Fun at the park

We've been taking advantage of what is probably the last of the nice fall weather. Here are a few pictures from last weekend at the playground.

Our little girl

I thought I needed to redeem myself after putting a picture of Celena in boy's jammies on the internet in one of my recent posts. So, here she is in one of her girlie outfits. This was before she found the lip gloss in my diaper bag and got a big pink stain on the middle of the dress . . . I should have known not to buy white!

Children's Museum

I'm still playing catch up . . . here are some pics from a few weeks ago. I had Veteran's Day off of work (whooeee!!! I'm loving these bank holidays I get now!), so Chris took the day off too and we took the kids to the Children's Museum.

Here they are playing veterinarian. The dog on the table looks like our dog Norm. :)

Now we're making donuts. Celena is kind of a blur in this picture - she was running around at full speed exploring everything.

On to grocery shopping.

Cass got the turkey for our family Thanksgiving meal. :0)

We ended the trip with a little art project where we made turkeys. Everyone was worn out at this point, so the turkeys didn't turn out all that great (hence no picture of the final product).

Catching up - this and that . . .

I know, I'm one holiday behind at this point. When we went to the pumpkin patch in October, I forgot my camera so took this picture with my phone and happened across it today. Look how helpful Cass was being getting Celena's pumpkin for her. They definitely have their moments when neither one of them wants to share, but then there are some times when they are really sweet too.

Here's one of those times . . . Celena loves to chase Cass around trying to kiss him. He usually runs from her, but once in a while he'll give in. Oh, and yes, she is wearing his hand me down jammies. I really do dress her like a girl as much as I can, but can't justify buying a ton of new pink jammies that she is going to outgrow in a couple months anyway.

Speaking of growing, she had her 15 month doctor appointment a few weeks ago. Here are the stats . . .

- Height: 32 inches (90th percentile)
- Weight: 23.5 lbs (55th percentile)
- Head: 48 cm (95th percentile)

So, it continues to appear that she'll be tall. I think Chris's genes were definitely more dominant when it comes to this kid.

First snowflakes

For the first time EVER, I am actually looking forward to the winter months. I think it's because I'm no longer working in public accounting, so I will actually be able to enjoy the first few months of the year in 2011! Or, maybe I'm just officially old now - I used to be sad to see summer go, but this year I've enjoyed the cooler fall weather.

Anyway, Cass is getting good with his little safety scissors, so we decided to make snowflakes today. As we were cutting, I realized that it has been years since I've done this. This is obvious based on the final product in the pictures above - the first one that I guided Cass in making looks more like a football than a snowflake, and apparently when I did the one on the right I cut the wrong edges because it was close to turning out to be 2 separate snowflakes. We finally go the hang of it by the time we made the last couple ones!

Our big boy

Guess who finally went pee-pee in the potty tonight??!!! We haven't pushed him too much to get potty trained with all of the life changes he's been going through (moving twice in 4 months, starting a new preschool), but I was starting to get a little more focused on it. Tonight he finally did it! We'll see if he keeps it up. Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our little flower and cow!

Around the house

We've been cooped up in the house the last couple weeks - first Cass brought home a cold, then Celena caught it. She was having a hard time sleeping a couple weekends ago, so I took her to urgent care on a Saturday to get her ears checked. A few days later, I ended up with what seemed to be the flu (likely a virus I picked up after waiting 2 hours at Urgent Care), then Celena got it, then Cass got it, and after he was sick for several days I took him to the doctor to find out that instead of the flu it was a stomach bug that seems like the flu but actually lasts longer than the flu (ugh!). Fortunately Chris stayed healthy through all of this and was able to take care of us. We're all healthy again now, but with all of the illness it means there isn't anything too exciting recently to post pictures of. So, here are just a couple pics from around the house while we were working on getting everyone nursed back to good health.

This is rare - the kids were playing NICELY TOGETHER! I'm glad I got a picture of it, because it doesn't happen often! Celena loves these flashcards (by the way, they are Usborne flashcards, very sturdy and withstand the kids carrying them around, dropping them, chewing on them, etc. . . thanks Tiffany!). Of course Cass took a renewed interest in them after he saw that Celena was interested in them.

Here's our little Go Getter! She overestimates her motor skills - she tried to ride this tricycle. Her little legs aren't quite long enough to reach the peddles. I just had to snap a picture but I had to be quick - don't worry, I caught her before she fell!

Celena Birthday

I finally got around to figuring out how to get the videos from our new video camera downloaded. So, I'm finally posting a clip from Celena's birthday back in July. Here she is opening presents. Notice what Cass is doing. Poor Celena, this is just a typical day in the life.

My Mom Rocks

Guess who bought him this shirt? :) I'm going to miss these days when he proudly wears a shirt about his mom and runs around saying "My Mommy Rocks!".

Hey Soul Sister

Celena loves music - this seems to be her favorite song. Pardon the yogurt on her face - she was in the middle of dinner and is a bit of a messy eater. :)

First golf outing

I would have titled this post "Future Tiger Woods", but . . . what mom is hoping their son turns out like him anymore? ha ha. Anyway, here's Cass and Daddy heading out on their first golf outing together. We decided Cass's plastic clubs aren't going to cut it anymore (they're cute though, huh?), so we'll be shopping for his first "real" club.

Outdoor fun

After 3 months of apartment living, it is so nice to be in a house and have a yard to play in again! We've been spending lots of time outdoors enjoying the nice weather. We have a retaining wall in our backyard that had settled a bit and needed to be braced, so part of our driveway has been torn out and filled with dirt and sand. Cass loves his new "sandbox". He's going to be disappointed when the concrete gets poured!

Our big boy has graduated from his tricycle to his bicycle with training wheels! And oops . . . when I took the picture I didn't realize that Celena was in the background flashing the neighbors! :)

We've moved!

After a brief hiatus, we're back on line. It's been a busy past few weeks - we closed on our house, moved, AND I finally took the time to back up the computer so I could delete pictures to make room for more so I could blog again! :)

Celena started walking recently. It's interesting how she and Cass had very different approaches to learning to walk - Cass basically just stood up one day from a crawling position and walked across the room, falling after he took about 10 steps. Celena eased into it over a period of time, insisting that we hold her hands and walk with her for HOURS each day (I'm not exaggerating), until one day she decided she had it down and just did it on her own, rarely falling. She became mobile a few days before we moved, so it made the unpacking very interesting. Here is my caravan of helpers while I'm trying to unpack.

Notice that in the picture above, Celena is carrying one of my flip flops. She is obsessed with shoes. She will drag me to her closet and point at her shoes until I get them down and put them on her, and she will carry our shoes to us with the hope that we will put them on.

She is a very active little thing, and gets into everything. She is happy that we have windows that are low enough for her to see out of.

Cass actually was somewhat helpful with unpacking. I asked him to take the hangers out of the box and hang them in his closet, and he really did it!

He wasn't quite as good as unpacking his shoes - I asked him to take his shoes out of the box and line them up in his closet. I was envisioning lining each pair up, toes facing the front. His little mind envisions everything as a "choo-choo", so I should have known that the way he thinks to line up shoes would be in a straight line. He was so proud, he easily posed for the camera to showcase his work.

While unpacking, Cass found Celena's babies. He disappeared with them for a while, and I found him lining them up on the couch. He said he was putting them to bed. He brought over a book to read to them before they went to sleep, then went down the line and gave each one a kiss. How sweet! Of course, I loved it. Daddy is not quite as impressed.

First Ice Cream Cone

Yes, I know. He's 3. He really should have had his first ice cream cone before now. The kid has the palette of a middle-aged adult . . . he loves tofu, asparagus, and fancy cheese, so I've held off ruining it with a sugar addiction. But it is time for him to live a little. He was ecstatic.

Happy Birthday Cass!!!

Wow, our little boy turned 3 on August 16! I can't believe it. I still remember the night that I had him - I just sat in my hospital bed and held him all night long, and did not sleep a wink! The nurses kept coming in to check on me, telling me to go to sleep, but I just couldn't take my eyes off of him. I'll never forget it. Anyway, we took video of his birthday, but no pictures. Our computer is on its last leg and almost out of memory, so until we clean up the computer (i.e. until I go through and delete some of my pictures), I can't upload the videos. Someday you will see them though.

In the meantime, here's the next best thing - a picture I took with my phone of the Elmo cake that I made for him.
It's been a while since I have posted. Over the last couple months, we've been busy exploring Winston-Salem and looking for a place to live. So our pictures aren't that exciting, but here's a bit of what we've been up to . . .

We had some nice cool weather a few weeks ago, so we took advantage of it and visited one of the parks. Celena loved the swing. Cass had a good time too, but was running around like crazy so I couldn't get a picture of him.

Cass tends to traumatize our dogs a bit, but they are fairly tolerant. One day Cass decided they should wear bibs. Here's Norm sporting his new look.

Cass also tries to traumatize his little sister. He loves his bath letters that stick on the wall when they get wet. He was experimenting to see if they would also stick on Celena. (Notice the "boo boo" on his forehead in the picture below - he "jumped" off the side of the couch one day).

Celena is such a good sport. She didn't mind at all that Cass was sticking the letters all over her body. :)

Happy Birthday Nuggie!!

Our little girl turned 1 last weekend! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. She is growing up so fast - she says several words, points at things she wants, constantly wants to be walking while holding my hands (she doesn't quite have her balancing skills mastered), and is eating table food. She is still as sweet as can be - rarely fusses, likes to rock and cuddle, and giggles all the time. She has earned the nickname "Nuggie" - that's a name that has morphed over time - Chris started calling her his little nugget (like a chicken nugget, which strangely fits her, since she's such a brown little thing) to the more suitable nickname of Little Nuggie. :)

We had her annual visit to the pediatrician this past week. She is healthy as can be. The only potential concern we have had about her is her voice - it's a little bit hoarse, which is actually really adorable, but we just wanted to make sure it was okay. He said it is absolutely fine. It will be interesting to see if she grows out of it. We finally got a new video camera (our last one gave out on us several months ago) - when I get the time to figure out how to download the videos I'll make sure and post one of her talking so you can hear her cute little voice. Anyway, here are her stats - still tall and skinny!

Weight: 20 lbs, 12 oz (40-50th percentile)

Height: 31 inches (90 - 97th percentile)

Head: 18 1/2 centimeters (90 - 97th percentile)

Little Daddy

Lately Cass has taken an interest in Celena's dolls. Of course Chris is not crazy about this, but I think it's sweet. The other day I caught him strapping one of her dolls in the high chair. When he noticed I was taking a picture of him doing this not-so-manly activity, he must have decided to try to compensate by taking on a risque "Michael Jackson" pose - ha!!

Latest Pastime

Celena has discovered drawers. And cabinets. And pretty much anywhere else she kind find to explore (i.e. make a complete mess). Cass seems to be regressing and following suit - right after I took this picture, I found him running out of my closet with many of my clothes off the hangers. Never a dull moment!

Grocery Shopping

It's amazing how the most routine errands can be completely entertaining for the kids. Back in the day (when I was new mom), I avoided these little "car" shopping carts like the plague . . . imagine all of the germs in these! Well, the benefit of having 2 kids that already have had hand, foot and mouth disease is that I don't mind quite as much about them being exposed to something like that from these carts. (Not sure if I posted about the hand, foot and mouth a while back - I think I did. Anyway, it's not as disgusting as it sounds, but it is a pain. The good thing is once kids have it they shouldn't get it very bad, if at all, again.) I know they can still get exposed to all kinds of nasty things, but I'm more brave now, so I just give the cart a swipe with the Clorox wipes and we're ready to roll!

Yes, we are still around

Hello! I was inclined to start this blog post by apologizing for neglecting the blog for the past couple months, but you have heard that before so I'll stop. However, life has been crazy - since my previous blog post, I quit my job at Ernst & Young, we took a family trip to the beach, we put our house in Charlotte on the market, moved into a corporate apartment in Winston-Salem, and I started a new job at BB&T. That explains why you may have thought we dropped off the face of the earth.

So here's a glimpse of our journey along the way . . .

The week before Memorial Weekend, we joined Chris's brother David and his wife Lorraine (who live in New Jersey) and some friends/relatives of theirs at Carolina Beach near Wilmington. While we were there we took a sight-seeing trip to the Battleship North Carolina. I'd never been on a battleship before - it was very interesting. After the tour, we stopped in the gift shop and the kids tried on some hats.

Lorraine was the coordinator of the trip, and found a great beach house in a really good location that we stayed at. It was just down the street from a little park, so Cass got a chance to play on the playground equipment. It's taken him a while to warm up to swings, but he is finally comfortable on them (as most of you know, he is a timid little guy). It looks like Daddy was having as much fun on the swing as Cass. :)

We also went to an aquarium in Wilmington. As I type this, I'm realizing I hadn't been to an aquarium before either (growing up in Kansas, you don't see many of those!!). I guess this trip was just as educational for me as it was for Cass - ha! Here are a couple pictures of Cass with Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Dave checking out some fish.

Cass loves the beach. He spent most of the time at the beach pushing his school bus around in the sand.

Although Celena went to Hilton Head with us when she was a few months old, this was her first real beach trip where she actually spent any time on the beach. I just couldn't resist buying a few different swimsuits for her for the trip. This little ballerina swimsuit is absolutely adorable!!!

Last year when we took Cass to the beach, we took a picture of he and Chris's footprints together. I think this will be an annual tradition.

I realized after the first day at the beach that there is way too much blowing sand to have my camera out there. So, here's a picture of Celena in her bikini (ha!!!) while she was getting smothered in sunscreen before we left the house.

After the week at the beach, we spent a week in Charlotte getting our things packed up for our move to Winston-Salem. Fortunately, my new employer put us up in a furnished apartment, so we just had to bring clothes and any personal things we wanted to have. However, it was still a busy week considering we also had to make sure the house was clean and ready to show since we had put it on the market.

We did have a bit of downtime among all the craziness. Charlotte is pretty much the "mecca" of NASCAR, since most of the race teams are located there. We usually watch several of the races during the year, but I think this year I've only seen one race with all that has been going on. However, I did manage to dress Celena in an outfit supporting her favorite driver for the race. I wonder how Dale Jr feels knowing that 9 month old babies wear his name on their bottoms? :)

In addition to the craziness that Chris and I have gone through the past several weeks, Celena has been busy as well. Crawling, pulling up, walking along furniture, and playing feverishly. Look at her concentration here. Those of you that know my husband will find this entertaining - Chris does the same exact thing with his tongue when he is really concentrating on something. hee hee

In early June, we got settled into the corporate apartment in Winston-Salem. It has been surprising how much we are enjoying apartment life. From my standpoint, the space is much smaller so there is not much to clean. And from Chris's standpoint, he is enjoying not having a yard to mow or things to fix.

As we get settled in Winston-Salem, we are looking to find a church to attend. We got ready for church one Sunday, actually got everyone loaded in the car and drove to the church, just to realize we were 10 minutes late for the service. Since it was our first time attending that church, we didn't want to walk in late, so we were literally "all dressed up with nowhere to go". So I decided to at least get a picture of the kids while they were playing when we got back home.

In addition to all of this, we made a very brief unexpected trip back to Kansas for my Grandmother's funeral last week. She lived a good life of 93 years, but it is still sad to say goodbye to a family member. Although we wished it was under different terms, it was nice to see the family on the trip back. Unfortunately, since I have a new job and it is a busy time at work for Chris, we weren't able to spend enough time to see friends back home that we miss so much - hopefully we can make another trip back soon under better circumstances!