baby mine

Pop Quiz Hotshot...

Ok, pop quiz. Is this a video of Rachel or Lucas?



Please leave your answer in the comments section... and good luck.

vacation #3

our next stop was asheville, nc to take in the splendor of the biltmore estate.

if i had gone there when i was a little girl, i would have refused to leave and would have done my best to convince everyone there that i lived there so they'd let me stay.

seeing her first "castle"

being touristy tourists

the lion was really in the christmas spirit

he was really impressed by the wealth and prosperity that is found in america and is perplexed about the poverty of the rest of the world and he tried to invent some good platforms to help those in need and he tried his best to reconcile the problem of evil during our brief visit. just another day in the life of lucas charles.

she just liked the christmas trees.

toothless gums! oh how i miss them!

*oooooooo aaaaaaahhhhhh*

next stop, young harris georgia.

who are all you people?

i'm very excited and confused and thankful about the fact that this blog has received more than a hundred hits this week. i have no idea who all of you are, or why my blog matters to you (though i do have the most gorgeous children in the world and the universe... so i guess that's a good reason to come), but i'm so glad you do come and make my little people counter go up. cuz that's just exciting to me.

so, who are all of you?

vacations #2

we continue our adventure at the north carolina zoo in november 2008.

lucas loved the tram rides.

seeing the animals with pa-pa.

thank you, new camera. thank you very much.

daddy kisses

the tram was, indeed, super fun.

walking all morning makes for some tired kids!

next stop, asheville, nc!

happy birthday to my special boy

lucas charles turned the big 0-1 yesterday.
where, oh where, did the year go?

all turned around like a big boy!

showin' off his yummy man meat

happy valentine's day, courtesy of the fire department of guilford county

i packed up the kiddos and drove to high point, nc this weekend to spend time with some fabulous college buhds. (yes, i spelled that right.) it was such a good time. the kids played and played... and played and played. even after bedtime. they continued to play/scream/cry/yell/laugh until about 11:30. yeesh.

but the real reason i'm posting is to tell the exciting tale of our return trip. i was following melissa cross and her little hazel b/c i had no clue where i was going. my gas light was on, causing us to pull into the first gas station that we saw. at the time, i also realized my cell phone was in my suitcase in the trunk and i made a mental note to retrieve it when i was getting gas. i set the little automated gas lever... thing so i could be super productive and get my phone whilst getting gas. i went to the driver's side door to pop the trunk. i pulled the handle.

i was utterly rejected. the door was locked. my keys were glaring at me from the front seat.

my children were also glaring at me with sleepy and cranky eyes... from inside the locked car.

i quickly informed melissa of the situation. fortunately, she was there with me and i could use her phone. i mean, what are buhds for?

i went inside the gas station to get the number of the local police department so they could help me and my children (the one in diapers already wailing at this point). i got a number and got a police officer's voicemail.

seriously? that's not something you want to hear if you have to call the police.

i hated to do it, but i called 911. that's the first time i've ever called those numbers. i talked to two super friendly 911 people (who sounded a little relieved that i wasn't in a life and death situation. i'm sure it's tiring trying to encourage people all day long who are about to die. i'm glad i could do my part and give them a break). the nice, relieved lady told me not to be alarmed, but a fire truck would be required to come help me. she just wanted to let me know so i wouldn't get scared when i saw them pulling up. see what i mean? super nice.

the guilford fire department responded incredibly quickly. they are very good at their job.

three heavily-suspendered fire fighters came over and worked on propping open my car door for a few minutes. at this point, rachel was wailing. because three huge men in huge pants and suspenders were trying to break into the car she happened to occupy.

the kids might grow up to be afraid of fire men... but i am forever grateful they took time out of their busy schedule of fighting fires and saving peoples' lives to cater to me, my locked doors, and my stupidity. that's true community service, folks.

guilford county fire department, will you be my valentine?

vacations

remember when i promised random holiday pictures at inappropriate times? oh don't worry. i haven't forgotten. i have A LOT of things to share that are out of date. as we all think about celebrating or rebelling against or completely ignoring the upcoming holiday of valentine's day, i thought it a perfect time to talk about the trip we took with chuck's parents during thanksgiving week.

we packed the truck to leave raleigh and headed for the north carolina zoo in asheboro. as you can see, poor little lucas got to stare at the back of his seat for a total of 3 states throughout the trip. he was the ultimate trooper. and yes, that's a potty on the seat in between them. this was a major road trip, people.

unfortunately, it was ridiculously freezing and most of the animals apparently shared our opinion and didn't come out to be stared at. but we still saw some and had a great time. especially our little animal lover, rachel pamela. one of the seals swam right up to her and they had a staring contest. unfortunately, mommy was too slow with the camera.

puffins are cool. i'll bet you wish you were as cool a puffin. i sure do.

i wish i could remember this guy's name. it was something like "binky." seriously. poor "binky" had just had surgery and there was a sign letting us know he's feeling a little under the weather. binky, however, was a fan of the weather that day.

my ultimate trooper

fortunately it wasn't too cold for the giant insect playground. how often do you get to sit on one of these guys?

chuck really enjoyed playing with our new camera (it was new at the time). this picture of an elk was taken from a very far distance. our old camera zoomed about 2 feet. the fact that our new one can zoom across the galaxy is very exciting to us.

to be continued...

since you're all on the edge of your seat...

it was a big hit!

rachel was crazy about the circus. after braving the picket lines (with such witty signs and sayings such as "the circus is no fun for animals") and the gazillions of other cars in the parking lot, we were only about 20 minutes late. at first, i didn't know what she thought b/c she was just sitting and staring; not clapping, not laughing, just staring with huge blue eyes. i was afraid she was being overwhelmed by it all, but when the lights came up for intermission she couldn't wait for it to start again. all during the second half, she was standing and clapping and laughing and yelling and clearly having a great time.

our seats were at the top. and when i say the top, i mean the top of the top, as in the topmost of the most topful top possible. i was pretty freaked out getting my 3 year old up there in the dark without plunging to the bottom and getting trampled by the elephants (who weren't having any fun, according to the friendly picketers). i don't have a fear of heights, but i'm definitely very uncomfortable being on the precipice of about 853 very steep steps with a 3 year old that likes to crawl around pretending to be an elephant. the picture below is what was directly in front of our faces.

yes, the top.

look at that smile. this one one satisfied customer.

after it was all over, we had to try our best to not get trampled by the mass of frazzled parents, well-sugared children, and unhappy animals. i was afraid rachel was going to get scared of having to walk through the shoulder-to-shoulder people (since she's only waist high, and all, and she's scared of everything), but she was so hyper, she just jumped up and down yelling "yay! yay! yay!" pretty much all the way to the car. she's STILL talking about the elephants and the tigers (by far, her favorite parts. and mine, too).

" *whew* that sure was fun!" ~rachel pamela

tomorrow...

i'm taking rachel for a girl's day out to the circus! i'm definitely more excited than she is b/c she doesn't exactly know what a circus is, but she does know that these guys will be there. to her, this picture is the full embodiment of "circus."

it's so exciting that she's old to enough to do things like this and really genuinely enjoy them. don't worry, i'm bringing my trusty camera :)

a tribute...

to my wedding dress.

i had been engaged not even a full week. i went on a trip to david's bridal with my buhd, melissa, to get HER a wedding dress. (she had been engaged much longer than i had.)

i thought it would be fun to try a few dresses on. after all, i was a bride-to-be, too.

i came across a $600 dress that was marked down to $300 because it had been discontinued. there was also a sale going on at the time making the dress a whopping $250. besides all that, it was pretty much exactly what i wanted.

i tried it on.

i stared at myself in the mirror.

i called my mom.

i bought it.

now it's someone else's turn. i hope they're good to it.