Easter, birthdays, and more...

I am feeling good. It has only been about 3 weeks since my last posting, so I guess I am improving. We have actually been having alot go on those weeks, so there is a little to mention and many pictures to show. First was Easter and my 37th I mean 30th (LOL) birthday. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. For my birthday, Doug and Trish watched the kids, so Amy and I got to have a grown up date at Outback Steakhouse all by ourselves. It was nice even though we always miss the kids. We could have made a late night of it, but got home just in time to tuck the kids into bed, which is a good enough birthday present for me. We did get some time alone so that was nice too. The next day we had Easter lunch. Doug and Trish were still there, and Emily, Jody and Thomas came over to for a great Easter lunch and egg hunt. Here are some pictures of the kids playing:

Our little Easter flower

And our wascally wabbit...

Look at all my Easter eggs!! It took a little convincing that the Easter Bunny was not bringing "Easter Leggs..."

I will be hoarding my eggs here if you need me...

Princess Emma blowing out Daddy's birthday candles.

Something has come up and I will finish this post soon. Eveything is ok by the way. :>)

Well what do you know? It has been another month. I guess I should stop attempting to get on here as much as possible and get here when I can with relevant new stuff. Things are just going to be pretty mundane I guess until summer gets here and we plan vacations and such. We are in the process of planning that now. We know when we are going, we just don't know where. We were thinking of Hershey Park in PA, but checked the prices and thought again. We can do that after Emma can ride everything and then it will be worth it to go. I know we are going to do at least one OBX weekend, and hopefully two. I have loved it there since I was a kid. I did run to VA to do Christmas with Chuck (in March) one of the weeks I was out of work this month. I got to eat at my favorite place there: What-a-burger. Here is a photo.If you ever get the chance to go there, I highly suggest it. The burgers and fries are great. Just grab a drink at the 7-11 on the way. Also, we have been doing alot of yard work, especially one of the weeks I was out of work. I know in 3 days we fertilized and seeded the yard, I cut the grass first, we also threw 45 bails of pine straw, moved 3 yards of playground chips and layed just over 200 lbs of flat stone. Below are a few pictures of the yard:Amy and Ginger working in the yardFlat stone pathway in the backyardAnd the front yard flowerbed

Other than that, a pretty boring March. I am just awaiting some consistant golf weather and the pool opening for the kiddos. Steven is doing great in school still and little princess Emma still says new cute things almost every day and very rarely has potty accidents. Every now and then she has a pee mishap, but I can't remember she went poop other that in the potty. She really is becoming a little lady, but she also has a firey side that is for sure. Here are a few photos of us and the kids playing:

Emma swinging in the big girl swing

Steven also in the big boy swing

Emma and daddy taking a break

Steven dancing with Ginger

And here is Amy, Steven and Emma looking at some bugs...

That's all I got for now. Hopefully something really exciting will happen soon, but if not, I will still give you the skinny. I hope all is well with everyone. Have a great weekend.

Exactly one month to the day...

So much for me blogging every week. It is now one month since our snow day blog. I guess the good thing is that not to much has happened since then. It is hard to believe though that it is going to be the end of February in just a week. Didn't we just open presents? Now we are 1/6 of the way to Christmas 2009. I remember when I was a kid how it seemed like it took forever to get thru the year, but now it goes at light speed. Emma was nor sleeping thru the night and still wetting her pants, and now she very rarely has an accident, potties like a big girl, (both one and two) and this morning she asked for lip gloss, deoderant, and perfume. God help me. Is she turning 3 this year or 13? Steven is getting more interested in girls, (he is just 8), and way more independent. I feel like I want to prop my eyelids open for fear of missing something important. Anyway, lets see what we have been up to. We had a nice celebration for Valentines day. Amy was off so that was nice. Here are some pictures of the kids getting their presents:

This is the kids getting their Hersheys hearts

Emma riding her ladybug

Emma and her Bubby having a valentines snuggle

Steven also had a chorus concert at school. He has really enjoyed learning and singing his songs. I have a few pictures of him singing and Emma cheering her Bubby on:

Emma and Daddy listning to Bubby

If you squint, you can see Steven 4th from the right on the top row...(I need a new camera)

This is Emma standing up on the table to get a good look at her Bub

I think that's all the events of note over the last month. We have just been working, schooling, and playing. I got approved for a week off in March, so Amy and I will get some stuff done around the house like cleaning the gutters, staining the deck, pressurewashing the house and maybe some yard work. I may even get to run to Virginia for the day and get to do Christmas with Chuck and Lisa and hit some thrift stores. I will try my best to get back in the next week or two. I am also looking at other blog sites like thoughts.com or wordpress.com that Skye suggested. I just want to see what else is out there. When I started blogging, this was the first place I saw. I may stay here, I just want to see what else is out there and compare features. If anything changes, I will let you know. Hope everyone is well. TTYS.

The snow play day

Here it is another day, and work was called again today due to ice on the roads and slow production. SO, we get to have a family day which is really cool, since Amy works this weekend. Nothing new has happened since I posted yesterday, except our playing in the snow with the kids. They, us, and Ginger had a great time out there, playing in the snow, snowball fighting, and sledding in the front yard. We were chilled to the bone when we came in, but it was a great time. I have some of the pictures below.

Steven throwing a snowball at daddy.

Amy, Steven, Emma and Ginger playing in the backyard.

Daddy, Steven and Ginger playing in the snow.

Steven and Emma sledding.

And... Kabonk at the bottom of the hill.

Even Mommy tried her hand at sledding.

And Daddy... (sorry about that sled)

Emma's first time in the snow ever, and she had a blast, especially with her bubby sledding.

After the playing in the snow, we took the kids in for hot chocolate and thawing out. It was a great time by all. Emma even got a cup of snow afterwards and ate that too. She really enjoyed her first ever experience with snow. This is two posts in two days. Don't plan on me keeping up this pace. :>) We'll be back with another update soon. Drive safe everyone.

Let it SNOW

I think we may have finally recovered from Christmas. It saddened me, but a few days ago on the 17th of January, we took all our Christmas stuff down and put it away in the attic. I know it was up a while, but it is just sad to see it go every year. It is certainly my favorite time of the year by far. The really cool thing today though, (Tues, Jan. 20), is that it snowed last night here in the Clayton / Raleigh area. It is still snowing right now at 1:40 in the afternoon. The roads are pretty slippery here today, but it is great for the kids. School is closed, and we have at least 4 inches, maybe close to 5. They said we may get 6 plus, but I am always optimistic when it comes to us getting good snow, although we have done well last night into today. The kids are napping currently, which gives me a good chance to blog and do some homeowrk. I will try to get some more recent photos on here. I am doing better with blogging so far this year, but don't give the kudos yet. It is really hard sometimes to find stuff to talk about and even harder to find the time to do it with our work schedules and me taking 2 classes. Classes are going well though. My first paper for Religion and Psychology classes, I recieved an A on both. I am looking forward to taking the kids out in the snow after nap even though it is a tad chilly out there. I think I may even wear pants. (lol) Here are some recent pictures of us and the kiddos.

This is us eating at Jody and Emily's for Grandma's birthday

Emma and Steven in the princess house at TK's jumphouse

Amy helping Emma up the pretend rock wall

Steven hanging on for dear life with Emma below

The snow piling up in our back yard today...

These are just a few pictures of what we have been up to lately. TK's jumphouse was awsome for the kids. there are lots of jump rooms and blow up obsticle courses with sides. It was really hot in there, but the kids had a great time. I am about to get Emma up from nap so we can hit the snow, so I will go for now, but will be back with pictures of the kids playing in the snow for later.

Happy New Year 2009 - year of the anti-slacker

Happy New Year everyone!! You know as every day rolls by, and life just keeps on trucking. One does not even notice that it has been 10 weeks since the last post. With keeping the house and kids straight, work, school, the loss of dear family members, and the holidays, it seems like last week since the last post, when in fact it was LAST YEAR. It seems almost strange that another year has come and gone. I am finding that with age the years go quicker, which really bums me out. As cool as it is to see the kids grow up, it is also somewhat heartbreaking that every day they get further and further away from being my kiddo's and closer and closer to dating (yikes) and going away to college. Our holidays were great, with the exception of the loss of Amy's uncle George just 2 weeks before Christmas. He was a wonderful person, and was very much missed over this holiday season. It was nice to see all the family so close to the holidays, but a downer as to the reason why. I will try my best over this blog to catch you up on the events from mid October thru the end of our 2008.

First was Steven and Amy's birthdays.

This was Steven's graveyard birthday cake that Amy made.

This was Steven playing his birthday Nintendo DS.

Amy and Emma bear snuggling at the party during gift opening .

After the birthday parties, we had Halloween close on it's heels. Amy had to work that night but was able to get a few hours off to go out with us for some candy scavanging. Here are some pictures of the pumpkin carving, Amy's new makeover hairdoo, and the kids trick or treating.

Amy carving the pumpkin after her new haircut.

This was the pumpkin after carving...

These were our two little trick or treaters, Dumbo and the "Scream Guy.

We also took a trip to the State Fair in late October, of which this was my favorite photo...

Next came the month of November. That was fairly uneventful, except for our trip to VA for Thanksgiving, and Amy and my date day where she finally got her first tattoo. It has the kids initials in it, and it is very cool I think.

Amy's lower back tattoo with an S for Steven, and E for Emma, and a tiny C in the neck for me.

This is the kids swinging in my parents' back yard swing in VA at Thanksgiving.

Now comes December. All of the impending holiday stuff along with life's normal challenges. No problem right? I think we did a pretty good job of managing. We finished all the shopping and wrapping just before the holidays. We also got a new 46 inch TV for the family just before Christmas. Steven had his school chorus concert that he was selected for earlier in the year. I will put some pictures in here from all of those activities.

My beautiful, trim wife and kids trimming the christmas tree.

Our beautiful Emma at Mrs. Debbie's Christmas party.

Steven, Emma, and Grandma making Christmas cookies for Santa.

Emma, her Bubby and their Christmas snuggle doggies on Christmas Eve.

Emma checking out the "loot" that Santa brought for Christmas upon waking up Christmas day.

Merry Christmas to Daddy.

Emma on her Spongebob ball.

Steven with one of his many Nintendo DS games.

Emma driving Mommy to school in her new School Bus tent.

I think that will about do it. We are now up to the first of the new year and last night, Amy had to work, and the kids were in bed by 9. Daddy followed closely by 10:30. We are catching up now with getting the house back to normal over the next week or two, and start yet another wonderful year full of new firsts, alot of the same and hopefully a more timely blog. Time will tell. Everyone have a Happy New Year!!