Whitney's Visit: Biltmore and Reynolda

We were soooo lucky in October to have my wonderful, fabulous friend Whitney come to visit for a week! It was perfect weather and the absolute, most beautiful part of fall. Everything was just starting to turn all red and orange. You can really tell in the pictures that we took on the balcony at Biltmore. We went on her first day in town (Saturday):
I was super happy that Dan was able to come. I'd been hoping to go there with him and Whitney ever since the last time she came to visit in 2005. We hadn't been able to get a trip together at the time. I guess we thought that going 5 years later with 2 small children would be better. :) Dan got us all discount tickets at the hospital and we had a perfect day!

I love them. They were so good during the tour. We were in the house for about 3 hours. Elena listened to the self-guided tour on her headphones for the first 2 hours. Kevin was good as long as I kept him entertained with new toys or held him. It worked out well since I'd been to Biltmore once before.

I tried so hard all day to get a pic of both of them smiling and looking at the camera. Impossible. This was as close as I got:
This is a side view of the house. Whitney and I walked over to the gardens while Dan entertained the kiddos at the toy store. There's a picture of Whit in the amazing gardens below this one.
I wish that we'd been able to take pics inside, but of course, that's not allowed. Plus, if we had been able to, this entry would be even longer!

Everything was beautiful and I'm so grateful that we went!

When we were all done with our very long day (right before she and Kevin passed out in their car seats), we asked Elena, "What was your favorite part of Biltmore House?"

Her response: "The [shuttle] bus ride and playing in the dirt."

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Dan had Tuesday morning off, so Whit and I were able to visit the Reynolda House while he watched Kevin and Elena. I cannot even express how great this was. I was out of my house with one of my very best friends at a museum with no kids!
During her trip we also shopped, drove around town looking at leaves and gorgeous houses, we talked, watched movies, and played a TON of Skip-Bo. It was the perfect week! Come again anytime, Whit!

Preschool Fieldtrip #1

We went to the Homeland Creamery on September 30th with Elena's preschool class. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day. We had a great time on our hayride, the kids loved feeding a baby calf, and running around.
I loved seeing how their cows are treated. I once toured a giant dairy farm in UT and I couldn't believe the difference. It almost made me tempted to start spending $5 on a gallon of milk. Almost. Maybe I will be able to support such great and small companies in the future!

Happy Halloween!

Check back soon. We have been busy this month and there will be many new posts as soon as I catch up on a little sleep. :)

Dan's Bday and the Fair 2010

What a man! Dan turned 32 on October 5th. We had a great day and Elena helped me make a yummy cake for him. Isn't he adorable (in a ruggedly handsome way of course)?
We love going to the fair each year. This was our third time. My sweet family has made a tradition out of coming into town and going with us. Bethany, my dad, and my mom were all hand to help out with the kids and enjoy the tractor pull (our favorite event). It was a great day!
I have a short video of this at the bottom of the post. This character at the fair was hilarious. The best I've ever seen. He was following Kevin around and copying him and Kevin loved it!

Elena is still usually too scared to sit on an actual carousel horse, so she and Bethany are in the carriage and my dad and Kevin are behind. Bethany and Dad later went on the Ferris wheel (above). Elena wanted to go too, but I thought it was wise to talk her out of it. :)
I couldn't get the video to work, so this description will have to do: Elena was so excited to go on the swings. She was begging me to go on the big set of swings, so I brought her over to the kiddie ones. She was adamant that she wanted to go on them. We watched them while we waited in line and pointed out how they went high and spun pretty fast and they even tilted. She was psyched. I was nervous because I know her pretty well. This is her before it started. She's happy.
She's starting to look less happy here, but she's doing great as they start up.
She screamed in terror nearly the entire ride (once it got up to full speed). Dan later said he was so tempted to make them stop the ride. I felt so bad for her, but she stopped screaming and just held on tight towards the end. Then I went and helped her out of her seat and told her to be proud of herself because she did it. You have to enlarge the photo to see her hollering.

Motorcycles! Elena liked this better than the swings, but she still screamed a little. Her absolute favorite moment of the day was getting to steer her very own bumper car! I don't have any pictures of that because I was sitting in the passenger seat pushing on the gas for her.

Little cutie on a train. This ride is more her speed.
My big man is enjoying himself on the fast bird ride with Aunt BB. I didn't get to see this because I was with Elena in a different part of the park, but I heard he was very brave.
Kevin also went on the this ride with Dan. He loved that it was a fire truck. I can't believe my little man is big enough for a big kid ride like this! It's the kind that circles around quickly, so that you are constantly either falling down or flying up.

I love my kids!

We had a family race down the slide!

The End of Summer

Funny story: One afternoon Elena asked if she could exercise using one of my DVDs. She even changed into her version of workout clothes. She spent 17 solid minutes copying Denise Austin's every move (to the best of her ability). It was impressive and adorable.
When Dan came home, she told him that she had exercised. "Aw, you worked out with Mommy today?"
I was then forced to admit that, no, Mom didn't work out, only the 3 year old did.
We had our last beach trip of the summer. I'm so glad Dan was able to come with us. We had a great time and were able to avoid all the tourists on Labor Day. I guess I am technically a tourist now, since I have to drive 5 hours to get there. It sure was a gorgeous day. We got to see dolphins several times, and Dan and my dad actually had a couple come super close while they were out in the water.

Granddad, E, and Dan: How beautiful is this walkway to the beach? It's on 80th street.

Aunt BB and Kevin
I love the beach and I love that the kids do as well.

Notice how there are never pictures of my mom with us at the beach? It's definitely not her favorite. A week ago Elena drew a picture for my mom and dad. She drew everyone at the beach and drew my mom on the other side of the page at the store alone. I should have taken a picture of it before I mailed it to them. It was hilarious!

Could he be any cuter?!

This is Elena's first-day-of-school photo for this year. We are so lucky to live here and have such great friends. Elena is once again in a class with a few really fun kids, and the moms take turns teaching each week. I love getting to teach, and everyone else does an awesome job. We do our own curriculum and it's perfect. Thanks Melissa, Aimee, and Marianne.
I also want to say thanks to Emily and Wendy for doing Dance and Music on Fridays!

Elena's first day at dance:

I have an obsession...

I love watching my kids sleep. So much so that I take pictures (often) and post them on my blog (occasionally). I just love checking on them multiple times before I go to bed each night. It's part of my bed-time routine.
The checking on them part may be normal, but the taking pictures part...not so much.
Here are a couple of my favorites from the past:

Elena in April 2008 (15 months old)

Kevin in March 2010 (9 months old)The next two are Elena and Kevin September 2010:

I have to explain the jumble of Elena's "friends" that you see. Elena is holding her triplets:
Baby Liam : yes, he's a boy, but pink is his favorite color
Teddy Pig: her favorite of all, he was also in the picture from April 2008
Sally: also known as "Paci Baby" (short for pacifier)
Behind her you can some random things including her sleeping hat. One day she decided that her Santa hat could be a sleeping hat because "sometimes in books, people wear hats to bed" (i.e. The Night Before Christmas). I've even caught her asleep with it on her head before. I wonder what she was so deep in thought about before she fell asleep? :)

Kevin is asleep with his favorite friend Teddy Dog and a musical seahorse which he loves to roll over in the middle of night. He sleeps right through the noise, but it occasionally wakes me up when I hear it on the monitor. He's such a sweet boy! I want to crawl into the crib and cuddle up to him sometimes!

This all reminds me a little of the book, Love You Forever. The mom loves peeking at her sleeping son and singing to him. I love this book and I get emotional each and every time I read it.
But you have to admit, when you stop to think about it and don't "suspend disbelief", the book starts to get a little creepy as the son gets older. I don't think I'm to this point yet, but you'll have to check back in few years when the kids are away at college.
Yep, she got a ladder, drove across town, and crawled in his window.