Bowling!

We have been burning up the Groupons lately, we got one for 2 hours of bowling.  Since Eric can't allow something like that to burn a whole in his pocket we went this weekend.  I was thinking of waiting until after the new baby came, which would have been easier and less exhausting for me, but Eric wasn't on the same page.  I think the manager was concerned I was going to go into labor.  The kids had a great time.  They used the ramp for most of the time and they even put up the railings for us also.  Let's just say we all did rather well. 

We made it through 2.5 games, by the end we were all pretty much done, Eric kept asking if we wanting to leave, but I paid for 2 hours, I was staying.  Nate was more interested in the video games than the bowling and I was pretty sore and exhausted, but it was great fun and I am glad we did it.  We also took some hilarious video. 
This is Gwen at the beginning, I can't remember if this is where she tries to kick her leg back or not, but man the kid is observent and by the end she wasn't using the ramp at all...

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

We gave both the children the rules of the alley...first wait until the guy in the next lane goes before you bowl and for Nate I added a special rule, don't dance in the lane, come back over the line...sometimes we had to remind him, sometimes we didn't!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Gwen's spare, the little kid beat me the first game, but I beat her the second and third game. 

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Unfortunately Eric had to do some trick shots, and some "granny" bowling, which meant Nate had to bowl Granny style...Eric had to go up and help him though.  I should mention the lady only had to come over once to recover a ball that didn't make it all the way down the lane! 

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.


Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.


This, I think, is the funniest video from the day.  Gwen decided to bowl without the ramp, and it I think is funny.  She is so cute and after the first time she tried it I recommended a little swinging of the arm. I'd like to call this one, "look Ma, no ramp!"

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Emily's big day

This weekend I had the honor of going to Charlotte and celebrating Emily's Baptism.  The Dr said I was still good to travel until the end of the month, so we packed up Saturday and drove up to Charlotte.  We got there a little early so we could hang, chat and make sure we weren't late!  Emily's Baptism was the first Baptism at this Church, they don't actually have a Church building yet, so they meet in the rec center.  A Priest comes up from the sister Parish and does the Mass.  He seemed slightly confused, because he thought I was the Mom and hadn't lost the baby weight yet, when he figured that out, he thought Eric was the godfather, when he figured that out he then realized that Jess had an older son.  He gave a lot of blessing on us all before Mass and we all walked down the aisle with him.  Since there was no Baptismal font in the rec center, when it came time for the Baptism, he had us all stand in front of the Church while Dave, the godfather held the bowl for the Holy Water.  He gave a really nice service and Emily didn't even make a peep.  She was so good!  Unfortunately Jess didn't have a charged camera, Grandma forgot her camera so we got the only pictures.  For probably the first time EVER we had a completely charged camera and were ready to go!  Eric took all the pictures and he even got a video.  If you look closely you can see me giving Nate the evil eye because he's trying to blow out the Baptismal candle. 

Emily's Baptism - flash slideshow maker

We then all went out to dinner to celebrate and we'd decided to stay the night, but the kids just couldn't settle, so we popped them in the car and drove home!  We got home about midnight.  We stopped twice, but the kids were already asleep.  Once because I was like, "get me out of this car", I have to move and once because Eric felt the same way!
We are spending the rest of the weekend pretty low key, the husband's home and I guess we will be doing some grilling and what not, but that's about it!

School happenings

This week was Catholic Schools week and so they had busy happenings at the school this week.  The Kindergartners were invited back to school on Wednesday night in their PJs for bedtime stories and bedtime snacks.  Gwen was SO excited.  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture.  She had a good time and fell asleep almost as soon as she went into her room. 
Friday night they had the faculty/staff basketball game.  One of Gwen's teachers was playing in the game, as was our neighbor.  We were surprised at how evenly matched the teams were and there seemed to be a lot of players that weren't faculty or staff...I guess we will figure that stuff out as the kids get older.  The Pastor and the principal were designated foul shot takers.  Gwen sat with her friends under the basket.  I couldn't believe it, isn't that what the teenagers do, not my kindergartner?  Well, she and Nate had a good time, I guess that is all that matters! 

 Getting ready for the halftime dance, all the kids went out to do it...I took a video of just Gwen and Nate. 

 Gwen's friend came over and took these pictures of us, as you can see Eric thought he was going to be in the picture also, he was denied.

 She did take a picture of him also. 

During "half-time" it is traditional for there to be some sort of dance thing.  This year they decided to have a "flash mob" and invited all the kids to do the dance the teachers have apparently been doing all week.  The teachers apparently decided to break out in dance periodically during the week.  I recorded the whole song. 

Bless the heart of my uncoordinated children!  (Nate might be really tired and it is possible he fell asleep on the way home and stayed out all night!) 

What you don't want to see more video of swimming lessons?

Well, too bad, we've got more! This is Gwen pushing off to a swim.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

I don't remember what this video is, but it is Gwen swimming.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Ok, this is Gwen swimming down to the other end of the pool, I took the whole way down to the other end. What I think is funny about this video is that Gwen apparently decided to pass someone and she works really hard to pass the kid, then gets to the end and is floating. Nut!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

So in this video, Gwen was supposed to jump in, and then saw me with the video camera and decided to jump off the starter block. Show off!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

These are from today, "safety day", look at the smile on that face.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Nate jumping in at the deep end, his first time!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

You are in luck, tomorrow is the last day of swim lessons! I am trying to convince Gwen to jump in on her own, no hands, she'll do it with me, why not do it with her instructor? We'll see if she will perform for the camera!

Swimming Lessons

I have noticed that now that the kids are in school I realize that summer has gone a lot faster. Although it could be because we didn't really know anyone last summer and now we have friends. I decided that the kids needed swim lessons this summer, so in the last couple weeks of summer I finally got them into the lessons. And they love it!
I took some videos also, for my Mom and Eric to see their progress. Gwen and Nate are actually in the same class, there are 2 instructors and they split up the younger kids into a separate group. So they seem to be in separate classes. Gwen has improved so much, but I'll let the videos speak for themselves.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Nate swimming

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

If you listen closely, you can hear Nate squeal with delight when his teacher twirls him around.

Nate enjoying swim lessons from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Gwen floating, not thrilling, but note worthy.

Gwen floating from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Every week the "older" kids swim the length of the pool.

swimming to the deep end from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Jumping in and swimming to the edge

jumpin' in from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

After the swim lessons we go to the playground and they have water to play with, the kids love it...

After swim from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

More recent blast from the past

A couple weeks ago on 4th of July we had the big rain storm, which canceled the fireworks. Eric and the kids decided to play in the rain. I took some videos, 'cause that's what I do!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

The kids love playing in the rain, and apparently so does their father!

Happy 5th birthday!

Today is Gwen's 5th birthday! My oldest starts Kindergarten this year, summer is halfway over! I don't know really what to say about her. Most of the time she is a sweet, fun and great help around here. She does have times when I wonder what has happened to my sweet girl, but her brother is requiring more and more attention and I think the sweet one occasionally gets jealous and when I speak to her about it and give her some attention life gets much better. She adores Nate though and usually plays so well with him.
She is very affectionate, she especially loves babies and animals. She is planning on moving to a farm, she'd like goats and other assorted animals, which I think she has already named. Every time we see a baby she calls it a "cutie pie" and tries to help it in some way. I almost dread when the neighbors with dogs are outside because I know she will run down there to play with them and then I feel kind of awkward, because I don't really know those neighbors and then I have to make random chit-chat.
She is very timid. She needs lots of coaxing to try something new. And often times she can't be coaxed into something new. I am usually unable to coax her into stuff, which can be very frustrating. But, since going to preK she has become more confident and I am excited to see how much confidence learning to read next year will help her overcome her timidity. She is slated to spend the night at a friend's house this week. And although I am pretty sure that she can completely do it and I have the up most confidence in my friend, I will be interested to see if I get the call. I had a neighbor growing up that was often invited to spend the night and fortunately we were neighbors because it was a long time before he could make it through the whole night. I don't think I had a problem, but then again, why would I remember that? Sometimes I think if we make a big deal about something she gets more nervous. So, I've just casually mention it and telling her that she can come home if she wants or she can stay. I did mention to her today that her friend sleeps in the same room as her baby brother and her eyes just lit up with excitement, so I am thinking that might be incentive for her to stay.
I took some pictures and video of her today, opening presents and riding her bike. I have to mention she was real cautious about her bike today, which is kind of funny, since whenever we were in the store and she tried it she was all over the place with confidence. We tried to take her to the Tobacco trail today so she could get more confidence on the trail, smooth surface, no hills. But sadly, the easiest way to get there is by hooking the bikes into the bike trailer and towing the kids and the bikes behind Eric. On the way there, Gwen's bike tire was rubbing on the trailer tire and rubbed a hole into the tire and tube. Fortunately we found a new tube and Eric replaced it and as you can see from the video she was back riding the bike and racing on the street.
Here is the slideshow with pictures of her cake-which Eric made and I frosted...he made a light and fluffy cake, quite yummy, but the kids seemed to prefer my roses, which were so rich not as much cake was eaten (or maybe they were full from dinner!)

Here are 2 videos of Gwen opening presents, which I thought were quite funny-I am sad I missed the very beginning, because she received a "pop-out" card from her Godfather and she was so excited, when people asked her what she got for her birthday they mentioned the pop-out card. She has since popped out all the characters and played with them.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

These next videos are of Gwen "racing" Eric. He's not wearing shoes or a helmet and he is using my bike, I'd say it was a fair race. She used to ride down the driveway on her old bike, but she apparently needs more confidence before she can start doing that with the new bike.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Another ride...

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

New bike

Today I am going to post the videos I took of Nate riding his new bike. I seriously can't keep up with him, I had to run next to him! I am noticing his balance, if the bike begins to tip to one side he can usual compensate for it. Today he had his first hit the pavement with his chin spill. He was ticked, but he hopped right back on. To watch him "fall" off his bike is something kind of funny that I can't describe, one day I hope to get them on video. Gwen had the idea to attach her stroller to her bike so her bear could go for a ride, so I took some video of that also, because I thought it was so sweet.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

The videos-preK graduation

I have uploaded all the videos, they are all less than 5 minutes, some have several songs some have just a couple. I have only viewed the first one, I might eventually go back through and watch them all, but wanted to get them posted, in case someone out there is like, "I can't wait to see the videos!"

Halloween & Thanksgiving songs from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

I have to give credit to Eric for most of the videos, I think I might have done 1 or 2 of them, and probably the ones that you missed the beginning of because I was like, oh, I'd like to video this one!

New bike

The other day, ok maybe a couple weeks ago I saw my neighbor throwing this out in the trash.
I thought why let that go to waste, so I picked it out of the trash. (It was on the top) I thought even if it didn't work for Nate we could give it to one of my friends' kids. Nate loves the thing and uses it all the time. He uses the pedals unlike the other bike we have, so I guess we will keep it. He won't even let Gwen use it.

New trike from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Dance, dance, dance

My Momma completed her first complete week back to work after her football injury, so I thought she'd like to see some videos of the kids...mostly Nate dancing. Because I am pretty sure there is nothing cuter than Nate dancing. He is definitely my musical child and sometimes while Gwen is at school he sits on my lap and I play the piano, it doesn't last long before he is sitting next to me playing his own tune. But it is not something I did with Gwen, Nate enjoys it though.
First I give you "Charlie Brown song" as Nate calls it. His current loves are Zip-a-dee-doo-dah and Linus and Lucy. He asks me to play them all the time. This is a back view, because he likes to look at the iPod as it plays, I don't know why, I guess he likes to be close to the speakers...

Charlie brown dancing from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Our next video is from after dinner (well for everyone but Eric). We don't usually listen to music while we eat, but today we did and when this song came on Nate said "I don't like it, another song" the refrain of my life...but then the song continued to play and I said "Daddy likes this song" Nate decided, it must not be a bad song...he certainly doesn't have that reaction when I tell him I want to listen to a song.

Superstition from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

His sister as you can see couldn't handle he was possibly getting his picture taken and she wasn't in frame, so she joined in, slightly obnoxiously, but whatever, Friday night dance party at our house! The hilarious part of the story is that Nate totally sings this song now "There is superstition driving down the wall" I don't know where superstition is going but sadly he doesn't know more of the words. Guess we will be listening to that song more so he can learn the words!

Eric's favorite video of all time!

Last night I took a video that Eric just laughs and laughs and laughs when he watches it. Here is a picture teaser.

Nate is such a character, last night I was sitting on the couch and Eric calls me in and says you've got to see this, so I pull out the camera and take the above picture. I tried to get an action shot, but that didn't work, so I decided to take a video. Here is Nate, aka trouble. Hopefully he never does it again, he is likely to land on a toy and get hurt. Enjoy!

Jumping! from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

A real snow day

The day after Christmas we got 6in of snow. It has been a little chilly since then, so the snow hasn't melted. The kids are really enjoying the snow, Nate still loves to eat the snow. Fortunately we had all these boxes laying around, the bat cave box is perfect for sledding, when you are 2 & 4! The waxy surface plus the place to put their feet, perfect! So we brought it out back and let the kids sled. Then we went for a drive and came back and realized there was a bigger hill that we could take the kids to, not far from the house. So, we walked over there and braved the big hill. Gwen loved it! For some reason Nate was not that interested in going down the big hill, I took him down with me a time or 2, and Eric took him and Gwen down, one at a time...we didn't get any pictures of that, but I am compiling a slide show of both hills.

I also took videos of the kids so my Mom could see them sledding, only in our back yard though.

Gwen sledding from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Nate sledding from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Gwen & Nate sledding from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Looking back at the slide show I realize that Nate really doesn't know how to sled, he kept falling over or running into things, he didn't get hurt though. Although knowing what I now know about that boy, if he did get hurt I am pretty sure if he like it, he would still do it, getting hurt jumping on the bed has not stopped him from doing it...blast that boy!

pre-Halloween treat

We have had a busy day today, busy, busy busy! But I think the kids have had fun, we ended their day going to a local mall and "trick-or-treating" at the different shops. The kids had a great time. I think we might do that again, it was fun! We were warm, the walk wasn't that far and several of the workers dressed up.
This is the scene on the way home! Someone made up their own song...

HYPED UP! from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

In case you needed an interpretation "Can I eat from my bag? nah, nah, nah Can I see?" We obviously gave them some candy, but apparently some little kids didn't think it was enough! He wanted to get more candy from his bag! He also wanted to look at himself on the camera, I did let him do that.

The videos

So, I have these videos, probably only interesting to Grandma, but I am going to post them here, so if you want to see them you can! I am so proud of Gwen. The getting up on stage thing in front of people, always a gamble, but she did it, she sang and she did most if not all of the hand motions and was cute too, but I might be a little biased! The first video is everyone coming in, Eric took it not knowing when Gwen would appear, so it is a pretty long video, she comes in at 1:33, if you look REAL close you can see her wave as soon as she walks in...of course if you want to hear Nate's stirring commentary on chairs and thinking everyone who comes in the door is Mommy or Gwen, go ahead and take a listen to the whole thing!

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

The other video is Gwen doing her song with the whole group. Eric apologizes for the quality of the videos, apparently Nate thought he should try and eat the camera cord while Eric was recording. You'll know my girl, she's the one that did the sheep signs backwards...my poor left handed kid! Still cute though!

VBS concert baa from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

I haven't viewed the other videos and it is likely they won't be posted, one is of me doing the "muscle" song as our song leader described it and Eric thought it was too funny...

Guess who's 2?

That would be Nate, obviously. There has been a lot of changes in Nate in the last year. He is definitely talking. He is up to at least 4 word sentences, has on occasion busted out a 7 word sentence. His current favorite phrases are "I did it" and "I'm not hurt, Mommy" and something else I can't remember right now. He repeats everything you say and is very polite with the "please", "thank you", and "'cuse me". Sadly all these words he has doesn't always translate to he actually speaking. When he gets angry or frustrated he screams/squeals. We are working on getting him to use his words. I feel like it is going to be a long slow process.

Nate after his nap one day.

He is still very much the little dare devil. He has no fear and will try anything. He has learned to jump and hop. Only 2 footed jumps and hops, but at this age that is pretty good. He's a pretty good climber and he has been trying to go down the little slide in our backyard, backwards!!! He fell off it the other day and he banged up his chin and nose and has yet to learn that he shouldn't do it, DUH!

head first down the slide is ok though

I feel like Nate is a pretty smart kid, despite the fact that he doesn't learn from his boo-boos, he picks up things quickly. I am hoping that translates to book knowledge. He still LOVES to read, if I could sit there all day with him and read, he would be a happy boy. I am still working on getting him to "read" things back to me. Nate is still rather difficult, he doesn't listen, most of the time. I am still struggling to find a way to discipline him that will sink in. He seems to not care about consequences. I haven't figured out how to get him to care, very frustrating!

Thought he would cut his grapes with my icing knife!

He is still generally a happy kid. He still has the baby laugh. Although he really only does it when he is over tired it is still funny, nonetheless. He usually is always smiling and he laughs and laughs at the dumbest things. He is still such a cuddler and likes the big hugs and kiss

He is a sweet little boy, if I could just get him to listen and behave, our world would be a better place. I have pictures from today. I put them in a slideshow, because I took so many. By all from what we can tell, he had a good birthday today. He seems to love his presents, especially his scooter. I think he was so excited about today he wouldn't take his nap!

Also, took a video of the scooter riding, he has quickly picked it up, and as the neighbors said he has really good balance. The neighborhood kids also sang him happy birthday, so sweet.

Untitled from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

The kid

By now you know I have the 2 kids. The one a mini me the other, a mini Eric? I'm not sure if he is or not, I just know he is a mini-trouble maker. UGH! But Gwen excuse me Briar Rose makes my life a challenge in different ways, I think it can be VERY difficult to parent yourself. I would have thought it was easier but there are so many of my personality faults in her that I would like to help her not have. And well, she doesn't really see it that way. Sure she is cute and sweet and just plain helpful, but I struggle with her on many things. I have yet to figure out how to get her to help me with certain things I want to do, like clean up her room or try new things. This week we had a new development, I actually got her to try something new and she was so excited after she tried it. I felt so proud of both of us! Last year I took Gwen out on her bike and she fell down the hill. It was terrible, and until this week whenever the road went down or up she would get off her bike and ride it. This week I told her she should try going down the little hill of our driveway, she refused, I persisted, it took about 5 minutes of coaxing and she FINALLY decided to try it, with me standing next to her of course and now, she rides down the hill by herself and even all the way up to our front door and around the car. But to show you what I mean I took a video, because I am so proud and although she is not going as fast as she had been you can see the idea.

Bike 1 from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

I still have to figure out how to motivate her, but maybe we are getting there. Here's another video, more of the same, but really why watch 1 video when you can watch 2!

Bike down from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

In other news Gwen has again decided to not wear diapers at bed time. I am trying to encourage her to go more often during the day and trying to explain to her that she is going to need to get up in the middle of the night and go. I don't know how to deal with this exactly, am I supposed to wake her up in the middle of the night to get her to pee? Will she start doing that on her own if I start waking her up, or is this another train Mommy to do it type thing? I am really at a loss here, but I would like her to be out of diapers completely, I KNOW she can do it I just have to figure out a way to help her. UGH! I guess I should start doing some more research on this and that will help me figure it out.
I also took the kids to a new park yesterday and it was hilarious, Gwen climbs to the top of the big steps to a really windy slide and yells "HOLY CRAP"! I had no idea what to do, but we had just gotten to the park and there was 1 other guy there with his kid and I was kind embarrassed because we had just gotten there and that was the first thing she said, not once but twice! But still it was kind of funny and I was super glad that my language was cleared up enough that she didn't yell something worse because there was a time when I said way worse phrases than "holy crap"! Let's just say Eric had a good laugh over that story!

On Sunday, we decided to not to work on the yard at all, we decided to go to a free outdoor concert thing. They closed down part of the town of Carborro, a street or two. They had free stuff for the kids. Nate enjoyed the cones!
Here are Eric and Gwen in the line for the big slide...

Nate still enjoying the cone.

Here they are going up; Eric had to help Gwen.

Sadly, Nate was still playing with the cone and I missed Gwen going down the slide.

Then I had to get Gwen down and missed Eric going down the slide.

Lots of people had dogs, have I mentioned my kids like to look and sometimes touch the pets.

They also like dance to the music. (Side note since Eric let Gwen watch Sleeping Beauty, Gwen now dances holding her dress, whether she is wearing a dress or not, also she often closes her eyes like Sleeping Beauty apparently did!)

They were so exhausted, Gwen fell asleep shortly after Eric started the car, of course, we are only a couple minutes away from where the concert was, so it was really just a cat nap.

Before bed here my kids are reading a book together, aren't they cute! So sweet...

I tried to get a couple of minutes of Nate dancing...he was so funny, he heard the music and squeezed his way out of Eric's hands and started dancing, sadly my camera skills were too slow to get most of the dancing.

the backlog to end all backlogs!

I have a bunch of pictures that will hopefully be posted of the next couple of days that will end my HUGE backlog of pictures...

These pictures are from the end of May, this is what happens when you let an overtired girl play outside with Daddy!

Do you see how dirty her face is!?

Here is a video we took:

None of my videos appear to be working, so I guess I am going to find a new hosting site or something.

Afternoon fun

I promised Gwen one day that we would fingerpaint. Instead of doing that while Nate napped, I thought that would be a fun thing for them to do together, outside! I didn't take any pictures of Gwen fingerpainting, because, really not a new experience for her.

Much to my surprise, Nate did not eat any of the paint, and as you can tell, not really impressed.

I went to clean them up and noticed the sprinkler and thought that would be a fun way for them to clean off, and it was. At first Nate was very leary...and cried a little bit...

but as you can see, by the end, picking it up and moving it around! (which is when I decided to pack it up!)

(I don't know why the video is not working, I will keep working on it, Mom.)