Random shots and a birthday

Proof that my children regularly scare me -- I dont' know who took this picture of Ollie, but it made my heart skip a beat just to look at it!! (Beach house deck, Emerald Isle)

Someone turned 39 yesterday and it wasn't me! Actually, I'm next . . . Anyway, Chris had a birthday, and one of his incredibly thoughtful and generous gifts was a ripstik. Of course he was immediately on it and heading down the block, and then Henry and George wanted to try.

Here's my whole crew -- my favorite people in the world!

The Biltmore: America's largest home

So, our family had a great time visiting Asheville NC. It is home of the Vanderbilt family's "country retreat," the Biltmore. It is impressive. 250 rooms, completed in 1905. It is about 4 hours from us, so because the kids are tracked out, we decided to head West.


As terrible as we are at taking pictures, we did manage to take a few.


The Orchids in the greenhouse. (that was much bigger than our own house).




Here is a front shot of the house. We actually had to drive for quite a while on the property before we got there.

This was in the Asheville Arboretum the day before. We did a bit of hiking -- it was perfect weather -- about 75. It's a great time of year to be in NC! Come visit!!

Crazy hair/hat day and George turns 6!

It was crazy hat/hair day yesterday for the elementary schoolers. The boys, with their buzzed heads really had no choice but to don hats, but Daisy did hers all by herself. (She covered a plastic cup with her hair -- pretty creative!) Have a look:


(Ollie was a little nervous with G in the Nacho Libre mask . . .)




George turned six (!) on 2/23, and we celebrated by having dinner at a restaurant of his choice: Subway. Then it was back to our house for cake and presents (not in that order, of course). It was an excellent night, all in all. I really, really love "no friend party" years. We still celebrate plenty and I don't' have to plan a party. Next year will be different, of course. It will be his turn to party with his friends (and with his family, which always leads to two parties.) This is just one of the many reasons we do them every other year!

Happy Birthday, George! Our family wouldn't be the same without our only blue-eyed child!

Myrtle Beach

So we went to Myrtle Beach this past weekend to participate in their half-marathon (Chris/CB), 5K (Sadie and Daisy), and family fun run (George and I -- it was a mile, perfect for me since I don't run. H had a stomach ache and pulled out at the last minute, but wished he'd done it after.) Anyway, we went with some good friends of ours from church and had a great time. And the beach was amazing after all the running -- nearly 70 degrees!

Our happy 5K runners. Surprisingly, Sadie ran faster than Daisy, even though Daisy did more training. This could be the beginning of a love of running for these girls. Something they definitely don't get from me . . .

S and D with our friends before the 5K. Love the reflector sticker D put on her head . . .

The kiddies and I, post "Family fun run," waiting for food . . .

Pre-run -- H not feeling great.



Swimming at the Hotel pool.

We had a great time -- I think this will be a new family tradition!!

LaFawnda visits

Last weekend Sadie brought a baby home. An annoying fake baby that woke me up at night. Of course it was on a weekend Chris/CB was travelling, so he didn't get a chance to meet her. We called her LaFawnda. I guess we just had Napolean on the brain. Anyway, she was really high maintenance. She had to be rocked and fed and changed and held just right or she would wail. And her head/neck was super sensitive. Ugh. She travelled with us in the car everywhere we went. As if I didn't already have enough going on in the backseat of my car . . . It was awesome. When Daisy is in 8th grade, she is SO writing the essay instead.

It's been ages!

We had a little snow in December (the day after Christmas, to be exact), which was great since it happened on a Saturday night and church was cancelled the next day. Hooray! This is the one and only time I am happy for snow.

Ollie could barely move -- he was like Randy on "Christmas Story." He didn't last long....

We went to DC for a couple of days before New Years. Of course I took no pictures, but we walked the Mall in DC, stopped at the Temple, and saw our awesome friends, the Dicksons. I was short and sweet . . . hopefully we will be back soon to see more of our friends.

Daisy turned 11 on 1/21. The time passes so quickly! It was a no-friend party year, so we celebrated with just our family with dinner at IHOP and cake afterwards. Happy Birthday to our sweet D!!

Ever have one of those days

when you just don't feel like doing anything? I'm having one of those. It's not like I don't have things that need doing. Let's see, there's the piles of Ama*zon boxes that need to be opened and wrapped, my floors need a date with a mop in the worst way, not to mention laundry, beds changed, etc. And then there is my total lack of motivation and sluggishness. My children have been good sports -- watching Scooby Doo and playing on the i*pad -- I don't know what my problem is, but I'm just sluggish. I'll recover, I'm sure. What cures the slugs when you get them? You do get them, right??