2013 family photos... 8 months already!

I am not in a blogging mood, but I will share the monthly family photos we have been taking.  We are ending up with more than one per month.

January
Legos!!

We played mini golf most Sundays in the winter.  Our season passes for the water park gave us a free round every Sunday.

February 
Groundhog Day!

 At the Auto Show in Raleigh.

 backyard

March 
Easter eggs at home

 cats' birthday

April 
Touch a Truck event - taken by a friend we ran into.  So far, all the other shots have been self timer photos or hand held self photos.

 a shop window downtown

Yum!  Homemade ice cream at the berry farm!  (PS... do not say "yes" when they ask if you want chocolate sauce on your strawberry sundae.)

May 
taken by the lady in front of us in line at the Rush concert in Raleigh!  Twins' first concert.

June
last day of school. taken by their 1st grade teacher

 Father's Day on the ferry.  taken by a teen-aged passenger

Father's day at our favorite restaurant - taken by our waitress.  Carl has already requested we all go there for Mommy and Daddy's anniversary.  OK, twist our arms!

 taken by my mother at camp

 taken by my mother at Hoffman's Playland

July
water park admissions bracelets.  We have used those tickets so much this summer!  We all love it there!!!

August
taken by Lew's boss on the company night at our local pro soccer game.  Yes, we are wearing rain coats and jeans in NC in August.  The rain held off just long enough for us to enjoy the friends, food and first half of the game.

We are super busy this week, but it is very fun stuff.  I might find the spark to share some more photos if I have enough energy.  Or screen time.  I have to fight for even a few minutes to check email these days.

we are busy

You can entertain yourself with this to pass the time until I feel like blogging.  Carl thinks it is the funniest thing ever!  Watch it 8 times in a row to get the full Carl Experience.  And, laugh like milk would come out of your nose every single time, OK?

Minions singing Banana Song


Well, he also thinks this is absolutely hilarious.  We watch this 3-4 times a day around here.

Minions Banana short movie


Yup.  Despicable Me is wildly popular in our household right now.  If you have not seen it (the first one is out on video, the 2nd may still be in theaters) - it is a really cute story.

(wanna see the photocopier scene?  C'mon, you have an extra 24 seconds...   Photocopier)

... cast off!

We had an 8am appointment this morning to have her cast cut off.  They cut it off and then did another set of x-rays.  The new growth looks perfect and her elbow is actually stronger than before.  But, her arm is really sore from being held in one position for 4 weeks.  The PA was saddened to see her pouting.  He said she is usually so cheerful when she comes in that this really surprised him.  We discussed the possibility of a splint for her comfort, but he said if it were his child, he would not.  It would still be sore when that came off.  He is not at all worried about the bone, but said it can take up to a week before she is fully straightening and using her arm again.  Until then, no running, trampoline, bicycles, ...  anything that might be too much activity for her under-used muscles.  Swimming is OK as long as she doesn't run to the pool.  No problem - kids never run at the pool, right?

I got up early this morning and packed all our beach gear, a big lunch and our water park passes.  I was going to take them to the beach for about an hour, then we'd have our lunch and be at the water park when they opened.  She wanted to do that, but didn't know about the beach.  Well, her arm was so sore, she did not want to go to the beach.  I totally forgot to give her advil before the appointment like I had planned.  that would have likely kept the pain down and let us go to the beach.  So, for now, we are home, the advil is kicking in and she is watching her favorite princess story on TV.  We have decided to go to the water park later this afternoon and have Lew meet us after work, too.  She cannot do any slides, but she can hang with me in the Lazy River, we can go in the Wave Pool or even in the misnamed "Hot" Tub - which is really a regular temperature small pool with benches in it.

1

taken in the van waiting for dinner.  We went to Sonic for Bait and Switch $1 Hot Dog Day.

2

and it was a pajama day... with PB & chocolate chips for lunch and Girl Scout cookies for snack.  We made a friendship bracelet for a birthday gift, watched too much TV and played with Legos.  As close to perfection as it gets for a 7 yr old.

3

our last day in NY... cousins and a parade!

On Saturday, we gathered at Grandma's with cousins, aunts, uncles and some unborn babies (yes, babies... our niece is expecting twin baby girls!!!!!) to visit and to hand down a bunch of baby gear and toys.  I didn't show these pictures to them ahead of time because I was afraid they would say "Don't bring all that!" and oh, I was bringing it!

I packed all of this myself....
before:

 Actually, I added more stuff after this, but didn't get it in the "before"picture.  And, I did not want to restage that!   We also added our own luggage for the vacation and still were able to see out the back window.  My minivan rocks.  Oh, and I have mad packing skillz.  Let's not overlook those.

So, pictures from our visit.
Josh & Steph, Uncle Joe, Erica, Evelyn, Aunt Barb, Ryan, Aunt Kay, Lew and Uncle Bruce.  (you know Gretchen & Carl, right?  They are down in front.)

 Grandma and (almost all of) her grandchildren

So, why do Carl & Gretchen have flag shirts on on June 29th?  Because it was Memorial Day, of course.  See, the real Memorial Day parade got rained out and the rescheduled parade was for the 29th of June.  So, after lunch, we headed over to watch the parade.

 This was the most patriotic candy that was thrown to the kids.  They really enjoyed catching lots of candy and trinkets being right up front.

 And then - we ran into Joe!

 Gretchen was soooo happy because he was the only one who had not signed her cast yet!

 Grandma and Grammie with the twins!

We headed home the next day.  We made the drive in only 13 hours.  Do not do the math.

The whole family had a great visit in NY - even with a broken elbow!