Still can't believe she's 2!

As usual I am late in updating this, sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day! Since our last post we have celebrated Anna-Grace's 2nd birthday! It's still hard to believe she's 2! Everyday it's still something new and I swear she gets smarter every minute. Chris and I are going to have to go back to school to be able to keep up with her! We had 3 parties for her...the first one was a small one at our house with just the three of us, the 2nd one was her big one at our house and the last one was at Nana and Papa's! Nana is still getting used to getting around with her new wheelchair so it was just easier for us to go to them this time! I made a slideshow of all the pictures and added in a few randoms from the end of June! Enjoy!

God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy!!

Ok so I know that is not a song by George Strait, but none the less an appropriate title for our evening last night. By some grace of God the rain held off in Raleigh and we had PERFECT weather for our tailgate and concert with Julianne Hough, Blake Shelton and George Strait.


We hung out with tons of old friends and some family and had an awesome time. George Strait sounds in concert just like he does on his CD's. No wonder he's been making records since before I was born! I think my camera said we took 180 pictures last night....So I'll just post a couple!!LOL

OBX Weekend Away!!

A friend of Chris's got married at the Outer Banks this past weekend, and with everything that has been going on lately we really needed to get away. We had not really celebrated our anniversary or even spent much time alone, so we (along with friends Troy and Shawna) headed to the beach for a weekend getaway.



The wedding and the weather was beautiful and it was nice to get away. The hotel we stayed at was inexpensive and right on the beach and I think we will be taking many more trips there, alone and as a family!

Pirate Fest 09

Every year around the middle of Easter ECU does a spring kick-off for their upcoming football season. They have carnival rides and pig cookoffs,fireworks and even a little ECU scrimmage. We took Anna-Grace and Ashlyn last year but once again couldn't do much because they were so little (both of them had just started to crawl).




Boy was this year different. We started off on the carousel and easy pick because Anna-Grace loves the horses, however this year the girls got brave and rode 2 rides on their own. They were a little scared at first but it didn't last long. They rode the whales, the cars....TWICE, and picked ducks.




We then headed over to a grassy area to watch the fireworks which Anna-Grace did not like (they were way to loud for her)she did keep saying that she liked the pretty colors, but I think it's just because she tries to find the positive in things! We all can't wait to take them back again next year!

Easter 09

As usual I am late on posting, but better late than never.

What else can I say about Anna-Grace's Easter other than it was like Christmas! She is one spoiled little girl!

We started off the weekend at Aunt Kathy's where she hunted Easter Egg's with Kairi while Thorne watched from his wagon (he'll be ready to go next year). The girls did so good, they even ran in opposite directions for the Easter egg's so they both got an equal amount. Anna-Grace was then treated to a big Easter basket from Aunt Kathy.




We then headed home where she was visited by the Doo Doo Di (Chris's mom) Easter Bunny!

We stayed home Easter Sunday so Anna-Grace could get her Easter Basket from the "Easter Bunny" and hunt Easter Eggs. My mom and Grandma came down and we had lunch and hunted Easter Eggs! AS you can see in one of the pictures she took a bit of a tumble on the concrete while hunting for Easter Eggs, she scraped up her arm and her forhead, but cried for a second and quickly wanted her daddy to put her down so she could go get her eggs! Afterwards we headed to the hospital to see Nana and Papa where she got her 4th and Final Easter Basket (I think I forgot to mention the presents and clothes that her Grandma Debbie and Grandma Leen brought her).




She had such a good time and for the next week wanted to know if she had anymore Easter presents. Not to mention the fact that we are STILL hiding Easter eggs. I think the greatest part about her age now is doing stuff like this with her. Last year she didn't understand and just ran around and though she may still not understand the "true meaning" of Easter she looked forward to it and was excited. Watching her run around hunt Easter Egg's with "smarshmellows" and money for her college fund in them was definitely worth the wait.

What a beautiful weekend

Since the weather was so nice this weekend, I had several projects/outings planned for Anna-Grace and myself. Chris is working :-( and we have been spending sooo much time at the hospital that I really wanted to do something different to get Anna-Grace out of the house (and ME!) so we could blow off some steam.

Saturday after we went to see Nana and Papa at the hospital we came home and made her 1st Bunny House....or should I say I made the bunny house and she ate the bunny house!! LOL She did however, help me clean up after. Then today we went to feed the ducks by the hospital and to the park. We stopped by the grocery store and picked up some Popsicles and came home to eat one. As you can see from the pictures she had to share with all the dogs because "they loooove Popsicles!"

I had quite a few pictures so I just put them in a slideshow! Enjoy!!

It's a sad day

To add additional bad news from our last blog, Chris's step-mom's Dad Mr. Jack Ellis passed away today. The picture above was of Anna-Grace with her Great-Grandaddy this past Christmas. I think it is a really great picture of the two of them! With Wanda being in the hospital Anna-Grace has not spent that much time with him lately but I am sure she will want to know where grandaddy is the second she walks into thier house. I hope she remembers him and I know he is watching over her now! You can never have too many guardian angels!

If our life wasn't crazy I don't know what it would be!

Man! Just when we think things are slowing down and we are getting on a schedule life comes knocking on our door reminding us nothing is ever completely under our control.

My car is still in the shop (going on almost 2 weeks now). To make things more aggrivating I am driving a rental with no power locks or windows.....and it's a 2009? I didn't even know they made cars that didn't have power locks and windows anymore!

Anyway that is the least of my worries. Chris's step mom had to have an unexpected surgery yesterday and will be having another one tomorrow. So any spare time we have we have been trying to spend at the hospital. She is doing well though and I think having Anna-Grace visit helps her feel better! For an almost 2 year old she is a great baby to take to the hospital. She plays and shows off for the nurses but hates it when they come in to work on her Nana. She says "They won't hurt my nana" and "Nana's gonna be alright"! She is too smart for her own good.

As far as Anna-Grace goes she still amazes me everyday. She listens to everything you say. She reminds me a lot of my dad, he always used to say he didn't talk much becuase you can learn more about a person by listening to what they say than you can carrying on a conversation. She's not so good at the not talking part (just the oppisite she won't be quiet!) but she does pay attention to everything you say and do, and if you are not careful she will repeat what you say and do at the least expected time. The other day I asked Chris (with Anna-Grace sitting quietly in her highchair) what he wanted to drink with his supper soda or tea. His response was "Bud Light". He really was just kidding and asked for a soda and we went about our business. About 10 minutes later I asked Anna-Grace what she wanted to drink Apple Juice or strawberry milk to which she responded (and these are her exact words) "Bud Light.....I LOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEE Bud Light". Now anytime we ask her what she wants to drink, Bud Light is her answer. We are thinking of taping her and sending it into the Budweiser people but fear Child Protective Services would be knocking at our door withing a matter of minutes. LOL

Obviously as busy as we have been I haven't had time to take too many pictures, but I did post one recent one of Anna-Grace with pigtails! That's right I can finally put her hair into pigtails! They look more like devilhorns at the moment, but it's ok they are still cute!

What a weekend!

Since Chris was working again this weekend, and it seems like with all the cold/rainy weather Anna-Grace and I have been stuck in the house FOREVER. I decided this weekend we would make a special trip to Fayetteville to go see Playhouse Disney Live. For those of you who have not yet learned....my child has a very large obsession with Mickey Mouse, and all the cartoons on Playhouse Disney. I kept asking her all week if she was ready to go meet Mickey Mouse and she would shake her head no. So I was not quite sure if this would be a fun trip or just a waste of time and money.
We headed up to Fayetteville Friday night and stayed with my Mom and Grandma, (what a coincidence my fabulous cousin from PA and her boyfriend were stopping through on their way to Spring Break in Florida!). With the show at 1:30 I tried desperately to get Anna-Grace to take her nap early, and after 30 minutes of fighting it she finally gave it, fast forward to me having to wake her up a short 45 minutes later screaming and crying. We got dressed and once she ate her lunch her mood quickly improved and we headed to the theatre.
















When we walked in (late of course) the show had just started and Anna-Grace could see Mickey Mouse through the doors.....her eyes light up and she screamed "Look mama it's Mickey Mouse on TV". That was the start of one of the best 3 hours of my life. She was so excited there were several times when she pure screamed with excitement. The picture below is an example of one of those moments!
















She danced the hot dog dance with Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Minnie, helped the Einsteins Blast off, Sang a son with Pooh, Tigger and Darby, and danced with Handy Manny. I think I watched her more than I watched the show, but it was well worth every penny to see her as happy as she was. I think we will be hearing about this trip for months to come :-)




So from that story you would think great day huh? And it was. My grandma ended up taking the family to dinner since Laura was in town and Anna-Grace and I left a bit later than expected. We were exactly 13 miles from home when I killed Bambi with my car! Actually I should say she committed suicide because she ran into the side of me but needless to say I wish she would have picked the next car. Anna-Grace and I are fine (she slept until the cops came). But my poor car isn't, and I was scared to death. It's the first time anything like that has happend while Anna-Grace was with me. Now one more aggravation to deal with this week!

First Haircut

Now before I start, I know what you are thinking. The child hardly has any hair, what in the world did I cut? Though she does not have much hair on top or on the sides, she was sporting a nice mullet in the back. So I decided to take her with me when I had my hair done and had my hairdresser trim it up in the back so she doesn't look like Billy Ray Cyrus :-)

She did so good, sat there just as still as could be. And yes I saved the hair!LOL

It's snowing, snowing, snowing.....

We woke up this morning to a Winter Wonderland outside. It's maybe the 2nd or 3rd time it's snowed since we have had Anna-Grace so I was oh so excited when we decided to close the office. I woke Anna-Grace up and showed her the snow, the title of this blog came from the statement she made for the next 30 minutes....it's snowing, snowing, snowing. Chris's mom is here helping us this week due to some changes at work so her and I got Anna-Grace all bundled up and headed outside. AG was so funny because she didn't want to walk on the snow. When I put her on the grass (the only place the snow was sticking at that point) she said Uh-Oh like she messed something up. That thought only lasted a few minutes then she was having her Granny make her snowballs and throwing them at me. We came inside and started some soup and baked some cookies for Daddy.


Little did we know that was no where near the end of the snow. When Anna-Grace woke up from her nap you couldn't even tell we had been outside. I think we got 2-3 inches while she was sleeping! Anyway it was a blast, we just wish Daddy didn't have to work....here's hoping he makes it home tonight safely!

I have a WONDERFUL husband!

Not sure if any of you watched the CMT show Can you Duet. But there was a couple on there name Joey and Rory. They are a husband and wife duo and they were my favorite. They didn't win, but have since put out a CD that is just as awesome as they were on the show!


A week or so ago Chris was looking at their myspace page and found that they were going to be in Clayton NC. So we got together with some friends and made the trp to see them. It was such an awesome show. They way they sing together you can almost feel how much they love each other. It even showed when they were singing "Grandma's got her Daisy Dukes On". :-) The highlight of the night had to be after the show when they signed autographs and posed for pictures! I got to meet them and even bought Rory a beer! We even got an autographed picture for Anna-Grace, mom and dad can't go away for a night and not bring our Princess back something.



All in all Chris and I had such a blast! With all the cutbacks I have had to make with my staff and the overwhelming amount of work I am going to have waiting for me tomorrow it was so nice to get away and not have to think about it.
I can't say thanks enough to Chris for planning such a special night!

Christmas at Grandma Leens!

Since my Grandmother was in the hospital on Christmas Day we decided to wait until my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins were able to make their annual trip from PA before we had Christmas at her house. It has been since before I gradated High School that we have had that many people at Grandma Leen's but it was so nice. We took lots of pictures so I will only post a few. It was worth more than words will ever be able to describe to see how happy it made my Grandma to have all of us there.



My Grandma loved the Elvis calendar we got her!


All the Grandkids and Great-Grankids!


Me with my beautiful cousins!


Me Anna-Grace and my Grandma!

Opening more presents!

More fun with the Pauls

The day after Christmas we took a quick trip over to see Tommy, Kristel and Colin. We let the kids have a little play date while the dad's watched Batman and Kristel and I drank our Christmas stresses away with a few glasses of wine!

2nd, 3rd and 4th Stops

Well we started off our Christmas late as usual, we woke up at 7am and quickly realized there was no way we were going to make it to Wilson by 8am. We woke Anna-Grace up and brought her downstairs so she could take a quick look at her presents Santa brought her. Then in a Williford rush hurried to get ready and on to Wilson. THANK GOD we packed the car the night before!



We got to Pa Pa's around 9am and started opening presents right away (since everyone had been waiting on us for an hour!). Anna-Grace was able to help Aunt Ann play Santa this year and passed out all the cards to everyone. Considering she was suffering from a cold and the beginnings of an ear infection she did great! Her favorite present by far was from her Aunt Ann who gave her a Cabbage Patch Baby complete with bottle and all. All day long Anna-Grace had to feed her baby becuase she was hunggie!


We then quickly said our thank you's and goodbye's and headed to Fayetteville to my Grandma Teenie's! We got there early this year and thank goodness we did becuase she was pretty tired and slept most of the day!


Our last stop of the day was a quick trip to Womack Hospital....my Grandma Leen had a heart attack a couple of days before Christmas and was not able to go home until the day after Christmas. We were going to have Christmas at her house on Saturday, but we just had to take Anna-Grace to see her on Christmas Day so she could see her all dressed up in her Christmas best! Anna-Grace sat so still on her hospital bed that the nurse even took blood from my Grandma while Anna-Grace was sitting with her.




Then we ended up back home! Anna-Grace was such a trooper all day long, and was so excited to get home and open up her presents Santa left her. She got a NC State Tricycle, a BIG coloring book, tons of books, A dora Backpack, Puzzles, clothes and lots more stuff. Santa must have known what a good girl she was all year!