Grandma and Grandpa's, and Welcome Home to a Winter Wonder What?

Adam went to Copenhagen last Friday for a conference on Fusion systems. Therefore, I ran home to mommy and daddy with boys in tow. Our trip there was interesting. I had it planned so Adams flight left 2 hours after mine so he was able to help me with luggage and wait while I took my last bathroom break by myself. The first flight Alex was zoned out on the borrowed DVD player and Jonathan proceeded to scream his head off and knock me upside the head the whole 2 and a half hours. Luckily, I got off the plane with two live children...10 minutes before my next flight was about to take off. So I ran...and I mean ran. Pushing a umbrella stroller, carrying a 26 pound baby and a 40 pound bag...oh and 3 winter coats. I had to go from terminal A to D. Needless to say. I didn't make it. Although I am not worried about missing my workout for that day. They promptly ran me underneath the airport to a special bus which drove very fast to another plane that was two hours late to Asheville. I get up to the gate and they say..."what are you kidding me. This flight is full." So I proceeded to do my best to start crying. It worked and even though he could assign me two seats next to eachother, I told them that if they got me on, someone would move so Alex could sit next to us. The boys were asleep 2 minutes after takeoff and we made it with no other hiccups.

We had great fun at my parents. The boys loved making fires with Grandpa.



Grandma has the worlds best toys department in your house. So we had plenty to do.


We went on a quick journey to a lake near my parents house. It was about 40 degrees so we got all bundled up to see the ducks.


Alex pretended to go fishing. He was throwing his fake rode into the water when he fell in. I did tell you the trip was quick. Uncle Andy was right there and grabbed him very quickly. Then we all made a beeline for the car. Grandpa made it first and had it toasty before we even got there. Alex was stripped down and wrapped in other peoples coats very quickly. By the time we got home he was sweating.


Grandma and Alex bonded over he WOW game. He loved to help count down her "timeouts" as she called it when she died.


We took advantage of the hottub. Both kids love the water. One day Alex was in it for over an hour.




Here is Jonathan with Uncle Donny. He came home from school on Wednesday.


We got to help decorate the tree and I was actually able to get everyone in a pic. Let me know if you want a big version sent to you.


Jonathan and Mike.


Adam was a great help to the boys. They just love him. Jonathan very quickly bonded with him and wouldn't leave his side.



Jonathan ended up with a nasty ear infection. We were up all night with him one night. And I am not exaggerating. The next morning we took him to urgent care and after an hour of attempting to clean the wax build up out. The doc was finally able to say " yes, ear infection" and possible fluid in the lungs." So we filled him full of drugs and now he is better.


Jonathan helping with Grandpa's physical therapy.


Thanks for the great visit Grandma and Grandpa.

Here is the boys back at home. There was a slight nip in the air.


Well, maybe more then slight.








We spent 20 minutes getting all bundled up and spent less then that outside playing. I think it would have been longer except that it was snowing very hard still. In fact it still is. I think we got about 2 feet since this morning. It is very beautiful and I love looking at it. I haven't tried driving in it yet. Although, there is a good reason for that. Our car is not only buried(as you can see above). It is dead. I am going to try and get it in the shop tomorrow. Depending on the outcome, maybe Santa will be bringing me another big gift this week.

Speaking of gifts. I want to thank our wonderful friends Carol and Mike for getting us through our travels and our first snow storm. Mike drove for hours to get us to and from the airport 3 times. He also took Adam to the store. (Adam is a bad shopper for in the middle of a blizzard, he came home with enough food for a day) Carol feed him and us (yummies). We could not have made it without them. Thank you, we are very blessed to have you.

Thanksgiving At Home!

We made our first ever Thanksgiving dinner. We don't like turkey so we made a chicken. A huge one. Adam picked up an eight pounder for 2 adults and 2 toddlers (who didn't eat any of it). I will be making a lot of chicken soup this winter. We both picked our favorite side dishes. For me it was corn casserole and for Adam candied yams. The boys ate just the bread but they had fun. By the end of the day we were exhausted. Adam had very little reason to be since I did most of the cooking, oh and I ran in a 5 mile race in the morning and kicked major butt.



Alex made this hat at school. He was a turkey all day.


These are just some cute pics I couldn't resist.

Guns N' Roses

Just a quick announcement. After 13 some years Adam has finally gotten his greatest wish. Guns N' Roses has put out their much anticipated new album. Adam woke up early Saturday and drove 30 minutes to pick up the cd. I could hardly believe that he was out the door on a Saturday with both boys at 9:30am.

Strike One!

This Wednesday I took the boys and our friend Ashley to an indoor arena called Strike One. It was a huge soccer field inside and was set up for a young kids playdate. There were hundreds of balls to fight over and two small jumping castles. The kids loved it. Alex basically ran around for two hours. It was not surprising that he ate a huge lunch then took a two hour nap. (a thing quickly becoming a part of the past) This place does a playtime a few times a week and with three kids it is surprisingly cost efficient. I think that we will be making more trips here. Next week Elmo will be a visitor. Below are the pictures and a short video of Ashley and Alex playing tee ball. Some of the moms thought they were twins and were shocked I had a third so close in age. They were so cute. At times Alex would run up to Ashley and say "lets go" and they would run off holding hands. Never when I had the camera out of course. Jonathan enjoyed stealing snacks from perfect strangers. He is always eating and for some reason goldfish from another mom is better then my goldfish.

Mommy and Alex go on a date

And now we are up to date. Today, Alex took me on a date to celebrate my birthday (last weekend). Here we are right before we headed out to Toys R Us and then to the new Madagascar movie. Movie was ok, Toys R Us was bad since they do not have a single Superman Action Figure. Poop on them.



So sad, here is Jonathan right after we let. He was feeling a bit left out.

Silly Daddy got him happy pretty fast.


There is really no other news to report. Everyone is doing really great. Adam is working very hard on his job and finding on for next year. Most nights he falls asleep at his computer filling out applications or writing up lectures.

Jonathan has decided that 5am is morning and time to wake up again. We had gotten him through this habit but somehow he is confused again. He is started to say so many words. Many you can't understand unless you have context.

Alex has been doing really well in school. He has been able to wow his teachers many times. Last Thursday he started Yoga class after preschool and they loved that he already knew a lot of the positions. Although he has been singing the alphabet forwards and backwards for about a year now, he can now do it completely perfect ever time. And he can even spell a few words. We also started him on violin lessons in October. We think we will call them music appreciation lessons since he doesn't pay attention to the violin the whole time just yet. Luckily, he loves it and begs for it each week.

I am struggling to find time to do my quilting. I do have my website working. The appearance isn't quite there yet. I have 3 quilts I must get done by Christmas and 10 others I would like to. We will see how it works out. I have been running more with a friend in the complex. She and I are signed up for a 5 mile race on T-day. Then we want to go for a half-marathon in May.

Alex the Actor

Alex has been begging to go to the Children's Museum so we went this last Monday. When we went to the 20 minute theater show he got to go onstange. He was Authors helper for building a tree house. He had so much fun.





Jonathan got to play in he favorite car at the museum. You can tell that he is barely holding his eyes open. I always get great naps after a morning in Boston.

Halloween Parade and Finally Halloween Night!

Here are shots of Alex at the Halloween Parade for his school. I dressed up Jonathan again because he loves his costume and begs to wear it all the time.

Alex loved that there was another superman and a superwoman.



Here is the only shot of trick or treating. We walked the whole complex but luckily there were less then a dozen people handing out candy. So the boys had a blast, Adam and I got our workouts in and there wasn't too much candy.