WOW! It has been forever since I have been on this site to update pictures so get ready for a bunch!!!
After all of our camping trips over the summer we stayed close to home for a while. In early September, Jake and I had a sleepover with Addison and Carson while Keesha and Jeff went out of town. They needed a sitter and being the
sweet, wonderful aunt I am,
I volunteered!!! The kids had a ball. We first went to McDonalds for lunch and to play a little.
Then we headed to the factory to paint some pottery.
Addison and Carson made doggy banks and Jake made a car bank.
We then headed over to Jumpin Beans to release some energy!
We stopped at Walmart and each got a prize for being good. We also rented a movie and got pizza. We settled in later. At about 4:00am I finally gave up on trying to fit in the KING SIZE bed the 3 of us were in!
Caroline's class went to Hillridge Farms in September.
We fed the animals and played on the swings and then took a hayride.
We picked out our pumpkins
I had been looking forward to October this year because I wanted to go to Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream.
We went last year and took the kids but didn't get to go in any of the haunted houses. Plus every time we go to the park we are with the kids which means no rides for us! So this year we planned a weekend just for us. Jeremy was thrilled because we stayed at a hotel and he didn't have to "drag the camper"! We had a blast. I only have one picture though :(
We did all the stuff we can never do when the kids are with us. My favorite coaster is
We went back later in October and camped and took the kids. This time Keesha, Tina and Addison and Carson came along too. I got a lot more pics this trip!
The kids enjoyed riding rides together.
We stayed in The Land of Dragons the most. This is one of the kid lands at Busch Gardens.
My favorite show was the Franken Rock show!
We saw it a few times!!
I had the witch take a picture with Jeremy
Of course we had to play some games. And be sure that Addison and Jake had to win equal amounts of prizes!!!!! I almost cried as I bagged up probably $175.00 worth of stuffed animals won at the park as I was making room for more stuff. Jake plays with them on the way home and then doesn't even pick them up any more.
Don't they look cute waiting to get on Oscar's Worm ride?
We had dinner with The Count and friends at
Count Von Count's Dining Spooktacular!
And then headed back out for more thrilling rides on the lady bugs and boats!!
We had an awesome time! Keesha's crew was definitely not digging the scary stuff!
Sorry guys.
Jake did great this year with the scary stuff. He didn't freak out one time!!!
Jake had his first school event and field trip in October. The Kindergartners had fall festival day which Jeremy and I both attended.
Here is his class with his awesome teacher Ms Hunter who recently was awarded teacher of the week with WRAL.
Daddy was a good sport and pulled the bigger kids on the wagon ride! I never knew Kindergartners could be that big!
That same day, after the fall festival was over Jeremy and I went with Caroline's class to help them compete in soccer for the Special Olympics.
We Were
TEAM OPTIMISM
"The Only Disability In Life Is A Bad Attitude"
Daddy's Girl
"Now Daddy, Listen to me!"
Jake took his first field trip in October to Vollmer Farms
October was filled with lots of fun trips and baking cookies, jumping in leaves, cookouts, and making scary gingerbread houses with the neighbors!
Jake, Caroline, Kristen, and Nicholas
What's better than spending hours blowing and raking leaves and having 3 wild kids go jump in them and spread them out a little??
I never knew that I would be living next door to Betty Crocker! My next door neighbor, Heather, can cook better than most people I know! She made us several yummy meals!
Jake enjoyed playing with his friends in the neighborhood!
Halloween was stressful but fun! I made the mistake of not trying on Caroline's costume until the last minute. Of course it didn't fit great! What was supposed to be a dress looked more like a shirt. She wore it The night before Halloween when we took them trick-or-treating to grandparents houses. However on Halloween day, I got the bright idea of trying to fix it by adding more tool to the bottom of it. Needless to say that did not work! At 4:00 on Halloween day I headed to party city to get her another costume. MISTAKE! That place was crazy. I got a bumble bee costume. I got home 30 mins before time to go trick-or-treating and tried it on her. 2 sizes too big!!! She ended up wearing the pirate one after all with black pants instead of the stockings. They both looked sooooo cute!
We always trick-or-treat with next door neighbors Kristen and Nicholas.
Caroline and Kristen had enough by 8:30ish and Jake, Nicholas and I finished the neighborhood.
November started with another field trip for Caroline. This time we went bowling.
Caroline is an awesome bowler!!!!!
The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to the mountains in search of the perfect Christmas tree! We did not camp because of weather conditions in the higher elevations but instead stayed at hotels. We had originally planned to go to Sugar Plum Tree Farm but since it is 4 1/2 hours away, we settled on a farm closer by. We wanted one that had fun stuff for the kids to do. Here are some pictures from the trip.
After driving the scenic route (because the GPS didn't pick up on all the road names in the mountains - as Jake says every time the GPS comes on in the cars - GPS sucks!), we finally arrived at the farm. It was a dump! We didn't even get out of the truck. We decided to keep on driving and find Sugar Plum Tree Farm.
Check out the video:
About 2 hours later we finally got to Sugar Plum.
It was awesome! (Except for the lame Santa!)
I don't know where they found this Santa but he was horrible!!! The kids didn't seem to mind though.
They took us on a hayride up the mountain to pick out our tree.
It took me a long time. When I go looking for a Christmas tree, I have to get that Griswold sensation where lights shine down on the tree and you hear music playing!!
The guy at the tree farm said I must be one of those hard to please women!
Ya think??
After a long search we had our trees and were headed home.
We got it all set up.
Jeremy insisted on taking a picture of my "true blonde" showing. I was fussing about the lights not working and finally gave up and told him to fix it! This was what he found. I will NEVER live it down.
We had a fun Thanksgiving.
We ate lunch with Jeremy's family and dinner with mine.
My Brother Billy and his family stayed with us one night. The kids had a blast together. They don't see each other often. They come down a couple of times a year. I am embarrassed to say we never go visit! My kids destroy others property!!! No, just kidding, but they are pretty wild. Maybe one day we will be the ones visiting.
Billy, Jessica, Caleb, Jake, Taylor
After dinner the kids opened gifts and played.
Jake got a cool new game called Red Rover. They were so cute racing to get the bones called out by the dog. My brother and I got in on the action too.
There is nothing better than watching two grown ups race around for bones and embarrassing themselves.
Check out the video.
Before they left we made yet another beautiful gingerbread house! I was smart this year and got one of those metal houses that you can wash and reuse!
Forget all that baking and gluing!!!!
Early December brought about what has become an annual craft day with Keesha, Addison and Carson. We bribed them with the promise of fun surprises if they would take pictures in their matching pajamas before we got started.
We painted ornaments and made angels with the kids feet and hands.
Then yes, another gingerbread house!!!
Carson was our little helper. I found paper towels in cabinets days later!
I don't know if they will remember these craft days or not. I hope so. If not we have plenty of pictures! I hope one day the kids appreciate all their moms do for them to have memories!!!
Mid December, We took our annual ride on the Santa Train at the
Museum of Life and Science.
It was freezing!
Here is a video of us waiting for the train to arrive!
We rode the train to the north pole and talked to Santa!
When we left to head back to the station, Santa told us to watch for Rudolph,
who was out playing.
On the ride back, we saw Rudolph's nose bouncing/flying through the trees!
When we got back to the station, we held up the entire next train ride so the elf could take a picture of all of us on the train!!!
MEMORIES PEOPLE!!!!
We had hot chocolate and the kids had their faces painted.
The very next night, I took Addison and Jake for a night out on the town. We had dinner at Applebees first.
Don't they look sweet and innocent here? You would think they were perfect angels wouldn't you?
Then headed to the RBC Center to see Toy Story On Ice!
By the time we left they had several new toys, coloring books and matching hats! These two have begging down to a science!!
We finished the night with Krispy Kreme donuts and Addison's first sleepover with us!
We had a great time!!!!! All I can say is I am happy to know that my kid is not the only WILD one!!!!
The week of Christmas was pretty hectic as usual. Caroline had been sick off and on but seemed to be better by Christmas eve so off we went to Ammie's house.
I love Carson's face in this picture. I caught this one as she was watching Elmo.
The kids got lots of great stuff. Caroline of course loved her Wiggles movies.
Next we headed to my mom and dad's to open presents with them and my brother Roger. Jake loves to play with my brother!! I think it reinforces my brothers choice to not have kids!!! But he is a good sport and plays with Jake constantly!
My parent's dog Max was really cute. He loves to get new toys. I think he was just as excited as the kids!
I gave my dad a fake lottery ticket. For a minute he thought he had won $5000.00. Cruel isn't it??
Things were so hectic I felt like I didn't get to talk to my brother at all :(
We got home really late Christmas eve and still had to make cookies for Santa. And of course it could not be simple. I had bought snicker doodle cookie mix because Jake (who doesn't like cookies usually, likes that kind!) Well this mix required eggs and butter etc. Long story short, it was a pain to do at 9:00 on Christmas eve!
I didn't get many good pictures Christmas morning. Jake woke up before we did and was in the living room playing with things before he got us up. So i missed the whole shot of them coming in the room. I videoed and didn't take any pictures. The videos were long so I thought I wouldn't bore you with those!!
My parents and my niece Christina came over for dinner Christmas night.
Christina and Jake made cupcakes! Sadly, I ate most of them!
Poor Caroline was sick again on Christmas day. She stayed in the bed much of the day. Here she is with one of her favorite gifts.
Pookie was not happy with me for making her wear this cute little shirt. I got a lot of dirty looks!
Surprisingly, it snowed Christmas night.....A LOT!
We woke up to a winter wonderland and Jeremy built our first snowman we have ever had at this house. We have had snow before, but never enough.
Jake played outside a lot. Caroline was still not up to par so we didn't bring her out.
Pookie wasn't digging it either. As you see here, she relieved herself many times right on the porch. She would look at me as though to say did you really think I was gonna go in the snow???
So enough with the holidays already. I for one am glad they are done!!! I am ready for spring and summer. Bring on the heat!
Jake started basketball several weeks ago. He doesn't like it as much as baseball. I think baseball will definitely be his thing. But I want him to try a lot of different things. Here he is at practice. He does really well when he is paying attention. However, that is not always the case.
Much of the time during this practice he was focused more on the cheerleaders at the other end of the gym!
Believe it or not that is it for now. Oh ,one last thing. We found out before Christmas that we will be adding one more to Phan4Pack!
Yes that's right, another baby!! It is due August 7th.
I am not sure it is really sunk in yet. Although it should have as much as I have been leaning over the toilet!!!!
We are excited! Maybe we will win the lottery and I can quit work and stay home with this one! Yeah right!
Hope you all had a good holiday. I will try to keep this up to date more often so it doesn't take you 2 hours to read it!!
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