Fun Saturday!

Naylor enjoying the salsa at our mexican dinner.

3 little monkeys!

Whitley Ann (8 weeks), Lalon (1.5 yrs), Naylor (2.5 yrs)

This afternoon while the girls and I were napping, Brian and Naylor were watching tv and saw a commercial for a movie with lions in it. Apparently, they saw the commercial a couple of times because they came upstairs and asked if we could go to the movies... say what?!?

So we hustled and got everyone dressed and headed out - the entire time I'm thinking I've lost my mind - and made it to the movies just in time. We went to see African Cats which was a documentary about lions and cheetahs, much like a National Geographic program. The kids loved seeing all of the animals and luckily the "attacks" weren't too graphic, so I don't think they realized what was happening during those parts. They probably talked a little bit more than the rest of the folks in the theater wanted, but it was cute stuff like, "a baby lion"; "cows!" (this is when referring to wildebeests). "elephants and zebras!".... hopefully, their cuteness overcompensated for their commentary! We were able to stay for almost the entire time, leaving only about 10-15 minutes early.

Afterward, we ran an errand and then out to eat for some Mexican. I was getting really nervous by this point on just how long we were going to be able to last in public with all three, but we made it!

Once we were home, we played some soccer in the back yard and then off for baths. Tonight, Whitley Ann got in the tub with Lalon and Naylor. I'm not sure if it was the splashing, yelling or new setting, but she was not as excited to be in there with those two, as they were to have her join them. I scrubbed her down pretty quickly and got her out - maybe she'll have more fun next time.

Overall, a pretty great Saturday!

The Royal Wedding

Naylor and Lalon enjoying their ice cream on the back porch.

After her bottle, Whitley Ann was bored with the wedding and went back to sleep!

Prince William and Catherine Middleton; The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

On Friday, April 29, 2011 Prince William married Catherine "Kate" Middleton in the royal wedding of the century so they are saying. I was definitely interested enough to set my dvr to record it, but not enough to get up at 4am to watch it live! I'm including the wedding in this post because 30 years from now, the kids may find it interesting... or not.

Whitley Ann must have been excited about the wedding though because she woke up around 6.15am. I'd usually feed her in her room and then try to get a few more minutes sleep before Naylor and Lalon got up, but since I was up, Whitley Ann and I went downstairs to watch the big event. Whitley Ann's timing was perfect! We were up in time to see the main action without having to watch two hours of journalists talking about stuff. It was very nice and Kate was beautiful as was her gown - just perfect in my opinion!

The remainder of our day was pretty low key and once the girls and I went to pick Naylor up from school, we decided to stop and get some ice cream to celebrate a good day!

Happy Easter!

Naylor and Lalon - Happy Easter!

Naylor, Lalon and Ava James - love that they are holding hands!

Ava James, Anna and Lalon

Ava James, Naylor, Lalon and Anna; seems that Naylor may be upset here...

Naylor after a ride on the gator with Pa

Margaux, Lalon, Ava James and Anna

Ava James did some good egg hunting.

Lalon hunting for eggs with Pa.

Whitley Ann was sleeping when we took the pictures of the kids in their Easter suits,

so she got to take her picture solo!

We had a great Easter weekend in Clinton with Annie, Pa and the Hargroves. We ended up going down Friday after naps, just in time to pick up some Taco Rico and have dinner with the Hargroves. On Saturday, we just laid around for a bit and then had some big fun while Pa, Robert and Jamie cut down some of Annie's trees and hauled them off (this was pre-approved cutting of course). Naylor loved riding with Uncle Robert in the big dump truck. During naps, Annie and I sat by the pool to relax... we both got a real nice tan, I mean, burn! Oh well, went ahead and got my summer burn out of the way; I should be good to go once I make it to the beach.

Easter morning we were up and on our way to church. This was the first time we had taken all 3 kids and overall, I'd say it was a success. Naylor did get upset once, he dropped his cup and the girl in front picked it up and handed it over the pew, but he just saw her grab it and thought she had taken his cup... he and Lalon went up to the nursery after that!

After church, we had lunch at Christie and Jamie's with Annie, Pa, Robert, Aunt Becky's family and Ma Ma and Pa Pa. Wonderful food and desserts as usual and then lots of fun with another egg hunt after all the eating was done. We then headed back home after a really fun weekend.

Good Friday play date!

Pizza Party!

(L-R): Carson, Morgan, Lalon and Naylor

Morgan, Carson and Lalon snuggling!

Since our buddies were off for Good Friday, we had everyone over for a fun play date - a rare treat to play with these friends during the week! The kids all played very well together (I was a little nervous, but they all did great) and then we had a pizza and applesauce party. What a fun morning in and a great way to brighten our rainy day!

We're not in Kansas anymore...

It was hard to get pictures of the damage, but here's a few. I think what I was most amazed / frightened by was all the trees... not that they were down, but that they were all twisted off about halfway up, snapped like pencils. I took pictures of them, but they didn't turn out...

This was taken from Vaughn Towers (press box area) at NCSU's Carter Finley Stadium. If you'll look closely, you can see the first row of red seats are completely under water and there's water rolling over the edge onto the lower level.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Saturday afternoon once we were home from the NCSU Red and White game, we put the kids straight to bed and then Brian and I were just relaxing. He had done a few things in our yard and talking with the neighbors when the storms started rolling in. We had seen in the news all week that we'd have "severe thunderstorms", but we weren't prepared in any way for what was coming.

I called Brian in and we watched the news as tornadoes popped up all over southeastern North Carolina - many right in line to hit us and my family down in Clinton - NOT GOOD! Not much we could do, but wait and pray and see what happened... We had our safe spot picked out (the coat closet under the stairs and/or downstairs bath if we needed more room), but we never actually went to it - that probably wasn't too smart in hindsight.

It was a little scary to see the storm blow up so quickly, all black and crazy lightening - looked like it was just past our neighborhood as we could see it over the school behind our house. And, after everything was said and done, that's exactly where it was. It tore through about a mile from us and hit a dairy farm. Lots of trees were down and all over the houses, but made more of a mess and some structural damage to the roofs, but still inhabitable. I stopped on Sunday to see if those folks needed anything, like clothes / food / whatnot, but the guy said they were all very lucky and didn't lose anything - just made a big mess. So very thankful they are all okay!

There were areas that unfortunately were not as lucky and had severe damage with folks losing their homes and some their lives. It's crazy the things folks are finding that the storm blew around, for instance, a Cary lady found a yearbook from a senior that lives in Sanford (which is just under 40 miles away). More than 25 tornadoes touched down dozens of times 32 North Carolina counties on Saturday, April 16, 2011. Twenty-two people were killed, around 130 homes destroyed, and more than 700 homes damaged.

We were so very fortunate, no damage here, nor at Mama and Daddy's - nothing that can't be fixed at least. I heard that this would most likely go down as the deadliest storm system in NC history. We haven't had tornadoes here like that since a bad storm in 1984. I don't remember the actual storm then, but I do remember riding around with Daddy and seeing all the damage / trees down / etc...

Here's a link of photos from Sanford's damage - it completely leveled a Lowe's Home Improvement store there. The store manager saw it coming and got all the employees / shoppers to the back of the store and no one was hurt - amazing!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150212586496458&comments

NCSU Red & White Game

Lalon and Naylor with Mr. and Mrs. Wuf.

Higgins family with Mr. Wuf; Whitley Ann is just out of sight, but she was there too!

Saturday after our egg hunt was the NCSU Spring Red & White football scrimmage. We've been going to this with our friends for the past couple of years and had planned to go again this year. Friday night we weren't sure if we would be attending or not since the weather looked as if there would be rain, so we decided we'd make a "game day" call on if we went or not. When we got up it was overcast, but not raining, so we hustled and met the Swaringens and Prowlers out there to tailgate for a bit and then head in to the game.

The kids had a great time just running around and loved that the stadium was empty so they could kind of rule the place inside as well. Since it was low key, we were able to make our way down to the first row and watch the cheerleaders, Tuffy (the wolf), sit with Mr. and Mrs. Wuf and watch the game up close. We were all having a good time and Naylor *loved* seeing Mr. and Mrs. Wuf! Around 1pm we decided to head home, it was starting to sprinkle a bit and we were treading into nap time, so we packed up.

What a fun morning out with the family and good friends - looking forward to it next year when Whitley Ann can be walking around and Baby Harrison (Carson's brother-to-be) will join us too!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp

Egg Hunt

I apologize for the lack in blogging; we've been so busy having fun, I haven't had time to tell you about it!

Last Friday afternoon we had our playgroup friends over for our 2nd Annual egg hunt. What a fun time we had! The weather couldn't have been any better for our afternoon hunt and cookout. We grilled hot dogs, burgers and corn on the cob along with lots of other treats. The kids really got into the "hunt" this year too; they all understood it a little better than last year! I think the biggest treat was that Rikki brought their bounce house - between the bounce house and Jamie (Hayden's dad) tossing the kids over the side into the bounce area they were all tuckered out at the end of the night.

What a fun day - looking forward to next year's hunt!

Here's a link to the photos (same as on Facebook plus some more) - hope the link works!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

Time flies!

Mason, Naylor and Carson - April 2009

Naylor, Carson, Mason - April 2011

Can't leave out the girls!

Riley, Naylor, Carson, Mason, Lalon and Whitley Ann

What a difference just a few years can make! We went to the NCSU Red & White Spring scrimmage game this morning and met up with the Swaringens and Prowlers. We missed the game last year, but had gone the year before. Here's a pic of the kids at the 2009 game and then the kids at today's game. A separate entry to come about the game with more pictures.

Throwback...

Mama used to make this cake for my birthday when I was a little girl. I've been thinking about it recently with all the strawberries in the store, so I tried to make it for our playgroup egg hunt we had here yesterday. It was just as good as I remembered, but way sweeter!

Strawberry Cake - Ann E. Naylor

1 box white or yellow cake mix (I used DH Golden Butter Recipe)

1 sm. pkg. strawberry Jello

4 eggs

1 c. oil

1 c. strawberries, fresh or frozen

Icing:

1 box confectioners' sugar

1 stick soft butter

1 c. strawberries

Mix all ingredients for cake together. Bake in 2 or 3 layers at 350.

For icing:

Cream butter, add sugar and beat well. Add strawberries *slowly* and mix well. Frost between layers.

Note: I was concerned when I was beating the sugar and butter - it got kind of thick and appeared like fondant, but once the strawberries were added it smoothed out and became "creamy".

Today's funny

just sweet

and the sprinkler rounds out our Monday!

Went out to turn on the sprinklers for the new sod and attempted to plant a few hostas while the kids played... got them happy and occupied and then Whitley Ann piped up! Maybe by next Sunday I'll have them in the ground. Naylor and Lalon were loving the sprinkler - so fun to listen to their sweet squeals!

Making cookies!

After nap today Naylor wanted to make some cookies, so we did! Here is a picture of the kids waiting for them to finish cooking. I think their favorite part was getting a warm cookie once all the "work" was done.

It sure has been a fun Monday around here - painting this morning and cookies this afternoon - now time to go outside for a little bit before Daddy gets home.

Monday morning paint project

I picked up these little garden art paint projects and so we did that this morning for a little while. The kids had a fun time and didn't make too much of a mess!

Lalon-isms

Just being pretty and precious.

After "eating" yogurt, if you think she consumed any!

This was last Friday while the boys were at school and work. Lalon and I were decorating

with Easter stuff and she decided to dig through the recycling.

Guess she thought we should start the weekend early! :)

Lalon is just the funniest little person to me these days. She's almost always full of smiles (unless she's had a run-in with Naylor over a toy) and just generally happy. She seems to me to be much more independent than Naylor - she doesn't mind playing alone or doing her own thing as long as she knows someone is around or close by. I was trying to remember all the things she's doing and decided I needed to get them down before I forgot them all. I'll jot down what I can think of at the moment and most likely add to the list as the day goes on. She is a total copy cat these days - doing any and everything that Naylor will do, which sometimes is hilarious and other times not-so-much...

• Naylor was in time-out the other day in the corner and making a big fuss. Lalon didn't know what was going on, but wanted in on the action so she walked up to the wall beside him, put her face against it, started yelling and slapping the wall with her hands!
• Another time they were both banging on the fireplace cover, Naylor got his hand stuck in the vent part and starts crying. Brian helped Naylor out and was comforting him - Lalon goes over to the fireplace and puts her hand on it and starts to fake cry!
• Nothing makes her laugh much harder than grabbing one of Naylor's things, making sure he sees that she has it, and then making a run for it! She usually doesn't get too far because she's laughing so hard about what she's done that she can't focus on running and will get tripped up. She thinks this is HILARIOUS and does it at least twice a day.
• She's talking a bunch. Last week I was getting Naylor ready for school and she was eating breakfast. I asked Naylor if he was ready to go to school and poor Lalon says, "I wanna go!" and started crying a little - poor thing, I think she really enjoyed school at Ms. Virginia's when she was staying with Annie & Pa. We do have her signed up to do some school starting in September at Naylor's current school. They will both go for a half day on Thursday and Friday (8.30 - 12.30).
• She LOVES to dance - especially in the car - I think she has her mother's moves (thank goodness, Daddy isn't so smooth on the dance floor)!
• She did get her beautiful eyelashes from her Daddy though - I was rocking her the other day and looking at how pretty her eyes are - her lower lashes are already longer than my top lashes (not a huge feat, but pretty cool).

Girls' doctor visit

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT CHRISTIE!!!

Whitley Ann - 1 month

Lalon - 18 months

I took the girls to the doctor this morning for their routine checks and everyone got a great report. Attached are some pictures of the girls before we headed to the doctor. Lalon kept pulling on her collar and saying, "Pa's cow - moo!" - such a funny girl. Brian said he's just a little nervous that the girls may be taller than Naylor... only time will tell!

Whitley Ann's 1 month stats:

• 8 lbs, 15 oz - 50th percentile
• 21.25" - 50th percentile
• 37cm (head circ) - 50th percentile

Lalon's 18 month stats:

• 23 lbs, 3 oz - 40th percentile
• 31" - 48th percentile
• 46.5cm (head circ) - 50th percentile