Gee-Gee Comes for a Visit

Gee-Gee/Mom/Jane flew from Ohio to sunny North Carolina for a visit this weekend!  And what a weekend it was....

Before we went to the airport to pick her up, I ran around in the morning trying to get the house in some semblance of order (succeeded mostly in just re-defining DISorder), got all the kids dressed (actually Rayna got dressed herself and marched out of her room yelling "I look CUTE!"), got out the door finally, missed a turn at the airport, etc., etc.,....  Anyway, we eventually found her! 

 

 

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After we picked her up from the airport, we headed back to our house. Then we walked down to our neighborhood coffee shop for lunch...

 

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After a fun afternoon of playing together, we got ready for dinner...

 

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... and I even cooked a real, non-healthy, good dinner!  (Pete said it had been WAY too long)

 

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We also had some wine.... which immediately made me dizzy and light-headed and prompted Pete to make comments for the rest of the evening about how trashed I was everytime I did or said something goofy.  (I wasn't, BTW)

Colsen put on a show for us that evening (he's starting to scootch around on his belly, even gets up on his knees like a little inch-worm),

 

... and we watched some basketball on tv (Strider really wanted Butler to win because it would be a "sweet upset" he kept saying.  They didn't win.)  And then we went to bed.  It was our first real HOT night (but we refuse to put on the air conditioner in MARCH).  Strider came down the next morning and reported that he was sweating so much overnight that he had worn his sports sweatband to bed.

Anyway, the next morning we got ready (along with a couple of Strider's friends) go to our neighborhood Kite Day festival.  The kids were very excited to go:

 

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... even Colsen!

 

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Rayna enjoyed the Moon Bounce thing,

 

 .... and Strider got a kick out of the magician there

 

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Even Colsen was awed by it all...

 

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Despite the fact that there was no wind to speak of, the kite flying attempts were made....  At first Pete was a little lonely out there trying to get the kite up, but once it was airborne, the kids came to see!

 

That afternoon we went up to Birkdale Village to do some shopping, then went to meet my parents for ice cream and to celebrate Poppa's birthday...

 

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.... Then after a fun dinner out at Firebirds, we came home and crashed!

This morning we went to church and this afternoon we've been playing games...

 

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Gee-Gee brought the games "Left, Right, Center" and "Farkle" (Rayna keeps jumping around saying "I want to play Sparkle!") and both have been major hits here.

 

Soon our visit must end, but we're so glad she came to see us!!

 

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March Madness... more than normal

 

The NCAA tournament started on Thursday right after lunch.

The first game (Davidson vs. Maryland) started at 12:15, and by 12:16 Strider was already screaming and booing, depending on who had the ball, who missed a shot, who scored, etc.  I knew then it was going to be a LOONG tournament here!

Strider has taken every opportunity possible to park himself on the couch in front of the tv, with his paper bracket that he filled out in one hand, and highlighter in the other (used to mark every game he guessed correctly).  Pete was so proud to come home to find him like that.

 

 

Of course this also means 99% of his conversation over the last 4 days have centered on the tournament.... "Mom, who do you want to win this game?   Who do you THINK will win?  Do you want to sit and watch it with me?  There might be an UPSET!  And Graham picked Wisconsin to win the whole thing, but they might lose!  What about if Florida wins this game?"  and on, and on, and on....

 

Rayna, meanwhile, who loves it when anyone is excited about anything, is having a ball with all this too.  She keeps running into the living room shrieking, "What game is it?  What game is it?"  Then she'll just cheer randomly and get all wound up...   For instance, about 10 minutes ago, she heard Strider yelling, "Go Oregon!  Go Oregon!"  Without looking up from what she was playing with, she started yelling, "Go Furgon!  Go Furgon!"

Colsen keeps getting startled by all the shrieking -- you'd think he would be used to it by now -- but overall he's still a jolly fellow.  He is proud of himself for his new skill of blowing bubbles.  And he's been enjoying the nicer weather -- he loves to be outside!

 

So, let the Madness continue...  My bracket picks have been pretty wrong so far -- both Pete and Strider are doing better than me -- but go UNC!  (Colsen's dressed appropriately above)  Strider would say, Go Kansas!  He's all excited because we're all competing in a tourney pool with some friends from college, and if he wins, he'll be getting a gift certificate at Amazon.  :)

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More Winter happenings

This past week has been fun, overall.

 

It was Wingate's "spring break"...  so Pete and Strider went skiing in Blowing Rock.  Strider was extremely excited about his first attempt on skis (with NO poles he'll proudlly tell you), and he did great.   He started out like this:

First day of skiing!

 But by the afternoon, both he and the weather had warmed up:

On the "lift"

He also got to stay in a hotel, which was VERY cool, and eat at the "best restaurant in the world", Storey Street Grille in Blowing Rock. :)

Strider at his (new) favorite restaurant in Blowing Rock

Meanwhile, Rayna's been having fun doing all her Rayna things...

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Master at work

 

 Lately she's been singing part of the Barney song a lot... but it's just the line that says "You love me..."  So she goes around hugging everyone's legs singing "YOU love me.... and YOU love me...."    And the other day I said to her, "How's my girl?"  She answered, "I'm precious." 

And then today I was helping her with something and she looked up at me and said, "You're so happy to see me!" 

 No lack of self esteem with this child!

 

 

And Colsen.... well Colsen has been a bit of a fuss-pot this week.  He pretty much wants to be in the center of everyone's attention.  So that means we've spent a lot of Spring "Break" carrying him around and trying to get him to stop fussing.  Today, though, I have to say he seems better.  Hopefully that was just a short phase!  He's still a cutie pie at least and loves to laugh -- when he's not crying!  He also has mastered jumping in his Jumpster, which he seems to love.

He's also getting pretty BIG... We were at the doctor for his 4-month visit a couple days ago and the nurse said, "he's a tall drink o'water!"  He's grown 6 inches in the last 4 months.  Soon I'm sure genetics will kick in, but for now it's kind of funny to have a kid in the 90th percentile.  :)

Strider is so entertaining

 

Cozy and warm

 

 

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