And they're off!

Over Christmas break, Ansley asked Chris to take the training wheels off her bike - she felt like she was ready to ride without them. Just like Cole did, she just took off on the 2 wheels almost right away. It kind of reminded me of potty training - when they're ready, they're ready! She just loves being able to ride it now, and will go out there almost every day and ride up and down the sidewalk.

Not to be out done, Luke really wanted a bike of his own (with training wheels, of course). So he and Chris headed out to a few stores to search. Chris found a great deal on one that was already put together (the great thing about waiting until after Christmas!). He was so excited to have his own little bike to follow his big sis around in.

Today

Ugghhh... today was one of those draining days and I didn't even do much. Poor Cole started having a toothache over the weekend. It got worse yesterday - he and Chris went to a Magic game yesterday afternoon and ended up leaving early, before it was even half time, because Cole was in so much pain. Cole had been so excited about going to the game (they were playing the Cavaliers, which means Lebron James), so we knew he must be hurting for them to leave early. But then it would feel better, and Motrin definitely helped.

Last night he told me there was a "bump" there, almost like a sore... and then this morning he woke up and his whole right side of his face was swollen. Thankfully, we already had an appointment at 8:30 this morning to have a different cavity filled, so we headed straight to the dentist. Turns out a previous cavity that had been filled had gone straight to the nerve and an abcess (sp?) had formed. That pretty much meant that the tooth would need to be pulled. It was awful. Luke and I were in the waiting room, and had been for quite some time. All was calm, and then I hear this screaming, which I know is Cole. Of course I started crying... He was miserable for the next 2 hours. We stopped at Walgreens and got some liquid Motrin (I had actually brought some Motrin, but it was chewable), and he screamed in the parking lot of Walgreens (he sometimes can add a little drama to an already tough situation!).

On a happier note, we had a sonogram shortly after that (Cole and Luke tagged along to that - thankfully the Motrin kicked in and Cole wasn't feeling quite so yucky). All is well with our baby girl - she weighed approximately 2 1/2 lbs, had all her fingers and toes, etc. I was completely surprised to see that Cole actually enjoyed watching the entire sonogram. He couldn't wait to show the DVD to Ansley when we picked her up.

Christmas Day

These are in reverse order again... On our way home from North Carolina, we stopped at my parents house and spent Christmas eve there and the headed on to Kelly & Andrew's (Chris' sister's home) that afternoon, so that's where these start. I was not feeling great, so I didn't do the best job taking pictures. Here is Ansley with a Wii game from MaMa and PopPop. Kelly & Andrew have a cat - poor thing was probably overwhelmed with all the company, but Luke especially wanted to find and pet that sweet cat.

My dad wanted to get a family picture - actually, he wanted a video, so we all stood there in front for a minute while dad talked. It was kind of funny (Ryan & Ginger were with her family in Plant City, so they missed out ! :-) ). I threw my camera up there because it felt more like it should be a still shot rather than a video. Notice our precious daughter was not being cooperative. What a pleasant face! ha!

The great part about being a dad on Christmas - getting to put together toys!

My sweet grandparents. They will probably make a fuss about this picture being on there, but I couldn't resist. They're so great. They have been married forever (ok, I can't remember the exact number, but it's been a long time. I think they celebrated their 50th when Cole, who's now 7, was a baby, or the year before he was born?) I am sooo thankful that they are here and fairly healthy and my kids get to have great-grandparents! I am looking forward to getting to see them again as soon as basketball is over!

This is Luke's little personality that is starting to come through - the happy, goofy, silly type. He was pretty excited about his new car garage.

More Winter Fun

The last day we were there, the roads finally cleared enough for the Great Smoky Mountains National Parkway to open up. We drove through it and over to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. I really wanted the kids to get to see the Christmas lights in these two cities (they are amazing - unlike anything I have seen, except at Disney's Hollywood Studios), but we were afraid they would close the parkway when night time arrived (which apparently happens quite regularly) and we would be stuck with a much longer, out of the way drive to get back to the house. We did stop along the parkway, though, and play in the snow. It was much deeper and still very soft, so we built a snowman, had a snowball right, etc.

Our attempt at a snowman :-)

The picture above makes me think of a "real" winter, or a Christmas wonderland, etc. :-)

This was right near the house we were staying at... looked like a nice snap shot.

Ansley in front of the house where we stayed. The last night we were there we roasted marshmallows and made smores. Mmmm... so yummy!

She was so excited to make a snow angel!

Forget spending a bunch of money on snow activities! The first full day we were there, the neighbor's son, wife and grandson were spending a few nights with him- they lived in Asheville but had no power due to all the snow storms. The grandson was a few years older than Cole - he came over with some pastic sleds and asked the kids to come out and play. The kids had so much fun sliding down the hills, though we were a little worried about them sliding right into the river. Chris stood guard to catch any runaway sleds. I got this picture of Ansely and Luke right before they slid into the house. They were having so much fun until the went into the bushes and then the house. Luke wasn't so happy about it after that!

Snow skiing - Winter Fun

Ok, these pictures load in reverse order, and I never remember to change that when I'm loading. And it is a pain to try to move them around, though maybe there is a better way and I just don't know it?! So... bear with me as these start at the end of the snow skiing! And what better one then this one of Luke, who looks like he is basially saying "That's it. I'm done. Leaving my skis here, don't care, just get me out of here!" We had this great idea that was basically like this "Hey, how often are we going to be coming up here and it will be good snow. Let's take the kids skiing". Of course, I couldn't ski, being pregnant, so that left Chris with all 3 kids. It was just going to be Cole and Ansley but then we saw that kids under 3 were free, so hey, why not add one more to the chaos. And Chris didn't want to pay for ski lessons (which I didn't want to spend the money either, but it is one thing to try to pick it up yourself, but an entirely different matter to have one adult trying to help 3 young kids who have never even seen this ski equipment before, much less worn it.) So... that left Chris trying to deal with all this chaos, kids falling down, not sure what to do, cold hands (I didn't bring the right gloves, so their hands were cold, wet and freezing -wasn't a problem on the other days but when you're trying to hold wet ski poles and keep falling down in the snow, well... not good).




Ansley gets the hang of it, though she gets tired after a little bit and wants to be done. They just stuck with the little kids bunny trail. No ski lifts for us!

Cole doing a good job too - he actually was enjoying it and probably would have kept going a little longer, but his hands were freezing - red and very cold...

Chris trying to help Cole while Luke just stands there.

And this was before they had even started trying to ski. This was about the time I started having a really bad feeling about it all. Luke had that stubborn look, and the kids were complaining and frustrated that they couldn't figure out the skis, etc. Part of me was relieved that I didn't have to go out there and help with all this mess, but the other part of me was thinking "This isn't good - Chris is going to need help!"

Needless to say, a memory was made and a lesson (or two) were learned. Chris was not thrilled that we spent so much money and were not there more than 2 hours (and that includes waiting to get all the equipment, etc!). Got some good pictures though :-)