Disney, Company and Crib Climbing

I've got a lot to catch up on! Tabitha, Dean and Makenna spent Wednesday-Sunday with us while they picked out everything for their new home 2 doors down from me! I'm so excited I just grin at the thought of being neighbors.... and dropping the kids off so I can grocery shop alone... or better yet visit the dreaded post office alone! Seeing them pick out all the fun things like granite, hardwoods and brick makes me want to demolish our spec home and rebuild the same floor plan with my own taste... alas... I love my home and that will never happen but a girl can dream of dark hardwoods, vintage white cabinets and sparkly, new granite, right?

Parker has fall school pictures tomorrow and I'm excited to jump up and down behind the photographer to make the kids smile for 4 hours volunteer. I love helping out at Parker's school and I am happy to help capture precious toddler smiles even at the expense of looking silly! Of course school pictures = HAIR CUT! Parker used to totally meltdown and no amount of bribery helped... even the cupcake store next door. Tell me that wasn't the smartest location ever?! Thankfully, we've now gone from tears to this:

His facial expressions are classic.

Friday was such a fun day! I took Parker to Disney on Ice with Jonathan and his mom, Nicola. We took the train to uptown and the boys had the BEST time!

Parker insisted he wear his Buzz Lightyear costume and I have to admit, I thought it was the CUTEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!! The show was wonderful! I was very impressed and really enjoyed it myself! What I saw of The Little Mermaid was my favorite. Parker needed a potty break and it's quite an endeavor to take him potty in that costume so we missed a bit of TLM. Parker's favorite was definitely Toy Story.  I know this is going to sound terrible but I REALLY wanted to see someone fall... like bad...  Tinkerbell bobbled and I thought that might be the extent of it but by the end of the show my wish came true and I got to see 2 falls and a missed partner connection.... I was sadly pleased. It's like NASCAR... you wanna see a wreck... I wanted to see an ice skater fall.... SO successful morning for everyone.

Avery stayed with Tabitha and they had a great morning playing with Makenna and Makenna's cousin, Chase. That night, Tabitha and I went out for a drink, appetizers and shopping while the men stayed home with the kids. It was SO fun and I FINALLY finished figuring out what our family will wear for our fall pictures in 2 weeks. I've literally lost sleep over this. Sad but true. I've got a groupon for a BIG canvas and I want that elusive family photo so the attire has gotta be right! Other than finding Avery some gold flats and a hair piece, we're set. Huzzah!

Saturday we went to Daniel's company family picnic in Greenville, SC. It started out FR-EE-Z-ING. I was miserable but after it warmed up a bit and I defrosted I had a nice time. Parker enjoyed the playground and Avie enjoyed being held while her daddy played kick ball. We decided it was time to go when Parker refused to potty in the GROSS bathroom and pooped in his pants in panic... I was OK with it though because I was ready to hit the road. We stopped at Sonic for happy hour slushies. A certain little miss enjoyed her 1st Sonic experience!

That night at bed time Avery was fighting going to sleep. She was crying and then we heard THUD and a lounder scream followed by a knock at her door. Girlfriend climbed out of her crib. It's on the toddler bed setting so I had no idea how she did it until I put her back in bed and turned all the lights off. I sat in the dark watching her cry then sure enough with only her little arm strength she pulled herself up and over the crib head first before I could stop her. That perfect little noggin in the above picture is now adorned with a large blue egg :/  I'm not sure what I'm going to do. It's on the lowest setting already and we're not ready for a toddler bed and sorry mama's who use them but I just don't think I can use that net thing. Tonight I tried putting her to bed with some toys in attempts to get her to play herself to sleep and forget trying to climb out again. It worked so we'll roll with that for a few days. Man, motherhood can be complicated....

Finally, today was glorious. We hung out as a family of 4 all day. We watched football, snuggled, ate junk food and played trains. The only downer was that my computer DIED. It's OLD and it's been on it's last leg for a while. My techie hubby has now assured me it's a goner. He may be able to salvage some pictures which is all I really care about but I know that's time consuming and free time is something he doesn't have a ton of. On the plus, I can only imagine how many cool gadgets a new computer has and how fast it would run compared to my old netbook.... on the down side... I'm pretty sure this now counts as my Christmas present.

Overall, a wonderful week filled with lots of fun activities, family time and friends! Looking forward to another busy but wonderful week at the Wise's!

The DNC

Today we braved the crazies and headed uptown for some Democratic National Convention chaos fun. Because we had no idea where to park or what roads would be blocked off, we parked at the furthest train stop from the city and road the train in. Apparently every one else had the same idea. Parker (who LOVES the train) had a total meltdown that he had to sit next to someone he didn't know and that there weren't window seats available so he stood in the isle whining. It got so bad I spanked him in public on the train which I'm usually against doing. Why do kids pick holidays or busy public places to melt down?! He hasn't had a meltdown in MONTHS but being surrounded by our closest thousand friends on a train apparently set him off. Bless my mom's heart for handling him the rest of the time uptown because he would have nothing to do with me! 

You're probably wondering why I (and my super NON Democratic hubby) lugged the kids uptown for the DNC.... WELL... my sister, Kelly who moved to NYC this summer was freelancing with a marketing company that was hired to by Google to do their DNC production. We were so excited to have her back in Charlotte for a few days but she's been so crazy we've only seen her for a few minutes each time. She's been busy doing this:

This is the HUGE building they constructed for Google at the DNC (and Daniel pushing Avery, my mom searching for something to entertain Parker with and my dad looking suave in his shades)

Sticker and Button bar.

Inside of the Google building. Lots of places to sit, charge your phone, free drinks, clean potties and A/C!

This is where the important people will be interviewed.... I was not invited in the glass box. They probably wouldn't have liked what I had to say about our nations political situation.

Brother and sister enjoyed the free stickers and time with Aunt Kelly!

Parker sharing a sticker with Avie

In line with daddy to get mommy a FREE iced coffee (Thanks Google!)

Kelly looked SO official with her walkie talkie!

Dad and Kelly

Daniel and I

Avie is SO silly!

After we left the Google building we navigated the busy streets to the best of our abilities until Parker declared "Nana, you buy me a chicken nugget, okay?!" So we headed to the closest chicken nugget joint... Hooters. 

After lunch we tried to find our way back to the train station but we got misinformed by a cop that we could get on at a station we couldn't so we took the LONG way. Avery fell asleep along the stroll and Parker made my mom carry him the whole walk. Poor nana!

The train ride home went MUCH smoother! Parker got a window seat and it wasn't very busy. WHEW! I was dreading the ride home but thankfully it was an enjoyable experience!

I'm SO proud of my sister and how hard she's worked the past 3 weeks helping make the Google production so AMAZING! She's for hire... or rent so if you're hiring and are NYC or better yet Charlotte, contact me! The Google building really was pretty cool. Also cool was the....

FOX NEWS Headquarters!

I'm definitely not looking for a debate but here's my HONEST opinion of what I've seen of the DNC in Charlotte. While I appreciate all the new gadgets the police department got, the landscaping the city was able to do and the general clean up the city underwent, it came at a GREAT cost. More than I think was worth. Financially, I think the DNC and the RNC are both WAY too expensive. The tax dollars that go just to protect the candidates, senators, president, etc is astronomical. So much so that I really think this year due to the country's economic woes, it would have been more appropriate to broadcast rah rah speeches from the White House for Obama and from Romney's living room. The sheer financial expense for Obama, Biden and Clinton to travel is mind blowing.

I see streets blocked so residents can't park in their driveways.... or within blocks of their apartments for that matter. People can't get to work.  An entire intersection is blocked off around a local resort diverting traffic way out of the way. A family friend can't receive his scheduled chemo this week because the office is blocked off and forced to close. Friends can't work and aren't being paid because their employers were forced to shut down for the week.... all for????? BUT... that's just my opinion... 

Now to end on a light note... 

OUT TAKES!

Love Avie's expression

This was attempt #3 and photo #3 of Kelly's eyes shut.

Parker choking nana and Kelly getting frustrated with her eyes and the best photo of me in the bunch we took. Oh group shots!

Nana's eyes are lookin' a but scary but Parker looks presh!

The pink giraffe sunglasses always make an appearance in public!

Thanks for bearing with me on this long post! Check back for Parker's 1st day of 3 year old preschool tomorrow and Avery's 1st day of tumbling class! Big day in the Wise household!

Spontaneous Train Ride, Sand Box Fun and a Sleepover

Today was one of those days where you have no agenda and then you find yourself gone all day on an adventure. Love those days! The kiddies and I got up, showered, put on presentable attire and headed to the post office. An exciting life we live... I know :)  While on the way there I got a call that my parents were going downtown (Charlotte) to hug my sister and have lunch.... so I invited myself and the kids to join. My sister moved to NYC (tear) and is in Charlotte working on a project for the Democratic National Convention. While I'm not a fan of the DNC shutting down the roads and making traffic a total nightmare (or the candidate causing this mess for that matter), the city looks AMAZING! So thanks for the millions of dollars, Mr. Obama!

 

My sister is doing a great job! Everything looks SO cool and I'm really proud of her! I sure wish she'd fall back in love with Charlotte and never go back to NYC! Charlotte really is a BEAUTIFUL, clean, fun city! I wish we had planned this outing in advance because I just love all of the wonderful photo opportunities downtown. If you've never been to Charlotte, is a GREAT place to go! We parked at my sister's old apartment complex and road the train into the heart of the city. Parker thought is was awesome and was totally content to just do that all day.

Parker and I on the train.

Avery didn't share Parker's enthusiasm for the train!

In awe!

 

Avery fell asleep in the stroller after a yummy lunch at 7th street Market

 We ate lunch and then walked to the space where my sister is working on a production for a big client (I can't say who... so secretive!) It was really neat to go inside and see the fruits of her labor. On the way back to our car, Parker suggested that he go to nana's house to swim with ducks. Nana is a sucker for Parker and agreed so my parents took Parker back to their house for the night. Miss. Avery and I visited a few stores then headed home.

Starbucks was our 1st stop!

My mom sent me this picture of Parker fulfilling his goal of swimming with ducks

Meanwhile. Avery, the sand monster, and I played in our backyard.

She's become SO strong! I took this video of her climbing the swing set. Please excuse my high pitched "mommy voice." I find talking on camera to be so awkward for some reason!