A Lovely Weekend in the 828

We went to Hendersonville this past weekend for our first wedding anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa Kehoe watched Tucker while we went out for some Japanese and Umi. It was delicious!! We had a LOT of ups and downs in our first year of marraige but the ups definitely outweigh the downs and we made it thru year #1!!!!!!! I love that man :)

We got in late Friday night. Tucker and I went with my mom to visit my Granny and out to lunch. Zeke met us for lunch then went to visit some friends. Tucker and I headed back to the Kehoe's house and spent most of the day playing outside. He got to ride fourwheelers, the mule, play in gross fish pond  water, play in the water hose, play the the dogs, chase butterflies, and oh so much more! When Zeke got back, I cut Zeke's hair. Then we decided to go ahead and do what I have been putting off for months...and cut Tucker's hair too.

(Ignore the nakedness.) This is before..

During the haircut...

And after his haircut!! It looks so cute!!

After the haircuts and all the play, Grandma and Grampa took Tucker out for the evening while Zeke and I went to Umi's and on a short drive. Saturday night we had some friends come over and had a small fire. It was great to see some old friends :)

Ezekiel and I have been missing Pisgah, the mountains, the parkway, everywhere we used to know. So Sunday after a trip to Smiley's Flea Market, we all went on a picnic at Coon Tree..and then did some wading! At first, he tried to jump right in..it was colder than he thought! So Daddy took Tucker out to the little rock island..and he LOVED it. Then he decided to try wadding again. He walked right out in the water..then tried running. You guessed it! He tripped in the deepest part around and went under. Popped right back up and wanted OUT now...well that only lasted 2 seconds! He LOVED the river!

Mommy and Tucker

My little family! He was looking at these little tiny fish..they were soooo tiny!

As soon as Daddy stood up, Tucker stole his chair!

I don't have a picture of it but there was this little purple butterfly that kept landing on Tucker's hair. He LOVED throwing rocks. He must of thrown a hundred rocks! I caught a few tadpoles..he picked up every one of them by the tail and put them back in the river! When his feet and lips started turning blue (after about an hour), we finally made him get out. He had such a wonderful time playing in the river :)

Then we went to Pisgah Stables. He never would actually pet one, but he liked the horses. Even when we both got sneezed on by one!

I LOVE horses. They are so pretty and such amazing animals.

I LOVE clydesdales!! The bigger, the better.

We had an amazing weekend in the 828.

Silly

"Tucker, we have played together like crazy all morning and all afternoon. Mommy is going to clean, you can play by yourself for awhile."
"Lease, Mama? Lease? Ook?" (Tucker for Please, Mama? Please? Book?)

How could I say no to that adorable begging? Of course we read several books after that :)




"I have told you two times already. Do NOT climb in that chair. Next time it will be time out."
"Ok I gave you enough chances. You are going in time out now."
Crying, "Lease no mama. Lease." He went and sat in his time out spot all by himself :)

"You can get up now. Come to Mommy. Do you know why you were in time out? You can NOT climb in that chair, you will get hurt like yesterday (he has a nice bruised forhead and a black eye from falling yesterday). Are you going to do it again?"
"NO!" while shaking his head yes.

I am positive he will as soon as I turn around =)

Finally Down on Paper

I have had a bucket list type of deal in my head for awhile now. A friend wrote hers in her blog yesterday and it has inspired me to finally get mine down in print instead of just floating around. I love her blog and feel the need to copycat her. Thanks girl!

Some of these will be accomplished in the near future, some in my lifetime, and some are definitely just dreams. But hey, a girl can dream, right!?

1. Own my own house.
2. Live in a different state..I love NC and don't really have the desire to leave it..but I think it'd be an amazing experience to live in different places.
3.Go on a cruise.
4.Go to Africa..whether it is on a mission-type trip or a volunteer program, I have always wanted to go to Africa. I would love to volunteer in an orphange or something of the sort.
5.Go to Africa..I have always wanted to go see the savannahs and jungles and all of the sort. The animals and scenery would be AMAZING.
6.Visit at least 6 places on other continents in the Top 25 Places to See.
7.Get a great dane or saint bernard..I LOVE big dogs. The bigger, the better!
8.Get a pansy ankle biter dog..like a little shi tzu. I have always had big dogs..I would like to have a little lap dog that rides on my lap in the car and sleeps beside our bed.
9.Have kidS..I already have the worlds cutest best little boy. But I was born to be a mommy..I want to have at least one more child. The more the merrier :)
10.Go to a soccer game in at least 3 other countries..like Peru, Brazil, etc.
11.Go to the Mall of America..I am not a huge shopper..but who can't want to go to a mall that big!?
12.Go on a cross country trip..and stop at amazing sights along the way..like the Grand Canyon, raft the rapids of Colorado, etc.
13.Go bungee jumping.
14.Go sky diving.
15.Go to Alaska for at least 2 months.
16.Live in Hawaii for a year...how could you NOT want to at least visit Hawaii...all the best things on one island..you got the mountains, beach, jungle...
17.Sing karaoke ONE time...I am terribly shy so this one probably won't be possible.
18.Become a foster parent.
19.Get more tattoos..have at least 10 tattoos.
20.Visit all fifty states plus all the other territories the US owns.
21.Have enough money to be comfortable..no more living paycheck to paycheck.
22.Get a real good dark tan.
23.Go to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
24.Visit some really old ancestor's graves..ok that sounds morbid but old things fascinate me..I think old gravestones are neat.
25.Visit a concentration camp (like Lia on this one..)..I know that it sounds terrible, but reading about the camps and the terrible things people went thru in them..I have always wanted to visit.
26.Cook a turkey..I love to cook...but have never cooked a turkey.
27.Coach one of my children's soccer team with my hubby.
28.Spend a week working with monkeys..I LOVE animals..monkeys have always fascinated me.
29.Work somewhere that rehabilitates injured animals.
30.Go deep sea diving..i am TERRIFIED of fish...
31.Kiss a famous sexy actor.
32.Go back to school.
33.Help others achieve their wildest dreams.
34.Watch all the Harry Potter movies back to back..I have read all the books, but have only seen the first 3 movies.
35.Watch the whole series of Friends.
36.Hike to the top of Mount Mitchell..I lived there my entire life and don't ever remember hiking to the top.
37.Drive a ship into the middle of the ocean..I don't know my reasoning behind this..but have always wanted to drive a boat into the middle of the ocean.
38.Go deep sea fishing. I am TERRIFIED of fish. But HUGE fish fascinate me. I don't know why.
39.Touch a full sized alligator/crocidile.
40.Own an elephant..my favorite animal.
41.Buy an XTerra or a 4Runner.
42.Own a vacation home somewhere tropical that never gets cold.
43.Watch every Disney movie ever made.
44.Visit a big city in every state.
45.Go to Holland.
46.Eat an entire cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.
47.Have my own pool and hot tub.
48.Experience military life.
49.Be in the room when my best friend has a baby.
50.Go on a real honeymoon.

Asheboro Zoo!!

Last weekend Ezekiel and I took Tucker to the Asheboro Zoo for the day. We had NO IDEA how big it was!!! We got there a little before 12 and didn't leave until the zoo closed at 5...and it would of taken much longer if Tucker hadn't of been on his best behavior and if he wouldn't of slept for an hour of it!

We had an amazing time.

Halfway through, we were in the desert, I think, and someone behind us yelled ZEKE YOUNG. Its so weird how we could spend all day somewhere in tiny little Hendersonville and never see anyone that we knew. We go to Asheboro, 3 hours from Hendo (30 minutes from Greensboro where we live and an hour and a half to two hours from Raliegh) and we run into people that we know! It was great to get to spend some time with Angelica and Scott!

Next time, we will make the WHOLE day out of it. Get there when the zoo opens so that we don't feel rushed. Kids enjoy taking their time and looking at their favorite animals for a long time (ok so did Zeke and I) and there were several times we had to peel Tucker away from an exhibit just to be able to see everything.

Our internet is being all weird so I was only able to upload a handful of pictures but here's a couple from a WONDERFUL time at the zoo with my family :)

I love that little guy sooooo much!

I just bought...

A JETTA!!!!!!!!!!!

more pictures later :)

Bucket Digs

It rained yesterday....and for the last one million and four days before that.

I was running out of inside only ideas.

Of course, Tucker would of been thrilled if I would of left the TV on all day, every day.

However, I couldn't do that..I don't let him watch very much TV as is.

I could only handle being out in the cold rain for so long, although it absolutely thrilled me to have an excuse to jump/stomp in puddles. So after a bit, even going outside in the rain wasn't working.

Let me add...I laughed so hard as when...he laid down in the puddle just giggling like crazy..wish I could of caught that on camera.

Finally it stopped raining. But still, the park was out of the question because, lets face it..no one likes sliding down wet slides...all you do is STICK to them..

Plus...I'm not a big fan of wet sand sticking to everything (unless its at the beach!)..so no park.

We blew bubbles, took walks, fed the ducks/geese, played with a neighbor's puppy, made more ice cream, made cookie dough and froze it, played in the sink "doing dishes", cleaned the whole apt..several times, watched Madagscar:

I am not sure why...but when he is wearing only a diaper...he HAS to pull it down..

Anyways...Tucker woke up from his nap crying...he only cries when something is wrong or when he isn't ready to wake up yet. So I waited 5 minutes before going in to get him, thinking that maybe he wasn't ready to wake up and would go back to sleep. I cuddled him on the couch, him crying and then he wanted down.

He immediatly fell asleep on the floor for another 20 minutes..and woke up happy.

I needed ideas..my mom told me to give Tucker a bucket and take him out and let him collect things. I got us each a bucket (one for him to put treasures in and one for all the trash my little litter-hater picked up).

He LOVED it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He filled his bucket with rocks, sticks, a few leaves, and 2 pennies.

He filled my bucket with an airhead wrapper, a piece of glass, and 17 beer caps.

We will definitely be doing Bucket Digs more often :)

Today has been...

AMAZING!!

It has been RAINING and VERY GLOOMY here for several days now. I love thunderstorms and curling up on the couch with Tucker for a good movie and to read a whole pile of children's books. Today was no different. BUT this afternoon, Tucker and I went out and splashed in puddles (like we've done every day for the last few), blew bubbles on the porch, made more ice cream (even saved some for daddy this time!), colored a bit and now we're settled in on the couch to watch a little bit of Tucker's favorite movie..Madagascar 2.

Tucker chasing bubbles and looking utterly perplexed when he touches them and they suddenly disappears is absolutely adorable. I wish I could figure out how to get a video from my phone onto here. Until then..you'll just have to go to my facebook to look at Tucker videos :)

But today, we SOLD MY CAR!!!! Yes, thats right, the horrible "Hearse" is gone!!! (Ok it really wasn't a hearse..but it might as well of been..I HATED that car!!)

Now I get to go test drive cars and buy one..hopefully within a week I will have a new car that I love :)

Fantastic Weekend

We had a FANTASTIC weekend. Friday night, I gave Tucker a bath and then cooked dinner. When Zeke got home, he said we were going to the mall. So I left Tucker in his jammies and got ready. SURPRISE!! He took Tucker and I to the FAIR!!!!!! It was a tiny fair compared to the Mountain State Fair that we're used to, but it was perfect for Tucker's first fair. Tons of lights, people, sights, and sounds. He was sooo excited! We walked around for a bit, then saw the Duck Race game. Of course, all fair games are a rip-off, but Tucker LOVES ducks, so we played anyway. First duck Tucker picked, he won a little stuffed dog! That hasn't left his side since!! One of the best dollars ever spent. He LOVED picking out the duck and he loves loving on the dog.

The only problem was prying him away from all the ducks once he was done with his turn! But the stuffed dog (that has since been named, by Tucker, DOGGIE!) made it worth it :)

Sorry its a bit (ok, very) blurry, but he was running and pushing his stroller in circles.

After the Duck Race, we got a GIANT lemonade and a corn dog..gotta love that healthy fair food!!

So after the yummy snack, we decided to try out a fair ride..Tucker was thrilled and so excited to get on. He looked like such a big boy sitting there all by himself. The ride started and he suddenly looked terrified. First time around, all smiles. Second time around, smile was definitely fading. Third time around, full blown panic attack, complete with ear deafening screams and tons of tears. Needless to say, the ride had to be stopped! But the guy running it was so sweet (poor guy..he did not look like someone who wanted to work the kiddie rides! He and Zeke agreed he had one of the worst fair jobs!) but he rescued poor Tucker and brought him to Mommy. After some cuddles and I love yous, Tucker was good to go.

So off to the carousel we went!

We got several pictures on the carousel, but they are all blurry..I don't remember carousels going that fast! After the traumatizing panda bear ride, I could not convince Tucker to even sit on the horse. So we rode in a sleigh..and he LOVED it. Next time, I think that he will start with a nice Mommy and Me ride then move onto a single ride. Tucker was absolutely thrilled with the fair. Tucker was exhausted after the fair and fell asleep on the ride home.

Once home, the poor little guy was so exhausted that he slept thru EVERYTHING. I carried him in, changed his clothes, his diaper, did everything and he just slept right thru it :)

Saturday night...I have NEVER seen a thunderstorm so bad. I love thunderstorms!! But this thunderstorm was wild. The wind was crazy, the thunder louder and pretty much constant and the lightening was every 2 seconds for several hours. It was CRAZY!

We spent Saturday morning running errands (doing laundry and going to Sam's Club), came home for Tucker's nap, then went to help some friends out. Zeke helped do the roof on their house while the girls and Tucker hung out inside watching TV. Saturday night, after Tucker was sleeping, Zeke and I had some pina colados (LOVE them :)) and watched a movie. Sunday was spent mostly relaxing. We spent over an hour at Barnes and Noble, reading books and Tucker got to play with Thomas the train train set. Then we went out to lunch and home for Tucker's nap. He slept for about 30 minutes and woke up SOOO GRUMPY. It is NEVER a good sign when he wakes up crying. So I went in and quietly picked him up, snuggling him and brought him into the living room. Within minutes, he was sound asleep on my chest. Tucker cuddling and sleeping on me is very rare, so I love the moments when he does!! Zeke and I watched Scrubs (LOVE that show!!) and he slept for over an hour and even though we were both dripping in sweat, I loved every second of it. Dinner was breakfast..I LOVE pancakes and so do my boys!!

Today Tucker and I are spending the day in our jammies inside, watching the rain! We love rainy days :)

The only downside the past week...nights have been TERRIBLE lately. Poor Tucker is sleeping terribly! I am positive its just because of his teeth but him and I are up for SEVERAL hours EVERY night. I'm not complaining because I love every part of being a mommy..but I can't wait until teething is OVER. My thought is: ALL BABIES SHOULD BE BORN WITH ALL THEIR TEETH! It would make things so much easier (and painless) for baby and parents. Luckily, he only has 2 more teeth to go (bottom canines) and then we will be done. Well done until his 2 year molars start coming in! All in all, he went from sleeping 12 hours straight EVERY night, to about 6-7 hours..the other 5-6 hours is spent crying and cuddling. Well him crying and us cuddling. He slept better than this as an infant!! But its ok, I don't mind :-) I just wish they would come in already so he feels better. Funny that they don't seem to bother him during the day most days. But Daddy has been doing a million times better with Tucker and even let me sleep in this weekend when I needed to!!

I'm not gonna lie..I have an AMAZING little boy that I love and cherish so much.

I also have a WONDERFUL husband/baby daddy that I can depend on and works so hard for his family and that I love very much!

AHHH MAMA!!!!!!!!

LOVES bath time :)

Tucker learned the difference between trucks, cars, and big trucks a few weeks ago.

Today, we went to lunch with Daddy..to our favorite fast food restaurant, Steak-n-Shake.
On the way back, we stopped at a red light beside a HUGE 18-wheeler carrying cars. Tucker's jaw dropped open he said, "Wow." Then continued to babble and point, excitedly.

We got home and I opened the sliding glass door so he could work off some of his energy. (He did not have extra energy because I let him drink most of my sweet tea :))
I went to go 'peepee' and was interrupted five seconds into peeing with a frantic little boy, yelling, "Mamamama, ahhhhh, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaa." I hurriedly finished up, Tucker grabbed my hand, and dragged me out onto the porch. He was frantic!
He was screaming and babbling and talking very fast. I couldn't see anything that un-ordinary..there was several cars, trucks, and a flatbed tow truck loading a car up on it.
Finally he calmed down enough so that I could understand a few words. "car, truck, there, that. whats that? car truck." Then it hit me..he has never really seen a car on a tow truck before today!
And he was soooo excited! I love when he sees new things and tells me all about them :)

:-)

Tucker, where is your nose?

He LOVES to play with the keys and pretend to drive!

GUILTY! I don't know what he was guilty of, but this is his guilty face!

:-)

Mothers Day Weekend :)

I had a WONDERFUL 2nd Mothers Day!! The whole weekend was pretty great! I wish my mommy could of came tho, but Tucker and I sent her cards we made!!

We went to Badin Lake, about an hour south of where we live now. It was BEAUTIFUL!! The weather was wonderful and the lake felt great. It must of been a little too cold for Tucker, because he did NOT like going out past his knees (I don't blame him..I do NOT like swimming in lakes, rivers, the ocean etc!!) So I was happy to stay at the little beach shore with him while Daddy went out!

We got lost on the way to the lake (Daddy wrote down the directions wrong!), so Tucker passed the extra hour by grabbing a nap :)

Tucker and Daddy relaxing in the lake!

Mommy and Tucker relaxing a little bit. He wasn't too sure about the lake...

But he loved it when Mommy held him :)

Just wading...

What Mama!??

Wild man!!!

Relaxing..he made a tiny chair out of the pillows! Little CUTIE!!!!

I had a wonderful weekend with my boys :D

Homemade..

ICE CREAM is DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

It was 96 DEGREES here today!!! I love the hot weather, but no way would I make Tucker

suffer by taking him out in that kind of heat for just a little fun.

Tucker and I decided yesterday that from now on (well until it starts to cool off so for several more months)

that we would only go out and play/take walks/feed the ducks in the early mornings and evenings after dinner. Except, of course, when we are at Grandma Kehoe's house..then its whatever. But in Greensboro, mornings and evenings only.

Anyways..so after Tucker woke up from his 2 hour nap I need to find something for us to do. Read books? No, we did already today..a LOT. Go for a walk/to the playground? No, too hot. Watch TV? No thank you. Then Tucker decided he wanted a snack. Hey its hot, why not have a snack to cool us off a bit? Go out for ice cream? No, its too hot! Let's make some! I don't remember the first time I ever did this, but I remember making homemade ice cream with my family many times. So Tucker and I made

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM in a bag!!!!!!

It was delicious...

If I would of thought of it before we had already eaten half of it, I would of taken pictures of the whole process, but I see us making plenty of ice cream this summer, so no worries :)

Spoke Too Soon

I knew it! Even as I typed it last night (or this morning, whatever), I was thinking..I shouldn't be saying this, I'm going to jinx myself! And guess what!? Tucker woke up and was awake for about 2 hours from 4-6ish...but he made up for it by sleeping in until a little after 9!

But we've had a great day so far! :-) He just went down for a nap as well.

Tucker absolutely LOVES jelly beans.

See how happy they make him!!

He took a huge handful of jellybeans, put them on top of his clothes hamper, and instead of picking them up to eat them, he would lean over and just use his mouth. It was adorable!!

Yesterday was the first time he ever built a block tower all by himself, ever since then, he does it often!!

Breakfast bars are the best :) especially in the bean bag chair with a bunch of books!

:-)

12:32 AM

Great news (hope I am not speaking too soon), Tucker has gone back to sleeping thru the night!! He has slept wonderfully the last 3 nights! I think he must of realized he could wait until morning to talk..and he must of realized that waking up made him more sleepy..because he slept till 8:15, 8:45, and then 8:30 the last 3 mornings! I can't tell you how thankful I am that the little guy likes his sleep so much!!
Speaking of which...I have NO CLUE why I am still up..its now 12:09am and I'm not even the least bit sleepy. I will pay for this in the morning!
So for the moment, we are not teething. He still needs 2 more teeth on bottom then he is all done!! (Well until its time for 2 year molars). We're at 14 now, so once the 2 on bottom pop thru (they are close!), we'll get a little break. Normally Tucker is a little bucket of smiles, laughter, hugs, kisses, cuddles, more smiles and laughter, well you get the picture. My little boy RARELY ever cries!!!..but this is how I spent several days last week, on and off.

Poor little guy!!

We have been super busy this weekend. Spent all day Monday cleaning, grocery shopping, cleaning, playing, going to the park, taking care of some other things, and running errands.

Tuesday, Tucker didn't wake Mommy up until 8:45, which was WONDERFUL!! But then we had to rush to make sure we got to Toddler Time on time. Tucker sure does love his books! Plus he made a new little friend, Christopher. The stories this week were all about Mommies and Grandmas! (Daddies and Grandpas are in June.) At least Tucker will grow up with one set of grandparents that love him and want to be a part of his life! But the BEST part of story time for Tucker...STICKERS at the end!! Plus, we went to the bank after the library..he got 3 stickers at the bank too!! (He did NOT eat one of them in his car seat on the way home ;) ). The rest of Tuesday was spent doing some chores, taking Daddy lunch at work, nap time, play time, feeding the ducks/geese, and then going to the weekly Tuesday Subaru meet.

Today, we spent the morning playing outside, then we rearranged the living room and Tucker's bedroom (we did mommy and daddy's room last week). We fed the geese on our balcony (baby geese are soooo cute!) We read tons of stories and books (I read him at least 20 books a day..his choice! I don't mind!!) Took Daddy lunch, ate lunch ourselves, Tucker napped, I did some scrapbooking (which I really want to start doing more of, I LOVE it!), then we cleaned some, did some chores, started cooking dinner, read more books, cleaned some more, ate dinner, Tucker and I went to the park then we went to see Daddy and Ryan at work. Tucker and I came back home, took baths, got dressed in jammies, then Daddy and Ryan finally came and played with Tucker until he was ready to go to sleep!

These pictures aren't from today, but we do the same things every time we go to the park (plus its hard to take a picture when you are by yourself..)

He won't climb thru the tunnel all the way, but he will get far enough in to reach out and touch you, then he backs back out. Its adorable.

Tucker hates the baby swings. Unless another baby is swinging, he refuses to even sit in one and screams bloody murder. However, he LOVES to lay on Mommy's chest while she swings on the big swing! Mommy loves it too :)

But (besides picking up sticks, rocks and mulch), Tucker's FAVORITE thing at the park..is the SLIDE! He is such a big boy :)