We four kings...

Our resort

2012-02-12T05:37:00.000-08:00

We stayed at the All Star Movies Resort. Our building was the 101 Dalmations building. Some of 50 on each building and 1 in front of Terefech. The other buildings were Fantasia, Herbie the Love Bug, Toy Story and the Mighty Ducks.

Terefech doing a show for the 101st dalmation.

The Mighty Ducks hotels.

Fantasia

Herbie the Love Bug. You might think this would be lost on our kids...nope, they have watched the movies. Perfect hairstyle time entertainment!

These are the value resorts and they were perfect. Yes, the rooms are small but we were never there. I think I would have been disappointed to have stayed in one of the nicer ones (and been paying for it) and literally the only time we were there was to shower and sleep. The giant characters were fun, breakfast was yummy and there were lots of choices and we loved all the 15 year old girls...there will be a post about that later!

Off to Disney World

2012-02-12T05:28:00.000-08:00

You wonder why there would be a picture of Rich's feet on a off to Disney World post??? Well, he decided to severely sprain both his feet (we found out after we got home, we figured they were broken on the trip because they were bruised all wierd, swollen and extremely painful) about 4 hours before we left. I thought he was kidding...he wasn't. He was a great dad and waddled through all the parks. The beer in Epcot helped.

Finding out they were going...

Their biggest question was when are we going. We had to say now about 10 times before they really realized that we meant we were getting in the van to leave at that moment. Declan was so excited about seeing all the parks-Grandma and him had read about Disney World earlier in the week in a travel magazine (kind of a little taunt on her part...way to go!). Terefech was excited but really didn't know what she was in for!

Do nothing day...not really

2012-02-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

At the end of the January, we had our first official do nothing day. We actually didn't do nothing because as we discussed, you can't. You have to breathe so doing nothing isn't actually an option. There were no chores, no technology besides the phone (and the calls had to be short), nothing that had to be done. Since this was Declan's idea, he was the mayor of Do Nothing Day and things had to be approved by him. Lucky for us, the weather was unusually warm so we spent much of the day lounging outside while the kids played.

Enjoying french toast to start the day.

Yep, there was lots of silliness going on...tying up Daddy was great fun for the kids.

Enjoying buna penguin

Waffles for dinner by candlelight...they were in heaven.

Declan invented his own lego game that we have been playing for months. Yep, I won!!!

It was a great success and we look forward to the next one. It was a great experience with nothing to focus on but each other. For us, giving up the technology wasn't a big deal but not doing things around the house was hard. We enjoyed being together and the kids having some say so and control over our day. They thought it was incredible and want to do it all the time!

Declan's future house

2012-02-10T18:02:00.001-08:00

The ballet

2012-02-10T18:00:00.001-08:00

The kids love listening to classical music and dancing around! I know...you love Declan's outfit!

Yes, this qualifies as ballet at our house!

2012-02-10T17:47:00.001-08:00

Heroes play

2012-02-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

Declan's class studied heroes during December and January. They had a performance to show all the knowledge they had gained about what a hero is.

Declan was Neil Armstrong's flight instructor...he was thrilled. After much debate about what a flight instructor wears, we created this costume (the goal on costumes at his school is to use things you already have...white polo, black electrical tape and some gold paper). Along with his ear protection from the race track with a book light taped on for a microphone, he really looked the part.

As always, we were proud of his performance. And we love that he goes to a school that is teaching him about what a true hero is.

Having fun!!!

2012-02-10T17:35:00.000-08:00

We marvel constantly at how well the two of them play together. There are times where it goes on for days without one argument. They truly seem to love being together.

One of their Christmas gifts was the girl plate to match the boy plate we already had...they do enjoy the dress up!

As you can see by the long line of cars, the restaurant above is very popular. They had a blast lining them up and having cars order food.

More random pics...

2012-01-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

Giving Papa his late Christmas present....

Brandon modeling the tatoo he wants to get...just pen for now

Rich getting ready to run in his new Merrell barefoot shoes...

Terefech having fun

2012-01-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

Trying to imitate cousin Brandon's broke leg...leg is in what we call a ukelele case cast!

Loving her hair with the flat twists out.

More holiday fun with the family

2012-01-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

Our for Ethiopian with the family. I forgot to take a picture of our yummy food when it arrived but realized this is much more of an example of what happens when we go to eat Ethiopian. Terefech loves the food and cleans the platter for all of us!

Intense zartz playing at the table.

Brandon enjoying some Ethiopian wine, Tej.

We also did some rocket launching. One of Declan's gifts to Terefech was her own rocket to launch. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and a light wind. The rockets flew incredibly high.

Declan's teeth

2012-01-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time coming but Declan finally lost some teeth. All within a couple of days. He is very proud and excited about all the things you can do with that space....stick your straw in there, stick your tongue out. So cool! Unfortunately, we think he swallowed the second one. It just disappeared. Somehow the tooth fairy knew and still delivered a surprise under his pillow.

Family holiday fun

2011-12-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

Loving those gluten free cupcakes

Always having fun with the cousins

Declan's gift...so excited to make a basket!

Terefech and her girls...and her skateboard

2011-12-29T08:17:00.001-08:00

The day after

2011-12-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Enjoying their toys!

Terefech got a matching outfit with her doll. The skirts are from Village Thread, a great company making items and using their profits to help others in Ethiopia.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

Loving their gifts from Santa...skateboard and a 2 person sled! Let's hope for snow.

Santa wrote letters back to the kids...obviously he is using the computer now to be more efficient.

Terefech loves penguins and she gets lots of penguin gifts....3 pairs of penguin socks this year!

The kids donated all of their give money shortly before Christmas to AHOPE. Santa put some money in their stocking to get their give jars a jump start.

Reading Terefech's letter from Santa.

The leftovers...Santa enjoyed the cookies!

Note Declan's penguin underwear...Terefech's gift to him. He was the last family member not to have penguin underwear courtesy of Terefech.

Opening her Barbie carrying case from Nana.

The kids got Daddy some Merrell shoes, much like his Vibram's but they prevent broken feet! Now we all have a pair and the kids love it when we match!

Opening Declan's present for her...they love picking out gifts for each other.

Terefech on her skateboard and Declan working on his geomate. We will be doing some geocaching soon. There is a treasure about 600 feet from our house. Going to be lots of fun when we travel.

Waiting for Brandon and Suza to arrive...a little Merry Christmas Curious George.

Loving cousin Suza

Terefech got an American Girl doll from Grandmas. Needless to say she was thrilled.

Watching Suza and Brandon's Christmas video.

After opening all those presents, Brandon apparently needed a drink!

Rich having fun getting through all that packaging!

Declan spent hours watching the hexbugs and rearranging the track. Who knew they could be so entertaining...we all found them a little hypnotic! The kids have admitted it was a great day and they got some wonderful things. We all loved having Suza and Brandon here! Missing the rest of our family!

McAdenville, Christmastown USA

2011-12-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

McAdenville is a town filled with wonderful Christmas lights. The town lights up everywhere and is visited by lots and lots of people. It was warm this year so many people were walking the couple of miles through town and enjoying the lights. Most of the lights are on private homes although there are trees and the small lake decorated by the town. I love it!

Waiting for McAdenville

2011-12-24T13:03:00.000-08:00

We drove out to McAdenville, NC to vist Christmastown, USA. When we saw the sign saying 90 minutes from where we were sitting, we were a bit discouraged. Taking pictures helped the time go by!

It ended up only being 35 minutes...we actually enjoyed the time in the car being silly and together!

Christmas cookies

2011-12-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

One of my family traditions is Christmas cookies. And although Terefech claims not to like sweets very much she somehow makes it through this activity. They only lasted about 20 minutes before they had to take a break, illustrated below.

Terefech isn't anywhere like Declan who constantly wants to eat everything but she did indulge a little bit.

Some of our masterpieces.

New Hair

2011-12-23T05:47:00.000-08:00

Terefech went to the hair salon this past Sunday and got her hair done. After a consultation the previous Friday night, she had been convinced that she could have something done to her hair. She hasn't wanted to sit for me to try anything and mostly she has just wanted it straight (which I am not for). This salon was recommended by her yoga teacher who has hair just like hers. Kelly was wonderful and I have titled her "new best friend." I am afraid I won't be let to do Terefech's hair ever again. She loves it and loves the fact that we don't have to do anything to it. Terefech is doubly excited about taking it out and seeing how long it is when it is stretched out (me too!).

Pajama Da

2011-12-23T05:42:00.000-08:00

The kids had pajama day at school and decided to dress alike. I think Declan might have been still asleep in this picture. Like the fact that they like each other enough to dress alike...hopefully that will last awhile longer!

Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-23T05:37:00.000-08:00

We love making gingerbread houses at our house. As the first picture points out, Declan does too. I often have to remind him to decorate, not eat. They have a blast figuring out what to put on. This year, one of our houses was plastic and snap together. This goes against conventional gingerbread house wisdom but wow, that was easy! We will be buying another one next year. No, holding the house together, waiting for the sides to stick, falling over while decorating. And we can use it for all holidays and we buy all of our own candy (Rich thought that was great and bought way too much candy!). Terefech had made a gingerbread house at school this day...unfortunately we have no pictures. While the kids were at yoga and Rich was upstairs, our dog decided to have a holiday snack. Tears flowed for awhile and then we regaled Terefech with all of the dog eating things stories we could think of. As we giggled through dinner, she realized it happens to all of us (apparantly cause she ate parts of Christmas presents last night!).

Giveaway!!!

2011-12-19T18:06:00.001-08:00

Check out my friend Tracy's giveaway. She is raising money for Project 320, a group of women who gotten together to raise money to build wells. Tracy has some great prizes she is giving away. Check it out! Here is the link!

The Nutcracker

2011-12-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

The kids have wanted to go to the Nutcracker since last year. My dad gave Terefech the book for Christmas (her first book gift....with her name in it...from Grandpa....a really big deal to her!) and they just fell in love. Declan, of course, really loves the music and Terefech just wanted to see it. So off we went this past Sunday. There aren't any pictures of the performance but here we are getting ready to see it!

T and D in front of the giant Bank of American Christmas tree. Another fine family photo!

Santa returns

2011-12-13T17:01:00.000-08:00

We attended the Christmas party for our development and the kids got to see Santa once more. I always tell them it is good to remind Santa what you are asking for as he is very busy this time of year. Santa spent a few minutes talking to each child and had a great jolly laugh. He told them one of his favorite stories and they sang Christmas songs together. Santa also explained that whenever anyone asks what to get him for Christmas he always says songs. He loves to hear children sing. So anytime you are thinking of him, sing loud and clear and he is sure to hear!

Lights at the speedway

2011-12-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

We live very close to the Charlotte Motor Speedway so we zipped over for their light show one weekday night. Weekday being important because when we went on a weekend last year we waited for 2 hours to see the lights. This year, no wait!

In my humble opinion, it is okay. Last year, you were able to drive turn 1 and 2 on the speedway when you finished seeing the lights. Not this year (I understand it was a bad idea but it was fun and the kids loved it!). Declan was so disappointed. Guess we won't be going back again but there are so many other cool things to do!

Holiday decorations

2011-12-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

Our giant penguin moved to the side of the house and the snowman took his place. The kids love it! Heard today on the radio that someone thought blow ups were the lazy man's way to decorate. Who are they kidding? They just add to the beauty of it all!

Enjoy Rich's crazy pictures...

Finding the perfect tree

2011-12-11T06:27:00.001-08:00

We set out to find the perfect tree at our local farm, Hodges. We finally got rid of our cheap, fake tree last year and had been researching what was the most earth friendly way to have a tree. We finally decided buying a tree from NC (you have to get them from the mountains so that is as local as we can get) and at a local farm was our greenest move. We all looked around for our favorites and narrowed it down to 2, mine and Declan's. I was lobbying hard for mine and then realized that I live in a small house! Declan's choice was perfect!

We loved these funky trees, couldn't bring ourselves to buy one. The cats followed us all over the place while they weren't trying to pounce on us.

Fierce Knights

2011-12-11T05:38:00.001-08:00

One of the many things I love about my children is how creative they are. Declan has never needed a specific toy to play something and Terefech has learned to create whatever she wants to play with. Somehow knights and dragons were the name of the game...

Cookies for Kids' Cancer Bake Sale

2011-12-11T05:25:00.001-08:00

Years ago, my friend Renee, she is here in the picture right above these words, let me know about a friend of her's, Gretchen. Gretchen's son, Liam, had Neuroblastoma. Gretchen had decided at Christmas time to bake cookies to raise money for research into pediatric cancer cures. That first holiday season they baked 96,000 cookies and raised $400,000. From there, Cookies has morphed into an organization that raises money to fund trials for pediatric cancer. You can order cookies from their site or hold a bake sale. Charlotte's bake sale raises more money than any other sale in the country. Last year, my friend Jill and I volunteered for the afternoon. We were amazed over and over again the generosity of people. This year, my friend Renee came up from Augusta to work the bake sale with us. We were lucky to have Gretchen in town to do a book signing. Each year it is a privilege to help this wonderful charity. Pediatric cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age

of 18 and 100% of the profits of bake sales go to fund trials. Go to their website at www.cookiesforkidscancer.org for more information.

December 2nd

2011-12-02T19:06:00.001-08:00

We hit the town for the Harrisburg Tree Lighting (here the kids are with our neighbor Mary).

We were the first in line to meet Santa. First time that has ever happened. No one had lined up so we were very excited to be first. Declan didn't let us hear what he was getting because he is testing to see if it really is Santa getting him the gift or we are.

December 1st

2011-12-02T18:57:00.001-08:00

We do a family activity advent calendar as our countdown to Christmas. December 1st was build a fort and eat dinner in it (thanks Jill, big hit!). While the kids and I were at their yoga class, Daddy built a fabulous fort big enough for all us to eat in!

You had to sign in before you could come into the eating establishment.

I made it out of clay

2011-12-02T18:54:00.001-08:00

The kids were playing with their dreidels before dinner the other night. They are really good, know what all the words mean and what a great math activity to boot!

Warning...gross

2011-12-02T18:50:00.001-08:00

Just had to post cause it made me laugh so hard (while I was being nauseated). We came home the other night to the dog having gone to the bathroom all over the dining room. We have a tiny house so the whole place was permeated with that smell. So disgusting. Well the man who has had people excrete all kinds of bodily fluids on him in the back of the ambulance cannot handle it. He gets so grossed out and acts like he is going to die. Yes, he is wearing a mask....sprayed with a ton of perfume so that he can't smell it. The picture below killed me...she managed to go on the cord of the space heater. That is what you call accuracy!

2011-12-02T18:47:00.001-08:00

Blocks!

2011-12-02T18:44:00.001-08:00

Declan was playing with the Jenga blocks on Thanksgiving (ours was on Friday since Rich worked Thursday). He told me to tell him what to build. Of course that wasn't what he really wanted. He just wanted me to give him a category and he would chose what to build. So I said a building, and he chose a museum. It was complete with an ocean room, art gallery, staff room, restroom, dinosaur room. There were also emergency exits (I suppose a nod to his safety dad who has turned Declan into a safety guy as well!).

2 Carolina Panthers fans

2011-12-02T18:43:00.001-08:00

Rocket launch

2011-11-24T16:25:00.001-08:00

We got Declan an actual rocket for his birthday...he took Terefech and neighbor Mary out to a field and launched it. Everyone thought it was cool...the adults particularly! Three launches and they were all a success. Declan was generous enough to let Terefech and Mary press the button for a launch. Next time, I am sure Daddy, Tara, Matt, Papa, and Alex are all going to be begging for a turn.

Halloween

2011-11-22T13:58:00.001-08:00

Apparantly, these are the only pictures we have from Halloween. Declan wore his astronaut costume, same one from last year. He wears it all time although he no longer says he is going to be an astronaut. Now he is going to be an astro physicist! Terefech was Super Girl. Initially she wanted to be a princess but loved the Super Girl costume. Next year she may be a princess although I have convinced her that we will find a princess from history that had a purpose other than looking good!

We trick or treated with Sarah (a friend from preschool) and Mary (our next door neighbor). Declan and Mary have trick or treated together almost their whole lives!

Pumpkin Patch at Hodges Dairy

2011-11-20T11:41:00.001-08:00

We spent my birthday afternoon at Hodges Dairy, the last farm left in Charlotte. We go every year and enjoy seeing the animals, doing the corn maze and looking for just the right pumpkins!

The beach....

2011-11-15T17:00:00.001-08:00

We had lunch on our last day at the beach at The Crab Shack. Totally touristy, which is usually not our style, but totally delicious food. The weather was great (after a rather chilly 2 days) and we loved the view. The kids loved seeing the alligators!

We also hit the beach one last time. I packed 6 outfits for Declan for a 2 day visit. He wore every last stitch of them. Every time he went near the water, he went in. Terefech was freezing by the time we left. We washed them with bottled water at the car, put them in clean clothes and we were off!

A crab and a complete sand dollar-two incredible finds!

Enjoying Greyson

2011-11-13T07:45:00.001-08:00

We got to host Evan and Kristi's son, Greyson, at our condo the night of the wedding. Declan and Terefech loved being able to spend time with their cousin!

Evan and Kristi's wedding

2011-11-13T07:39:00.001-08:00

We loved it that kayakers were coming ashore during the wedding!

The flower girls!

Tybee Island

2011-11-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

And the weekend after Declan's birthday we traveled to Tybee Island for my little brother's wedding. We spent the morning before the wedding with my older brother and his family checking out the Tybee Island Lighthouse and Fort Screven.

My brother Shawn, his wife Sarah and the boys Connor and Colin

A view looking up into the actual light.

Looking down and out. The kids had no fear going out on the catwalk.

There is my sister in law and nephew down at the bottom.

Having fun on 178 stairs.

Those are my cool kids!

The Amazing Maize Maze

2011-11-09T17:16:00.001-08:00

For Declan's actual birthday, he chose to go to The Amazing Maize Maze....7 acres of trying to find your way out! Again my pictures are backwards....somebody help me!

Here they are doing The Amazing Maize birthday candles. They have everyone in the maze raise their flags (candles) and then Declan blew them out (everyone dropped their flag). It was pretty cool to see and he was thrilled.

Victory Bridge

This year's theme was fitness. In the maze there was the shape of a runner, swimmer and biker. Here is Declan at the Golden Shoe near the exit.

There were all kinds of fitness tidbits to learn along the way. We weren't too interested in getting all the crossword puzzle words from the clues. We were more into getting all 12 puzzle pieces to the maze. As you get each piece, it helps you find your way, sort of. The piece you find is where you are but you still have to find all the pieces of the map you can't see.

Finding a map piece was a celebration each time. We are proud to say we found each one. We will quietly say that we collaborated with a couple towards the end. They had one more to find and so did we. We met, exchanged a few directions (they didn't tell us exactly but gave us some good hints as we did for them) and we found our last piece.

These tractors are just like the one Rich has or rather his parents have from his childhood.

It was a beautiful day, quite a challenge and a lot of fun. We ended the night at the Ethiopian restaurant, Declan's choosing. He wanted a plate of lamb tibs all to himself...he happily sat and ate up!

Happy Birthday Declan!

2011-11-06T07:49:00.000-08:00

I always have my pictures loading backwards so...in the wrong order!

Instead of presents, Declan asked his friends to donate money to Compassion International's Water for Life program so that he could buy water filters for families. We researched different programs and this is the one he chose. He loved the idea that a $55 water filter could supply clean drinking water for a family for life. I am proud to say that he raised (with the help of generous friends, family and grandparents and a little money from Declan's give jar) enough money to buy 5 water filters. It totally surprised him and us that he could raise money for 5 when his goal was one! A gift from a friend summed it up best (see above picture), "Happy Birthday Declan. I like how you are making the world a better place."

The kids participated in astronaut training at the party.

Antigravity balance training.

Yummy Miss Jess cupcakes, they are out of this world!

Rocket fluid dynamics

Shuttle repair...practicing putting screws and bolts together underwater with space gloves on just like the astronauts do!

Eating space ice cream sandwiches!

Official NASA photos

Shuttle orientation

Somehow no pictures of rocket launches but we had fun. Stomp rockets are always fun!

Happy 7th birthday Declan!

Warm feet

2011-11-06T07:11:00.000-08:00

My kids are lucky enough to be recipients of super warm socks from Mrs. Henn (Rich's friend Dave's mom). They love how warm and toasty their toes are!

School programs

2011-11-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

Declan and Terefech both studies fairy tales at school which culminated in a play of fairy tales. Declan's class performed Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk. Declan, below, was the father of Rapunzel. He is of course in costume which he came up with himself. Terefech's class performed The Three Little Pigs and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. She is dressed as the middle billy goat below. They were awesome, said their lines loudly and proudly and showed us all of their wonderful art work after!

Army 10 miler

2011-11-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

We spent Sunday at the Army 10 miler running in honor of our friend, David Taylor, who was killed in Iraq in 2006. Here we are with many of the people who came out to support the Taylor family (we were very excited when this picture made it to the online Army Times!). The banner behind us is one of David's favorite sayings, "Don't quit on the uphill." It was an incredible event to culminate our weekend reminding us of the great sacrifices many people make for our country. We were proud to be able to be there.

Neither Rich (broken foot) nor I (unhappy body) ran this year but the kids participated in the kids's run. It was a little crazy and chaotic to say the least but they were so proud of their medals! And 2 of the kids that Terefech was with in Ethiopia ran as well.

Seeing friends from high school...

Mike Zimmerman

Tres, Kris, Shannon

'Til next year...

Reunion

2011-11-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

Here we are reunited with some of the kids from our group in Ethiopia. It is an amazing and wonderful treat to get to see them every year. We marvel at how they have grown, how they have stayed the same, and watch as they look at each other with suspicion. They tell you in a workshop before you travel that these are people you will know for life, so embrace it. They are the only people who did this at the same time you did, were there for the tears and smiles at the beginning, and, in our case, helped us through an incredibly scary and stressful time. I feel privileged to call them all friends and know that we will call them that for the rest of our lives.

I had to put in all the pictures because it was just a funny succession of pictures, trying to get them to look at us!

We don't know how much the kids actually remember of each other but they had a great time playing together. Soccer was the name of the game for much of the afternoon.

Always good to see old friends...

2011-11-06T06:44:00.001-08:00

Washington D.C.

2011-10-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of October, we made our annual trip to Washington D.C. Each year we (usually Rich these days) go to run the Army 10 miler in honor of our friend, Major David G. Taylor, who was killed in Iraq in 2006. This year was the 5th anniversary of his death and so there was a big get together with friends of his from all parts of his life. While in D.C., we try to partake in all things D.C.

The kids had a fun time trying all out of the equipment at the Army 10 miler expo.

Terefech was unusually good at flying a Blackhawk in a simulator. She did manage to run over a few soldiers while driving in a Humvee simulator.

We also headed over to the Natural History Museum.

We went into the butterfly house while there and saw some amazing butterflies. This one though Dave's butt was a great landing place. He stayed there most of our time in the house and had to be brushed off before Dave left much to the chagrin of the woman working there!

All kinds of cool dinosaurs...

Just had to share...

2011-10-26T16:19:00.001-07:00

The kids with our next door neighbor...not sure what they are but they are having fun!

Caves

2011-10-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

We met some of our favorite people at the Schiele Museum in Gastonia to visit their Caves exhibit. The kids had a great time climbing in the cave, climbing the cave and seeing all the animals at the museum. Much of the museum is still what I would call old fashioned in that it has lots of things to just look at. The kids didn't seem to mind as they dashed from huge animal to huge animal. There is also a "farm" outside with some real animals running around. They thought chasing chickens was a great game...don't think the chickens agreed.

Yep you needed to see this picture twice!

Terefech turns 6

2011-10-18T18:37:00.001-07:00

Terefech turned 6 in September and had a Super Hero birthday party. We decided to go with a more retro theme, more bang, pow, zonk! She had a blast jumping over tall buildings, lifting heavy barbells, and flying around the back yard!

One of her favorite gifts, Rahel, a doll from Ethiopia.

Enjoying Miss Jess cupcakes...the best cupcakes in the world.

Wow they are strong!!!

Tree climbers

2011-10-18T18:28:00.001-07:00

The kids love climbing trees at Grandma and Papa's house.

Goodbye Neighbor

2011-10-18T18:25:00.001-07:00

We had to say goodbye to our long time neighbor Bree. We will miss her so much...in fact we already do. The kids often look longingly over at her house and wonder what she is doing in her new home...

2011-10-18T18:20:00.001-07:00

Rich ran the Warrior Dash and earned his horns. He of course didn't take the camera with him to the race so no pictures of him knee and chest deep in mud or stained red from the clay. Great time...good thing he had fun because he broke his foot a week later trail running in his five finger shoes.

2011-10-18T18:17:00.001-07:00

The kids love playing with their neighbor, Mary. Their swing set gets tons of use and is definitely a well used gift from Grandma and Papa.

Still here...

2011-10-04T14:08:00.001-07:00

For those of you, like my mom, who actually check my blog, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I am having a hard time loading any pictures and it looks like I might have to buy picture storage in order to put any pictures on my blog. If you know of a way around that, tell me!!! Plus, working full time has basically left me no time to do anything else. Rich and I are often on opposite schedules so I am single parenting it many weekends and evenings. So, hopefully sometime soon I will figure this out and get some pictures up!

First day of school at Corvian

2011-08-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

Both kids were so excited about their first day at Corvian Community School. Declan had a half day and Terefech went for lemonade drop in (an hour with daddy doing a classroom scavenger hunt and drinking lemonade). It was a success all around.

Terefech was thrilled to have her best buddy in class with her. She was nervous but a friend always makes it better.

Ms. Amber her teacher...T is in love already!

And here is D at the end of the day...he had a wonderful day, recess playing soccer, seeing his friends, making new ones, and some lemonade!

How we can help...

2011-08-18T16:33:00.001-07:00

I follow a blog...The Eyes of My Eyes are Opened. She is a wonderful writer and well, I just love hearing about her kids as they are from the same region as Terefech. She wrote a great post on ways you can help the area Terefech is from as well as those starving in the Horn of Africa right now...click here.

Surprise...we are going to...

2011-08-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

We woke the kids up this past Monday morning, said eat, get dressed and we are off for a surprise. They guessed the beach early on but we didn't give in. We gave ambiguous hints the whole way there until they knew what it was. We headed to Charleston for a one nighter at the beach. We hadn't been this summer other than on the cruise so we wanted to see it! Plus, we had just a couple of days left before I head back to work so we wanted to have some family fun...and that we did!

Lots of time was spent digging holes. Terefech's were super deep!

Terefech captured a couple of hermit crabs in the tidal pool.

A beach rule: always fill in your holes. Really, it is. Lots of people get hurt every year falling into holes left by beach goers. But, before we filled in Terefech's big hole, we filled it in with her. Everyone thought that was hilarious.

One of our hints was that the kids were going to get to meet one (and then we said two, so tricky) new people on this trip. And we didn't take a picture with them! We did meet Sara and Greg at Taco Boy for dinner. Rich coached Sara when he worked at the College of Charleston and they have remained in touch. Wonderful to see her and her husband and yummy tacos.

Declan being a chicken.

Back to digging on day 2.

I was the water transporter for hole digging since it was high tide when we came so we were way back in dry sand. After lunch, the kids marveled at how far the water had moved back.

It was a wonderful 2 days at the beach. We were reminded that we will live there someday. We both had moments of just sitting and taking it in. We love it, we feel at home.

Fun at pool...

2011-08-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

Terefech loves having Rich throw her up in the air at the pool. It has been a bit of a bonding experience for them as I can't do it so he is the one! We have been trying to take pictures of them doing for the whole summer and finally remembered the other day. So here they are...

Declan doesn't like to go under the water but he loves being thrown up in the air and caught by Daddy!

Never knew a window could be so much fun

2011-08-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Who would have known that an open window would be so much fun? Our front windows don't ever get opened....no screens. The other night the kids asked to open it, we did and they had a blast crawling back and forth, talking to each other and putting their muddy hands all over the windows. Who needs TV or video games?

Loving their cousins..

2011-08-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

The water camera!

2011-08-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the pictures from our underwater camera on the trip!

Here we are with the stingrays. Awesome experience.

The fish that were swimming everywhere at the beach at Castaway Cay.

Declan coming off of the Mickey slide, his second home on the ship.

Terefech and I on the Aquaduck. We were always laughing, giggling and screaming so much that is was hard to get good pictures while we were zooming through the tube. The Aquaduck is a tube water slide that starts high above the pool deck, goes around the deck, through one of the smoke decks and deposits you down at the pool deck. Definitely a selling point of the Disney Dream.

On the way home from Florida...

2011-08-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

We made an overnight stop in Savannah on our way home from Florida. Partly because I didn't want to ruin a lovely vacation with a long drive home and partly because we had a family birthday to celebrate. It was hot...not too comfortable to be touring the city. We had a yummy dinner out, scrumptious breakfast, nice trolley tour (Declan thoroughly enjoyed it), super lunch and we hit the road for home!

Rich took that for you Joann!

A beautiful city...we may live here someday...if we could ever sell our house!

Meeting the princesses

2011-07-31T19:35:00.000-07:00

Terefech braved standing in line for about an hour in order to meet the princesses. She was completely enamored. I am not a huge fan of the princesses. I actually had to ask the 18 year old in front of us who one of them was. Terefech hasn't even seen any of the movies that the princesses were in. But, I have to admit, they didn't disappoint.

Ariel told her she wished that she had curly hair like Terefech. I could have cried. Terefech was proud of her hair!

Tiana remembered that she had met Terefech two nights before. How did she do that?

Aurora (that was the one I didn't know) made another hair comment. She loved Terefech's hair and T just beamed.

Belle was my favorite. She looked so glamorous.

And here is Terefech with her prince...he looks like a keeper, don't you think?

Fun on the shiop

2011-07-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

This was just a cool picture!

We spent some time playing miniature golf up on deck. It was Terefech's first time, she was completely bewildered at first but caught on quick. The last hole you hit the ball down the kitchen sink...she really wasn't sure what to make of that!

Animator's Palace

2011-07-31T19:20:00.000-07:00

As a family, our favorite meal was at Animator's Palace. The entire restaurant is based on Finding Nemo. The screens you see below are TV screens which have animation much of the time.

Dinner started with a show by Crush the sea turtle. He talked to the whole restaurant, played some games and had us all drawn in.

During dinner, the silver fish swim in and make different shapes for you to guess.

The best part is when Crush came around and talked to everyone at the tables. It was amazing to have a personal conversation with a cartoon turtle. He was spontaneous, had great expression, and it left us saying how do they do that???? It was just all around Disney fun for everyone!

Pirate night and the Stingrays

2011-07-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

We had a ton of fun dressing up like pirates. I think initially they thought I was a bit crazy when I suggested we actually dress up but everyone got into it quickly. Declan appreciated that everywhere we went the staff would give him a thumbs up for being a pirate (they all dress up as well). We attended the pre dinner pirate show up on deck, the kids played piratey games, and we got to learn how to be a pirate in order to win the ship back from Capt. Hook.

As an aside, here are the kids playing the Midship Detective Agency. They had a blast trying to find out who was responsible for stealing all the paintings! You flash your badge in front of paintings and receive clues from the paintings.

Here we are at Castaway Cay enjoying the beach and stingrays. We got to feed, pet and snorkel with stingrays. Everyone, well almost, loved it. Declan did not enjoy it and spent much of his time digging in the sand. Terefech and Rich spent a long time snorkeling around with their new friends. Amazing creatures!

And can you believe Jack Sparrow was on the island with us?

The kids love Chip and Dale cartoons so they were thrilled to run into them. I was thrilled that we didn't have to get our picture with Daisy Duck. We were the last ones to get in with C and D! They had no idea who Lilo was but hey, she was a character so they wanted their picture taken.

Our towel friends

2011-07-28T04:38:00.000-07:00

More cruise...

2011-07-28T04:31:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome waiter, Tony, on the cruise. He amused the kids every night with magic tricks. Here he is with disappearing water! The kids were very freaked out that it was dumping on their head.

Loving her royal cupcakes...finally a dessert with no chocolate or ice cream.

Enjoying his first kids pina colada...the eyes are closed cause he is just savoring every sip.

Our ship was docked in Nassau. I had been there before but no one else had so in we went. It was soooooooo hot that everyone was wilted in minutes. We had a quick look around and headed back to the ship. Not before we got Declan a drum and Terefech a glorious shell ring. Declan was thrilled to now say he is an international traveler.

The view from our verandah...love that blue water.

Disney Cruise

2011-07-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Finally we are on the cruise...the kids were so excited to see the Disney Dream the first time. It is so big and especially next to all the other cruise ships. We spent the first afternoon/evening getting our sea legs and exploring the ship. We were on teh cruise to celebrate Rich's parents 50th anniversary so we decorated their door a little and someone else was turning 40! We signed up for the Midship Detective Agency game. You are given a badge and a sheet with possible criminals on it and the locations of possible clues. You run all over the ship waving your badge in front of paintings that then change and turn into cartoons. Mickey and his friends then give you clues about who (in our case, there are two different mysteries) stole the paintings. It gets the kids to go all over the ship and to be honest, it was fun. They were thrilled when they found out who the criminal was. Just one of the many fun touches all over the ship.

The Ranch Mickey..our assistant waiter was an expert at making all thick liquids into a Mickey. A treat at every meal!

You gotta love turn down service each night. And touches like this pillow made it all the more special!

We met Captain Mickey right after we got on the ship. And by all miracles there was no line to see him!

The view from our verandah in port. We just dwarfed the other ship. The dream has a ton more rooms with verandahs than the older ships.

That is our room!

Kennedy Space Center

2011-07-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

We spent the day before our cruise at Kennedy Space Center. It was a stop mostly for Declan since he is definite about being an astronaut when he grows up. Honestly, there were things that we all thought were cool. The Space Shuttle Launch Simulator was a favorite for most of us (not Declan). Although we didn't reach 3 Gs, it definitely gave you a small idea of what astronauts go through. The Saturn V rocket was unbelievable in size and strength. And we watched a 3 D movie on the International Space Center which was just...cool. It was amazing to learn about the progression of the space program and where it is headed in the future so we know what Declan will be doing!

The astronaut memorial...

We had lunch with astronaut Rick Searfoss. Declan asked him how old he was when he knew he wanted to become an astronaut. And just so you know, he was 6 or 7. Declan enjoyed listening to him and thought it was cool to get his autograph on our picture.

Visiting an old friend

2011-07-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky that the first day of our trip was spent with a friend of Terefech's from Ethiopia. B's mom and I often email about the girls and the boys in our life. We have kids the same ages so it has been a great support to have someone in your shoes to talk to. We hadn't actually met before we arrived in Florida so we all chatted about how nervous we were on the way to their house. We didn't need to worry because the kids got along beautifully and played together without much of a problem all day. I am excited that they enjoyed each other and made a connection. The girls share some of the same losses and I hope one day that their connection through the years will bring them a connection to Ethiopia.

Terefech's gift was a matching outfit!

We ended our day driving to Port Canaveral to meet Kings and Magnusons in preparation for the rest of our trip. We headed out for some yummy seafood by the ocean. The kids are so excited for each day!

On our way...

2011-07-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well we hit the road for our vacation....here the kids are enjoying their first evening after arriving in Florida. They loved the hotel pool, shower and high thread count sheets!

Thanks Alex for the cool t shirts. They love dressing like twins.

First corn of the season!

2011-07-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

The kids enjoyed chowing down on the first corn we harvested from the garden. We were nervous to pick but with the advice of our favorite local farmer, we picked it at just the right time. It was crisp and tasty. We have a bunch more waiting for us. Corn for dinner every night this week!

Fourth of July

2011-07-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

The good life....

2011-07-06T18:06:00.001-07:00

Discovery Place

2011-07-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

We spent a hot Friday at Discovery Place....

Laying on a bed of nails!

Declan had heads turning with his drum playing.

Declan was proud that the car he built was pretty unbeatable!

Money, money, money

2011-07-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

Terefech and Declan took all of their change to the bank and got bills to add to the money they already had (not that they had a ton). They were so excited to tally up their cash. We were headed shopping for some gifts for our upcoming trip to Florida to see a friend of Terefech's from Ethiopia. The kids decided they wanted to look for something to buy for themselves. Thankfully, we have kids who are pretty stingy with their money so they debated and debated on what to buy. And here are their purchases....

We have a double stroller with twin babies but it is really Declan's and when the twins are in it, no room for Terefech's baby. So she purchased a stroller for her baby Olivia.

Declan bought a Lego kit, adding to his never ending police station in his room.

Mini HHS reunion

2011-06-27T05:48:00.001-07:00

Renee and Pat were passing through on their way north so they stopped for a night. We got to have dinner a few drinks with old friends!

Camping with the cousins

2011-06-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend camping with my brother and his family. We went to the Uwharrie National Forest which is about an hour east of here. Beautiful trees...

Kids always love the fire.

One of our big excitements was a storm on Saturday evening. We knew about it thanks to Safety Rich so we hand put away everything and were hunkered down in Shawn's camper. While it was quite windy and we got some decent rain, it wasn't a crazy storm like there was in Charlotte. Shortly after the rain ended, there were diggers and back hoes and all kinds of heavy equipment in the campgrounds. Apparently some trees had come down so they were there to take care of it. These guys came in, chopped trees down and were gone!

Colin discovered tiny baby frogs. I guess they weren't babies since they were frogs but they were tiny and cute.

A giant nasty spider Colin found.

The kids had a good time playing along Lake Badin.

I think the best part for the kids was just being out in the wilderness and they love the time with the family. They think their older cousins are pretty cool!

Discovery Place Kids

2011-06-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

Another preschool class gathering...this time at Discovery Place Kids. It is slightly an aged down science museum. It has all kinds of dramatic play areas as well as some science concept areas. Both the kids had fun, keeping up with the two of them is the biggest challenge.

Acting it out on the stage with Charlotte.

Bus races!!!!

2011-06-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

We love the school bus races. It was the Faster Pastor Slobberknocker the night we were there. Ministers and different personnel from area churches were racing buses. Participants and their groupies paint the buses before the race. Think my favorite thing on the buses was "poop on satan."

Normally it is an inferno during the Summer Shootout series. So the idea of having a fire truck come and hose all the kids off sounds spectacular. But...it was in the low 80s this night so think those kids were a little chilly sitting in the shade.

We were totally impressed with the new giant HD TV set up. It was really cool to see things close up. It was also cool to see it set against the blue sky, kind of wierd.

Waterpark fun

2011-06-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

Terefech and I headed out on Friday to one of the local spraygrounds with some of her buddies from preschool. She is lucky to have a group that has some sort of planned activity on Fridays during the summer. She misses her friends so much...Declan and I are just not enough!

That is her getting water dumped on her!

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye!

2011-06-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

T and Daddy in our very own cornfield.

Last day of kindergarten

2011-06-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

We had planned on going paddle boating. But...they didn't open until 6 and we had plans that night. So, to Rita's Italian Ice we went. Yummy!!!

There is our boy...the first grader!

Ocean Play

2011-06-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Declan's play at school. It was all about the ocean and the creatures that live there. He was a narrator and a killer whale. He can tell you all kinds of things about the orca but always informs us that it belongs to the dolphin family...interesting. Here are some pictures from this fun day!

The whole family outside school...yep, Bette who took the picture noted we all wear sunglasses!

Declan in front of the USS Corvian with his published story, The Bad Man. This is particularly funny if you know him. He is, let's just say, a little intellectual. His interests are far ranging and a little different for a kid in kindergarten. And yet...he wrote about a bad man who breaks down a building and has to go to jail. His teacher asked him several times if he was sure this is what he wanted to write about and he said yes. She followed up telling me that by telling me how he was having a discussion at lunch with one of the other kids about how different liquids freeze at different temperatures and the other kid was a little bewildered. The Bad Man is a great story, even has a moral!

Author page...a favorite.

Reading us his story.

Mrs. Shields, Declan's kindergarten teacher. We are truly thankful for her. What started off as a horrible year at a different school has turned into a spectacular one at Corvian. Declan is one of those kids who is sad for summer to come because he loves learning so much. He feels so at home at school that he just wants to be there as much as possible.

Under the Sea performance

Declan and Charlize extolling the virtues of the killer whale. Nope they did not plan their wardrobe, just both were thinking the same thing.

Miss Amber, his assistant and Terefech's kindergarten teacher for next year, playing the recycled bottle drum.

Oh yeah, whales are big, uh huh!

Mark the shark!

Locke has one of our favorite performances, he was a jellyfish and wiggled and jiggled all over the place while saying his lines!

It was a wonderful year at Corvian Community School. We are small, an upstart, praying for a charter, full of wonderful people who want children to have an outstanding education, learn to think for themselves, be confident, and love learning!

Just some pictures

2011-06-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

Way up in the top of the picture you can see a nest. Terefech noticed a cardinal building his nest. Pretty cool since it means the birds are around all the time and they don't seem to be angered by our presence.

The train has been set up in the living room. Yes, it takes up the whole place but soon they will be 16 and never here so I am living with it. They do take it up so we can vacuum (since we have a dog that loses more fur than one can imagine) and rebuild it.

Listening to a story together...they both love books.

Speedstreet 2011

2011-05-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

We live in Charlotte, NC home of NASCAR. In May, Charlotte (really Concord, NC) hosts 2 NASCAR races on two consecutive weekends. In between, they have a rather large street party in uptown Charlotte. We love to go (during the day) and collect all the free food samples, look at race cars, get our picture taken with characters and cars, and just people watch. So, here is this years fun...the first round (many of the pictures take awhile to shop up online).

Declan's Lego Game

2011-05-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Declan is kind of infamous at our house for coming up with his own rules to games. At times it can be a little maddening because you can never keep up or figure out how to play a game....until now. He recently built a game board from his Legos and came up with rules that make sense. He is playing here with Terefech. He won which he oddly seems to do most of the time we play. Maybe he has an inside track on the playing of the game. I am constantly amazed at his creativity, thought processes, and his ability to keep us all on our toes!

One year May 15, 2011

2011-05-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

On May 15, 2011, we had officially been a family of four for one year. We don't really have a name for it yet. People often call it "gotcha day" or "family day." I was calling the day Terefech had to leave Ethiopia and came to be a part of our family but Terefech thought that was a little silly and way too long. T day was my other offer. That one might stick. We'll see. If we don't ever name it, think we'll be okay.

We gave Terefech the opportunity to plan the day. We talked about what an important day it was, both happy and sad. Happy because we love having her as part of our family but also sad because she had to leave everything she knew behind. In my readings, several times I have read that adoptive families look upon this day as only one of celebration and not acknowledging the loss that their child suffered on that day. We have spent the last week discussing our trip to Ethiopia, the events that took place there, looking at lots of pictures, and just generally talking about how this all feels.

Terefech chose for the 4 of us to go to Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC for the day. It has several types of penguins and she loves penguins. For dinner, we went to one of the Ethiopian restaurants in town. That always makes her happy!!!

Notice the butterfly on the hat!

We discussed throughout the zoo that when we go back to Ethiopia we will definitely need to go see the animals that are native to Ethiopia.

Awesome to see the young giraffe getting a drink by putting his legs out to the side in order to get his neck down there. He or she got a drink and then looked at us all like, "What are you looking at?"

Declan often reads things to Terefech and was so good at the zoo about telling her facts about the animals. She hates that she can't read!

Stinky flamingoes

Declan trying to chat with the gorilla.

Drinking Tej, an Ethiopian honey wine.

Terefech's souvenir from the zoo, a Rockhopper Penguin known for their abilities to hop up the rocks. Pictures by Terefech

Surprise!

2011-05-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

We have had a surprise in the works for the kids for about a month. This past Wednesday we had a super busy day with school, drum lessons, a work picnic for Rich but we just couldn't wait. We even got them to look the other way as we came up the driveway (we have a detached garage in the back so we didn't want them to see the backyard).

Here they are seeing the playset. I cannot seem to get my pictures rearranged so sorry they are out of order!

They were so surprised with their new playset. They both had smiles plastered across their face. They both were so disappointed in themselves that they hadn't figured out what was going on. It has been the center of our life for many days now!

Strawberry harvest

2011-05-13T18:28:00.001-07:00

We have had an incredible strawberry harvest this year. We have gotten more strawberries than we ever imagined. It is making up for the lack of spinach and lettuce we are getting. Last year we were overflowing with spinach and lettuce, this year, barely any. Learning the hard lesson of growing your own food. But we are loving the strawberries...way better than the ones you get from the store.

Camping for Mother's Day

2011-05-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

We spent Mother's Day weekend at a campground in south Charlotte. Nope, we didn't venture too far from home and it is was only for one night but we had a great time. This was our "we hope the kids love this" try at camping so we fed them their favorite foods and tried to do things they would think were fun! I think we succeeded

Rich got a hammock for Christmas and it is one the kids favorite toys now!

Hiking out to see Lake Wylie

Strongman Terefech

There was a playground very close to our tent site. They had a blast!

The tent was up in no time.

Beaver dam we found on a hike. No beavers sighted though.

So enjoying their Mother's Day pancakes.

By far probably my favorite moment of the weekend. Declan reading Terefech a story.

We are excited to do it again. We are hoping we can camp at the beach this summer.

Things we know about...

2011-05-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

Terefech and I were reading one of our blog books this afternoon. I got to a post I wrote about things I know about her, Declan and Rich. The part about her got turned into a song by cousin Suza and Brandon, she thought that was pretty cool when she realized where it came from. She asked, "Why isn't there anything about you?" I said, "Cause I wrote it." Then I suggested she do one about me and we could do the whole family so here it goes...

Karen
*her favorite color is purple
*she likes to drink Coke
*she eats gluten free food
*she likes to tickle Terefech and Declan
*she likes to sing about pickles
*she likes to give Terefech hugs

Declan
*he plays the drums really well
*his music taste ranges from Bach to Judas Priest
*he thinks school is the best thing ever
*I think he would stay up all night reading if he could
*he loves to build all kinds of crazy things with Lego
*he is starting to love on the dog
*he is continually learning and asking lots of questions
*loves space
*lover of injera but not with strawberries
*really likes having a sister

Terefech
*she wants to grow her hair really long
*her hair is beautiful
*her favorite color is still yellow
*she loves her grandparents
*her favorite animal is a penguin
*she loves having friends
*her smile lights up her face
*she will try something over and over until she can do it
*another lover of injera
*loves collard greens with injera
*is very caring towards little kids

Rich
*he loves to be sweaty and stinky
*he still loves to run and bike
*he likes gardening and growing his own food
*the dog has a special place in his heart although he wouldn't admit it
*he likes to eat injera
*he likes to drink coffee and wine

By Karen and Terefech

Ready for the symphony!

2011-04-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Today was the Lollipops symphony. It is the children's series of concerts here in Charlotte. The kids got all dolled up!