Spring Break Day 2 and Day 3

We have stayed busy for the second and third day of spring break. We did a trip to the circus in Havelock. MJ and I rode the elephants, and he thought that was GREAT! Lilly was not so much for climbing that high, but she did enough the festivities. We then headed in, and once the lights went out, MJ just started laughing at the spot lights. He was SOOO excited, so cute. We got to see the tiger show, elephant show, clowns, magic act, acrobats, and the poodles. SO much fun. During intermission, the Commadore paid for Lilly and her good buddy Gray to ride the ponies. We will HAVE to go back next year for sure.

Day three, we left early for Carolina beach, and the animal park. They had all types of animals, and we got to buy feed bags of corn and peanuts. We got to see tons of monkeys, 2 bears (who by the way like peanuts), a zebra, a giraffe, alligators, a camel, and tons of goats, sheep, horses, and geese. They kids LOVED being able to feed them, and other then the deep breaths I had to take when the kids had animal slobber after feeding, it was a great day 3 of spring break.

Wonder what day 4 will bring our way!

Spring Break 2012 Day 1

MJ relaxes on the couch.....pure laziness!
Out to good friends farm in Merrimon, and got to pet a few animals. Up first, Buddy, a very friendly miniature donkey!

Then sweetie the goat!

Then a real treat; a ride on Deliah, a 2000 lb + horse. Mj loved it; to the point that he did not want to get off. He just kept smiling and it made me so happy that he had not fear!

Up next, Lilly girl! She was not as willing as MJ, but once up there she was very happy. It was quite an adventure, and we hope to go back soon. There is a pregnant miniature donkey, and the other horse, Daisy Mae, is due mid-May! So exciting! Wonder what tomorrow will hold!

Happy Birthday my loves!
Silly faces!

Look at that cookie; and the empty container he's holding!

My big 4 year old! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

And we finally got him to stand still! He's two.....look out world!

Happy Birthday to you!

So sometimes when a childs birthday rolls around, parents will get all sentimental on how the "kids are growing up so fast", and "where does the time go" and "can't they just stay small." In case you don't know me personally, I am NOT one of those parents. I LOVE watching my kids grow and learn and become more and more of who they will be each day. Now don't get me wrong, I have to remind myself to not wish time away, but all in all I love birthdays and the "new" things that come with each passing day.

So this year my beautiful kiddos turned 4 and 2 on 4/4. Making this the first even numbered year in 4 years that I was not having a baby on 4/4! Yipee! We got to celebrate this wonderful day with egg hunts at school (yes I sent my kids to school on their birthdays), and then make your own bunny cookies. MJ took it to the extreme with dumping ALL of the sprinkles, colored sugar, and dots on his cookie. But he had fun doing it. We are having their party later in the month when people are not traveling for Easter and spring break.

On the home front, we are working hard to get our outdoor shower finished before it gets warm enough to spend time at the beach. We have the structure up, but need to do the plumbing. Fitz is not traveling as much, which is a nice change. And we are still working on the final plans for our adult only trip to France in the summer.

A day in the life.....

of a stay at home Mom.....ok, most days are simply wonderful and some are hard. But here is today: 4/3/12: wake at 12:30am, 12:45am, 4:30am with an upset Lilly who wanted someone to sleep with her. Then alarm at 6:30am to wake for a morning run with the best running buddy ever. Home from a run after 45min in to chaos and time for grocery shopping and unloading said groceries. Now it's 9:30am and we are heading to the gym where I lift weights so I can continue to control these kiddos. After the lifting we head to the pool where Miss Lilly discovers she has a splinter in her foot. Mass CHAOS again, and we only manage to swim for 15 minutes, then to the park, home for lunch, and it's nap time. Since Lilly was up 3-4 times last night, she crashed as well as MJ at 1:30pm. I finishes decorating the cookies for MJ's party tomorrow, then mow the lawn, and attempt to weed eat (not successful). Kids wake and we read some books, and I grab a shower. Then we head out for dinner at Chick-fil-a to celebrate the kids birthday eve. We get home now it's time for bath, brush, and bed. After kids are out at 8pm; we (my folks and I) work on the bunny cupcakes for Lilly's party tomorrow, and make the dough for the sugar cookies. So it's 11pm, time for bed to start again tomorrow! Love my "job" as a stay at home mom!!

Yep, we are that crazy!!

On Feb 27th we left for Hawaii; Eenie, Commadore, Me, Lilly and MJ to help welcome Uncle Bobby back from his tour in the desert for a year. We did it all.....Honolulu Zoo, Aquarium, surfing, lots of time in the pool, walking and shopping, eating and sleeping, and of course surfing. It was a fantastic trip. Only thing is was missing was Fitz. I got to surf 4 out of 7 days, and LOVED every minute of it. Kids loved Hawaii, minimal clothing, often no shoes, and no where to be! Lilly might just move there someday! While there, MJ learned to "swim" he has forward movement, and can travel like 5 feet or so on his own. It was great to see Uncle Bobby, and not "have" things we had to do like when we are home. Lucky for us, Uncle Bobby got to come back to NC with us for more family time.

We returned from our warm vacation on Tuesday on March 5th, only to fly to sunny Florida on Saturday the 9th. We wanted to get down for West Palm Beach to visit Fitz's grandpa, so dubbed "great big grandpa" by Lilly. We had a blast, and nothing got broken in the 3 hours we were together. The kids did great, and it's always great to see Great Big Grandpa. At 92 years young, he's a force to be reckoned with! We continued our FL vacation with a trip to the Palm Beach Zoo, and then to Disney World. We never do things small. We got to the park at 8:50am and took it by storm.....Lilly got made over as a princess at the Bibbity, Bobbity, Boutique and she was in heaven. We then saw ALL of the characters we could: Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Cindrella, Belle, Tinkerbell, Vidia, Mickey Mouse, and Minnie of course. Lilly LOVED this part; she was in heaven with all of her characters. Since she was dressed up as a princess, she got lots of attention. MJ was not down with the lines to do things, but he managed. We headed back to the hotel for a rest from 4-7pm and then made it back in time for the electric parade (which is a top priority if you ever go), and the kids loved it. We then finished the night with the Mad Hatter's tea cups and headed back to the hotel about 12:30am.....not much rest, but we had a blast.

We finished the month, with me being a member of a marathon relay which ended up 3rd in the team division and a time of 3:27:34....not to shabby. I got to travel with out the kids, and with two great gals, so it was a really fun 24 hours (we left about 3pm Saturday and got home about 3pm Sunday). This did light my fire a bit about wanting to race again! We shall see how long it lasts.

The very next weekend, the traveling 5 (E&C, me, lilly and MJ) did a 36 hour trip to PA for me dearest cousins bridal shower. Whoo, this one was the hardest trip by far in the distance covered and short amount of time. But again it was great to see all the family in one place. We managed to have 16 out of 20 grandkids and great grandkids together in one place. :)

Things have since returned to normal as far as travel but we are now preparing for the kids birthday. Which, of course, occurs on the same day! So here's to less travel, but no less adventure!

All dressed up for Daddy/Daughter date night!

Enjoying Bathtime my little fish!

Throwing rocks at the end of our hike!

MJ the navigator!

Lilly reading her map!

January 2012....what a blurrrr!

We so enjoyed the warm January we had this year and tried to make the most of it. Did some hiking with the kids, where they got to read the maps (see above). Then we took LOTS of baths, in fact someday we took two! These kids are fish, so they LOVE the water. Which is great since we are leaving to visit uncle bobby in Hawaii next week (end of February). And on that note: we are so proud of our uncle bobby who was promoted while he was on deployment in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He's back now and I don't think he knows what he's in for during our week long visit out there.

In other news, we have registered Lilly for "big girl school" she will start full day 5 day a week Pre-K in the fall. It was a very hard decision as to whether she would do full days or not, but we finally make the leap to have her in a more structured program which hopefully will allow more fun time when she's not in school. Plus it will give me a chance to spend some real time with MJ. Lilly still loves her dance class, and is often stopping people to show off her moves. She's a free spirit for sure.

MJ is still not registered for anything yet. But hopefully he will go two half days this fall and will get to pick a new activity to try out. With the way he likes to hang upside down like a monkey, maybe gymnastics. He is learning new words by the minute; with his favorites being: "look-ah me" "i do it" "i did it" "lilly share" and the singing of "tinkle, tinkle little starrrr" "bring home bee....ouch" and "abcd...mnop...zzz....yeah!"

We are celebrating Fitz's 34 birthday this weekend with like 50 of our closest friends for a pig pickin'. For those of you who are not intune with a pig pickin'.....you light some charcoal, throw a pig on a grill, (yes a whole pig) and roast it for HOURS. Then everyone comes over with a side and or beer and enjoys eating pork right off the pig. We are really excited to see everyone without kids. It's amazing how many people you can talk too when you can finish a conversation. :) (those of you know with kids know what I'm talking about).

We are all looking forward to our up coming vacations: first hawaii with Eenie, Commadore, Lilly, MJ, and me (Fitz has to work-but at least he can sleep in). then we will come home with enough time to do laundry and leave for Florida to visit MJF Sr. (the one who started it all). Should be an exciting three weeks. Can't wait to post those stories!

It's christmas eve....and this angel is all smiles

working hard on her gingerbread house at church.

Nearly finished product!

You can see why they get along so well!

Where we started!

MJ getting cleaned up after "helping" with the gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve!

Eenie and Commadore got MJ roller blades!

Lilly and her American Girl Doll ("lilly"), in their matching dance outfits!

Singing Happy Birthday to Eenie with Fitz adding some music on Small guitar!

Silly MJ photo.....he was first playing with the water in the pot, and then was in the pot with the water! Silly boy! Guess it's good we live where we have some warm days all year long!

So we started planning vacations....and never stopped.

Since I got to go to Australia in May 2011, Fitz has wanted to take a trip. After some serious sorting of ideas (mardi gras, coasta rica, hawaii and many more), we decided on FRANCE.

For a few reasons: 1-we both want to watch the tour de france, 2-we have a friend who lives there currently, 3-we have done Paris, so we can now do the rest of the country, and 4-well they drive on our side of the road (BIG PLUS).

Since starting the planning of France (which currently includes: the Alps, Nice, the Tour, surfing on the west coast, and Versailles in the summer). We have also planned trips to Hawaii to help welcome my baby Bro home from his deployment, and a trip down to Florida to visit the original MJF and hit up disney for a day.

PHEW! and that only gets us to mid-July!

New Traditions:

We are spent the last 10+ years of our relationship traveling to the great white north for the winter holidays (and once or twice to somewhere warm). This was our FIRST year staying put, having a tree of our own, and forging some new traditions. I really and truly love all the holidays we have had, but it was wonderful to do somethings different (and yet the same).

On Christmas Eve morning we met some of our good friends for a serious track workout at the local track....now some of you might find that strange, BUT it's just our style. Then all the families and kids headed to our local breakfast joint for some "good country cooking at the right price," and filled our bellies while the kids run like wild animals and just had fun together.

We then blended an Italian tradition of "seven fishes" on Christmas eve with a classic "becky" twist: grouper, tuna, cobia, shrimp, Swedish fish, gummy fish, and fish food ice cream. Which will bring us luck into the new year!

We then got all pretty-ed up and heading to church for the children's service and let the kids join in the singing of come classic christmas carols. Lilly of course was more involved, until we ended up next to this wonderful older lady singing her heart out but a little off key. And poor Lilly kept looking over at her with a VERY perplexed look on her face :)

Home again and time to build gingerbread houses: this activity can take upwards of two hours in past years (the planning, building, decorating, fixing falling buildings, and such). We managed for nearly 35minutes to keep the kids attention. But most of that was MJ eating any candy handed to him for decorating and Lilly being the one handing candy to everyone. Priceless!

Time for an Internet check of where Santa is. This one is so cool to me......you can see where he is going and video of some of the big cities he's been in. Lilly LOVED watching this. And as we watched Santa flying over the Atlantic....we saw a flashing red light in our back yard. Lilly shrieked and ran straight to be and covered her head proclaiming that Rudolph was in our backyard.

Time to Christmas to begin......Lilly slept until 7am and eagerly woke everyone in the house and started tearing through her gifts. She was wide eyed and ready to play. MJ was more reserved as he still has two or so gifts to open (and it's nearly 1:30pm). He would open one and play with it. Then move on to the next one, and play!

Our house is now full of so much more.....Lilly and her matching American Girl Doll-in matching pajama's, books, bike seat for said doll, dresses, makeup, and more. MJ with all things boy-trucks, trains, scooter, roller blades. Fitz will be trying out his new grind rail, and down jacket. And I will be happily sporting my new boots, and rain jacket!

There are still a few more hours of Christmas Day, and we are currently heating up the oil to fry a turkey, and then in the nearly 60 degree weather we will head to the beach to visit with great friends! Hope your christmas was FULL of traditions new and old and more then anything LOVE. Hoping to post some photos and videos before the day is done!