Mother's Day and Daycare...Long Post!

This weekend was a busy one overall with BBQs, movies, church events and lots of nice weather. Saturday we finished up the rest of the cleaning after the renovations and enjoyed some warm weather. Corbin cleaned out the storage room and you wouldn't believe what we found from the previous owners! Gwennie and I did a run to babies r us for some last minute Meek 2.0 purchases. Then while Gwennie took a nap I enjoyed my Mother's Day gift of a pedicure. When Gwennie woke up and we had a neighborhood party where she wore herself out in the bounce house playing with the rest of the kids in the 'hood. Sunday my youth members ran the service at our church (I am so proud of them!). We then had the Penguin for lunch and the entire family took a long nap. Sunday night we tried out a new sitter (one of my youth members - Katherine who Gwennie loved and asked where she was on Monday morning!) while Corbin and I headed to see Star Trek - great movie...worth the price of admission.




Today we had our 35 week ultrasound for Meek 2.0 who is about 6lbs 8oz by our Dr's estimate. Looks like this one is going to be another 8 pounder! Right now we are still on track for a June delivery...unfortunately I am not dilated at all, don't have high blood pressure and am not showing any signs that this kid will appear anytime soon. Lately my biggest problem has been heartburn which decides to start around 10 or 11 PM, just in time for bed. Here's a picture of the baby from today.





On a separate note, I try not to put my opinions in these posts and I figure most of you don't really care but today we had our teacher conferences for Gwennie's daycare. The report was great and we are still amazed we get daily update sheets, weekly newsletter and Parent-Teacher conferences for a toddler. A brief summary: Gwennie has music class every Monday, art class EVERY DAY, takes nature walks around the grounds during the week. She has a weekly lesson plan - last week they talked about Mothers including reading stories about Mommies and making Mother's Day gifts. She loves to interact with her classmates. For example today when we walked into the room Gwennie made it a point to say Hello to all of her classmates and then they all play together. When one of the kids is sad, Gwennie and the other kids come over and bring them toys to make the child feel better and in general loves going to "school" every morning. They sing songs, know how to count, know their colors and can can relate to things that I find just fascinating...when we were putting together some furniture last weekend Gwennie asked if she could help with our "puzzle" (it was from IKEA....the kid must be a genius). Corbin and I agonized over the decision to use daycare and in the first couple of months we thought we might have made a mistake (if you do decide to go with daycare....the first few months your kid will get every runny nose, cold, flu, and stomach bug there is...then after about 3 moths your kid is like Teflon to illnesses!). What a difference today. The benefits we have seen for our child has been enormous. Granted like all schools/facilities, you hope you are at the best place in town and for us, Gwennie's daycare is by far better than we could ever imagine.

A Big Girl Bed!

This weekend we decided it was time to put together Gwennie's new bed for the inevitable move in June. She seemed to love the bed and now all we have to do is actually get her to stop jumping on the bed and to sleep in it.

In other news we are on the home stretch with the renovations. Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Warm Weather...

This weekend was sunny and warm so we took advantage of the nice weather and spent most of our time outside. Saturday morning Gwennie helped Corbin wash his car while I did a Target run. Then we pulled out the pool for the dogs and Gwennie and tried out the sprinkler (Gwennie was not down with the whale ) to cool off.

We also have some new friends above the hammock which look to be running out of space in their nest. We will check again next weekend to see who's actually tried out their wings and who is still hanging out with Momma bird for a bit longer.

Weekend in Colombia

This weekend we were on notice to "vacate" the house as they were finishing up the floors and it was going to be pretty stinky so we headed down to Columbia to visit with our Aunt E and our cousins Russ, Gini, Alex and Blyth. It also happened to be the weekend of the home tour in their neighborhood so with the wonderful weather we spent Saturday touring around the area and enjoying the sun.

Sunday we decided to help Russ and Gini with some cleanup and furniture moving. I am pretty sure by the end of the weekend they were ready for us to leave as we literally had them moving couches, desks, bicycles and anything else we could find into other areas. As you can also see the dogs and kids also had a blast. Gwennie now wakes up every morning wondering were Blyth and Alex are. I think she'd prefer if we all lived in a commune together!



And here's another link to the renovations. As you can see the floors and counter tops are also in.

Easter 2009

This weekend was the 90th annual Webb family Easter hunt and reunion weekend. Corbin's family on the Webb side has been meeting on Easter weekend with family for some great food and fun times (including everyones favorite...the Easter egg hunt!!) and this is our 3rd year attending. This year it was nice and warm unlike two years ago when we went it was during a frost and everyone wore their ski wear!!! Almost all of the cousins were in attendance and Rachel won one of four of the money eggs! That is the adults favorite part (besides the food) of the day. We all dig around a field for hidden bags of money. The field includes some poison ivy and fire ant hazards which makes for interesting digging.

Sunday night Corbin and Russ headed to Greensboro for the opening concert of the reunited (again) Grateful Dead tour. I think they are now called the Dead because of Mr. Garcia's untimely departure. Gini, Alexandra, Blyth, Gwennie and I headed back to Charlotte for a girls pizza night sleepover and in the morning the first thing Gwennie said when she woke up was "Where's Blyth?"

Here's some pictures from the weekend and Aunt Lynne's pictures as well.



Lynne's Pictures

Cabinets and GeeGee at the Easter Bonnet Parade

While we were at the Masters on Tuesday, GeeGee came into town to take care of Gwennie. Sometimes I wondered what was going on (wait until you see the pictures of how GeeGee decided to give Gwennie a bath) but overall Gwennie was so sad to see GeeGee leave and had a great time with her, especially at the Easter Bonnet Parade that her school does every year. Here's some pictures from the week.

I also updated the renovations link with pictures of our new cabinets!

Visit from Auntie Fancy, the Pacey Bunny and the Smocking Army

Sorry I didn't post last weekend. We ended up going down to Columbia, SC to hang out at the Riverbanks Zoo since it was a nice day out. As would be typical we forgot the camera so no pictures, sorry!

Then on Tuesday our friend Nell (commonly referred to as Auntie Fancy) came for a visit and I am pretty sure Gwennie has found her new idol. Between the Koi Pond on the IPhone and all the fun playtime, Gwennie literally asked where Nell was the minute her airplane took off. Nell will be back this summer and I swear Gwennie is counting the hours.

In other very exciting news...our good friends Parrish and Ken decided to pull a fast one and sent a text that they were going into the hospital to deliver their baby boy. Since it was April Fool's day and they are big jokers, we didn't believe them...until we called the hospital! Brady George was born on April 1 weighing 6lbs, 14 oz and is pretty darn cute!

This weekend the weather was sunny and beautiful (75 degrees!) and Gwennie had a visit from the Pacey Bunny (don't laugh too hard. There weren't any pacey fairies at the toy store so a bunny purse where Gwennie could put the pacifiers seemed like a logical choice). The Pacey Bunny brought her new sunglasses on Sunday which Gwennie modeled all day....until she realized she wasn't getting her pacey back...then the Pacey Bunny and the sunglasses weren't as much of a hit. We are on day 3 of no pacey and last night before she went to bed she said good night to the Pacey Bunny and this morning the Pacey Bunny brought her a new ball so she seems to be digging the bunny again.

We also tried out the new bike trailer on Sunday afternoon. That was a big hit with Gwennie....daddy on the other hand might need a prescription for his sore legs! Sunday afternoon we were invited to an Easter Egg hunt with Crawford and as you can see from the pictures...the army of smocked children (Gwennie too) was in full effect. I was pretty sure if she didn't have a smocked outfit or a Lily Pulitzer dress we might not have been admitted at the club! Crawford was the big rebel and I must say was the cutest 4 year old there!

Birthday Party Do Over and Renovations Update

This weekend we had Gwennie's make up party at Monkey Joe's with all of her buddies Stella, Gwennie, Charlie, Matty, Alex, Blythe, Ben and Crawford!
As you can see from the pictures everyone had a blast and was pretty tired once all the pizza and cake was served. Gwennie actually asked us to go home so she could take a nap. That evening we headed up to Paw Paw and Neh Neh Meek's house to celebrate his birthday. Uncle Rob was there as well and Gwennie had a great time tiring their dog Lily out. I think in the end Lily met her match!

We also are a week into renovations. I have added a slideshow off those pictures as well.

Shower in Boston and Day 1 of Demo

This weekend Gwennie and Corbin held down the fort in Charlotte while I headed up to Boston for a visit with friends to celebrate the pending birth of Parrish's little boy. As would be typical I left my camera upstairs all weekend but check The Weiss Family blog as they will have an update with pictures soon. This is a picture of Alexis chillin with Addie's toothbrush.

We also started our kitchen demo today and as of 3 PM we are knee deep in drywall!

Great Weather with a Birthday Postponed...

Well, this weekend was supposed to be lots of fun, family and friends with great weather but as it turned out most of the weekend was spent either at the Doctor's office, sleeping or watching movies.  Gwennie unfortunately woke up Friday a little cranky and then proceeded to throw up her breakfast (at Costco in the checkout line).  She later spiked a fever and we ended up moving her birthday party out a few weeks since we thought it was a stomach bug.    

We took her to the doctor's office and Saturday and it looks as though her antibiotic was not working on her ear infection so that is why she was so sick.  We are now on round 2 of a higher dose and Gwennie is in good spirits given the change but we are hoping this next round will knock out the infection.  We decided to open a few of her gifts including her new kitchen which she loves.   Many thanks to Auntie Addie, Gladys and Don for the dolly potty chair (here's hoping Gwennie will soon follow!) as well as the cute matching outfits and thanks to Clark and Nancy for the Gwennie travel gear.  

Confined to the house for 3 days now!

 I have found that around the 6 month time frame of being pregnant I seem to have an urge to move furniture and redo the bedroom.  I guess it's nesting but I have been thinking about it for months and since Gwennie woke us up early on Sunday and it was raining out, I decided this was the day to actually move the bed.  Last time I waited until about a week before I delivered Gwennie so this time around I think I was trying to plan ahead.  Here's the link to the first time I redid the headboard.  

This time around I again decided to move furniture but it really only took about an hour to create the new headboard and another hour (during Gwennie's nap so she couldn't "help Mommy and Daddy".  Here's some pictures of the finished product.  

We also had a snow day so there are a few pictures of this morning with Gwennie checking out the snow. 

Weekend in bed with Thomas

This weekend the whole family was down for the count with a cold that kept us pretty much confined to indoors. We watched lots of Thomas, Horton Hears a Who, WALL-E and Ratatouille when Gwennie was awake but she pretty much slept most of the weekend away. Here are the only 3 pictures from the weekend when we were trying out pigtails.

Big Friends and Family President's Day Weekend

This weekend we headed up to Baltimore to meet Clare and Matthew as well as to see a bunch of friends. Saturday morning we headed to Owings Mills to meet up with Alan, Heather, Ari and Matthew (this is him on the right). Ari and Gwennie had a great time playing together and Ari loves his new baby brother. Matthew is a great baby and loves to just chill in his bouncy seat.

That afternoon we headed up to Bel Air to meet up with Clark, Nancy and Clare (she's on the left). Gwennie was so excited to see them and spent most of the day "rocking" Clare in the swing....with all of us close by because she wasn't really grasping the whole concept of "gentle'. Sunday we drove down to Vienna to meet up with Dave, Missy and Henry which I am pretty sure was the highlight of the weekend for Gwennie. Henry has a huge playroom outfitted with Thomas and lots of other toys as well as a drum set!!!!!! Henry loved to show Gwennie all of his toys and was great about sharing and teaching her all the ways of cars/trains and drums. We all had a great lunch, took a nice long nap and then watched Horton during dinner (yummy pizza) and then headed back up to Clark and Nancy's for bed. Gwennie was so pooped she passed out right when we got back and slept straight through from 7 PM until 7:30 AM.

Monday I headed back to Owings Mills with Gwennie for more Ari time. Gwennie and Ari had a fun time at lunch together and Heather/Alan/I had our first experience with 2 toddlers at the same time in a public . We are in for a rude awakening!!!!! Overall a great weekend!

Matthew Shayne!

On Wednesday Gwennie's best buddy Ari became an older brother. Alan and Heather welcomed Matthew Shayne around 2 PM on Feb 4th. Matthew weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds, 8 ounces and is doing great. Ari is pretty excited about having a new buddy to play with.

Here's a few other pictures from this weekend. We had wonderful weather in the 70's so we spent most of the weekend outside in the backyard or at the park.

We finally had a nice weekend where everyone did not have to bundle into multiple layers just to go outside. Sunday was beautiful and as you can see from the pictures Gwennie and Corbin spent the afternoon on the tire swing. Gwennie also finally can reach the pedals on her Tricycle. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

GeeGee's Visit

This week GeeGee came for a visit and we decided to head to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. We met up with our cousins Gini, Blyth and Alex and everyone had so much fun!

I think the highlight of the day was when "Diver Dan" fed the fish. There's video of Blyth and Gwennie checking him out. For some reason they thought he was a fish and would not wave to him. Overall it was a great day and a great visit!

Snow Day!!!

As you can see from the pictures, the snow finally fell last night so there is no school or work today! Gwennie had her first real experience playing in the snow and was so sad to go inside (Nemo bribery was the only way we could get her to leave the yard). Ruby also had a blast, Ginger on the other hand had no interest and could not wait to come back inside. Here's some pictures from this morning including Gwennie in her PJ's right after she woke up checking out snow for the first time. Pardon the crazy outfit. It was the first thing we could find in the closet!

A Trip to the ER for Nursemaid Elbow

Wish I could say I have pictures from this weekend but thus far we haven't taken any pictures. Gwennie is home with us tomorrow because daycare is closed so tune in because I will likely take some. Today we were at Staples and in a rush I grabbed Gwennie's hand to go meet Corbin and ended up injuring her with something the nurses (yes...the ER and all) called Nursemaid's Elbow. At first we thought she was just mad that we were leaving but when she didn't stop crying and wouldn't use her left arm, we headed to the Children's Emergency Room.

So....yes, I could not feel any worse about it and believe me I am still upset about not being so careful but the good news is that as soon as the nurse gave her arm a little twist, within a minute she was up playing again and running around. The nurses assured me that this is one of the most common injuries out there. They said most of the time it happens from parents swinging their kids while walking or even when trying to pull arms out of a coat. That being said, I decided to blog about this because I figured if it happened to anyone else, the facts really are helpful and hopefully it will prevent an injury.

Swimming and Baby 2

This weekend Gwennie started her next round of swim lessons at Little Otters Swim School. As always, Gwennie loved the class and was not happy that the class ended after 30 minutes.

In other news...Gwennie's new little brother or sister is doing well and we got some great ultrasound pictures. Everyone still seems to think we are going to cave and find out what we are having but we are holding strong and keeping it a surprise!

Happy New Year!

Happy Near Year! As you can see from the pictures Gwennie and the rest of the family spent their New Years Eve with our neighbors Bragg, Michelle and Stella. Gwennie and Stella are thick as thieves and their favorite pass time is watching Nemo together while jumping on the couch (which they always do when we aren't looking....knowing full well we have told them this is not allowed). Needless to say the couch gets a pretty good workout when the two of them are together. They made it to about 10 PM and then passed out and the adults were soon to follow! On New Years day, we headed back up to the Lazy 5 Ranch with Corbin this time and he got a first hand feeding experience. We all agree that the Ostriches are just too weird/scary with their neck bobbing so we just threw the feed quickly and rolled up the windows before they infiltrated the car.

We then got home in time to watch the Rose Bowl and as you can see from the picture Gwennie was channeling East LA and running around the house. Corbin and I thought it was pretty funny but before we could get the camera out she was off playing with something else. This is the only good picture we could take before she decided to take off running.

Xmas 2008

Well, we made it through another holiday with Nanna, GeeGee and PopPop, Gwennie, Corbin and I (and the girls - Ginger and Ruby). I think everyone had a nice time eating, chasing after Gwennie, eating, watching Gwennie run around the house, eating, sleeping, and more eating! Overall it was a great holiday and we are slowly trying to get the house back in order. Here's some pictures from the week and a video of Gwennie playing with her favorite gift

No No Duck!!

Today while Corbin was working, we (Gwennie, myself, Gee Gee and Pop Pop) went to the Lazy 5 Ranch to check out the driving tour and to feed all of the animals at the ranch. We hadn't crossed 2 feet into the ranch when Gee Gee tried to feed an Oryx (huge deer with big horns) and it decided to take the entire bucket of feed - good thing we had another 3 buckets to spare. We learned our lesson...roll up the windows quickly if you still want your feed for the rest of the tour!!! The emu and ostriches were also a little weird - their heads kept pecking on the windows and bobbing up and down. We figured if we opened the windows they might just jump into the car with us. We were a little nervous about feeding them but they seemed to be pretty docile. Gwennie liked the Lamas and Alpacas the most. They were very easy to feed and would let Gwennie (and everyone for that matter) pet them while they were eating.


After the tour we went to the petting zoo and Gwennie quickly learned what happens when you get too close to ducks. Not to fear....no lost fingers or toes, just a little sniffling, a NO NO DUCK and an unhappy Gwennie for a couple of minutes. The duck was not to keen on being touched so it let Gwennie know what happens when you try to mess with a hungry duck. As you will see from the pictures below, my parents tried out their new Christmas presents. I will post pictures from Christmas on our camera later.

Big Wedding/Holiday Weekend!

This weekend was a big family weekend. Our cousin Sara married her wonderful beau Mike. The wedding was a blast and Gwennie actually got to attend. She had so much fun and enjoyed hanging out with the family!

Sunday we headed over to the Burton's house for an early Christmas celebration. Lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and babies were in attendance. It was a little overwhelming but so much fun to see everyone and enjoy the holidays. As you can see the kids all enjoyed making gingerbread houses/cookies and testing out the frosting. Here are lots of pictures from the weekend.

Weekend Project

This weekend we decided to put up a "communication center" in the kitchen (nice fancy way of saying a dry erase board with a spot to charge the cell phone). Little did we know that we would need to drill holes in the wall to reach the closest electronic plug. As you can see from the pictures Corbin was a trooper and Gwennie decided to stay away and watch Wall-E. Here's some pictures from the weekend project.

The Search for a Christmas Tree and the Return of the Diaper Hat

This weekend my cousin Gini came up from Columbia to participate in the Christmas Bazaar at Christ Church down the street. Our good friend Jennifer also participated and overall it was a fun but exhausting Saturday!

Sunday we did the quest for a Christmas tree and as you can see Corbin was all about snapping pictures of Gwennie running through the trees. She seemed to have the most fun. After lots of shopping/walking/chasing Gwennie, we decided on a tree and decorated it last night. Here are some pictures from the weekend. You'll notice Gwennie is back on the swimmie diaper kick so we took a few pictures of that to use at her wedding years from now!

Thanksgiving 2008

For the second time we headed down to Neeces, South Carolina to meet up with Corbin's side of the family. As you can see it's a pretty large group and we all had a great time visiting, eating, watching Gwennie get into something and eating again!
Gwennie loves to play with Lily who was a very patient dog with all the patting/tail pulling Gwennie seemed to do every time she saw Lily. Ginger is not as patient and has now started just heading in another direction when Gwennie starts calling her name (Ginngerrrrr!!!). Ruby must have organized a toddler treaty because Gwennie seems to only pet Ruby and doesn't insist on running around pulling her tail.

Here's some pictures from the week including Gwennie sporting her new "swimmie hat". It's amazing what kids find to entertain themselves nowadays!

Cheese.....

This weekend Corbin and I picked up our Christmas present earlier. We decided to get a new digital camera and so far the pictures are great! Gwennie, Ginger and Ruby were our main subjects and by the end of the weekend I am pretty sure they were running in the other direction every time we took the camera out. Gwennie seemed to be into hats on Saturday and Sunday. She spent most of the weekend walking around with either a baseball cap or a winter fleece hat on her head. Here's some pictures from both days.

This weekend was pretty slow. Corbin was in NY visiting some friends and was back Saturday afternoon. Gwennie and I hung out with Janet, Andrew and Crawford Saturday morning and then headed to the park to work of some of her energy. Unfortunately Gwennie took a spill (which I still feel guilty about) and had a pretty big shiner all day Saturday. Luckily no trips to the hospital and she was back to her normal self after some lunch and a nap. Sunday Corbin and I decided the dogs were beyond dirty so we gave them both baths which took up about 2 hours of our morning after all the dirt was rinsed off. Here's a picture of the girls this morning. As you can see they aren't very happy that they can't play in the mud outside but we are going to try to keep them clean for a few more days.

How Time Flies!

This is a picture from when Gwennie was about a month old. Her Auntie Ashley knit this cap for her and on Sunday Gwennie happened to pick it up and tried it on. She had to really stretch it to fit on her noggin but Gwennie thought it was so funny so she wore it around the house.

Saturday Corbin headed to the UNC Football game and I headed down to Greenville, SC for a wedding shower for my cousin Sara. On the way I dropped Gwennie off to visit with her Great Aunt Nina and cousins Megan and Caroline. Gwennie had so much fun and also enjoyed a visit with Great Grandma Gary!

I also was so thankful that we have family close to take care of Gwennie. I got to enjoy catching up with the Aunts and Cousins at the Shower and Gwennie was so tired when she got home that she fell into bed and went right to sleep! Unfortunately I forgot the camera but here are a few pictures from Sunday

Halloween Gee Gee Fest

This week Gee Gee (Grandma Verna) came for a visit to enjoy Halloween with Gwennie. She also attempted potty training but about all we got was a kid that sits on the potty forever and then as soon as the diaper goes back on...she does her business! We'll tackle it again around Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Gwennie also had a Halloween party at school and given the fact that she always comes back with something on her clothes, I figured we'd make a second costume that she could mess up as needed. This was a feeble attempt at Tinkerbell. Friday night Gwennie donned the Cookie Monster outfit again and headed out to Trick or Treat with Stella (Ladybug), Charlie (Curious George) and Matty (Pooh). They older kids figured out the deal right away. After the first house everyone but Matty had Tootsie Pops in their mouths. Gwennie decided taking the wrapper off wasn't worth it so she ate the whole thing....wrapper and all. Mommy attempted to pry the sucker away but her death grip wasn't going to have any of that!

While we were piling them in and out of the wagons, Corbin accidentally spilled his beer on Gwennie's costume (never hold a beer between your arms and lean over to pick up your kid) and needless to say she smelled of pale ale all night. We called her Cookie Monster on the skids which got some funny comments from the houses. Gwennie didn't seem to mind the smell and was on a crazy sugar high all night because as soon as we'd head toward a house she'd break out in the giggles as she ran up to the next house. It was a great night and it ended with Gee Gee being the last house where Gwennie passed out and slept until 8 on Saturday! All in all a great weekend!

Daddy Got a New Ride and the Halloween Parade

On Wednesday Corbin called after getting the Jetta serviced to tell me that he was looking at a diesel wagon and wanted to potentially get one if they happened to come in. Guess what happened the very next day? Yes, we are now the proud owners of a Jetta wagon. The dogs are still getting used to the tighter quarters but they like it much more than the other car and seem to enjoy the enormous sunroof the most. I don't particularly like parking in another time zone so no one will ding the car but according to Corbin we will be getting some exercise for a while.

Saturday Janet and Crawford came over for the neighborhood Halloween parade. Crawford and Gwennie had a great time hanging in the wagon while the adults lugged them all around the neighborhood. The Jack in the Box seemed to be the big hit (although most kids cried over the mask but the nice girl in the outfit was quick to take it off while the kids were checking her out). Corbin and I thought the Phelps costume was a great idea and the disco baby was also pretty funny. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

SC State Fair Gridlock

On Friday I was perusing Face Book and noticed that Aunt Eileen (affectionately known as "E") was heading to the fair for lunch. As a junk food junkie myself, I decided we'd change our plans to go to the Apple Harvest Festival and called our cousins Gini and Russ Webb to see if they wanted to head over with us to the South Carolina State Fair (which happens to be in Columbia where they live). Luckily...Gini and I are all about the fried food and Russ/Corbin are all about people watching and football...USC was playing LSU the same day (at the same location) so they were planning on going anyhow.

We met up on Saturday morning and Russ' good buddy Wheels (he does have a real name but Russ renames all of his friends so all we know him as now is Wheels). Piled the kids, adults, double stroller and tailgating gear in the cars and headed over. The fair itself was great...Gwennie and I had a corn dog and some lemonade. Corbin decided to eat some scary chili cheese fries that I was sure would come back to haunt him later and Gini went with the ever popular Carmel apple with sprinkles route. Good think Alex (their 6 year old daughter) wasn't hungry because the adults were eating enough for everyone! Blythe (their 10 month old daughter) also got in on the corn dog action and we had heard about these fried Oreo cookies so we all were on a mission to find them. After about an hour of searching we found the stand and it was well worth it....might sound icky to some of you but we all agreed......YUMMY!
By 3:30 we were all full of junk, tired of looking at cows/chickens/sand sculptures and sick of losing money on the fair games so we headed back to the cars so Corbin, Gini, Alex, Blythe, Gwennie and I could head home. Russ and Wheels were staying for the game so they helped us pile all the kids/crap into the car and then we were on our way.....or so we thought.
We pulled out of the parking lot to the left, didn't move for 30 min so we decided to turn around and try the other way. Same thing happened to the right and we noticed these people were even more mad (because they weren't letting anyone in, had some scary looks on their faces and some were just getting out of their cars to walk up to see what was going on) so we figured we were going to be there for a while. After an hour of no movement we turned around and headed toward the entrance hoping that gate was open. No luck there...that gate apparently was closed up and the highway patrol wasn't letting anyone out. After about an hour and a half, Alex had enough and she had to go to the bathroom so Gini headed to find out what was going on and to let her poor child finally relieve herself. 30 min later Gini and Alex returned and we found out that the highway patrol was the problem. The fair wanted to open more exits but because of they weren't in charge of the streets, they were forced to leave the exits closed. So....Gini took matters into her own hands. Somehow she made friends with the head of security at the fair, got the number of the head patrolman and left him a colorful message on how much we were enjoying sitting out here for 2+ hours. Corbin and I were saying that "Crazy Gini" was coming out to make sure we were going to get out of there in record time.
Crazy Gini came through and after 2 1/2 hours and a few conversations with the police, they opened the gate, and we were the 10th person through and we were home 10 minutes later. Crazy got it done!!!!!!


Sunday we took a trip to Costco for more Thomas (Namas as Gwennie calls him) DVDs as Corbin and I are sick of the 2 she watches over and over and came across the coolest Thomas toy ever which will be making an appearance around Christmas.

Here's the pictures from the weekend and a video of Gwennie raising the roof to the new Thomas song (they've made Thomas into a rap song which was pretty hilarious). If you'd like to see a moving rendition of the original click on Rich and Jess Christenson's blog done by their nephew Conner.

Back up in Baltimore

This weekend we headed up to Owings Mills to visit with Alan, Heather and Ari and also to attend our good friend Nancy's baby shower. The shower was really fun and since Clark and Corbin did the catering, the food was great! Sunday we headed to a farm to pick out a pumpkin. They had hayrides, pony rides and all sorts of events for the kids. Both Ari and Gwennie had a great time and were pretty tired by the end of the day. Then we headed up to have dinner with Clark and Nancy. As you can see from the picture to the left Ari and Gwennie made themselves at home! Here are some pictures of the weekend and a few videos

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