Sunday, May 23, 2010

Rain, Rain Go Away

For the past week it has been rainy and stormy here. We've also had a cold running its way through the house so just as well we haven't had any nice weather.

But now we are all getting better and wanting to spend our days like this -

From My Little Sunbeams


and this -

From My Little Sunbeams


Unfortunately according to our 7 day forecast there is only more rain to come. Hopefully we'll have a nice morning or a nice afternoon between storms to get outside for at least a little bit of playtime.

I don't know where Samantha gets her facial expressions or how I have managed to actually capture them with the camera but she certainly has some funny ones...

From My Little Sunbeams


And for my smiley one who loves the camera - or at least the attention anyway.

From My Little Sunbeams

My Little Ballerina

Here are some photos we had taken at Sear's of Gabrielle in her ballet recital outfit. Her recital is this coming Saturday. She is very excited and I can't wait to see her on that big stage!

From My Little Sunbeams

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Miss Attitude

These photos make me laugh! I love this adorable outfit from my sister and her family and the expressions on Samantha's face truly capture her personality!!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Another Birthday!

Last Saturday we attended my youngest niece's 5th birthday party. Lindsey had her party at Romp n'Roll - a kids' gym with music and art classes as well. I really wish we had a place like it near us because it was so neat and the girls loved it. Even Samantha was climbing, crawling and sliding all over everything!

Gabrielle loved it so much she has been tumbling and climbing all over the furniture and the house all week long.

Here are a few action shots of all the activity -














Mother's Day Photos


Me & the girls before church

We went to GrandDad's house after church. Gabrielle next to his rose bushes.



Samantha playing with the basketball.

Ed and Gabrielle playing ball as well.



Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Samantha's One Year Portraits

I took Samantha to Sears for her one year portraits last week. She has been very clingy to me lately. I was not quite sure how she would do with the photographer but she did great. The photographer kept things short and quick which was to our advantage. Samantha was probably not going to let me put her down too many more times before throwing a tantrum. And once Samantha gets mad there is no soothing her for quite a while!!



My favorite poses are 2 and 3 but I decided to order Pose 3, the closeup. I'll be taking her again the end of the month or the first of June to get her picture taken in her baptism dress and I know I'll want a full length shot then.

Mama was here to help me with the girls during pictures. Gabrielle has been extremely jealous lately. I thought it would be a good idea to have Mama there to keep Gabrielle company while I was in the studio room with Samantha.

We had the very first appointment of the day and we got to the mall earlier than I had expected so none of the stores were open yet. At our mall there is a play area for kids just outside of Sears. At first I was dreading walking by there because I knew Gabrielle was going to want to stop and play but it worked out to our advantage since we had arrived at the mall so early. We stopped to play for about 15 minutes and I think it did a world of good. Gabrielle found a little girl probably around her age to play with and Samantha loved walking on the squishy floor and climbing on the turtles. I think being able to play a little first kept everyone happy for the rest of the morning.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

12 Month CheckUp & Some Photos

Samantha had her 12 month well-baby checkup a few days after her birthday. Unfortunately our regular pediatrician was sick so we had to see someone else. I was really disappointed because I absolutely love our pediatrician! But the visit went fine despite having someone new.

Our Samantha is a big, big girl! She is 31" tall and 24 pounds 2 ounces. My one year old is wearing size 24 months in most clothes! And my once picky eater now eats just about anything I put in front of her. Let's hope the walking will help burn some calories or else she'll be outgrowing clothes faster than I can buy them.



Since Samantha was wearing a cute new sundress for her doctor appointment and Gabrielle was wearing a cute sundress as well I decided to snap a few pictures. I really wanted a picture of the two of them standing together but now that Samantha is walking there isn't much standing still with her. I had to keep backing up and backing up but they were moving faster than I could move. I managed to get a couple of cute shots though.



Gabrielle got this cute little ballerina shirt from a family friend, Mrs. Bonnie, on Samantha's birthday.

This made me and Mama laugh and laugh. I had shared a little ice cream with Samantha after dinner one night. Apparently Samantha did not want the bowl to be empty. She grabbed the spoon and bowl from my hands and the table and proceeded to lick the bowl clean!

Samantha received some Tadoodle bath crayons from her friends Gus and Anna for her birthday. She did try to scribble a little but has been more interested in eating the crayons.

Our more experienced artist has really enjoyed them though!

Let the Parties Begin!

The spring starts a very busy season of birthdays for us. Starting in April and going through May is one birthday after another for us. In fact after next weekend we will have attended 4 birthday parties in 4 weekends (including Samantha's of course)!

The first party of the 4 in a row was for one of Samantha's little girlfriends Avery. To give a little bit of background info, Avery's mommy is a very good friend of mine from high school. We lost touch as many do after high school for no particularly reason but last February when I joined facebook we reconnected. As we caught up we realized our lives had quite a few coincidental similarities. We were each married in September although in different years. Our firstborns were only 2 weeks apart in age as well. But to top it off we shared the same due date with our second-borns and both were little girls! For the last couple of months of our pregnancies we talked each other through all the discomforts and anxieties as well as shared all the excitement and anticipation. We were really hoping to be in the hospital at the same time but our little girls (and our doctors) had other ideas. We both went past our due date and had to be induced. Janie was checking out the day I was checking in. While we didn't get to share hospital experiences our little girls are only two days apart which is really neat!

Everyone had a lot of fun at the party. Everything was done in pink and brown and the food was delicious - especially the cake! Yummmm!

Gabrielle had so much fun playing with Will, Avery's big brother, and Samantha eventually warmed up enough to play as well.

Avery, Will & Gabrielle putting together a puzzle.

Jumpin' time!

Avery & Samantha - neither was too interested in having their picture taken - there were much more exciting things to get into!

Miss Avery in her pink & brown monogrammed dress - such a cutie!

Samantha was just fascinated by Avery's pink hair bow. Samantha is constantly taking her own hair bow out and I guess was determined on this day to also remove Avery's! Avery had to be wondering why this little girl was pulling her hair. Poor thing!

I think all the kids get along and play so well together. I'm hoping despite everyone's hectic summer schedules we'll be able to get together more often for some dinners and playdates.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Weekend at Meemaw's

Hi there! Remember me? I used to update my blogs at least fairly regularly. It seems life has gotten so busy and I have so much to blog about and absolutely no time to sit and do it! This is the first of probably a couple of what I'll call "catch-up" posts.

A few weeks ago, the middle of April, we made a weekend trip to my mom's. This was the first trip to Mama's that Ed was able to join us since last July. The weather was beautiful, warm but breezy on the coast. We played the part of "tourists" for most of the weekend but we all had so much fun.

I wish I could say the trip down was uneventful but it was anything but. Ed was able to get off work a little early. The goal was to get to Mama's in time for dinner. In an attempt to be the ever-prepared Mommy I packed car bags for each of the girls full of toys, book and activities to keep them happy. I kept them up from their typical naps also in hopes they would sleep for most of the trip. Unfortunately my big plan backfired completely!! The markers and notepad I had packed for Gabrielle were a disaster. Marker tops were all over the car and Gabrielle's legs, hands and arms were covered with marks. I made a note to pack crayons next time - markers and pens in the car, not a good idea! One of the other items I had packed for Gabrielle was her LeapPad. She has not had it long and did not know how to turn it on and get it set up by herself. From the front seat I was stretching and reaching trying to get it all hooked up and ready to go. She would use it for a few minutes and then be done with it and then a few minutes later she would want it again. I had just bought a pair of child earphones for her earlier that day to use with her LeapPad and of course the volume was always apparently too loud or too soft. Basically the LeapPad idea was just an added aggravation for myself. And of course to top it off Gabrielle drank her juice in the first five minutes of the trip so 30 minutes down the road, barely out of town, she had to go potty. As for Samantha, she fell asleep in the first five minutes of the trip after being kept up from her nap. Unfortunately stopping 30 minutes later for her sister to go potty woke her up and she was awake for the rest of the trip, most of which she spent crying and screaming. I think I have more success when I pack nothing for the car trip and go unprepared!

Although the one thing I packed that did work out as planned was Gabrielle's neck pillow. I asked Mama to make one for her because after switching Gabrielle to the new booster car seat I noticed when she fell asleep her poor little head flopped straight down! The pink bunny neck pillow is perfect for her!

Saturday was our "tourist" day. I call it our "tourist" day because we did things typically tourists do while in Carteret County, not necessarily things locals do on a regular basis and not things I did growing up there. We went to Pizza Inn for lunch. Yummy! I love Pizza Inn but we don't have one anywhere close to us so it is not unusual for us to eat there when we visit Mama (or in Tarboro when we visit Ed's dad). After lunch we headed to the Morehead waterfront and then Beaufort waterfront. As I said before the weather was so nice - the perfect day to stroll on the boardwalk. Gabrielle loved, loved, loved it! Her reaction to the big boats docked in Beaufort was hilarious. I guess she really doesn't have too much experience with boats which makes me a little sad considering I grew up on an island surrounded by boats! I hate that my kids have missed out on those experiences but they are still young so maybe there is still hope! But back to our day, we walked up and down the waterfront and sat for a little bit to look at the water. We of course stopped for some hand-dipped ice cream from the General Store and we even made a visit to the Beaufort Maritime Museum.


Gabrielle & Samantha in a Yellow Submarine at the Maritime Museum.

Saturday night after a delicious dinner of fried shrimp, hushpuppies, bbq and more Ed and I bathed the girls and then headed out for a little date ourselves. We went back to Beaufort, stopped for a couple of lattes and walked the boardwalk a few more times. Then we took a ride over to the beach and went in the only stores still open - Wings and Beach Mart!

Sunday morning Mama made homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast. It might have been a better choice to give Samantha a frozen waffle or something other than a muffin. I had to give her a bath before church!

I tried to get a good picture of Mama with the girls but I tell you it has become quite the challenge to get a good picture of Samantha and Gabrielle together!! This is the best shot I got even though Samantha is not looking up and is kicking her shoe off. At least Meemaw and Gabrielle look good.


During church Gabrielle went to Children's Church where she colored and cut paper - a big hit! After church we had another delicious meal of spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. We loaded the car and headed back home. The trip home was much better than the trip there. The girls and I all fell asleep. Ed got to listen to the race in peace and quiet while he drove and we woke up about 30 minutes away from home.

We are looking forward to more trips to Mama's this summer and hope we can make it to the aquarium and the beach a couple of times.

I just realized I forgot to post a couple of photos that I really wanted to share. On Friday morning I was determined to finish cleaning the house so we could come home to a nice clean, straight house. To keep the girls happy and occupied I turned the tv on, fixed a couple bowls of Cheerios and juice cups. About 5 minutes after giving them their snack I realized an open bowl of Cheerios probably not the greatest idea for Samantha. This should have been an obvious I know but what can I say - I just wasn't thinking!

Cheerios were everywhere - on the table, the floor, stuck to her legs, feet, arms, clothes and even face!
The other photo is Gabrielle on Saturday morning at Meemaw's. She was in awe at all the jewelry Mama had on her dresser and proceeded to put as much of it on as she could manage!

The girl is truly a sucker for accessories!!