the one in which we travel north

tonight we begin our first family vacation!
we are traveling to sandy creek, new york to stay with my brother-in-law's parents. it'll be all 4 of us, nina, chris and willa and a whole host of nina and chris' friends...it should be amazing
the boys have never met their cousin and angela has never met her niece!
it's going to be a week of time spent on the lake, hanging out with family, relaxing and just enjoying
while we will miss nc it'll be nice to get a way for a while
this has been a crazy month of work with holes being put in the clinic walls and kids and families requiring way more support than i can provide in a 2 hour session...

we are driving to ny...oh yea did i forget that part? yup...driving the 12 hours up north...leaving around 6pm and burning the midnight oil...translation: driving straight through till ny!
tomorrow morning around 6 or 7 we will be arriving in sandy creek and i am thrilled...
it's been a long time since the boys have played with auntie nin and uncle c!

pictures of the trip to follow!

perspective

today a dear friend's little boy is having yet another MRI...this is one of probably over a hundred MRIs this little boy has had in the last 3 years...he battles every day not to win his fight with cancer but to make it through another day...i think about the heaviness i have in my heart when i leave for work when my babies have fevers or coughs and then i realize that a cough is nothing compared to what this family and many many many others deal with daily...
i am so grateful and thankful for the joy and health we have in our lives. i am blessed to have two happy, healthy, growing and developing little ones who bring light to my life every day...

take a minute and think about the blessings that you have...
it's hard to not let the little things like bills, politics, and every day bumps take over but when it comes down to it...at the end of the day we all have things we should be thankful for...
today i will keep coop in my heart and hope that his MRI is stable because that will be his blessing today

Southern boy...

What do you do with two cranky boys and an afternoon to kill?....
Give them a backyard and a garden hose!
Caleb was a bit concerned about how cols the water was but Jared just loved it...

a day at the museum

we spent this morning at marbles museum in raleigh...they have a new toddler exhibit which while fun was not nearly as much fun as the not so toddler exhibits. aside from the stress of navigating downtown raleigh it was quite a successful trip (oh yea and minus caleb not really napping other than in the car on the way home). the boys had a really great time and i think that mommy and mama did too. it was slightly overwhelming attempting to maintain eyes on both kids at all times but it was worth the trip.