For Easter this year, we took at trip to my little sister's house in Charlotte!
Both of my sisters and my parents all still live in NC, so they normally get together for Easter. I was so excited that this would be our first time to join them, AND to surprise my mom for her birthday!! She wasn't expecting us at all, just because it's such a drive. We had had this plan in the works for months though. (It was SO hard to keep it a secret!)
We got on the road SUPER early on Good Friday....6 am! That is a record for us. We wanted to beat traffic, and also beat Nanny & Poppy to the house. We arrived around 3 pm - mission accomplished!
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| Party hats & popcorn helped pass the time while we waited for Nanny & Poppy to arrive |
Lora, John, and Otis showed up around 3:30 pm. Sweet little Otis took his first steps just the week prior, so it was SO fun to see him up and walking around. Such a big boy!
I don't think anyone was more excited to see Otis than Gibson.....that boy is obsessed and OH so cute!
The kids are all big fans of the newest family member....Porter! And Bec has the perfect fenced-in backyard to play in with that sweet puppy. (Yes, Porter is still a puppy even though he is *massive!*)
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| Playtime in the backyard. Sweet cousins! |
Poppy was in on the plan, so he called when they were about 5 minutes from the house. All the kids hid in the dining room, along with Greg & me, and we popped out to surprise Nanny once she walked into the living room. To say she was surprised is an understatement!!
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| Nanny is President of the Otis Fan Club :) |
Abby is on a softball team for the first time, so we brought all of her equipment to play - bats, balls, gloves, etc. And play we did! This is literally what we were doing 90% of the time we were in the backyard all weekend. It was great! She is getting so much better.
We always call Otis the "unicorn" because he's an all-around great baby/toddler. But Charlie Kate is not far behind! These two are the best!! They had the earliest bedtimes - while dinner was still cooking - so we tried to hold them off a bit longer with a bath. How cute are they!?
Since everyone was together, we had our Easter dinner early. Ham, scalloped potatoes, Brussel sprouts, pear salad, and rolls. So yummy! And make-your-own sundaes for dessert. Happy birthday Nanny!
Saturday morning was a chilly one, but we all drove over to Concord bright & early for the Bunny Run!!! This was a belated gift to Poppy.....he loves to run races and this was the first time we were doing one as a family.
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| The ears were part of the race packets! |
Gibson & Anderson ran the 1 mile Fun Run, at 9 am. They both did a great job and Nate & Abby loved cheering them on.
Group photo before the 5K. I think this should be our Christmas card this year :)
Ready to run!!
Bec had signed up to do the 5K - was just going to walk with Nanny, and push Charlie Kate and Gibson in the double stroller. However, she decided to be the photographer/cheerleader instead!!
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Left picture: Nate/Greg
Right picture: John/Otis/Lora
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This was a challenging course - very hilly - but Nate didn't let that affect him. He was still determined to beat his ole dad (see Greg in red in the background)! This zig-zag hill was during the last half mile of the course. Such a mean trick!
Luckily, this little guy in green was cheering everyone in the family on! He (and Bec, Nanny, and CK) were the BEST cheerleaders!! Gibson insisted on giving everyone a high five :)
This was Abby's first 5K, and we had gone on a few "training runs" at home in the weeks prior. She is not quite the natural runner that Nate is - yet - but I do like her determination. I was hopeful going into the race, but had very low/realistic expectations. I didn't care what our time was, but I just wanted her to finish.
Well......
We barely finished.
She was doing fine during the first mile. Smiling, chatty, and enjoying the sights. (Of course it helped that most of Mile 1 was downhill :)
Once we hit the mile marker, she wanted to take a brief break and walk. So we did, but not for long. Then she just started to have a breakdown.....telling me over and over "Why are you making me SUFFER?!" She had a very hard time with the next two miles....we would jog a bit and then walk some. I made her do it in half mile increments and she was NOT happy with me. I knew she could do it though, because we had run 3 miles at home the weekend beforehand.
Well, during one of her last crying fits, we hear through the woods "GO ABBY!" It was Aunt Bebe, cheering for Abby and it made *all* the difference! She immediately began sprinting and said "Gibson can't see me crying!" So, we sprinted up that damn hill and OMG my butt will never be the same! #longesthillever
We finished in around 40 minutes. Needless to say, if Abby runs another race, she will need cheerleaders every half mile to cheer her on :)
Even though Abby and I didn't win any awards, the rest of our family did!!!
Nate got 2nd in his age group with a time of 22:47
Greg got 3rd in his age group with a time of 22:58
Lora got 2nd in her age group with a time of 28:23
Poppy got 3rd in his age group with a time of 29:07
and
John/Otis got 1st in the stroller division!
(Who even knew that was a thing?!)
So so proud of all of these trophy winners!!!!!
We had lunch back at the house, and then Bec got a cookie cake to celebrate these two turning 40 (back on March 20th and 23rd)! Lots of birthdays to celebrate!!
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| (The reason we had the cookie cake at lunch was because we were going out for an ADULTS ONLY dinner that night and wouldn't be able to celebrate with the kids. More on that later!) |
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| #peekaboo |
After the kids (and adults!) had rest/naptime, it was time to hunt for eggs!! Bec and I hid them in the front yard and tried to make the golden egg very hard to find!
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| Rockin' their new bunny shirts from the race :) |
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| Ready to hunt! |
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| Hunting fun! |
The big kids had the HARDEST time finding the golden egg! We had to give them multiple hints after it seemed like the egg hunt would be never-ending. Finally, Nate found it! There was $12 inside the golden egg!! #thankspoppy
That night, we decided to do something a little different and just have the ADULTS go out for dinner. What a novel idea!! Bec got her nanny, Vicky to come watch the kids. And Vicky's sister came along to help as well. CK & Otis were already in bed, so they just had the 4 big kids to deal with. Early dinner and showers for the kids, and they were ready for Vicky!
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Yes, they are inside the same shirt.
I think I may do this the next time they are arguing and need to punished. Ha!
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For dinner, we drove into downtown Charlotte with Bec & Mike. (Lora, John, Nanny & Poppy were close behind.) We were celebrating Lora & Greg's 40th birthdays, and went to this yummy restaurant called Cantina 1511. (Think: upscale Mexican)
Of course all the ladies got a pitcher of margs, and then wanted to introduce mom to an app called Boomerang. It was hilarious but trust me, none of the videos were worthy of posting! We just settled for a selfie! #take10 #strokeface
We had such a good time!! It was nice not to have to look at baby monitors, cut up the kids' food into bite-sized pieces, get interrupted 17 times during a conversation, or have to get up to clean up a spill. We will definitely be doing this again!
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| #tresleches #nasty |
Sunday/Easter morning, all the kids woke up in their matching pajamas! So fun!
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I decided that Nate was too old for skin-tight, bunny pajamas!
So he got a light blue dry fit shirt instead :)
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| N&P with all their grands!!!! |
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| #besties |
After hunting for Easter baskets, and a huge breakfast, Lora/Otis/Porter/John had to head back to Raleigh. The rest of us took a family walk around the neighborhood because it was such a gorgeous day!!
Picnic lunches outside and in the clubhouse. And, more softball!
Nanny was channeling her inner Martha Stewart and wanted to dye eggs with all the kids. I think she got into it more than they did, but at least Nate & Abby had fun with the shaving cream eggs. (I, however, was NOT a fan of the shaving cream eggs.....the blue food coloring completely dyed Abby's hands and it took 24+ hours to come all the way off!)
After naptime, we headed outside once again to enjoy the gorgeous weather. Nate & Abby always love riding the gator and all the other vehicles when we go to Aunt Bebe's house....
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| CK's rolls are the cutest!! |
We had an easy dinner - pizza from Aldi! - and then hit the hay. What a long but amazing weekend with my family! We got on the road Monday morning and these two knuckleheads talked their way into getting frosty's at Wendy's for lunch.
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| #easytoplease |
