Friday, September 28, 2012

The past few weeks.

We are supposed to be leaving for the beach today and I wasn't sure if I was going to have time to update the blog before we left but turns out I've had quite a bit of time on the couch this week.  I've had a fever since Monday and haven't been able to shake it so I finally went to the doctor last night and found out that it's pneumonia!!  Crazy.  I have antibiotics now so hopefully I'll start feeling better soon.  We are still hoping to get to the beach today but we'll have to see how the day goes.

So, looking back over the past few weeks through pictures....

Sept 7th - Abby's 3rd birthday party

Lots of jumping fun in the inflatable castle, yummy food and cake and fun times as always watching the present opening!

This following picture isn't the greatest of these two but this other little girl is Camryn - she's actually in Kindergarten at the same school at Noah but Kylie was in swim lessons with her so they know each other well.  When we got to the party, Kylie saw Camryn and said, 'Mommy, Camryn is my best friend!'  :-)

Kylie is all red from playing outside!  :-)

Cake time!  Happy Birthday girl.

All the kids

Our kids always seem to try to steal the thunder during present time!  :-)

Glow swords from their goody bags!  Serious business.
The next day was our big neighborhood block party.  Always so much fun!  I think we were supposed to have close to 200 people this year (almost equal amount of kids as adults).  Keri, Chris and their 4 girls came with us this year and Noah had so much fun with their oldest daughter, Lydia.  It was so cute seeing them play together.  We had a DJ, a airbrush tatoo artist, a game truck, the dunk tank, bounce houses and a fire truck visit!  So much fun.  The weather started off beautiful (but hot) but then around 6:00, the skies opened up but we made the best of it... the DJ moved his equipment into a garage and the kids kept on dancing in the rain!  So much fun.  There was so much going on, I hardly had time to take pictures but I got a few....

Noah's turn at the dunk tank


So happy!

Dancing in the rain - Noah and Lydia on the far left
That Sunday, I went to a baby shower for Waylon's cousin, Megan.  She's expecting her second baby and Lily Kate was so excited about being a big sister!  So fun to have a little one at the shower.

Megan and Lily Kate

The following weekend, September 15th, was the first NC State home football game of the season!  So much fun.  We have two tickets this year so each week, we have to figure out who is going.  We gave Noah the option to go with Waylon but he said he didn't want to go and then Kylie said the same so we decided to just go tailgate and I was going to take the kids home.  But when we got there, another ticket came available so we actually all went in!  They had a blast and really enjoyed it.  I think next year, we'll be getting 4 seats.


All decked out at the tailgate

Jennie and Sam

Kylie and Peyton
I got to catch up with my friend Sharon who I haven't seen in FOREVER! I'd actually never met her little girl, Addison, and she's 17 months old!  When we arrived at her tailgate to say hello, we discovered our girls had the same outfit on.  So cute...


Our friends, Kate and Chris came out too with their triplets, Maddie, Rory and Brendan - Noah and Kylie had fun playing with them, too...

Walking in

Go Pack!


Silliness with Megan
On Sunday, we went to Nana and Grandad's to play and have dinner.  Grandaddy fixed up this motorized car and the kids had a blast with that.  :-)

Daddy had some fun, too  :-)

How cute are these three???

So adorable!!  Love Noah's expression here - this might be a glimpse into our future.

The following weekend, Sept 22nd, was the last weekend of the pool and the second home football game!  The water was pretty chilly but we still went down Saturday morning for a short time to say 'goodbye'.  The kids were cute as we were leaving - they said they wanted to give the pool a 'kiss'.  :-)


That afternoon, we took off for the second tailgate and game.  This time, we actually got extra tickets ahead of time so the kids were so excited after having such a good time the last week.  Both games were 6:00 games so we didn't stay the whole time (even though the kids wanted to - they were getting tired and cranky and it was obvious it was time to go).  :-)

Showing off his tatoo
And Kylie, too

Jennie, Sam, Megan (and Tucker - in Megan's belly!!)  :-)

Megan and Peyton

Chris being silly with Noah

Noah playing football with Maddie and Brendan
Inside the game....



Halftime - this was so cool - it was military appreciation day
Sunday, we had a lazy morning and then went to get Mexican for lunch.  It was a beautiful day so we sat outside and took our time.  The kids had so much fun playing while Waylon and I sat and talked.  So nice...


When we got home, Waylon started watching the Redskins game and I sat on the deck and watched the kids playing in the yard.  The sprinklers came on while they were out there and they thought that was the best thing ever!  They got soaked and were so happy about it.  :-)


When they got bored of outside at our house, we decided it was too nice to be inside so we hopped in the car and went to Savannah's to play in her yard.  It was a last minute decision and we were only there for about an hour but the kids had a blast.

Silly Uncle Sean


Noah is doing so well in Kindergarten.  His writing has improved tremendously and he's reading a lot more these days, too!  It's pretty amazing to watch.  We had our first parent teacher conference on Monday and his teacher, Ms. Shaffer, said he's doing great!  So proud of him.  Here he is working on homework.  It's so sweet to watch him concentrate so hard.  Such a good boy.


Sunday, September 9, 2012

Labor Day at the Lake

Since Kylie's school was closed on the Friday before Labor Day, my mom took Kylie on up to the lake Friday morning and Noah and I headed up after he got off the bus that afternoon.  We left Waylon at home to do some planting and mulching in the front yard.  We had a landscape designer come out and give us some ideas as to what to plant and where so he was getting a jump start on that!

I'm pretty sure Kylie enjoyed being the center of attention that day - not only were Grammy and Papa there but also Roz and Duane.  Roz even helped her make some cookies that day!  :-)



Noah was so excited about going up also.  The first thing he said when he got off the bus was 'Grammy, Papa, Roz, Duane!!'  :-)  Fun playtime, dinner, etc when we got there that evening.

The next morning, we had another visitor on the porch.  We've seen quite a few praying mantis' recently!!


We went down to the beach for a bit late in the morning.  There were lots of friends for the kids to play with there.  We usually say how nice it is to have the beach all to ourselves but it was actually really nice to NOT have it all to ourselves!!  :-)  The kids were having a great time together - Noah seemed to be the ringleader while Kylie wasn't quite sure - typical for them.  :)


It started raining on us after about an hour of being out there so we came back for lunch.

Kylie learned to make the Wolfpack sign!
Luckily, the weather cleared up for the second annual Sandy Trace Fishing Contest.  We didn't go last year but I'm pretty sure we'll be going next year!!  :-)  Despite the looks in this next picture, Noah had a BLAST.  He caught a pretty big catfish (2 lbs, 6 oz) and it was the biggest fish for a while - until another little boy caught another catfish over 10 LBS!!!  Wow.  Noah won a trophy for "1st Place Total Weight" - which wasn't quite true but the other kid won the trophy for 'Biggest Fish' and wasn't eligible to get 2 trophies so Noah got it!  He was SOOO excited and even wanted to sleep with the trophy that night!  :-)

Watiting - very patiently

Noah's catfish!

My daddy - recently saw a quote "The only thing better than having you as my dad is my children having you as their Papa"


Kylie joined in, too!

Another fish!  I think he caught 3 total.

Love this shot of Kylie  :-)
Awards Ceremony
 
The winners!

So proud


Kylie got a participation  medal, too  (she didn't want to pose for the picture with the other boys)

Kylie's catch of the day - the minnows from the bait bucket

When we got home, Noah didn't want to put his trophy down.  Roz and Duane went to visit some friends for the day and he was so excited for them to get back so he could show them his winnings!  :-)

Kissing the trophy

So happy!
Sunday morning, we went back to the beach for a picnic lunch.  Love these next few shots - they are both so comfortable in the water.  I love it.



They both love jumping off the end of the dock.

This is the life!!

Good times

Friends for many many years!

Kylie pulling Papa in

They played really well together down at the beach.
Cutie Patootie - in one of my dresses from when I was little
We decided to switch it up and go to the marina for dinner instead of our usual lunch trip and that decision kind of backfired on us.  the plan was to ride the boat over there but it started raining right before we left so we drove.  It stopped long enough for us to feed the fish after dinner though!  Always a hit.


That night, Kylie read some books to Papa before bedtime!  :-)


Sibling silliness with the iPad
Monday morning was kind of nasty and rainy also so we weren't sure what we were going to do at first.  We finally decided on a quick boat ride which turned into a really fun trip!  We stopped at Goat Island - a little island in the middle of the lake where there are goats who graze!  They are really nice and people stop there all the time and pet and feed them.  The kids obviously loved that!  It's funny - we've been going there for 10 years and it's the first time we've stopped there.


Love my kiddos!!!

Noah feeding the goats.  Kylie got brave right before we left and fed them but I didn't have my camera with me at the time.

Swimming at goat island


We came back around mid-afternoon and everyone was happy to see daddy (and I think he was happy to see us, too!).  The new beds and plants look great so it was a successful weekend altogether, I think!

I've been back at my 'new/old job' for about a month now and in a lot of ways it seems like I never left!  My friend Jenn and I have always been 'brain twins' and we showed up to work one day last week looking like this - in fact, the sweaters are the exact same ones (we actually bought them together) and we have the same brand and style of jeans, too!!  :-)  Too funny.


One night last week, we spent some time at the pool.  We were actually the only ones there and the kids had a blast with that.  Like I said, playing well together - which ironically also means more arguments but that's just the way it is, right?  :-)


This past weekend was another fun one but that's for the next post!!!  Have a great week to those of you who actually still read this!!  By the way, thanks if you do!  :-)  I do it mostly for myself these days but it's always nice to hear when people are reading!