Men at Work

Dad and his little helper working away last night. Filson seemed to be taking his job pretty seriously!

18 Months

Hard to believe, but Filson hit 18 mths today. It is crazy to stop and think about how much he has changed in that time. We headed to the Cape Fear Railway Club show & sale this morning. They had 2 large train tracks set up & lots of train accessories for sale. All the guys that do this for a hobby are so passionate about it & it is neat to see all the details in the scenery. Filson was of course fascinated to watch them go around & around the tracks.

Many of you may be shocked to see the tv (complete with bunny ear antennas) in the background of the last pictures. Yes, that is our house & we actually now own a tv. We have a couple of uncles who were concerned about Filson growing up in a tv-less home, but they will have to worry no more!! Believe it or not, it is actually John that is excited about this. For those of you that don't know him well, I think in the 5 years I've known him, I've maybe seen him watch a total of 5 hrs of tv. But we returned from our week in Iowa, and suddenly John was checking out all the tv ads. My Dad, who practically has his own private movie theater in his basement, had John down there watching Blu-ray movies with surround sound almost every night and I guess John found it impressive! Filson is already intrigued by it, I'm sure he'll flip to be able to watch Sesame Street on the big screen Monday morning.

Let it Snow

I laughed last night when the schools around here had all cancelled classes by early evening. Snow? Here?? I had yet to see it & only once before, during my first winter, did they even forecast it. But sure enough, by 10am it was coming down. I had Filson sticking his tongue out to catch flakes & making bootprints. He got the biggest kick out of watching Cooper run & roll around in it. It is still coming down & looks very pretty out. Even prettier knowing it is to be back up to 60 degrees by Friday.

Big Night for the Little Guy

Last night was a big one for the Little Guy, he got both a new 'do & a new bed. Well, the bed isn't new, but new to him. It is actually the same bed John slept on when he was a little boy. I'm not really sure why he's moved it around with him for all these years, but I'm very happy he did. It will work out great for us & it's pretty neat that Filson can sleep in his Dad's bed. He fell asleep fast & hard in it, so I hope he continues to enjoy it. I snuck in and snapped the second picture while he slept. I only wish it had audio, as he was snoring pretty loud at the time. I also wish I had taken a 'before' picture of the hair. It had become so long that we started joking with our friends about giving him a rat tail, so we knew it was time to chop it off. John took the scissors to him in the bath last night & he looks a lot different to us this morning without his mullet!

Vada's Visit

Anna Leigh and Vada came down from Raleigh yesterday to spend the night with Filson & I. Vada is 6 1/2 months old now & is such a sweet & happy girl. She sits up really well on her own & enjoyed checking out all the different toys at a new place. Filson loved having her around & would give her toys to play with & giggle at her. They headed for home today while he was napping and when he woke up he came down stairs and headed for their room & said "Vada". We had such a great time & he misses having his little girl around! I love the last 2 shots, we took them out for lunch today & drove around at the beach & these are the before & after shots. Filson continued to sleep for the next 3 hrs, so entertaining Vada must have wore him out!

Boys Club

Here are John and Filson heading out to meet their buddies for lunch, which they do every Sunday. Filson is a total Dad's boy and he loves these outings. He seems to be getting taller every day, as you can see from his flannel shirt that is almost a half-top by now! He also is in great need of a hair cut, but we love seeing those curls poke out from under his cap!

Just Hanging Out

The happy boy today & one of the many silly faces he makes. He kind of looks like he's holding a microphone and going to belt out some tunes.

Outback Bowl.....GO HAWKS!

Thursday morning we headed for the stadium. One could not have asked for better weather, it was absolutely gorgeous and we were happy to discover we had great seats as well. Thanks, Tony, for arranging everything for us : ) The stadium was very nice and is actually where the Super Bowl will be held in a few weeks. Filson was cheering for both teams and was able to try out both his new shirts during the day. He saved the Hawkeye t-shirt for the end so he could leave in the winning colors! The week seemed to go by quickly and we had a blast. We were, however, excited to pull back into Wilmington late Friday night & know that we will be staying put for awhile!

We hope all of you enjoyed the holidays and wish you all a Happy 2009!

On to Florida

Tuesday night we packed our bags again & headed south. Amazingly, we made the 9 hr drive to St. Petersburg with only 1 stop. With a 1 yr old & a prego lady, I thought this was pretty impressive! We met up with our friend Tony & his 9 yr old son Daniel, who Filson adores. We spent New Year's Eve at a festival in downtown St. Pete and enjoyed taking in the sites and catching the fireworks shot from the pier. We all almost even made it to midnight, with the boys and I crashing back in the room about 11:45pm and letting the big boys ring in 2009 for us. It was a great night!

Garnet or Gold?

There was A LOT of fun trash-talking going on concerning the upcoming Gamecocks vs. Hawkeyes game. Upon our arrival, Grandma had Filson's room decked out in all kinds of Hawk gear. His Dad knew he was in Hawkeye country & pulled out matching Gamecock t-shirts and paraded all over town in them. Uncle Ryan was thinking of the Little Guy and gave him new Hawk shades & a t-shirt for the big game.

Christmas

By Christmas morning, Filson had the present opening all figured out. He made out quite well and we just barely were able to squeeze everything back into 2 suitcases for the trip home. We were able to spend time with some of the Roe relatives on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, the temperature finally broke above freezing, which we were all excited about. Filson was able to get out on the basketball court & we enjoyed the nice weather while strolling around the Kansas City plaza the night before we flew out. The plaza area is always beautiful and we had a great time there with my parents. The next morning, we were able to visit our good friends Kelly and Lee and meet their adorable 2 1/2 month old girl, Harper, before heading to the airport. That's pretty much where the fun ended and the drama began, as we arrived in Charlotte to find our flight home had been cancelled. Who knew we could get to the icy, snowy midwest & back with no problems, only to have the fog in Wilmington screw up our plans? A couple hours and many headaches later, we hit the road for the 4 hr drive home in a rental car without our luggage. Luckily our luggage caught up with us the next day and we did meet some new friends that caught a ride with us back to Wilmington. And we had a couple days to unwind before we were to hit the road, again!

Playing in Iowa

It's hard to believe it has been almost 2 weeks since we flew to Iowa. We have been on the go ever since then! We had a very nice time visiting with a lot of friends and family. Filson had plenty of attention & things to keep him busy while we were there. We were very grateful to Grandma & Grandpa for taking care of the Little Man. John & I felt as if we were on a mini-vacation ourselves and it was hard to get back on that plane and return to full-time parenting duties!

Sadly, on Christmas morning my cousin, Lori, passed away unexpectedly. We were all shocked and saddened by this & grateful that we could be home with family during this time. We always looked forward to seeing her when we returned to Iowa & looked forward to spending Christmas Day with her and her family. We miss her and will always remember her generous heart and her big smile & personality that lit up the room.