Camera Test Shots

Joel got me a new camera for my birthday - Yay! The same one Abby has, the Canon Powershot S95, which I admired when she visited recently. I don't have the kids at the moment so I can't take any test shots of them yet, but I walked down the street and tested the camera and some of its functions out on some flowers and such.... pretty cool. With the new addition coming soon, and my old camera becoming more and more finicky, it was a great gift! Thank you Joel!!!!

Poster effect:

Color accent:

Foliage:

Online Shoe Shopping

Today I was browsing on Zappos.com looking for back-to-school shoes for the kids. The kids were home from camp at the time, so I called Ben over and asked, which did he like better, this pair or that pair? He answered without hesitation and wandered away. Rebecca on the other hand, after hearing the magic word "shoe", planted herself in my lap and made me show her about sixty pairs of shoes, and then picked the most expensive and impractical ones she could find and insisted those were what she wanted. I vetoed her choice and went with these instead - she will probably be really pissed.

Frisbee Dog

Part of the frisbee dog performance we saw at Tweetsie Railroad last week....

More Pictures

Below are some more pictures from our trip to Boone last week.

Becca's Camp Photos

I did not order any of Ben this year because he was very un-smiling. (I asked him, "Didn't the photographer tell you to smile?" He replied, "No he told me to say Boys Rule, Girls Drool." Apparently he delivered this line with a very deadpan expression).

18 Week Ultrasound

Before we left for the mountains on Wednesday I had a level 2 ultrasound of Baby. This is more detailed than the standard 18-20 week ultrasound since apparently being 35 at the time of delivery qualifies me as "high risk". However, baby gave no signs of being anything other than happy and healthy during the ultrasound, though s/he was being a little difficult by moving around a lot and making measurement-taking difficult. We declined to learn the sex, though I am trying to convince Joel to buy one of these tests, which supposedly are up to 90% accurate if performed correctly (my reasoning is that it will give us an idea, but we won't be sure it's correct,so some of the mystery will still remain). Joel still needs some convincing on this though.

Mountains

As you may have gathered from the few pictures I posted from my phone over the last couple of days, we were in the Boone, NC region from Wednesday evening until yesterday afternoon. Even though the weather was hotter than usual in the mountains (around 85) it was still cooler than the 100 degree temps we had here in Charlotte while we were away!

We stayed in the same cabin we rented last summer, which we shared with some friends. We all had a great time - we visited Grandfather Mountain, Tweetsie Railroad, the Mast General Store, had dinner at the Dan'l Boone Inn, and the older kids (Ben and Jared) had a great whitewater rafting trip on the Watauga river in Tennessee while the younger ones (Evan and Becca) went out to lunch and a movie. We also started a bonfire in the outdoor fire pit and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.

I will try to post some more pictures soon as well as a video of the frisbee dog performance we saw while we were at Tweetsie Railroad.

It was a great mini-vacation and we look forward to going back to the mountains again sometime!

At Tweetsie Railroad

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Dan'l Boone Inn

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Becca and the bear

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On Grandfather Mountain

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Monday, Monday

At least this is a short work-week - we are heading to Boone Wednesday afternoon for 4 nights, and staying in the same cabin we rented last summer. We're sharing it with friends, and looking forward to some relaxation and cooler weather!! (It should be about 10 degrees cooler up there. I hope). The kids are looking forward to it and to going on vacation with their friends Jared and Evan, which is very exciting for them :)

Saw Harry Potter yesterday. Was slightly confused by the ending, as I was when I read the book also. But overall, it was good. Very action-packed. The kids watched the first Harry Potter movie with Joel this weekend - even Rebecca watched it - they seemed to enjoy it.

In other weekend events, Ben lost his first tooth on Saturday, we went to a friend's pool party, had pizza and ice cream with Nanny and Papa, and visited a couple of open houses in our neighborhood yesterday. I dream of more space (literally I do dream of it, especially with number 3 on the way). Husband counsels patience ;) Not my strong suit these days.

Before we head to Boone on Wednesday I have my 18 week ultrasound. There will be no gender announcement, unless baby does a somersault at exactly the wrong moment - we don't want to find out. Will update again then....

First Lost Tooth

Finally ;-)

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Abby's Charlotte Pics

Here are a ton of pictures that Abby took while visiting this weekend. Since they are her pics, her kids are overrepresented ;) But there's some pics of my kids in there too! (I need a new camera).

Catch Up

Had a great visit by Abby, Mike, cousin Charlie and cousin Amelia this weekend! As usual the boys got along well; Amelia may have traumatized Rebecca a little, being in the hair-pulling, grabbing stage (18 months). Rebecca seemed to be her favorite target probably because she was closest in height so easiest to grab ;) This morning Rebecca locked herself in my bedroom with her breakfast to prevent any thievery/molestation.

We spent plenty of time at the pool, spent some time playing laser tag/ arcade games/ in the bouncy room at Sports Connection, and of course time hanging out at the house playing Wii and playing outside. Abby and I snuck out for dinner by ourselves one night too. Abby took copious amounts of pictures with her new camera; I took none, so as soon as she posts hers I'll be stealing them to post here as well!!

The kids are back at camp today, the cousins are on their way home, and I am trying to catch up on work/laundry.

Overheard

(Both playing Wii, staring straight ahead).

BEN: So, my mom's having a baby. I think she's copying off your mom.

JARED: Yeah, I know. That's why I came up to you in the locker room the other day and said "congratulations", remember? That was awkward.

BEN: Oh. Yeah. Awkward.

Doctor Visits

Today I had my 16 week OB visit, and Ben had his 7 year well exam. My OB visit was short and sweet; baby's heart rate is measuring at 160 beats per minute (do we have a gender prediction based on this? Abby says girl, but the web sites I have looked at says there's no correlation between fetal heart rate and gender...). I also got a blood test to screen for spina bifida.

Later in the afternoon I took Ben to his 7 year well exam, which went routinely except for Rebecca having to pee a total of 3 times while we were there, and the embarrassment of Ben being asked to strip down to his underwear, and his reply: "I can't, I'm not wearing any. I lost them at camp today."

Ben weighed in at 56 pounds (compared with 50 last year, I was happy with this improvement), and 53 inches tall. He continues to be in the 75th percentile for weight and >97th percentile for height. His weight percentile is misleading, because he is so tall - he looks extremely skinny though as usual the doctor was not concerned :P

4th of July

I know I have been very remiss in the blogging department this past week, but fully intend to make up for it in the coming weeks ;) The kids had a fun second week of camp, they are both really enjoying it. We also had a nice 3 day 4th of July weekend, which included two trips to the pool at the JCC, dinner out with Papa Saturday night, a barbecue with friends Sunday, much of a day spent at a friend's house/pool yesterday, and dinner/playdate with one of Rebecca's friends last night. We avoided seeking out any fireworks displays, though we heard quite a bit of them both Sunday night and last night. Rebecca slept through both, but Ben took a lot of convincing that what he was hearing was fireworks and not gunfire. He has a very active imagination....

Back to camp/work today, though we're already looking forward to a visit from the cousins this weekend!