Beautiful Birthday Girl

May 1st has come and gone. Our little girl is finally one.

How the year has flown!

We celebrated Harper's birthday with a visit from Granny and her Auntie Mindy for the week leading up to her big day. That was very special to have them here with us. I think they probably went home more tired than when they got here after running around after Harper and her crazy (I mean very energetic) brother.

A few good friends helped us celebrate Harper's birthday with some burgers and dogs after a serious ball fight in the front yard. We busted out the plastic balls from Graden's first birthday that are always so fun, but a pain in the you-know-what to clean up when all is said and done. The kids were wild little rugrats and it was a perfect way to culminate Harper's first year with us.

That little stinker dove right in for her cake. She wasn't afraid in the slightest and I was expecting some mashed potato poops the next day with all that icing she ate. She couldn't get enough...takes after her mommy...we're in trouble.

Harper's 1 year stats:

19 lbs. 13 oz (25%) Shocking considering her brother has been on the opposite end of the scale for his entire life! I know, I know...don't compare, but it's so hard not to! They are just so different.
29 1/2 inches (65%)
46 cm head circumference (75%)
Favorite things to do:

• Check out any kind of animal and touch it as quickly as she can. She loves to grab our fire-bellied toads. The child has no fear for sure.
• Climb any stair, any where...period. Loves the stairs.
• Bath time with her brother. Could stay in the tub for hours.
• Find everything that she is not supposed to touch and go at it giggling.
• Slinging food while in her highchair.
• Drinking anybody's drink she can get her hands on.
• Playing basketball and dancing to the music.

Fun tricks:

• Giving kisses and then shaking her head incessantly and making you beg for more.
• Getting stuck under the bed, table, drawers, etc.
• Rolling her tongue like a hot dog.
• Purring like a cat.
• Speaking a combination of Chinese, Japanese, Swahili, and Russian all at once.
• Squealing at the top of her lungs when she doesn't get her way. So already over this trick!

She's not walking yet, but she loves to stand and hold onto everything, so I assume it won't be long. She's got 7 teeth and a little baby tan from our time at the beach recently. So glad she's not a "pale rider" as Adam says.

She rocks and we can't believe a whole year has passed! Happy Birthday, darlin'!

Happy Harper

Hard to believe, but our little baby girl is 9 months old. Harper had her 9 month check-up last week and is growing and changing every day. Here's the lowdown:

18 lbs. 6 oz. (45th percentile)
28 inches long (65th percentile)
Head circumference: 45 cm (75th percentile)

Her fave's:

Favorite food: turkey dogs and mac-n-cheese
Favorite toy: mommy's jewelry
Favorite hobby: laughing at her brother
Favorite song: Patty Cake
Best buds: Laila and Simon
New tricks: contortions of all sorts, getting on her knees ready to crawl, pulling up half-way, screaming like a giddy little school girl, playing patty cake, waving for fun
Current vocabulary: mama, dada, nana, baba...none of which are discriminate
Teeth: 2 on the bottom have been there since she was 7 months, and the 2 on top are rearing their ugly little heads

Harper is the happiest baby...such a joy in every way. She has the cutest little dimples that she inherited from her Nana. Her disposition is so chill and she really only gets upset when she's hungry, tired, snotty, or getting these darn teeth! She loves to be around Graden. Her face lights up ever time she sees him and I just hope that will always be the case...I know, wishful thinking, huh?

She's so chatty and wants so badly to talk to us. She loves to read books and take baths with her brother. She smiles pretty much on a constant basis and I hope that she never loses this innocent joy and love for life! What a blessing she is in our lives!

Here Comes Santa Claus!

How is it possible that Christmas has come and gone? It happens so quickly...all that hype and it is gone with the blink of an eye. The preparation, the parties, the shopping, the wrapping, the decorating, the baking, the travelling...so much goes into Christmas and then it leaves us like a shooting star that you barely caught a glimpse of. We are so thankful for the time that we have had celebrating this wonderful season with our phenomenal friends and family.


This year was extra special for our family in that it was Harper's 1st Christmas. Of course all she really cared about was the wrapping paper, but it was still so much fun to have her be a part of our family's celebration. She has been such a gift to us this year that we can't imagine our lives without her!


There is just so much that has happened over the holiday season...so instead of going on and on, here's our Top 10 List of the holiday's most memorable moments....

10. Rearranging furniture to make room for the extra large tree that consumed our living room and then watching Adam try to get it out the door by himself when it was all said and done!

9. Hearing Graden scream at the top of his lungs when Santa walked in to Adam's company Christmas party...how come the rest of the kids just acted like it was just some old chap with a white beard...it was SANTA people!

8. Apparently Graden was feeding a small army of reindeer as well as a Santa with a hearty appetite when he loaded the plate of goodies on Christmas Eve.

7. Our slumber party with our wonderful friends, the Nooe's. We have played Cariboo a million times since then...our boy loves his gift! :)

6. Seeing Graden "perform" for the first time with his preschool class. He was not too enthralled by the idea of singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and a number of other favorites in front of a crowd of over-enthusiastic parents who were snapping pictures and getting it all on tape. I think he jingled his bell once and then he was done...we know it's a lot of pressure, bud!

5. Losing the Be-Otch chalice to Chad at our annual State Christmas party...Adam bought that because he so wanted to take that puppy home with him...it was bedazzled and all! I was definitely devastated that it had to go in the Moore's china cabinet instead of our's!

4. Freaking out when our son tackled his Granny literally to the ground from behind as she bent over...she was such a good sport, but very sore after the fact! Will never live that one down!

3. Watching Graden decide to go digging for gold once he was up in front of the entire congregation at church at the Christmas eve service...we were so proud!

2. Adding our sweet baby girl to our celebration of this wonderful season!

1. Celebrating with my parents in Dallas and the McIntyre's in North Carolina and witnessing their love for their grandbabies.

A Family First, Hosting Thanksgiving

So I am officially over a month behind in my attempt to document the important events in our lives. So I'll try to make this short and sweet...okay typically that is not possible in my world, but I'll give it a shot.

We had the McIntyre clan for Thanksgiving at our house this year. We had a full house with Adam's parents here as well as his brother and our sister-in-law and their kids, Keenan and Scott. I don't think there is anything that gets Graden more wound up than knowing that Keenan is coming. He loves her and would jump off the nearest bridge if she told him to.

We had a wonderful meal that for the most part was a success. Linda is the mama chef who did most of the work. I had serious turkey anxiety and wasn't about to venture into that territory on my own. I happened to see Oprah the day before and thought that the marinade that her personal chef shared with the audience would be a hit. The turkey turned out great, but did not look like those nice plump, juicy birds you see in the magazines. Just take a look at the picture...will work on aesthetics next year.

I was crazy enough to think that I would make Linda's homemade mac n cheese that both of her boys die for knowing that it really can never be duplicated. No one messes with mama's original recipes. I actually wish that I had never made it because now I know just how much cheese, butter, and whole milk is involved...true version of heart attack on a plate, but one of the best things you have ever put in your mouth.

The kids had a blast running circles around each other, torturing our pet hamster Quio, and just being together. We love our niece and nephew and only wish they lived closer! Funny little story about the hamster. Graden loves having her, but Adam secretly (or not so secretly) wants to set her free! The darn thing is nocturnal obviously. Usually when we have guests I remember to take out her wheel so that she doesn't awaken anyone in the middle of the night with her constant exercise. My mother and father-in-law along with our nephew were soundly sleeping one night when I heard that darn wheel squeaking. I crept in the room, removed the wheel and went about my business. Linda came down the next morning cracking up. Apparently, the little bugger ended up in her suitcase during the night rummaging around looking for something tasty to chew on. I guess when I took the wheel out of the cage, the hamster came along with it!

My friend Larisa took some family photos for us that weekend so that we could surprise Linda with a new picture for over their mantle for Christmas. They turned out really good and we are so lucky that she was willing to do it!

We are thankful for all of our many blessings...we continue to pinch ourselves when reflecting on how lucky we are to have such wonderful children, parents, siblings, and friends!

Win for the Wolfpack!

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!

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!

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!