Fair Time!

I love that our Fair has Pre-School Day!! This year I kept thinking, 'man, I'm so excited, it will be SO much easier this year now that the kids are older!' WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!

I am just grateful that we went with friends, who helped keep an eye on Brooklyn and occasionally relieved me from wanting to duct tape Sam to a wall.

Checking out the animals:

And this was Sam the entire time--wanting out of the stroller, with his monkey strapped onto his back so I had at least a slim chance of grabbing him before he sprinted away.

All of the kids loved the vehicles and tractors. I think this is totally a glimpse into my future: Blake saying, "Yeah! I got my license! Let's take this bad boy for a ride!" and Brooklyn going, "Um are you sure we should be sneaking out to do this??"

My country girl.

Sam's 'oh-yeah-the-ladies-think-my-tractor's-sexy' look.

Brooklyn found the 2 year old on the bull interesting.

See? I was there!

Snack time!

Ride #1. We stood in line for over 20 minutes--they were only filling up half of the cars! It was ridiculous. I was about to strangle Sam when it looked like it was our turn to go annnnnd, Sam and I didn't get on. So we gave up. Brooklyn and Blake had a great time though!!

Annnnd Sam was happy playing with a Capri Sun. So glad I stood in that line for 20 minutes...grumble grumble...

Ride #2. Phew! First in line. After the last ride, they were all chomping at the bit to get on.

Excited to GO!!!

Sam kept trying to jump out of the car and stand on the seat and climb in the seat in front of us...until it got moving. Then he understood why he was supposed to sit still.

This is Sam on the carousel--he LOVED it. We went twice and then the rides closed. Next time we're heading straight for the rides and bypassing the animals until last.

The kids hadn't finished their snacks, so we got in the car and I gave it to them. We hadn't even left the airport area (where the Fair was located) and this is what I found. I've learned that before we head home from anything (regardless of what time it is), the boy needs to have eaten at least a little snack and have a clean diaper and he'll be down for the count when we get home...usually.

And here's where Sam's cracker went.

Later that night. They were snuggling and Brooklyn says, "Mama, you need to take a picture of this." That's what I'll always remember about this photo. :D

Pumpkin' Carving.

The other day I decided that it was about time for a pumpkin (granted it's already now rotten due to the stinkin' Southern weather). Last year Brooklyn was absolutely disgusted with carving it. This year she still was, but still helped. :D

Sam has become a bit of a picky eater--everything has to be cut up into bite-sized pieces, won't hardly eat meat and only select veggies...so we were quite surprised when he picked up a big handful of pumpkin guts and shoved it into his mouth! We were even MORE surprised when he did it AGAIN!! And then he finished it with a "mmm!"

He spit out the seeds though and put them in the garbage, lol. This is pretty much all he did while Russ and Brooklyn cleaned out the pumpkin--ate some guts, put seeds in the trash, ate some more...weird kid. Guess he'll probably like pumpkin pie! Now to find an eggless recipe...

Voila! The end product. Brook wanted a ghost, so a ghost she got. Great job, team!

Pumpkin Patch

We've been doing lots of fun stuff for pre-school. I need to take my camera more so I can document a bit more, but here are a couple from a butterfly lesson we had a couple of weeks ago. The kids got PB&J butterfly sandwiches and got to decorate them with all sorts of things. Here's Brooklyn's (and Sam, who is above decorating and just wanted to eat, lol):

And then last week we hit up the pumpkin patch:

Sam was a bit of a turd. I'd left his "leash" in the car, and was too stubborn to go get it. He was having a great time though, running everywhere, picking up all sorts of pumpkins, trying to shove the blow-up decorations over, running into traffic...sigh. Momma was about to have a mental breakdown. That little guy sure keeps me on the run.

Say cheese!! Liam joined us later.

Sam had to get his picture too! :D

I was so grateful when he found this cart--he stayed put in a relatively safe place for awhile. Phew!

The kids had a blast being carted around.

It's a dang good thing he's so handsome. :D

He was hitting this sign and it'd swing back and hit him. He thought it was hilarious.

Brooklyn and her 'punkin ears'.

Yes Sammy, I see your pumpkin.

No! Don't eat it! Sigh.

Moores Creek Battlefield.

On a Saturday last month Russ randomly said, "I kinda want to go to the battlefield again." I did too, but was thinking that we'd just went recently. Then I got to thinking and realized it'd been over 1 1/2 years since we went--I was still pregnant with Sam last time!!! So we made the trek (a 25 mile drive or so).

Russ and I both enjoy the story that is told along the 1 1/2 mile or so trail. We read it out loud and tried to explain to Brooklyn what had happened where--she did good putting forth as much effort to listen and understand as she could, lol.

Sam had a blast just being a boy--running, digging, throwing...

Brooklyn liked finding and running ahead to the next sign for one of us to read.

lol, this cracked me up. Sam has never seen Russ without his goatee, so he's just used to it. But every so often he'll realize it's there and just pet it, lol.

Looking for alligators in the water.

It's just beautiful in there--the water is like glass, black glass.

Can you tell who was on Sam-duty most of the time? lol. Russ and I would try and swap kids every now and then so I could get a picture or two of Brooklyn, but Sam was running so fast, he kept us both on our toes. I was trying to coerce him into sitting down for a minute, but he saw Brooklyn and took off running.

Cutie-patooties.

Brooklyn found this giant mushroom (which she loves finding!). It broke apart and she was fascinated with the middle (as was I, lol). It was a really weird texture--it looked like bread dough, but was kind of slimy and wet. Really strange.

Don't worry, he didn't throw him by his arms, lol.

On the last leg of our walk, Brooklyn found this long piece of plastic. I think it came from a weed whacker or something. Anyways, she insisted that it was my leash.

Last time we were here I was so exhausted that we didn't even check out the little museum part. It was pretty interesting, as was the video that went with it. Brooklyn actually sat and watched just about all of it, and Sam watched a good chunk, but then got bored and meandered.

We bought some "cartridge candy", which was just like pixie sticks, to share.

And then we remembered that both kids had colds that we did NOT want to get, so Russ helped Sam out a bit, lol.

Can you tell it was Fruit Punch flavored? lol.

We really enjoy this park and definitely need to go back more. It's so beautiful, a great walk, and just fun to explore and learn about what happened there.

Hangin' Around The House.

A typical rainy morning in the Teeter household--jammies on (yes, Brooklyn's jammies are on--when you ask her to put them on, this is what you get), Sesame Street on, and Jenga...all before 8am. Good stuff.

Sigh, we've officially entered the "silly face phase". This was taken at approximately 7:30am--thank you Daddy for the early morning sugar rush due to the pumpkin pie and whipped cream for breakfast. :)

See what I mean about the silly faces? Hehe. This little monkey sure does love her daddy.

I caught him eating Brooklyn's breakfast (after eating his own already). He just looked like such a big boy...

Such a boy--showing his love with physical action. Tackling, that is. Seriously, he was laying on top of her, giving her kisses.

So stinking sweet when they're playing well together.

This is super sweet because Brooklyn is sharing the coveted duckie blanket and Sam is sharing the coveted monkey. And then there's always the tiara and wand...

It was so nice out this particular afternoon, we all just wanted to be outside. I was actually grateful when they unearthed my dead plant and decided to get dirt and mud on everything on the deck. Sam thinks it's hilarious to spontaneously take off sprinting, and his favorite place to sprint to is down the road to the boat launch. Yay. So I was plenty happy when they decided it would be fun to stay on the deck and just make a mess.

And make a mess they did...check out the back of Sam's shirt...and the front...yup, solid mud. They had so much fun--before the mud AND after, in the tub, which was another mess in itself, but so worth it. :D

The Last Day of Bubba.

I went to download my camera today thinking it'd only been a little while since I'd done it and found 250+ images!!!!! Whoops. Guess I'd better get back on the horse, especially since these were from last month!!

The last day of Bubba's visit we hit up the Kure Beach Pier. It was warm, but with a nice breeze. Not warm enough to dive into the water (although the kids would have enjoyed it), but nice for walking the pier.

Sam had never been out and was fascinated with everything like a good little boy should.

The kids even got to see someone catch a skate, which was interesting.

And as you can tell by the clouds, it was about to get wet. We hit up the aquarium after this for a bit and then home for naps.

Had to wake the kids up and take Bubs to the airport. There was no way I was going to brave the rest of the evening by myself after a week of Bubba, so I'd thrown the kids swim suits in the car to go to a "surprise" after the airport.

It was nice, we were the only ones there. We were waiting for Russ to meet us there (we were going to play, eat, and then he was going back to work for the evening, but we gave up after he got lost and we had to just meet him somewhere else. We were so tired we all just went home.).

I was trying to get all of our footprints together, but Sam wasn't a fan. So here's Dut's and my prints.

The kids actually recovered from their week of Bubba pretty darned well. It's usually a bit hellacious, but I was pleasantly surprised. Now we're counting the days until December...

Update.

Well here we go again, another month of unposted blogs to get caught up on. Sigh. In my defense, we've been a bit busy.


Sam is a boy now. He still calls himself a baby when he sees himself, but alas. Sniffle sniffle. He's so stinking sweet, but can definitely hold his own against Brooklyn. He's a bit shy around those that he doesn't know, but at home he's a ball of non-stop energy.

He's learned how to shriek so loudly that my ears ring and is talking more and more. One of my favorites is I'll say something like, "you need to lay down, okay?" and he'll respond with a grin, "Koh-kay." He also recently discovered how to climb out of his crib, although he's only done it twice, and we're on the fence with what to do about that.

One thing that I love love love is that he definitely has a special place in his heart for those that mean the most in his life. Even though he's known how to say "mama" for quite some time, it melts my heart every time because it is generally accompanied by a huge grin and a giant hug or kiss.

Brooklyn's been keeping busy with playdates and pre-school. We've been learning about all sorts of stuff from animals to counting to insects to pumpkins. We've been to the Arboretum, a farm, a pumpkin patch, a duck pond...it's been pretty fun.

She's slowly learning to read. We will sound out words and spell them. She's learning that she can recognize words. For example, every time she sees a stop sign she yells, "Stop momma! That says stop!" and then she'll try and spell it out.

A month or so ago she was coming in to our room in the middle of the night with bad dreams, asking to snuggle. She still does it occasionally, but now probably about every other day she'll wake up for the day between 6:30-7am or so and come in and stand beside Russ's side of the bed and just sigh. He pulls open the covers and she climbs in and wraps herself around his arm and falls back asleep. It's so dang sweet, I love it.

She also cracks me up at least once a day. The other day she walked into where I was, lifted up her arm, smelled her armpit and said, "PEEEWWW! I need some oh-erant!" "You mean deoderant?" "Yeah, I stink!" I was giggling too much to explain that she doesn't really need it and just went and got it and put it on her. She hasn't said a thing about it since. :)

Russ has been really busy with lots of crazy, different projects at work. He definitely can't say that he gets bored often, lol. Always something. He's also been helping out a lot with the kids while I've been busy doing a million other things. And doesn't he look so handsome?! With all the weight he's lost, he was starting to resemble MC Hammer in some of his work pants. So we set a goal--when we got down to $X left to be paid on his student loan we'd reward ourselves with some new clothes. We took both kids with us to two stores and all of us were ready to pull our hair out by the end, but Russ got some nice stuff that actually fits him. Woo hoo!

I've been staying busy with trying to finish painting the trim on weekends and during naps. We had a cold streak for a week and it made me realize that if I didn't get the painting finished soon, I'd be trying to finish it through Winter. ECK! So I put on my layers and layers of clothing (including two hats and my fluffy winter coat) and froze my butt off in 50 degree weather. (Yes, I said 50...and yes, I am apparently a wuss.) It's getting there.

I'm also getting back into couponing more and dragging a few friends with me, so that's been fun. And I recently got into yard-sale-ing, which has been fun in looking for Christmas stuff and warm clothes that actually fit my chidlren. Plus a few of us work out twice a week in the evenings, which has been great. And then there's doing the pre-school stuff and playdates and photography (I'm actually slated to be the photographer for a local pre-school here in a week or two, which will be something totally new, but I'm looking forward to). And then the whole keeping my kids busy during the day so they don't kill each other thing.

We're definitely staying busy, but what can I say, life is good.

Ashton Farms

I debated whether or not to go to the field trip to Ashton Farms today because the kids are coming down with colds. But the thought of being cooped up with them at home all day made me about pull my hair out right then and there. So out we ventured.

It was about a 1/2 hour drive, and Sam doesn't exactly enjoy being in the car. Especially when he's getting sick and was up from 2-3 am the night before, just because. But we got there and they were intrigued.

The kids all shucked corn to feed to the ducks.

Sam did a lot of this--wandering. And not listening. Ugh, drives me BONKERS!!! Especially in an unknown place with SO many people! I'm really trying to let him establish his independence and let him walk wherever we walk. But OH MY. Talk about frustration. At any rate, he really enjoyed Mommy running after him every 2 seconds.

Then on to the bunnies.

And the goats, sheep and pig.

And the geese and chickens. This is actually the "mean" goose. Yeah, Sam had him by the beak more than once...sigh. I'd be mean too. They also let the kids in with the chickens to try and catch them. Brooklyn had one cornered instantly but came out in tears because she "let it get away". Poor girl--she's only 3 1/2, how can she be so hard on herself? It's a chicken for heavens sake!

Sam, eyeing a bucket of water...which he dove into.

Brooklyn LOOOOVED this tire swing!! I'm trying to figure out where we could put one...

Got him to sit for a few minutes by sacrificing the life of my sunglasses....

Brooklyn and Blake got to go one TWO horse rides together.

AND we got to go on a tractor ride!

I'm SO glad they like each other so much--it makes attempting this Pre-School thing MUCH easier!

Anna, Mynnie, Blake and Brooklyn having the time of their lives.

And Jack and Sam bringing up the rear.

Chow time!

Then we headed home--Sam was asleep within 3 minutes of driving down the road and Brooklyn took a nap! Woo hoo! That's an oddity these days. I think I'd really like to go back one of these days when there aren't so many people and the kiddos aren't sick. Blah. All in all, it was fun though!

Day In The Life - September 2009

Wake up to rain falling outside. Stormed all night, and I loved it!!

Do the shower thing since the beach idea is nixed due to the rain. Straightened up our room and put away Sam's laundry.

Came out to see Sam getting some quality Daddy time and was surprised that Dut was still asleep!!

This boy sure loves his Bubba! And is quite keen on puzzles, we found.

Momma chills.

The Dut emerges and takes her place.

Sammy is NOT happy when he see his place has been claimed by another.

An agreement is reached.

Time to build a tent!

It starts pouring again so we head outside for a shower.

A butterfly seeks refuge.

Russ decides it's time to go get his tire mounted so he can drive his motorcycle again. Sweet! I needed to drop off some pictures anyways. I hurry and package everything up.

And off we go...by ourselves...eek.

Get to the motorcycle shop and I wait in the car since the rain picks up again.

And find a magazine I'd left in my car "just in case". Phew!

And we have lunch! Wow! I can't remember the last time Russ and I had lunch by ourselves. It was pretty nice.

We got back, and all was well on the home front.

Then we "hopped" (more like orchestrated precise placement) into the car.

And headed to Jungle Rapids. The kids were in awe at all the games, half of which seemed to work.

But Dut was happy to get some tickets--2 Tootsie Rolls and an erasers worth!

The ball pit was by far the main attraction--LOTS of giggles and belly laughs in here.

Like I said, belly laughs.

Hehe, Daddy is funny.

Russ was hiding under the balls and Sam would find him.

Brooklyn, showing off her diving skills.

Sam was a bit overwhelmed with the big ball pit (quite understandably!!).

But Brooklyn was able to get to the tippy top of the play place for the first time.

Awe, he looks so teeny!

And now on to practicing her aerial skills.

She was being an alligator...doesn't she look ferocious?

lol...I TOLD you I'm not always so nice. I was showing Dut how to be a scary alligator. Seriously. No, really.

Our car's shocks are pretty warn out. Add two more adult persons than normal, it makes it super fun when going over bumps, like when we ride over the bridge. The kids always say "WhoaWhoaWhoa!" when we go over the bridge and Sam's face just lights up because he thinks it's hilarious. Me too...I have caught myself doing it when I'm driving alone on occasion. Hehe.

We've had this dilemma for the past year now...covering the front room windows. We've had the blinds, but have been too stubborn to buy one of the overpriced rods that are long enough for it. We finally found one within our budget--free! A steel rod from the garage, hehe. It needs something else, like some funky ends or something, but we'll see. I'm just glad to have something shading myself from the passers by!

I caught Brooklyn helping me out. What a nice kid.

And Sam and Bubba winding down.

We went to say goodbye to the kids as we embarked on an evening out (YES! An afternoon AND an evening!!! Can you believe it?! THANK YOU Bubba!!!), but as you can see, our kids weren't exactly sad to see us go...

(Yes, this is his newest obsession.)

Picking up Darcy & Roman to head out and catch a movie (or two!). I just had to post this shot...check out that hottie! :P

The crew is ready to go!

At the theatre, Russ tries to get us in trouble by announcing our plans to see two movies...but not understanding that we weren't exactly planning on paying for the second. The cost is just to get in, right?? Long story short we saw 500 Days of Summer (the guys went along with this thinking that we would see The Informant afterwards) and the second movie was on the OTHER side of the theater. With it being a Tuesday, it wasn't like we could get lost in the crowd or anything. So Darcy does what any other person would do and asked the ticket person if we could walk into the next movie!! I was impressed. The girl didn't say No, but she didn't say Yes either. So we opted for the next best thing...

...ice cream! Even thought he place was swarming with cockroaches (not near us though, thanks to Russ's keen eye and large feet). We had fun chatting and laughing...until it started to sprinkle. In NC terms, sprinkling = downpour in a matter of minutes. So we started shuffling back towards the car, which was maybe 1/4 or 1/3 mile away.

Annnnnd we got stuck in a rainstorm!

Other than being drenched to the bone, it was a blast. I finally decided to run and just get the car for all of us after Russ said "no way, I'm not going!" Only to find him running with me when I started! Given that I was wearing incredibly slippery flipflops, I deemed him the runner. So he saved us all and got the car.

Phew! Finally home and ready for some dry clothes.

Russ crashes and I wash up and don my glasses so I can see my book as I drift off to sleep.

What a great day.

Fun Times with Bubba, Part II.

Sorry Bubs for any incriminating photos, but your grand kids will thank you, I guarantee it.

Love this. Dut and Bubba built about ten million tents and played in them for hours.

Sam, trying to eat his roll with a toy pitchfork. That's my boy.

Teeter Totter time!

Sam finally figured out how to get in the big boy swing all by himself, hehe. They had a blast, before the mosquitoes ate them all to pieces...grrr.

Just hangin' around.

That's my little man!

And my {usually} sweet girl.

Such a good little model, helping momma practice w/ her lens.

Anybody know what kind of flower this is? I have no clue. We randomly have all sorts of flowers that pop up out front.

"Here momma..." Awww.

What a goon.

MORE "dawww"!!

One of my favorite shots because it's preserving such a great memory. Both kids love to get up and snuggle with Bubba with a cup of juice and some cartoons.

Russ and Bubba checking out the swamp and the crabs while the kids check out....rocks. Oh well.

Tossin' rocks.

See? I do exist. Not that I look entirely like this in real life, lol. Maybe if I were a makeup artist or something...

Bubba showing Brooklyn how to whistle with plastic.

Love his little scrunchie face. It's his "it's too bright" face. He's giving me chalk.

I'm loving this photo because I have the exact same one of Russ and Brooklyn at Sam's age, walking hand in hand.

We checked on the crabs, now to check on the turtles.

Sammy-Man is exhausted and ready for dinner. All this playing works up a guy's appetite!