Our Anniversary

Boy did we luck out this year. Chris/Popi drove down from Snowshoe for a visit and to babysit the boys while Jim and I got to go out for our 5th anniversary. (This is only the second one we've actually celebrated!) There wasn't a lot besides going to bars in the area but they do have a "First Night" celebration here in Raleigh so we decided to give that a shot. We found there was a Maggiano's restaurant about 30 minutes away. Our first date was at Maggiano's back in 2001. They had one reservation left at 5:15 so we snatched it up. As soon as we got there we realized why it had been open because it was in the worst spot by the kitchen. We laughed because that was exactly how it had been on our first date with us stuck back by the kitchen.

It was a unique experience to have a 2.5 hour meal and to enjoy every course. I even told the waiter to hold off on putting our main order in so we could just sit and enjoy and not feel rushed. Every once in a while we sighed over the cuteness of some other child at a nearby table but mostly we just got to talk and enjoy our evening. As we were paying the bill I remembered having a Maggiano's gift card (that we had only used some of) from KT and Bruce and it covered our entire bill! That was a nice little surprise.

Off we headed to First Night. The first show we saw was an African Dance Troupe. I don't know why I thought we needed to sit in the front row but there we were. This huge man started booming "A-go!" and when he said that you had to say "A-may" as loud as he did. Jim decided to use his deep and loud voice to boom back at the man and got into a little competition with a kid next to us. My ear was ringing from Jim yelling so loud! So it was only natural when they were doing some audience participation he stopped in front of us (my head went to the ground refusing to make eye contact) when the next thing I know Jim is out on the dance floor jamming out and getting everyone to scream for him. (No, I didn't have my camera!) I personally think Jim was having flash backs to his BMOC days at Longwood.

Then we headed over to see the Wake and District Public Safety Pipes & Drums group. They got together to do the bagpipes and drums for their fallen police officers, fire fighters and soldiers. It was so different from the African dance event we had just attended but man it was breathtaking. I got a little choked up when the did the song they do for their fallen. All I could think was I hope I never have to hear that song for real. Then they did a rendition of Amazing Grace that would bring anyone to tears. The drums were so fast you could barely see them hitting with what you were hearing. It was just amazing. So after that we broke down and called Chris and got a chuckle because bed time for the boys had certainly not been easy for Popi. I told him they knew a sucker when they had one. I think they went down around 11! He even told me not to call again for fear of waking them up!

So next we traipsed across town to get to an Improv group that did a pretty funny set. Jim only heckled them once. (I was so proud!) Then we found our way to the big acorn (their version of the ball drop) and listened to a Raleigh native, Tift Merrin, and did the countdown. The fireworks started off and we were a little worried because they were really, and I mean really, small but then they took off and we had a nice firework show. It was so nice to bring in the new year together that way. This year promises to have a lot of life changes again. Jim has decided to join the Army instead of looking for the National Guard jobs. So that means another career change and a move and I'm starting my new business. I've been told that 2008 is the year of new beginnings! So here's to 2008!

Why The Apartment Is Never Clean

Today I asked the question- WHY IS THE APARTMENT NEVER CLEAN??? So I paid attention to what was happening around me as I was busy cleaning. Here's what I noticed:

• Coop throwing all the folded laundry that is on the couch on the floor with glee.
• Bear tossing out little toy cubicles and joyfully clapping as the toys scatter across the living room floor.
• Coop taking used spoons out of the dishwasher and putting them away in the clean utensil drawer.
• Bear taking our Nalgene bottle straws out of the dishwasher and breaking them in half.
• Cooper taking all of our shoes out of the closet and hiding them.
• Bear opening the pots and pans cabinet and after beating on them for a while leaving them all around the apartment.
• Coop taking play-doh and strewing it around the apartment. Little pieces of it are now just a part of the carpet.
• Bear finding a contraband piece of chalk and marking up the fridge and deep freezer. Luckily I got to him before he found the walls.
• BOTH: bringing out every single train from their room and leaving them ALL OVER the apartment.

I can assure you I do try and keep and the apartment clean but they are conspiring against me I just know it!!

A Few Milestones

Last month I had one of those moments where I realized the boys are growing up again. I wrote down all the things they were doing to show me what big boys they are becoming.

• Bear is now going down the stairs by himself at the gym. We had that moment where he snatched his hand out of mine with that look of, "I can do it myself!" And he did!
• Bear has now started the gibberish talk. You hear a car, train, mama, dada or an oh oh but the rest just comes flying out of his mouth.
• It took us a month (and a box of ear plugs) but Bear is now night-weaned. We've had 2 nights of full sleep. You do realize that is the first time in three years I've slept the night through?!? This is huge news.
• Coop is now trying to give up his afternoon naps. He goes one day and then the next two we have to recover. But he really wants to give them up.
• Coop has become a parrot. He has learned, "Oh Crap and Oh Shoot!"
• Coop's new game is to say, "Count with me 1, 3, 4, 5, 6....." He will go up to 14 and then he just starts saying whatever number he feels like. He almost always will not say the #2. Not really sure why.
• Coop ate his first salad last month. Unfortunately I got excited and wrote it down but that was also his last salad. Couldn't repeat that little miracle but we at least had one time.

They are also now starting to play together. It's mostly teasing and stealing the other's train and running away but they will hug each other quite often and pat each others heads with such affection. I will never understand why it is we have 50 little trains but they will scream and holler over just one of them. Baffles me!

Bi-lingual

Cooper just yelled at Jim, "Come on Daddy!! Vamanose!"

I'm sorry but how cute is that!?! He also announces whenever he is going up or down anything. Up the stairs he says, "Arriba." Down a hill he is yelling, "Abajo!"for each step. No clue if I'm spelling it right, but I'm wondering if I should get something to teach him some real Spanish?

Cumberland Cove Playground Adventure

This little playground adventure was more about the leaves. Cooper still will bring me little handfuls of leaves to throw over his head.

Lake Lynn Playground Adventure

Foot Bath

Here are the boys helping Daddy soak his feet after one of his road marches. (That's right my husband now packs up his rucksack with about 40-50 pounds of weight and walks about 6 miles to get himself used to the Army road marches.) He keeps trying to convince me to go with him but every time he gets back he has to soak his feet so I tell him I need to stay back and get the water warm for him.

John's R&R

We missed the party but had a delicious (Yum yum yum yum yum delicioso!) Monihan Feast and got to spend some time together. Definitely a time to be thankful!

Welcome Olivia Mitchell!!

Olivia was born on Nov. 2!! Her mom, and my best friend ,Jamie had a pretty rough time after the c-section and I really needed to see my friend and make sure she was ok. She refused any pictures but it was so good to see her and get to spend some time with her. It kicked off our week of travel for Thanksgiving and to see John who is home for his R&R from Iraq. I finished up my last class and we drove the 6 hours to the upper most part of Maryland and crashed at a hotel (Coop glued to my back and Bear to my front). I couldn't wait for the sun to come up so I could sleep in the car! Sully found he liked the suitcase as his chariot. Jim forgot his wallet and cell phone at home and I told him not to worry about it as long as I had my wallet we were fine. I then promptly left my wallet at the hotel. We figured it out when we were trying to get some gas! Thankfully they saved it for me with all our cash in it. This leg of our trip was certainly an adventure!

Little Stinker

The Luckiest Mom

Activity Table

Cooper likes to eat the play-doh and Bear eats the crayons. Anyone have ideas for other things they can do at their little activity table???

New Winter Jacket Time

Goofy

Whenever Coop sees the camera he yells, "Cheese!" but closes his eyes until after the picture!!

Brotherly Love

I couldn't believe it when I saw Bear just go up to Coop and hug him with the most adoring smile and Coop turned around and patted his head and touched his face lovingly. Seriously how could I not cry when I watched that??