Wednesday, September 25, 2013

September happenings

While Fall in North Carolina is nothing like Fall in New England, we have finally begun to experience 'cool' weather.  By that, I mean 70's and 80's during the day and 60's at night.

First, after much searching and quite a bit of tears and a very worried 4 year old, dear Panda has made it home safe from his travels with the Sun.  Silly Panda, going off like that for weeks and not checking back in with Mommy J.  Now though, Panda is back, and we're all so happy.



Everyone loves fresh flowers right?  Well this girl loves them and loves posing for pictures.
SURPRISE!

Happy

....sad....


This past weekend

Loki found this tree and poked it..... for a really long time.

Then he decide he didn't want to be filmed doing it.  "No pictures!"



Still at it...


Everyone wanted snuggle time, including me.
Me and my big boy


Coming up, Mama's Birthday Bash weekend!

Saturday, August 31, 2013

A start to a long weekend

I was so excited to spend the whole long weekend with the kids, and I knew just how I wanted to start it off. Since I got my first paycheck from work I bought the kids a bunch of new clothes and took them out to dinner at our favorite pizza place.  After dinner we took a long ride deep, deep into the woods to findthe fairies   (fireflies). While, they were not as many as I had seen the week before, we did get a different special treat. 

We saw the stars.  So many more then we do at home. Personally, I saw the Milky Way band for the first time in my life, and I was so happy to share that with my family. We sat on a log, had a homemade chocolate chip cookie that the kids made earlier with Memaw and Papaw and listeners to the frogs and the crickets and the herons while starring into the stars. 

Today, at the most awesome suggestion, we went to Pullen Park. There, we did it all!  We climbed, played in the sand, the water, rode the train and the boats, enjoyed lunch then ran and ran near and far in the park. To finish off a most fantastic day, we rode the Carousel. When we got home, I carried in the most lovable sack of potatoes I call Loki and put him into bed. I curled up next to sweet Nuit and snoozed along with her. 














What shall we do tomorrow?  A walk in the woods anyone?

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Bye bye beach house


We rounded off our days in the sun by the pool and sharing a meal before we all did a mad dash to pack and clean the night away. 

Here are some of our final photos. 








The ooey, gooey, green pond. A nice retreat. 



Cheese!




While I had a really good time with my family, I did miss my Aunt and Uncle. I know they were both happy where they were, and that's all that matters. 

Thank you to everyone in my family, for everything. 





















Friday, June 28, 2013

A full dozen.

The vacation home now has reached full capacity with a full dozen family members.  Sometimes we all plan a trip together, and sometimes we each go our separate ways. Either way, I have been surrounded by love. 

I've thoroughly enjoyed having coffee each morning with my Aunts and Uncles, and surprising 4 am conversations with my cousin. I don't think I've felt this close to my family ever really. 

Thank you to Laurie, Katie and CJ for the suggestion and all the leg work you did to find and procure this home, so we could not only celebrate the amazing achievement of Laurie's retirement, but also we could all spend this time together. 


My budding photographer. 

Mr. Dude allows his picture taken by my daughter. 

Check me out! 
"Mommy I driving a ship!"

The kids and Daddy sing together. 
Second cousins and the lovely Miss Katie. 







Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Kill Devil Hills

Kill baby kill!

Despite the name, this place is filled with happy, loving family, with hopefully one more on their way. Here are 
a couple of pics from our first days:

Rocket ship rides before bed. Second cousins get to know each other better. 

Pool time of course. 

Half the clan takes an evening stroll. We watch the waves and the pelicans fly above the water. 

Most of the siblings. We're missing one, but we gave him a loving, howling send off to Italy! His beautiful wife is home, not cooking, and enjoying every moment. We miss you two!

My little man, he's grown so much. 


Sunset from one of the back porches. 
Beach time. Wicked waves meant the kids needed to be held onto the whole time. They had a blast while mom, great aunt and grandma kill their backs to make sure as much glee as possible was had.