Things to do on a Memorial Day Weekend....

We have packed quite a bit into a couple of days here. Mom came home early, on Thursday. She just left a little under an hour ago, and as soon as she pulled out, Susan pulled in!

We went to Myrtle Beach on Saturday to hang out with Andrew. After noshing at GB and getting caffeinated at Starbucks, we headed out to do some window shopping. Then Andrew & I got our hair done. After that, we went to Broadway at the Beach, where we had another carousel ride and ate at Chicago UNO. Unfortunately, not impressive. Long wait, messed-up orders. Luckily, we had our little entertainer keeping us laughing and making funny faces & gestures. After we were through there, we went back to Market Common to get the ice cream mom had been chanting about all day, from Cold Stone. Then, with an exhausted Kiersten, we headed back to Columbus County. Poor thing didn't get to bed till about 11:30, and we followed shortly!

Sunday was much more local. Stayed in Whiteville to run a few more errands, and mom found a Dora slip & slide. Once that was set up, after a little prodding, she was off! I'm going to try to include the video. Too hilarious!

We have a countdown to the end of the year, of course, and to the (hopefully) imminent haul to the mountains. We move mom out of her apartment in Coats in a few weeks. To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the furniture we'll move!"

Mother's Day

HA! It's only been a week or so - go me!

We had a fantastic Mother's Day weekend. On Friday, mom came down with both Elsa AND grandma. Grandma immediately demanded to see "la baby", so we went over not long after they arrived.

On Saturday, Kathryn & Susan arrived. PARTY! We had a nice afternoon with Kathryn, and after Susan represented our families at Miki's baby shower, she came right on over. Sunday proved a beautiful day, despite earlier predictions of bad weather. We dined outside, under mom's carport & had another great afternoon. We really hated to see all the moms go, but as it was Sunday & everyone had to be at work the next day, it had to happen. Susan, however, stayed with Kathryn & Chris (Swanny), so she got some extra time in.

We are truly blessed to have such wonderful, caring mothers. I know both Richard & I hope to be as close to Kiersten, and possible other children, as our moms are to us.

I am lucky to have a beautiful, happy child. She made my Mother's Day so absolutely awesome. Of course, without her, I'd not be celebrating it, but she makes it so special. Words cannot express how much she means to us.

Yet another stretch of time...

Maybe one of these days I'll actually make posts more than twice a year!

So much is happening these days. Richard & I will most likely be moving to the mountains next year. It's been very hard telling the "kids", but it had to be done. No way was I going to just leave them hanging next year if I wasn't in the classroom on the first day. We didn't plan on moving yet, but things have been put into play over which we really had no control, so off we go....

Kiersten is growing so much and is still such a clown. It's so amazing to watch her actually comprehending and processing information. Like just yesterday, when she was handing me something and said, "Daddy", shook her head and corrected herself by saying, "Mama". After years of having only dogs to raise, it's so cool to see a creature who actually is learning more and more each day. She's at her curious phase, pointing to things and wanting to know what they are. She now has 12 teeth with 2 more coming in. Hard to believe she'll be 20 months on Tuesday. It really doesn't seem that long ago that I was pregnant with her. She's such a daddy's girl - daddy above all. As soon as he's in the room, all others are invisible. Except maybe Abi. At the moment, mama is 3rd banana. But I'm hoping that will all change this summer once I'm home with her full time. I cannot wait!!

Last weekend we stayed in Harnett County with mom & went up to Raleigh, where we went to the Fairgrounds Flea Market & Pullen Park. We had a great time, sweating in the sun at both places. It was nice to just peruse the shops at the flea market. We'll probably go back another day when we're not on a schedule (mom & Elsa had to get back for the military ball). I really enjoyed showing Pullen Park to Richard. Jason & I went there as kids on school field trips & it was pretty much like I remembered. We basically went that day to ride the train & the carousel. It was Kiersten's first time riding either. She loved riding on the carousel. She was smiling and giggling the whole time! Mom & I have talked of going to Carowinds at some point this summer. Maybe. I've included our "family picture" of us at the carousel.

Lots to say!

Wow - There's been a lot happen since last I posted. We went on an awesome trip to Puerto Rico, had 3 weeks of marching band camps, one week of workdays, and now will be welcoming the students back tomorrow. WHEW!

Kiersten has 5 teeth now, is starting to take a few steps at a time, when she doesn't get so hyped up that she falls. lol She's still on the small side, but that's a good thing, since she's not walking yet and we have to carry her most of the time from place to place in the house!

Mom is now teaching in Harnett County again, at Triton - my old high school! She's not here during the week, so we only get her on the weekends. During the week, she's staying at Elsa's. Lots of catching up to do when she's here! Luckily this coming weekend is Labor Day weekend (not to mention payday weekend), so we get her one more day.

BIG EVENT: Kiersten will be turning a year old in 2 weeks!! WOW!!!! We're having a small get-together, with our moms, Andrew (hopefully), Kathryn & Chris, Elsa, grandma & Jason (maybe). Her biggest gift will be her convertible car seat. Thankfully, this one will last longer than a year - probably 3. The grandparents are helping to pay for it, so we can make sure she has the safest, cushiest one. Of course, we'll have some toys and books, and maybe some more clothes, for her. We also bought a small tin to make a little cake just for her to demolish. Chocolate/chocolate all the way!

Something else to do............

So I have myspace and various other places...now I have something else! Hopefully this will serve as a middle ground for all our family members to come check out what we're up to, without having to attach pics to emails. I also can just give updates here instead of trying to remember who I sent updates to and when.

Right now abuela is in the hospital, with 3 90% blockages. She had 2 operations this morning and will have one more on Monday. When we left her last night, she was doing well. If you weren't seeing her in a hospital, you'd not believe she'd just had a mild heart attack! She was playing peek-a-boo with Kiersten, who was peeking in at the foot of her bed.

If all goes well Monday, we leave for Puerto Rico on Tuesday afternoon, with Andrew, Ricky and Renee. One of my friends from WhattoExpect actually gave me the idea to take pics of Kiersten in the places abuela wanted to see, like Ponce. I'm sure she'll appreciate that - a fourth generation going.

Speaking of our little angel, she's doing well. She's finally sleeping through the night again after about a month of waking 2 or 3 times a night. She's had 4 teeth break through, and her incisors are coming in. We're also using cloth diapers now. It's not nearly as difficult as we initially thought it might be. Richard is actually into it, too, especially since we use flushable liners and a diaper sprayer for the poopy diapers.

That's all I can think of right now. We're about to go to mom's to have some arroz con gandules! YUMMY!! (You know you're all jealous! lol)

I'll post pics when I get to her house.....