Friday Funnies

N: Can Abby stay home by herself?
Me: No, she’s too little.
N: Then no one would cook her dinner? Then no one would cook her bottle?
Me: Yes, sweetie. And she’d be very sad & lonely.
N: I can stay with her. I’m not afraid.

We were getting ready to leave the house, and I put Abby’s dressy coat on her.
N: Is Abby going to “girls night out?”
Me: No, why?
N: That’s her pretty coat!
Me: Oh Nate, you’re so funny. I’m gonna have to write that down.
N: Are you going to put it on “America’s Funniest Home Videos?”
(Ok so 2 things strike me about this...1) I must go to a lot of GNO, ha! And 2) We let him watch “America’s Funniest Home Videos” too much!)

I was watching Nate work very intently on trying to fix his Buzz Lightyear’s wings. Then I hear him mutter under his breath: “I’m having a rough day!”

Couldn't pass up sharing this too cute pic of both kiddos at the mall, on the "kiddie coaster"....they loved it!

Friday Funnies

I was out in the garage with N, opening up a jumbo pack of juice boxes. N wanted to carry one of the 12-packs inside.
Me: Can you carry that?
N: (with attitude) Yes Mommy! I eat my broccoli!!!
(We’ve been working on eating our veggies lately...and the trick we use is telling him that Buzz Lightyear eats his ____ (insert veggie name) to have big muscles. Works every time!)

Me: Do you like having a baby sister?
N: Yes, but it’s hard to share with a baby sister.
Me: What do you want to do with Abby when she gets bigger?
N: Play hide-n-seek for a long long time!

Me: Do you want to be a Daddy when you grow up!
N: No! I want to be "a Nate" forever!!

Stop taking those growing pills!

I can't get over how Abby seems to changing DAILY, right before our very eyes. Next thing we know, she will be 16 and asking to borrow the car! (Oh wow, scary thought...)

We went shopping at Stride Rite last weeked to Abby Reece her first official pair of shoes. (Like, real ones that help with walking/support, etc.) She loves them and I think they are super cute!! So far, she hasn't progressed much beyond taking 1-2 steps, but I feel like that is SO her. It's like....she proved to us she could do it, and now that she did that, she doesn't want to do it again. It's like she was telling us "Stop making me practice already, I can do it! Leave me alone!" LOL. Anyways, check out her new kicks.


Also, the buckle on her highchair broke the other day and I do not trust just one strap holding our little wild one in. So, "Baby" Girl is now at the table with us. So far so good - not too much throwing of the plate & placemat. We'll see how long that lasts! She loves sitting beside her Momma and looking out the window like Big Brother does. And look at how big she looks in her booster seat:

Friday Funnies

As to be expected, Nate has been very preoccupied with all the snow lately. I keep saying how I’m ready for it to melt (SO HE CAN GO BACK TO SCHOOL) and so I guess he is picking up on this...
N: The snow is taking forever to melt! Where is the sun? Maybe the sun is a grump-o!


One of our many "deep" conversations, as we're driving...
Me: Do you think Mommy is a good driver?
N: Yes.
Me: What about Daddy?
N: He is the best!
Me: What about you?
N: I don’t drive! I’m not five yet!
Me: Oh, so you can drive when you’re five?
N: Yep. I’m almost a giant.

We were looking out the window while at a stoplight, and noticed two sets of footprints in the snow.
Me: Nate, what kind of animal do you think made the small footprints?
N: A lion. Yep, a lion (pronounced “wion”)


While driving, we saw a car with a lot of snow on the back of it...
N: Why does that car have snow on it?
Me: B/c it was parked outside, like Daddy’s car is. Our garage only fits 1 car.
N: I wish we had 2 houses.
Me: Why? So we’d have 2 garages?
N: Yep. And then I could go to Daddy’s house to visit.
Me: (Stifling laughter) So Mommy & Daddy would have separate houses?
N: Yep. Then me & Daddy could maybe be friends.


On a sidenote.....Abby Reece took her first steps last night!!! It was about 5 pm and in the kitchen. She just took about 3 steps, sideways. And our little neighbor Mal-Mal was here playing with Nate and got to witness it too. All of us started jumping up & down and acting crazy. I think we scared Abby! I called Greg immediately and told him to get his butt home! :) Luckily, she did it a few more times last night so Greg did get to see.

Here's to a whole new chapter with our "Baby" Girl!!

Fourteen Months

Abby Reece turned 14 months yesterday!! (Sorry, the snow day caused me to be a day late! :)

She had quite a full month...seeing Santa, traveling to NC, getting lots of visits from Mum-Mum & Granddaddy, partaking in 2 Christmases, and playing playing playing. Yes, our little girl is NON-STOP these days!

She is still not walking on her own, but we do feel it's close. In fact, she invented a new intermediate step in the walking process the other day. Nate calls it the "penguin walk." She'll get up on her knees and "walk" across the room. It's more like a waddle actually, but is so cute! She can walk with some help...like if she's behind her little baby stroller or fire truck and able to push it. Nate was right at 14.5 months old when he took his first official step, so we have our fingers crossed that that is on the horizon for our Baby Girl!

Daddy taught Abby a new trick the other day and it is BY FAR my favorite thing she's ever done....she leans in, with her mouth WIDE open, for kisses now!!!!!!!! And she'll do it 20x in a row if you let her. Every now and then, she'll change it to just a peck, kinda when she's not in the mood. But usually a big, wet, open-mouth kiss. So sweet!

Her new favorite spot is upstairs in her room, in her new chair from Santa. Either looking out her window or "reading" books. It's like her own little throne. (Surprisingly I don't have a picture since my camera always happens to be downstairs when we are upstairs. I will get one soon, I promise!)

She strung her first two words together this month: "Hi Dada!" And then a day later, it was "Hi Mama!" Of course, we have yet to hear these again, but it was precious while it lasted.

Abby got lots of "girly" presents for Christmas...a baby stroller, 3 dolls, a tea set, a purse, etc. Yet, she hardly plays with any of them (right now). Instead she prefers Nate's tools, trucks, dinosaurs, etc. My little tomboy - I love it!

Baby Girl has also discovered that she can climb INTO baskets. It is so funny to see her...she just climbs in a basket and plops down on top of all the toys. Look at that face!

And speaking of faces....please, how cute is this crying picture. Usually I delete "unhappy" ones, but this one was just too pitiful not to pass on. Please look at that LIP! So dramatic.

It is hard to believe that Abby Reece has been a part of our lives for 14 months already! She makes every day interesting and we love her "unique spirit" :)

Winter Wonderland

We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning...about 3-4 inches of snow!! After breakfast we headed outside with some of the neighbors to play!

Baby Girl, all bundled up & not sure of this white stuff

Like Nate's "boots!?" Yes, we are rednecks and put grocery bags over his sneakers. Poor guy doesn't have any rain/snow boots. I may be making a Target run this afternoon if the roads look ok.

Ready to play! (Thanks H for the boots! :)

Some of our neighbors rigged up a sled...covered a rubbermaid tub lid in a trash bag & attached a bungee cord. It worked like a charm!!

Nate & Haaken, hard at work

Before Mum-Mum & Granddaddy left this morning, they got to enjoy the snow with the kids! By this point, Abby was winding down and ready for her AM nap...

Luckily the Pattons had a "real" sled we all got to use as well

This is by far my favorite picture. Nate just took it upon himself to start making snow angels and had a BALL!! :)

The Blackman Cove snow bunnies - Karen, Amy, me

MalMal attempting to pull N. Maybe we should tell her that he weighs more than her!


**UPDATE: HAVE SINCE BEEN TO TARGET AND GOTTEN NATE SOME REAL SNOW BOOTS. JUST FYI! :)

A Weekend Away

Greg & I just got back from a 3 day trip to Denver, CO! Mum-Mum & Granddaddy graciously offered to come to our house and keep the kids while we were gone, so it was nice to know they were in good hands.

Our trip got off to an interesting start....at the airport, almost to our gate, we ran into a good friend from UNC - Jake Fehling! He lives in Raleigh, NC but was flying into Nashville for business. It was so random to see him! But we enjoyed catching up, well as much as you can in 10-15 minutes. And then, we get to the gate and are about to line up when Greg discovers his boarding pass is gone. Not sure if he left it at O'Charley's, in the bathroom, or what. But luckily, the nice ladies at the Southwest desk reprinted one just in time for us to board. Whew.

Our rental car was hilarious...check it out. It was 1 of 2 compact cars left on the lot - a Kia Soul. According to Greg, it was a "plastic box:"

And here's our view as we drove from the airport into Denver. So beautiful!

Though our time in Denver was great, Greg & I had two very different experiences. #1 on my agenda was R.E.L.A.X!! And relax I did! I slept in, watched movies in bed, had hot chocolate, shopped & ate meals at my leisure, worked out, and visited with friends; it was awesome!

And then there was Greg...he was there for job interviews at the annual ASSA conference (aka: Nerdfest). A couple of his collegues from MTSU were there too, as they were interviewing for 1-2 new jobs in their dept. He had 4 interviews on Friday, 9 on Saturday, and 1 on Sunday. Can you say stress!??! Though according to him they all went well, he hardly got to sleep alot or have fun. Poor guy! We did get to have an occasional meal together, but his mind was pretty much elsewhere (that's ok).

Thursday night we ate at a highly recommended pizza place called Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria. SO GOOD! It was a fun date night and I was so proud of Greg - for once, he let us get veggies on the pizza! The beer & salad was superb too.

Friday, Greg got up early to chair a session at 8 am and then had interviews on & off all day. I got to visit a friend, Erin, who just had a baby girl 6 weeks ago! Erin & I grew up together in Clemmons, NC & have known each other since 4th grade! She & hubbie Sameer moved to Denver about a year ago and have the CUTEST little girl! Addison is a doll....I could not get enough of her little nose & mouth. She even fell asleep on me for 1+ hr!


That night we met some former MTSU grad students for drinks, and then headed off to Osteria Marco for a delicious dinner with some of Greg's former UNC colleagues. Picture it: me & Greg with 3 oldhead economists. Fun times! :) Luckily we met up with some of Greg's grad school friends after that and had more drinks & laughs. Shout out to one of our good buddies who we don't see often enough, Krull!!!


Saturday was Greg's busiest day, and I even had to help shuttle him to & from a few interviews, since they were scattered at various hotels downtown. I did manage to walk along a cute street mall with one of the other MTSU prof wives, Monica, and did some shopping. That night we met Greg's current colleagues for dinner & drinks. Everyone got to blow off steam & have a good time after a long weekend.

We were happy to make it back today, despite all the winter storms. Thank you Joyce & Stan for taking care of the kids while we were gone. Hope they didn't wear you out too bad!!

Friday Funnies

All the way from Denver, CO, here is your weekly edition of Friday Funnies. Enjoy!!

Nate was on the potty, and called me b/c he needed help wiping after going #2.
N: Guess what Mommy?! It just slipped out!


Abby has been freely standing for a few weeks now, but Nate still gets a kick out of it everytime he sees her, and wants to clap for her each time. It's really cute. However, the other day, this is what I hear:
N: Mommy, come here! It's a miracle! Look at Abby!! (I ran into the room, thinking she was walking or doing a headstand or something, but no...just standing. Oh my little drama king. Super cute that he's so impressed with his little sister though!)

Coming home from a playdate, I asked N what his favorite part of lunch was - expecting him to say the cookie or the brownie with frosting.
N: I liked the cookie. The brownie was a little bit messy.
(Seriously!? Whose son is this?? Surely not mine! :) Haha, I love it!)

Christmas #2

After Disaster #1 (I mean Christmas #1), we headed to NC to see my family on the 27th. It was Abby's first trip in her forward-facing carseat, and apparently she could not get comfortable enough to nap in it. Let's just say it was a L-O-N-G eight hours in the car! Here's how Nate spent the first hour...no joke. Just holding his wingpack in his lap. HILARIOUS!

Everyone was already at my parents' house when we got there....Lora, Becky & Mike, and Deedee (my grandma) arrived shortly after for Christmas dinner. Nanny did a great job with all the food, and we opened a few "Deedee" presents after dinner. Sadly, Deedee was in no shape this year to do her own shopping so Nanny helped out and the kids got normal presents. We enjoyed our time with Deedee & Nate even re-enacted his Rudolph concert from MDO.

Family shot with Deedee

Abby showing us how "Buzz flies"

Can you say OBSESSED!?

Abby Reece, sporting some attitude

The Fab Four!

Nanny & Poppy's favorites

The argyle triplets

Mrs. Potato Head from Deedee! (to add to our Potato Head collection/Toy Story obsession)

Deedee with her favorite great-grandson

Typical scene - Greg asleep in the middle of the floor with people/noise everywhere. I just do.not.understand.

Bec turned 29 on December 26th so we gave her present a little late. I have never seen anyone so excited about Crate & Barrel dishes!! Love ya Bec!

The next morning was our "Christmas morning," complete with the traditional (read: HUGE) Gibbs girls breakfast. Except this time I had to have a sub - my mom - since Abby would NOT let me out of her sight to cook. It was delish & then we started opening presents, rapid-fire style thanks to Aunt Lora (they were in a hurry to get home to Raleigh since they moved to a new house the next day!!).

As usual, the kids got WAY too much stuff - thanks to everyone for spoiling them. Favorite presents of Abby's: doll, singing tea set, lots of clothes, books, and a remote-control dog that we dubbed "Fluffy" (more on him later). Favorite presents of Nate's: Toy story games/books/train set, a real camera (!), books, clothes, TAG reading system, and the cutest vest ever.

Nate took it upon himself to open all of Abby's presents for her. Such a nice big brother.

Abby preferred to play with the bags & tissue paper

Abby's true colors coming out here...as she is terrorizing Nate...

Becky's dog, O'Malley, looking pretty comfy


Here is "Fluffy"...this dog is so hilarious. You give him a "treat" if he barks, and then he swallows it and poops it out. So it's both a treat & tird. So appetizing! The kids love it though. And as I told Nanny - this is the only dog we're ever gonna have!

As I mentioned before, we didn't get any "true" Deedee presents this year. But by the looks of these outfits you would have thought differently. This is what we call "The Loft Gone Bad"...let me introduce the Michael Jackson tank top & the Flying Squirrel outfit. In Lora's words: "Well, it looked good on the hanger..."

Watching Toy Story 3 that night with my boy. Seriously, could he be any cuter!?

Wednesday, we spent the day visiting relatives. Deedee in the AM and Greg's Great-Aunt Marguerite in the PM. Both were delighted to see the kids, of course. And Nate & Abby did not disappoint! Lots of tricks, funny faces, and silly words.


That night, Abby had her first taste of homemade skyline chili and decided to strip down for the occasion! As you can tell, she didn't like it AT ALL :)

We had a full day on Thursday. We took Sophie for a walk, played outside, and Nate went to see "Yogi Bear" with N&P after naptime. They said he was good, minus the previews....he was crying b/c they were too loud, so Nanny had to take him out in the lobby! (Reminds me of me when I was little). He chowed down on coke & popcorn after that and had a ball. And Nanny said it was a really cute movie!

This picture was taken seconds before she started LICKING the "ignition"

It's tea & crumpets time!

Abby was obsessed with the dogs...especially Sophie. In this instance, she first pulled Sophie's paw, then poked her in the eye, and then proceeded to try & lay on top of her. Thank goodness Sophie is old & didn't care much!

Whack-A-Mole with Daddy

After dinner, we loaded up all 8 of us (Becky & Mike were still in town) and headed to Tanglewood for our annual drive-through of the Festival of Lights. This is quite a spectacular sight (for TN folks: think Opryland Hotel), and one that I loved seeing every year growing up. Nate was REALLY into them this year, but Abby had other ideas. She screamed most of the time so we made an early exit and missed a good 2/3 of the show. Sorry Mike, maybe you can see them next year! :)

Little did we know that Abby was on her way to being sick....she had a really awful night and then woke up on the morning of the 31st with a 101 fever. And she just went downhill from there. Very lethargic, high fever, hardly eating, fussy, and pitiful. Greg & I cancelled our New Year's Eve date night (dinner & a movie), and stayed home with N&P and the kids. Greg was happy b/c he got Little Richard's BBQ & I got pizza, so it wasn't all too bad :) Lord knows I didn't stay up till midnight though. Since we'd have a few rough nights of little sleep, I crashed before 10 pm. Granny, I know.


Here's pitiful Baby Girl after she woke up from her nap at 3 pm with a 103 fever. Notice the death grip on her tylenol.

Big Brother helped to make her feel better

And ice cream always helps too!

Abby woke up with a 104.6 fever the morning of the 1st, so we delayed our plans to drive home. We gave her yet another cold bath (TORTURE for all parties involved) and her temp eventually came down once we started alternating motrin & tylenol. (A big thanks to Leah for the advice/info!) We headed home around 10 am and had a surprisingly good trip. Abby was sleepy/lethargic for most of it, which equaled well-behaved & quiet :) No, we will not drug our kids on future car trips, but it is tempting! JK.

All in all, it was a good trip, despite a few hiccups here & there. I always love spending time with my parents & sisters, and this trip did not disappoint! Thank you again for all the nice stuff for the kids. (And Lora - I am obsessed with my fancy slippers!!!!) Happy 2011 to everyone!