A Flashback to Easter and Spring Break

Nana and Uncle Ryan flew out to Raleigh where we met them along with Aunt Kristi and Uncle Kevin. We rented a beach house in Wilmington for the weekend. It was a gorgeous place on the intercoastal waterway side of theWrighteville Beach. It had its own personal dock which was rather convenient for using Kevin and Kristi's new sea kayak. We had a fun Easter with some great seafood dinners out. Then we all headed back home. Nana and Uncle Ryan came up to Boone for a few days before having to head back home. All in all a very relaxing week.

Discovering the Power of NO!!!!

Gracen has recently expanded her working vocabulary by a single albeit impressively powerful word. It is surprising the number of practical places she has applied it. Brother touching your favorite baby stroller??? NO!!!! Gets moms and dads attention and they get him to leave it alone. Pesky Daddy trying to get you to cram down one more good for you bite of veggies??? No No No!!! gets Mom's attention and she gets Dad to leave you alone. Of course there are times when it doesn't work but the times when it does are so much more memorable and do a wonderful job of reinforcing the use of the new word. Being at a primarily single word vocabulary does have some limitations. Like when you want to do something. But then Mom and Dad are pretty good at interpretting the subtleties of the less than emphatic no, or maybe we just force the issue for good measure from time to time. The NO is not to be outdown with the other latest discovery of the ability to produce an ear piercing scream from deep down in the diaphragm. I think this discovery came initially from a squeal of delight that got her to experiment with her capabilities. No she can punctuate her NO with shrieks determined to get Mom or Dad's attention. Ah the learning curve of toddlers :)

January Milestones...

Yes Gracen is growing up right before our eyes. She now stands regularly and decided finally this weekend to start putting together steps. See links below. She has also started spoon feeding herself yogurt after Amy gave her the starter spoon. She is so proud of herself when she dips that in and brings it to her mouth. I think she thinks she's just like the rest of us.

Carter is tearing it up on his new bike at the Greenway. His confidence grows with each ride and it is almost impossible to keep up with him just walking anymore. We had a nice mild week of weather but now we're dropping back into the basement of winter again. I guess the bike will have to wait for a while. Otherwise we're just having fun in Boone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyBJVwEVVUA (Gracen Feeding herself)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cALxGPAT5I (Gracen Walking)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHZcurkRPKs (Carter on the bike)

Christmas and New Year

Christmas Day and the day after were spent in Kingsport. The rest of the clan came in on the afternoon of the 26th just in time for a nice dinner and another round of presents for the kids. After a day back at home to regroup and repack, we headed up to Russ's Dad's on Friday. Carter hung out with Papa at work, unloaded a truck with a fork lift, and then proceeded to milk his Papa for McD's dinner, chocolate milk, cupcakes, and colored marshmallows from the grocery store. Papa loved it. Saturday Kristi and the other hero in Carter's life, Kevin drove up from Raleigh. We had a birthday present swap for all of the December baby's Connie, Kevin, and Carter and then of course our Christmas present swap. We spent a cold rainy Sunday after Church shopping. Then Monday we had a nice hike to the Cascades waterfall before coming back for the eating festivities. Later we got out Kristi and Kevin's WII game system and played that most of the evening. New Years Day we headed out late morning trying to beat the snow storm forcast for Boone which we successfully did.


http://picasaweb.google.com/hiattra/Christmas

Carter's Birthday

Well we headed to Kingsport over the first weekend of break. We had a great time hanging out with Amy's Mom and Dad and her brother Todd along with the twins Ethan and Ellie. Carter had a wonderful time playing with both twins. They had big fun in the playhouse behind Grandmommy and Grandpa's house and at the big new park at Warrior's Path State Park. The Spiderman cake was a huge hit (way to go Grandmommy). It's hard to believe it's been four years since we were bringing home this tiny little boy on Christmas day. What a sweet and kind little boy he is growing to become. He loves everyone in his family and is definitely not afraid to show it. We are all well covered in Carter hugs and kisses on a daily basis. There is not a day that goes by in which he doesn't stop and tell us that he loves us. It can be in the middle of playing or just sitting around the house but his "Mommy (or Daddy), I love you's" just make your heart sing. It is also becoming more and more fun to celebrate birthdays now that he is old enough to understand what's going on and get excited about the time leading up to them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hiattra/CarterSBirthday

Getting in the Holiday Mood

A couple of weeks ago we took some time to go pick out our Christmas tree. Carter did us proud again chosing a rather large specimen to grace our foyer. Good thing the area is open above because we would have had to do some serious trimming to get it to fit anywhere else in the house. The weather was unseasonably mild for this time of year. Last year it was bitterly cold and windy when we went out. This year it was in the sixties and all of us were in need of something cold and refreshing after our hike among the trees. The remaining shots are from our excursion the following weekend to Grandfather mountain for dollar days. A little cooler and more overcast but still unseasonably mild. This past weekend made up for it with icy conditions Saturday (just in time for our annual party) and following through all day Sunday with snow and really cold temps that lasted through this morning. We missed school yesterday which is always fun during an already short week leading into Christmas break.

Uncle Ryan

Carter: “Daddy, when I grow up I’m gonna live in California. Would you live in California with me?”

Daddy: “Well Carter I kinda like it here in North Carolina. When you grow up you can live wherever you want just as long as you come visit.”

Carter: “I will come back and visit. Would you come visit me???”

Daddy: “Sure I would. Mommy and I like visiting California. Carter, why do you want to live in California?”

Carter: “Because that is where Uncle Ryan lives! I want to live with Uncle Ryan when I get bigger in California.”

A conversation on our way home yesterday. This sweet little boy does love his Uncle Ryan something fierce. He went on to share how he would drive Uncle Ryan’s car and they would live together near the beach. Here are some shots from Ryan’s visit. Anything Uncle Ryan does is of course the coolest including dancing in your underwear in the living room. Oh wait that’s cool no matter who’s doing it.