Grandma and Grandpa Come to Visit

It's been a busy few weeks and so I hope I can get all this posted.

Since my sister was due to have a baby, and since we live so close now, Grandma and Grandpa Gibb came for a visit to see us until the baby was born. We had a great time. The first day wasn't much fun. It had been great weather for weeks and so I was expecting the best. The forecast was for rain but we thought we'd still be ok. We went out to Greensboro to see the Replacements store. If you haven't been, it's pretty impressive. You can read about it on their website. We all dressed in our comfy summer, great weather clothes only to find that after we had left home that the weather kept getting colder so the last week of May we had one day of 54 degree weather, just for one day, the day I let the kids get out of school to spend with Grandma and Grandpa, and it was a lousy 54 degrees. It doesn't sound that bad but when it is raining and windy and your baby is in shorts and no shoes, it's a little much. We did go to Panera Bread for lunch which is a fabulous sandwich place with fabulous bread. Grandma treated us to some of their Yummy bagels for breakfast the next day. The next day was BEAUTIFUL. We took them to Korner's Folly which is a CRAZY house out here that I think they enjoyed seeing. The girls love the narrow staircases and the playroom that the adults have to hunch over just to fit in the room.

This is grandma standing in the attic where they built a theater.

Here are three sweet girls waiting PATIENTLY for the adults to finish reading about everything we were looking at. Here's the babe, McKenna. Does she look happy or what. I tried to keep a smile on my face, it was a little difficult with her pulling my hair, not to mention she is getting a little heavier to carry each day.


After seeing the house we came home and played some baseball in the backyard. Here are some highlights from the game:

Grandpa trying to explain just where you are supposed to stand when you are up to bat. I don't watch much baseball but I think he should probably do that for some of the pros. Grandma moving like lightning to get that ball.Alexa watching the fly ball trying to decide if she should run. It probably was ok since Maya was the fielder.
Grandpa sacrificing his body just for a game. What a guy.
The Cheerleader
Grandpa doing what he does best.
Grandma doing what she does best.

15 Minutes a Day!

We had an exciting moment in our house a few weeks ago. We signed Maya up for kindergarten. She is so excited and wants to go right now. While I was there they gave me some papers to read. One that caught my eye was "Tips for parents of Kindergartners." I decided to read it to see if there was anything we could do over the summer to keep up on learning. As I read the list it gave the usual things about eating healthy and bedtimes but one thing that I couldn't believe said, "Spend 15 minutes of uninterupted time with your child each day." 15 MINUTES! Why do they think that 15 minutes a day is enough for a child? Is this a way to make working parents guilt free for only seeing their children a few minutes a day? Since I don't know who wrote the flyer, I decided this was the next best place to address the issue. I first need to put a disclaimer that I am far from the perfect parent but this is my phylosophy on parenting and one aspect of why I think it is important for me to stay home with my children - so here you go: You can't PICK the time that your child needs you? You may spend 15 minutes with them but they may not get anything out of that 15 minutes. You can spend 3 hours a day with them every day for a week and they may remember only 5 minutes of it. If you are only spending 15 minutes a day with them, what are they doing the rest of the time? Isn't that having more of an effect on them? If they watch one 1/2 hour TV show they have just spent twice as much time with that one show than their parent. And, unfortunately, they'll remember the show before they remember the 15 minutes with mom or dad. This is how I see it, Maya and I pretty much spend every hour together except when she is asleep or I go on a rare date with my husband. Even if we aren't together, we are in the house together. She doesn't want to be around me the whole time, she likes to be with her sisters or play on the computer but, she can come to me ANY time she wants, just like her sisters. For example, I am in here on the computer and Maya came in to show me something she wants to make that she found in a book. I stopped and looked at it for about 5 minutes with her. If she had to wait for our "15 minutes of uninterupted time" she would have forgotten about it and we never would have had that fun conversation of planning a craft to do and we would have never done the craft. Now we have another fun thing to do over the summer. It's more important for her to know that she can come to me almost ANY time she needs me. Another fine example of this is something I read on my friend's, the Randall's blog. "Craig was out mowing the grass and Lauren wanted him to blow bubbles with her. So, because he is awesome and knows grass can wait, but little people can't...he blew bubbles with her." They are so right, little people can't wait. Thanks for helping me prove my point, Randall's.

Wedding Bells!

Ok! So there weren't actually wedding bells, instead there was a temple and lots of family. I just got back from my niece, Meagan's wedding. Can you believe it? How OLD am I? More importantly, is she really old enough to get married? AND, do I have a brother old enough to have a married daughter? I am still shocked at how fast time goes by.

Meagan was a beautiful bride and her handsome husband is Pavel. They are a cute couple. They were married in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. It was such a great experience seeing them married for time and all eternity. It was a special time to be their with my family all together and reflect on being a forever family.

Here is the beautiful bride with all her handsome brothers, Brenden, Landon, Carson, and Hayden. They are all growing up so fast - probably because I hadn't seen them for about 4 years. Way too long.

Here are my nephew's, Brenden and Landon. And also in the background is my niece, Hannah who is Bart and Marie's oldest daughter.

The Luncheon

Meagan and McKenna at the luncheon. Fabulous food and fun. McKenna was exhausted the entire day so I think this might be the only picture we have of her smiling. Probably because she is LOVING Meagan.

Still at the luncheon. Here is my sister in law, Marie with little Bart, I mean, Joseph (see pictures below to see what I mean), Jarem, and Grandma in the background (Does she look old enough to have a granddaughter getting married?)
Here is Big Brother, Bart. What a sweet guy. He has 7 of his own kids to take care of (did I mention that Marie is pregnant with their 8th? Picture to follow) and was willing to help me with my ONE child.

The Reception

Here is the bride, groom and parents. (I didn't do a great job of getting pictures of the decor around but take a look. It was held in a really cool barn. Roberta, of course did a fabulous job with the decorating, we wouldn't expect anything less from her.)

One of my very favorite cousin's, Sue was at Women's Conference and so she was able to come. It was so great to see her. Here we are together. I swear that woman doesn't age. Can you believe that she has a 20 year old?

Here is one of my other favorite cousin's, Craig. He is so fun. I wish we could see more of him but lives are busy and there are too many states between Utah and North Carolina.
Here are the prego's at the wedding, Marie and Maren. They sure look comfortable, don't they?
Here is sweet Carson (David and Roberta's son). He was so sweet with the babies. Iam sorry Carson that McKenna was so cranky. This is how she was most of the day. This girl LOVES her bed and never had a chance the whole day to spend time with it.
I absolutely LOVE this picture. What a sweet brother and sister moment. Do they love the camera or what?

I was glad this darling bride had time to take a picture with me.

While at the reception the Gibb kids decided to get a picture together. Except, we aren't kids anymore. We sure are looking old.

Here is how I remember us looking. This was taken almost 30 years ago.
"Our Name is Gibb, That's our Name!"

How about this for a photo op? I have to say that I am glad some of these people have changed hairstyles. (I won't name any names.)

The "AFTER" Party

I was so fortunate to get to see some of my favorite friends while in Utah. My very dearest friend, Jeannie just moved there and so we got to spend the afternoon together. I have known Jeannie for almost 10 years now, they are as close as you can get to being family. She is so much fun and SO talented. I wish I had an ounce of her talent. She can decorate, paint, recover furniture, turn yard sale junk into the best stuff you've ever seen, and she makes THE BEST JEWELRY. Whenever I get a chance to see her I make her bring her "goods" along so I can buy some and hopefully get those around me to buy from her also. Here she is getting to meet McKenna for the first time. They hit it off right away.

Another EXCITING person that I got to see was our GREAT FRIEND, Marque (sorry I completely forgot to get my camera out and take a picture.) Tim and him have been friends for probably the past 25 years. Marque has a special place in our heart because he was VERY instrumental in helping Tim make the big leap into marriage and for that I will always be gateful. It was great to see him and catch up on his life and hear about old friends.

This trip wasn't just fun for me but little Mckenna enjoyed herself (when she wasn't tired.) Here she is amongst all the tulle from the wedding.

One fun part of this wedding was being able to fly out with my sister, Maren and her baby, Ivy. McKenna and her are best pals (they don't really know it yet, but they are getting there.) Here they are enjoying a nice relaxing bath. Aren't they cute?
On the plane. We had an extra seat between us almost on every flight so it made it MUCH easier to travel with these active little bodies. I just can't get enough of these two. I am so glad they will always have each other, especially since Ivy has ALL brother's.
Thanks to all that made this a great trip. Can't wait to see you all again.

One More Thing to Love about NC

A while back I was reading in the 'Costco Connection' (because I love ALL things Costco) and I found a company that they wrote an article about. It's called Replacements, Ltd. and it's right here in Greensboro, NC. It's a great concept. They sell all sorts of dishes, silver, crystal, figurines, etc. It's basically a consignment shop. It has very high end things that sell for thousands of dollars down to your basic dinner plate. The idea is that if you are missing a piece from your set you can get a "replacement" from them. Since we recently moved and we have a little less storage in this house I have been trying to do a little purging. I went through my dishes and found things that I NEVER use or use rarely and decided I'd rather have the money. I had an old Salad bowl that was a wedding gift, some desert bowls that didn't match anything - you get the idea. If they don't have a demand for it they won't buy it from you. BUT if they do, they'll pay you for it depending on the demand. The first day I took them a few things and made $50. Today I went and I got $10 a glass. One set they only offered me $1 a glass so I've decided to keep them. I definitely couldn't have gotten that at a yard sale. They have also registered me in their system and have information of a few things that I'd like to sell them but they don't have the demand for them now or they have too many in stock. As soon as they need them, they'll call me and let me know.

I love this place. The warehouse and the showroom are both incredible. I never thought dishes would be so interesting. They do tours their also. I am dying for someone to come visit so I have an excuse to go. Not to mention that the both times I have been there, the employees seem so happy and kind. If I'm not mistaken, I think they enjoy their jobs there. What a plus. Nothing like a Walmart employee.

Updated Blog #3 - All Caught Up!

We LOVE April Fool's day. I remember as a kid that there were plenty of nights when someone's bed was short-sheeted. I have been waiting a few years now to be able to do it to my own kids. I wanted them to be old enough to really appreciate it. This was the year. I didn't mention anything about April Fool's. The girls had fun putting salt in each other's water and Alexa woke up Livie at about 5:30am to tell her she overslept and that they were late for school. I was so anxious for bedtime to come. Finally, they went upstairs to climb in bed. They were so confused until they saw us laughing and realized what we had done. Here are a few pics. of them after figuring out what went wrong.

Our Company Comes:

Tim's parents came over for the girl's spring break to spend some time with us. We had a great time. We love when they come to visit. While they were here we went to the Children's Museum in Winston Salem. It's a darling place and my girls had a lot of fun.

They have a cute grocery store that I could hardly get Livie out of.

Alexa and Maya. I wish they had this much fun when I take them grocery shopping.
Here's the babe. They had a few little baby areas which made it nice for her and mom.
Livie - What a darling. I love that sweet smile.
Maya - doing what she does best.

Grumps and Maya enjoying some time together.
Grumps is always willing to help with the dishes. (Don't worry, this isn't the only reason we like them to come.)

Random Pictures:

The girls love to take McKenna outside with them. I should say, they love to take her everywhere with them. They set her on the grass and this is her not enjoying it. She was loving the outside but kept her hands up the whole time so she wouldn't touch the grass. Is she darling or what. She sure makes us smile.

Phone Messages

If you ever call our house during the day you know that Maya is the little secretary. She LOVES to answer the phone. I on the other hand have become lazy about it since I know she'll pick it up. I was getting myself ready for the day and heard the phone ring. Knowing Maya would answer it, I didn't even try. I just finished getting ready and then went downstairs to inquire:
Mommy: Maya, who called?
Maya: Somebody who wants you to pay $200.
Mommy: $200? For what?
Maya: You pay $200 for your family so you won't have any more bills.

Boy, do I wish I would have answered that call. That's the kind of call I've been waiting for all my life.

Easter Sunday

Here is a picture of the Ladies all dressed up for Easter Sunday. Tim wouldn't allow me to make them dresses this year, something about too many projects around the house and just moving in and nonsense like that. Luckily the Easter Bunny was smart and brought them these cute dresses.

I HAD to post this picture. Can this baby get any cuter? I just want to squish her.

Updated Blog #2

Annual Family Easter Egg Hunt!

Ever since I can remember my family had an Easter Egg hunt the Saturday before Easter, rain or shine. We had it Saturday so that Sunday we could focus on the true spirit of Easter. My aunt, uncle and cousins would come and we would have it in the back yard. The best tradition was having to count all the eggs to make sure we got them all. I just remember a lot of chaos at the time and hating having to wait to open up the eggs. Since we have our own family, we have kept this tradition. (Counting the eggs and making the kids wait, also.) We haven't lived around family for the past few years so we have done it on our own with our little family. But not this year. We got to have our Easter egg hunt with Aunt, uncle and cousins. It was so fun. The kids had a great time.

Here's Will. He was DETERMINED to find the Golden Egg. We aren't sure why but I was glad we had a gold colored egg for him to find. The funny thing was that as soon as he found this green egg he yelled, "I've found the Golden Egg." I guess a gold egg can be green. Isn't he darling?

It was so windy that day but McKenna loved it. Nice Action shot. Notice the "true blonde" missing the egg right above her head. She sure is cute though.

Here is my sweet niece, Ivy (aka McKenna's best pal.) I tried to get her smiling but her Aunt isn't a very good photographer and this is all I had. I just wanted to make sure and document that she was there. Here is Maya, again not a great action shot. I have lots to learn.
Here is McKenna HATING the grass. She's doing all she can to not touch it.

Here's a BETTER action shot. These kids were moving fast also. They weren't going to miss ANY eggs.
Here is cute Hyde! Does he have the sweetest face or what?Here they all are with their loot.
It was such a fun day but way too short.

Updated Blog #1

I've been getting a few "nasty-grams" saying that I haven't posted or that what I have posted aren't "blog worthy" posts so I hope I can redeem myself today. I realize I have been slacking off in the blog area but just think of all that I have been accomplishing by not blogging. I have actually come up with a small list of excuses. Here you go:

1. We've been trying to get some things done around the house, i.e. shelves, painting , hanging

pictures. (I'll post some pictures soon, mom.)

2. I was busy reading the book, "Escape" recommended by my sister. I couldn't put it down.

3. We've had company (pictures to follow)

4. I've been busy reading everyone elses blogs. (bad excuse, I know.)

5. My Sunday afternoons that I scheduled to blog have been taken over by naps the past few

Sundays.

6. March Madness came along and I was hooked. Oh wait, that wasn't me, that was Tim.

7. Gilmore Girls.

8. McKenna is now crawling everywhere and pulling herself up so I can't leave her alone for a

minute.

Now, that I have tried to redeem myself for slacking, here are some pictures that are probably considered VERY old news in the world of blogging but I have to post them anyway for my posterity.

St. Patrick's Day!

We had green eggs and green pancakes for breakfast but I forgot to take a picture, of course. The girls wore their shirts from Ireland and we had Irish stew and yummy Irish potato rolls for dinner. It was really good, I just wish it would have been colder that day to really enjoy the soup.

Spring Break! Here are some random pictures of the girls. This is how they enjoy there spring break. They all love to sleep in Alexa's bed. In fact, they do this almost every Friday night. I am so glad they enjoy being together.

If you know Alexa, you know she is not one to dress up or be the least bit girly, although she is very dainty and lady like (don't tell her that.) When she was four she took tap lessons at the community center. She tolerated the class and REFUSED to practice with me. Even when I offered to put my old tap shoes on and practice with her, she wouldn't have anything to do with it. Luckily it was cheap and only lasted 8 weeks, I think. Soccer season started and the girl was hooked. The day after her first practice, she woke up (still in her pajamas) put on her shin guards and shoes, grabbed her ball and was headed to the backyard to practice. Much to my dismay I have come to grips with the fact that she will never want to take dance. That is why this picture is so "blog worthy". Here is Alexa WEARING A DRESS UP SKIRT. We told her to pose like that so I could take her picture. The first thing she said was, "Don't put this on the blog." When I hear those words, that's exactly what happens. Isn't she cute!