Mountain Trip!

We ventured up to Blowing Rock, NC for the weekend. It was absolutely gorgeous! We stayed in an amazingly beautiful inn, The Inn at Crestwood, and in an even more fabulous room, the Grandfather Suite (courtesy of Verizon's awesome discount!) and drove up an incredibly windy road to get to the top of Grandfather Mountain - I think Andy and I were both sweating because of the height and the sheer drop off with no guard rails. But we made it and despite the frigid temps (it was a balmy 18 degrees at the top), the boys thought the mile high swinging bridge was pretty neat. But they were even more intrigued with the ice that they could actually break into little pieces and pick up.

C'mon Chase...

"C'mon Chase" seems to be the catch phrase I have been hearing all around the house these days. And I have to say, that it is a relief that the boys are actually playing together more and fighting less - I hope it lasts! Landon has come a long way with his patience for Chase (for an almost 4 year old!)
Last night, I was changing out the kitchen garbage bag when the boys grabbed the can, dragged it into the living room, and placed it upside down. They then decided it would be fun to climb up the bean bags, then on top of the garbage can, and steadied themselves before they took a gigantic leap, only to find themselves hitting the floor and rolling. But I wasn't going to stop the madness when they were talking about taking turns and giggling hysterically!

It just gets better...

Landon and Chase have been such the cute brothers lately. Landon has been trying so hard to help Chase out of his frustration which also can be a challenge because it seems like lately Chase can become very frustrated, very quickly. But even so, Landon will try to distract Chase or say, "Here Chase, I can help you." And off Chase follows like a little puppy following his mama. Lately, if you tell Chase no, he stares you down and spits. We have been trying very hard to ignore it. Today Landon asked me, "Ignore means to not talk, right?" Right.

I have also been trying to recognize both of their "great" behavior and praise them for it. Last night we were coming home after having dinner at this great bbq place for Grandpa's birthday. The conversation went like this:

Me: Thank you so much for behaving so well at the restaurant. I really appreciate when you boys behave.
Pause....
Landon: We didn't go under the table, right mommy?
Me: No, you didn't.
Pause....
Landon: We didn't put our feet on the table either, right mommy?
Me: No, you were perfect.
Pause....
Landon: And our bottoms....
Pause...
Me: Your bottoms what?
Landon: We didn't take our bottoms under the table either, right mommy?
Me: Right.

Warm + Sunshine = Happy?

What a glorious day! Okay, sounds a bit cheesy but I am definitely a sunshine, warm weather, gal. It makes me happy... it gives me energy... which makes me eat up these 70 degree days! In fact, I was contemplating laying out for a while, like the old days in Oswego when the high would be 68, and the sun made it feel hotter and we would sunbathe on the roof! (Yes mom, I said the roof!) Instead, we took the boys to the park, which they loved, and for 2 whole hours we made it without tantrums, teasing, or crying! Well, almost... until Chase pinched his fingers in the automatic window which lead to a loud bloody scream! After close inspection and wedging his finger between two mandarin orange cups (I was looking for the coldest thing we had), the finger is not broken, but definitely swollen and will probably hurt for a while. Poor baby Chase - he was a trooper!

Snow day!

The hot cocoa was the best part!

Lots of whipped cream!

Chase frozen to the sled.

A lame sled attempt

Catching snowflakes on his face

Too cold for Chase

This was Landon's "excited" face.

We did get our snow day on Tuesday! I actually woke up early, realized it had only snowed what we would call a "dusting" in NY, disappointedly I showered, got ready for work, only to realize that we indeed had a snow day! Check out "all" of our snow! The boys were VERY excited to play outside in it... until Chase realized that snow equated to feeling cold and then he was not such a fan of it! The hot cocoa and whipped cream was his favorite part!

Snow in the south?

Today is MLK day so I had a day off from school as did the boys. We have been having a great morning/afternoon and I am hearing that we may be getting a few inches of snow tonight which is very exciting for this area because is happens rarely. So we are just sitting and waiting... for the snow to arrive!

Roeming on the water

After many, many, many years of sitting on the shores of first the Potomac River, then Lake Wylie, and drooling over any piece of watercraft that zipped by, wishing and hoping that we could have one of our very own, we are finally owners of real motorized boat! It has a real motor and everything - not like the one we could clip onto our canoe and pray the batteries wouldn't wear out while far off shore and have to paddle back while 9 months pregnant! I can't wait to really enjoy it once it warms up down here!

Ear issues?

Today Chase was walking around the house seeming a bit cranky and tugging on his ear. As I was pointing this out to Andy (concerned that it could be an infection), Landon walked into the playroom, looked at Chase, and said in a very sympathetic voice, "Oh buddy... you have diarrhea in your ear?"

Random pics

Bored...

I am so bored these days. Don't get me wrong - I love spending time with boys (when they are not fighting) but I am at a crossroads trying to think up new things to do. It's not that Landon and Chase need to be exposed to everthing before the ages of 4 and 2, but it is more for my own brain stimulation. I am also realizing that when we keep moving, things just flow a bit better throughout the day. This morning we went to the Y (Andy is also still off for the rest of the week) and let the boys play while we did our workouts. Then we were off for a walk down to the park, and a dig in the sand. Back home, I fed them lunch, put them down for naps and two hours later, we were back in the car headed for the Tar-jay plaza to walk around (it was 65 degrees and sunny today!) We hung out at the fountain for a while, then ventured into Pet Smart and spent quite a bit of time watching all of the many different kinds of fish, before going to dinner (with a stop for ice cream on the way out). Almost time for bed and I am already thinking of playing the Wii tonight and slamming Andy in a tennis match. I can hear him now... upstairs "practicing" so that his wife won't beat him!

Christmas in the south

I have been off for a total of 7 1/2 days and I don't know where the time has gone. I can say that when spending time with family, it just goes by fast. We were lucky to have gorgeous weather for Christmas day and we all enjoyed it "southern style" - running, walking, spending time at the lake, and sipping cocktails on the front porch rockers. Pics to come.

A Night on the Town

We decided that it had been way too long that we have ventured into uptown Charlotte to walk around, admire the lights, and see and be seen. So off we went with the mere purpose of checking out these dancing bears we have heard so much about. We met Andy's friends from highschool who have two little girls about the same age as Landon and Chase. As these robotic bears began to dance and sing Christmas carols, the kids were glued to the little white picket fence, stares unwavering and chewing their gum hard. After a while, boredom set in and the girls began to twirl and dance like princesses all around the floor. My boys thought it was more fun to getting a running start, drop to the floor, and slide a few feet across the slippery marble, which left them each time about an inch from hitting their teeth on the floor and giggling hysterically. We escaped to dinner before they did any real damage to themselves!

Christmas Card Attempt - Take 2

We will not be using any of these pictures either... great setting, couldn't synchronize for a second. We even had the camera on the sports mode setting and had 170 something pictures to choose from. Maybe we won't be mailing out cards this year?

WARNING...

Never, ever allow your 3 1/2 year old to "hang out" in your bathroom for "just a little while". He will use your eye shadow and eat up all of your gum!

Santa Sighting

Santa made a "surprise" appearance at a neighborhood Christmas party. Landon's reaction was not what I had expected. As they announced that Santa was coming in, Landon backed up and covered his eyes with both hands as if he were hiding from the scary parts in a movie - peeking ever so often out of sheer curiousity. Then when he saw him, the grin spread across his face, and all he could do was stare.

Kids were packed in (about 50 total) and sitting in front of Santa waiting ANXIOUSLY for their gifts. As he called each family up (the elves were quite organized this year), Landon and his buddy Michael were inching closer waiting to hear their name called. Growing impatient, they were petting the fur on his pants, and playing with the bells on his shoes. Finally, his name was called.

The Roemer Thanksgiving at the Skinners

Thanks Heather for all of the great food and preparation!

Christmas card attempt...

Between the drool, the gum, and short attention span...

none of the above pictures will be used.

Thanksgiving...

Another Thanksgiving... another year of the flu passing through three families from three different states as fast as you can say "turkey".

Christmas Shopping

So today I began shopping for the boys. I went up and down all of the aisles in Target trying to figure out what toys they would really enjoy. What I found was no big surprise... animals that talk and sing, a gigantic dinasaur that roars and stomps, any hot wheels car you could imagine, dolls galore, and Leapster has their entire line on display. And that is where I spent a good bit of my time. I was looking at every product they have. They have a new (well, new to me) book called Tag - it has story books that can snap into it and has a pen to go along with it. The pen will read to you if you press the words, and also will ask you questions such as finding words on a page, it will make up rhymes, and so much more! (ages 4 up if you are interested). But I couldn't help thinking about where my part comes in. If the book is taking place of a parent/adult, when do parents/child interact with each other? Which also made me think about our generation and how far we have advanced in technology... for better or for worse. I walked away from that computerized book (for now anyway). I am choosing to cuddle up on the couch with Landon and Chase, read to them, and ask them the questions that these amazing books now do. Pretty soon they may even take showers for them (that I would sign up for!)

Bribery...so bitter sweet

No voice for 5 days had sent me into the dr.'s office today. Not to mention that I just haven't been feeling great. And the mom guilt crept in and so I said I would keep the boys with me today. My thought was that I will take them to the doctor's with me, and then we can just hang out here and rest. The morning began with Landon up at 5 a.m., the boys fighting and then Landon crying saying he wanted to stay at home with daddy (who was not even working from home today). I bribed them with juice cups, and arrived at the dr.'s just before 8:00. The boys, happy with their juice and granola bars decided that it would be fun to play "chase" around the chairs at the office while I am signing in. I persuaded them to pick up a magazine (you know the ones that are on the table in the office and aren't even appealing to adults?) It worked for a moment anyway. Finally we got called into the office and Chase decided to push around the cart that has those glass containers filled with tongue depressors and q-tips. I put a stop to that in a hurry. Landon was fascinated with the curtain and the area behind it, so he spent his time in there playing peek a boo with Chase. Finally the doctor arrives, Chase gets checked out first and we find out he has an ear infection. I have an upper respitory infection and off we go with our perscriptions and to the pharmacy across the street. The boys are running up and down the aisles (I still have no voice to yell, although I am trying) and I evenually bribe them with gum, pick up our meds, and away we go. I know these acts of bribery will come back to haunt me.