New Blog

Hello dedicated readers. I decided to set up a second blog to showcase my goodies. Visit it, and tell all of your friends about it!

www.goodiesbykate.blogspot.com

Elmo and Friends

A friend asked me to make an Elmo cake for her daughter's first birthday along with cupcakes that look like other Sesame Street characters. Here's the end result. This was just a practice cake, so I've put it up for sale on Craigslit. I'm not sure if it will sell, but I'd rather try to sell it than either eat it ourself or throw it away! If you want it...let me know...I need to sell it by the weekend...$30!

Busy Weekend

The boys and I drove to Charlotte to see my old neighbor, Bettina. She lives in a beautiful community with ducks, a pool, and beautiful grass!!!! The boys loved playing with Beine, her dog! I was planning on driving home around 2 on Sunday, but was woken up by Brandon getting sick in his bed. He got sick 2 more times so I just packed up and left. He's fine now, so maybe it was a freak thing.










I realized that this was the last trip Connor will be able to sleep in the pack n play. HE'S TOO LONG! So, I went ahead and set up their toddler beds. I really wanted to wait until they were 3, but I need to get them used to sleeping in beds for when I travel to KY in August. Here's the end result of the swap!







They did great during their nap and we'll see how tonight goes. All I know is that I'm super tired and exhausted from lack of sleep. They haven't been sleeping through the night for the last month and it's starting to get to me. Keep your fingers crossed that tonight goes well.

On the potty front, they are doing AMAZING! Connor will be sporting Elmo big boy underwear tomorrow while we're at the house. They are staying dry through the night and at naps. I only used 1 diaper on Connor all day today because every time he went to the potty, his diaper was still dry. On top of that, he's pooping in the potty...and not in his diaper. He likes to flush the potty after I dump from "contents" from the baby potty and say "bye bye poopie, see ya later"

Grandpa Yibby

My Grandpa Yibby passed away last night around 840pm. I was driving back from Greensboro last night and thought I would try to call him...I just looked at my phone and I tried to call him 6 minutes after he passed away. I knew there was a reason I picked up the phone to call him, but it went straight to voice mail. He was surrounded by Uncle Jim, Aunt Sue and his lady friend Betty. His breathing started to change while he was sitting in his favorite chair, and then took his last breath. He's been fighting a very hard fight with cancer since January and he won the fight. I say won because he's back with his wife and out of pain. I will miss him very much...his laugh, his humor, and him singing the "sow song" at the family weddings in his red linen blazer. Here are a few pictures of Grandpa and the boys including a video of them saying "Bibby" which is what they called him. No arrangements have been made just yet, but will be within the next few days. We love you Grandpa and are glad you are out of pain and back with Grandma Jeanne....tell her we love her and miss her too!!!

Grandpa with Connor in the NICU
Grandpa with itty bitty Brandon
Grandpa and Brandon in August 07
Grandpa and Connor in August 07
The boys with Yibby in January 09

7 Years

Eric and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary on Sunday. We went to a really nice restaurant up in the Pinehurst area called Elliotts on Linden. It was probably the nicest restaurant I've ever been to. The waitress addressed us by Mr and Mrs Danko before we even knew her name! The food was delicious and the restaurant itself was calming and beautiful inside.

We started out with some fried calamari with lemon and ginger sauce and napa cabbage slaw, but didn't take a picture!

Eric had the cedar plank salmon over wilted spinach salad. I snagged a taste and it was very good.




I had the ranch pork chop with grilled peaches topped with sweet corn relish and adobo chili sauce. I saw truffel macaroni and cheese on the menu and had to have a side of that too. They were both amazing!


The restaurant offered us a complimentary dessert for our anniversary. It was a chocolate torte! Neither of us had room for dessert, but we don't get to go out like this very often, so we said, what the heck!


After the nice meal, we came home to a house of sleeping babies. What a wonderful night!


This is our "annual anniversary shot" We have taken a picture together on every anniversary and have them displayed in the family room. We hope that one day, when the boys are older, they will look back at those pictures the way Eric and I like to look at family photos of our parents and grandparents.

Children's Museum

I bought a family pass to the Fayetteville Children's Museum. It's a very small museum, but it's very close and perfect for the boys' age. They had "make ice cream in a bag" day today...so we went!






After we finished up making the ice cream, we ran into a snake! Brandon loved it, but Connor was a little unsure.



All in all, it was a fun trip with many more to come.

The Daddy

Eric studies most of the time. He walks in the door, changes, and is in the office reading, comes out for dinner, goes back in to read, the boys go tell him "time for bed," he comes out, gives hugs and kisses and helps me lay them down, and then back to reading. He tries to take a study break after bath time to spend some time with the boys. They LOVE Daddy time!!!! Here's a cute little video of them attacking him, jumping on it, and circling him like he is their prey! Enjoy!

Mom, Look What WE Did!!!

Here are a few pictures of what the boys are doing in camp. Connor LOVES it and doesn't mind when I leave. Brandon, on the other hand, is struggling with separation. He's become a big 'ol momma's boy lately. He will tell Eric, "no, mommy do it" on a lot of things...putting him in his bed, changing his diaper, putting on his shoes, helping him down from his booster seat, getting him out of the car, etc. He was really upset when I left him at camp today, and was still upset when I picked him up. He perked up when they went outside though! I know I put my mom through total hell when she tried to drop me off at Mother's Day Out when I was his age, so I guess I had it coming to me. Nonetheless, I think they enjoy the teachers and their friends. The teachers said they play really well with others, follow directions, and drink out of big boy cups! (They don't allow sippy cups!) Those are all good things to hear since I stay home with them and they don't have a lot of interaction with other kiddos.



I've noticed that they don't have pants on in most of their pictures!!! Sorry about that...it's easier to leave them off when we're at home and trying to use the potty!

I made these struessel cupcakes today...oh my gosh were they good. Don't they look heavenly??

Summer Camp and Potty Charts

I enrolled the boys in a 2 week long summer camp at Peace Presbyterian Church. It meets every morning from 9 -12. Of course, I had to take a picture of the boys with their backpacks since this is technically a "first day of school." My mom always took pictures of us, and the tradition continues.

This is the first picture...

This is the second one...them telling each other to say CHEESE...

Brandon cried when I left them, but he teacher said he calmed down quickly. When I asked them what they did at camp, here's what they said... "ate crackers" "had water" of course snack time comes up first. They also "read 2 books" "played with katie and jelica" (their twin girl friends" and finally Brandon said he "went for row" I couldn't figure out what he meant until he showed me...he was saying ROLL not ROW. I guess they did some somersaults and such. All in all, they had a good time and I had a nice morning off. They are ready to go back tomorrow.

Here are pictures of the boys and their pottying success...


They get a sticker every time they go on the potty, and once they get 10 stickers they get to pick a prize out of the Potty Prize Box. It's filled with stuff from the dollar aisle at Target! Connor picked a little stuffed bear for his first prize. I think that helped increase Brandon's interest in the whole pottying thing. He actually sat on the potty this afternoon and had success!!!!

Pottying is moving along at a nice slow pace...I'm so proud of them!!!

Busy Busy Busy

That's the only word to describe us lately. Eric started his 2 year residency program on July 1. Our life will be similar to the first years of our marriage while he was still in dental school. Lots of studying, tests, boards, clinic time, etc. Which also means, the boys and I will be back to our "deployment trio" for the most part. At least he'll be home and not in a war zone...even if I have to do most of the the parenting and won't get to spend much adult time with him.

On the military front, but we got the official word today that Eric is promotable! The promotion board met and Eric will "pin on" Major next May. WAY TO GO BABE! He works so hard to be the best soldier and dentist he can be. We're super proud of him.

The boys and I are working on getting into a routine including as many fun activities as possible. We went to Monkey Joes yesterday with our friends, the Hartmans. Monkey Joes is an indoor play place filled with blow up houses. As I predicted, Brandon loved it and Connor hated it. When Brandon is around 4 and 5 year olds, he thinks he IS one! I didn't get any good pictures of the boys because my camera is on the fritz. Tara got a really cute video of Brandon though...



THANK YOU TARA!

After Monkey Joes, we all ate a picnic lunch at a park. Today, we went to the children's museum here in Fayetteville and then hit story time and the downtown library. It was a nice day here...only in the low 80's so we played outside for about an hour and a half after nap. After dinner, I took the boys to Dairy Queen and we shared a small cone. I was complemented on their good behavior...that made me feel good. Needless to say, I'm a little busy and definitely behind on blogging. Hope to have some more pictures soon since Eric fixed the camera for me!


Here's a cute quote from the other day

Brandon - I see fire in the sky
Me - You see fire?
Brandon - No, smoke
Me - You mean clouds?
Brandon - YES!

Here's a cute Brandon quote from today.

Brandon - I hear the clouds
Me - What sound do clouds make?
Brandon - music (said in a very "duh mommy" tone of voice)


He's a little obsessed with clouds for some reason. Gotta love the way a 2 year old brain works.

"YES" Toddlers

I have come to the conclusion that the boys are "YES" toddlers. If you ask them if they want to help you with something...YES...do you want to try to sit on the potty...YES...do you want to eat lunch...YES...do you want to go to the park...YES...do you want to brush your teeth...YES...do you want to help mommy take cans and papers to the recycle bin...YES...do you want to pick up your toys...YES. It's not just yes...it's YEESSS. They love to help us with any little task, and we like it too since it means we are able to get something accomplished and know where they are and what they're doing.

Eric wanted to cut a tree down in our front yard yesterday. I wasn't surprised when the boys both said YES when he asked if they wanted to help. Connor didn't last long since he has a little summer head cold. He came inside and helped me finish up jambalaya for dinner. Brandon was SO cute helping Eric, and was very proud of himself.

Eric and Brandon are each carrying their branch to the woods.
Brandon had a huge smile on his face the whole time. He marched back to the woods like he was on a mission.
After Daddy took his big branch back into the woods, Brandon tossed his little branch in.
What a big helper!

On a different note, potty training is becoming an interest to the boys now. They sit on the potty throughout the day, and have "number 1" almost every time. I think I'm going to continue like this for a month or so until they get used to it. Next, I'll focus more on trying to get them to "go" only on the potty. One day at a time!

Forgotten Videos

Here are a couple videos I loaded up on youtube and then forgot to put on here...enjoy