taco salad

we had tacos last night, and with tacos, there's just not enough left over for another full meal. so, for lunch today i made this yummy taco salad with the left overs!! the shells are also never as soft on day 2 or more, so i stuck it in the toaster oven, yum!!! it was like the shell part of the crunchy salad bowls you get in a mexican restaurant! we have enough salad and taco left overs that this is what we will have for supper tomorrow. :)

trip to Delaware!

we've been trying to plan a trip up to see Grannie and Pop Pop since thanksgiving. we had planned to go up there then, but Grannie was recovering from some major surgery, so we postponed. we also wanted to really make sure they were up for us and two small children to come invade their space!! :) thank you both so much for having us! we had a great time, and i seriously think that wyatt would have no problem living there...fire trucks, combines, tractors, and wonderful family...what more do you need! :)

pop pop and matt took wyatt to the fire station. pop pop is a volunteer fireman of 50+ years (i think he may have been chief at some point during that too?! correct me on this if i am wrong! :) ) and matt's uncle rob is also a volunteer fireman. as you will see from these pictures, wyatt was in a piece of "wyatt heaven"!!

"what are you waiting for, let's go!"

a fireman in the making...?

'this is so cool'..."cheese!"

"which way to the fire?"

wyatt, you don't like ambulances!
"yeah, my like-ah ambuhlances!"

matt's uncle chris has a farm, wyatt has been talking about the combine
and tractors...AND uncle chris ever since! :)

there's no better place than behind a steering wheel!

thank you so much for a great trip! :)

trip to Charlotte

once again, i prove terrible at taking pictures!! at least i took two!! we were back in the charlotte area for a couple of days, the kids and i anyway. we traveled with our wonderful friends (carmen, oliver and evan) to visit some more wonderful friends: dan, laura, ed and sue (ed and sue are also dan's parents). our first stop was ed and sue's for a yummy supper. then, to leave them in peace (we are sure they felt as if a jungle had ascended upon their house with the 4 little ones squealing and climbing all over the place!), we headed to dan and laura's to put the kids to bed. the next day we loaded up and laura guided us to IKEA, where we met up with my sweet sis and nephew!! i had never been to one before. it was much larger than i expected and it felt like we rushed through it in 4 HOURS!! i look forward to going back in the future. it seemed sort of like a museum the way that you walk through it on a "path" with tons of living space sets (not sure how else to describe it) that everything you see is an item you could purchase! really neat. also, i wish i had a picture of this, i am sure we were a site to see: there were 5 ladies and 5 kiddos. so each of us had a cart (4)/stroller (1) and a child! believe it or not, the 10 of us (carts, stroller and all) could all fit in the elevator...with room to spare! it was a fun time!
thanks so much for having us dan and laura!
and, as promised, the 2 pictures:

dan reading stories to oliver and wyatt before bed.

notice how wyatt snuggles right up!

carmen reading to the boys (evan, oliver, wyatt) the next day.
again, wy is snuggle right up to the reader! ;)

sweet hubs...

...missed me (and the kiddos, of course) this weekend...as did we him! he surprised me with flowers and a rented movie to watch once the babes were asleep! what a nice relaxing evening with the sweetest guy ever. i love him!

Troutman and Matthews

the kids, my sweet friend gwen, and i took a road trip this weekend to visit my sis and her family (Troutman), then gwen and my friend amanda and her family (Matthews)! it was a very fun trip with a couple of long nights...claire had to sleep in the room with her aunt and uncle, not bad unless you like waking up a couple times during the night, know that your child is keeping others from getting their rest, and then yes, getting up at 5-5:30am for good!! (well, one morning i was able to go to their living room and snuggle sleep with her for a little while, thank goodness!) we figured the fact that the time changed sunday, meaning we lost an hour, didn't really help matters!! but, other than the/my lack of sleep, we really had a great time! the only thing we'd change would be to add another day, it went by so fast. here are a few pictures from our visit.

me, claire, andrea (my sis / "auntie ree") and eli on our "hike" at Lake Norman.
such a nice park.

gwen trying to hold wyatt still enough for a picture!
he loved being able to walk on the trails!

wyatt, andrea, eli and gwen

gwen and claire on the swing set at our friend amanda's house.

bella, amanda's oldest, was such a sweet helper and was so cute how she watched over and took care of wyatt while we were there. this picture was taken right after her youngest brother accidentally tossed wyatt out of their kid sized John Deere gator. he had landed right on his face in the dirt! thankfully no major injuries!

the kiddos taking a rest while watching a show.
notice how they are all under a blanket!!
gus, max, wyatt and bella (who is making sure wy is comfortable)!! too cute!

more snow!!

a proud wyatt in front of "his" tractor!

yaaay! more snow!! i love it! soooo pretty! we didn't get as much this time as the first one, but it was still fun to go out in. also hard to get wyatt out of it! i know if my toes were freezing, his whole feet had to be!! we definitely do NOT have snow attire here! :) i tried to stay out as long as i could! after claire's first experience with snow (face full of it!), i am sure that she was happy to be taking her nap in her nice dry warm bed!

he wanted to make a snowman sooo bad, but it was not snowman-making snow. so, we settled for a...well, more portable version...the snow-barrel-man! :) we were able to put him where ever we wanted. so, right at the end of the steps to the side door he stayed, that way we could check on him. (oh little ones, they are so cute!)