Our new Toy!

After 6 years of abundant automotive troubles and frankly not enjoying the blue van covered in dog hair and fishy crackers (yes, I know the latter is my fault), I am happy to say we are now the owners of a sassy new white 2005 Volvo V70. I really hope I can enforce the water and mess-less snacks only rule I'm going to try and impose. Some may say (ahem Bradley), how about NO food and NO drinks...it's just not possible, unless of course you don't mind listening to loud, obnoxious screaming from tired toddlers or "fart humor" from 5 year olds.

Oh Volvo welcome home. I hope you'll be with us a long time.

Happy Birthday Mama Jan!

This past weekend the kids and I drove to Fayetteville to surprise our sweet Mama and Grandma for her birthday. We pulled off the surprise quite well and enjoyed watching her stunned face as she found us hiding in Uncle John's apartment behind their house.

We really are blessed to have such a caring, sweet, mama and look forward to many, many more moons with this special lady.

Love you mom!

Salon Recommendation

I've been running short on time lately, sorry for the slack posting. Our recent search for our minivan replacement has left me spending lots of time googling and tossing car options in my mind endlessly.

Anyhoo, I'm always on a search for a good hair salon and have heard others mentioning the need for a new stylist as well, so thought I'd throw my suggestion into the pot. I recently visited Salon Blu in Brier Creek after reading quite a few good reviews on Triangle Mommies. I was really impressed! The salon fit me in the day after I called and I had Amanda give me a fairly simple "Raleigh Bob". What's a "Raleigh Bob" you ask? Suprisingly there's a whole N&O article written on said hairstyle. http://www.samandbills.com/1-C-Mon-July-21-03.php.
The cuts at Salon Blu range from $35 - upwards of $60. Amanda stuck closely to the pictures I brought in and gave me a cut that's both easy to maintain and actually looks the way it did when I walked out of the salon a few weeks after the cut.

The only negative I can say about the Salon was having Amanda try to sell me products constantly. If you can easily ignore people's requests for more money as I can then perhaps she's someone you might like as well. The salon was trendy and hip and full of funky stylists.

I'll definitely be re-visiting Salon Blu (not to be confused with Blo!) again soon.

Oak Island 2009

Yes, we're back! What a great vacation. We all really needed to get away and to re-invigorate ourselves for daily life and routines. Oak Island is just lovely and still small on the commercial side. There are a few things to do, but not much...just the way I like it. They do have one miniature golf course for the kiddies and a movie theatre, but other than that the ocean is the premiere entertainment around.

We spent most of our time enjoying our ocean-front house and the beautiful view from the deck. Jackson was finally old enough to really figure out the boogie/skim boards and entertain himself and Jessie thankfully didn't shove handfuls of sand into her mouth. Right up until July 3rd the beach was pretty desolate and there were only 5-6 people at a time on the strand where we were. Nice!

Other than basking in the HOT sun and eating LOADS of icecream we did have one "educational" day in which we actually scheduled an event. We took the ferry to Ft. Fisher and thankfully the first leg of the trip was exciting and fun, because from there on out....pure misery. We landed on Ft. Fisher with throngs of people heading to the aquarium. The aquarium is really pretty cool except when a large group of sweaty europeans who do not believe in any antiperspirant keep crowding around every exhibit your children want to see. Ugg! We spent probably an hour in the aquarium when it should have taken double that to really see and appreciate all the exhibits. Oh well. By this time the temperature outside is nearing 98 and Jessie is MAD. She cries most of the way back to the ferry in which we must wait a mere 45 minutes to board. We finally get back to Southport and are able to enjoy more icecream and some cute shops. We really would have liked to explore Southport more, but it was just so hot! So no more educational, structured activities for this family while on vacation. Sheesh!

We ate good seafood, we slept many naps, we bought junky toys, we filled our bathing suits with lots of sand, we played many board games and watched silly movies while eating many, many bowls of icecream. Great fun but happy to be back home!

Like Father.....

Yes, my son adores his father and can't wait to be just like him. During his graduation he expressed his interest in being a "builder" like his daddy. Like Brad, he's a huge fan of baseball, golf, and sadly enough, world extreme cagefighting. hrm.

So it doesn't come at any surpise that like dad, he wants his lily-white skin covered in ink. Brad was oh so kind to oblige his 5 year old fantasy.

Enjoy Mama Jan!

Lovely Lemon Loaded Goodness

I got this recipe from my mother's neighbor in Fayetteville and I've seen it floating around the web for some time now. I tried this lemon cake recipe last year and was disappointed with the result. It wasn't nearly as lemony as Ms. Enid's. I re-read the recipe again this year and realized I missed a crucial step in my previous cake. This cake is really all about the lemon glaze you drench over the cake. In order for the lemony goodness to penetrate the cake you must take a skewer or chopstick and punch small holes through the cake and then your lemony mixture of lemon zest, lemon juice and powdered sugar can thoroughly melt it's way through the cake. Oh my goodness. It's so good.

My father-in-law loves most lemon things and I thought he'd enjoy this recipe for Father's Day. It's such an easy recipe and great for summer. I love to throw the cake in the fridge and pull it out with some nice iced coffee.

I'm posting a recipe off a cooking site that I found that features almost the exact recipe from Enid. I used a 9x13 cake pan instead of the jelly roll pan. It turned out great

Quick and Easy Lemon Cake - Pinch My Salt

Nana’s Lemon Jello Cake
1 package yellow cake mix
1 small package lemon jello
3/4 C. water
4 eggs, well beaten
3/4 C. oil
glaze:
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
2 C. powdered sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 18 x 13-inch jelly roll pan.
2. Pour cake mix and lemon jello powder into a large bowl; whisk together to remove any large lumps. Stir in the water then add eggs and oil. Blend, using a wooden spoon, with 50 strokes. There will be lumps, this is ok.
3. Pour batter into a greased and floured jelly roll pan; smooth batter with a spatula so that it is even. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees, checking after the first 20 minutes.
4. While cake is baking, mix together powdered sugar. lemon juice and zest.
5. While cake is still warm, pierce with fork all over then spread glaze evenly over the top. Allow to cool, then cut into squares and serve.

Sick Days

Lately it seems at least one of us has had some sort of ailment, but most recently we've all been blessed to have it all at the same time. Whoopee!! I honestly feel like the illness we're battling at this time is some sort of strange mutation of the Swine Flu virus infiltrating the US. The bug creates a VERY nasty chest cold which leaves us all hacking endlessly. My doc even went so far as to have me get a chest x-ray at the hospital to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. Thankfully it wasn't. So now we're left with the old timey remedies of humidifiers, steam showers, lots of liquids and popsicles and warm soup. So what do we do while we're holed up in our home? We watch movies, play strange hallway games with Murphy as our ball obstacle, take pictures using photo booth, and get on each others nerves endlessly. Joy.

Hoping for a speedy recovery for my sad little family.

We Won!

A bit late in posting Jackson playoff game from this past Tuesday, but it was great! I was really hoping they would win so that they could compete in the Championship today. Jackson played really well and is slowly learning the dynamics of baseball and how/when/where to throw the ball to the play being made. He's also improved dramatically in how he is able to hit a coach-pitch ball. I'm so proud of him!

We had a fantastic day with the grandparents including my mom and dad who were able to come up from the 'ville and see the game. Afterward we all headed over to Goodberry's for some yummy goodness.

Fingers crossed for today's game against the number one team, the Red Sox. GO ORIOLES!!

We Won!

My proud little man.

Mama Jan


Papa Jerry and Jack

Mother's Little Helper

Let me tell you....I LOVE having a child old enough to do chores for me. Yeah!! This past week I decided it was high time Jackson started learning the ropes around the house and helping his increasingly tired mom and dad with the day to day tasks of keeping house. I did offer an incentive and told him if he helped do one chore a day he could earn a dollar on Friday to be spent however he pleased. His list of chores this week were:

1. Windex my glass doors
2. Help dad with trash on trash day.
3. Dust the living room
4. Pick up the dinner dishes
5. Graduation Day - he just had to get through speaking in front of 50+ people!

So here he is with his first dollar ever earned! And what did he do with his first dollar? He spent it at Carolina Theatre while seeing UP (which by the way was absolutely fantastic and surprisingly endearing) on his favorite treat...Skittles!

Now, let's see....is scrubbing toilet bowls too nasty of a chore for a 5 year old?

Class of 2022

I'm so proud of my little man. This past Friday he graduated from his preschool class and is now ready for the wild world of Kindergarten. It may not seem like much to graduate from preschool, but believe me, preschool is nothing like it was back in my day. I stayed home with my mom for the most part but I did go to a few programs prior to Kindergarten and from what I remember my days consisted of coloring, baby dolls, and the very important snack time. Jackson has learned so much and is so much more prepared for school than I thought I ever was. Honestly, I think Kindergarten is going to be more of a review of what he learned in preschool. Going into Kindergarten, he can read basic words, he can write the alphabet, spell his name and other simple words, count to 100, speak some basic Spanish, knows his colors/shapes etc. He's almost caught up with his dad! tee hee.

His graduation program was absolutely adorable. The class all wore their bright white caps and gowns with a blue 09' tassel. The program consisted of lots of songs, the pledge, and a few small skits. Jackson had a poem he had to recite at the start of the program and he did a great job! After the program, the school provided a nice lunch and had a face-painting clown there for the kids. Jackson chose quite a disturbing spider man for his lovely face.

Everyone says time goes so quickly, and although it does, I'm so grateful for all the time I've been able to spend with him before he goes to school. I'm super excited for him and ready to see what awaits us next.

Baseball Portraits

We finally received Jackson's baseball portrait and team picture. I think there is a slight Opie Taylor resemblance if you ask me. I'm so glad he has enjoyed his spring baseball season. His daddy would be crushed if had not enjoyed it and wanted to continue in the fall. Shew!

Next week is the playoffs and I'm actually thinking we might have a shot at winning! His team, the Orioles, are currently 2nd in place just under the Red Sox. It should be a tight race for the championship!

I'm so proud of the progress Jackson has made during this season. He started out the season playing off the T for the most part and rarely catching a ball during play and rarer yet would be knowing what to do with the ball once he caught it. He has now progressed to hitting almost every single coach pitch and catching many play balls while sending it in the "direction" of the current play. His face just lights up as he rounds those bases. It's awesome! I'm pretty sure he enjoys it as much as his mommy and daddy do.

Go Orioles!!

Critter Love

I love seeing the world through my sweeties eyes. Everything is so fresh and new, even the tiniest ant or the nastiest slug. I hope they will always keep that keen curiosity and love for animals. Jessie really enjoyed poking our little ant friend and they both found the slimy slug quite intriguing. Eww.

Send Me A Man!

I can't believe Jackson only has 2 more days of preschool left before he begins his adventure into Kindergarten. It honestly feels like a few months ago when I "tried" to drop him off at a mom's morning out for 2 hours and he cried his eyes dry...now he can't wait to go to school "till the moon comes up he" he says.

Anywho...today was his farewell party at school including loads of fun songs, hilarious skits and yummy goodies. Jackson's highlight came when he starred as the Biblical character, Goliath. I have been hearing him say the words, "Send me a man!" for what seems like months, and I'm so glad I got to actually see these words in practice. He was an awesome and frightening giant.

I will miss his teachers and the inspiration they bring to the classroom. I can only hope his new teacher(s) is just as creative and fun. Here is a quick recap from our fun farewell day.

DrumRoll Please!

Family Day at the Eno

One of our favorite tromping grounds is the West Point on the Eno River off Roxboro Rd in Durham. Ever since Jackson was a wee lad I would take him here to hike the trails and enjoy the sounds of the river. As Jackson grew up and developed his mighty throwing arm, he fell in love with throwing rocks in the river bed.

This past Sunday we introduced Jessie to the river for the first time and she, like her brother, loved it. We all took some time to just get our feet wet and practice skipping rocks. Afterward we enjoyed a hike in the woods and a peek into the teepee that has been standing there for as long as I can remember.

Rock Skipping Fun

Treking Jessie

Peeking through the top of the teepee

Every little Indian needs a snack break

Jackson's eagle eyes spotted this well camouflaged baby frog! Cutie.


Goof