Old MacDonald had a farm...E.I.E.I.O.

One of my great friends, Kat, or to Damon, "Aunt Kat", invited Damon and I to her parents farm today. I left work around 4:30 to pick Damon up and head over to Kat's house. We rode with Kat in her BMW and Damon was so excited!

Damon: This is totally awesome! (getting into her back seat from the driver's door because it only had two doors instead of four). Aunt Kat, is this your new car?
Kat: No, I've had this for a while.
Me: He's excited about getting into a futuristic car...you know because it only has two doors. He's used to only seeing 4 door cars.
Kat: Oh that is too funny!
Damon: How do you get your seat back to normal?
Kat: Well sweetie you just have to push it back. (as she moves her drivers seat back to the upright position.
Damon: Oh wow! That's cool! (as he watches a mechanical arm push the driver's seat belt up towards the driver so they can reach it)

So off we went in the car that had it all, to pick up Damon's friend Riley. After we get Riley in the car we drive towards Lincolnton and arrive at the "farm". This was the first time Damon or I had been on a real farm. We were both so amazed at all of the animals, land, and the different units of the farm.

First we went to feed the donkey's. As we were doing that Farmer Jim brought the golf cart to us and we all hopped in to ride from animal to animal on the farm. Next stop was the bulls and as we were visiting them a loud alarm went off or so I thought... It was actually the simultaneous sound of 20+ peacocks. That was the craziest sound I had ever heard. Damon and I just looked at each other as we covered our ears.

We took a ride over to the stables where we got to meet all of the horses. They had a Shetland Pony that we let run around inside the stables and it was the cutest little thing. Her name was Maggie and she ended up chasing Damon back and forth, like a dog. Then we put Damon on her to let him ride bareback. She hasn't had a rider before so she wasn't too happy. She started bucking just a little and Damon thought that was the funniest thing.

We saw a ton of other animals but I honestly can not remember what they were called. There were more than just your typical farm animals like pigs, cows, sheep etc. They had crazy looking birds, long horn somethings and others.

It was time to take a tour around the gorgeous farm home that Kat grew up in. It was beautiful. I have always considered myself a city/suburb kind of girl and never interested in living on a ton of land but I must say, I loved every thing about that farm and would love to spend some time there. Dinner was served low country boil style. This is a whole bunch of different foods boiled in a big pot of seasoning and then served by dumping it out on a huge table and you pick what you want. This particular boil contained corn on the cob, shrimp, potatoes, and sausage. Very tasty and very interesting.

We all had such an amazing time. I would love to send Damon there a couple of days a week during the summer to work the farm. Teach him hard work, accomplishments, respect, and appreciation.

Thank you so much to the Link Family for welcoming Damon and I into your home. Unfortunately I did not have a camera to take pictures but I hope to have some forwarded to me and I will post them at a later time.

Oh Rainy Day...

The other morning we awoke to a nice little rain storm. Damon was actually excited about it because he got to wear his froggy raincoat and rain boots and carry his Cars umbrella. I packed an extra pair of shoes so we could put those on when we got into his school. It's great that I am so prepared for him but myself is another story. I do not have rain boots and I can never find my umbrella therefore I tend to get soaking wet on these days. Damon however finds it most humorous as I scream running to and from the car. When I dropped him off at school I asked him if I could barrow his umbrella and he said "sure mommy but it's too small for you." Indeed it was and I look like a complete goof in my work close with this toddler umbrella complete with a car at the end of the handle. I have since then purchased a cool bubble umbrella...one that I have actually been looking for. It's the clear one that comes down over you like a bubble. It's so cute and I can't wait until our next rain so I can actually use it. I think I'm going to get some rain boots too...

Where's my hair?

Okay this is so random but Damon brushes his teeth after he takes his bath, I don't know why, that's just the order we do it. So the other night he's in his towel and standing on his step stool to brush his teeth and the next thing I know he raises his arms and says:

Damon: "Mommy, do I have hair under my arm pits?"
Me: "Well, let me see, (as I get really close to his underarms) nope, not yet babe."
Damon: "Well how about here? " (as he bends over to show me his butt)
Me: (trying not to laugh) "Nope, not there either."

My eyes at this point were squinting because I knew the next part of his body he was thinking about but I wasn't prepared for him to flip around and say:

Damon: "Well, what about my peanut, is there hair there?"
Me (horrified): "No babe!"
Damon: "Then where's my hair?"
Me: "Look, you have some on your legs, arms and your head. Isn't that enough for now?"
Damon: "I guess so. Alright, lets brush my teeth."

Phew!!! I dodge a couple of other questions I'm sure he had...for now.

Valentines in the Mountains!

Damon and I were blessed to be able to spend Valentines weekend in the mountains with some of our closest friends and our favorite people: The Tanners (Shawn, Laurie, Riley) and Kat. Damon and I road with Laurie and Riley while Shawn and Kat headed up the road an hour before us. We had to take two cars to be able to fit all of the people and all of the stuff we needed to take.

The kids did excellent on the ride up there except the fact that Damon had to pee like 2 times and we had to pull off the side of the road so he could do his business. The drive was beautiful as we got to look at the mountains in our horizon. We reached Blowing Rock around 7:00 p.m. When I walked into the condo I taken back by how beautiful and spacious it was. Damon and I were graciously given the Master Suite and I was in no position to decline. We settled in that night with pizza for dinner. The kids immediately started playing and I think we called it any early night since we all worked earlier that day.

Saturday was my day to make a meal and I chose to make breakfast for everyone. I made french toast but not just the usual kind; it was a special kind with real french bread and home made syrup that baked with the bread and the other mixtures. While breakfast was baking everyone got to open up Valentines gifts. Damon got Riley a heart shaped box of chocolates and he gave it to her saying "Happy Valentines Day Riley." Laurie who is always the hostest with the mostest had cute valentine bags prepared for everyone including Kat and I. We opened our gifts and were just as excited as the kids...very unexpected.

After breakfast we got dressed and took the kids to the park. It was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun running around and playing. We made our own lunch at home and everyone excluding Damon and I, took a quick nap.

Sorry for the rough picture of me...I was not feeling well this day.

Laurie and Shawn were so great inviting us up for Valentines that I wanted to make sure they got some special time with each other so I watched the kids while they went out and got a drink. While they were gone I started not feeling so well. My throat was hurting and I was freezing. I had the fire place going with my jacket and a comforter wrapped around me. When Shawn and Laurie returned we ate a fantastic dinner. Laurie decided to make dinner for everyone and boy was it delicious. She also decorated the table with Valentine decor and candles...so cute.

I wasn't able to eat too much dinner because I was just not feeling well. I was freezing and achy all over. Laurie offered to let Damon play with Riley while I took a nice, long, hot bath and went to bed. I just could not get warm enough. Later that night Damon crawled into bed with me and we slept until 8:00 the next morning.

The Tanners

We woke up Sunday morning and it was Kat's day to make breakfast. She made eggs, bacon, and biscuits...very tasty. We cleaned the condo and loaded the cars and headed back out to the park to play and do some shopping on main street. I bought everyone lunch as a thank you for the wonderful weekend and shortly after we headed home.

Another Date with Damon to a Valentines Dance!

My Valentine!

Tonight Damon's school hosted a Valentines Dance and of course Damon asked me to be his date...well he didn't so much ask as I told him we were going and he was taking me. My mom also joined in on the fun. It was really cute. They ordered food from Brooklyn South, they had the gym all decorated in pink and red, and the DJ was awesome. I thought the night was going to be a bunch of twinkle, twinkle, little stars or Old McDonald but it wasn't. He actually played songs that the adults enjoyed as well.

I'm not really sure who the kid in the middle is but he wanted to be in the picture so there they are standing inside a big heart...awww...

Damon was the first one on the dance floor and the rest followed. He loves to dance but he got distracted by the other dancers. Every time we would get on the dance floor one of his guy friends would start "mosh pitting" with him and he would be gone. I finally had to tell this one kid to step off that Damon needed to dance with the one that brought him. The kid laughed at me and started moshing again. I gave up and decided to ask my cousin to dance with me.

Okay, next is a clip of Damon and some of the other kids dancing. You should watch this video 4 times and each time watch a different kid. The girl was doing some pretty hard shoulder pop and locks, Aden (Damon's cousin) has energy bursting from him and started to do whatever came to his mind, the kid in the blazer was "crunking" all over Damon and Damon was just trying to dance by himself.

Damon and all of the kids for that matter had a really great time. He is so comfortable at his new school and it really showed tonight. He loves his teachers and has never had a problem making friends anywhere he goes. So much so that he doesn't really notice if I'm there or not. Oh well, I had a nice time with my son...

Every date ends with a good night kiss...

Play date on a school night???

Yes, I allowed Damon to have a little play date with his friend Riley, you know the cute blond that is in a few of the other blogs?

Anyways, these kids are like best friends. They ask for each other all of the time and finally I set it up with Riley's parents to let the kids play after school.

Everyday this week Damon would ask, "when are we getting Riley?" and today was the day. I picked Damon up from school and we headed to Riley's school to pick her up. As soon as Damon walked in her classroom, Riley ran over to him and gave him a big hug. I loaded the kids in the car and because it was still too cold outside I decided to take them to McDonald's to eat and play on the indoor playground. I called my friend Erin and my cousin Christina to meet me there with their kids too and they did. I think we stayed until 8:00 and then I took the kids to Walgreen's. As I was picking up some essentials the kids found a small toy that they wanted and because they were so well behaved tonight I decided to buy each of them one. After Walgreen's I took them to brusters to get some ice cream. They were really excited about that but it was much colder now that it was about 8:30 so I pulled right up to the front, rolled the windows down and ordered our ice cream. Because the kids are under 40 inches tall they get a free cone so as I was ordering I pointed to the car (with the window down) to show the lady that I had two kids. As I pointed you could see the kids start to wave to her. It was so cute. They had their ice cream devoured by the time we got to Riley's house.

When it was time for Riley to go home they were not very pleased about it, but the didn't whine either. They were so good and I am so proud of both of them. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me tonight so I did not get any pictures. :(

We do have a surprise for the kids so check out next weekends blog to find out what it is...

Now that's more like it...

I was completely caught off guard this morning when my phone started vibrating non stop from e-mails and phone calls. I read the e-mail first that was from Damon's school stating there would be a two hour delay. Uh what? I immediately started thinking to myself, "man these schools will close at the drop of a hat." So I moved sluggishly to the window expecting to see nothing but much to my surprise there was actually inches of snow on the ground! Now that's more like it, this is an appropriate time to delay schools. I might have been more excited than Damon and told him to hurry and get dressed so we can go outside. While I was getting ready I got a call from my cousin whose son goes to the same school as Damon and she offered to take the kids to school late so that I could go to work. How wonderful! As soon as we got dressed we went out to the car and Damon started running through all of the untouched snow. I on the other hand was scraping the ice and snow off of my Jeep and trying to get it as warm as possible. While I was doing that Damon came up behind me and threw a snowball at my behind. Boy that snow took no time to melt and soak right into my pants! Woo that was cold. We played for a little bit until it was time to take on the icy roads. Yes it was pretty bad out there. I actually watched a woman slide right into an intersection. Luckily there were no cars but that could have been bad.

Anyway, I really hate that I couldn't stay home and enjoy more snow time with Damon but we did get a little bit of fun in together.

Damon going up the hill...

Damon on top of the hill...

Damon coming down the hill...

Superbowl Party!

I was invited to two Superbowl parties this year and luckily they just so happen to be next door to one another. One was at the Tanner's home where lived a little girl named Riley, also known as Damon's future girlfriend. The other party was at the Mottola's home. So Damon and I went into the Tanner's home and hung out with everyone there. While Damon and Riley were playing I got to sneak out and go next door and say high to everyone at that party. I munched on a little food there, grabbed a drink and ate some cookies then headed back over to the Tanner's.

Honestly you wouldn't have even noticed that the game was on until Bruce graced the stage at halftime and we all started jamming. The kids put on a little concert of their own and it was to die for.

Damon and I left around 9:15 and went straight to bed...it was however a school night.

He is at the mercy of her hugs...