Welcome Back!

Grandma and Grandpa G. just got back from their bike trip in Ireland!

From the stories I've heard, it was beautiful and rainy!! Good thing they had pubs to keep them entertained.

Here are a few more pictures from their trip:

Grandpa on an Irish Drum

Stone Fences

William's ...er a Leprechaun's House

Light Housework

First Roller Coaster

On Saturday, Ryan took William to Carowinds. We've taken William there before, but normally we stick to the mild kid rides (slow boat-go-'round, leisure car ride on pre-determined track.. etc).

This trip was different. Ryan took William on his very first roller coaster! It was a kiddie coaster, of course, but it had enough ups and downs to make your stomach flop. Ryan said William giggled the whole time!

Megan's Chair

I think Megan knows this little chair is just her size. Any time our back door is open, Megan will go outside and sit in that chair. She just sits there and enjoys the scenery.

We actually bought this chair for William before Megan was born, but William never had much interest in it. It’s funny how different two kids can be.

Indoor Playground

I have to give Charlotte credit for their playgrounds. With many outdoor playgrounds to choose from, we frequently spend our Saturdays on the slides and swing sets. When it's raining, we go to an indoor playground. This series of plastic tunnels and hidden rooms is a kid's dream!

In this picture, you can see the outline of William laying in one of the hidden rooms. Ryan took the picture looking up from below.

Could it really be happening?

Might I actually get my shoe rack??

Not of Ryan goes blind first. PUT YOUR GLASSES ON!

"There Was Once an Old Lady Who...

wanted a Star. But who knows why she wants a star?" This is what William tells us when we get home on Wednesday. He says it so many times, we start thinking it must be a song.


We spent fifteen minutes googling lyrics, before we came across this:

"There was once a bold lady who wanted a star." By Charise Harper

Mystery Solved! I guess now we'll have to purchase the book. :)

Just For Fun...

*** WARNING: Do not click the below link in front of children ***

This link also contains audio, so make sure your speakers are on!

Not for kids, but definately worth it: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end

... Also fun, and more kid friendly: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/animator




Links from albinoblacksheep.com

You Get What You Pay For

I hate this saying. This saying is a catch-all for the cheap “made-in-china” products that fill the aisles of every store we shop in.

I know why people say it. I even admit to saying it myself. What bothers me is that we accept it. We accept that we wasted our hard-earned money. We accept that we’ve been duped into buying something that is (for lack of a better word) crap.

I apologize for the rant, but it all started with socks. Megan loses her socks. At least, that’s what we tell ourselves, when in reality the daycare doesn’t bother to keep track of her socks. Regardless, Megan has none. So we went to Target and got her a bundle of adorably cute butterfly socks.

“For a low-low price, get five socks for the price of three!”

In truth, you don’t have the option to buy three socks. Target doesn’t offer this style of sock in bundles of three, so you have to buy five. And the price listed didn’t strike me as “low-low”, but this is Target, so I put the socks in my cart and headed to the check out.

As with most you-get-what-you-pay-for items, we didn’t notice the discrepancy until we got home. Struggling to remove the third plastic tie and fifth hidden uber-hold sticker, I noticed that two of the five socks had no butterflies. In fact, they were boring bland white socks with no design at all.

“For a low-low price, get five socks for the price of three!”

Yeah, yeah.. I can hear what you’re thinking. “You get what you pay for!” Why should I expect that the two socks that came free with the bundle would be cute? No. Of course not. I’ve shopped enough to realize that there is no such thing as “value” and “quality” in the same item. Yet every time we leave our houses we are tempted with the idea that there is hope for our almighty dollar.

“This time will be different.” We tell ourselves this because we work hard in our own jobs. We have to believe that there are others out there working hard to make good, solid products for an honest price. And, we want to believe that one day William can pass his quality action figures along to future generations.

Look Who's Facing Forward!

Megan clears the 1 year, 20 pound limit for facing forward in the car seat, so this weekend we turned her around. Driving to Target is a whole new experience (for Megan and us!). We learned that when we first turn the engine over and the radio comes on, Megan sways back and forth to the music. :)

8/12/08

Birthday parties happen on Saturdays, but rarely do our birthdays actually land on a Saturday.

When William turned one, Ryan thought it a shame to let William’s actual birth date pass without special acknowledgement. We could have two birthday cakes… but as far as bad ideas go, that’s near the top of the list.

So instead, Ryan started a tradition of turning the camera’s time stamp feature on and taking a few “true birthday” photos. It’s nothing extravagant – usually pictures of the birthday boy/girl walking around the yard, but we enjoy comparing the current year’s pictures to birthdays past.

Here are Megan’s first “true birthday” pictures.

Happy Birtday, Aunt Tarra

Click here: To see Birthday Blooper Photos

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TARRA!!

A Day at the Park

On Sunday, before Grandma and Grandpa headed off to the airport, we all had just enough time to go to the park.

It was a hot day, so we didn’t stay long, but the William and Megan had a fun time.

Click here: To see more pictures of the kids at the park

Tiiiiiimber!

We had a few dead trees in our back yard. They’ve been dead for a while, but Ryan and I haven’t known what to do with them. This weekend, Ryan’s father, Pete, and Ryan made the decision to cut them down.

The trees came down in no time, but the clean up took a few hours. It was a lot of work, but we are relieved now that the threes are no longer a threat to falling on our house.

Thanks for helping us out, Grandpa!

Click here: To see more tree removal pictures

Happy 1st Birthday, Megan!

Can you believe it? Megan is one year old today. I’m amazed at how time has flown by.

We celebrated Megan’s birthday with Grandma and Grandpa over the weekend. She didn’t seem to like cake, but she loved the new kitchen set and grocery cart toys.

Click here: To see all the pictures of Megan’s birthday party

Weekend Visitors

This weekend the kids got to play with Grandma and Grandpa. From riding bikes to reading books, the kids had a blast. Megan is usually pretty shy, but she warmed up to her grandparents right away. By the end of the weekend, Megan and Grandpa were having full blown (gibberish) conversations!

And William had loads of new skills, like hopping on one foot, to show off to his grandparents.

Stay tuned for more postings later this week.

Click here: To see more pictures of Grandma and Grandpa’s visit

Welcome Grandma and Grandpa C

Grandma and Grandpa flew in for the weekend to help us celebrate Megan's first birthday! The kids get to skip daycare today and play all day with Grandma and Grandpa - you can bet they'll have a blast! :)

Stay tuned for new postings of our weekend adventures!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Click here: Birthday Blooper Photos

Can't wait to see you soon - Happy Birthday!

William’s First Bicycle

This weekend, we took advantage of North Carolina’s Tax-Free holiday to purchase William his first big-boy bicycle. You should have seen William. His baby blue eyes peering over the handlebars of the 12 inch framed red and blue Rock It model Huffy. In a moment, we understood which bicycle we’d be taking home that day.

It took some coaching on Ryan’s part to get William going, but he soon had the hang of it. Not long into our first trek around the neighborhood, we were able to capture William’s first skid mark.

For more pictures: Click here

Proof that William is a Leprechaun

Can you see it?? On Saturday it poured, but there was hardly a cloud in the sky. William got to see the biggest, clearest rainbow any of us have ever seen. It went from house-top to house-top.

I guarantee that if we let William chase after it, he would have returned with pot-o'-gold.

Megan's Idea of Helping?

Or.. a sinister plot to destroy her new shoes?

Click here: For more pictures

Brian and Crissy ROCK!!

When I got home yesterday there was a package waiting for me on the front porch.

When I opened it up I found my very own Guitar Hero Axe.

Thanks Brian and Crissy!!
- Ryan