Lovin' North Carolina

Sunset and storm clouds on the lake.

Rich and Aaron at Grandfather Mountain.

Richard and I at Grandfather Mountain with the mile high swinging bridge...a little scary to cross, but not to bad.

a view of Short-Off Mountain from the lake

Aaron at the lake.

Andrew, Jonathan(my nephew), Jarrett (my cousin) and Aaron at Mt Mitchell State Park

Andrew with his souvenir from gem mining in the mountains

Richard helping Aaron mining for gems in the mountains.

Our dog, Zoey, cooling her belly after a hike in the mountains to a beautiful waterfall.

my niece Ashton, Andrew, Aaron and Levi climbing to the bottom of the falls.

I know I haven't been on here in a great while, but I'm back. I just wanted to update you all on the goings on of "Me and My Gang." Well, where to start...

My husband is getting ready to go back to Iraq for a 2nd tour with the National Guard. This time it's the Texas Nat'l Guard. I am very proud of him that he serves his country the way he does. Not that I want him to go back, but I am proud that he's a soldier and serves his country in any compacity. To make a long story short, since he's going to Iraq, I opted to return to North Carolina for the year he's gone. I wanted to be surrounded by my loving family that is my support system, not to mention the boys really miss their grandparents.

We left Texas on Aug 2nd and it took us two days to get to North Carolina. My husband will be with us until August 26th when he returns to TX to finish work and start preparing for his tour in Iraq. Since we've been home, we've been having a great time. We've been spending lots of time in the mountains and on the beautiful lake (thankyou Daddy for buying a boat!).

Conversations with Aaron

Today I wasn't feeling well. I had a headache, woke up grouchy and just didn't feel like dealing with the usual crap that life throws at you. Richard was off and neither of us felt like doing a whole lot so we decided to take the kids to the movies. While I was getting ready Aaron came into the bathroom and said, "I love you, Mommy. You look fabulous." How precious is that? My first thought was "what do you want?" but then I realized he was sincere.

Sometimes its our sweet children that bring the simple joys back into light. I hugged Aaron up and told him "Thanks" for making me feel better.

Just want to Thank God for my wonderful boys...I love you guys!

My, My, My

As many of you know, Aaron is quite a character. He's an entertainer and always has something to say and do. Here's just a few things he's been up to lately.

Usually about five minutes after we leave the apartment, he'll say, "Mommy, I miss Zoey. Do you miss her?" He loves this dog but I think she only tolerates him.
What's funnier is the other day he added another thought to the mix. He asked me, "Mommy, Am I hungry or do I miss Zoey?" How do you answer that?
My Sis-n-law over at Buggycrew inspired this one, although Aaron did it all by himself. I didn't give him the camera to see what he would come up with, he woke up first the other morning and found a fun way to entertain himself.
If you're wondering what the photos are, this first one is of the t-shirt he was wearing. It's a Star Wars shirt with Yoda on it.

This one is a close up of his stuffed animals. As you can see one is a tiger, another is a zebra.

Here's my handsome prince. Doesn't he just look like a blast!

I have saved the best for last....MY, MY, MY!!! He was helping me fold clothes. What can I say? I have a picture of his brother doing the exact same thing at about the same age. This was unprompted i might add. We are so proud!

Happy Valentine's Day

He loves me...he loves me not...HE LOVES ME!!!

I hope everyone had a great and happy Valentine's day. It's been pretty uneventful in the way of romantic things (we've been busy with basketball and Richard had to work today), but my husband did get me an awesome display of flowers. My two favorite flowers are white Roses and Rubrim or Day Lilies and that exactly what the arrangement is made up of! Those are the two flowers that made up my wedding bouquet, unbeknownst to him. Of course he said he had planned it, but I think he's lying. Now let me tell you a little about this wonderful arrangement. It is the tallest one I've ever received. It stands 36 inches from bottom to top of the tallest rose. The vase itself is 16 inches tall. WOW! It is beautiful. Nonetheless, I was very excited to wake up to such a wonderful and thoughtful gift. He does love me and I do love him.

The boys received Valentine's from a number of people, including their grandparents. Mamo (Richard's Mom) included a red ballon in each card. I was happy to blow them up and tie them off for each kid and then Andrew started decorateing his. Well, you know what ever big brother does, little brother has to do as well. So, Andrew and I both helped Aaron decorate his balloon. They have been playing with them all day. Who would've known a little red balloon could make two little boys so very happy. Thank you, Mamo!

The One-Socked Bandit Strikes Again

For some unknown reason, Aaron likes to wear one sock, and one sock only. I haven't quite figured out why yet, but he is usually running around the house with no pants (underwear and t-shirt a must) and one sock. Why one sock? To his long list of nicknames, we've added "The One-socked Bandit!" Sounds scary and quite fierce, huh? He is harmless, you know. Well, until he strikes again, TA-TA for now!

Around the House

Yesterday was not a good day for Aaron. First, he was very hard to get out of bed, then he cried when I told him he had to go to school. He said, and I quote, "I want to play with friends that don't speak Spanish." LOL! Kids are so honest, aren't they. SoI felt bad for him and let him stay home. Then, Richard and I drug him all over McAllen why we ran some errands, then we went home and started some chores. While I was cooking, he went to his room to watch cartoons. I went to get him for supper and he was sound asleep. It was only 6:30. YIKES! I decided to just let him sleep and see how it went. I was afraid he'd never go back to bed on time if I woke him up then. Around 10:30 he woke up and asked for something to drink and went back to bed and didn't get up again until 7:00 this morning. Poor Baby was tard (tired for those of you not familiar with the southern version of it).

Then there's Petey. My very stealthy, Pro-athletic, hunting, descendant of a lion who thinks he's hiding. I never said he was smart.

And last, but not least, there's sweet, precious, should've-been-a-moma-dog, Zoey, who loves her stuffed chipmunk that she got for Christmas. She carries it everywhere, from room to room. She really is very gentle. She even grooms the silly animal much like a moma-dog would do to puppies. not so much the licking, but the nipping at fleas motion.

So that's all for now. Have a blessed day.

Aaron's First Day of School

Can you believe it? Aaron finally started pre-school today. Yeah! He was so excited he didn't even want to eat breakfast this morning. He's not much of a breakfast eater anyway. But he had a great day . He went right in and sat on the carpet with the other kids and never looked backed. Literally. I tried to tell him goodbye 3 or 4 times and finally his teacher, Ms. Martinez, called on him to tell me goodbye. I thought I would cry, but I didn't. He was so cute this morning getting ready. He brushed his teeth and I combed his hair, then he was ready for his new Bakugan backpack (It was the only one that was his size that didn't have wheels on it. Wheels are not alound for the smaller kids). When I picked him up,Ms. Martinez said he did really well and had a great day. When I asked him what all he did today his reply was, "Spanish." I asked if he learned any spanish words and he just said, "Just spanish." I do believe he'll be speaking a second language before the summer gets here. At dinner he wanted to know how to say Mommy in spanish so I told him "momasita!" so apparently that's what he's thinking of calling me now. we'll see about that!

Conversations with Aaron

Early this evening Aaron was in the bathroom sitting on the potty so i stopped to see if he needed help "cleaning up."
He said, "Look, Mommy, I have one wipy and toilet paper." Then he proceeds to wipe himself. Then he holds up the wipy and toilet paper and asks me, "Would you like to smell it?" My repsonse was immediate. "NO! Not after you put poo-poo on it!" "But, Mommy," he says, "it smells like something very special."


All I could do was laugh!!!!

Texas State Aquarium, Corpus Christi

On Saturday of Marc's visit, we went to Corpus Christi which is about a two hour drive from where we are. We started at the State Aquarium. In the way of aquariums it was pretty good but not the best we've ever been to. Not only did they have the aquarium exhibits inside displaying water habitats of all kinds like coral reefs, the Amazon, fresh water and so on, they also had outdoor exhibts with dolphins, sea turtles, and river otters. The Texas Alligator exhibit is just being built so we missed out on the "crocagators" as Aaron calls them.

This was a cool picture with the light coming up illuminating the boys with the fish behind them.

The next picture was fun. In this one room the lights were aimed at the wall to make the walls look like water. Marc and the boys were pretending to swim.

Here was the touch pond. I was taking pictures, Richard was making videos, which left Marc to touch the hermit crabs with the boys. Andrew, of course, had no problem picking them up and looking at them, but Aaron was a little more leary. Finally, "Uncle" Marc put a crab in a large shell and Aaron was okay holding it that way.

Another cool thing they had was the "bubble" as we called it. It was a tank in the corner of the room with this doom in it. The boys had to crawl into it from underneath and stand up so they could be inside the aquarium. Really cool.

Here is my family outside the State Aquarium. Of course this picture was taken at the beginning of the day before I was tired and frazzled. We were there almost all day. At about 2:30, Richard and Marc decided to go over to the USS Lexington which is right next door to the aquarium. The boys and I stayed to shop at the gifr shop and play on the playground for a little bit. Later we headed over to the beach next to the Lexington to play in the sand and wait on Daddy and Uncle Marc.

After we all met up again, we ended a perfect sea-side day with a sea-food meal at Joe's Crab Shack on the Bay. The view was awesom! What a great day we had.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving day. Uncle Marc made it in from Miami okay. We are thankful for that. We are having our Thanksgiving meal tomorrow which is also Marc's birthday. So it'll be a very special day.
This is a Thanksgiving tree that Aaron made at Moppets while I was at Mops. Some of the things he listed that he was thankful for was food, his parents, home, God, AND his brother.

I just want to remind everyone to take a minute to reflect on their lives and all they have to be thankful for. Even when things are rough and life doesn't always seem fair, just knowing we have a heavenly father who loves us and gave His Son to die for our sins is all we really need to be thankful for. Love to all...

Fall Fun

Since we moved from the mountains and foothills of North Carolina and to a sub-tropical climate, we no longer get to experience the beauty of fall. I really miss the leaves changing and falling. But never fear...MAMO is here! In years past, she has sent a box of fall leaves to her grandchildren in Miami, Fl. Now she does the same for Andrew and Aaron. The had a blast playing in the leaves and having leaf fights. Here's what fall in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas is like. Don't miss the video that's in the middle of the pictures.

Lights, Cameras....Say Cheese

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Last week i took the boys to get some pictures taken. I still haven't had Aaron's 4 yr old picture taken and i was not happy with Drew's school picture so i wanted to have those redone. While we're at it, let's just have Christmas pictures taken too! Here's a preview of how it turned out. the boys did really good and despite how the usually get along, they really had fun and look like they really love each other.

Happy Halloween 2008

Happy Belated Halloween!
This year we skipped trick or treating and went to church festivals in the area. The first church festival we went to was at Baptist Temple which is where I attend MOPS. They had lots of blow-up rides and climbing slides, they had rock climbing wall, as well as food and candy.

Aaron of course came up with his own method for obtaining candy!
He was a clone trooper from Star Wars this year. Andrew didn't want to dress up this year so he just tagged along for the fun and games. He had a great time on the rock wall and the velcro jump.

we hope you all ahd a great halloween just as we did.