Gabriel's 7 year Pictures

I don't remember if i've shared any of these pictures with you. At various times during the year, I decide that my family hasn't been tortured enough with all the picture taking at home, so I haul them off to my favorite "Portrait Innovations" and my favorite photographer there, Emily. She's been taking pictures for us since before Delaney was born. It all depends on the bribery. The time before this - i hit on the PERFECT bribe. Monkey Joe's. Its a big building filled with inflatable slides, etc and the kids love it. So, they behave and smile, they go to Monkey Joe's. I've learned that being a parent is a fine line between what you have learned, and how you can bribe your kids. This is a picture I like of Gabriel- he's getting to be such a big kid (sob). I can hardly believe he's seven.

Then again, don't even get me started on Delaney - she's four. She'll be going to school this year. If only I could win th powerball so I could have a bigger house and afford a Nanny, then i might think about more, but since i don't see that happening, i guess i'll just sob some more when she goes off to school this year. Here they are together - acting like they like each other, at least for this moment. Actually, they aren't too bad. I just hope they continue to get along as they get older. And speaking of getting older, we're off to Cici's pizza night for Gabriel's school. As soon as we get his reading and spelling done that is.

Then and Now

When I went back through some of my pictures from last year - I came across these- from a hike at Lake Norman State Park on February 3, 2007. Amazing that almost exactly a year later, we're back at the park with nice weather doing another hike. I did remember this hike and picture and looked for that same tree, but couldn't find it, so we settled on this new one we found. Thankfully there was a tree with a couple forks in it, i put my small backpack in and then put my camera on top to take the picture. At least i didn't trip running from the camera to the tree to get in before the timer went off.

We won't go into detail about what I think of myself in this years picture. I'll just focus on the kids. Boy can you tell Gabriel has filled out! From my skinny mini kid last year to skipping pant sizes this year! And Delaney - she's looking less the toddler and more the little girl. I can't believe we'll be signing her up for Kindergarten this spring.

So, I hope you enjoy the comparison - well, except for me, don't go there.

Note to self - baggy sweatshirt and hiding partially behind husband is MUCH more flattering.....

From Snowflakes to NO flakes

It's hard to believe when its this warm today, that just thee days ago it snowed and the high was only 30. BRRRRR. and now? no coats, could have worn short sleeves and we're going on a hike. This is what i like about winters in North Carolina.

Here are the kids and Dad. And yes, i'm always there with my camera

Gabriel and Delaney had fun on the trampoline after swim lessons on Saturday. What can we say be we need a few more days of weather like this.

On a night when they predicted it would barely give us a flurry

Well, they predicted that we would be lucky to see even a flurry. So imagine my surprise when Randy called and said " have you looked outside" and YEA it was SNOWING. As you can see from Kavik, they were the BIG FAT flakes that were coming down. So, as quick as you could possibly be when trying to suit up two kids in some sort of fashion to keep them warm, we headd outside (and after i grabbed my camera). The kids loved it and soon meet up with the girls next door for a snowball/tag game.

I just love this picture, one running one way, on running the other - and you can just tell they are having so much fun! I took as many pictures as i could until it got too dark and my camera just couldn't tell what is was supposed to focus on anymore.

Here are the happy kids. It finally snowed enough that they could go out and play, AND it was enough that the wimps down here closed school for the day. It was also COLD enough that the snow was/is still here right now. And well, I enjoyed the impromptu day off thanks to school being closed. (of course, no built in snow days down here, so they'll have to make it up somewhere)

So, may we say, let it snow let it snow let it snow.

Sigh, No Snow, at least at my house

So, we were all geared up for some snow - some good go out and have some fun in it snow. What we woke up to was barely what we could even call snow. It barely covered the ground - not even good for a snowball. So, we got up - looked out the window first (no sense in taking a shower if we could just go back to bed) and grumbled, then got into our going to work mode. I will tell you now, I should have stayed home. News said roads were okay, but schools still closed (gotta love it). I headed to work, which is 45 minutes away and to the east. Very important to know I work EAST of where I live. Most of my travel is via back roads. First one was okay, within 1/8 of a mile on the second there was a truck flipped over in a field. I could see the fireman by the side of the road, and i could tell he had his hand out - just couldn't see what the hand was doing. (it was dark out) by the time i could see he was saying stop, let's just say the layer of ice on the road prevented me from doing so. I drove the rest of the way hoping I stayed on the road. I will say another animal prayer now - for the poor squirrel that i thought was a leaf blowing into the road, but know I am happy I didnt know it was a squirrel - cuz i would have hit the brakes or swerved, and well, remember the icy road? Poor squirrel. By the time i made it to work, i was truly regretting the drive. the 485 interstate loop was snow covered and treacherous. NO nice roads for me. Most of the snow hit EAST of charlotte, where my jobsite is. Raleigh got even more. Thankfully, this is the south, and while the snow remained on the ground at my jobsite for days, on the trip home, once I got on I-85, there was not a flake to be seen. It had already melted away. At home, my kids were excited to find just a small patch of snow/ice mix left behind in a shady spot.

We'll hope for more snow next time.

Wishing for a Snow Day

I'll admit, I don't necessarily NEED to see snow tomorrow. I saw plenty of it on our Christmas trip to NY. The four hours of driving in white out conditions is still fresh in my mind. SO, while I don't need to see it,I sure wouldn't mind. Since moving to the south, I've come to be one of the people that actually HOPES it snows. Snow of 1 in in Buffalo isn't even really considered accumulation. Snow of an inch here? It's a valid reason to close schools, government and businesses, and send everyone in a rush to the store days in advance to stock up on Milk and bread. (i'm never sure why, since the snow is usually gone in a day and shouldn't you already have that stuff in your house?) So I'm hoping for snow tomorrow. My three day weekend could turn into 4 and I'm not against that at all. To help me with my snow thoughts, I've grabbed some pictures from about this time last year. It was our first, and ONLY snow, and I think it was gone by the afternoon - although tomorrow, if it does snow, should stick around a little while longer since it's only supposed to get to a high of 32. Our first born, Kavik, doesn't care that there is snow on the ground, he just wants you to throw his purple ball (yes, he knows his are purple, we color coded back in the days when Gabriel wanted to imitate his older brother. Gabriel was Yellow, later on Delaney was Pink and Kavik is purple. And yes, this included carrying it around in his mouth - drinking out of the pool, and attempting to lift his leg.)

There are my monsters, all dressed to play in the snow.

Just a cool picture of some cold trees on our street. It's just one of those pictures I really like.

A Small Country Town

The road to Perry is a long one, at least when you are traveling from North Carolina. We were headed to Mom's and the countryside always amazes me - fields, farms, just very picturesque to me. This is route 39 coming in to Perry. Just in ths picture there are two farms. While Perry does have a bookstore now, and a Subway, and let's remember the chinese restaurant, it's still very small town. (please note it had NONE of these during my childhood there and McDonalds is still in the next town over, and there is no Burger King, or Pizza Hut unless you travel to Geneseo)

I love this picture because you can see some o the patchwork fields in the distance - the hills and valley are just wonderful. While I am glad I live in the south, I don't mind visiting during the snowy winters.....it can be beautiful....