Now I Know Why They Call it a Throne

Pinewood Derby

Sprout's first Pinewood Derby as part of Cubscouts was this past Saturday. He did a great job of picking out his design and colors and had fun building his car with hid Dad! It was male bonding at its best!

While he did not make it to district, we learned a lot of tricks of the trade for next year and had fun in the process!

Drama Queen

I think I have a little drama queen on my hands. And I don't mean that in an entirely negative way. Now, don't get me wrong, Sprite can be dramtaic, and those of you that have seen her in the midst of a tantrum know what I am talking about but she is also very dramatic in the sense that she is expressive/artistic. She makes some of the cutest/funniest faces I have ever seen. She loves to sing and she loves to dance and she loves it when people watch her even more. I have a name that tune video to post of Sprite singing-if i can ever get it to upload!

In the meantime, here is Sprite demonstrating a few of her expressions:

The New Wrinkle Eraser

The other day I was helping Sprout with this homework when he suddenly looked at me and brought his pencil eraser to my forehead. "What are you doing, I asked?" He said, "You have a line on your head and I'm trying to get it off." I thought I had a pen mark on my forehead or something but when it wouldn't come off and he attempted to erase another one between my eyes, I realized he was trying to erase my wrinkles!!! I think he might be able to save me a fortune in Botox if we can figure out a way to make this work!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

It seems like every year my poor husband gets neglected on his birthday. Yesterday was his birthday and we celebrated in typical fashion-chaos! It was a very busy day for all of us and the Hubs got shortchanged once again.

I had an event at the General Assembly and was up late preparing the night before. I went to bed around 1 am. Got up before 6 am. Had my event from 9 am-2 pm; had to rush home for a webinar from 3-4:30 pm; threw in a load of laundry because we were out of clean towels; called our home warranty company to file a claim for our house in Kansas; ran to the grocery store at 4:30 pm to pick up items that the Hubs needed for work; went to the vet at 5:00 pm to pick up the kitties from their surgery ( they were de-clawed) and to have Aspen's eye re-checked (he scratched his cornea); had to run back to the grocery store because the vet failed to inform me that I needed special litter for the kitties until their paws heal prior to picking them up; sped to childcare to pick up the kids by 6 pm (I made it in the nick of time); got home and unloaded the dog, kitties, kids and groceries; captured kitties who managed to escape outdoors while I was unloading groceries; scarfed down fast food that the Hubs picked up on his way home (so much for a birthday dinner); helped Sprout with his homework while the Hubs bathed Sprite; helped Sprout fill out his Valentines; sent out a few urgent e-mails; folded clothes; put kids to bed; collapsed on the couch!!!!

I'm so sorry that you did not get the time or attention that you deserve honey! He is such a good sport though; he never once complained and even stayed up with me the night before folding brochures and collating papers and offered me his drink (the last alcoholic beverage) when he saw me to go the fridge for one last night during the chaos.

We are having his birthday dinner tonight with his favorite cake (Dump cake) and going on a date tomorrow! Hopefully, that makes up for yesterday!

Happy Birthday Babe-I Love You!!

She's a Superstahhhh!!

Meet my friend Sarah:

She is an ultracool, hip mama who just happens to be the owner of the Pitter Patter Boutique. The same Pitter Patter Boutique that was just featured in Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine! Her car seat strap covers were featured in the "The Baby Gear Road Test." Click here to see for yourself.

I would just like to say that I knew Sarah before she became a superstahhhh and I think I may have even been the first person to test out these "snazzy" strap pads. They rock and so do you Sarah-Congratulations!!

One Hit Wonder

Apparently I have joined the ranks of one hit wonders like :

Sinead O'Connor, "Nothing Compares 2U."

Biz Markie, "Just a Friend."

Billy Ray Cyrus, "Achy Breaky Heart."

And we can't forget Sir Mix-a-Lot with "Baby Got Back."

No sooner did I submit that blog post about being a rock star than WRAL changed the later segment of the piece that I was in. I figure they had more time to edit and decided they didn't need my silly face in there anyway. So, if you followed the link in an attempt to share in my rock stardom and wondered where I was, I was next to the lady in the red suit; a one hit wonder! Oh well, it was good while it lasted!

So, this got me thinking...what are some of your favorite one hit wonders? Come on, don't try to act like you didn't like them. Besides, your secret is safe with me (and the other 3, 286, 453 bloggers that may wander to this page!)

I'm not embarassed, and to prove it I offer you one of my personal favorite one hit wonders:
4 Non Blondes, "What's Up"

I Feel Like a Rockstar!

Yesterday was a big day for the organization that I work for. We have been working really hard to get a bill passed to prohibit smoking in worksites and public places and yesterday, this bill was introduced as House Bill #2-the first bill introduced after House rules on the General Assembly's opening day!

NC House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, who we have been working closely with, scheduled a news conference Thursday to discuss H.B. 2: Prohibit Smoking in Public & Work Places Act as the primary sponsor of the bill. I was part of this news conference and it received a lot of media coverage. Check out the video below and you can see me standing behind the podium during the press conference for a brief moment. My kids saw this and think I am a rock star now! I didn't correct them and plan on taking advantage of this celebrity status, at least for a little while. It won't be long before this type of thing embarasses them! :)


http://www.wral.com/news/state/video/4424682/

We Chose...

We chose house # 2 because we love the yard- the idea of being able to sit on our screened porch watching the kids play and watch the horses roam was really appealing to us. We loved the kitchen and master bath. You convinced us that a bonus room on the third floor was actually a good thing, especially when the kids get older. And the price was right!

Looks like you guys are pretty good at playing house hunters! It was dead even between House #2 and House #3 right up until the end but my Aunt Kathy came in at the last minute and voted for house #2.

Thanks for playing everyone-we close on Feb. 19th!

House Hunters

As most of you know, we have been renting since we moved back to NC. We have spent the last few months looking at houses and have narrowed our search down to three, including the one we are renting. So, now it is time to play House Hunters goes to North Carolina.

House #1

House #1 is a 1650 square foot house on a .5 acre corner lot. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It has an additional 1400 square feet of unfinished space upstairs. If we purchase this house we are going to have the builder finish an additional 1100 square feet upstairs to include a bedroom, a bathroom, an office and a large bonus room for a total of ~2800 square feet- 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, an office and a bonus room. This is the most afforfable of the three.

Things we like about this house: The wrap-around porch. It has a a great yard. It has the potential to be a really large house with a HUGE bonus room. It is the most affordable. We don't have to move!

Things we don't like about this house: It has a very open floorplan and no foyer- you walk right into the living room. It is on a corner lot by the road. We are not crazy about the neighborhood/neighbors. There are currently houses being built next to and across from this house that will total ~1600 square feet. We have to finish it and are not crazy about the builder! If we finish this house we will have the biggest, most expensive house in the neighborhood and that is never a good things for investment purposes or resale.

House #2

House #2 is a ~2500 square foot house on .75 acres with 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, an office and a decent sized bonus room. This house includes several upgrades from the first house like granite and a tiled master bath but is more expensive than the first.

Things we like about this house: The neighborhood. The kitchen and master bath are beautiful, it has a large open porch and a nice screened-in porch, it has the best yard of the three and faces a horse pasture in the back. It also has a huge laundry/mud room off of the garage that we really like. It is move-in ready.

Things we don't like about this house: It is three stories which means a lot of stairs and the bonus room is on the third floor which is kind of far away from the kids if I am on the bottom floor. It doesn't have much of a backyard because it backs up to a horse pasture-almost the entire yard is to the side of the house. It doesn't have a lot of storage space or a spare bedroom like the other two.

House # 3

House # 3 is a ~2700 square foot house on .5 acres with 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a formal living room and a small bonus room. Again, it has many upgrades from the first house but is the most expensive of the three.

Things we like about this house: The neighborhood. The overall look/curb appeal-Southern Plantation style. The side entry into the house. It is on a cul-de-sac, the balcony off of the master bedroom and the screened-in porch. I would use the formal living room for my office so it would still have 4 bedrooms. It has a lot of storage space.

Things we don't like about this house: The price! It has a small bonus room, the back yard is kind of sloped, the stove is in the center island. This house needs several things in order to be move-in ready, i.e. the floors need a final coat of poly, the screen porch has not been finished, it needs a new HVAC system because the previous one was stolen...but the builder has agreed to complete all of these as part of the purchase).

We have contacted the builders of each of these and have their best offer in hand -So, which one did we choose?

House #1- the largest and most affordable?

House #2- the three story with the great yard?

House #3- the Southern Plantation budget buster?

Take the poll to the right! We'll announce which house we chose on Sunday!

Snowday #2, 3, 4...

A few inches of snow and the entire state shuts down! I realize that NC does not have the same equipment or level of preparedeness that upstate NY does but seriously-three snow days for 6 inches of snow!

Oh well, the kids had fun and this only happens once every few years around here so we tried to make the best of it!

SNOWDAY

I remember the days growing up in upstate NY when I would wake up to several feet of snow outside just hoping for a snowday. There were even nights when I would do a snow dance before bed, in hopes that a wintry blizzard would blow through while I was sleeping!

Yesterday, I got to relive my childhood and experience the excitement of a snow day through my kids. Monday night it was as clear as a bell outside but just before bed we received an automated call announcing that schools were closed the following day as a winter strom was brewing. (And I didn't even have to do a snowdance!)

Tuesday morning we woke up to nearly 6 inches of snow! We only get snow like this in NC once every couple of years. While it was nothing compared to the snowstorms we used to get up North, it was enough for our first snowday of the year- Yippee!

We are headed outside for SNOWDAY #2 so stay tuned!