More Bits and Pieces from NC

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting my dad's cousin Pat. Her mother's sister was my grandmother. Pat and her husband Bob moved to Asheville just recently. I think it's great that my parents have family here now. Pat's daughter Wendy was also in town with her two sons. We all met up for lunch. We probably shouldn't have met them for lunch, since the boys were all sick, but we knew this would be our only opportunity.





There were 11 of us there, but only because my dad chickened out. Can you imagine that he didn't want to join us on our circus adventure?! It was fun talking with Pat. She is an avid ice skating fan and probably knows more about the sport than I do! My mom told me that she used to ask where in the world I was (when I was skating with Disney), I guess I just never realized how big of a fan (of skating) she was.

Wendy is a preschool teacher and it turns out that she teaches sign language to her students. I thought that was neat. I introduced her to Signing Time! when we took the kids to the car. She was quite impressed with Rachel's signing. She had never heard of Signing Time! until I mentioned it. I will have to send her the links to their website.

A few days ago, my mom was sitting in the kitchen facing the front yard. All of a sudden she says there are four deer in the front yard. I grabbed my camera, this isn't the sort of thing you see in Las Vegas!





My mom got a kick out of Robert the other day. They were wearing new shorts that had pockets in them. Robert walked all over the house with both hands in his pockets. We already call him the little general or little old man for the way he walks with his hands clasped behind his back and bent over. He is a character! Unfortunately, as soon as he sees the camera come out he isn't doing it as much. Look at those bags under his eyes! You can definitely tell he wasn't feeling that great.


Noah has been sick the longest. He has also been identified as the neediest sick child of our bunch. He was happy only if he was being held! Grandma didn't mind the snuggling time!



The kids have all been thrilled to stand at the kitchen door and watch all of the bird and squirrels eat on Grandma's and Grandpa's deck. It's not like we get to see this happening in Las Vegas, unless the pigeons count!


Robert had a little tea party on the blanket. I guess he was still hanging on to his waffle and decided it would be nice to share. That should make me happy, right?


Matthew has been working on standing up. Well, actually he has been focused on pushing every button on my parents' TV and sattelite box. When we do pry him away from the TV buttons, he is working hard! I cannot wait til the day he just takes off on his own.


Leigha looks forward to feeding the fish everyday. She lets them nibble on her fingers when she doesn't have food. Every morning she begs Grandpa to go feed the fish. I have never seen such a strong desire to get dressed every morning. Do I need to build a pond in my backyard to have that happen?



Leigha


My parents have worked hard on making their front yard beautiful. This is the embankment leading up to the road. They had a waterfall and pond built so that they could have coy fish. At first I thought they were crazy. You could barely see the fish. Now I understand; I can see them from the kitchen now.


Let me just say that the combination of sick and bedhead is just hysterical. Our intentions were to get the boys' haircuts while we were here. After they got sick, that was just not going to happen. Noah and Matthew have curly hair. Noah loves using juice from his fresh fruit to style his hair. Then he plays with it. I just had to laugh at the boys when they woke up this particular morning.

Noah


Robert


The kids loved the picnic table! Unfortunately, I learned that they love the idea of getting up and walking around with their food. Most of our meals are still in the booster seats. The first day I tried feeding them at the picnic table I quickly learned that Noah was stealing Robert's food.


I think the biggest surprise, since we have been here, is how well my kids are doing around the dogs! I already mentioned before that Leigha used to be terrified of Nikki and Kirby. She would start bawling and freak out whenever she was near them. She's a big talker through a door, but open it a crack and she would go into hysterics. Now she is kissing the dogs on the nose!

The boys' reaction was a surprise, too! The most adventurous one is Noah. We had the gate giving them a sense of protection, but it was never secured. They can come and go whenever they would like. When we would first bring up the dogs, they would stay in the living room, peeking out at the dogs. Then Noah would work his way over. The first few times Robert wasn't too far behind him, but definitely not as brave as Noah.

Robert and Noah the first time they really got to see them.


Noah loved to follow them around the island in the kitchen. I am not too sure how he felt when they cornered him!



Tonight will be our last opportunity to get some more pictures of the boys with the dogs. I have also tried to get it on video, but it's hard!