Catching up...

I know, I know... I'm not a good blogger. What can I say? It's my MO... Post a blog, wait a couple months, post, wait, post wait...

Anywho... Here's the low down on the past couple months.

We celebrated Justin's B-Day. He and I had a romantic dinner and enjoyed a relaxing evening to ourselves. Then the night after his B-Day we celebrated with the kids. Instead of a regular Birthday cake Justin asked for Molten Lava Chocolate cakes. They turned out AWESOME!

Averie had her first dance recital, she did ballet and tap and did a wonderful job. She's a gorgeous little princess!

This is dress rehearsal.

After the performance Justin presented Averie with a bouquet of flowers. She was so pleased and excited to have gotten flowers, especially from her daddy!

Proud Dad!

Jared and Renae came to visit us. We toured some historic sites. Jared and Justin went to the Nascar Coca-Cola 600 race and it was rained out... bummer! We went to the first gold mine in the US where we toured the gold mine and panned for gold. Little known fact... the first gold found in the US was just outside of Charlotte... who knew?

We celebrated my 30th B-Day! We went uptown Charlotte with friends. Since it was race weekend, SpeedStreet was going on and uptown was a pretty happenin spot.

That's it for now (short and sweet). See you in a couple months!

Beautiful April Weekend!

We just had a gorgeous weekend! Saturday we did yard work (blah). But yesterday we went to see Playhouse Disney live. We took the train uptown (which is just as much of the excitement for the kids). The show was fun, Averie had a great time! Carson, on the other hand, was difficult. He didn't get his full morning nap and was restless and fussy for the first 10 minutes of the show, then he fell asleep and all was good! After the show we stopped at Costco and ran into the Easter Bunny! Carson was intrigued, but very leery of him and would not go close. Averie sat on his lap and enjoyed having her picture taken. We then went home and spent some time in the backyard. As you can see in the pictures, Carson was filthy from exploring, but he was happy and content, so oh well.

Waiting for the train... notice Carson's cool mohawk!



Averie with the Playhouse Disney stage in the background.



Outside the arena. Carson had more fun playing on the benches and bike racks than he did at the show. He's a little dare-devil and got himself swinging pretty well!









How precious is this picture?! I love it!

Here's a random little video clip we took while hanging out on the patio. These are two sweet kids!

I'm a slacker!

It's been two months since my last post... I'm a slacker. I won't bore you with the nitty gritty details of the past two months, but I have posted some of the highlights (beginning with the most recent).

Last weekend we went to the Elton John / Billy Joel - Face 2 Face concert. I'm not the biggest fan of either so while I thought it would be fun, I didn't think it would be anything exceptional, but it was AWESOME! Both were really great performers. Elton John was very gracious toward the audience and his band. He stood from his piano after each song to wave, give five or sign autographs...

The weather last week was beautiful. It was very tempting for us to turn on our AC, but we held out, which is good because it is COLD and dreary today and will be for the next couple of days. This NC weather is crazy! One weekend it's sunny and warm and the next it's snowy...

Speaking of SNOW, this next group of pictures was taken five days before our beautiful (high 70's) weekend. Apparently it was the biggest snow storm (6+ inches) in Charlotte in 5 years. The kid's daycare was closed so I had to stay home with them and Averie enjoyed playing outside with Sadie.

Carson won't wear a bib. No matter what kind we put on he will pull and tear until it comes off. Then a couple weeks ago we found a great, waterproof bib at Ikea. It is like a little shirt that he puts his arms in and snaps at the neck. He works at getting this one off too, but we've bought ourselves a little time.

This was pre-Ikea bib. Mmmmm... Chocolate!

For those of you who remember Averie's fascination with the dishwasher, you'll appreciate Carson's fascination as well. He comes running the second the dishwasher door is opened.

Another one of those beautiful weekends. We took the kids to the playground then took a walk around the nature trail that surrounds the park.

Our little dare-devil. This is his favorite way to go down any slide (head-first).

We've been busy!

The past month has been pretty busy...

Cameron visited for Christmas. He was here for 13 days and we had a great time! He's grown up so much. Averie absolutely loved tagging along with him. We could tell there were times she annoyed him, but he handled it well, after all she adores him and just wanted to be with her big brother. The weather was hot and cold, literally. Christmas day was so warm we kept our patio door open until late in the evening to let a breeze cool down the house. However, there were a few days that were quite chilly and we needed to bundle up. For the most part we just hung out, we did some Christmas shopping, celebrated Carson's birthday, went fishing, played video games and celebrated Christmas.

Carson turned one! What a sweet kid! His actual birthday was the day Cameron flew in and Justin and I both worked so we didn't have much of a celebration. We brought cupcakes in for his class. He was not interested in opening his presents, but LOVED his cake. Of course, he didn't understand the concept of blowing out a candle so Cameron and Averie helped while we held down his hands so he wouldn't touch the flame. I felt really guilty that amid everything else, his birthday was a relatively small event... I'm already falling into the Christmas / Birthday trap that so many people with December birthdays complain about.

Christmas was great. The kids woke up at about 7:30 (Justin actually had to wake up Averie) and were delighted that Santa had come. Averie is 100% girl and was thrilled to get a cupcake maker, barbie, bride dress-ups and all things Disney related. Cameron got a Rip-Stik (similar to a skateboard) and in no time was riding around like a pro... he really makes it look easier than it is. Justin and I both tried to ride it, but decided it would be best to avoid an ER trip on Christmas day! Carson was just thrilled to have a chocolate free-for-all. He wandered around all morning scrounging for chocolate.

As you look through the pictures you'll notice a trend... Averie is really into silly posing. She says it's "glamour".

These first few pictures are taken at the lake behind our house. We didn't catch anything, but we sure had fun. Averie has her own Hannah Montana fishing rod which she loves, but she gets bored easily with actual fishing. Cameron really enjoys fishing and fishes a lot at home with his stepdad so he was really good at setting up the poles, baiting the lines and casting.

I thought this would be a funny picture... Technically, it is private property, but thhe lake is for private use by households in our neighborhood so we can "trespass".

We had a small, family celebration for Carson's Birthday.

I'm a bit dissapointed with our camera, it's only two years old, but we're having problems with pictures in low light... even with flash. It started a few months ago. These aren't the best quality, but they are our only Christmas pictures.

We took the opportunity to take a few family pictures. I would have loved to set up a formal photo-shoot, but just didn't get around to it.

I think this one is funny... it really captures what that afternoon was like.