So.

So.  Here I am.  Slacker blogger.  How dare I show my face around here after not posting for 12 days!  Well, my excuse is...I've been busy.  Real busy.  Like working a bunch busy.  So I'm not complaining.  Busy is good.  Just not for blogging.   There appears to be an inverse relationship in blog frequency between my personal fun blog (this one) and my work blog (that one.) Therefore, if you ever wonder where the heck I've been, check blog number two.  If I'm not posting on that one, then check Facebook.  If I'm not on there then call the police.  ;-)
Ok so now that my pathetic excuses are out of the way...what's new in our little world?  Well, SB continues to entertain and delight us.  She is spunky, opinionated, and running around the house like a maniac.  We spend lots of time outdoors in our new grassy backyard.  That's right, grassy.  For those of you who have seen our backyard in the past, you may remember the jungle-like mass of ivy and weeds covering  our property.  Well Kurt tilled it all up,  planted grass seed a month ago and like magic, we now have a green lawn suitable for baby to play on if not for the dog "presents" they leave behind.  With leaves everywhere it's hard to locate all their, um, leave-behinds so naturally our first romp in the yard ended with SB picking up an old dog turd.  Lovely.  I was horrified.  Kurt would have been horrified too but he was so amused with my horror that he laughed instead as I carried SB, holding her defiled hand out of reach, into the house for a thorough scrubbing.  Gross.

We had an awesome day today.  my friend Ouida was photographing her friend's wedding up at Hanging Rock State Park north of Winston-Salem and she invited me to shoot with her for fun, for her friend, and to add to my portfolio.  Of course I jumped at the chance and we decided to make a day of it.  We got up relatively early and headed up to Old Salem for a few hours.  It is the coolest place you've never been to.  I lived in Winston for years and barely set foot in Old Salem.  It's just like Williamsburg but smaller and closer and with Moravian cookies.  Love it.  Our time was limited so we only walked around outside but it's on our list to return for a tour of the buildings and a little shopping.

 Here's SB with...wait, who's that?  Holy cow it's her Mommy in an actual photo.  Very Rare.  

Thanks Daddy for taking this one. 

Oh now that's better.  Mommy behind the camera where she belongs.  Aren't these two the cutest?

After Old Salem, we headed up to Hanging Rock, about a 40 minute drive through some, shall we say, more rural parts of the state.  Wow.  Walkertown, Walnut Cove, Danbury.  We are talking the sticks here.  Some of the scenery was very quaint and pretty.  Some of it, not so much.  Like, for instance, I wouldn't recommend going to the Stokes County Hospital for any reason.  It looks like a run down grammar school.  The pharmacy there is a trailer.  Maybe I'm judging a book by it's cover but I would venture to say they are not on the cutting edge of medical science.  It wasn't all bad though.  My favorite scene was a store that did not have a sign out front so I know not what it was, but there was smoke coming out of the chimney on the tin roof and there were at least 6 older men sitting out front in chairs in their overalls shooting the breeze.  They were still there on our return trip.

The park itself is stunningly beautiful.  The trees were red and gold and the light filtering through the trees about sets them on fire. 

See?

The coolest part is there's a lake at the top of this rock/mountain thing.  It's just lovely.  The family was so sweet and happy.  We got some beautiful pictures and had a great time.

Pretty as a postcard.

While Ouida and I were busy, Kurt and SB ran off with Greg and Avery to explore the woods.  They must've had fun because SB fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot.  She woke up 30 minutes later, fresh as a daisy.  So we stopped in China Grove (continuing our tour of tiny towns in NC) to stuff ourselves at Porky's BBQ.  A longtime favorite of Kurt's from his days working in Kannapolis, we introduced it to SB and she was smitten.  Not only is the food delish, but there are lots of people to watch and if that isn't enough there's a TV hanging on the wall every10 feet.  A feast for the senses.  She ate most of her mac and cheese, some pork BBQ and tried a hush puppy.  She was too interested in the little boy at the next table to really care what she was eating, but I think she left with a full belly.  She will sleep well tonight!

Random Happenings and More Pictures

Another week has flown by and it's almost September?  Wow.  In some ways this summer lasted for-ev-er with the stifling heat and humidity keeping us trapped inside, but in other ways I can't believe it's time for school buses and Halloween costumes.  Our little girl is just shy of walking on her own.  We are down from a two-handed assist to just holding on to one of Mommy's fingers.  Go baby go!  Consequently, we just received a shipment of various baby-proofing items:  toilet lid lock, oven lock and super-duper retractable baby gate for the top of our stairs.  Who knew you had to lock your toilet?  But sure enough, SB finds the bathroom an exotic locale full of forbidden excitement.  Toilet paper is ridiculously fun.  Just one tug and whooosh half the roll is unfurled at her feet.  She like to gleefully grab handfuls of the stuff and ball it up in her little fists.  If you try to take it away she'll attempt to shove it in her mouth.  Where'd she learn that from, an episode of Prison Break?  She also likes to go for the toilet brush (ick) and peek behind she shower curtain in case Daddy is hiding there, I guess.  All I see is one slip and a skull fracture from the cast iron bathtub, therefore I do my best to keep her out of there completely.  She's a fast little bugger though.

Pardon me while I get all domestic, but I cooked the most delicious meal the other night and must tell you about it:  Mini-meatballs and Polenta served with Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce topped with a dollop of Ricotta Cheese.  All three of us devoured it and it was from the Williams Sonoma Cooking for Baby Cookbook that my Mom bought us as a baby shower gift.  You make the meatballs with oat bran instead of bread crumbs and add dill and nutmeg.  Delish!  The tomato sauce has pureed sweet potato and spinach in it so it's way healthy.  Sarah Beth loved it.  I highly recommend this cookbook if you have a little one or one on the way - the recipes go from first solid foods thru toddler meals and like I said, it was delicious for us big kids too.

So, in the category of unpleasant eating experiences, we had a stowaway in our bagged fresh arugula mix from Trader Joe's the other night.  I plated our salad and we sat down at the table.  I started eating but heard this weird hissing sound coming from Kurt's plate.  There was a HUGE striped beetle-looking thing sitting on his plate staring at Kurt.  It was apparently not pleased that it was about to be dinner and believe me, neither were we.  I, of course, being the borderline bug-phobic person that I am, flew across the room screaming EW EW EW EW as I spit out the salad I was chewing on.  Kurt thought it was all hysterically funny.  Baby did too.  Our little friend met his fate in the garbage disposal and I will never eat bagged salad again.  I am only thankful that it was not sitting on my plate because I probably would not have survived.

Since my theme here has turned to food, I may as well mention our luncheon with Daddy on Wednesday.  We went to the big city to meet Daddy at work.  We ended up at Lola's, a home cookin' cafeteria style place that possibly has the best mac n' cheese ever.  SB thought so.  She ate all of Mommy's serving save for one or two bites.  She also enjoyed the baked chicken, pinto beans and cornbread.  She is definitely a southern gal.  Oh for you Yankees, mac n' cheese is considered a vegetable in the South, so it was actually quite a healthy meal for her.  After lunch, we headed up to The Green for round two of frolicking in the fountain.  This time, no homeless people showering.  No one at all actually, SB had all 3 fish to herself and she took full advantage.   Again, iPhone video will be forthcoming.


As promised, here's the final round of photos from Avery and Sarah Beth's playdate at the park, post-haircut.

Here's BOB!

Avery was very eager to help push SB around.

Happy boy!

There's a water feature that is calling my name, Mommy!

Check this out!

Good times.

Little Man! Love this one.

SB's turn.  I have 1000 pictures of her on the swing.  

I'll spare you the masses and just pick a few.  But if I can get the video off of Kurt's iPhone you will be forced to watch it in a future post.

Here's a close up of the precious turtle hair clip Auntie Ouida bought her.  It's made of felt.  Too cute.

Wheee!  We've been to the swings several times since then and she loves it.  As soon as she sees the swing-set she gets all excited.    Even better when there are other kids to watch!

Avery's New 'Do

The long awaited photos of Avery's first haircut are here! 

Before:

Playing while we wait:

The consultation:

And away we go...um, Mom what is this lady doing?

Lady, what do you think you're doing exactly?

Not really loving this but I'm keeping it together.

Reassuring kisses from Mommy helps.

See, it's not that bad, right Avery?

Well actually Mommy it is that bad.  Almost done Avery, promise!

Whew, glad that's over with.

Now, can me and my sidekick take this truck for a spin or what?

Look at that grown up boy haircut!

The hairdresser at Pigtails and Crewcuts was so nice and good with Avery.  I will definitely be taking SB there for her first haircut.  They have the cutest hair accessories for little girls too!  Auntie Ouida bought SB a little felt turtle clip - too cute.  You'll see shots of that in our next installment: Avery and SB go to the park.  Stay tuned!

First Haircut, First Swing...First Date? Just a teaser...

We had such a fun day yesterday!  Avery brought his Mom and Dad down to Charlotte for a visit.   He had his very first haircut, then we went out for ice cream and followed that up with a trip to the park for SB's first ride in a real playground swing!  I have an entire pictorial planned, but I still have to go through the photos.  Here's a teaser of what's to come...