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Friday, September 30, 2011

Pearly Whites

Recently Avery made her first trip to the dentist. Since my dental insurance is probably about to end in the near future, we figured we needed to go ahead and get her in. Plus, our dentist allows parents back in the exam room until the child is 3. As with Will, I like this idea because the dentist is something very different than most children have ever experienced so I am sure the children find comfort in mom or dad's hand that very first time.

We go to a great pediatric dentist practice and they do such a superb job explaining everything to the children. Avery did great! I wish I could have been with her but work made that impossible.  Luckily Matt was able to take her, which was nice because they get very little alone "father/daughter" time so I know they had fun hanging out.

She got a great report. They even said the words I have grown to love to hear: "She has plenty of space between her teeth".  As an adult, I thought that sounded horrible until I realized that translated into the potential of less orthodontia work in the future as her permanent teeth will have more room to come in.

Here is a picture of our little sweetheart when she was all done (obviously laying in the dental chair did a number on her pony tail)!!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Will's 5th Birthday Party

I've been wanting to get to this post all week, but work has gotten in the way. And the fact that work is what has prevented me from documenting my son's birthday makes me, well quite frankly, very mad. In fact, I should be doing work right now but I'm not.
Anyway, sorry for the little rant. Work has had me a little stressed out the past month and I don't foresee it getting better. But tomorrow is another day.

Last weekend we celebrated Will's 5th birthday with his friends. We had it at Young's Gym in Wake Forest. I highly recommend this place for parties as it is a big indoor place for kids to play and lots of different things to keep them busy.  The staff was extremely helpful with the party set up too. It was raining that day and I wasn't even stressed about it since we were inside!
Batgirl and Batman


There was lots of trampolines, bars and other gymnastics equipment for the kids to use.


On the rope swing
Avery and Lilly greet each other

Here comes Lilly!

God siblings

Samantha and Avery, destined to be great buds like their mama's!

And maybe great gymnasts!


There were also several inflatables, including the big slide, which was a favorite of everyone I think. I even had a good time on it!




Here we go!

Wheeeeeee!!!
Photographic proof I survived


Another favorite thing to do at Young's Gym is the big swing. I wish I hadn't been too big for it!! Avery did not participate, by the way!
Batman soars through the sky!


I was glad to see his feet back on the ground!

Garrison's turn

After an hour of free play, we headed to the party room for some Batman cake! It was a great day!

Will, I think this officially concludes your birthday celebrations!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tweetsie Railroad

A few weekends ago we took a quick trip to the mountains so we could take the children to Tweetsie Railroad. Our friends Lisa, Patrick and Garrison went with us.
great friends!

It was a quick trip, basically up the mountain and back down again!  We arrived at lunch time on Saturday and after unpacking the car and getting the house situated, we headed for a few hours at the park.

The very first thing we did was ride the train. Now, I have vivid memories of crying my eyes out as a 5-6 year old child on this very train. For the most part, the kids really did do well. Avery got a little upset but was quickly over it and was flirting with the cowboy sitting behind her on the train!
the kids on the train
watching the cowboys and indians fight

making googly eyes at the cowboy

Will, Avery and Garrison had a blast on the various rides. We called this trip our "practice Disney" trip but with no lines or crowds, I really don't think it was very good practice. The kids were spoiled by the ride operators who let them ride over and over. Seeing the excitement on their faces was priceless and a memory I never want to forget.






Avery does everything Will does, period. It is a minor miracle that we have gotten her to actually sit down when she potties. So when he goes to get on the fast, spinning rides, she is not going to be out done and climbs right up on them too. Now the 2 fast rides were not her favorite and she begged to get off the one she rode with me. But we were spinning so fast that I couldn't even raise my arm off the bar to wave down the attendant to let her off!! She was a trooper though....she even said they were fun, once her feet were on solid ground!!
best buds

Worse to me than the fast, spinning rides was the chair lift. I can't believe I let my children get on this thing...multiple times! The first time we rode it I had Will with me. I had such a death grip on him it is a wonder he could even breathe!

After a quick dinner at Chick-fil-a, we went back to Matt's dad's house and made smores down on the river's edge. What a wonderful evening. Fun, food and friends.....it really doesn't get much better than that.






This trip was also Will and Avery's first time sharing a room, which was also sort of a practice Disney aspect of this trip. In fact, when they were trying to take their nap that first day, we let them even get in the same bed. Poor Will was trying (for the most part) to be good and take a nap. We could hear him over the monitor telling Avery to sleep and if she couldn't figure out how to sleep in the same room as him, they weren't going to be able to go to Disney, etc!! Ha!

The next morning, the kids were cute lounging around in their pjs, watching cartoons!


After breakfast and getting the cars packed back up and the house closed up, we headed back to the park.
The Three Musketeers

We re-rode the kids' favorite rides and the few we missed the afternoon before. By about lunch time, everyone was tired and ready for a nap. So we grabbed some pizza and then hit the road back to Raleigh.
Matt has a pic of him and Gray sitting on these same horses

Matt & Garrison, hanging out in jail!

If you could have only seen him get on this horse...





We rested our legs for a bit and watched one of the shows. Will and Garrison even got to go on stage and participate!


It was a short trip but such a fun trip. Makes me look forward to even more family vacations, especially Disney!