Moving Date....

Well, we don't have an exact date yet, but we do know around when we will be moving. Well, not really moving everything, but really just moving the essentials. You know, the clothes, food, dogs, fish, Futon for a couch, washer and dryer, you know the essentials. We are leaving the rest of our things here at the house. In case you thought we were nuts, we aren't. We are actually moving into an apartment right near our new house.

When we went down for the preconstruction meeting last weekend, we went by the girls' schools. While there we asked when would be the best time to integrate them into the new school since we have the option of doing it sooner or later. Well, the verdict was sooner rather than later. Madison being in 4th grade was the clencher. She will have to take end of grade tests this year again. Well, in SC they begin them in MARCH!!! We were kind of surprised at how early it is in the school year. If we move in February when the new house is ready, then she would only be in the new school for a little while and still have to take the tests. We don't think that is fair, so we are going to move in between the Christmas and New Year's holidays so that the girls can start the New Year off at a new school. This way Madison can get used to the curriculum and be prepared for the testing in March. Not to mention that she is going to have to get ready to go from Elementary School where we are now to being in Middle School in SC. What an adjustment Madison and us are going to have. From 1 teacher to 3 teachers. Kind of nervous for her, but I know that she will do fine.

So the move after the first of the year (maybe even wait til track out in February)time line just got shortened into 2 weeks left of school here. Going to make up cards for the girls to give out to their friends here with contact information. Trying to figure out what is essential that we need for 2 months and what we can live without. Not looking forward to Derek moving the washer and dryer out on Sunday evening so that he can take them on Monday to the apartment. 2 weeks without a washer and dryer will be interesting. It will be nice to not have to do that, but not nice to not have the convenience of doing it on my time!!

For all the moms out there........The Mom Song!!!

This video is hilarious!!!!!!!! It is totally everything that a mom says in 24 hours and more!

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Hope that you have had a relaxing Turkey Day. We made ours busy by traveling this morning. We left before 8 am heading to the lake to be with Derek's Parents. Enjoyed raking/blowing leaves (Derek and the youngest 2 kids along with Peque(Melissa's brother) and Dad), cooking (Mom, Grandma, Melissa, me and sometimes the girls), and visiting with everyone including Mom's brother Ben and his girlfriend Beth. It was 12 of us in a single wide trailer with 3 Jack Russell Terriers and a Rottweiler-Doberman mix. Fun times keeping our plates from being snacked on. Luckily the dogs weren't there during the cooking process. They arrived just as we were getting ready to eat. Enjoyed a full menu of Turkey, Ham, Stuffing (with and without onions and celery) Potato stuffing, Sweet Potatoes (with and with out cranberries and oatmeal), White Corn, Green Bean Casserole, Lima Beans, Mashed Potatoes, and (the kids favorite) Cranberry Sauce (with and without berries in it). Finished off the meal with a Cinnabon Apple Pie and of course a PUMPKIN PIE!! YUMMY!!!! We ate till stuffed and enjoyed each other's company. The kids did really well entertaining them selves. I was happy to see that Aric and Dehlia were helping to blow the leaves down to be burned and spent at least 20 minutes playing with Dad's Tape Measure. They were measuring everything. We left around 4 or so (I think). The sun was setting making a beautiful picture in the sky. Had to snap a picture it was so pretty.


Had a smooth ride home. Came home and let the kids watch the end of the movie that they had gotten half way through at the lake, then put them to bed since they were tired. We will leave tomorrow morning after cleaning up the house a bit to go to VA to visit my parents and grandmother for the weekend. Will head back here on Sunday morning to get ready for a busy week.

Had a good amount of showing , but no takers yet. It is getting tiring keeping this house cleaned up all the time, but will be worth it when it sells. Heading to Lake Wylie on Friday to have our preconstruction meeting and Derek's Christmas party for his new group that he's in. Will be nice to let the kids see where the house will be (other than in pictures and us telling them about it) and to meet the other people that Derek will be working with when he transfers down completely. His new boss is really nice. He has told Derek to take his time getting down there. Derek can stay until we all are moving down. Now just need to decide if we are going to try to move down before hand and rent something or if we want to hang out here in FV til the house sells or gets bought out. Decisions, decisions....

We found one!!

Well, we've gotten back from SC and WE FOUND A HOUSE!!!

Let me begin on Friday. Thank you MOM!!! She watched the kids so that we could go this past weekend to look for a house. She came in Friday afternoon and kept an eye on Aric while I dropped off the dogs at the kennel. Came back then went to get the girls from school. When we got back from school, Dad was here at the house. After Derek got home, we went to have pictures taken. If you get to utilize Portrait Innovations ever in your life, DO IT!! They are the best. They work with you and the prices are VERY reasonable!! We met, Matt and Melissa (Derek's brother and sister-in-law) and Grandma Hoover there to have family pictures done. They turned out great. We had gotten some shirts for Christmas 2 years ago and I told mom and dad that if we didn't get them take soon, Dehlia and Aric were going to outgrown them. Well, we got them taken. Took some other pictures of various arrangements of the group too. Check out the Flickr page if you want to see the rest of them. They turned out GREAT!!! After pictures were taken and picked out and paid for, Derek and I headed down to Charlotte to go house hunting Saturday morning.

Got down to Charlotte about 10:30 pm and went straight to bed. We were exhausted. Got up bright and early Saturday morning and met with our realtor at 9 am. We had done some homework before going down that helped us to narrow down how many houses we were going to look at. Had found about 9 to look at and also had found some neighborhoods that were building in and had houses ready to move into. Well, long story short there are people in SC not willing to sell their house right now. Out of the 9 listings that we wanted to see, 4 of them declined a showing. Keep in mind that they were called on Friday to let them know that realtor was going to be showing their house on Saturday to out of town clients. Their loss!! We went to one of the neighborhoods that we had found and fell in love with one of the houses that they had in there. They told us that they could build it in 4 months. That's fine, it give us til February to sell this one that we live in. Well, with all of the discounts and everythings, we are getting a house built!! We picked out a lot that is FLAT. 0.46 acres. We just couldn't pass up the offer that they were making to us.

Here's what the house will look like It will have a dark red door and dark red shutters. The stone will have red accents in it too. We are really excited. Going back down to SC at the beginning of December to show the kids where the house will be built at, where their school is, etc. They seem excited, but I think that once they see the lot and hopefully be able to see a house just like it that is already built, they will be thrilled!!!

The girls are tracked out right now. We got to start track out buying a house with out the kids and then came back to Dehlia having Pink Eye. took her to the doctor on Monday morning to get medicine and she is now better. Still have to finish the drops, but she is going to be fine. I have lost my voice. Woke us Yesterday with no voice. I feel fine (well maybe a little bit tired) but otherwise ok. Madison is feeling fine and Aric is feeling ok too. Aric got sent home from PReschool today because he got sick, but I think that he must have gotten choked on something because since he's been home, he's been his usual self. Derek is still a little stressed with work, but doing ok. Tired and busy and trying to figure out all of the $$ things that go into buying a house. Hopefully we will get to get everything tied up in the next day or two to let him breathe some.

Will keep you posted on how things are going with the house.

Changes.....

Wow have thing changed around here in the last few weeks.

Derek has accepted a new position at the South Eastern Engineering Facility of Deere which is in Charlotte. Therefore, we are MOVING!!! AAAGH!!! Our world here at home has been turned upside down with cleaning out the non essential things around the house and keeping everything straight and ready for showings. We have transported a bunch of stuff to Derek's grandmother's garage so that there is the feeling of space around here. The house is ready, just have to find the right buyer! Derek is officially on SEEC's payroll as of Today, but luckily his first job is to finish helping out the group that he is working with here. Sooo, he doesn't have to be in Charlotte til the beginning of the year. Yeah!! Derek and I are going down to Charlotte/South Carolina this weekend to look for a house. Grandma Birds is thankfully going to come down on Friday and watch the kids so that we don't have to truck them all over creation while we look at houses. We've had 2 showings since the house got listed. One on Halloween and one on Saturday. Hopefully someone will come along and feel that this is the right house for them.

Halloween was crazy around here since we had a showing. I spent most of the morning straightening up ( I hadn't done so the day before and paid for it) then had to go over the grandma's house to look for something in the boxes that are over at her house that I needed for Dehlia's Fall Party that was that afternoon. I touched every box twice, but still wasn't able to find what I was looking for. I figure I will find it AFTER we move and probably in a box that is still at the house here. Oh well. So I went from grandma's to Dehlia's party and thankfully Derek was able to come home on his lunch break and vacuum for me. I hadn't gotten a chance to get to that before I left. Since the showing was a 3:30, I was still going to be at the party. Derek was able to come home and get the dogs. We met up with his after school and went to the park. The kids are now begging to go back daily. Pretty sure that will be a frequent location to go to when we have showings. Especially since the girls track out on Friday. We got back to the house after the showing and had some dinner, then hung out til trick or treating time. Got the kids ready about 6:20 or so and headed out into the neighborhood. Derek's mom made their costumes again this year. THANKS MOM!!!!! Madison and Dehlia were High School Musical Cheerleaders and Aric was Donald Duck! The kids had a great time. They got a ton of candy. We were all tired by the end of the night.

Going backwards in the time line, Tuesday of this past week,
we also did something dramatic around here. Aric got a big 'ol haircut!!! Here's the back story.....Week before last, we got a note home from his preschool stating that there had been a case of Lice found in his class on Thursday. I didn't really think too much of it. We've got enough going on around here that I really didn't have time to think about it. Well, Tuesday came and I walked Aric in and they were checking heads before letting the kids stay in the classroom. Well, before the day was out, SIX of the kids in his class had it. I picked Aric up early from school that day and call Derek telling him that we needed to cut Aric's hair. Derek was thrilled. Derek had been wanting to shave Aric's hair all summer, but I couldn't let go of the curls. Well, this was a big enough straw to break the camel's back. Tuesday evening after dinner, we told Aric that he was getting a hair cut and asked him if he would like to cut Daddy's and them Daddy could cut his. He said, OK. Well, they would take turns back and forth (check out the Flickr page for more pics and a video) and this is what we ended up with. We only had one episode where Aric rebelled and didn't want to finish, but the half shaven head wasn't getting out of the bathroom. I had to put down the camera and have Derek put him in his lap, and I finished the job. There were tears shed by mommy, but I think missing out on the treat of having head lice in the house makes losing the curls all worth it. It is amazing how fast he grew up on us. He looks more like Derek now too. I am still getting used to seeing him without all of his curls. His hair will grow back. I just couldn't take the chance of him bringing it home and the girls getting it. Not right now with all that is going on around here.

Soccer has ended for Dehlia, only practices left for Madison's team, and Softball is over for me. My how our weeks have opened up. This will be our first week of the newer schedule. We are down to Madison practice on Monday nights, Faith Formation on Tuesday evening and then open the rest of the week. WOW!!! Madison will start Saturday practices back up in a week or so. There is a tournament in the area, so the fields are being used for that. Derek will still have Sunday games into December too. I guess we will have to figure out what to do with all of this free time that we have now. Especially since the girls will be tracked out come Friday.

Hopefully the house hunting trip will go good this weekend and we will come away knowing what we want to do and where we are going to move. Then we can take some time during track out to bring the girls down there and show them our new house.

Will keep you posted..........Til next time....

Reading to her brother....

Reading to her brother....
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

While waiting to meet Derek after practice last week at diner, Madison read to Aric in the car. It was so sweet how she just got him to sit right down in the seat with her and put her arm around him and read. She is such a great big sister!!!

50....

I can't believe that I'm at 50 posts already.

Went on the Carolina Stash Dash last weekend with Mom Lang, Grandma Hoover and Melissa. We actually had all 3 of the kids with us on Thursday night (and not Grandma) with us when we went to the store in Selma. Then, we spent Friday as all of us ladies and Aric (the girls were at school). 9 hours of riding in the car going to 7 quilt shops. Aric did GREAT!!!! He didn't really give us any trouble. Could tell he was getting restless as we neared lunchtime, but fed him and he did great. He took a nap on the drive to Carrboro. Grandma and Mom took turns sitting in the van with him until he woke up. A BIG THANK YOU goes out to Derek for picking up the girls so that we could get all of the shops visited on Friday. We had soccer and Matt and Melissa still had to finish cleaning out the old house on Saturday, so getting us all back together was going to be hard. Melissa and Mom won some of the prizes that some of the stores were giving away. I came home with a fat quarter (which everyone got for coming in to that store) and a nail file (WOO HOO). I hope that I will win one of the bigger prizes for completing the stash dash. Have to check the website soon to see who the winners are.

Update on the job hunt front. The people in SC are interested, but still haven't done anything about the $$$ issue. Took a while to hear back from the ones that he interviewed for within Deere. He went down to Charlotte in a U-Haul truck carrying 4 decks for test machines. He interviewed for 2 positions there. One would be a lateral and one would be a promotion. He heard back on the one that was a promotion first. It was a no. They were very impressed and said to give them 3 weeks and they would create a position for him. The lateral was given to another guy that is in Derek's office. Well, on Wednesday, I received an email from Derek out of the blue while I was surfing the web. It was an OFFER!!!! They created the new position and made the offer. OH My Goodness. So, Derek called the guy from Cary office on Thursday morning to see what was going on there. It would be so much easier to not have to move and he could just work in the different group in Cary. Well, the word came back today that they have gone in another direction. Therefore no offer to be made there. SOOOOOO, we have some BIG decisions to make soon!!!!!!! The guy in Cary told Derek that he has approval for a couple more positions, but they won't be ready for a couple months,(if we are lucky), but this position he's been offered won't be there then. What to do, what to do?????

Pottying is going great. Aric has been in underwear since Tuesday. I think. Can't remember when we made the switch. Have been keeping the pull ups for when we go to soccer (You never know how quickly you can get to a potty when you are on the soccer fields) and at night time. We have been waking up at least once a week dry if not twice. Naps (when they happen) have been dry wakeups too. Still don't have the pooping thing down yet though. It will come with time. Have accidents when we have to do that. Went through 4 pairs of pants within 15 minutes earlier today. Pooped, then we've done great since then. Still have small wet accidents, but generally last in one pair of underwear all day unless we have to poop. Still haven't gotten our coloring book, but it will be gotten when he is ready. I will take the small victories as we get them.
You didn't realize that you could use a Leap Pad as a Wii Fit Board didya???

Problem solved.....

Well, I solved the problem with the preschool teacher that I wasn't too fond of. I went to the preschool director on Wednesday after I dropped off Aric in his class and told her how upset I was. The tears that were coming down my face probably told her that too. She said taht she didn't want me to pull him out and that she thought that we could work something out. Soooo, I had Aric switched to another class. It bumped him down to 2 days a week, but in my book 2 is better than none!! Even better about it is that the teacher that he has was Dehlia's assistant teacher when she was in the 3yr old class. The assistant teacher that Aric has now we know also. Her daughter is on Madison's soccer team. I felt so much better leaving him in class on Thursday. It was so much relief. I think that Aric will now be in a loving enviroment that will help him learn.

On the pottying front, we are doing pretty good. Having our accidents, but mainly becuase we need to go poop and we are scared to do that in the potty. We did poop in the potty on Monday, but I think he was at the point where he could hold it no longer. We rewared him with 4 cars. He was thrilled. We have gotten more prizes for pooping in the potty and he knows where they are. We tell him that if he poops in the potty he can have one. He really wants the Cars Movie coloring book that is up there right now. We'll see how long it takes him to get it. He has pottied at school too. 4 times on Wednesday and twice on Thursday! Yeah Aric!! Once I get him settled in the new class, I will send him in underwear. He has been keeping dry in pull ups at school and at home too. Just a matter of time now!!!

At last.....

I am updating this blog. We've been busy, go figure. Wanted to first say a big THANK YOU to Jennifer at craftygiveaways for the wonderful package of quilt blocks. Now I just need to decide if I want to orient the blocks in this layout......

or in this layout.....

Any feedback/opinions????

Then the happenings since I last updated. We've put the floor back together. The moulding went down tonight. Now to paint and caulk then it will be completely fixed (I hope!!). We've been out of town the last 2 weekends. The last weekend of August was spent in Charlotte at a soccer tournament for Madi's soccer team. They came in second place in their division!!! Labor Day Weekend was spent in VA visiting and helping parents. We helped my parents by doing some yard work and went to the Zoo with Derek's Mom (Dad wasn't feeling good) then went to the beach.



In between these weekends, Aric had his meet the teacher at preschool. While there for that, I was lucky to get out of there alive. I felt like Aric's new teacher was out to prove me the worst mother in the world because he isn't potty trained. I tried to explain taht he just turned 3 in July. Should he be potty trained??? I don't feel like he is ready. Also, we pushed the girls and didn't want to push him since pushing the girls created TONS of problems. Sooo, since the preschool wants him potty trained we are trying 1/2 naked times at the house. Aric gets to run around in the house in a shirt and nothing else. We started Wednesday afternoon and have been doing pretty good. I have kept him upstairs and he tells us that the tinkle is coming out and we run to the potty and go. We also race him there when we foresee him needing to go and most of the time he goes then too. Now to work our way into underpants. We've tried underpants today, but I don't thin he is that far yet. We've been just peeing in them like a diaper. He realizes that he is going and we run and go potty. Hopefully the lightbulb will click on fully soon. The preschool told me if he wasn't trained and had an accident of the poop variety they would change the first one, then they would call me to come and chage the next one. DO WHAT???? I have been very upset with all of this and frustrated at the same time. What's a mom to do. I am just trying to get thru the next week and if I come home next week feeling as crappy as I did about all of this then, I will probably pull him from the school. It's not fair to him or me to be treated this way. I can't make him be ready. Can I??? Any advice would be appreciated. The picture is of him on his first day of preschool. He has gotten too big too quick. He didn't want to go to school, but did really well (well except for the potty issues). Had to drag him somewhat on Friday. I thin kit is just going to take him getting used to the new routine and environment and teachers. Also, the girls go back to school on Modnay, so it will just be him and I going to preschool for dropoff. HOpefully the potty isses and everything will work out soon!!

Later!

Hanging out at the pool.....

Took some time in the last couple of days to enjoy the pool in the neighborhood. The kids all had a grand time jumping in and splashing around.

Here's Derek and Aric jumping into the 5ft together!!

Here they both are smiling. Thanks goodness!!!

Here's Aric jumping inot the 2 feet area of the pool. He has gotten so confident this summer at the pool. He will walk around in the shallow end and play. He grabs his float and will jump into the deeper parts of the pool (with us around of course) and will even jump in to Derek or I too. We let him go under water when he jumps in and everytime he comes up smiling. Glad that we have one not afraid to get his face wet!
Here's Dehlia jumping in too. She has done really well this year. She picked right up from the end of the season last year swimming. She has now gotten strong enough to swim across the pool. ALL underwater!! We have been trying to work on swimming above water now.

Here's Madison walking on water. I couldn't believe that I got the picture at this point in her jumping in. Lately her favorite thing to do is to jump into the 5 ft straight like a pencil and touch the bottom of the pool with her feet and spring back up towards the ladder. She is getting along really well this year too. She has gotten stronger swimming underwater this year and she is beginning to come up for breaths holding herself above water for a little bit swimming forward.

It gives me a little bit more confidence going to the pool without Derek since the kids can swim better this summer. I still watch them like a hawk, but I feel like I can sit on the side of the pool and enjoy my time there a little bit more than I used to be able to.

The kids are tracked out right now. They tracked out last week. We've been busy around here with soccer and the like. Madison has practice 3 days a week and Dehlia has started in on practices too. Games start this weekend for the girls. I started softabll last week and Adult League for Derek should be getting ready to start right after Labor Day. Looking forward to a great season all around.

Derek's had another phone interview with one of the companies in SC. They seem to be really impressed with him. They want him to come and work for them. We should eb expecting to hear from them in the next few days with info on an offer. We'll see. Derek has heard back from the people within Deere about the positions that he applied for. so the ball is rolling forward on these too. I know that the one in Cary he should hear back from by weeks end if he is still in the running and the one in Charlotte has asked him to come down for an interview. Time will tell.

Been doing some work around the house lately too. Trying to touch up paint and repair the floor by the back door. We had some laeking going on by the back door upstairs and thought that we had fixed it a month or so ago when Derek replaced the board beneath the door outside and sealed everything up really good, but the floor inside too the brunt of it. We finally had to break down and cut a hole in the floor inside to replace the water damaged board.


We have gotten the board back in now, just trying to level out the floor so that we can put the linoleum back down. Hopefully we can get that done tonight since we don't have anything going on.

Will try to update on how things are going soon.

As you can tell....

Sunflowers reign supreme around here. I've had another bloom that I really like finally open up.
This one really strikes my fancy. I LOVE sunflowers in all of their yellowy goodness reaching up to the sun. But this one with it's red's and orange's and burgandy's, I just can't help myself. I almost think that it is my favorite!

Nothing too mcuh going on around here. Derk has been looking around for a new job. It is amazing how just putting your resume on Monster that you can have so many people contact you. His cell phone and our house phone rang all the time for about 2 weeks. Has finally started dwindling down to about 5 companies interviewing him, etc. He has gone to VA near where our parents live and now he's in SC interviewing with 2 other companies. Still has 1 more in VA, but not right near where our parents live. Trying to apply for jobs with Deere too, but they aren't at his factory.

I am not sure how I feel about all of this going on. He keeps asking me if it is ok that he is doing this and I tell him yes. I think I tell him that so that he can finally get back to the Derek that loves his job. It has not been an enjoyable time around here lately when he comes home from work. The project that he is working on has some extreme problems and the system for promotion where he works has pretty much laughed in his face. Derek is an employee that gives you his all and then some. He can't do anything half way. So his staying there is just putting a BIG damper on his being. He comes home frustrated and his temper is so short. The kids and I are taking the brunt of his unhappiness and I don't know how much longer we can to take it.

That being said, am I ready to be a "single" parent in the near future that is trying to sell a house so that we can move? I don't know the answer to that one either. The scheule that we keep around here is CRAZY to say the least. I don't know how I will be able to manage it by myself if it comes to that, but hopefully I willl find a way.

To better things........

Since Derek went on an interview in VA right near where our parents live, he stayed at his parents the night before and then went by my parents after the interview. Had him stop by there on the way out of town to take a peek at the fence that is at my parents house that had fallen down 6 months or so ago. Luckily, 2 hours later, he had it fixed and my mom was happy to have that taken care of. Then she came up with another project, but we will save that one for later. Since he was there, he picked up all of the goodies that my parents had gotten the kiddos. Madison recieved the rest of her birthday present from them, a Vera Bradley purse.

And Aric got a John Deere Bear that you stuff yourself. I didn't realize how hard it is to stuff a teddy bear! Those arms are skinny!!!

Dehlia got a dinosaur book and they kids all got 2 boxes of legos that we all enjoyed building with that night.

That being said, Deere things are a fixture in our house. Having Derek work for them created a monster. Whenever people in our family sees items that are Deere, they magically think of us needing them and therefore we have a LOT of Deere things. From tractor toys, to clothes, to salt and pepper shakers, to pictures, to blankets. I even made a quilt that had sunflowers (what are the odds there) and the entire back is Deere fabric. Gosh, even our house has Yellow siding with Green shutters!!! So I am always looking around for things that are Green and Yellow. I definitely perked up when I saw that Jen on CraftyGiveaways was giving away Irish Chain pieces that were green and yellow. Go head over there and register yourself for her giveaway. I really hope that I win though!! :)

Will keep everyone posted on how the job search goes. We've been straightening up around the house here in preparation. Not that straightening and purging is a bad thing. Figure that even if the job search thing doesn't work out, we got rid of a whole bunch of junk that we didn't really need was definitely a good thing!!!

My Sunflower Creation

My Sunflower Creation
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

This is the sequence of the growth of the sunflower that is in our front flowerbed.
Picture 1 - 7-26
Picture 2 - 8-2
Picture 3 - 8-4 - 9am
Picture 4 - 8-4 - 4pm
Picture 5 - 8-5 - 9am
Picture 6 - 8-5 - 4pm
Picture 7 - 8-6 - 9am
Picture 8 - 8-6 - 4pm
PIcture 9 - 8-7 - 9am
Picture 10 - 8-7 - 3pm
Picture 11 - 8-8 - 9am
Picture 12 - 8-8 - 5:30pm
Picture 13 - 8-9 - 10:20am

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Top is DONE!!!!

Top is DONE!!!!
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Derek has gone to VA for a interview with the shipyard tomorrow morning, so I figured that I had the top and bottom borders on, so I would work on the sides. It didn't take too long. Probably spent more time ironing than anything! :) I was able to finish the top. I am pretty happy with how it has turned out.

Going to start on another top. Going to make the same star patterns, but will probably change up the colors some.

Birthday Girl.....

Well, the oldest is 9 now! How did we get here again????



4th grade, playing soccer at the PDP level, Academically Gifted, what more can you ask for from a girl???

Ok, maybe having a little bit more patience with her sister and actually giving 100% when she is doing her school work instead of less than that. One can only hope.....

Sunflowers are blooming.....

in my flowerbed!!!

See........



Some even have spiders on them...........


This spider blends right in!!! He's yellow!! I don't ever recall seeing a YELLOW spider!

In case there are actually people out there that do read my blog, there is another new blog on the block. Crafty Giveaways is a blog by Jen. She is trying to clear out her stash of fabrics since she has 5 kids and everything that goes along with them leaving her no room to craft. (I would know, I have 3 and they have WAAAY too much STUFF!!! I wouldn't want to try to see what 5 would bring!) We wouldn't want her to have no room to craft, so help her out!! Her cleaning out is our gain. All you have to do is head on over to her blog and leave a comment during her giveaways! Enjoy!! I just recieved some squares of fabric that I am going to try to make into the folded flowers that she gave away for the first giveaway!

3 kids....

3 kids....
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Well, they had to take a group photo with the new bed. The girls are really excited for Aric too.

Big Boy......

Big Boy......
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

has gotten a big boy bed. We finally bit the bullet today and got him a twin sized mattress for the bed frame that we had. He is so excited!!!

Almost done....

Sashing done...
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

We had a girls quilt-in on Saturday with me, the girls, Mom Lang, Grandma Hoover and Melissa. I got to finish putting on the sashing. Now just have to put on the outer border.

All the blocks are done.......

All the blocks are done.......
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

13 weeks and we have finally finished all of the blocks!!! Now to finish the sashing!


1. Block #12, 2. Setting Blocks, 3. Quilt Block #5, 4. Setting Blocks, 5. Quilt Block #7, 6. Setting Blocks, 7. Quilt Block #11, 8. Setting Blocks, 9. Quilt Block #13, 10. Setting Blocks, 11. Quilt Block #10, 12. Setting Blocks, 13. Block #1, 14. Setting Blocks, 15. Quilt Block #6, 16. Setting Blocks, 17. Quilt Block #9, 18. Setting Blocks, 19. Block #3, 20. Setting Blocks, 21. Quilt Block #4, 22. Setting Blocks, 23. Quilt Block #8, 24. Setting Blocks, 25. Block #2

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Quilt Block #13

Quilt Block #13
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Here's Block #12 for the Quilt along from www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Finished this on Wednesday. Have cut out the sashing pieces. Now just have to piece it all together!!

Block #12

Block #12
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Here's Block #12 for the Quilt along from www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

One last one to go. Hot this one and #13 cut out tonight. Got this one sewed together, just have to sew #13, them all of the stars will be assembeld!!! Yeah!!

Just have to cut out the sashing and corner blocks. Then put it all together!!

Puzzle Boy....

Puzzle Boy....
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Aric got some 24 peice puzzles for his birthday. We had gotten them since he was putting the ones that we already had together with no problems. Well, he has mastered all of them. We constantly get..."Mommy/Daddy, come look at what I made" or "I finished"!

He is just growing up too fast!!!

A Boy and his books

A Boy and his books
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

This is what I found the other night before bedtime. He had emptied pretty much the entire shelf (as you can tell) by reading. How can you fuss at him, he's reading.........bu look at that mess!!!!

Birthday Boy.....

My how time does fly......



He turned 3 today. Doesn't seem like this is possible. He has gotten to be such a big boy. He finished his first year of Preschool this year. Going into the 3yr old class in the Fall.

Now to get the potty training thing down.....hmmmm.

Quilt Block #11

Quilt Block #11
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Here's block #11 for the Quilt along from Crazy Mom Quilts

I had a bit more trouble with this block than I thought I would Mainly trying to keep the corners from no disappearing!!! And also having the seams line up. Oh Well, it's not gotta be perfect!!! I am just proud of myself for doing all of this!!!

I'm a big boy now......

I'm a big boy now......
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Since he is just about 3, we decided that we would try him in the carseat as a booster with the seatbelt. He was so excited. He has ridden in Derek's truck in a booster with the seatbelt, but not in the car. Been having a little bit of trouble keeping him turned towards the front when he knows something is going on behind him with the girls or he wants to talk to them, but hopefully that will solve itself soon enough. It is much easier for me to get him in and out now too!!!

First day of school......

First day of school......
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Well, school started back on Monday. Their whole break between grades was a whole week!!! :)

Dehlia is in 1st grade now and Madison is in 4th grade.

My how time does fly!!!!

Now if I can just get Aric to go and play by himself again. He was doing so well, then BAM! the girls were out for a week. I guess I only have til September then he will be in Preschool 3 days a week. What will I do with myself?????

Quilt Block #10

Quilt Block #10
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Here's block #10 for the Quilt along from Crazy Mom Quilts

4th of July....

We spent at the lake. Derek's parents have a place on Roanoke Rapids lake that they go visit peoidically so we decided to pick up Grandma at 8:30 am and head up there to spend the day. We got there and Aric immediately wanted to go fishing. Derek took him down to the dock and began to fish. The girls wanted to go into the lake, so they got on their swim suits to play on the small shore that is there. I went down to go and put some sunscreen on the kiddos and as soon as I got it on Dehlia and she got back into the water, she was screaming that there was an Ant on her. My

Aric's fish....
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

goodness. If she could just get a little bit more annoying!!! She decided that she was done and headed back up to the house. I finished Madison and she went back to the water. I went up on the dock to where Aric and Derek were fishing and had not even finished putting sunscreen on Aric and then Madison started in that there was a bee buzzing near her and that she was done! AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!! I just wasted my time putting sunscreen all over those girls!!!!!! Here's one of the many fish that we caught at the lake. None of them were much bigger than this, so they all got thrown back, but we had a good time drowning the worms. Aric reeled in a good many of them. He was so excited everytime that there was a fish on the other end of the line. he has somewhat learned how to cast the line out too. Got him

Reeling one in....
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

practicing that a lot too. We would cast out his line and hand him back the pole, and he would be saying, "I caught a fish!" and start reeling in the line. Here's Aric reeling in a fish!!
Unfortunately, 9 out of ten times that he did this, there was NO fish. Therefore we would have to cast out the line again. I hope you can guess what would happen next. :) He is too cute thank goodness. While Derek had him downthere on the dock, he would sit right beside Derek "criss-cross applesuace" and not move a muscle til he "had a fish". Can't wait til he gets a little bit older and we can explain to him that fishing at high noon isn't going to work real well. The fish don't really like the hot sun. They tended to hide under the dock next door, so that is where we started aiming our line. Got the line stuck on the deck a few times too!!
Here's what Derek would do while he was over on the dock next door. Deck Surfing!!!! The dock is REALLY wobbly. Derek could just walk down the step and you could see the dock moving all around. I went over there one time and was really afraid that the dock was going to come down!!!

Derek deck surfing.....
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Fireworks on the 3rd....

Fireworks on the 3rd....
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

We went to the fireworks display in Fuquay that was on the 3rd of July. We caught up with Byran and Wesley and Justin and Jen and Ethan there and watched the fireworks thgether.

Pool fun....

Have been having a good time this summer enjoying the neighborhood pool. Nice to be able to just walk down the street and have the kids all entertained for a while.

Party Time!!!!

We decided this year to have ONE birthday Party for all 3 of the kids. We knew that NC had been in a drought and couldn't guarantee that we would be able to use the watercslide (yet again) for a birthday party (good thing that we didn't since when we got the slide out a week before the party, there was a large hole in it that wasn't repairable!!). We decided to use Jump Sone! for the party. It is aplace taht has 6 inflatables that the kids can bounce, climb, slide, etc til their hearts were content. Everyone had fun!!!

This is in the party room where we had cake.


We also decided that the kdis have enough toys, etc. so we asked the party guests to bring in a book to donate. We are planning on donating the books to the library at the Madison and Dehlia's school and at Aric's school. They recieved a whole paper grocery bag full of books. We were all happy to not have a whole lot of toys coming in tot eh house that we don't need and we are able to help the schools get some more books for their library.