Underwear Necklaces

I can't believe that it is already Friday morning and I am just sitting down to update the blog! This week has flown by. Matt had a crazy busy week last week, getting home after 6 most nights, which is really unusual. It seemed that 3 of his worst homeowners had work to be done all at the same time. I think we were all a little frazzled by last weekend. It was nice to spend some time at home. We had a great dinner at Nana's with Elizabeth, Paul and Scottie on Friday night. Alden overheard Elizabeth asking Scottie something about her calf (on her leg) and Alden goes "MMMMooo". It was funny how she just picked that up from someone else's conversation. I got to ride on Saturday morning, which was a much welcomed escape. I am riding a mare named Misty who is coming back from a couple years of motherhood. She is still pretty green, but knows enough to keep me accountable for what I am doing, too. We are taking things slow, but she is doing better all the time.
Sunday we went to Latta Plantation after church and hiked around. It was so refreshing to be outside and not be pouring sweat. I think Lily was especially grateful! We had a great pizza dinner at Elizabeth and Paul's on Sunday night, and enjoyed watching Alden and Scottie play. It is fun to think that their age difference is the same as Elizabeth and I, and to imagine us as little girls.

This week has been a much better week for Matt, and as a result for the rest of us, too. He has had a lot of days to be home early! Alden and I have been busy at the library, bible study at church, and playgroup at our house. She is really into putting things around her neck lately, including bathing suits, underwear, bascially anything she can get her head through. Right now, she is sporting three pairs of underwear like necklaces. At least they are clean, right? She is also likes pointing out everything that is Matt's. His socks, his things in the bathroom, the grills at Lowes, she points and does her "Dad" sign and says "Da." It is really cute. The other day, she was "helping" me with the laundry, which means that she picks things up and shakes them and wads them into a ball. She picked up one of Matt's non-descript grey shirts and did her "Dad" thing. How does she know these things? We are beginning to realize that she is aware of a lot more than we think...kind of scary.

This weekend Alden will be staying with Grammy while Matt and I go to Lake James with some of my college friends and their significant others. This is exciting since it is the first time Alden is staying away overnight and the first time we are getting away by ourselves! Yay! I am meeting Mom in Asheboro today to make the handoff of Lily and Alden, and then heading back Monday to stay in Raleigh with them for a couple days.

For Sale

Well, it is official! Our house is on the market. This is another huge step of faith for us as we head down the path of Matt going to flight school! Matt has always loved flying and has thought about at least getting his private pilot's license quite a few times in his life. What a way to combine something he loves, with a good career, and to have a blast doing it!

We are excited to have a little bit of a plan, at least for the next few months. Hopefully, as soon as our house sells, Matt will be able to start school in Richmond, and Alden, Lily, and I will live with my parents in Apex until he finishes. We don't know details after that, but it is encouraging to be on a forward-moving path towards something!

We spent this past weekend in Raleigh, and got to visit with my parents and Amber. Jessica was in town, too, for her mom's birthday, so we all got together Saturday night at Debbie and Craig's to celebrate. It is so nice to have Jess and the kids within driving distance again! Hopefully, we will be able to get to JAX to visit them soon!

Alden and I are just waiting around this morning for the guy to come recaulk something in the bathroom. Kind of puts the damper on the morning, but so far, Alden is holding herself together. We are up 3 nights in a row that she has slept! Hooray!

Has the Teething Subsided?

Just wanted to record for posterity that last night was the first night in over a month that Alden has slept all night without the benefit of Motrin or Triaminic. Her snotty nose is finally drying up and hopefully, we are out of the woods with the teeth for a while. Please, Please.

It figures though, that while Alden was sleeping blissfully, Lily howled at 3:30 this morning and woke us up and then we were awake another hour while Matt battled allergies. Why is sleep so elusive??

This morning we went to the reading time at Barnes and Noble, which Alden likes for about 4 minutes, and then to Katie's. I got to get out to the barn this afternoon, and now Matt is out with his guys. We are headed to Apex tomorrow!

Great Long Weekend

What a wonderful long weekend. It seemed extra long since our Frontier friends Chris and Julie arrived on Thursday night to kick things off. What fun to have them in our house and catch up! One of the Frontier Interns from our last year was marrying a girl from Charlotte, so we were able to reap the benefits of all their guests being in town.

Saturday morning we went to the Labor Day parade in downtown Matthews, which is apparently on of the largest LD parades in the southeast, or country or something...There must not be a lot of competition in this category, because it wasn't huge. Fun, but not giant. Our friends Bill and Ashley met us with their daughter, Ella. Alden really enjoyed the balloons, floats, and people in animal costumes. She loved the softball players from Matthews Rec. Tractor trailers and softball...what is this leading to??

Bill and Ashley came over for dinner Saturday night, which was great. We have really enjoyed our friendships with folks here in Charlotte. Unfortunately, we missed the late night after-reception festivities with all the young single wedding guests up town. Alden fell asleep, and really, have Matt or I ever been out past 12:00 that often in our whole lives??

Sunday we did church, which we love, and then Shelly, Sarah and Vinton (more Frontier folks) came over on their way out of town. Sarah saved Alden from her first very-near-death experience. We were all talking in the kitchen, and Alden was milling around. Sarah looks into the living room, and Alden is almost to the top of our 8 foot ladder that we had out to hang curtain rods. Matt and I both saw her as Sarah was running into the room to rescue her. Please don't judge our lack of parental supervision...I promise it is better than that.

Sunday afternoon my parents and Ashley met at our house and we went to Nana's 87th birthday party at Aunt Kitty Scott and Uncle Dickie's. It was fun to have everyone together and Alden especially enjoyed playing around their fountain and riding Cousin Scottie's scooter. One of our favorite things about being here is spending time with Nana, and it was really special to get to celebrate her!

Sunday night Matt's college friend Sean and his girlfriend stayed with us on their way to the beach. I had never met them, so it was great to put a name with a face, and have more old friends at the house.

Monday we had breakfast with everyone at Nana's and my parents kept Alden over there so Matt and I could run some errands and get started on some house projects. What a blessing to drive off without her!!! We needed a little break. With my parents help, we got so much done around the house and had a great dinner with them afterwards. No trip to Concord Mills is complete without visiting the fish at Bass Pro Shops, so that pretty much rounded out our long weekend.