Tuesday, January 15, 2013

NC Trip: Randoms

Here are a few 
random pictures
of our trip...
they didn't seem to fit 
in any of the previous 6 weeks...


Ms. Priss showing off
her new NC State Hello Kitty shirt.
How stinking cute???
Mommy loves it almost as
much as she does!

Bike rides!
I asked my folks to help come up with
something for them to do outside.
So my mom & dad
found bikes for all of the kids
(thank you Craigslist!)
This one was borrow from a neighbor.
And we brought their helmets.


They found 2 great ones for the boys too.
They really enjoyed riding them,
but there is a pretty interesting hill on the other side of 
my folk's cul-de-sac.
In the beginning I asked the boys just to stay in the 
very small cul-de-sac...
but one afternoon
I allowed them to go down the hill.
I went in to eat lunch 
and was interrupted by my lunch
from my oldest 
coming to tell me that J had wrecked and was hurt.

I went out to see what was going on
and 
J was ok, thank goodness for helmets!
Apparently he had a pretty major run in
with a mailbox...
so badly that he 
BENT the front fork of the bike!!!
HOLY COW KID!

So my dad did a hunt and found another bike
and picked it up on Sunday.
However,
J broke his arm days later,
so it didn't get a whole lot more use...

Mommy had to push Ms. Priss,
and apparently I wasn't
being responsive enough,
so she recruited her little brother...

HOW STINKING CUTE IS THIS???



And of course I got a video of it too!




Ms. Priss and Nana did a LOT of cooking together!
 Not sure what they are making here,
but whatever it is...
it looks pretty interesting!


Here they are making eggs,
Ms. Priss made this almost
every morning for her breakfast.


I got another year older while we were on 
the East Coast and away from Daddy
so he sent me these beauties!
What a sweet daddy!


I guess Mr. T got tired of all the pictures,
cause he went through a phase of
covering his face and saying 
"No"
when I whipped out my phone
and assumed the 
"say cheese" pose.


I stumbled upon this lovely picture
from 1988 of
me 
and 
my sisters 
and 
cousins!


A drive by smooching from mom!
Hahah!


While we were in NC,
one of R's friends and classmates
invited us to his birthday party.
R was so excited to see his buds from school
and even more excited to get to participate in a 
"go cart" birthday party!

Looks the part,
doesn't he?


A bunch of sweaty
testosterone filled boys
after their first go round on the race track!
Hahah!


As previously mentioned,
we had a bought of walking pneumonia go through
the boys...
so when our sweet new baby cousin
came over,
the only way they were allowed to be in the room
was with these lawn mower masks
that papa brought in from the garage.
They were NOT happy with us.
But it was the only way
they could stay in the room with 
the 3 week old little bit.


After we got daddy,
everyone was SO excited to see him
after so many weeks away
R was semi-attached
and
daddy was doing the good daddy thing
and attempting to apply 
lip gloss to the princess.
That is talent right there!


We hit our dentist while we were there,
all 6 of us...
With 6 people,
you have to work in cycles...
so R baby sat
while I got mine done.
(Not really but it might have actually worked!)


The littles weren't going anywhere!


And we hit Trader Joe's,
we don't have one close to us here in Texas.
We went during their fall festival
and the littles got pumpkins on their faces,


Look how good he is being! 
Mercy what a good kid!
Tee hee



Then a little shopping.
Who needs one big cart when you can have
two little carts to fill
and attempt to prevent from running into heels?


Sunday, January 13, 2013

NC Trip: Week 6

Week 6

Our final week in NC we spent time
hitting the final must see places of our visit.

Unfortunately,
while we were either in VA
or on our way back,
we picked up a WICKED
stomach bug!

Daddy also had a test to prepare for
on that Friday,
so we did what we could...

We visited our favorite fall
festival at
Hillridge Farms
We LOVE LOVE LOVE
this place!
I had a lot of great pictures,
but somehow I have not been
able to locate that camera
since we got back.

One of the hits of this place
is their slide...
it is a giant plastic corregated pipe
that they have put into the side of a hill.
You hike up and then
slide down on burlap sacks.

Here are a couple of pictures


And a couple of videos...




This one is the BEST!
Mr. T's first ride on this thing...


After spending a day at Hillridge Farms
we hit Pullen Park.
Pullen Park is a park I remember
fondly from my childhood.
It was in the process of a TOTAL
overhaul when we left.
We never got to see it updated.
So I was super excited
to get out there and see it.
It is also located mere minutes
from where the hubs and I went to college,
so even more special...

Absolultely perfect picture!!

Poor J, 
mommy wouldn't let him go any higher...


Bless his heart...


Two of the big attractions at this park are the 
train and the carousel.

Mr. T was enarmoured with the train...
he just stood and watched!


Of course we had to ride...



Mr. T loved it!!


These boats are OLD OLD OLD
and still stinking CUTE!

Almost as cute as the drivers.


Then we hit the carousel...
I am guessing J felt bad,
or was tired,
or something.
Cause look at that forced "smile".
Haha!


Daddy was pulling double duty...



This kid is just too cool for words...



Then one last stop at the swings before
we headed out...



The last few days we spent nursing
all the men in the house through the stomach bug.
Oddly,
it barely affected the women...
But it was pretty wicked for the guys.

Daddy took his test on Friday,
recouped on Saturday
and Sunday.

Then Monday we hit the ortho for
one last visit,
literally on our way out of town.










Friday, January 11, 2013

NC Trip: VA Side-Trip

So after being on the East Coast for
weeks,
we finally made it up to Virginia to see
the hub's mom, sister & niece.

We had a great time
and shoved as much excitement
and family time into 2+ days as we possibly could!

We started out Saturday with a
"must have" trip to
Chuck E Cheese.
The ONLY time my kids go to
Chuck E Cheese is when
Grammy is around.
So, it is a MUST just about
every time we see Grammy.

Grammy's friend is a
"photo-hobbiest".
That is a Jessica-ism...
He really enjoys taking pictures
and does a great job!
So he came along on our excursion
with his camera
and got some GREAT pictures!
I cannot and willnot lay claim to
the following pictures from
Chuck E Cheese...
So enjoy their beauty
before we go back to my cruddy
camera-phone,
fuzzy
pictures.



This boy is definitely his momma's child...
Look at that utter concentration.
Think the tongue helps the ball
get where it is supposed to go?


Ms. Priss loves everything there!


 Here is Mr. T doing his 2nd favorite thing
at Chuck E Cheese...

Here is Mr. T doing his 1st favorite thing at
Chuck E Cheese...
putting coins in any slot they will fit,
whether he actually plays the game or not!


Ms. Priss and her older girl cousin.
What a ride full of cuties!


Wow - that must be some ride!


And, see, the broken arm in the sling didn't
slow J down much...


This was the photographer's favorite picture of the day
so I had to include it.


The 6 of us...
 

Here is one with the almost the whole crew...
not sure why we didn't get Grammy to
jump into this one too!


The next day we hit the third children's museum of our trip...
It is neat to see the different exhibits at the museums.
The one in Portsmouth did a great job 
of having exhibits that were relevent to their culture.
The Portsmouth area is a HUGE shipping area.
There are shipyards and ports a plenty.

So one of the exhibits was a shipyard!
The kids got to "load and unload"
shipping containers from a pretend barge
to waiting tractor trailers.

(Now back to the stinky, fuzzy camera-phone pictures - sorry!)


Then Grammy & Alexis went fishing from the bow of the
tugboat looking exhibit.


And they had a bubble room.
It appears that this room was literally designed
to be hosed down at the end of the day!

They had a giant bubble maker...



This child makes the weirdest faces!


J and Mr. T took a few minutes to 
brush some GIANT teeth!

They also had some rather "gross" stuff
on the other side...
snot, mucus, a lifesize 3D manequin 
with true to size innards.
Bleh - 
no thanks!



 Then we were up the next morning and headed back to NC
(after daddy took the car for a quick oil change and tire rotation).

Why so soon?
Guess...
yep, another ortho appt for J.

This was where we found out that the bone was slipping
and it probably should have been surgically corrected,
but as a team,
we decided not too.

So we didn't.

I am so glad that the hubs was there with me
for that appointment.
I would have HATED to try to make
that decision over the phone while sending him pictures
of xrays!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Ten on Ten

My sister over at
challenged me to participate in a
10 on 10
blog challenge.
It will be...
for me...
remembering on the 10th of each month
to take pictures of our day.
Not likely...
without a reminder!

I was also attempting to stay in the order
of events on my posts.
But I am SO behind,
at this rate, it will be March before you are 
hearing about
and 
seeing
things that happened in January!

So I am not sure how this is going to go...
so you will just have to hang on for the ride.

Here is our first
(and potentially ONLY)
installment of

Ten on Ten 

How I spent most of my day:
Attempting to create my own planner
since I can't find one that does 
all I want it to do...

Reading...

Doing school work...


Soaking in the sun,
makes me think of a cat...


Dumping the rain water out of the pool,
um, outside toy bin...
well, empty sandbox...


Skype with the sister who insisted I do this 
10 on 10 thing...
(and the neice of course)


R at scouts,
daddy and J were elsewhere doing
their scout thing...


Mr. T keeping himself entertained
during scouts...


 The results of the post-scouts snack...
Nutella covered baby.

Late evening Skype session with Nana.


And all this happened after 2:30pm when I started this little
"project"...

Free Dave Ramsey Download!!

I am taking a break from the exciting events of our
trip to NC
to bring you this free download!!

Click on the link below to get a
free download of 
Dave Ramsey's 

You guys know I have been on the
Dave Ramsey bandwagon for a while.

I did create a budget
in Quicken...
it worked
while I used it.
Then we fell off the wagon,
and due to some unforseen circumstances,
we are back on it in a BIG way!

So I will be revitilizing and revisiting our budgeting!
Starting immediately!
(Actually we have already started,
but I had to add a little drama in there for effect.)