Wild Weekend

Friday morning Grandaddy and Mimi flew to MI bringing back my Will and then staying for the weekend. They landed at about 1030 and my flight (at a different airport) was at 2.  We had time to come home and eat lunch and let me finish packing.  I still forgot some things, but oh well!  I arrived at RDU at 330 and Karen picked me up.  We then drove to Chapel Hill to meet my cousin James Lester and have Keith serve us dinner at Top of the Hill.  Karen and I realized we had not seen James in almost 6 years!  So it was great to see him and catch up.  After dinner we went to my mom's house and visited a little and then bathed and put Eric to bed.  Karen and I then went for a nice long walk with the dogs.  I went to bed pretty tired but oh so happy to be in NC!
Saturday morning started bright and early (630).  Eric and I had time to just hang out for a while before everyone else woke up.  Then right before breakfast it was time for Eric to nap.  He slept through breakfast and then woke up after 30 minutes.  That wasn't much of a nap so I went to see if I could get him to go back to sleep.  We cuddled in bed and he went right back to sleep and so did I!  We slept for a little over an hour together.  Having an after breakfast nap is one of my all-time favorite things to do!!  Especially after having biscuits, bacon, and eggs!!  Then it was off to have Eric's 6 month pictures taken.  Which was the reason for the quick weekend trip.  He did great and it was quick and easy.  THen we went to Chick-fil-a (there isn't one in MI!) and picked up lunch.  Christian, Rachel and their 2 kids came to Burlington to see us and have lunch.  IT was great to see them again.  The timing was perfect for them to also get to skype with Justin!  I don't know who was happier to talk to each other, Christian or Justin!!  I had some down time after they left before Kate and Aunt Lou came over for dinner.  After dinner Karen, Kate, and I went to see the movie Bridesmaids.  It was a great time and the movie is hilarious!!  Go see it!!  It was another late night and early morning!
My flight left out of RDU at 930 Sunday morning.  Dad picked me up while Marie stayed home with the big kids.  I got home in time for a fantastic Sunday lunch that Marie and the kids had been working on!  Then started getting Grandaddy and Mimi ready to head back to NC.  We headed to the airport and dropped them off at the local airport around 3.  Eric was asleep before we go to the first stop light!
Since then it has been craziness like usual.  Will, Eric, and I went on a field trip to the Zoo yesterday.  And then the weather has been nasty today.  Eric has also started to not sleep as well as he was.  Between Eric and Will I was up 5 times before 1030 Monday night!!  I was trying to go to bed early.

Caroline skyping with Will while he was in NC.

I had a wonderful weekend in NC!  Thanks for all your help with the big kids Dad and Marie!  They loved spending time with you.  We can't wait to see all of you this summer when we are around.

a little quiet around here

That is one thing I might not have ever thought I would say about my house!  Caroline was a big talker not not as much (I think she gets it out at school!) and Will talks NON-STOP.  Just call me and you will hear him talking in the background.  And it looks like Eric is going to be quite the talker as well.  He screeches, coos, and blows raspberries all the time.  Susan got to hear it several times today over the phone and was laughing at him.
So why is it quiet here?  My mom and Pete drove back to NC on Saturday and took Will with them.  Apparently he talked for hours on end in the car!  He is loving his time getting so spoiled and the warmer weather (might be another post).  I miss him and Caroline really misses him.  Caroline is even sleeping in his bed she misses hi so much.  Eric saw will on skype and lit up!  He was smiling and kicking his legs and moving his arms.  It was so cute that he recognized his brother.  But it is giving me a preview of what the fall will be like when both Caroline and Will are at school all day.  That will be hard.  I love having my kids around.  They play so well together and I just enjoy them.  And it will be too quiet all over again!  

My dad and Marie will be flying him back up either Thursday or Friday and the kids should have lots of fun getting to play together again.

The kids a few weeks ago enjoying some finger painting!

Six months old! (a week ago!)

Took Eric to the doctor for his six month check up yesterday.  He is doing great! He weighs 18.5 lbs (66%) and is 28 in long (91%)!  He sits up almost all by himself (he just tips to the side) and loves to jump.  He eats like his brother and I will need a job when they get to be teenagers to afford the grocery bill!

Spring time

Spring has finally arrived here in MI!  Most trees have leaves on them and the flowers are beautiful.  Our apple tree is starting to blossom and the wisteria is still working on getting leaves.  The temperatures are getting into the 60s and the kids are spending the afternoons outside.  Which makes the house neater!!  Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the warmer weather.

Playing with our neighbor, Mateo.

Love those deep blue eyes!

Guess what we now have?!  A tree "house"!  The kids have been wanting one for a long time and Papa made this platform for them the other day and we are almost done putting the finishing touches on it.  The first thing they wanted to do is have snack up there!

One tired boy!

Will has had quite a difficult winter.  First it was all the allergy testing, which he hated! And then he kept complaining that his throat, legs, back, and shoulders all hurt.  I thought it was from all his jumping off things or growing pains.  He also complained about being tired a lot, especially when I asked him to clean up!  Typically excuses, right?  Oh but when I took him to the doctor she did a strep test and a mono test.  Well guess which one he has?  MONO!!!

When you get too tired to stand and play with the sand you just sit in it instead!!

It makes bed time super easy, but around 4 every afternoon he is wiped.  Asking for bed done.  We struggle through dinner, clean up, baths, and stories before finally getting in bed.  I do have him have a rest time before we go pick up Caroline.  He sits on the sofa and watches/listens to a DVD of Justin reading stories.  Thanks for helping him rest Justin!!

He is on the downhill side of his mono and the weather is gradually getting warmer so it is nice that he can play outside now that he is beginning to feel better.

Cooking with gas!

Will LOVES to help me in the kitchen.  He is forever dragging his step stool to the sink, island, and stove to see what I am doing and to see if he can help.  Which is great most of the time but sometimes he is just causing more work.  Yesterday we were making more fruit roll-ups and I had to step away from my strawberry cutting and when I turned back around look who was cutting them for me!  He said he watched me enough and so he could now do it.  And he did, without cutting off his finger.  He cut them exactly like I was cutting them too!

Stirring the strawberries and blueberries.

Another recipe we tried this week was sticky buns.  Yummy!!  Of course Will helped with these too.

Half of the buns in the muffin tin.

Will mixing the cinnamon and brown sugar.  He might have tasted some too!

Not very pretty but the finished buns.

Here are the recipes if you would like to try them.  If you make the sticky buns reduce the butter from 12 tbsp to 8. And the fruit roll-ups don't need to cook but for half the amount of time called for, but watch them.

Sticky buns
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/easy-sticky-buns-recipe/index.html

Fruit roll-ups
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2011/03/step-by-step-homemade-fruit-leather/