Weekend in DC

This past weekend Greg, Mom, Chelle and I took a quick trip up to DC to visit my grandparents and paint their living room. We had a wonderful time with them and got all the painting done. There are still some final touches that need to be taken care of (like switching out outlets, hanging new blinds and putting some art on the walls) but the room itself has been rescued from the dark wood paneling.

In between coats of paint, we were able to hear my Pawpaw tell stories. He's in his 80's and as the result of multiple strokes, his short term memory is weak; but all Chelle had to do was ask him how he met and fell in love with Mawmaw and he shared clear and detailed stories for nearly 2 hours about their love story, his career in the Marine Corps and his many tours overseas. What blessing for all of us to hear our family history and how his life was spared multiple times in combat situations. My only regret is that we didn't have a video camera or tape recorder.

While we were there, we got to visit our very close family friends, the Mercados, at their church in Ashburn, VA and then go out to lunch with them. Sushi on a Sunday afternoon. It really doesn't get more perfect than that. Our time together with them really was too short and missing about 1/2 of our families, but (Uncle Dave and Aunt Susie . . . are you reading this??) we're hoping to see them when they come to visit for Christmas (right??).

We were also visited by one of Mom's best friends from jr high/high school, Helen Jo. It was a lot of fun listening to her tell stories that Mom has conveniently forgotten over the years. She comes from an amazing family and she and her Dad played an integral role in Mom's salvation.

Because we were working all week, I didn't get many pictures at all. We were hoping to get out and walk around DC all lit up at night and see the new Air and Space Museam Annex, but we ran out of time . . . I guess we'll just have to take another trip soon.

But I did get some pictures of the room we painted. To truly understand the significance of the change you have to see some before pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't take any before we started working and the only ones I can find are from Christmas morning 2006. Please look past the people and only focus on the walls. I know you will do that for me. =) (We really have no airs about ourselves on Christmas morning and make no attempt to be picture perfect and cute while opening gifts. Bed head all the way . . . )

Ok, you get the point.

And now, after:

Doesn't it look so much better? I can't wait to see all the finishing touches completed.

**Photo credit** The first picture, of the Capital in DC, was taken by my friend Colleen Mercado and stolen by me since I wasn't able to get downtown this trip.

Dorm Room Sleepover

Another weekend away! As we planned it, Greg was supposed to go backpacking with a group of guys and I was supposed to go up to Montreat to spend the weekend with Allie . . . well, the weather canceled Greg's plans and the lack of gas in North Carolina threatened to cancel my plans as well. Fortunately, we were able to find gas Saturday morning and I hit the road for the mountains. (I know, I know, if you're short on gas, a road trip isn't the best idea . . . but boy, do I miss my sister badly . . . It was worth it to me!)

I got up there in time to see her volleyball game. Mom and Dad had gone up the day before and spent the night, so I got to cheer with them, which is always fun! After the game we went out to eat with Mom and had a great dinner at Black Mountain Bistro (Where was Dad? you might ask . . . long story short - - Dad had to get back to Charlotte for a work emergency and Mom was able to ride back with some other team parents who live in Charlotte as well). It was the first time I've been up there and not eaten at "our" pizza place, but they had all gone there the night before so we switched it up a bit.

After dinner and after mom left for home, we immediately changed into sweats, cuddled up and watched a couple movies in Allie's dorm room. Plus some girl talk . . . there is always girl talk . . .

I got to go visit the church Allie goes to while at school on Sunday morning which was wonderful! (That's a main downside to going out of town every weekend for a month, you miss the Sunday meeting!) There were a little more than 200 people at the service we attended and it reminded me so much of what our church here in Charlotte was like 15 years ago or so. It was a great experience for me.

I can't begin to describe how much I enjoyed spending time with my sister. It was so refreshing to my soul to get to spend time with her . . . Obviously, being sisters, we grew up together and that's a unique bond right there. But in addition to that, because I got married and moved out when she was a Jr. in high school, I've experienced a lot of her growing up and maturing from outside of the family home which in a way has strengthened the friendship aspect of our relationship. She truly is one of my closest friends and I treasure the time we get to spend together!

We think these are female wild turkeys . . . please comment if you know otherwise . . . they really are some of the oddest looking birds we've ever seen!

Firstborns . . .

I am the guinea pig of my family. Born the oldest of 3 girls, I was the "practice child" in many ways. Now, honestly, I'm not complaining about that at all. I'm alive and I turned out ok. And I'm not alone . . . Every family has a guinea pig. The adjustment to parenting is a huge one (so I've been told) and it's only to be expected that parents will learn from their mistakes and treat later children differently. (And just b/c I am a first born doesn't mean that I have any expectations of raising my first born perfectly.) Whenever I felt like I was being held to different standard (to be fair, this was sometimes just my own incorrect perception of the situation), Dad was usually the one I would plead with . . . he's an oldest child, too.

All that being said, I always feel very vindicated when I read those articles on birth order analysis. They usually have the the oldest child pinned; from our ability (and often desire) to entertain ourselves to our strong tendency to be perfectionists, I can usually check off every point and laugh at how stereotypical I am.

Last week, Focus on the Family did a short series with author Kevin Leman that you can listen to here and here. It was great to hear the topic of birth order from a biblical perspective and how God uses those natural tendancies in spouses to strengthen a marriage. It is also helpful, speaking as an oldest here, for parents who AREN'T oldest childen to hear as they raise their first borns. The strongest characteristics of a oldest (driven to suceed, very detail oriented and organized) can also be the biggest pitfalls (perfectionist attitude and critical of others, just for starters) if left unaddressed. They are just under 30 min each and very fun to listen to as the author is a youngest child and quite the class clown =)

Wii!

Late last week we went over to Steve and Carol's (Greg's parental unit) for dinner and to check out their latest toy, a Wii. We had a wonderful time relaxing on the porch for dinner and we had my favorite dessert, angel food cake with whipped cream and berries.

We had so much fun playing with Wii, I rock at bowling and not much else, but I can live with that. I beat Greg by about 50 points on that one.

Greg and Steve playing a round of golf

Pretty sure this had nothing to do with the game . . .

Greg whooping up on his mama in a boxing match. . . You can see by their intensity level that Greg wasn't feeling 100% comfortable punching his avitar mom in the face. But he did anyway . . .

Sparty's New Cousin

This is Castle, Chelle's new dog! We all LOVE her so much . . . it's given me the puppy bug =)

Four years ago today these kids got married . . .

I didn't quite make it into the family picture . . .

But we've more than made up for that now =)

Nate and Kriste, congratulations on four years . . . We love you guys and could not ask for better friends, more loving family, more fun travel buddies, or favorite-er brother-in-laws!

Aren't we a beautiful family?

Birthdays!

In the Baumgartner Family (my original family . . . ) January is the birthday month. The rest of our birthdays are pretty spread out, but Dad and Allie's are only a couple weeks apart in January. We a had a great time celebrating both of them; and as a huge plus Allie has come home every weekend since Christmas because of birthdays or holidays!

Allie brought her good friend Becka home with her from Montreat












19 candles . . . next year there will be no more teenagers in the B's house












Anyone who knows Allie knows that she is pretty much addicted to ice cream . . . Mom made the 7 layer ice cream cake for her

























Mom and Dad got her tickets to see Celtic Women in March . . . she started crying












This year Dad turned 50! Mom had to put his candles on 2 cakes . . . he still blew them all out with one breath. That can happen when you have 50 years to practice =)

To celebrate, Mom hosted a dinner for 15 at their house, but I forgot to take a group picture.







Right after Dad blew out the candles, Allie threw one of the cakes into our friend Gisele's back . . . ok, she tripped and it fell, but it sounds better the other way . . .
























Loss of Control Kit . . . one of the many very practical gifts Dad received!

I love 'em!

A highlight of this past long weekend was the time that I got to spend with my sisters. It was hard to get all of us together at one time when we lived under 1 roof, so now that we are under 3 roofs it's a wonderful treat to be all together. Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Allie and I took a drive downtown (or uptown or whatever) and had lunch with Chelle at a one of her favorite places, Phat Burrito. It was amazing . . . the burritos, true to their name, are HUGE!




























We all (including Mom!) got matching jackets from our mawmaw on Thanksgiving, so on Monday I went over to Mom and Dad's house and we had a mini photo shoot with the tripod . . . Spartacus was intent on being involved as well.











































I'm really looking forward to Allie coming home again for Christmas and the days off Chelle will have from school for the holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a most wonderful Thanksgiving, spending it w/ my Mom's side of the family. The day was full of cooking, football (watching that is . . . ), story telling (both true and not so true), and lots and lots of laughter. Enjoy the pictures and the great video of Allie . . .



Mom taking a quick break from cooking













Mawmaw taste testing . . .




























Greg and I took some pictures for our Christmas card . . . this one wasn't the winner . . .












Neither was this one . . .














Or this one . . . =)



























Allie keeping in shape during the off season


















Sitting down for the feast . . . we all started eating so intently at this point that we forgot to take more pictures!

















Youngest child, anyone?

What we've been up to . . .

Keeping up a blog when you don't have the internet at home is apparently a little trickier than I thought . . . but usually because I forget to bring in my pictures . . .

In the last month since I posted we've been pretty busy. I had my wisdom teeth taken out (I'll post pictures of that later, they are hysterical), Greg played in what seemed like 1,000 softball games (really only 2-3 a week), celebrated Michelle's 21st birthday, I went to a couple showers for my friend Sarah, we both went to Sarah and Mike's wedding, we went fishing up at South Mountain, we finished the bookshelves, we've gone to several summer cookouts, re-caulked both bathrooms, and had people over at least 1 night a week. It's been a busy month, but so much fun!

It looks like life will be "slowing down" a bit now that the school year is starting back up. Becoming more routine is probably a better way to put it. We'll still be super busy, but most weeks will look the same, so planning will be a little bit easier. Or so it would seem . . .

We took Chelle out to a Mexican restaurant with a group of about 10 girls for her birthday








































At Sarah's shower they had a game to design a wedding dress . . . Leah was my vote












Sarah and Mike had their reception at a family friends house (more like an estate) a little north of us, it was a gorgeous reception











And we got to sit with our besties













Greg says I was out of it when he was driving me home from having my wisdom teeth extracted . . . and by the looks of this picture I would agree











This a couple days after . . . the swelling was up for about 2 weeks . . . it was hott =)