Greetings from Bluefield, WV

After a quick visit in Sevierville, TN to visit Matt's sister, we are now with Sonya and Ted (and Connor too!) in Bluefield. Yesterday was my 28th birthday and Sonya surprised us all with a cake for our birthdays as Sonya, Connor, Aiden, and myself all have a birthday in June. The cake also celebrated Father's Day for Matt and Ted. So far we are having a nice time. The boys are napping now so Matt and I are doing some catching up on the internet while we have a moment.

I hear a kiddo right now so I will close and go check to see which one it is. I will update again after we arrive in Newport. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning.

Until then!

A car seat, a stroller, and a diaper bag

The amount of dirt on Aiden's car seat and his stroller, and the junk IN his diaper bag finally bugged me enough to wash them. I've washed the car seat cover before but I haven't ever washed the stroller seat. It's always an adventure for me, when I take these things apart. I just PRAY that I am able to get it back together correctly. I know I have the car seat back together correctly, although it did take me a few tries and a lot of sweat to get it right. The stroller on the other hand, I *think* is back to normal. The only thing I'm confused about is the plastic loops that have nothing to loop on to! And then the instructions in the manual are so very vague... instead of using different languages WITH pictures, they use JUST pictures, and oh how bad are the pictures! It's a nice stroller, and I love it, but for the amount of money we paid for it, I think it deserves a nicer set of instructions! Lucky for me, the diaper bag is rather self explanatory, and machine washable, at least that one is a no-brainer!

I'm slowly getting the house ready for us being away. I've got most of the laundry done and the house is generally clean and picked up. I just need to vacuum and mop tomorrow and Thursday, oh and take care of the bathrooms tomorrow, and then we are set! Then I just have to PACK! Oh, I'm so not a good packer. I always overpack. But, as I see it, I'd much rather have too many clothes to choose from than not enough!!

Must close now, and finish up my work for the day. I have a small pile of laundry that needs to be folded. I've been trying to keep up with folding the laundry and putting it away as it comes out of the dryer. It certainly is easier than letting it pile up.. I guess it's just a matter of actually BEING AT HOME to put it away as it comes out of the dryer...

Anyway.. until next time...

Sick!

Aiden started to come down with a bug last Thursday. He started running a fever and developed a cough along with some nasty congestion. His fever finally broke yesterday I believe, but he is still awfully congested. I guess he didn't want to be the only one in the house sick, so he gave it to me. Right now I'm SWEATING as I sit here and type. Hopefully, we can get healthy this week as we leave on our big road trip on Sunday!

Friday was Aiden's 2-year well check-up. He is a perfectly normal and healthy 2-year-old. He has only gained a couple pounds from last September (the last time we were in for a well check) and his body gave the most effort at growing bones and getting taller. He is now right at 28 pounds, and is not quite 36 inches. The official height measurement was 35 3/4" That makes him long and skinny, which makes sense.. I ended up getting out some of his 18mo shorts from last summer and most still fit him just fine.

I've got a bunch of work to do this week. I have to work on packing and making sure we have everything we need for our trip. I need to make sure I have all the laundry caught up before we leave on Sunday. I also want to have the house spotless before we leave. It's always nice when you get home from a vacation and your house doesn't need to be cleaned.

My tea is finished, so I should get started on my goals for Monday.

Have a wonderful day!

Tired of lemon in your water?

Try putting a slice of cucumber in it instead! I learned this trick from the spa at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New Orleans last year. I fill a pitcher with water and put in 5 or 6 cucumber slices and let it 'steep' for a while in the refrigerator. It gives a really nice flavor to your water, not overpowering, but very light and refreshing. So many times if I put lemon in my water I want to add sugar, but with the cucumber it is yummy just the way it is. Try it with other fruits too.. melons would be tasty, as would strawberries.

Happy Birthday Aiden!

The big news over the past week is that Aiden turned 2! How amazing is that?! I am somewhat in disbelief that I am the mother of a two year old. Oh, how time does fly!!! Click HERE for the pics on my photoblog from his little party.

Ok..time to catch up. Last week was a busy week as I was babysitting for my friend. Things went smoothly here at home with two little ones. We had some fussy moments the first couple days, but once Caden got used to me, we all did much better. There are pics of him on the photoblog if you haven't seem them yet. I managed to have a few minutes of peace and quiet when Aiden and Caden were BOTH asleep, and this was normally around lunchtime for me so I was able to eat without holding a baby or handling toddler antics. I was quite proud of the fact that I was able to get them to sleep at the same time. :)

Friday we ended up going to Concord Mills for a little bit of shopping. We actually headed over that way for dinner and we were just going to walk around the mall to 'walk off dinner.' We went into Old Navy and they were having a super sale... 50% off their clearance items. Matt got 7 new shirts and a pair of pants, all for around $50!! He got some shirts for the summer, and some for the fall. I got a couple pairs of capri pants at the Bass store, and Matt found two more pairs of pants there too. We shopped until we dropped.. we didn't leave until around 9pm. Aiden was tired and super cranky, so I ended up carrying him a decent bit through the mall before we left. On our way home we encountered a pretty nasty thunderstorm with LOTS of rain. We had passed a guy riding a bicycle before we made it into the storm... I wonder if he made it where he was going before the deluge ocurred. Otherwise, I bet that guy is STILL trying to dry out.. it was a LOT of HEAVY rain, lots of lightning too!

Saturday morning we ran errands. We went to Petsmart, Lowe's, Walmart, and Sam's. We had to pick up the usual first of the month stuff, and we needed to get some goodies for our little party for Aiden that afternoon. We got home, Aiden ate some lunch, then we got back in the car and headed towards G-ma's with a quick trip to the grocery store by her house beforehand to pick up just a few more things. We got to her house around 2pm, and I got Aiden down for a nap there. He slept until almost 4:30! When Aiden awoke, Klay and Arianne had arrived, so we started cooking hotdogs and hamburgers while Aiden played in the yard. He wasn't too interested in the grilled food items, but he was super interested in his cake! He took a fork and dug right in!! We all had a nice time and headed towards home around 7:30.

Yesterday, which was Aiden's actual birthday, one of my roommates, Kerry, from my NCSU years came to visit. Her parents live in Davidson, and I keep twisting her arm to come visit when she comes this way, and it finally paid off. She and her fiance Gabe spent the afternoon with us, and of course we fed them hotdogs and hamburgers. It was nice visiting with Kerry and Gabe.. we decided that it had been three years was how long it had been since we'd SEEN each other. I think 3 years is way too long. We had a good time discussing camera stuff while they were here. She recently purchased a Canon Rebel XT (she is quite the shutterbug like I am). Lately, I've been accused of insiting Kerry should spend more money on photography stuff, but that's not true. I just show her what she could have. She got some fun pictures of all of us while she was here. You can check them out on her website. They left our house around 4pm or so. Then Matt's mom and Galen came by to have dinner with us.. yes.. more hotdogs and hamburgers for dinner! We had a good time visiting with everyone this weekend.

SO.. back to the humdrum of a normal week. It will be nice to be back to normal. I can get caught up on some things around here. Hopefully we'll spend some more time outside this week too. Last week was too hot to do anything outdoors, but this week is supposed to be nice.

I must close... finish my internet rounds this morning before Aiden wakes up. Have a great Monday!