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Two Reindeer Christmas

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Family Portraits

The slideshow above is from our family portrait shoot several weeks back. These were a surprise for my parent's anniversary a little early. I have worked with Dana for over a year and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She has the patience of a saint and was so tolerant despite the fact that the boys were all over the place. If you live in the Raleigh area, check out her website www.danajophotos.com or click on the link to the right. She also coincidentally did engagement pictures for a friend from high school and they turned out beautiful as well. She definitely is talented!

Let the Games Begin!

I mean that literally! Austin has started back with sports full swing. He is involved in T-ball and flag football. Every Saturday we have games and then have t-ball games at other times during the week as well. Football practice is on Tuesday nights. Caleb and I are getting a lot of time to hang out together although he is more interested in running around or trying to get into the dugout to see Austin. He will yell "Run, Austin, Run!" Sounds more like "Un, Au-ten, Un." Austin does like T-ball better than football but I think that is because he does not like to play defense. We will see how things pan out.

Just to catch everyone up. Austin will be graduating from Pre-K next Friday. He is excited but we still don't know which school he will be attending next year. He has mastered riding his bike without training wheels. We took a walk to the Farmer's Market in town on Saturday morning and he rode the entire way there. He is reading well and really likes reading to Caleb. Other than sports, he is his same old self.

Caleb is 18 months now. He is talking at times and say things like cup, cheese, outside, please and thank you. He is also getting better at saying people's names. He is very active and does not even sit still to watch TV for very long. He is intereseted in anything that his brother is doing. He will hit a baseball, play hockey and golf, and ride his tricycle with his helmet on. He especially enjoys our neighbors and their little girl who he plays with almost daily.

We are having great fun playing outside every day. I am becoming more proficient in my sports skills. I have to keep up with the boys. Summer should be fun but I imagine we will be tired after running around after everybody. By the way, the pictures above are random through the past several months. Carter (my nephew) had his first birthday and there are some pictures included from that event as well. Until next time...

The Dust Has Finally Settled!

Well, it is the beginning of a new year and where have we been? The better question is where have we NOT been! Our holidays were once again full of hustle and bustle but we tried to keep things as simple as possible. We celebrated with family and friends all over the place. We finally took the boys to see Santa but it was different than before. We went to a neighborhood in Apex where a couple decorates and partitions off their garage to be like a living room. Santa comes out and sits with the kids, poses for pictures and just has a generally good time. His wife dresses like an elf and hands out gifts to the kids (Austin got a bookmark and candy cane while Caleb got a cute little stocking with tissues!). Caleb was not a big fan of the guy in red so he went around back and stood behind the chair so that we could get a picture with both of them (and unfortunately me). Christmas Eve we were at home and we decided to pick someone in the rest home to visit. I picked one of my patients who would be there on Christmas Eve. She has dementia and I knew she would probably not remember the next day so I called her daughter to ask if it would be ok for us to go. She was so excited to see the kids. Austin talked with her and we gave her some little gifts that we brought. We only spent about 45 minutes but she was so happy and I think it taught Austin a good lesson. Of course Santa came and the boys got way too much stuff. All in all it was a good and relaxing time.

Shane went to the bowl game in Memphis for New Year's. The boys and I went to Greenville. It sounds like Memphis was a good time, except for the game and we had fun getting in bed well before midnight to get a good night's rest. Shane went on his annual golf trip this weekend and the boys spent time with Nana and Grandpa. That left me all alone. I must admit that it was not so bad!

Austin is doing well in school. He is really learning a lot in Pre-K. He does great with his sight words but is resistant when it comes to math. He is going to sign up for more sports for the Spring and is excited to get involved. He is working on his inside voice and just being a good listener. He has really started to talk back and has become a real pain at times.

Caleb is all over the place. He is running everywhere and wants to be involved in whatever his brother is doing. He is starting to be very mischievous and will do something only to look over with this huge grin on his face. He has been cutting some teeth, ever so slowly. He has started to wake in the middle of the night and has become very hard to get back to sleep. If we let him cry, he will wake up Austin. We are hoping it is just the teeth because he seems fine otherwise. Who knows what is going on in that little head. He has had many tumbles resulting in numerous bruises on the head and scratches here or there. He seems to weather them all without difficulty!

We hope this new year brings more fun to our house as the boys continue to grow. Until next time, stay safe and keep warm!

Ear tubes, Turkey, and Trees, Oh My!

We have been pretty busy over the past month. At the top of our list has been the health of poor little Caleb. He had his 5th ear infection in early November and we headed to the ENT. After 4 days of antibiotics, the ENT asked me if I had been giving him his medicine because his ears still looked horrible. We went the following week for ear tubes. The following Monday he was supposed to get vaccinations and they assured me to just bring him on unless he had a fever. Being the great PA/mom that I am, I never thought to check his ears. When we arrived, the ever-so-wonderful nurse practitioner asked very nicely if I had not noticed the gobs of gook coming into his ear canals. He went back on antibiotics. By Thanksgiving day, he had hand, foot and mouth. I was sure that was what it was but we went back to the doctor on Monday. We seem to be in the clear so far this week, but then again it is only just beginning!!

We spent Thanksgiving at home and ate with our wonderful neighbors who we might as well call family. It was a relaxing day since I had to work on Friday. Austin tried to cause a little commotion by falling into the outside firepit. Gasp, sigh, and wonder if this is for real! You know it is the truth. I had gone to take leftovers home and Austin was not sitting in the chair as he should. From what I understand he fell forward into the firepit and then was pulled out by Andy, his trusty wing man if you will. He was more upset that he was pulled out by his hoodie hat than about falling. He had one little scratch and some black soot under his eyes but otherwise weathered another storm just fine!

We put up our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. I got a burst of energy so Austin and I put up all of the inside decorations at once. He was a lot of help and was excited to be involved. We tried several times to get a picture for the Christmas card in front of the tree but were never successful at getting the two of them to smile at the same time. Caleb is on his own terms but is cute as can be when he decides to smile.

Well, it is back to battling the Christmas crowds. I do believe I might just do it from my computer! Until next time...

Halloween and More!

So I did not get a chance to post pictures from Caleb's birthday party so they are included in the slide show above. He had a good time walking around and looking at his gifts. The cake was not so much on his to do list this time around. He just was not interested. He did eat a piece of cake when I fed it to him from a fork. Next on our whirlwind of events (actually this begins Friday night and we ended with the birthday party on Sunday) was the Fall Festival at school. Both boys had a really great time. Caleb enjoyed the bean bag toss, hay pile, and making his own pumpkin with stickers. Austin enjoyed just being the social butterfly that we all know and love! It seems like he knows everyone. Saturday we headed to Henderson for Dad's class reunion. We had a nice time seeing some people Shane had not seen since graduation while the kids stayed with grandparents. Then Sunday was Caleb's party.

This past weekend was Halloween and we had some birthday parties mixed in there. Our neighbor, Ashley, turned one on Halloween and we had a great time celebrating with her. That night we all went Trick Or Treating together. Yes, the babies were in charge of the cooler as we went around the neighborhood. Austin did a great job despite worrying about the dogs as he went. The cemetery picture is from one of my patient's houses in the next subdivision over. They have an impressive display both inside and out! From the pictures you will see that the little ones tired quickly and we were back home by about 8:15. We finished the weekend Sunday with pictures for the boys' birthdays and Christmas. They both did a fabulous job and the pictures turned out great.

We are going for several more ECU games before the holidays and who knows what else we will get in to. Until next time ...

The Big One Year Old!

This past Saturday was Caleb's first birthday! He has had many firsts over the past week. The Monday before his birthday, he took off walking! He has not looked back since. He is all over the place but most enjoys following Austin. Friday before our trip to Greenville, we turned his car seat around and he had his first forward facing ride. It was much more eventful for us than him. He slept the entire way! Saturday he went tailgating and to his first Pirate football game. It was so cold and needless to say he was unimpressed. He did clap several times but wanted to get down and walk through the bleachers. He and I spent the 2nd half in the Pirate Club building where he took a nap. He also has had his first taste of whole milk and has decided that he does not like it cold out of the fridge. We will have to conquer this along with his protest of the sippy cup in the next week or so. He will be having his official birthday party this Sunday and we will post more pictures after that.

Austin has been doing well too. He has learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. It is kind of hard to teach him in our neighborhood due to lack of open area so he took his bike to Nana and Grandpa's for the wide open space. It did not take long at all. He also saw a baby calf pretty much right after being born. We were thankful we did not ride by several minutes earlier!

We have the costumes in place for Halloween and have lots of plans for next weekend. We will post more pictures after the party Sunday so stay tuned!

Austin is 5!

I have been meaning to post this earlier, but...

After a loooong birthday week and 3 parties, Austin is officially 5 years old. It is hard to believe that before too long he will be going to kindergarten. He had his birthday party for his friends the Sunday before his birthday. We did it at Dreamsports in Apex. It is an indoor soccer field and hockey rink. They have a soccer program there for kids and their coaches conducted the entire party. They played soccer games and ran around for about an hour before having cupcakes and opening presents. Everyone seemed to have a great time. On his actual birthday, Friday, he had a cake at school and then a cookie cake later that night. That Sunday he had cake again at his Nana and Grandpa's for that side of the family. He was very excited and was hard to control at times!

Austin is doing great in Pre-K. His only downfall is talking too much! He is doing a great job with his sight words, writing his letters and numbers, and is actually participating in art. This is a real accomplishment from the quick scribble we received last year. He is continuing to do good in soccer. He scored the first goal of their first game and then proceeded to score several more times including once in the wrong goal! He gets so excited and is an excellent cheerleader when he is not on the field. He had his 5 year check up on Friday and anyone who asks will get an ear full. He passed his hearing and eye tests for the first time at the pediatrician, did excellent during the "check up" but had a complete melt down after having his finger stuck and then having to lie on the table for the shots. He cried and cried and then proceeded to tell me that Dr Helton was pretty cool, but that nice lady in the blue shirt is not so nice and is really not cool. As we were leaving, the Doctor gave him a hug and as the nurse went to give him a high five, he turned his back to her and said they were not friends after that. He told Shane later that she really liked to give shots but he did not like getting them. Thank goodness we do not have to go back for awhile!

Caleb will be having a birthday in 2 weeks. I can't believe that I was fat as the side of a house last year this time. He is really getting a great little personality. He laughs like Woody the Woodpecker and usually has a smile on his face. He is not walking yet but pulls up on everything and cruises around pretty darn fast. We will save the rest of his news for his birthday post. Until then, stay healthy!

Vacation and a New Camera

Yes, that's right! I got a new camera just in time for vacation so there are a ton of pictures if you have the time. We returned on Saturday from our trip to Myrtle Beach. We spent a week there last year for my education conference and decided to do it again this year. The Resort is great with all the pools and the slides for the kids. We had a great time and did so many things. Most days were spent at the beach or pool at least for a short time. Other highlights of the trip were Austin and Dad playing golf, Ripley's Aquarium, and our time at putt putt. Caleb was great during the day but did not sleep worth 2 cent at night. Both of the kids enjoyed the water. Caleb enjoyed eating the sand more than the water at the beach. Austin had fun just being silly and not being in a structured environment all week.

Caleb now has 4 teeth, is a very fast crawler, and is pulling up to cruise around where ever he wants to go. He eats everything in sight and will steal your food right out from under your nose if he thinks that will be better than what he has got. He is trying to drink from a sippy cup but has not been as easy to break from the bottle as Austin was.

Austin is doing well and we are trying so hard with the discipline. His new class has helped us some but he is definitely a hand full! He is so proud because he can write his numbers now. He is writing things all the time. He will start soccer this week. He seems excited but we will see how it goes.

The pictures above are just a sample of what we took! Those pictures in this post are of our beach photo shoot. They were pricey but well worth it. Until next time....

9 Months and On the Move!

Caleb turned 9 months on Friday and, despite all of our efforts to tether him to the ground, is moving everywhere. He began to crawl last weekend and has not stopped to sit still since. He is also pulling up on everything. He will let go for a split second but is still pretty stationary after standing. He loves being outside and riding in his car. He is eating like a pig. He likes just about anything but we are having some problems with meat. He just does not have a taste for it yet! He had his well child visit and weighed in at 20 pounds 6 ounces. He is 29 inches long. We took him out of the baby carrier because his feet were pressing up against the back of the seat. It is a little depressing to see him growing so fast! (Not so depressing that we are considering more kids though!)

Austin is doing pretty good. He finished up T-ball and we have registered him for soccer for the Fall. He is doing great in his new class. His manners are back where they should be for the most part and he is a little bit calmer when he comes home from school! We think the teachers are really socking it too him and could not be happier. He has started liking his hair spiked up as you can see from one of the pictures. He is still playing golf and is getting pretty good with his swing. He is loving the pool and being outside. He is also looking forward to our beach trip the middle of August and talks about it every week.

About 2 weeks ago, Austin and Caleb welcomed a new cousin. Colby was born to Lauren, one of my cousins and her husband Brock. He is cute as can be and looks just like his dad.

Out to the side of the blog, I have listed several of our favorite things and links to their websites. My new rave is the Wubbanub. I know, it sounds pretty crazy but to an 8 month old it is the best thing ever! It is a little beany baby attached to a Soothie pacifier. I bought one for Caleb after he just would not sleep through the night. After getting that thing, he slept every night but 2 for the next 2 weeks. We are now back into getting up once a night every couple of nights but things are really a lot better. Click on their link if you know someone with a non-sleeper! Some of the other things listed are snacks or some cool things I have found in my conquest to go "greener." I have been trying to do some things better without becoming a crazy fanatic. I also just don't have the time to pay that much attention to everything! We are making an attempt.

On a more sad note, my grandmother lost her fight to ovarian cancer last Thursday. She has been living in a rest home and passed away peacefully surrounded by family. Things are much better this way because she suffered so much over the past 4 months. She had gone from a self-sufficient person to someone who was dependent on others for everything including eating at the end. We went to Greenville for the services and the boys got to hang out with some cousins they don't see very often. Everyone is hanging in there and just supporting one another. We got to see my sister's kid, Carter, as well and he is growing like a weed.

Until next time, stay safe and enjoy the summer!