The big dig!!!

Over the weekend our family took a day trip to the "big" town of Aurora, NC to visit the fossil museum and the fossil dig site. Granddaddy and "Miss Jeanette" accompanied us for the "big dig," or, as Bryson called it, the "dig out!"

Aurora is the home of a well known fossil museum and they have a huge fossil dig site. The boys had absolutely the best time digging in the dirt. Cameron knew exactly what he was digging for - fossils and sharks teeth! Bryson, on the other hand, was just happy to digging and getting dirty!

Cameron was very happy to have about 25 new shark teeth to add to his collection. Again, Bryson was just happy to bring home about 25 pounds of dirt in his overall pocket! It was great fun to watch the boys playing with their Grandaddy in this big giant dirt pile. Grandaddy had made them their very own "sifters" to use looking for treasures. The boys enjoyed those, as well as, using the "the big shovels" that Daddy usually would not let them touch.

So, if you are bored one day and want to go dig in the dirt for fossils, shark teeth, and other hidden treasures, Aurora is the place to go! But, be sure to pack some snacks... there is not much around the town of Aurora!

Bryson's buddy!

I just had to post this "too cute" photo of Bryson and his little buddy, Caroline Park. Bryson and Caroline have become friends through Caroline's older brother, Harrison, who goes to New Hope Elementary with Cameron. Caroline and Bryson are also in the same Sunday school class at our church. I wish I had taken some video of them playing when this photo was taken. Caroline was running circles around Bryson and they were just laughing and laughing and laughing! It was truly the epitome of what it is like to be three and have a friend to play with and not a care in the world!

Fall ball ya'll

Ok, I just had to say that! Fall ball ya'll! We are in the south you know!

Anyway.... Cameron decided this fall to take a season off from soccer, which broke my heart, but... I had to listen to what he wanted to do. He has been talking about playing baseball now for several months. His very good friends, Mason Halsey and Gresham Parrish, both play and I think that has influenced him a little to want to try it out. So, since our local athletic association offers fall baseball, we decided to let Cameron "try it out!" Evidently, this fall ball stuff is not quite as competitive as spring baseball and Doug thought this might be a good way for Cameron to learn a little about the sport without too much pressure. The first game for the HYAA Panthers (Cameron's team name) was this weekend. I was quite proud of him considering it was his first game - ever! He made one hit and scored a run! He was very proud too.

Here's the "baseball player" coming out into the stands to meet his fans! Cameron is a very lucky little boy. He had quite the "audience" watching his first game... his mom, his "Gommy," his brothers, and his very close friend, Gresham and his mom, "Miss Shelby."

PS - Really sorry about the sideways photos again. Evidently if I crop any of my photos before uploading them, they turn sideways and I do not know how to fix it! So, if you just "click" on the photo it will enlarge it for you and then you can turn your head slightly and it looks normal!!!! Yes, I will have to work on this problem!

Bryson is such a clown!

All this week at preschool Bryson has been focusing on the circus! So, yesterday the entire class was allowed to dress up like a clown for the day! What fun! Bryson wore overalls with big green buttons on the front that we made together, super duper big red clown shoes, a bright "circus" orange shirt and extra large clown sunglasses! We finished it off by painting a clown nose and rosy red clown cheeks with lipstick! It was too cute. Bryson loved it! It gave him a good excuse to act silly all day.. which is easy for Bryson!

The terrific kid breakfast

Yesterday was the Terrific Kid award ceremony/breakfast for Cameron at New Hope Elementary. I posted earlier about his letter coming home informing Doug and I that he was selected as terrific kid of the month (for the second year!) for the character trait, "respect." New Hope had a very nice breakfast and ceremony recognizing the students selected (usually there is one from each class). The principal, Mrs. Rumley, read who nominated each child and why before they were presented with their certificate. It was very sweet. Cameron seemed, as he should be, very proud of himself! And Doug and I could not have had bigger smiles on our faces! Good job my terrific kid!!!!

Oh my.. we are sooooo close!

Okay, Noah is now 6 months old and we are so close to crawling!!! Check out this video clip of last night. Noah and Doug were laying on Cameron's bed before "story time" and Noah was trying soooo hard to get those legs and arms moving. This has been his new "trick" over the past week or so. Even I cannot believe how close he is. I looked back in the baby books and it looks like Cameron was crawling shortly after 6 months, but Bryson was crawling closer to 9 months! We'll see when our little Noah starts for real! But, for now.. it is so cute to watch!

Look what came home from school today!

Okay, I know it is a little hard to read this from the photo, but... it is exciting news for the one of the Koehler "kids!" Cameron has been awarded the "Terrific Kid of the Month" at New Hope Elementary AGAIN for the second year in a row! Each month at the elementary school, teachers and staff can nominate children who demonstrate the character education word of the month. September's character trait is respect. This is Cameron's second year in a row receiving this award for the same character trait! Doug and I are very proud parents today! And always, but a little more today! We will attend the award ceremony Thursday so I will post a few photos of Cameron (and the other students nominated!) later this week.
Congratulations Cameron! Mommy and Daddy are very proud of you!!!

Back from girls weekend!

Back from girls weekend at the beach! What a great weekend! The weather at Wrightsville could not have been any better this weekend! Our girls weekend agenda was to have dinner at K38, fun in the sun, get "Ms. Pittman" (aka Sandy!) all "dolled up" and ready for her photo shoot, take photos of the beautiful bride-to-be, dinner out at Bluewater, then follow it all up with a little impromptu lingerie shower complete with cupcakes from the Cupcake Shoppe. All went just as planned. The weekend turned out perfect. Here are a few photos of the "bridal portrait session" in progress. As you can see from the photos, Sandy looked beautiful, as we knew she would. Heather did a great job photographing her portrait images. Can't wait to see the finished product. But, here's a little sneak peek....!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had a great weekend girls!!!! Sandy, we are so excited for you!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Noah!

Okay... I am four days late posting this (I was busy posting about some other things), but on Sunday, September 13th, Noah turned 6 months old! SIX whole months... It has been SIX months! Where has the time gone?

In some ways it feels like it was yesterday that Doug and I were standing on the beach announcing to Jay and Laura and Mom and Greg that we were having ANOTHER baby and then "skyping" Daddy in Italy to tell him the news on the same day. And it seems like yesterday that we were racing to hospital thinking we would have another quick birth, only to find out that Baby Noah wanted to take nine hours to get here! And it seems like yesterday that we were anxiously waiting for our two baby boys to enter the hospital room and meet their new baby brother for the very first time! In some ways, it really feels like yesterday! Then.... in some ways it feels so long ago. It seems like Noah was so teeny tiny for such a short amount of time. I think having Cameron and Bryson around has made these months fly by faster than I expected. I remember with both Cameron and Bryson I never wanted them to get older, not even one day, because I loved the age they were and I did not want to loose it. Like when they were 3 months, I wanted them to stay 3 months forever. Then 4 months came and I wanted them to stay 4 months forever, etc. I am feeling the same way with Noah. I want him to stay the way he is, but, at the same time, I want him to grow and play baseball with his brothers, and run around the house with underpants on his head yelling "Captain Underpants!" like his brothers, and put beetles and frogs in his pants pockets only to have me find them during laundry like his brothers, and I want him to be able to look into my eyes and say "Mommy, I love you" just like his brothers do. I want all of these things, and I do not ever want those memories to fade. Memories are what make me smile during the hard times!

Happy "half" Birthday Noah!!! I love you!

My little photographer - part 2

So, in an earlier post, I showed a couple of photos that Cameron took while we were at Duke Gardens one afternoon. He has always shown an interest in the arts, drawing, photography, anything dealing with expressing creativity. He is much more creative than I am. Over the weekend he was messing around with my camera again taking a few photos at Jay and Laura's "sprinkle" (see previous post). But, this photo just blew me out of the water when he showed it to me! I could have the next great photographer on my hands!

Enjoy!

Laura and Jay's "sprinkle!"

So, as you may have read in a previous blog post, my brother and sister-in-law are expecting baby boy #2 very soon! Since they already have a baby boy and all the fun things that go along with one, they opted not to have an elaborate baby shower. Instead... we just had a "sprinkle!"

We honored them Sunday afternoon at my mom's house with a casual dinner with family and "sprinkled" them with diapers and baby wipes. Because what mother and father-to-be again could not use diapers and wipes??!

We had a fantastic "barbecue chicken on the grill" dinner with baked beans, potato salad, poppyseed cole slaw, garden salad and bread. In the words of Rachel Ray... Yum -O! We also had a little game for anyone who wanted to play. We decided that since Laura had such a LONG and involved labor with Max that we should all guess how long it would take her to deliver this little guy. Her labor with Max was roughly 3o plus hours. So, everyone wrote down their guess on a slip of paper and placed it in a jar. Whenever Baby boy Upchurch #2 makes his debut we'll see who won the "prize!" Let's hope for Laura it is less than before.

We are so excited about meeting this new little one Jay and Laura. And excited to see how Max will respond to being the big brother! We'll be anxiously awaiting October 11th!

An afternoon at the Eno River

Labor Day weekend last year, Doug and I took Cameron and Bryson to the Eno River for the afternoon to have a picnic and play in the river. What better place for boys that a river. There is water, mud, rocks, sticks, and tons of critters! They had the best time!

So, this past weekend, to have a little fun, we took the boys back to the Eno River (almost one year later). Except, on this trip was, of course, one more "baby boy" to add to the mix! So, these are a few of the photos from the afternoon on the Eno - and Noah's first trip. The boys love this so much, I am sure we will do it every year now about this same time. A little boy's paradise!

We are ready for fall!

I have to admit that my favorite two seasons are spring and fall. I just love the start of a new season. There is something about getting rid of the "old" and ushering in the new, especially fall. It's nice to put away swimsuits and get out sweatshirts and get ready for picking pumpkins, fall festivals, leaf piles, red apples, cinnamon spice candles, football season (Go Heels!), and for our family, Bryson's birthday party!

Since our weather was so nice last week, I decided to plan a family outing over Labor Day weekend to get us in the mood for fall - which I hope will hurry and get here! So, we all went to an apple orchard to pick our own apples! This ended up being a lot of fun. I think the boys were a little surprised to see all the apple trees and all the red apples on the trees! Bryson just kept walking around under the trees saying "apples!" Bryson and Cameron got their own bag and were allowed to fill it to the brim!

I thought that not only would it be neat to pick our own apples, but also to make something with them. So, over the weekend we made "apple pie party dip" and apple cobbler (or crisp). Both turned out delicious and I fully believe it was because each of the apples used were picked with such care by two of the best baby boys in the world! (Noah picked one or two himself too!)

Recipe for Apple Pie Party Dip:

ingredients for dip:

1 1/3 cups peeled, cored and diced apples

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons apricot preserves

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

combine all dip ingredients in a bowl, then cover and refrigerate the mixture until chilled.

Take 5 (6 inch) flour tortillas and brush with melted butter, then cut into wedges. Arrange on greased baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake tortillas at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Let the tortillas cool, then serve with the apple party dip! Serves 4 to 6. Delicious!!!! And pretty!!

Recipe for apple crisp:

1 1/2 cups (I usually add more) of fresh apples

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup self rising flour

1 stick margarine (cold)

1 tsp cinnamon

almond extract and lemon juice

pour apples and water in 9 x 13 pyrex dish. In small bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter (cut into small chunks). Mix all together with hand or fork until it looks like cornmeal. Pour "cornmeal" like mixture over apples and water. Cook at 350 degrees for one hour. Enjoy!