What can I say...we bleed NC State red in our household. I am obviously an adopted fan who has been a loyal follower since 2001. My fanatical husband can not get enough of the Wolfpack. He talks year round about our football team and is practically salivating in August gearing up for the 1st game. The boy loves this team. He loves it so much, he and 4 friends bought a van, painted it red and white with a wolf's mouth on the front, and got the coach to autograph the side...the Amatomobile is on her last legs, but we love her and she has given us many good times.
Adam constantly updates me on our latest recruits...I love him and don't have the heart to tell him that it goes in one ear and out the other. He goes home from every game without a voice and he and his brother crack me up when they call or email each other 20 times during the game. We have had some good times throughout the years watching the Wolfpack play...no matter how much we stink.
We won this weekend! It's always a nice surprise when that happens. I will have to say that the best thing about our relationship with the Wolfpack for me is our friends with whom we tailgate. There are about 20 of us who are life-time rights ticket holders to the games. We have been tailgating and cheering together for many years.
This weekend was our turn to cook with our wonderful friends, the Nooe's...Adam gets so excited when he cooks for people...especially when it involves a pig. He cooked ribs for the first time ever and they actually were pretty darn good! I will have to say, I think we had a pretty nice spread!
We had a great time at the game...we had first timers, Jill and Heath Thomas (my good friend from Texas A&M and her hubby) join us and it was a blast having them. Although it rained on us for half of the game, the girls had a great time chatting up where it was nice and dry while the guys got drenched.
We pulled off the win against Wake Forest...way to go Pack!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Halloween Hysteria
So here we are in the 2nd week of November. Where does the time go? I love this time of year. The brilliant Fall colors in North Carolina are amazing and I just wish I could bottle the beauty of this season. One of my favorite parts about the Fall is the anticipation of Halloween. Every year it gets better and better because we can view it through Graden's eyes and get excited about it with him. I'm sure Harper will get into it on down the road, but this year she was in bed by 7:30.
He really got into the festivities this year. Every day he had a different idea of what he was going to be (a knight, skeleton, Flash, Batman, Superman) and in the end Superman won. Thank you, Auntie Mindy for saving the day with the speedy delivery of his costume. He was so tickled! He is a superhero freak, so I would have been shocked if he had gone another route. It cracked me up how each day he would change his mind depending on what his mood was. I guess most kids have a hard time making up their minds at this age. He decided he wanted Harper to be Catwoman, Mommy to be Wonderwoman (yeah right), and Daddy to be Green Lantern. In the end, Harper was a black cat and Mommy did not get scantily clad as Wonderwoman. Wasn't going to go there. Especially since Daddy found out that Graden has a little crush on Wonderwoman when he caught him kissing the computer screen while watching a video on youtube.
I helped plan Graden's Halloween party at school and he had a good time dressing up with all of his buddies. Don't ask me why I decided that we should have the children decorate their own cookies after my son dumped an entire bottle of sprinkles in his mouth causing it to turn completely black a few days prior to the party. Check out the pic that I took of him after I told him that the cookie decorating was going to stop if he couldn't stop tipping back the sprinkles as if they were shots of tequila! He was not a happy camper.
We shared Halloween night with good friends, The Gilmore's, The Birely's, and The Knopfle's. We had a little pizza party before going out to trick our treat and it was lots of fun to see the kids in their costumes. They even got their official Halloween portraits taken down in the basement since Larisa was trying out her new lighting and backdrop. Not that any of them stayed still for very long!
We were sad to see Halloween go and we are still plowing through the mound of candy that came along with the good times. Every morning Graden has to get his little chair out, scoot it up to the counter, and peer into the Spiderman bucket to pick up his piece of candy for the day. Luckily he knows that he actually has to have permission to open it...nice one! Can't wait to see what next year will bring!
He really got into the festivities this year. Every day he had a different idea of what he was going to be (a knight, skeleton, Flash, Batman, Superman) and in the end Superman won. Thank you, Auntie Mindy for saving the day with the speedy delivery of his costume. He was so tickled! He is a superhero freak, so I would have been shocked if he had gone another route. It cracked me up how each day he would change his mind depending on what his mood was. I guess most kids have a hard time making up their minds at this age. He decided he wanted Harper to be Catwoman, Mommy to be Wonderwoman (yeah right), and Daddy to be Green Lantern. In the end, Harper was a black cat and Mommy did not get scantily clad as Wonderwoman. Wasn't going to go there. Especially since Daddy found out that Graden has a little crush on Wonderwoman when he caught him kissing the computer screen while watching a video on youtube.
I helped plan Graden's Halloween party at school and he had a good time dressing up with all of his buddies. Don't ask me why I decided that we should have the children decorate their own cookies after my son dumped an entire bottle of sprinkles in his mouth causing it to turn completely black a few days prior to the party. Check out the pic that I took of him after I told him that the cookie decorating was going to stop if he couldn't stop tipping back the sprinkles as if they were shots of tequila! He was not a happy camper.
We shared Halloween night with good friends, The Gilmore's, The Birely's, and The Knopfle's. We had a little pizza party before going out to trick our treat and it was lots of fun to see the kids in their costumes. They even got their official Halloween portraits taken down in the basement since Larisa was trying out her new lighting and backdrop. Not that any of them stayed still for very long!
We were sad to see Halloween go and we are still plowing through the mound of candy that came along with the good times. Every morning Graden has to get his little chair out, scoot it up to the counter, and peer into the Spiderman bucket to pick up his piece of candy for the day. Luckily he knows that he actually has to have permission to open it...nice one! Can't wait to see what next year will bring!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Granny, Papa, and Auntie Shirley's Visit
What in the world would children's lives be like without grandparents? There is just something so special about seeing your kids with your parents. We have been very lucky to spend a lot of time with Granny and Papa since Harper was born 6 months ago and they just paid us another visit! Fantastic...would you believe they travelled all this way by car? It was just a mere 24 hours or so. Are they nuts? Not really...again, I don't think there is anything that a grandparent wouldn't do for their grandbabies. As Granny put it, "I don't really want to see you, Allison...It's all about the kids now." :) Oh, how times have changed. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Graden was so excited to have them come stay and we had an extra special visitor as well. My godmother whom I haven't seen in 18 years accompanied my parents and had just gotten off a flight from England! Bless her! What a wonderful breath of fresh air she was in this house. I practiced my "British" while she was here and found myself wanting to add the word "lovely" to every other sentence. I have added the term "press on" to my vocabulary because I think it's quite smart. I guess if I am half British, I better start talking like it! Truly, Shirley was lovely with Graden and Harper...what a way with kids she has.
Granny, Papa and Shirley got a taste of what putting two kids to bed was like one night when I was at work and Adam was playing soccer. Granny almost peed in her pants telling us the story of how she and Shirley had to join forces to get Harper's diaper changed. How can one tiny thing conquer two adults? Graden decided that he was going to venture into our room without telling anybody. Once Mom realized that he had been awfully quiet for a while, she found him in our room with his hands covered in black ink, my scissors and permanent markers out, as he calmly explained to her that he was busy and that he had work to do. How in the world did I not end up with anything on the carpet? It's a miracle, I tell ya.
We had a wonderful time during their visit with trips to Hillridge Farms, The State Fair, and the ladies even got to go have English afternoon tea at the local tearoom downtown. It was delightful. I don't think Shirley bought in to the whole concept of eating as much junk as you possibly can at The State Fair as all she had were some fried green tomatoes. C'mon...I only had a fried Milky Way, half of my mother's fried Three Musketeers, part of a funnel cake smothered in custard, part of a funnel cake smothered in chocolate (are you seeing a trend here?), roasted corn, and fried veggies. Quite nasty, but oh so good!
Hillridge Farms was good times too. Graden could have fed the goats all day long. We took a hayride to pick out pumpkins. Papa and I went down the big underground slide with Graden quite a few times and Graden and I rolled around in some corn. Very fun...still finding corn in the dryer.
We loved the visit and can't wait to see Granny and Papa for Christmas. Hopefully Auntie Shirley will come back soon! We love you!
Graden was so excited to have them come stay and we had an extra special visitor as well. My godmother whom I haven't seen in 18 years accompanied my parents and had just gotten off a flight from England! Bless her! What a wonderful breath of fresh air she was in this house. I practiced my "British" while she was here and found myself wanting to add the word "lovely" to every other sentence. I have added the term "press on" to my vocabulary because I think it's quite smart. I guess if I am half British, I better start talking like it! Truly, Shirley was lovely with Graden and Harper...what a way with kids she has.
Granny, Papa and Shirley got a taste of what putting two kids to bed was like one night when I was at work and Adam was playing soccer. Granny almost peed in her pants telling us the story of how she and Shirley had to join forces to get Harper's diaper changed. How can one tiny thing conquer two adults? Graden decided that he was going to venture into our room without telling anybody. Once Mom realized that he had been awfully quiet for a while, she found him in our room with his hands covered in black ink, my scissors and permanent markers out, as he calmly explained to her that he was busy and that he had work to do. How in the world did I not end up with anything on the carpet? It's a miracle, I tell ya.
We had a wonderful time during their visit with trips to Hillridge Farms, The State Fair, and the ladies even got to go have English afternoon tea at the local tearoom downtown. It was delightful. I don't think Shirley bought in to the whole concept of eating as much junk as you possibly can at The State Fair as all she had were some fried green tomatoes. C'mon...I only had a fried Milky Way, half of my mother's fried Three Musketeers, part of a funnel cake smothered in custard, part of a funnel cake smothered in chocolate (are you seeing a trend here?), roasted corn, and fried veggies. Quite nasty, but oh so good!
Hillridge Farms was good times too. Graden could have fed the goats all day long. We took a hayride to pick out pumpkins. Papa and I went down the big underground slide with Graden quite a few times and Graden and I rolled around in some corn. Very fun...still finding corn in the dryer.
We loved the visit and can't wait to see Granny and Papa for Christmas. Hopefully Auntie Shirley will come back soon! We love you!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Graden's 3rd Birthday
We just celebrated a milestone in our family on September 15...Graden Virgil McIntyre's 3rd birthday. What a big boy he is becoming. It's amazing to reflect on how fast these last 3 years have flown. He has grown into such an imaginative, inquisitive young fellow who loves to dress up in anything involving superheroes, making up stories or listening to his daddy's, and helping out his dad with anything that involves going down to the basement.
Graden's birthday was a fantastic day. What started out as a nice small get-together at the house that I vowed would be low-key and casual turned into a large soiree. We celebrated with 23 other little ones ranging in age from 5 months to 8 years and their parents (who didn't seem to be sweating like I was!) The day couldn't have been more perfect. Okay, it was 95 degrees with I'm guessing about 90% humidity so again, sweating profusely. The kids rocked it out on the slip n slide and splashed around in the multiple pools we had set up in the yard. Graden wasn't at all interested in the slip n slide (not a shocker considering he is the most cautious kid on the planet), but loved the water balloon fights. We had a little Batman cake and then let the kids pound out their energy on a pinata. Quinton, our 8 year old neighbor, was the only one that could make it happen....candy, candy, candy! Great way to end a b-day party...send the kids home on complete sugar highs.
It was a great day and a perfect way to celebrate our little man. We are so proud of him and can't believe 3 years have past! They have been blissful!
Graden's birthday was a fantastic day. What started out as a nice small get-together at the house that I vowed would be low-key and casual turned into a large soiree. We celebrated with 23 other little ones ranging in age from 5 months to 8 years and their parents (who didn't seem to be sweating like I was!) The day couldn't have been more perfect. Okay, it was 95 degrees with I'm guessing about 90% humidity so again, sweating profusely. The kids rocked it out on the slip n slide and splashed around in the multiple pools we had set up in the yard. Graden wasn't at all interested in the slip n slide (not a shocker considering he is the most cautious kid on the planet), but loved the water balloon fights. We had a little Batman cake and then let the kids pound out their energy on a pinata. Quinton, our 8 year old neighbor, was the only one that could make it happen....candy, candy, candy! Great way to end a b-day party...send the kids home on complete sugar highs.
It was a great day and a perfect way to celebrate our little man. We are so proud of him and can't believe 3 years have past! They have been blissful!
My Journey Into the World of Blogging
So I am plunging in...I have been inspired by many friends who have perfectly documented their family's every move in their blogs. Although I am technologically incompetent, I thought I'd give it a whirl. We'll see how it goes. Being that I can't seem to get out of the hospital in my son's baby book (he's 3 by the way) and I now have my daughter's life to document, I figured this would be the best way to view all those pictures (ok, not all of them) that will permanently collect dust in the closet unless I get my act together. So happy reading folks...
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