Productive Weekend... where's the rest...

Productive Weekend

Let's just have a relaxing weekend at home.... That was the plan. Here is what we did instead. Saturday morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn to go to a nice community yardsale. The neighborhood was so crowded with cars that we decided, like most, to park on the side of the road and walk through. We found a few treasures, mostly clothes and a few toys. The best find was a racecar style four wheeler for Emma. We couldn't wait to get home, and test it out on the cul-de-sac. The fourwheeler would have to wait for a quick breakfast at the newly reopened McCalls Restaurant. (You may remember that a single passenger/piloted airplane crashed into the the entrance of the restaurant 7 or so months ago.) McCalls has been a family favorite for birthdays and large family gatherings over the years. We are glad to see it reopen this week.

Once at home we unloaded and proptly hit the street. Steven alternated between his four wheeler and bycycle, sharing with a neighbor, Trey. Emma learned quickly how to drive her green, purple, and pink racecar. I stayed close and showed her the ropes. We had a blast, and got a little pink during our 20 min test drive. Adjouring to the shade of the back yard swingset, we watched as Chris mowed the yard, then tilled the barren areas in preparation for the landscaper who promises (for the third time) to aerate, fertalize, lime and seed the yard on Monday. I hope he likes working in the rain.

Emma, lulled to nappy time by her baby swing, slept for two hours. This gave me the perfect opportunity to finish my longtime work in the flowerbed. I planted 23 perinials that guarantee to bloom for three seasons of the year. Then I dropped 14 bags of mulch. Soaked in sweat and caked with dirt, I went straight to the shower. Chris made dinner while I chased the kids around the living room. We were all in bed by 9:15. Relaxing weekend at home, right?

Today was a little slower paced. We all slept in, ohhh 'till about 7:40... We did our weekly grocery trip to Wal-Mart while most were at church. While Emma napped, Steven and I workd on his "Independant Project" for school. He decided to do a presentation about snakes, complete with flash cards to read from and a picture of our temporary pet snake. A few weeks ago Steven and I caught a 12 inch Brown Snake in the new flower bed. We kept it a few days, and even fed it an earthworm after some internet research. We let it go before Steven got too attached. It obviously made an impression. The presentation is due in a week, and he is done. I'm a proud mama.

After a few finishing touches on the flower bed, we headed out on a family bike ride. I towed Emma in a trailer. We had a great time, despite how out of shape we are. Steven spun circles around us. We we panting and grunting up the hills, and he never broke a sweat. I guess we need to do it more often. Back the the ever popular swingset we went to unwind. Chris stayed behind and straightened up the garage. The rest of the day was more relaxed. Lots of playing and tickling. What a great weekend!!!

Here are some pictures of the goings on from the past week and weekend...

Emma riding her new racing 4 wheeler

Steven riding his bike with Amy and Emma

Emma riding her scooter / 4 wheeler

Our Puppy Doo!!!

The completed wall and mulched bed...

A closer View...

We hope you are all doing well!!

The birthday week of bad backs and sickies...

What a week it has been. Things really do happen quickly, so let me catch you up on the events of the last week or so. To start things off, Emma ended up getting hand, foot, mouth disease. She had a fever for a day or two, and then got little blisters on her hands, feet, and around her mouth that laster about a week. It is caused by a virus that you mainly get as a kid, and usually do not get again, kind of like chicken pox. Little beknownst to me, I had also never had the illness, but rest asured, I have had it now. I got really beat down Friday, April 3, and came home from work. It had me out of commission until Sunday afternoon, and by then my fever broke and the blisters came. That part sounds worse than it is, as the blisters were the size of a pin head, maybe a little larger. I got a few on my feet, maybe 15-18 on my hands and a hanful inside my mouth. (that was a treat) I did go back to work that Monday, so life got back to another semblance of normal. We looked forward to the arrival of my birthday weekend, and the coming of my parents to visit with us. They arrived on Friday, April 10, but my dads back was messed up. (he did get to retire on the 3rd of April by the way :>) ) I also did something at work on Thursday of last week to tweek my back as well. It was only moderately injured, and then I played golf Friday, (shot 85), and that night after dinner while I played with the kids and visited, it really began to hurt. It was pretty miserable most of Saturday as well, and my dads back was so bad that they went back to Virginia. We did manage to go eat that night at Outback Steakhouse with me, Amy, the kids, Doug and Trish, and Em, Jody, and Tommy. It was nice, but my back still was mesed up. I went to urgent care on Sunday and got some steroids and muscle relaxers, and things have improved greatly. I did go to work Monday, but tried to take it easy. I also can't golf or lift weights until after Wednesday according to the doctor, but that was no problem, as I really just want this to get better. I took a few pictures from this weekend of me, Amy and the kids from my birthday weekend, and a picture of a lizard that Steven found too. I guess that is about it for now. I will go ahead and wish my parents an early 40 year wedding anniversary. It is really warming up here and should be 75 – 80 for the whole next week, so hopefully we can get all of our yard work done we are in the process of and just be able to enjoy it. Hope everyone is well.

STEVEN AND DADDY ON MY BIRTHDAY

ME AND MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE ON MY BIRTHDAY
STEVEN'S LIZARD HE FOUND ON THE DECK STEVEN HOLDING MY BIRTHDAY BALLOONDADDY AND EMMA AT OUTBACK

THE FUTURE PRINCESS...
HOPE EVERYONE IS DOING WELL. WILL POST AGAIN SOON!!

Happy April everyone

I am doing pretty well on the making sure I get at least a post a week right now, so I just wanted to start by saying I hope everyone is having a good start to their April. It is hard to beleive that we are already on the 4th month into the year, and it is flying by so fast. I want to start by saying happy belated birthday to our Niece Gabrielle. I know we sent a card and gift on time, (I hope it got there on time), the belated is because the posting date is after the B-day. My birthday is coming up as well, and maybe I will get a walker and some motrin for as old as I feel..., just kidding. Things are good here, Emma has just had a little of a runny nose, but seems to be much better today, so hopefully that is on its way to being better. Now I know why it is hard sometimes to post more than once a week, not much changes sometimes!! We did however do some major yardwork this past weekend, which we hope will payoff this spring. I have some before and after photos, as well as some of the work being done I will post. It has gone from cluttered and crappy, to spaced out, colorful and beautiful. Once the seeding and mulching is done buy the end of the weekend, I will post some more photos of the completed work. Here are some photos so far and of this past week.

This is me getting ready to pull bushes out of the ground with the truck...

Amy and her dad working on breaking the roots free as I pull...

Above was the way it looked right after the wall was done with the plants all bunched together, and no fill dirt behind the wall yet...

Here is the bed as it looks now from a distance...

Here is a view from up closer

And even closer...

As you can see, we did a good bit of work to the bed that my wife planned out, and it looks good to start. Hopefully, when all done, it will really be something. I also tilled the whole yard where there were spots of no grass, or hard as a rock spots, which was basically 1/2 of the yard. I will post next week after we get fertilized and seeded, and hopefully it will look even better and I will have more to say. See ya.

Spring seems to have sprung

Hey everyone. Back with another quick post, as not much has changed. Steven has a little bit of a congested cough, but no fever and no signs of it slowing him down. We think it is just due to the new abundance of pollen. He also just lost another tooth. If there are 2 things that suck about spring, it is pollen and BUGS. They are starting to come back out now, spinning webs to walk thru and flying in my face during my backswing. Oh well, enough complaining about that. I won't even get into how our cars are turning yellow, and there is apparently not enough water in NC to wash them...
On to other stuff. Emma and Amy are great, and I am doing well too. This weekend will be a good one, as Amy is off all weekend, and we are going to be tilling the yard and planting bushes, trees, and flowers. Maybe after we are done, I will post some early stage photos of that. she has it planned out to where I think it will look pretty good. Hopefully we can get some grass to grow too, and then we will be in business. The kids loved Easter, and of course got plenty of stuff. I am going to put a few pictures from Easter down here, and that will about conclude this post.

This was the kids Easter morning

This is the beautiful and talented Emma

This is Daddy whacking golf balls... this one actually looks good...

Here is Steven, learning the game early..., do I see another Tiger in the works...

That is about all I have for now. I will try to make sure I get in in the next 4 days or so with more pictures and updates. That IS the plan anyways... Take care all.

Just chiming in...

Just wanted to drop a line in here, as it has been at least a week since I have been here, and I need to lay down a post so I don't get to slack. I know when there are blogs I usually read, if they are not updated at least once a week, I feel like my favorite TV show has been delayed. (lol) Everything here is good. We are winding to the end of Amy's good week, where coming up this weekend,it starts to suck where she works all weekend, and then works 3 of 5 days next week. That is the hard week, as we don't see her enough. But the following weekend will creep up on us, and we will be back to the good week. The good thing is that I think Doug and Trish are coming over for Easter to have an early dinner with us and celebrate with the kids. the only two things that I really wanted to make sure I put in this post were a picture I took of just how talented my wife is, and an Easter picture of the kids from Wal-Mart.

First the freakiness that is my wifes talent level. I know that she does alot of things well, but the other day it crossed the line. She was fooling around with Steven's etch a sketch and here is what we got...

I know, it is scary. She did a house, tree, dog, and a rosebush. I thought my retarted whale I had done was good. I just had to take a picture of this because I had never seen anything like it.

Next was the kids Photo at Wal-Mart with the Easter Bunny. When we went grocery shopping last, we found that they were doing free pictures with the Easter Bunny, but we were not sure how Emma would handle it. She actually did well, maybe because she was with her "bubby", or maybe because she was more curious than scared. The picture turned out well though.
I know they are both ready for Easter, Steven a little moreso than Emma, as she knows "of" the Easter bunny, but not what he brings. She will know after Sunday. That is about all. Amy and I just got bikes as well, and Emma a carrier so we could have family bike rides together and get more excersize. Other than that, life is good, and running normal. Hope you all have a good Easter Holiday!!

Another trip (to VA) and now back to normal

Some more time has passed, and I think we are back home for a while. Last weekend we went up to VA, to my neck of the woods to visit, for my Mom's birthday. The trip was good. Emma and Steven both did well in the car both ways, and we had a great time as usual.

As you can see, they both had a good time in the car together. They really do get along great, and entertain each other whenever boredom encroaches. Once there, Emma got to play at my parents house, and Steven went with me over to Chuck and Lisa's house to open Christmas gifts, (yes, in March) and he also got to see the dogs.

He really loves playing with them, and Ginger too at home. Steven also got his first taste of getting to ride in the front seat when we went over to Chucks. He needs to be 8 yrs or 80 lbs as a rule here in NC, but I am not sure what the rule is in VA. I just felt that he was close enough to 8 anyway, plus it was vacation, and it was a little something special. He really enjoyed it.

After the trip we have just been hanging out at the house and enjoying being home together as this was Amy's week to be off more during the week. I got a good picture of the kids snuggling on the sofa in the late evening, watching Spongebob Squarepants on TV.

Steven has also been doing really well at Tae Kwon Do lately. He just tested for and passed his test for high green belt. If he works hard and keeps practicing, he could be all the way to black belt in another year so so. He does a really good job in class with his sparring and board breaking. We have some pictures from his last class of him breaking a board, and kicking the standing bag.


I think that is all the news that I have for now. Amy has to work this weekend, so that is a bummer, but I am going to try to play golf at Heritage this weekend with Doug, Ken and Tommy. Hopefully we will get plenty of rain for the area Friday, but it will be long gone by Saturday morning. I will try to get some pictures of that if I can this weekend, and will hopefully be back soon with more news and stories. Hope everyone is well.

What a week...

It feels good to be back even if I have slacked some on the posting. We really have been busy, and get to take a breath this weekend as Amy has to work, before we make another trek to my part of VA the following weekend for my mom’s birthday. What seems like constant traveling every other weekend seems hard, but it is worth it. We are looking forward to seeing everyone the last week of February.
We also had a really great time at Candice’s baby shower last weekend in Herndon, VA. The trip up and back were not too bad. Doug drove up, and I drove back. It was colder there than here in NC. You could tell where they have been salting the roads a lot up there. We stayed at the Hampton Inn I believe, which was really nice. We had a huge suite on the first floor with a pack and play for Emma, and a fold out couch for Steven. The bed slept great, and we had a 32” at least, flat screen TV in our room, so we could watch Sponge Bob and Scooby in larger than life color. (that was for the kids by the way, even though I do like S.B.) The bathroom was also extra large, with no tub. There was just a huge stand up shower, with a drain in the middle of the floor, and a seat on the wall. The pool and workout rooms were right across from our room which was nice, and the kids loved the pool. Sunday morning the had a continental breakfast, which was probably the worst thing about our stay, but was still not bad. There were some biscuits and gravy, plastic looking eggs, coffee, juices, cereal, milk, yogurt, and pastries and fresh fruit. So, all in all, not bad. It doesn’t hurt when you stop for dinner at Cracker Barrel. While at the shower, the guys were kicked out, so I took Steven to Goodwill nearby, and got him a new toy, and Emma some new clothes and her very own little baby Nike golf putter. I also got to hit the 7-11 for slurpees before we hit the road. The cake Trish made for the shower was awesome as usual, and once it was over and we got back there, the kids really had a good time too. It was nice to see family that we don’t get to see much. (enough) Hopefully it will not be too long before we get to see everyone again.
The kids have been good for a while now. All sicknesses seem to be all better. We were all playing around the house the other night, and Emma was dressed up as the “coat monster.” When she had the hood pulled up, she looked a little like Kenny from South Park. It is just adorable. Her and her “bubby” get along very well for the most part. She loves to run and be chased. We all take turns being “base” and she runs up to whoever is the “safe” one at the time just screaming and giggling. She was laying on Amy, snuggling after we were done playing, and I crawled up to her and said, “love you Emma.” She said back, “I love you too Daddy.” That never ever gets old. Even Amy thought that was so sweet. We really do have fantastic kids. All kids can give you the “pull your hair out” moments, but the vast majority of the time, ours are just too good to be true. Emma has really gotten into Scooby Doo lately. She will grab the remote (mote’ mote) and sit on the sofa, hand me the remote and say, “Scooby Dooby Doo daddy.” Just wait until she starts watching all her princess shows and what not. Steven will love having to share TV time with that. He does do a really good job sharing though.
Other than that, I think I am done for this post. Amy went with Steven not long ago to the circus and took some pictures of that field trip, but I will let her tell that tale. Hope everyone is doing well and healthy. Tomorrow is Friday!! :>) Have a great weekend.