A Visit From Ashley & Weekend Project

On Friday my friend Ashley came down for a quick visit (3 hours to be exact) while she had a flight layover back up north. Gwennie had so much fun playing with her and was pretty mad when it was time for bed. Ashley and I both tried to put her down and she was not going for it! Finally after a few tears she settled down and Ashley and I headed out to dinner while Corbin stayed home on baby duty!

Saturday afternoon Corbin installed a chandelier I have had my eye on for a while. As you can see from the pictures we were a little nervous about the wiring but it all turned out fine.

Namas and Bob

Saturday was a big day over here. We headed up to a Day Out with Thomas in Spencer, NC at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. Gwennie is absolutely obsessed with Namas (Thomas) and all of the trains/tracks that go along with him. Those Thomas folks are pretty smart...the first tent you walk into is where all the "for sale" items are and they are so nice over there.....they put these cute tracks out for your kids to play with. And they are nice enough to put price tags on everything so that when your kid freaks out when you try to leave (and you are desperate to get your kid out of there spending less than $100), you can just pay for whatever she's clutching for dear life!!! Luckily Gwennie's hands are still small so she's only got a book that she carries around the house repeating "Namas" all day.

Bob the builder was also there but Gwennie seemed more interested in watching Thomas ride around. The life sized Thomas train rides around the museum was both Corbin's and my favorite part. They take you around the whole station including the round house and all the trains they are restoring/using at the museum. It was raining/cloudy all day but here are some pictures from our outing.

Ari's Big Birthday Bash

This weekend Gwennie and I headed up to Baltimore for Ari's 2nd birthday. As you will see from the pictures below it was a blast! Gwennie and Ari are best buds and have a great time playing together. Ari also got a new toy that you can check out in the video. As you can see Gwennie took matters into her own hands when Ari didn't put the petal to the metal!

BBQ and Rally Day

This weekend Corbin got up at 5 AM to do some crazy barbecuing. Because it was literally enough food to feed an army, we invited some friends over to join us. As you can see, the kids dominated the photos. Sunday Corbin and I went to Rally day at our church (which is basically just a BBQ after services with a bounce house for the kids to play in). Since it's one of the few times we dress up I figured a picture was in order!

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Beach/Mountain Vacation 2008

Well, we are finally back home again and everyone (dogs included) misses our vacation but we are all happy to be back! Get ready, this is going to be a long post with 2 videos and a ton of pictures.

Last Saturday Corbin headed up to Chapel Hill for the UNC football season opener with his friends Mark and Matt. Mark's wife Kristin and I headed to the Zoo for the day. Ben and Gwennie had a blast checking out the animals (and each other) Gwennie loved to walk over and pat the "baby", Ben (baby to Gwennie) was having a blast watching her hand him toys and give him kisses. It was pretty hot all day so we only made it to the Zebras, Ostriches and the Elephants. We also had a nice long stop at the Carousel for lunch so all in all it was a fun day and the kids were wiped out during the car ride home.

Sunday we piled the whole family (Corbin, Myself, Gwennie, Ginger and Ruby) and all of our stuff into the car and headed to the Outer Banks for a well deserved vacation. On our way out there we stopped by to visit with Harold, Allie, Nathan, James and Bennie (the dog). It was so nice to get to meet the boys in person. I can't believe how big they are now and Allie/Harold have settled into parenthood very well. They both are so calm and the boys are so sweet. They both just love to stare/examine their surroundings and are happy just about anywhere. Gwennie gave Harold and Allie a nice preview of what their life will be like soon enough....times 2!! Gwennie loved their sun porch, the stairs, Bennie (who was not to keen on an 18 month old chasing her) and especially giving the boys their pacifiers.

After our visit and some lunch we piled into the car again and headed to the beach. This was Gwennie's first time in the sand and she was like a cat to cat litter! She loved the sand and playing in the ocean. We at first thought that she would cry when the waves knocked her down but she just got up and laughed and went on her way. Between Gwennie and the dogs, I am pretty sure we took 1/2 of the beach home with us! Ginger and Ruby loved rolling in the ocean and were covered in sand for most of the week. By the end of each day the dogs and kids were so tired that they would all pass out around 7:30 and no one would make a peep until the next morning (which the adults enjoyed most of all!).

Here is some video of Ginger in the pool. She hates to jump in but as you can see the dog toy was more important than her fear of jumping! She loved using the stairs on the pool so we tried to make her jump off the end and you can see how that turned out...




Gwennie also got in on the action and loved to wash the sand off of her feet. We thought it was great (less sand in the house), but after she refused to leave the shower we realized we had created a monster!



On Thursday we headed home to unpack, drop off the girls and do a quick load of laundry before we headed up to the mountains for our annual Kanuga Parrish weekend with our church. Unfortunately I forgot the camera for most of the events (other than a quick snapshot of Corbin/Gwennie heading out for a hike). I wish I would have taken a video of Gwennie jamming out to the bluegrass band. She was an absolute riot and everyone came over to tell me as much.

Sunday we stopped over in Sparkle City to visit with Aunt Lynne and Uncle Bill. Unfortunately again I forgot the camera! We checked out their beautiful new house and went to visit Bill doing work on his farm. Gwennie loved playing with Belle and next time I will be sure to bring the camera so everyone can see how peaceful and nice the farm is.

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Girls Night Out...and Charlie!

This week I was up in Boston for work and got to meet the one and only Charlie (Kiki and Ted became new parents 3 weeks ago). He's such a good boy and apparently when Mommy Kiki went out to dinner he slept a full 4 hours that night! We all had so much catching up. I stayed with Addie, Ryan, Tyler and Alexis who is now sitting up on her own! When she's not playing with her feet (her new favorite toy), Alexis pretty much loves to be jumping up and down. As you can see from the pictures she loves her jump seat!

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Peas

So I am sure this might upset all the mommies that read this when I let everyone in on a huge secret. We all post that are kids are these perfect little angels and that life is just wonderful with a baby or toddler. Here's the reality....we are all nuts and liars! I write these posts about how great things are and what good things she does and in reality she probably just ate some dog food, turned over their water bowls, had a temper tantrum and then broke another remote control. We all pretend our kids are perfect (and they always are in our eyes)., but today Gwennie just achieved perfection and learned the magic word that is the key to mommy and daddy's heart....take a look! And then immediately after that you can watch her make another mess :-)

Back from AZ

We are back from Arizona (and for Corbin - India) and everyone is settling into normal life again. Corbin is very happy that he can get a cheeseburger and I am happy it is not 117 degrees out! Gwennie seems to be the only one missing the old times. Last night she was in no mood to go to bed and ended up playing in her crib until about 9 PM! This morning she slept in until 8:30 AM and we are pretty sure whe was wondering why Geegee and Grandpa weren't around to take a walk with her. We are hoping that sooner or later her internal clock will go back to EST, although the late sleeping has been great!

Here's some pictures of our last days in Arizona including one of Maria (our lifesaver!) who watched Gwennie while I worked, a "nude self portrait" and one of Ben and Gwennie giving each other a kiss goodnight when we went over to Ben's parent's house for a BBQ.

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Hanging Out with GeeGee and Grandpa

This week we headed out to see Geegee and Grandpa and as you can see they had plenty of toys and gear to keep Gwennie busy. She swam in the morning and at night right before dinner (and probably would have stayed in the water all day if we let her). We also visited the Phoenix Children's Museum and a local park but Gwennie seems to enjoy the pool more than anything else (probably because she gets to hang with her grandparents and the water is so warm)!

Here's a video of Gwennie playing with her new toy (turning wasn't really her thing) and another one of her swimming.







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Bubble and a Bug....

Sorry about the delay in posting this week. Friday night Gwennie picked up a nasty stomach bug that she just got over yesterday and consequently so did I. We are both just starting to feel normal again. We also had a weekend visitor named Tucker. Tucker's parents Kristin and Mark were in Chicago at a wedding so we volunteered to have a doggy sleepover. Poor Kristin and Mark ran into every plane delay there is and did not get back until last night around midnight. Tucker was very happy to be back with his parents and the girls will miss his goofy demeanor. Here's a video of Tucker's reaction to bubbles.

For some reason Google Video refuses to work so click here for the video

The things you find at Costco....

Well, as most of you know, Costco seems to be the place to find ANYTHING. Today I found the first season of the Muppet Show. Hoping Gwennie would think it was cool, I picked it up and as you can see...she got her munamuna groove on.

Another Great Family Weekend...

This weekend was super busy! We had lots of family in town staying with us for both the Duncan/Webb Family Lake weekend and the Widespread Panic Concert. Russ, Corbin, Rachel, Parks and "Wheels" (poor kid's name is Hunter but Russ refuses to call him anything other than his "wheels") headed to the concert while Gini and I got a mommy's night out and saw Avenue Q at the theatre. Alex was an amazing help to Jennifer while she was watching Blythe and Gwennie. As you can see from the pics they all enjoyed bath time! Gini and I decided to get all dolled up but forgot the makeup part so please excuse our "au natural" look.

I don't know why but this is one of my favorite pictures from this weekend. I am sure most of you have no idea who this is in the picture but for those of you at the lake weekend, you know this is Uncle Robert in his "natural habitat". To the untrained eye one would think he's catching a few Zs. He's really just taking in all the conversations around him and resting at the same time. My theory on the Webb/Duncan family weekend is if you need to know something...ask Uncle Robert. He probably was "playing possum" as Lynne calls it and can tell you the scoop. He also tells some of the funniest stories out there so every conversation with him is a good one.

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Best Scam Out There...

So chalk this post up to me being cheap (and Gwennie not feeling great that day) but as much as I wish I could say it....Baby Loves Disco is not worth $12 per "walking person". Especially if they don't throw in a beer for mommy and daddy! Anyhow...we headed up to a bar in uptown with our neighbors (that's Stella in the pictures...Stella loved giving Gwennie kisses most of our pictures were an attempt to capture the moment) to check out this Baby Loves Disco event. Basically they clean up the bar, throw some hula hoops, noise makers and scarves onto the dance floor and this nice DJ plays 70's music. Downstairs they have goldfish, pretzels, fruit and juice boxes along with an area that they put some pillows down that they call the "yoga zone". As you can see from the pictures they will also paint your kid's hair a different color which takes about 3 washes to get out.

Gwennie wasn't really into the whole thing and was pretty tired so we only lasted about 2 hours. On a good note we did get a cool goody bag when we left so that was a nice surprise. Might be more fun when she's a little older. The kids that were 3 and older seemed to be having the most fun out there.

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Lots of Family and Sun!

Last week Grandma V (Gee gee now...Grandma was just too hard to pronounce) flew in to play with Gwennie. They had so much fun going for walks, shopping, going to the pool and playing dress up. Gee gee seems to think Gwennie needs a new outfit every time we leave the house so I am pretty sure she had at least 3 wardrobe changes a day. The good news is that Gee gee loves to to laundry so I didn't feel like I was constantly having a date with the washer and dryer. Gee gee also seems to think Gwennie is still 2 months old and loves to nap so whenever I noticed the house was quiet I'd check the bedroom and there they were...rocking in the glider. I think Gwennie appeased her because she liked having Gee gee around but was sick of nap time by Saturday!

Saturday morning we headed down to Sparkle City for the July birthday lunch with the Gary/Meek/Crawford side of the family. Great Grandma Gary, Great Aunt Nina, Great Uncle Bob, Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Bob, Megan, Corbin, Gwennie and I all had a nice lunch and then headed back to Great Grandma Gary's house where Miss Gwennie decided it was her job to check out EVERYTHING in the house. She was all over the place in drawers, rooms, hallways, grabbing magazines, books, and checking her reflection out in the television. The good news is that after all the running around she passed out as soon as we left the driveway and slept all the way home.

Sunday as usual we had breakfast with Miss Jen at the Pancake House (ergo the new bathing suit...70% off sale at Shower Me With Love...can any kid have too many???) and then headed over to the pool with our neighbors. Gwennie is obsessed with running through the water and has so much fun playing with the other kids when we are there. We think she's so popular because of her funny nature but really it's because she's armed with 20 buckets and plenty of beach toys. By the end of the summer we will probably be down to 1 bucket and a rake with the way kids run off with them. Corbin and I spend a good 15 minutes searching the pool to find any toy with "MEEK" written on the bottom :-) Needless to say by the time we are all home everyone is ready for bed!

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Miss Madeline Grace has arrived!

We are very happy to let everyone know that our friends Michelle and Michael Leichtner have a new daughter Madeline Grace. She's a wee little thing at 5 pounds 14 ounces but as you can see from the pictures she is a beautiful baby.

Driving Vacation up the East Coast!

Well we are back at home now and I can honestly say that I don't think Corbin and I will do another driving trip for a while. Gwennie was actually great! She loved to check out the rest stops and entertained herself or slept most of the way there and back. We started on Tuesday night and headed up to visit Gwennie's godfather Clark. Clark and Nancy are going to have a baby in December so Gwennie is great practice for Clark, Nancy and Morgan (who is very excited to be a big sister). Gwennie was all over the place checking out the house. Her favorite places were anywhere near Bristol (the cat), Trout & Brooke (the dogs) or climbing up the stairs; which scared both Corbin and I...especially when we would find her at the top of the stairs laughing at us because she was up there before we noticed (or blinked an eye). Thursday Nancy and I went shopping while Clark, Morgan, Corbin and Gwennie headed to the park to play. Clark and Corbin got their cooking grove on Thursday night and the rest of us got to enjoy all of the food!

Friday we headed over to Gwennie's godmother Heather's house. Heather, Alan and Ari all welcomed us by putting the pool out for Gwennie to play in. As you can see we barely made it out of the car before Gwennie was running into the water. Luckily we quickly changed her into her swimsuit before she was soaked. We then headed to their friend's house for a barbecue which was lots of fun. All the kids were testing out their new swing set and Corbin and I have decided the recycled tire rout is the way to go for playground mulch! Gwennie and Ari were so excited to go down the slide and by the end of the night were pretty exhausted so we headed home to give them a bath and put them to bed. As you will see from the pictures they got their second wind in the tubby. Saturday we took the kids to get some pictures taken and then Heather and I had a girls night and went to the movies. Sunday we all headed over to the Baltimore Farmer's Market to check out the produce and local fare. Then around noon we headed home and are happy to be back in Charlotte.

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Long Week....

It has been a long week over at the Meek household. Monday Gwennie and I flew up to Boston for work and we had planned on spending the week with the Weiss Family. Unfortunately on the plane ride up I noticed a couple of bumps on Gwennie's hands and feet and quickly realized she had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. Typically this isn't that big of a deal but everyone has that story where someones kid was so sick they couldn't eat and Alexis is still only three months old so we checked into the Sheraton and shortened our trip to Tuesday night. Thankfully Addie and Gladys did some babysitting for me so I could still work at our office. Addie took some cute pictures and video of Gwennie at the pool in her green swimsuit. When we got home the rash had spread to her back and tummy so just to be safe we headed to the ER where you will see that the cure to Hand, Foot and Mouth is Popsicles :-)

Saturday we all headed over to swim lessons with the rest of the kids from the "Parent and Tot" class. This was Gwennie's second time at lessons and she's already swimming like a pro. Corbin was a great cameraman and took lots of good pictures and videos of Gwennie in action. Saturday and Sunday we were back at the pool at the "J". Unfortunately we didn't take any video but Gwennie now goes completely underwater and loves to play around in the pool. The best thing about the pool....Gwennie sleeps in until 9 AM on Sunday mornings!!!

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Jeremy and Page

Yep...another great family weekend. Page and Jeremy were married on Saturday. Friday we all headed to the rehearsal dinner where we noticed a bunch of equipment in the front of the room. That is when I was told it was a Karaoke party as well. See the video below (sorry...it was pretty dark in the room) of Jeremy and his groomsman performing their own rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". Between that and Mike (who will be marrying our cousin Sara - Page's younger sister ) doing Elvis' version of Dixie, overall it was pretty hilarious!

Saturday morning the Aunt's hosted a nice bridal brunch with all of the women in the family as well as all of the bridesmaids. Between the beautiful flowers and great food, we all could not wait for the main event. Saturday afternoon, we all headed to the wedding and at 6 PM Page and Jeremy were husband and wife! We all had so much fun!! As you will see in the pictures there are a whole bunch of people in the family. Between all the aunts and uncles and cousins and kids....it was an enormous picture....and a GREAT time! Then on Sunday Emily and Bill hosted a relaxing brunch with close family and friends.

I had a couple of pictures from Friday morning with Gwennie included in there, sorry about that!

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Happy Father's Day

This weekend was a busy Father's Day. Saturday Corbin golfed all day with his buddy Matt and then came home around 2 PM and decided he was going to work on his short game in the back yard. Of course with the dog poop and high grass, he had to make some adjustments so he dusted off the lawn mower (we got a service around the third month of living here and since then Corbin has forgotten how big our yard is) and attacked the backyard. By 3:30 he was almost in cardiac arrest so after he finished the yard, Corbin decided it might be smarter to watch golf instead of playing!

Sunday we headed to brunch at Pike's Soda Shop and then headed over to the JCC Aquatic Center where Gwennie was in her element! She had so much fun playing in the water and swimming that we can't wait for her to start swim lessons next week.

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Here are a couple videos from the weekend

Rachel and Parks Are Married!

This was a big weekend in the Webb/Duncan/Blythe family. Our cousin Rachel married Parks on Saturday evening. Everyone was so happy to see each other and overall it was a wonderful family weekend. We kicked off the festivities at the rehearsal dinner at the groom's family friend's house (of course I forgot the camera!!!!). It was so nice of them to host such a fun barbecue. Then Saturday morning the men braved the heat - it was 100 degrees on Saturday - to golf with the groom. The women all headed to Rachel's bridal brunch hosted by her aunts on the Webb/Duncan side. Saturday afternoon we all rested up for the wedding and at 6 PM Rachel and Parks were married by our Uncle Robert. The ceremony was very touching..I am pretty sure I started crying around when the bridesmaid's walked down and was teary well through to the end.

We then all headed to the reception for great food and lots of dancing. We munched on some World Famous Calabash Chicken (if you haven't tried it...find a Fatz Cafe now!), shrimp, grits, crab cakes and hands down the best wedding cake I have EVER had). I am actually going to get some in a few minutes (thanks Eileen!). I think one of my favorite stories of the night was when Rachel leaned over to our cousin Clay and said "You didn't tell me it was going to be THIS MUCH FUN!!!" I'd have to agree...as wedding's go, this was one of the best. Unfortunately my camera was acting up so I only have this blurry picture of the bride and groom. This picture of Rachel and her mother Eileen is one of my favorites.

Sunday Aunt Lynne and Uncle Bill were so nice to host a family brunch. We all headed over to their house, tired, bleary eyed and very hungry! Lynne and Bill did not disappoint...the food was marvelous and we all stayed around to recap on the wedding and how much fun we all had.

I'd like to also thank Aunt Nina for watching Gwennie on Friday, our good friend Jennifer for driving down and watching Blythe, Gwennie and Jackson on Saturday, the Aunt's (Anne, Louise, Susan, Emily, & Lynne) for having a wonderful brunch, Eileen for hosting a fun wedding and Lynne/Bill for letting us all hang around the house well into Sunday afternoon.


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For those of you that aren't from the South...this was my first real southern wedding...let me rephrase that..this was my first Clemson wedding!! As you can see from the video below, school spirit runs pretty deep in the family!

Big Reunion Weekend & Biting?!?!?!?!

This weekend was a big big weekend. It was our first time both leaving Gwennie. Nanna Susan took very good care of her, Gwennie was so happy to play with her and loved having a new face to show around the yard.

Corbin and I headed up to Vermont for my college reunion. As you can see from the picture on the left, my closest friends all drove and flew up to hang out. Overall we all had so much fun and can't wait to see everyone again.

Monday Gwennie went back to daycare and one of the kids decided to give her a love bite (twice). At first I was pretty upset and was scheming on ways to get dental records of these kids so I could figure out who the "biter" is. I had a nice heart to heart with Addie's mother Gladys (thanks Glad!) and she reassured me that as much as I want to hunt down the biter's parents and give them a piece of my mind, these things happen and I need to think about how I would feel if Gwennie is the biter. I know they will take good care of her at school and they are watching for repeats so this will not happen again.

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Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend we headed to the lake with our cousins Russ, Gini, Alexandra and Blythe. Gwennie was completely enamored with baby Blythe and Alex was such a great big sister/cousin. She was such a help and loved to play ball with Gwennie. As you can see both Gini and I were busy with the kids so we didn't get a chance to get anywhere but behind the camera. Overall it was a wonderful weekend and we are looking forward to seeing them again in 2 weeks at Rachel's (Russ' sister) wedding.

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Another nice weekend....and more birthday cake!

We have been enjoying all of this warm weather (with a few thunder storms here and there) outside in the backyard. On Saturday our neighbors hosted a pre-birthday barbeque for their daughter Stella's 2nd birthday. As you can see from the pictures, Gwennie loves vanilla cake with chocolate icing...just like her mommy! Here are a couple of funny videos from this weekend.

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Mother's Day

We had a nice Mother's Day weekend at home with just the girls. Corbin went to a concert on Saturday and came back Sunday to make dinner for us all! Gwennie also just got a new slide that she loves to play on. Before I could even get the whole thing put together she was jumping on the slide and trying to climb up the back! Here's some video of Gwennie playing on the slide.



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Ready for the Beach!

This weekend we got Gwennie a new bikini (they will smock anything these days!) and set up the sprinkler and you can see from the picture that Gwennie absolutely loves the water. She's got swimming lessons starting in June so I can't wait to see her swimming around in the water! I also have a cute video of her cracking up with the dogs as they tried to get a drink.

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The Beebee and the Baouulll

Gwennie started talking a few weeks ago but we weren't sure if they were actual words. She's been saying "dog" sort of and "no no no no no" (I wonder where she got that from!) for a while now but she never actually put a word to objects until last week. Here's a video of her saying "baby" and "ball"

Two Peas in a Pod, a Goose Egg and What We Think About Duke!

This weekend Gwennie and I headed up to Rocky Mount to visit with Allison and Harold Pine who is about to deliver twin boys (the peapods or the boys as I like to call them) in a few weeks. Allie's shower was beautiful and those boys will be very well loved not to mention well set up with clothing, toys and gear! Gwennie played all weekend with Allie's nephew Brian. Brian's parents (Bobby and Wendy who all flew in from Florida) unfortunately had a bad case of a stomach bug so they were out of commission all day. Great for Gwennie though because Brian was a wonderful playmate! He loved to follow Gwennie around and they were both very happy to have someone around the same size to hang out with.

Unfortunately Gwennie bumped her head on the patio table so she has a nice goose egg in all of the pictures. She was such a trooper and only cried for a few minutes. I was so proud of her (and felt awful that I could not prevent it).

Corbin stayed back at the ranch and had a full house with our friend Matt and Michele's dogs Tarleeh and McCauley. Ginger and Ruby were a little out of sorts that their house was taken over with new playmates. McCauley is a 115 pound chocolate lab and Tarleeh is a chow/black lab mix. Both love to roam around the house and bark at thunder. Needless to say the storms from this weekend kept everyone (including Corbin and I) awake. We also thought McCauley wasn't took keen on Gwennie - lots of barking and growling so we had to watch him....until he figured out that Gwennie was a constant source of snacks! He now thinks she's the greatest thing ever!!! McCauley enjoyed crackers, cheese, pears and whatever else Gwennie happened to feed him. Overall a great weekend....here's a video of one of our favorite tricks McCauley does.

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Sunday Mountain Afternoon

Sunday we spent the day up at the mountains with the Fisher family. As you can see from the pictures, they dogs were very sad to leave. Ginger and Ruby enjoyed running around and swimming in the river. Unfortunately the fish don't particularly like the pooches so Andrew and Corbin really didn't catch anything.

Here are some pictures from yesterday

Motherhood...

Monday I headed up to Boston for work and had dinner with Addie, Alexis and Parrish. Alexis is such a good baby! She just checked out the mall and all the people cooing at her (yes...this child is really cute!). During dinner she played in her stroller and after Addie and I headed home where Alexis took a bath (kid loves the tubby) and she went right to bed. The next morning Gladys (Addie's mother), Alexis, Addie and I enjoyed coffee and some "playtime" until I had to go to work.

Overall, I can't wait to see Alexis (or Pookey as Grammy calls her) again. She changes/grows so much every month!

Here are some pictures from the weekend with Gwennie being pretty inventive with some blocks and my time with Alexis, Addie, Parrish and Gladys
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Warm Weather

As you can see from the pictures, it is finally starting to get warmer so Gwennie is sporting her new summer attire. We are all ready for summer (but not the bugs!).

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What we learned at the zoo....

We headed over to two different types of zoos while we were in AZ. The Phoenix Zoo and the Wildlife World Zoo were both pretty interesting. The Phoenix Zoo is much more of a natural habitat zoo where the animals are pretty far away and you stroll through a large area. They had a great carousel with all sorts of cool animals and a big pond that people scooted around in paddle boats. Gwennie really got a kick out of the baboons and also seemed to enjoy checking out the the animals on the carousel more than anything else.

Then the next day we went to the Wildlife World Zoo near my parents house which was much more of a close encounter experience. As you can see from the pictures, some of the areas had birds right in frontof you and they weren't scared of anything! This pictures was taken in one of the bird exhibits and after this bird almost landed on the stroller, we decided we were all set with wildlife! My dad and I strolled over to the lion thinking they would be a few yards away....more like a few feet! The animals areas are RIGHT next to people and most of them like to hang out right in front of everyone. A lioness literally was giving us the stare down checking out Gwennie (probably for lunch!). Gwennie really enjoyed this zoo more because the animals were so close and she could almost reach out and touch them. We figure since we got there right when it opened and they were feeding the animals, they were more interested in people. She also loved the small mammals area where all the little monkeys were hanging out. I tried to take a few pictures but the reflection with the flash didn't really work out too well. One of our favorites was the Giraffe feeding area. I have a video of my dad and Gwennie feeding them but as you will see, my dad wasn't too keen on a large blue tongue darting out at him! Gwennie on the other hand thought it was hilarious!

Gwennie also liked the children's petting area...which was basically a bunch of goats, lamas, deer, chickens and turkeys (the turkeys were in a cage...they liked to bite!!!). The goats were like garbage disposals...they tried to eat everything which included cameras, my shorts, Gwennie's fingers, shoes, socks and whatever else they could find. They had some coin operated feeding stations but you couldn't actually get any of the food out because the goats would rush over and stick their heads right in before you could actually get any of the food into your hands (smart animals).

My dad and I thought the best part of the zoo was when a girl decided she wanted to get a close up of a monkey with her cell phone and guess what happened???? The monkey turned the tables on her and grabbed the cell phone right out of her hands! So then she starts to scream at the monkey telling it to give her back her phone (at this point my dad and I can barely stand up we are laughing so hard at her). Finally someone from the zoo came down and basically told her that by the time they get the cell phone from the monkey it will probably be in two pieces but she could wait around and they would get to it sooner or later. Here's a video of the monkey beating the cell phone against a tree branch.

So.....what did we learn at the zoo? The goats and giraffes are very well fed, don't upset the monkeys and watch out for the birds!

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Gymboree & Pumpkin Pie in AZ

This week we were in AZ visiting Grandma V, Grandpa M, Great Aunt Pat and Great Uncle Frank. As you can see from the pictures, it was pretty sunny! Gwennie hung out in the jacuzzi with me and Aunt Pat and then we headed over to a Gymboree class for kids her age. Gwennie thought the tunnel was a riot and would crawl half way through to hang out for a while. Grandma V made a big turkey dinner and I am pretty sure Gwennie's favorite part was the yummy pumpkin pie (it was like Thanksgiving with really warm weather...sort of weird but great food!). Here are some short videos of this week

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Spring has Sprung

It is finally getting warm out and as you can see from the pictures Gwennie is itching to go outside and enjoy the nice weather. She also seems to be more and more interested in the flowers/plants around the house.

PB&J, The zoo and Easter

Big weekend over here at the Meek household. Friday night we introduced Gwennie to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which is now a staple (in less than 3 days if you can believe it!). As you can see Gwennie actually preferred wearing the sandwich to eating it.

Saturday we went to the Asheboro Zoo. Apparently so did most of North Carolina because it was very crowded! We all had a great time and it's a nice way to spend a weekend day. I can't imagine going there in the dead heat of summer but maybe in a few weeks we will head back during the week before it gets too hot. Gwennie seemed to enjoy checking out the water more than the polar bear but overall the zoo is really kid friendly and has a ton of play areas, underwater views and a tram to get from one side of the zoo to the other. It's about 5 miles in length so Corbin and I were happy to push the stroller around and get some excercise.

Sunday our church had their annual easter egg hunt. Gwennie took a few minutes to figure out what the deal with the hunt was but after a while she was a pro at putting the eggs in the basket. We then headed over to our friend's Mark, Kristin and Ben Bordeaux's house to have Easter dinner and to watch Carolina play some hoops. Gwennie was all over the ham and rolls. Cucumbers on the other hand weren't really much of an interest to her. I'll post a video of her feeding Tucker their dog. She's getting him ready for when Ben is old enough to eat in a high chair!

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Got this walking thing down...

Well, as you can see...walking, check! We are going to tackle moving forward on the riding toys now (She's mastered backwards but just can't get the forward motion just yet).

Easter Parade

This afternoon Gwennie and all the other kids in school had their Easter Bonnet Parade. Some of the moms really went all out. As you can see, I was one of those moms. Here's some pictures from today with my friend Jennifer who also came along.

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Melissa's Birthday Weekend & Easter Egg Hunt

This weekend was a busy 2 days! On Friday we had an early dinner at Edie's place down the street which is a great kid friendly restaurant. Gwennie now loves to walk around and has her opinions on what she is going to eat so by the end of the meal Corbin and I were ready for bed (mind you it was only 7:30).

Saturday I was tasked with making Gwennie's Easter bonnet for the parade tomorrow at school. As you can see Corbin was a wonderful and willing model! I am pretty sure there is no way anyone will have a hat like this (nor do I think that Gwennie will actually wear it) but it will give everyone something to talk about for a few days.

That night I headed to a popular sushi restaurant in town - Niko. My friend Melissa was celebrating her 30th birthday. We had a ton of sushi (and pomegranite martinis!!!) and realized we were really getting old since it was all of 10 PM and then 6 of us were ready to go home! Overall it was a great night and we all had a blast.

Sunday I grabbed a few shots of Gwennie before church and then we quickly headed home for the Carolina/Clemson game (Go Heels!). Then we headed over to Myers Park Country Club for their Easter egg hunt with Janet, Andrew and Crawford. As you will see from the pictures, Crawford was trying very hard to make Gwennie look at the camera. Janet kept saying..."Crawford, strop strangling baby Gwennie!" which I found hilarious. Here is probably my favorite picture of the two of them yet! They both have the prettiest expressions.

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I am happy to announce that our dear friends Mark and Kristin Bordeaux have a new addition to their family. Benjamin John Bordeaux, was born March 12 at 8:32pm. I met Ben this afternoon and he's is a teeny tiny beautiful baby boy, weighing in at 6 pounds, 5 ounces. I also spent some time with the new grandmothers who just can't stop smiling! Mom, Dad &Tucker (Ben's four legged brother) all look great and are unbelievably happy to meet him.

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A Very Happy Family...

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting Miss Alexis Mae Weiss. She's an absolutely beautiful baby and her parents (and grandparents for that matter) are overjoyed as well.

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More Birthday madness

Gwennie's Godfather Clark and his wife Nancy came over this morning to bring us these pics.

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Whole Lotta Birthday Going On....

This week was Gwennie's birthday bash. On Thursday was her actual birthday (that she shares with Miss Allison Martin Pine - one of Natalie's closest friends from college - and now Miss Alexis Mae Weiss - Ryan and Addie Mae's daughter who was just born on Thursday!!!).

Grandma Verna flew into town on Wednesday night and went with me to a check up at the Doctor's office on Thursday. Here's a video of Gwennie walking around the office. She's getting more stable when she walks - or will do just about anything to get to the pacifier :-)



Thursday night Gwennie's godmother Heather and Ari Eisgrau flew in from Baltimore and hung out with Grandma Verna, Gwennie and I. Ari is such a smart kid! He loves to color with crayons and prefers cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes to grilled cheese or french fries (unlike Gwennie who only seems to love carbs...Cheerios are a staple around here). We then dropped Grandma Verna off at the airport and headed home to pick up Nanna Susan. We then headed to the Toy store where Ari checked out the play vacuums, riding toys and Elmo while Gwennie checked out the rocking horses and blocks.

Friday night Gwennie's godfather Clark and Nancy Spencer also joined in the fun and came over for dinner. We had such a nice time with all of them and ended up staying waaayy too late!

Saturday was the big day! Before the party Heather, Ari, Gwennie and Natalie had breakfast at the Original Pancake House and then did some shopping before the bash. We then into party planning mode...Susan and Corbin cleaned up the picnic table that we used as a cupcake and sugar cookie decorating area. Heather arranged the food on the platters and I went into last minute cleaning mode to get the place ready for the madness. Luckily Gwennie and Ari were wiped out so we caught a break and they napped right up until the party started.

The party itself was a huge success!! We had flavored food coloring markers, sprinkles, colored sugar, 5 types of colored icing and cookies with pictures on them that the kids spent most of their time decorating. We figured it would keep the kids busy for a couple of minutes but it was such a hit that we ran out of space on the picnic table! As you can see from the pictures, most if not all of Gwennie's family and friends came over and we are so thankful to have such amazing people in our lives.

Gwennie wasn't really into the cake as you can see from the video below


We also snapped a funny video of Gwennie in her Carolina blue Tutu courtesy of Clark and Nancy. Nancy's friend makes these - they are so cute. Here's a link to her website - Girl Party Tutus

This morning, I took a few pictures of Gwennie having breakfast and recorded this video of her latest trick...fish lips. She does this all the time now and it's pretty funny when she's trying to laugh/make the face at the same time.

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Stylish as always....

At the request of Auntie Jessica, I am posting this video of Gwennie walking down the hallway. Just so everyone doesn't think I parade my kid around in babylegs and a turtleneck, she did actually have a cute jean skirt on that day but since we just changed her diaper and it was dinner time (AKA food splatter time), I figured I'd try to reduce the amount of clothing I'd have to scrub food out of.

I also want to apologize that I had the camera filming vertically, if anyone knows how to rotate in blogger, let me know.

Enjoy!