Watch Out Ladies- Gage has Game!

My kid, I tell you, he knows no stranger...which is a good and bad thing, I suppose.

This afternoon we were at a cookout of some good friends of ours.  Jeff's (the host) sister, Rachel, was there.  Gage has probably met her once before but didn't know her name or anything.  We played for quite a while, Gage ate dinner and played ball with Daddy.  When he decided he was tired, he told me he was going to go in and dream, or pretend to be asleep.  He went in the house for a few minutes., then promptly came back out and asked the 1st girl he saw, Rachel, if she would like to snuggle with him.....it was pretty much the funniest thing I've ever heard.  I'm sure she was caught a little off guard and I told him that we didn't ask people we didn't know to snuggle with us.  He wasn't deterred and asked again a few minutes later.  She said she'd love to and they went inside and snuggled under a blanket while he told her all sorts of stories.

I went in a few minutes later and he was singing to her.  I asked if he even knew her name.  He said 'No.'  I told him that before he asked someone to snuggle with him, he should at least know her name.  He proceeded to say 'What is your name?'  When she said 'Rachel', he replied, 'You are snuggling with me and my name is Gage!'  He looked up at me- very proud of himself. 

So gentlemen, the  take away lesson- always ask a girl her name before asking her to snuggle and it is still  probably only cute if you're 3.  

Happy Birthday AJ and Day 3

Today I want to wish one of my best friends and one of Gage's most favorite people, AJ a very Happy Birthday.  I don't think I have any recent pictures of her to post, but I definitely wanted to give her a shout out....

...which leads me to Day 3 of my 30 Days.  Today I am thankful for friends like AJ, who I have been by my side for over a decade.  There are too many to name, but I am so thankful that I have stayed in touch with friends from middle school, high school and college and can still call them friends today.

The Outer Banks

There is no other place I'd rather be.  As I'm deciding what to blog about this week, many baby posts come into my brain:  the nursery, that is nowhere close to being done, the fact that I have but 10 weeks to go, the thought of holding a new teeny baby.  All of those things I'm sure I'll write about soon, but there are also tons of pictures I've been neglecting to post:  mainly ones of our last 2 trips to the Outer Banks.

When we go and do things with Gage these days, I sometimes struggle with taking pictures.  I want to live in the moment and play with him and not worry about snapping pictures at every turn.  Then again, of course I like having our family events caught on camera and would be sad if they were completely undocumented.  Therefore when we're at the beach, I usually take a couple days off as photographer just to play with him (unless we're doing something pretty special), then usually take a day or two to for sure to snap some new beach pictures.  I mean at this point, I probably have 100's from the Outer Banks since we frequent it so much.  And you can only have but so many sand/sea pictures.  In any case, the last 2 trips we have made to the OBX, one with friends and one with family, were ignored on this blog, visually at least.  They didn't consist of too much out of the ordinary, just so good ole beach time and fun with friends and family, so I'll just share some pictures of our weekend/week.

Gage's friend, Jake (May 2012)

Splashing in the water with Daddy



Mommy, Daddy and Gage, June 2012 (2.5 years)



I think the birds look cool in this shot.

Smiling at Nana

How do you get this thing off?

1st swim in the ocean with Daddy

Looking for seashells with Nana

Christmas 2011: Round 2

*I have come to the realization if I wait on my computer to not be a piece of junk, I will be waiting for quite some time, or until I have the money to buy a new one.  I have figured out how to change the image size on my camera (thanks to my For Dummies book) so hopefully I won't have the same problem in the future.  However, if I want to move on with my blogging life and post other posts that are waiting in my queue, I'm unfortunately going to have to give you a pictureless post for now.  When I figure out how to resize my pictures (does anyone know if you can do this in bulk?) then I'll be back in business.  For now, you'll have to read, instead of look at my cute kid.*

Well the 2nd round of Christmas 2011 is over and we have lived to tell about it.  We chose to leave Wednesday night after Gage's bedtime, which we have done before and will probably not do again.  In any case, no matter when we leave the 1st night Gage isn't is in his own bed is always rough.  After not enough sleep Wednesday night, Gage woke up to yet another Christmas.  After breakfast, he ran in to tell Daddy 'it's Santa time' and thus we started.  And Gage must've been a pretty good boy this year because Santa left him a whole SACK of presents at Nana and Grandiddy's house too!  Gage had quite a Yo Gabba Gabba! Christmas.  He got a nap mat for daycare, 2 Beanie Babies, a CD, and a singing toothbrush to name a few.  He also got a super cute pair of Sesame Street rain boots, a soccer ball and a basketball hoop.  He was very excited to open more presents and to roll in paper yet again.  Gage also got a few more cute books to add to his library.  Mommy and Daddy got hooked up too, as always.  Luke got a book, movie, gift cards, music stuff and money.  I got a North Face, a rain jacket, rain boots and some gift cards that are already burning a whole in my pocket.  We had some nice family time along with Auntie and Doris and a nice dinner to round out the night.  Gage of course continues to be a naughty 2 year old (more on that later) but nevertheless it was a nice night.

Friday morning we got together with a high school friend of mine and her 2 little men.  It was great to see her again, it had been way too long and as you can see, her two sons are handsome!  Gage had fun playing with new kids and new toys. 

Saturday, Mommy and Daddy got to enjoy some shopping time and lunch to theirselves, thanks to Nana!  We each got a few gift cards that we wanted to use and Nana had a blast hanging out with Gage in the 60 something weather on New Year's Eve!  Crazy!  You won't find me complaining, though.  They also colored and painted, such a treat!  Yesterday afternoon we got in another playdate with one of my high school BFF's and his little girl.  Again, how awesome was a 65 degree day at the park at the end of December?? 

This morning we headed home from another fun weekend (this time, extended) with Nana and Grandiddy.  Gage loves going to their house and playing in their leaves and Nana always has some kind of new book or toy. Even after all of the new Christmas gifts he got this weekend, he still asked to find 'more toys' several times.  We came back today so that we would have one day to recoup from all that Christmas was before returning to work on Tuesday.  It was fun, but it has now come to an end.  Thanks Santa for everything you left at Nana's house.  Sure beat what you left here!  hah....

*Yes I realize, pretty lame w/o pictures.  Oh well, I'm cutting my losses.

Our Week...

Ok, so I promised I'd be back Tuesday for an update about our weekend; however, now we're on to another one.  Where does the time go?  Here's what we've been up to.

Last weekend my parents came to visit 1) b/c they haven't seen Gage in over a month and 2) so Luke and I could enjoy ourselves at a friend's wedding.  Other than the weather (the very 1st time I have ever seen snow in October in my life) it was a nice night.  Meanwhile, Grandiddy spent the ENTIRE day putting together Gage's early 2nd birthday present---a train table!  Gage was sooo thrilled on Sunday morning and proudly announces every afternoon on the way home from school.....'I play choo-choo trains'.  Here is his new passion.

Monday night, of course was Halloween and Gage got to dress up at school in the afternoon even before trick-or-treating.  After getting him home, feeding him and giving him a bath because we knew it would be too late when we got home, I think he was actually ready for bed.  BUT, we instead made him dress back up as Mickey Mouse and after a meltdown, headed out to trick or treat.  If we hadn't had a friend coming over, I probably would've bagged the whole thing, however, as soon as he got outside and saw the neighbors all dressed up, he was ready to go.

Trick or treating at school

Sawyer, the giraffe and Mickey Mouse checking out the fish

Mickey Mouse and a cupcake

Ready for trick or treating

Alyssa (10), Gage and Jessica (7)

Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of Logan, the blue monster



Gage's 2 favorite girls



A neighbor's pumpkin

Gage doing his thing

We are so blessed to have such great neighbors, Gage absolutely adores them!

The rest of the week has been a blur full of doing school work, going to meetings and meeting old friends for dinner.  Gage is still a little sicky and his cough doesn't seem to have improved so much.  I had a conference today at Gage's school b/c he'll be moving up to the big 2 year old room on his birthday....which, did I mention is 10 days away? OMG!  I feel like I have so much to do before then.  Gotta buy all the icing for his birthday cake, etc.  At least we don't have to prepare the house for a birthday party, too!

Tomorrow is a baby shower for an old friend and Sunday is shopping with a new friend!  In between, I need to get Gage fitted for new shoes and prepare him for his 1st trip to the dentist on Tuesday....not sure how that one's going to go.

I feel like I had so much to talk about.....now, as usual, I got nothing!



PS.  This would've been posted last night if Blogger was accepting pictures!

Any Dawson's Creek Lovers Out There?

Me, me, oh oh, pick me!  I LOVED this show, y'all.  I thought it was fabulous and I remember wanting to be just like Joey Potter.  Anyway, not too long ago, my old college roomie and I were chatting and reminiscing about good ole Capeside and decided that we just had to relive it one more time and watch every episode from the beginning.  Neither her nor I actually own any of the seasons- I don't ever buy that kind of stuff so we jumped on Ebay, Half.com, Amazon, etc. to track them down.  We found them, of course, for cheap and ordered away.  We promised not to watch them with anyone else and tried to figure out how long it would take to watch all of them when we could probably only get together every now and again.  In any case, we were stoked! 

Our 1st viewing party was this past Tuesday night and it was just as I remembered it!  Amazing!  In a teenage kinda way.  (Actually some of the story lines and vocabulary I'm pretty shocked at).  ha....think I'm a dork yet?  Anyway, one minor glitch.  So I had ordered Season 1, but hadn't tried it out.  I had gotten it from Amazon though and figured there would be no reason for problems.  Can you believe Disc 1 did not work??  Can you imagine how disappointed Jennifer and I were when we couldn't watch the beginning of Dawson's Creek?!?!  We did manage, however, to find online episodes so we were forced to cuddle together in front of her laptop.  hah...funny thing is that no 1 website would play all 3 of the 1st episodes we wanted to watch.  Oh well, we managed!  We just have 1 more episode to find online before we get to watch Disc 2, which does work!  We have a viewing party scheduled again for next week....then we have a few weeks in between.  I'm not sure how we will manage. 

Did I mention I went to Wilmington in April and tried my hardest to find everything I could from the show?? 

Did anyone else love this show like I did??

Let Freedom Ring, Let the Whole World Sing...

It's Independence Day!  As we celebrate our independence, I want to thank of all the servicemen and women past and present that have fought for this very liberty. 

Today was much different than our usual 4ths.  I have to say I was slightly disappointed.  For the last at least 5 years, we have gathered with good friends of ours to celebrate the 4th and it has always been tradition.  This year, however, they were out of town and therefore, we were left high and dry.  We will be celebrating with them on Saturday- kind of a belated 4th, if you will.  In any case, we didn't do too much today- ran some errands, took naps and hung out with our some of our other good friends and their family.  We hadn't seem them in a while so it was nice to visit with them, but Chinese food just isn't a part of my usual 4th of July.  I did make my yummy Kahlua cake though, I am saving my special 4th of July dessert for Jamie and Brad's on Saturday.  Maybe I'll share the recipe with you, if I'm feeling up for it.  As far as the rest of the night, we're pretty tired in this house.  Gage hasn't slept the best lately and it's catching up to us.  I, unfortunately, won't be seeing any fireworks tonight, which if you know me, is pretty disappointing in itself.  Maybe I'll be selfish and hope for rain!  J/K.

Tomorrow is the Little Gym, a DC marathon (I'll fill you in on that later), Wed. is a kids concert and swim class, Thursday is the  premiere of BIG BROTHER and Friday, Daddy is off work!  A busy week and so much to blog about!  Happy 4th of July!  Gage had a pretty cute shirt for today, but not sure I got any good pictures. 

Yesterday's picture....

I have been at the school I work at now (my only school) for 8 years now.  I really love working there and have made some really good friends in the process.  These 2 ladies that are in the picture with me are 2 of my very best friends that I work with.  I met them both the in the 1st 2 weeks- 8 years ago in August and we have been friends ever since.  Malisa, to my right, was the matron of honor in my wedding, and Jamie's family and mine hang out all the time (we have our 4th of July tradition, as well).  They are great friends and great girls and we all had babies around the same time 2 years ago.  Jake came 1st on August 1st, Theo was a little over 2 weeks later in late August and as you know, Gage was 3 months later in November.  Jake and Gage play together more often (he's been featured a few times) but Theo and Gage have only met once being that they live about an hour away.  This is the 1st time all 3 boys have been together and sadly, probably one of the last for a while.  I wanted to capture this picture, just in case.

A new baby!

I almost forgot!  One of my very best friends from high school, Brett and his wife, Meg, welcomed their 1st baby boy into the world yesterday evening!  Gage and I were supposed to go visit them later today to make the final days of pregnancy go a little faster...ah well, guess Baby Kellen Marlin had other plans!  Congratulations Brett and Meg!

An Adoption..

I realize I have been a delinquent blogger this week and I apologize.  More on that later.

However, now on to much more exciting news!  One of my very old and dear friends that I have known since Kindergarten is about to start her family by adopting a baby from Russia!  Wendy and her husband, Scott have been in this process for almost a year and a half, I believe and from what I understand it's a very LONG, arduous one with many ups and downs and uncertainties.  It has been an emotional rollercoaster for them with many prayers along the way.  Finally, last week their prayers were answered and they got the call that they are able to travel to Russia to meet their baby this Easter!  I could not be more thrilled for them.  They deserve this more than anyone and OMG, that baby is about to have the greatest miracle ever happen to him/her and have the best parents and life that any child could ask for.  Wendy and Scott are two of the kindest, most caring people in the world and I am so so happy that this moment is happening for them! 

Please say prayers for them as they travel to Russia in a week and that everything will go as planned and they will add a new member to their family come August.  Visit their blog by clicking on the link above if you'd like to share w/ them your thoughts and prayers!

PS:  I'm very sad I missed Wordless Wednesday this week:(  That's how busy I have been.

Happy Birthday CJ!

Again, a birthday shout out to one of my REAL life friends. Casey's oldest son, CJ, at All Because Two People Fell in Love turns 4 today. Head on over to her blog to check out all of the festivities and to hear the tales of the things her kids say.  They are always my favorite posts of hers.  While you're at it, check out her blog roll to find her photography blog, she takes some AWESOME pictures.

Happy Birthday CJ!  Have a great one!

Happy Birthday Finn!

Casey and I are actually real friends as well (I can't say that about too many of my bloggy friends) but that makes the birthday wishes that much more fun!  I have to make sure to wish her little man a very Happy Birthday today!  Finn is only a year old and was born just about 6 weeks after Gage last year.  I've enjoyed watching him grow up on the Internet as well as seeing Casey's older 2 kids and their antics.  We grew up in the same town, but Casey now lives many many states away and so this is the only chance I get to see her kids. Hopefully one day Gage and Finn can meet for a playdate, I think they would enjoy it.  We'll try not to hold it against Finn that he's already walking while Gage is barely standing;)

Happy Birthday C!

Bonnie and I have been friends forever and not like bloggy friends, but real actual friends, since we were kids playing basketball together.  Anyway, today her little man (or not so little anymore) turns into a 3 year old!  Luke, Gage and I want to wish Carson a very Happy Birthday!!  We met Carson 3 years ago over Xmas Break, when he surprised Bonnie and Brad a whole month early!  Unfortunately, we don't live close by and don't get to see him too much, but Bonnie and I try to keep in touch as much as we can and we definitley hope he has a great day!  Head on over to Three Men and a Lady to check out the festivities!

Behind again- 4 more....

Ok, so it's clear that I didn't keep up this year at all and that I'll be more realistic next time I want to start a meme on my blog.  At least noone attempted to follow along though and didn't show me up at my own game.  In any case, with November winding down, I have 4 more reasons to be thankful.

a)  I am thankful for a few days off to spend time with not only my immediate family, but also with extended family and old friends,

b) from that I am thankful for keeping in touch with friends I have known for 15-25 years.  It is always great to see them, even if just for a few mintues and incredible that we're still as close as we are.

c)  I am thankful for Grandma who spent time with Gage while Luke and I enjoyed an afternoon out, a morning to sleep in and meals that we could eat when they were actually hot!

d)  Finally, I am thankful for traveling safely to and from my parents' house, for not running into too much traffic and for everyone else's safe travels this Holiday weekend.

A Thanksgiving post and pictures to come.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 4

Yes, I realize Halloween is over and that I need to change my header.  However, I am a slacker and haven't sent pictures to the person who is designing my next one!  Another week has passed and it hasn't been done, what can I say?  It is also 10pm on a work night and I'm sitting here blogging acting like I have nothing to do w/ myself.

Today I am thankful for all of the wonderful friends I have, both old and new.  This post was supposed to  coincide with my birthday wishes to Jennifer yesterday, but well, you know (see above, slacker).  Anyway, I am really fortunate to have some great friends in my life, several I have known for over half my life, while others I have met w/in the last few years.  I could go on and on about them and the things they do for me and the memories we share, but that's for another post. 

Another baby!!

The following was supposed to be posted Friday, but I'm an idiot and only put it in the draft folder:

NO, not for me!! Today our good friends, Sherri and Howard and their 3.5 year old daughter, Evie are welcoming a new baby!! We are so excited for them and dying to find out if it's a boy or a girl! Keep them in your thoughts! Hopefully, we will get to visit in the next few weeks!

HE is here and the family is doing well.  We are all so happy for new baby Everette Ray Arp!

A Birthday!

Although I promised I wouldn't post during September, I said I'd be true to my birthday wishes, so dutifully I would love to wish Madison a Happy 7th birthday!  Madison is the daughter of one of my real life high school friends.  Although I have only met Madison once and see Kasey, her Mom, very rarely, they are special to me because they are not just my 'online' friends.  Kasey and I grew up together and now she lives in Utah w/ her beautiful family.  She has 3 awesome kids and she's a damn good photographer.  Head over to All Because Two People Fell in Love and check her blog out while wishing her oldest a happy day!

Wordless Wednesday- 2 birthdays

Happy 6th Birthday to Big Cousin Ianna!

Happy 32nd Birthday to one of my very best friends, Malisa!

A weekend in Chesapeake...and swim lessons

Friday night we headed down to Chesapeake to visit the grandparents and to see some friends I went to high school with. We did dinner with friends and their almost 2 year old girl. Unfortunately, I am bad and didn't get any pictures (give me a break, we were at a restaurant), but Gage again, is soo interested in touching other kids now. He was very interested in Caleigh, as she was in him. Sunday we also went to visit my friend Bonnie and her new baby boy, Bennett. He was soo cute and sweet. Unfortunately, her oldest son, Carson was napping and we didn't get to see him. Gage wasn't very interested in Bennett, probably b/c Bennett showed no interest in him, but he did practice his squealing skills and puked on Bonnie's carpet!

Other than that we just spent the weekend with family and Gage got lots of Grandma and Grandiddy time! Gage is super excited to see them in 5 weeks at their beachhouse!

Gage also had his 1st swim lesson last night. He did all in all pretty well but was very overstimulated. He was SOO excited to be there and couldn't wait to get in the water. He just kept squealing and squealing, seems to be his new thing. Although we were pretty disappointed that Daddy couldn't take pictures, Gage still had fun. The instructor used him a couple of times for an 'example' and he loved it. He did get his face in the water once and swallowed a little bit of water, but he's no worse for it! We'll see how he enjoys tomorrow night's class.

Summer time...and the livin's easy..

Ah...the summer time. This is the 1st summer in a LONG time that I haven't worked somewhere. Although summer school is great money, what teacher could ever resist staying at home with their new baby all summer long? We have had some fun already and it's only 3 weeks in. This week seems to be extra busy, w/ today being our only 'day off'.

Last week on Wednesday/Thursday we started our weekly play dates with Sawyer. I think I have mentioned Sawyer quite a few times now and yet no pictures, I know, I am bad. I will try and do that this Thursday. On Friday night, we went to a friend's for dinner. They have a 2 year old and one on the way, so it wasn't exactly a play date, plus Gage went to bed shortly after we got there. Either way, it was nice to have an adult dinner. On Sunday, Gage's "Aunt" Kelly came to visit and I'm so ticked I didn't get ANY pictures of them together. What was I thinking? He doesn't see Kelly very often and maybe I was so excited b/c I don't either but shame on me for not getting any pictures of the 2 of them. I guess I could Photoshop one together;)...ha, or just wait for next time:(

Yesterday we went to lunch w/ an old college friend of mine and Gage was a dear, as usual. We almost drown (from rain) but that is a whole other post. Finally, as you know Gage started 3 meals a day last week and this week is starting finger foods. We have begun giving him puffs and it's pretty hilarious. We'll have to get it on camera while he's still unsure. He has no idea why I'm putting a lump in his mouth and tries to spit it out. He has successfully gotten a few down and has pretended to choke/gag in the process. Oh well, just like anything else, he'll learn with time. I did try a sippy cup today for the 1st time though, w/ just some water in it and he seemed to love it. I guess we'll see how that goes too.

Anyway, we're off to Target when Gage gets up from his nap and tomorrow we have a play date with Theo (I'll promise to get some pictures this time) and Thursday with Sawyer. Fri. am we are supposed to have breakfast with another old college friend of mine and have yet another play date that afternoon with Jamie and Jake at the pool. Fri. pm we're headed down to Grandma and Granddiddy's for the weekend. See you tomorrow, when Gage is EIGHT months old!