Happy Birthday, Dear Bennett...

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19TH IS BENNETT'S 34TH BIRTHDAY!

WHY NOT LEAVE A BIRTHDAY COMMENT FOR HIM TO ENJOY? HE'S SURE TO CHECK THIS TOMORROW...

No Room at the Inn...

Monday is Mary Claire's Christmas program at her Preschool (cameras were only permitted at the dress rehearsal). How cute are these 4 year olds in their capes and red bows? I bet these boys will cringe at these pictures when they are 14!! Mary Claire's dream in life is to be on stage, so she is fulfilling it by being front and center. The funniest part was that she kept yawning and not singing during most of the songs. When I asked her why she wasn't singing for some of them and yawning even, she replied, "Well...those are the songs that I don't like of course." Duh, mommy.

Over the falls...

I can't believe we have had 80 degree weather this week! We leave the house in long sleeves and we are sweating! I know that is hard for you folks up north getting hammered with snow storms...sorry! Please know that it is a little strange to come in from a bike ride or trip to the lake and hear Christmas music playing.

It has been said that my blog paints a picture of my two girls getting along perfectly day in and day out. So, I'm here today to say that they fought all morning; therefore, I became a lazy parent and took them across the street to Falls Lake Dam (1/2 mile away--why don't I do this more often?) We took a picnic lunch and then for nearly 2 hours the girls threw rocks into the lake (which is half dried up due to the drought), watched the dogs swim and collected clam shells.

PS--Those of you who know me best--I think I will buy the kids play clothes for Christmas (ha ha!). How adorable were they getting wet and muddy in their little dresses?

Decking the Halls...

Our little girls were so excited to decorate the house for Christmas! They were thrilled to open each little ornament box and to find the special ornaments they have collected over their few short years. It was so much fun.

Something interesting to note--Bennett tried out a beard for a couple of weeks. This is what he looked like.

Christmas Card Rejects...

I had fun while we decorated the Christmas tree taking some pictures of the girls. Dad Wise--I tried some one of the other settings for these pictures, can you tell? Anyway, Mary Claire just looked like she wanted to take a nap in all of them so I had to scrap the photo shoot. But Elle was full of personality so I thought you all might find them interesting!

Christmas tree farm????

Okay, first of all, KM and RM, yes the girls do own a pair of jeans!! And they actually wore them :-). Anyway...

After living in Raleigh for a year, we are slowly realizing that we spend a lot of time on the corner of Ravens Ridge Road and Falls of Neuse Road. Why, you may ask? This happens to be the small corner that has turned into our pumpkin patch for Halloween, Christmas tree farm, and fireworks stand. This year I decided that we needed to cut down our Christmas tree somewhere (missing Mayne's in Buckeystown!). I was finished with cropping out the cars whizzing by from our family pictures.

After a quick search on the internet for cut-your-own tree places, we headed out to Apex NC. Our Christmas tree farm turned out to be basically a dude's backyard in the country. Not much farm about it. But it was a bit cheaper and an adventure nonetheless.

On the way home, our tree nearly fell off the top and we had to make a pitstop to shove it into the back. Next year you'll see us...again...on the corner of Falls and Ravens Ridge.

Turkey for you, and, turkey for me...

There's so much to tell about the Wise Family Thanksgiving here in Raleigh, NC. First of all, Bennett put an hour to hour 5 day itinerary together about 2 months ahead of time and made about 15 phone calls to "review it" with all the participants. Needless to say some liked that, some didn't! Everyone was great and brought food, so I didn't have to do very much which was so nice and helped me to relax and enjoy getting a chance to talk to everyone. And we talked A LOT. In fact there were several up-until-2am nights!

The kids had a great time as well. With so many adults around they went to the park three times a day! We enjoyed some weather in the 70's, perfect for getting outside. On a cooler day, we set up the moonbounce I bought at a yard sale for $15 in the garage and the kids had a ball getting some energy out. April made the girls matching nightgowns which were sooo cute. I didn't get a picture of all the kids together, I must have been busy!

Overall, this was a great time. We were all together for several days and didn't leave the house practically--a great bonding experience.

My girls are so cute. They love to "set up house." Here I discovered them sleeping in their newly arranged house, complete with table, tea party, a fan (ha!), and every stuffed animal they own. And then they went to sleep and slept for the next five and a half hours so that I could clean the kitchen, do all the laundry, paint my toenails, eat a batch of cookies and watch the Young and the Restless. Boy being a stay at home mom is great.

Visiting Santa...

Okay, okay, so I know it is still November...but why not? Mary Claire was soooo excited, and Ellie was so giddy and adorable whenever we passed by I decided to dress the kids up and put them on the lap of some strange old man. At least he was a Southerner! They thought he was great. Mary Claire talked his ear off and Ellie just sat and grinned. A fun afternoon was had by all!

Country Girls...

This past week the girls and I took a trip to Henderson, North Carolina, to visit Aunt Vallie and Uncle Jeddie. It was a beautiful Fall day, high of 76, the perfect day to visit the goats and hound dogs, roam the pasture, and test out rocks and sticks in the pond. It was so much fun. We had all afternoon for the girls to plop down in the grass to pick "grains of wheat" (see picture) and pick up hickory nuts, acorns, and pine combs of all shapes and sizes. Aunt Vallie has a little cocker spaniel, Maggie, and Mary Claire enjoyed getting her to play too. Meanwhile, Elle (the adverturous girl that she is) decided to get a little too close to the pond and ended up ankle deep in water. Both girls got to climb the still hunting fort (what in the world is that called, anyway?) which was very high up in a tree and very exciting as well. Finally, after an afternoon in the sunshine we headed inside where Aunt Vallie fed the girls a little snack of Cheetos and Sweet Tea. Ahhhhh.....the Southern life.

Turkey Trot

Last weekend our neighborhood had the annual "Turkey Trot" 5K race. Bennett and the girls both participated (I didn't since I had the stomach bug that week :-( ). Bennett did well and so did Mary Claire (I ended up carrying Elle during the kid race!). These are before and after pictures of Bennett during the race. It was fun to do as a family.

My princesses...

Here's a glimpse of a typical Wise girls day. Aurora and Cinderella are dressed in their lovliest attire and they insist on a photo shoot. This photo shoot conversation went something like this:
A to C:
"Cinderella, your crown is on backwards!"
"Here let me help you."
"Now it's perfect."
"Oops!"

It's so nice that they are friends.

Girls wrestle too ya know!

And look who's winning! The other day I was in the kitchen and was curious to see what was evoking uncontrollable giggles from the girls. I rounded the bend to see Elle on top of Mary Claire and they were wrestling around on the floor. It was so funny to see them because they were dressed alike, so it was a sea of pink and flowers...and they rolled around and had a great time laughing together. I do not need to comment on who was in control the whole time, who started it, or who won. The pictures speak for themselves.

Fall Festival!

The Wise family spent Halloween at church for the annual fall festival. There were pony rides, inflatable slides, games, face painting, and lots of fun! The girls loved the ponies and came home with lots of candy. This is one night you see just about everyone you know from church with kids so it is fun for the grown ups, too. Here you see our friends, the Bono boys, aka Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

The girls visit...Dr. Dave

Okay so my kids LOVE LOVE LOVE the dentist. It is the coolest place ever. Last week we visited "Dr. Dave" for Elle's first dentist appointment and Mary Claire's second. They were so excited! The office is decorated in a fish theme, and as soon as you walk in there is a huge tropical fish tank with....you guessed it....all of the fish from NEMO!!! The girls get so excited. There's Nemo, Dory, Scar, etc. A very clever idea although the dentist in that movie is so creepy. Anyway...

The dentist took the girls at the same time and it was precious to see them all laid back together. The hygenists are so sweet and Ellie wanted to go home with hers. I was really surprised Ellie relaxed and laid back in the chair, but she had a ball. We also came home with a goody bag that was better than Halloween! Definitely the highlight of the month.

Can I put my pumpkin in a stroller?

It's almost November and FINALLY fall weather is here. All of the maple trees are turning red and we actually have to wear long pants now. The girls were thrilled to wear a jacket to church this morning! Last weekend we decided to have a picnic dinner along the Greenway in our neighborhood (the girls insisted after I brought them home each their very own lunch box...they were so happy). We walked along the paved path littered with leaves of all shapes and colors, and the girls collected fall's trinkets and place them in a baggie they brough for their finds. Mary Claire was so excited to do this after a few days of "No don't touch that!" during a bout of pink eye. So we meandered through the paths soaking up the sunshine peeking through the leaves. Glorious...

After we had dinner we went to the "pumpkin patch." Yes folks, the little white things you see all over the pictures are price tags (so unauthentic...how pathetic I know!) I even had to take the pictures just so or you would see the cars whizzing by on the busy street the "patch" sits on! It made us really miss Frederick and Larryland farms and Mayne's pumpkin patch. But the girls didn't really mind, they hopped from pumpkin to pumpkin saying "Let's get this one! No this one!" Most of all, however, they fell in love with the little pumpkins. Mary Claire picked one up and said, "Oh, it's so cute! Can I get this one Daddy? I want to wrap a blanket around it and put it in my stroller!" You know, 'cause it is a baby pumpkin. Please see the picture of her holding the "baby." Also check out Elle's smile...looks just like a little Jenny picture. Talk about spooky.

Does anyone remember this place?

Bonus points if you do!! A couple of weekends we took a trip back there to show the girls...to have lunch...to reminisce...