January 14, 2011 at 12:14 am (Family Time, Holidays)
The family had Thanksgiving together at Pam and Doyle’s house this year. Pam twisted our arms as usual and had us get together for family photos. The adults and children all resisted of course, but we did get a few good ones out of it although Graham was making his infamous “fish face” in many.
January 6, 2011 at 1:16 am (firsts, Graham, Surae)
I have been super reluctant to cut Surae’s hair and haven’t done so since we brought her back from China. Well, it was time! Her hair had gotten so long and it was really getting difficult to manage, so we brought her in for her first haircut. Being the little diva that she is, she was really excited about it. She did great and sat super still. I was so shocked when I first saw how short it was, but now I love it and I think it looks perfect on her. I didn’t really get an after shot, but you’ll see in the next few posts how much shorter it is.
Graham wanted to join in on the fun as well and chop off his long hair. Daddy wasn’t there with us at first, so he talked me into a “spikey do”, which Michael was not too pleased about. As with Surae, I was shocked when I first saw the results of his haircut, but it has really grown on me. He looks like a little man!
January 6, 2011 at 1:04 am (Family Time, Graham, Holidays, Surae)
Between Surae’s birthday, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have gotten very, very behind on posts! So, I have a little catching up to do.
Surae had a wonderful Thanksgiving program at her school. The kids sang super cute songs and we all got to stick around after the program for special treats with Surae. It was a great day and she was super excited to have us all there with her.
A few days later, Graham had a Thanksgiving feast at his school. I am so thankful to be working half days, so that I can be a part of these things now. I came and helped set up the feast and Graham was so proud to have me there helping!
November 24, 2010 at 9:11 pm (Graham)
Graham has been very eager to lose a tooth and he got his wish last week. He lost not one, but three teeth in one week. Michael and I wondered if after he realized he got money after losing the first one, he might have pulled the other 2 out!
November 24, 2010 at 9:05 pm (Birthdays, Graham, Holidays, Surae)
October is always such a busy and fun month! After returning from LEAF, it was time to start preparing for Halloween and Surae’s 4th birthday. Surae has been so excited to turn 4 and has talked about it basically non-stop for months. She has also been very consistent in her birthday requests- a princess bike, a cupcake maker, and a Barbie Splash Mermaid. The girl knows what she wants!
On her actual birthday, she decided she wanted IHOP funny face pancakes. They were Halloween themed funny faces ones when we went and certainly the grossest pancakes I have ever seen!
When we got back home, we let her open our presents and she was thrilled to finally have her big girl bike!!
Pop Pop and Roni came up the next day and she got to open more presents including the much desired cupcake maker. She was thrilled!!
Since her birthday is so close to Halloween, we decided to have a combo party this year and have a dress up party. Lots of people came and she had a great time! We had Halloween themed food including melon brain and mummy wraps. The kids painted little pumpkins, decorated cupcakes and played outside since the weather was so fabulous. Surae had a blast with all of her friends.
November 15, 2010 at 7:12 pm (Camping, Family Time, festivals, Graham, Music, Out and About, Road Trips, Surae, Vacations)
The Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mt, NC has come and gone again this fall. We had a great time as always! The weather was beautiful, the people kind, and it is always such a great time to reconnect with family and friends!
Graham once again made record bowls to sell at the Children’s Market this year.
He expanded his line though to include record cover bookmarks and wine cork earrings. Such a little entrepreneur!
Surae, of course, worked as the record bowl apprentice!
He did a great job selling all weekend. He loves to make some Lego money!!
The Weisers camped with us along with 2 other families from Atlanta. We had a big group and lots of kids running around all weekend. It was wonderful to get to spend some time with Chris and Tammy and to let all the kiddos play together!
The music was super as usual. The Secret B Sides played all 3 nights which was fantastic. Surae even got to go on stage with Juan! Such the little groupie!!
Lots of fun was had by all as always. I was once again blessed by the blue fairy and I’m hoping that will hold me over until the spring!
September 29, 2010 at 11:10 pm (Graham, Surae, Weddings)
Our friends Joe and Jean got married a few weekends ago. They had a beautiful wedding reception during the morning in Spartanburg and a super fun party at night at Greenbrier Farms. The kids had a blast and so did Michael and I! Surae danced during almost the whole wedding reception with her buddy West to a fantastic bluegrass band. We even decked her out in one of her beautiful Chinese dresses that we brought back. It was a fabulous day!
September 1, 2010 at 9:46 pm (beach, Camping, Family, Family Time, Graham, grandparents, Out and About, Summer, Surae, Vacations)
Well, summer has almost flown by. Our smaller, more portable camera broke a few months back, so we’ve been relatively pictureless, but we have managed to take a few, some with just my cell phone. We’ve all had a busy, but fantastic summer! Graham is now back in school and just started first grade and Surae is getting ready to start 3 year old kindergarten!
Graham, Surae, and I joined Otter Creek Water Park this summer which we all loved. Going to the pool several times a week was so much fun and Graham was able to learn how to swim. He loves to swim underwater the most. Surae is getting much more comfortable with the water too and I think by next summer, she’ll be swimming right beside him.
Graham and Surae have spent lots of time with their grandparents this summer which they both have loved and Michael and I have greatly appreciated! Thanks Grands!!!
They took a trip with their Nana and Poppy to the beach and stayed at Pirateland in their camper. They had a great time! They were able to swim lots, go to the beach, and to the Imax theater. Fun!
All that fun in the sun certainly wore them out!
Surae spent lots of time camping with her Pop Pop and Roni this summer too. That girl loves her Pop Pop!!
Graham has also continued his obsession with Legos. His little word really revolves around them: buying them, putting them together, taking them back apart and doing it all over again, drooling over the ones he doesn’t have, watching reviews of Legos on the computer… The boy is in love with Legos!! I decided one day this summer to take him to Charlotte to the Lego Store as a surprise. He loved it. He was even able to participate in a Lego building competition and take home a mini fig. That was the ultimate in cool for my little Lego freak!
We made a side trip on the way to the Lego Store at a Natural History Museum that was super cool.
And finally, to officially end our summer fun, Graham started 1st Grade. He is growing up way too fast. You always hear everyone say that, but you never understand it until you have kids and watch them do it!
I feel very lucky to have been able to spend the summer with the kids! We stayed super busy and had so much fun and I already can’t wait to do it all over again.
July 20, 2010 at 11:34 pm (Camping, Family Time, Graham, Out and About, Surae, Vacations)
Pop Pop took Graham, Surae, and I on a trip to the Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Campground in Marion, NC. It was a great trip! The campground was very cute with a big pool, fun water slide, arcade, mini golf, paddle boats, etc. The weather was insanely hot that week even way up in the mountains, so we weren’t able to try out the mini golf or paddle boats. We mostly took day trips during the hot afternoons and swam in the mornings and evenings. Graham and Surae both loved the waterslide the best. It was super fun!
The Yogi Campgrounds have themes each week and the week we were there was Pirate Week. They have games and activities each day to go with the theme which the kids loved.
We took a trip to Linville Caverns and Linville Falls one day. The caverns were very interesting and it was great getting into 57 degrees for a change! Graham and I did the hike to the falls and went around to all the different views of the falls. The hike was pretty easy to moderate and Graham did a great job keeping up.
Another day we visited the NC Mineral Museum and checked out a 100 yr old apple orchard, both right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The parkway is always a treat. The whole camping trip was really wonderful! Thanks Pop Pop!!
July 6, 2010 at 12:37 am (Birthdays, Family Time, Graham)
Graham turned 6 on June 15. We had just gotten back into town from Jekyll and were about to head back out of town for a wedding, so we had a quick family dinner on his birthday. Graham chose to have an Asian feast because he loves dumplings, so we hit the Asian grocer and picked out the dinner. Everyone loved it!
The anticipation for this birthday was huge because he has been so excited about the possibility of new legos. The boy is completely and totally lego obsessed and had been drooling over some of the new sets in Toys R Us and Target for months. So, when the City Police Headquarters was unveiled, he flipped out. He gave me the biggest hug I had ever spontaneously received from him. It was awesome!
Happy Birthday Graham 🙂
A Day in the Life 