Happy Halloween

Filson trick-or-treated on a hayride with the other neighbor kids tonight. He started to get the hang of it after watching all the big kids and came home with a full bucket!

Peanut #2

I had my 1st midwife visit this afternoon and there is most definitely another Peanut in the works. Everything looks great and so far I am feeling well. I saw a very fast little heartbeat and had my first ultrasound. If all goes as planned, Peanut #2 should make an appearance around June 16. This is my good friend Kayren's day, so maybe she'll get a little birthday buddy. I gave the ultrasound pic to Filson for a picture & love the expression on his face.....he could be thinking he's not quite sure how this is going to interfere with his very comfortable lifestyle!

John's on the road this week, so I took Filson to drop in child care for the first time while I went to my appt. I didn't need to worry about him enjoying himself, by the time I returned he had been there over 2 1/2 hrs and he still didn't want to leave! I think he spent most of his time playing at the train table and the staff got a kick out of him using his sign for "more" during snack time. His Kiki taught him that sign many months ago & it is amazing how helpful it has been!

Friends in Greenville

On our way home from the mountains, we swung through Greenville, SC and were able to visit with some good friends. We had lunch with Zane & Carter and were excited to finally meet Jack (18mths) and J.B. (2mths). They are adorable little boys! After lunch, we spent some time outside enjoying the nice weather and watching Jack & Filson play together. It was so fun to see them all! We also dropped in on Geoffrey & Kat & met Grayson (3) and Maggie (11mths). We had a lot of fun catching up with them and also watching the boys play together. Filson has now met 4 new buddies in Greenville and hopefully it won't be long before we can all get together again!

Asheville

Saturday we hit Asheville and spent the day cruising around their downtown and visiting their children's museum, The Health Adventure, which had tons of great exhibits including a new Curious George exhibit. It was a lot of fun and I think all of us adults enjoyed it as much as the kids. We were able to hit a music festival for awhile in the evening and then we grabbed dinner before heading home. It was a very fun day & even though it was a long day of walking, the kids were all troopers. They all 3 were asleep before we got back to the house!

It was so nice to get together with our friends, Tony & Terri, and we really enjoyed our trip!

Trip to the Mountains

We had a great weekend visiting the Ippolito family in the NC mountains. Anna and Daniel were such good company for our Little Guy. He loved playing with all their toys, being read to, playing outside & getting his groove on to the music. Daniel had perfected "The Worm" & Anna performed all her funky dance moves for us & Filson did his best to imitate them both.

Fall Days

We spent time outside this afternoon enjoying the fall weather. It sure is quiet at our place this week with Grandma gone and John in Virginia. We're looking forward to this weekend when we get to go visit our good friends in the mountains!

Filson & Grandma pics

A couple pics from the last few days. He's found a new favorite spot, the rocking chair in "Grandma's" room. He has discovered how to sweet talk her into letting him watch Baby Einstein while she gets ready in the morning. He'll be lost when she has to return to Iowa this week. He's had so much fun playing with her and John & I have really enjoyed all the free time!!

Visit from Vada

Anna Leigh & Vada made a trip down from Raleigh to visit my mom yesterday. We had fun playing with Vada, who is now 3 1/2 months old. We ate and listened to live music at Hamburger Joe's last night & then went out for ice cream. This morning we packed up both strollers and walked around the Wrightsville Beach loop. The weather was gorgeous and it was a great morning to be out getting some exercise. Both little munchkins fell asleep while in their strollers. Vada is an excellent baby and it was fun to see Filson interact with her. We even caught him holding her hand on the drive to the beach this morning : ) He's giving her some "heat" in the last picture before they headed off for home. We really enjoyed their visit!!

Costume Party

We joined others from our playgroup for a costume party this morning. It was at a girl's house which was about a 40 minute drive for us, so you can tell in the first 2 pictures how Elmo's mood changed from when he was first buckled in until we were about 10 minutes away! The costume came off not long into the party, the little guy wet with sweat underneath. Who knew it would be in the 80s the day I decide to bundle my child up in a furry hooded suit? There were some adorable costumes with 13 kids showing up, but the group picture in the middle was the most I could get of them all in one place at one time!

Trick or Treat

Filson should have plenty of tricks up his sleeve come "trick or treat" time. Here he is grabbing for his nose as he now does as soon as someone says the words "stinky". He also loves to walk around the house on Grandma's feet. He's also giving lots of "heat", which is putting his tiny hand in a fist & bumping knuckles with everyone in the room. The last 2 pics are of Elmo & Bumblebee heading out to the costume party this morning.

Charleston

Filson and I took Grandma to Charleston on Monday and spent the night with John's sister, Kim, and her family. They were great hosts & we had a fun time! Filson was so excited to see his cousins and loved all their attention. As you can tell from the picture of him wathcing Garrett do homework, he was extremely interested in whatever they were doing. Tuesday he was very lucky, as "Kiki" (Aunt Kim) took him for the day so mom & grandma could explore the city. He went to lunch at Garrett's school, then to lunch at Riley & Jensen's school and then went to the aquarium. Quite an eventful day for the little munchkin!! Many thanks to Kim, as it was so nice of you to spend the day with him! Mom and I spent some time wandering around loooking at all the gorgeous old houses, went on a walking tour and had lunch at a rooftop restaurant in downtown Charleston. It was a great visit!

Weekend

Friday we made a trip downtown to John's office, had lunch with him and spent some time in the shops at the Cotton Exchange. That night we ate dinner at a restaurant on the ocean in Wrightsville Beach. Filson decided he was finished sooner than the rest of us (which has become a common practice with him lately) and rather than having him let the entire restaurant know that he was no longer willing to sit in his high chair, his dad took him outside for a walk on the beach. Hopefully he doesn't begin to think every time he fusses in his high chair he's going to get to step outside to the sight of the ocean!

Saturday was a rainy day, so the 4 of us headed to the mall where Filson tried out a couple of the rides and we soon found out he is not really in to the "motion" thing right now, so we didn't even attempt the big double decker carousel in the middle of the mall. However, he was mesmerized by watching the lights on it as it went round and round. He also spent a good part of the afternoon running around our house with his dad's cell phone either attached to his ear in "conversation" or "texting", as he's doing in the 2nd picture. He & Grandma spent Saturday night together so John & I could hit the town, which was very nice!

Today was a bit clearer & we were able to take a boat ride down to the beach for lunch and then head out to pick a pumpkin in the afternoon. Filson tried to lift all the pumpkins and finally found the one in the last picture that he was able to pick up, so it came home with us.

We're off to Charleston tomorrow, and very anxious to show Grandma the city & to see the Haldrup's!!