NC Arboretum

On Saturday, we traveled into Asheville and went to the NC Arboretum. I have been there several times for business purposes, but Allen or my mom had not been there yet. It was a gorgeous day; 65-70 degrees, which was perfect weather to walk around the gardens and enjoy the scenery. It's very similar to a botanical gardens. In one of the buildings, they mainly do exhibits and lucky us, we visited while they were having their "Scoop on Poop" exhibit! Yeah, that was interesting; we learned a lot that wasn't necessarily stuff we needed to know, but it was fun.

I think Emma enjoyed the most walking through the gardens and exploring. She has gotten to a point where she is becoming more and more verbal, but not really saying anything that makes sense. She has said a few words like "ball", "bye", "uh-oh" & "ka ka" for Kalea. However, it's clear that she is trying to make sentences and making a lot of different vowel sounds in her speech. On March 30th she had ear tube surgery in both ears; it was extremely necessary because she was having so many ear infections and we went for a follow-up appointment on Friday and when they did the audio test again, they said that she can hear perfectly now in both ears where as before the surgery she could hear, but not as well as if she were underwater. So, I think that has and will definitely help with her speech development.

After our trip to the Arboretum we went out to lunch and came home to relax for the rest of the evening. Emma's spring break from daycare has ended, she'll be returning tomorrow and things will resume back to normal around here!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Easter Baby

This year my 28th birthday landed on Easter. I had a WONDERFUL birthday - not only did we get to participate in all the Easter activities (next blog post below), but we celebrated with a delicious dinner and I received some very generous gifts this year from friends and family.

First, of course I got flowers from my loving husband.

Second, Allen and I decided to take our back patio as our spring project once it started getting warm. Originally we were going to expand our deck into something larger, but until we are able to afford that somewhat pricey renovation, we decided to take advantage of what we already had and make it suitable for sitting outside and having BBQ's. So, my parents were very kind and purchased a table/chairs/umbrella set and planter boxes. Allen built a gate for the stairway that goes into the yard and we have spent several hours doing some landscaping near and around the deck. It has turned out FABULOUS! We still have a few things to do in the yard and of course wait for our grass to freaking GROW - don't get me started, but we love it and have already had several meals outside!

Third, my in-laws and Allen & Emma went in together and purchased an island for my kitchen that I have had my eye on for months! He surprised me with it on Saturday so that we could use it on Easter and it's just beautiful and fits so well in our kitchen!

And finally, my dear friend Julie gave me a gift certificate to get a 1-hour Swedish Massage at one of the local spas in town - she's AMAZING! I've never had a massage so (truth be told), so I am so looking forward to it! Thanks doll!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes on Facebook!

Lovely flowers!

My island - it was Allen's idea to get a picture with me on it!

So pretty!

Back patio set!

Yes, I know the yard is brown - I hate clay and slopes, it sucks to grow grass here!

Cooking our filet mignon's on the grill

My flower box of herbs!

Easter Festivities

It's hard to believe that last year at Easter time Emma was still so little and really couldn't do much, but this year we had a pretty busy day with church first thing in the morning, then pictures at the house, lunch & nap and then an Easter egg hunt with the neighbors before dinner. It was a beautiful day and it couldn't have gone better!

Easter Basket

Still waking up!

Cards from Grandma & Grandpa Rolland and Great-Grandma Marion

Digging into the basket

Easter dress and of course, we can't forget the Coach purse!

Isn't she precious?!

Pictures after church on the front porch

Mom and Emma

All smiles

Mom, Nana and Emma

Had to get a picture of the back of the dress coat!

Nana and Emma

Getting ready for the hunt

I'm ready!

I found one!

Put it in the basket!

Time to go home and get some dinner!

Sunny Days

We have had some beautiful weather here in NC, it's almost been too hot in some ways going from winter weather straight to 90 degree summer weather. Personally, I prefer to enjoy a little spring weather (65-75 degrees) first before it gets really hot! Anyways, we have been trying to take advantage of it by being outside - we took Emma to one of the local downtown parks with our friends and she had a great time on the swing, slide and jungle gym. I included some pictures from that day as well as a random picture of her in the dog feeding station - priceless! We woke up that morning and while we were getting her breakfast ready, next thing you know she was sitting in the dog bowl; she loved it - was a kodak moment for sure!