Memorial Day Weekend

We just finished having 3 days at home and it was glorious! Sadly, I cannot believe I didn't take any pictures. I still wanted to write to remember our 3-day weekend "staycation" since it's pretty unusual to have us all here at home for 3 days in a row. It should be known that Jeremiah woke up at 6am each day! He must have been too excited to play with his daddy than to sleep...bummer for us.

Saturday...J woke up bright & early, we hung out, drank coffee & ate breakfast, then ventured into Winston. We had to stop by Toys-R-Us and Target to do some LEGO scouting. Both boys got some new LEGO. Jeremiah got a Lightening McQueen set and is loving it! Then a quick trip to Costco for necessities...diapers & fruit. :)  Josh was a spray painting king for me. I now have an adorable picture collage wall on the stairwell to the basement - white frames with B&W pictures. Love it! He also spray painted our brass fireplace cover black for me. It looks so much better in our room. I just love little things that make you so much happier with how your house looks! After nap we went over to Nana & Popa's for J to see the "moos" and Leeroy. Our garden is growing so good & we'll have squash to eat Monday night for our Memorial Day cookout!

Sunday...J up bright & early again, we were heathens and didn't go to church but I did go to Walmart and buy a bunch of flowers, as well as bug spray and citronella candles. While J napped, I divvy'd all those plants up into all my pots and planters on the deck, as well as some on the front steps. It looks so good outside with a little color! Sunday evening David, Nicole, Dylan, and Anna came over to grill out. We had hot dogs & deer burgers (which were delicious!), chips, squash patties, and watermelon. Then we had the mac-daddy of all desserts with Nicole's PB Trifle. Yum, yum, yum!! The kids played hard and went to bed late, but it was lots of fun!

Monday...J was up bright & early (again!), but we let Daddy sleep in until 9. Josh was out doing some Craigslist deals while we were at home doing laundry and playing inside since it was raining! Thankfully it cleared off in time for us to cookout with Popa, Nana, Uncle Perry, Dale, Tristan, and Zane. Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Fried Squash, Squash patties, Watermelon, chips, & strawberry pie made for an excellent meal. Jeremiah could not get enough Fried Squash! He ate & ate & ate some more! He also ate a lot of watermelon and was so soaked with the juice I had to strip him down to just his diaper and tennis shoes. He did NOT like it when I sprayed him with bug spray, but I knew those mosquitoes would just love that sticky-sweet watermelon juice he was covered in. We came home, had a bath, and he went to bed!

Thankfully this morning he slept in until his usual 8am...must have known Daddy had to go to work and wouldn't be around to play. We are still in our PJs, just relaxing. J has been playing with his race cars, Lightening McQueen LEGO, and tools all morning with no TV. It's been heavenly!

I guess sometimes it's OK to just enjoy and not worry about the pictures.

Another (unwelcomed) visitor

That BEAST made a trip home with me after picking a flat full of lettuce from the garden today. Too bad I didn't notice it then, when we were outside. Or even when I transferred the lettuce into a bag for the fridge. Nope, he didn't make his entrance until I had a sink full of water to wash the lettuce out. Then he crawled out of the lettuce and on my hand. I SCREAMED. Like a girl (well, I am one!). It scared me to death. My scream scared Jeremiah. I'm not sure what kind of spider he is, but he (she?) is BIG! That's a quart size jar and he's taking up a large portion of the bottom. YUCK!

And here's a close-up, just for my spider-loving brother, Harry! :)

These boots were made for walking...

and that's just what J will do! 

J is really digging his Popa's boots!

Coffee is good!

As Jeremiah was helping me pour ingredients into the breadmaker to make some yummy Cinnamon Bun Dough, he discovered the Keurig. His Daddy & I love that machine, but who knew he would figure it out so quickly! Guess he really does watch everything we do.

Step 1: Pick your poison. Choose which coffee pod you want to drink.

Step 2: Insert the pod into the Keurig.

Step 3: Adjust your coffee mug (while Mommy thanks God she doesn't actually have the machine on).

Step 4: Enjoy!

Here's a little video I took of J making his coffee. He cracks me up saying "mmmmmm!" after he "takes a sip". He's such a mess!

Hot Wheels

The original title of this post was Matchbox Cars...I have been corrected that these are Hot Wheels. Evidently there's a difference, sort of like LEGO versus MegaBlocks. Who knew!?!

Check out J's old new obsession toys.

These were actually Josh's as a kid, but we recently discovered Jeremiah LOVES Matchbox Cars Hot Wheels. He literally played with these all day long, with the exception of 90minutes of outside time. I spent $2.50 on track at Walmart last night. Best money EVER spent. 

There's an entire double sided case full of these that Nana found at her house. J is one happy boy!

And his Mama better learn how to put the track together correctly soon. Pretty sure those arrows are not supposed to be pointing AT each other. Oops!

Happy 5th Anniversary to us!

Five years ago today, Josh & I were married. Mom & Jim hosted an AWESOME party that evening, then we enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon in Jamaica. In the five years since then, we've changed jobs, moved, and had a wonderful little boy. If all that can happen in the first five years, then who knows what the next five and beyond will bring. All I know is that I'm looking forward to all of it with a wonderful husband by my side.

Check out this post from last year to see a few pictures of us through the last 10 years.

Happy Anniversary honey! I'm looking forward to our getaway Saturday night!

Little J's LEGO Creation

You have to check out Josh's post on Jeremiah's LEGO Creation...too cute!

ConGRADulations Harry!

Harry Marks, ASU Alum

Harry finished up his last semester at ASU and graduated this past weekend, so we celebrated with a family weekend in the mountains. (Oh how I HATE those mountain roads!) It was great to have almost the whole family up there...we were only missing Grandpa Brannan and Josh. It was a fun, relaxing weekend that included some yummy FOOD!

And here is the overload of pictures from the weekend....

Fun times at the condo

Bubble time with G-pa on the deck

Present time!

 

Graduation Ceremony...3 hours long! I can't believe J did so well. Thank God for snacks, family, and especially his "trifecta" of puppy, blanket, and paci!

 

Pictures with the graduate!

And it was Mother's Day! Wish we had gotten a picture with Granny too...would have had all the generations!

Lake Lynn

Jeremiah & I visited Mimi & G-pa in Raleigh a few weekends ago. While we were there, we visited Lake Lynn twice and Jeremiah LOVED feeding the ducks (geese and turtles, too). Evidently I didn't take any other pictures that weekend, but I have plenty from one of our lake visits.

The geese kept scaring off the ducks, so one duck got really brave and jumped up to the rail beside Mom. Noticed she's a bit "surprised"! But she took pity on him and tossed him a piece of bread that he quickly gobbled up.

 

Jeremiah wanted to feed that duck, too.

Actually, he wanted to feed everyone!
 

These little babies and their mom were our favorite.
 

Jeremiah thought the turtles were really cool!

J loves his Mimi!

We had a visitor and he left a present...

A certain "Mr. No Feet" visited our deck today and left us a present...his SKIN!

Yes, that is right by our back door...how disgusting! So glad we just found the skin and not the actual snake. 

Josh moved the skin so I could get a better picture...because I'm sure you really wanted a better view =)

And his NASTY head...sends shivers down my back!

One last picture to give you a better perspective on size. BIG! Well, not huge, but plenty big for me. 

We're estimating around 4 feet. YUCK!!!!

Mr. No Feet, you are NOT invited back EVER again!