Update

So, here it goes...the last couple weeks have been packed. Here's what we've been up to:

Not last week but the week before we had a nice long stretch of warm weather. Loved it!! One day I surprised Rachel with a picnic out in the backyard. You would have thought she was going to Disneyworld, she was SO excited.
I don't know if you can see it...but Tommy's got those two bottom teeth just poking out.
On Valentine's Day Wachovia employees and their families got into the Discovery Museum for free. So we did it again.


I don't think I can get enough of this kid. He always brings a smile to my face. He's doing a couple fun new things. Last Saturday he became mobile. It's not a crawl and I don't think it could be qualified as an army crawl. I call it the motorized leg scoot. His legs kick the ground really fast and he barely uses his arms to pull himself forward. It's not the most efficient, but he can get get where he wants and it's really cute. The other thing he does is kisses. I give him a kiss "MMMWWWAAHHH" and he'll put his big open mouth against mine and say, "aaaaa...AAAAA" just like me as he pulls his head back. Oh I love it!!!
We have our good friends the Miles in town from Boston and they stayed with us for a few days this past week and we had an absolute blast. One morning we went to the nature museum. They had a butterfly pavillion. As soon as Rachel walked inside, "it's goooorgeous!...bonjour butterfly!...isn't this exquisite?" which comes from her favorite books right now, Fancy Nancy. (In one of the books she goes to a butterfly garden).

Rachel and Andrew are still the best of buds and play so well together.


This girl is crazy! She's giving me a real trial of patience and parenting right now. I had never heard of the terrible threes until last fall...YIKES! But she can still be as sweet as ever and melts my heart with, "this is a good dinner mom" or her simple, "I love you"
This is what I found after one of her quiet times. Do-a-Dot markers gone wrong! I didn't notice at first. I found the lids off and I told her to put them back on when she's done with them. I look up as she says, "Okay Mommy I'll will next week" and leans in to give me a kiss. With red lips, a circle around her eye and blue fingers, I just laughed out loud.

It was Maria's birthday while she was here and I was glad we were able to spend it with her. Hopefully it was a special and memorable "22nd" birthday :)
Watching Wall-E. Flashback
Slow down boy, you're growing too fast!
Yesterday, while Jake was in school we had a teddy bear picnic. So fun!

"Let's take a picture Mommy"

Under the weather

Last week Tommy came down with a cold. He was feverishly miserable!! Well, then he gave it to me. Yuck! Trying to take care of a sick kid, when you're sick is unbelievaby hard. I'm feeling a lot better now, but still have a lingering cough. Jake succombed to it last night and is home sick today. And Rachel...she somehow bypassed all of it (I think her immunites are built up from last year, she had a cold for 3 months straight, I swear) so hopefully she continues to stay in the clear. We may not get a lot of snow and we do get to enjoy some nice temperatures but we still have our reasons to HATE winter.

The Circus!

This was not only the kid's first time seeing the circus, but Jake as well, and he was probably the most excited. It was a lot of fun. Our favorite acts were the 7 motorcyclists in the cage. That's right...SEVEN! They're insane!! And the elephants, who knew they could do so much. I also really enjoyed the horse act, and the people standing on them, doing flips around their bellies, seeing them run around in circles. And the trapeze is a classic! I guess they come to Charlotte every year...Jake's already excited for the next one. It really was amazing. I included the videos so you can get a taste of what we saw.

Shanghai

Jake's been home a week now and I'm finally getting his trip posted. Pictures you see in the slide show are of the view from Jake's plush hotel, Jake doing Tai Chi. Shanghai is the New York of America, you'll see the Times Square of China, Old Shanghai (where you see the authentic Chinese architecture), the best dumpling place, the shopping district where you can get everything for cheap, since everything is "made in China" and a friend of the Herway's who used to live in Brussels. This last Monday was the Chinese New Year so Jake barely missed it, but he did get to see the city prepared for it. This year is the year of the Ox.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Jake brought back some awesome gifts. Rachel loves her Mulan dress and plays with the umbrella and fan everyday.
What a cute little China man!
.

Thanks again Grandma...we had a blast!

We did so much while my mom was in town:

Build-a-Bear

The Discovery Place Museum, which has a circus exhibit going on right now

My claim to fame is walking the high wire, doing a double flip on the trapeze...

and being a human pretzel.Last Friday we went to the Lazy 5 Ranch, a place where they let you drive through their farm and feed the animals. There were pigs, ostriches, deer, buffalo, lambs, llamas, zebras, giraffes and other animals I honestly couldn't name.

Here's us feeding the llama

And you're not allowed to feed the zebras but it was so cool to see them so close!

The ostriches were the scariest for me. As soon as they see the car they come running. I fed the first one and screamed the whole time as it's head came zooming into the car to peck at the food, and it went flying all over the place.

We may have had snow just 4 days prior to when this picture was taken, but my mom was able to enjoy some 60 degree weather before she flew home to 8 inches of snow.

So, when do you want to come again mom? :)

CLOSED

This snow was supposed to come on Sunday. The weather man changes his mind daily!! They announced schools would be closed last night before it even started to snow. I don't know if the banks were closed too, but most likely. If Jake were here we could have had a four day weekend together. Bummer! Anyway, we played in the snow for a little bit, but the snow was too powdery to make a snowman. We planned to go to the Discovery Place Museum today. We got there to learn that it was closed too! I should have known better. But we found something even better. We went to a place called Monkey Joes, a place with inflatable everything. I think Rachel didn't stop laughing the entire 2 hours we were there. It was fun to see how she got more and more confident, or daring I should say! It was also fun to see my mom jumping, climbing and sliding down the slides. Go Grandma!!

Jake's in China

Jake left on Tuesday for Shanghai. His first international residency for his MBA started today. He spent the first couple of days with Wachovia for it to classify as a "business" trip. One of his favorite experiences thus far has been the subway during rush hour...

Jake didn't take this video but he says this is really what it's like. Can you imagine? I would never do it in a million years.

Anyway, he'll be gone for about a week and a half. My mom is in town for most of it, which has been my saving grace! Rachel has a couple rough nights with the stomach bug and hives. We've also been able to talk to Daddy every night on the webcam which has been a lot of fun.