond.

What a relaxing spot.

B-train took his sailing seriously.

We've had so much fun, but now it's time to get to work.

Packing, laundry, maintenance on the van.

Lots to do before we leave in a few days!