Happy Memorial Day

Our day was filled with fun. Hope yours was, too!

Swimming, cookouts, and friends!

NYC

Last weekend we went on a little get-away to NYC. My generous sister watched Clara for 3 days and 2 nights (our first time leaving her overnight).

We stayed in Times Square. Here is a view of the Chrysler Building from our hotel room. Our first indication that we were going to miss Clara more than we thought was when everything we saw reminded us of "Annie"(Clara's Favorite movie). "These floors better shine like the top of the Chrysler Building, or your backsides will"- Miss Hanigan

We did what we usually do for a vacation, pack as much as we possibly can do into a 2 day period of time.

We first started with a Night in the Museum, and after Greg got lost looking for moon rocks, we were able to enjoy some overgrown Lizard Bones. (Natural Selection, yeah right, this guy should still rule the food chain)

(Nicolle 27 weeks pregnant with baby girl #2)

Friday evening we walked through Greenwich Village, Soho, and Little Italy an ate at this delicious little Italian restaurant.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast with Greg's cousin and his wife- James and Emily. Sorry, we forgot to snap a photo of the lovely couple.

On Saturday afternoon, we saw La Cenerentola (Rossini) at the Metropolitan Opera. This was the highlight of the trip for Nicolle.

And the highlights of the trip for Greg were 2 trips to Wegmans (It is a supermarket, if you have never been there, you will not understand).

Overall it was a great trip and Nicolle has never encouraged Greg to drive faster than when we were heading back to Roanoke to pick up Clara.


We missed her!

swaptree.com

swaptree

Have you tried this? My friends Kelly and Tom told me about this website. It is awesome. I enter in the books I own and don't want anymore, then this site finds a trade for me, automatically. I just have to print out a mailing label and throw my book in the mailbox. I have been getting "free presents" of new (to me) books all week in the mail. Very fun and easy. They also trade music, DVD's, and video games. All free, you just pay to ship your own stuff out. You should try it!

1/2 Marathon Trail Run

Greg ran a 1/2 marathon lat Saturday- it was at our very favorite park- Bur Mill Park. Clara and I (Nicolle) rode my bike around on the bike paths to meet up with Greg and cheer him on as he ran on the hiking trails. We all had a great time-

• Greg loved the race
• Clara loved watching the runners (she thought it was hilarious that they would dump water on their heads and then drop the cup and run away... without getting in trouble! -A TWO YEAR OLD'S DREAM COME TRUE!)
• Nicolle loved taking in the beauty of the trails around the lake and dreaming of living in a house right by the trail... someday.
• Greg finished in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes(by 40 seconds)

Clara painted this sign all by herself... the "Go Daddy Go" was a little covered in paint by the time she was finished.

Greg did a fantastic job on a very tough course. Way to go!!!

(Here he is right after the race- Alive, but barely).

Greg is Sure Cheap

My old roommate, Greg Dibb, is cheap just like me. But he just won $999.99. Check this out.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090419/COLUMNIST0401/904190309

Congrats Greg

Help Greg Win

Greg did the Winston Salem Adventure Race again. He got 5th place out of 65 teams. But his team name can still win. Please click on http://ww.sceneinwinston-salem.com/ and vote for "The Very Pants he was about to return"

The Sun'll Come Out, Tomorrow

We finally got it on video (usually she stops whatever cute thing she is doing and runs straight for the camera as soon as we pull it out).



P.S. I am tring to catch up on my blogging/journaling about Clara. I started a post way back in November, but never finished it. If you are a Clara fan, click here to see this new/old post.

Clara's Favorites

Clara posed for a photo for first time. Our friend held up the camera and she put her arms around both of us and pulled us in. We loved it.

Favorite phrases:

"My do it"

"I do it my- by- self" (Clara is a very independent, strong-willed girl)

"Daddy go work(/church/class) go wide Daddy's twuck" (Daddy is going one of those places in his truck).
"My go pway dess-up (My go play dress-up). Mommy pay dess-up, too"?!?

Cutest phrases:
A'm habin a tea pody (I'm having a tea party- she uses the whole range of her voice, from low to high during this sentence.)
I cweam up (I clean up... not usually as productive as it sounds)
No tank you! (No thank you... usually in a desperatly sad voice)
Favorite songs to sing:
Tomorrow and Maybe from Annie
Cuckoo, Cherry Tree and Sitting Here Together from Kindermusik
I am a Child of God and I Love to See the Temple
Favorite activities:
Dress up (all day, every day)
Dancing
Play-dough
Coloring
Favorite Places to go:
The zoo (almost every morning she smiles at my coyly and asks... "Go fun zoo day?!?")
"Go gym" (Mommy works out while she has a blast on the moon bounce)
"Go school day"
"Daddy munch" (meet Daddy for lunch)
McAllister's Deli- our usual spot

She sits at the table with us, now, but she usually ends up on one of our laps (easier to reach the table and easier to steal the food off of our plates, I suppose).
We're working on potty training... this is what it looks like at our house.
She is (maybe) finally getting the idea about the new baby on the way. The other day she shoved a baby doll under my shirt. "Mommy hab a baby in da tummy."

Camping Trip

Here are some photos from our camping trip a couple of weeks ago. We went to Hagan Stone Park with some friends and had a blast. I think there were about 6 toddlers, there, and they loved playing together in the great outdoors.

It looks like Shaelyn is about to go bowling and Clara, Grant, Evelyn, and Collin are the pins.

Swinging with Daddy is fun because he pushes way too high!

Hanging out in the tent... this was probably the favorite camping activity for the girls... running in and out and in and out of the tent.

Picking flowers and running in the grass was fun, too.

P.S. You have to get this hide-a-mat. I bought it (from Costco) to sleep on in the tent and it is sooooo comfortable- way better than those air mattresses that deflate by morning. (Just make sure you don't share it with a 2 year old who likes to sleep horizontally).

Happy Easter

We have had a great Easter Weekend.

First Greg got Friday off so Thursday night we went camping(that will require a seperate post, but here is a preview photo of Clara loving her first S'more).

Saturday Clara had a easter egg hunt at Nicolle's Gym. We feel that for Clara's agressive and competitive development it will be to her advantage to compete against children older than her. So when given the choice, we registerd her for the 12-18 year old easter egg hunt division. Clara enjoyed seeing the eggs and the staff that was responsible for the hunt did a good job in making sure Clara was able to get some eggs, before the college freshman came in to take them all. Only after the easter egg hunt did Clara realize that there was candy associated with each egg. She will be kicking herself for that one for weeks to come. It was her only shot at getting refined sugar this year.

After the Gym we went to the Greensboro Farmers Market. We had a hearty breakfast to give us energy back that we lost from the Easter Egg hunt. While we were looking for plants for our garden, Greg saw some beautiful flowers and decided to surprise Nicolle with flowers. OK, Nicolle did drop some serious hints before he bought them

Nicolle "Those flowers are the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen"

Greg "Speaking of flowers, I was at a yard sale today and this guy wanted $.15 for a half used stick of chalk. I told him I could not go higher than $.12."

Nicolle "Those flowers would look great in our kitchen."

Greg "You know what would look great in our kitchen is one of the hats that you can drink soda from two sides"

Nicolle "I am buying those flowers"

Greg "Then it is coming out of your fun money"

When we got home, we painted eggs, and Clara went for the Neo-Impressionist style and summoned her inner Seurat . Here are Clara's eggs and one of Nicolle's as well. Nicolle's style is the lesser known Out of Focus Camera Style.

On Sunday, Clara got to wear her Easter outfit and we got to go to church as a family for once. After church we were able to look at some of the flowers in our yard.

Also, after watching Mary Poppins, Clara has been wanting to 'Go Fly a Kite." We got one and figured that the wind generated from a passing vehicle would help fly a kite (Trucks are the best). Here is what Clara was able to do. She is a Natural.

PS. For those of you wondering, Nicolle won the NCAA Brackets, and Clara got 4th out of 16 people. That is right, a 2 year old was able to predict that MSU and Carolina were going to play in the finals. Makes Greg's pick of Wake Forest winning it all look kind of silly.

Grandma's Daddy

By Nicolle:

My Mom has gray hair. Clara calls her "Gi-Gi." Whenever she sees someone with gray hair, she points at them and says, "Gi-Gi." Also, whenever we see someone who looks around the same age as her grandparents- male or female- (but without gray hair), she points and says, "Grandma." She isn't subtle about this, by the way, and some people might think it rude. Well, today she saw an elderly man (probably in his 80's). She pointed and shouted "Grandma's Daddy." Hilarious.

NC Zoo

This last weekend, we went to the Asheboro zoo. Clara could not wait to see the lions and was willing to let anyone know what a lion sounded like.

First we saw the alligators. Clara liked them, but Nicolle and Greg were a bit paranoid for a while, thinking everything that moved was an alligator.

A Gorilla walked right up to Clara (with only a glass window between them) - she was half excited and half terrified.

Clara enjoyed seeing the animals and has been talking about them ever since.

The most wonderful time of the Year

I love this time of year. We have a bracket and if any of you wish to join, you are more than welcome. Don't think you need to know anything about Basketball. You will beat Greg Regardless of your basketball knowledge.Here is the information:To accept this invitation and join the group, click the link below (or cut and paste the link into your browser's address bar).

You'll be asked to enter the group's password before you can join. The group password is included below.http://sherwoodbracekts.mayhem.sportsline.com/e

Our Group password is: ASUrules

Get Well, Soon!

By Nicolle:I'm feeling grateful. My best girlfriend just recently found out the reason behind the myriad of health problems that have been plaguing her for the last several years. She found the diagnosis herself, by doing research online, after hundreds of doctors/tests/and treatments had proven ineffective. Way to go, Trin! The best news is there is one surgery that should fix all of the problems. Surgery was today, and I hear it went well. Here we are in choir at Belmont University, where we got to know each other 11 years ago.

I was new and shy. Trinity was outgoing and made me feel welcome. We became fast friends and had tons of fun working on projects and studying (okay mostly laughing late into the night) together. We knew we'd be each other's maids of honor, before we even knew who we would marry.

Love you, Trin! Thanks for being such a great friend. Get well, soon.

Winter Wonderland

On Monday, Greensboro got a massive winter storm. School was canceled for a month, Roofs caved in due to the weight of the giant snowfall, Doors could not open because of the snow blocking the doors and Greg's job had a two hour delay (I didn't know work had 2 hour delays, I thought that was just school). Greensboro received 5 huge, mind blowing, crippling INCHES of snow.

Being from New York, when I hear Snowstorm, I imagine measurement in feet, not inches so when the normal NC Winter Storm Warning comes up, I get excited until I hear that 1 inch may be possible. This was the most it has snowed since we have lived in NC.

Clara had a blast in the snow.

She got to go sledding for the first time.

She did some snow angels with her Dad

She even got to hang out with a snowman and sing the Snowman song.
She was sad however, because she was unable to get to class due to her car being snowed in.

Overall we had lots of fun and by Thursday it was in the 60's and all the snow was gone.

Those Sweet Words

By Greg,

There are very few words that get me as excited as a word in an email that I recieved recently. The word is WON. That is right. I have Won something. Not just any something, but a LOT of somethings. Not 1 but 7.

I found a government surplus site online one day while looking for cheap Christmas presents. This is the site that any government agency can sell stuff. I found some recovered stolen items for sale like flat screen TV's and other stuff. It is a closed bid system (you enter your bid and no one can see what you bid).

Well, after bidding on over 50 items, I finally won something. I won a lot of Blackboards and Corkboards for only $5.00. 4 black boards and 3 corkboards. There was only one problem. They are not the hand held black boards, but are 8 feet long and 4 feet high.

So, if I want to be able to bid for anything ever again, I need to find homes for 3 of the Blackboards and 2 or 3 of the corkboards .

So if you are wanting to have a Blackboard for one of your walls, let me know. Please do it fast, too, there are a bunch of used lug nuts that I want to bid on.

Editor's note: We are not trying to sell these... they are FREE FREE FREE to a good home. Or to anyone who will take them out of our basement... you can even use our truck to haul them).

-Nicolle "I am married to a compulsive deal-shopper" Sherwood