THE YOUNG AND OLD PROM QUEEN

Little Amelia won the first of many contests....the 2006 Prom Queen of the Raleigh Day Care. She raised the most money from friends and family to help support the daycare. Since her head is so small and there is little hair to hold her crown in, Bubby proudly holds it on as Daddy Jason snaps the shot.

We cannot wait to see how much she weighs! She feels like she is over 20 pounds now. It won't be long before she is walking and running. She got crawling down pat, pulling up on everything, and looks like she is ready to be adventurous, let go, and begin walking. It should be an exciting summer!

A WEEKEND OF FUN!

Aaron began the weekend sitting in LGA airport waiting on a seat to fly standby as his father booked the wrong date on his holiday flight. He managed to get home and enjoy the family and visited with friends.

Aaron and Caren bought Amelia a new vintage knitted hat from Brooklyn. We all loved it! We hope it still fits next fall when it gets cold again.

Jason and his family had a huge party /cookout for many of their friends on Sunday afternoon. We could not believe all of the babies! The food was great! Thanks for inviting us. Aaron had a fun time too!

MEMORIAL DAY AT THE POOL WITH THE KIDS

Now this is the way I remember holidays!....With both kids at home, doing things together, having meals together, cooking together, watching hockey, being with friends...a GREAT weekend!!! It is even better now with a great daughter-in-law and a beautiful, happy grand daughter. Aaron loved his visit even though it was an adventure flying "stand by" this time! I loved seeing everyone happy at the same time. Amelia makes us all laugh!

"STRIKING A POSE"

Here's another photo from our Sunday visit. How do you like the "Amelia" pose on all fours?

DUCKS AND GEESE AT LAKE LYNN

Amelia got to visit with Dad today at Bubby's and Poppie's house while her Mom had to go Cary Academy's High School Graduation. We played on the carpet while the boys ate their lunch. We went for a great walk over to the lake. We could not believe the number of ducks, geese, baby ducks too, that were swimming around the lake. The big kids were feeding the ducks and turtles some pieces of bread. When the geese all flew in for their part of the Sunday feeding, it "freaked" Amelia out a little. Too much activity!

When Amelia fell asleep, we started back to Norman Ridge Lane. Everyone enjoyed the long walk on the California like afternoon. I believe that Poppie was a little "pooped" out from all of the walking. We all enjoyed a cool refreshing soda and Amelia loved her formula.

We are all looking forward to Uncle Aaron coming in next weekend for the holiday. We know he will be surprised at how big and mobile Amelia is getting.

FIRST MOTHER'S DAY WITH AMELIA

It won't be long before Amelia is celebrating her 8th Month Birthday! We were really noticing how much she has grown and is changing since we spent quite a bit of time with her this weekend. We were pleased that the Columbia family came up for a visit to see us all and to celebrate Mother's Day. Four generations together, lots of food, fun, visits to the N.C. Science Museum, shopping, playing in the back yard, and getting to baby sit while Amelia's Mom and Dad got to go out with friends for a few hours.

It is hard to decide which photos to post from the weekend as they are all so cute...but here are some of the best ones!

Don't forget to go on Amelia's site at www.ameliasimon.com and vote for her to be the homecoming queen of her day care center!

A SATURDAY AFTERNOON VISIT AT BUBBY AND POPPIE'S HOUSE

Look at Amelia! She had a great time playing at Bubby and Poppie's house as Mom and Dad were out shopping for a new dishwasher and other stuff. We read books, played with Amelia's toys, went for a stroll around the neighboorhood. We came back and went upstairs to practice crawling on the carpet in Bubbie's bedroom. She's almost there. She just hasn't figured out how to get both her hands and knees working together. She'll have it down pat in a couple more days...then she will be into everything! Amelia also loved sitting out on the deck as Bubby worked on her online clourse. She especially loved all of the flowers, listening to the wind in the trees, watching the squirles, and the birds feeding. We can't wait for another visit!

A BOUNCING BABY

I wish that I would have felt better than I did when we visited Amelia, her parents, and family from Charlotte this past weekend! Unfortunately, I had an alergeric reaction or some other type of bug over the holiday weekend. But... that did not keep us away from enjoying Amelia as she celebrated her first Easter / Passover with a new "Bouncy" seat. It was so funny seeing her bounce through the doorway. She was so proud of herself! It did not take her too long to figure out how to make the "new amusement" work. She has an amazing amount of strength in those little nearly 7 month old legs!

It was also funny to watch her eat solid food for the first time. More came out than went in...I believe! But she seemed to enjoy the taste of pears and peaches.

SUNDAY LUNCH

Amelia was full of smiles today as she, her Mom and Dad came over to Bubby's and Poppie's house for a pizza and salad lunch. All Amelia got was formula! It will not be long before she is eating more than baby food as she now has one and a half baby teeth. Pretty cute! I know she is looking forward to next weekend as we all have a long holiday weekend. Grandma Wanda and Uncle Michael are coming up to celebrate Easter and Passover. I feel sure that we all will be visiting and eating alot. We wish that Aaron Caren and the rest of the relatives could come for a visit. Hopefully it will be warmer as today was too cool for a walk!

Great Hat and Shorts Weather on April Fool's Day

Finally..... another short visit with Amelia and her family today. Uncle Michael was in for a visit this weekend and it looks like they spent the majority of the weekend out of doors. I was amazed at how she has grown in the last two weeks. She is a big girl now! Bubby even had her walking on her "tippy toes" as she held Amelia's hands walking across the back yard. She will walking on her own before you know it!

Road to the Sweet Sixteen and Spring Break

This was a great week for all of the family for many reasons. Bubby found out that NC DPI selected her to become a "STATE EMPLOYEE" finally after being a full time contractor the past five years. To say the least, we are all happy about that! The rest of the family had the week off for spring break. Poppie was on Spring break from ECU and managed to go by Amelia's house for a couple of afternoons of basketball ball games. Here are a few photos from our afternoon walks / strolls.

Amelia and her dad came over to Poppie's and Bubby's this afternoon to watch the NCSU game and to have an early dinner. Mom / Meredith stayed at home to get in a couple of hours of painting in her studio. We all played on the floor on Bubby's quilt trying to encourage Amelia to sit up on her own. We then decided to take a walk over to Wanda's an Jerry's. As soon as we walked into the front door, Amelia decided that it was time for her dinner and began to cry...I mean really cry!!!!! I have never heard her cry so loud. We decided to return to have a quick bottle and then Poppie cooked the steaks on the grill. It was great to have dinner together. Amelia got bored while we were all enjoying dinner and began to cry again....She was just a little tired and took another quick catnap.

The afternoon went all too quickly....It is hard to believe that Amelia will be "half of a birthday" (six months) next Sunday. She is getting so big she is out growing her favorite outfits.

Amelia's First Arts and Crafts Activity

It has been a while since we saw Amelia, her Mom and Dad. We sure are glad that they are all well and back to school and work.

Today Amelia and her Dad went with Poppie and Bubby to a sports bar to watch a little Basketball and to have lunch. Amelia loved wearing one of Bubby's original knitted hat creations. It kept her little head warm as went downtown for lunch.

Then back to the house for a little arts and crafts. Mom, Dad, Amelia, and Bubby all helped while Poppie caught a few Z's in the living room. We made a hand and foot print photo frame for Bubby. Little Amelia loved putting her hand and foot into the cold clay. We had quite a time trying to flatten her little fingers and toes out as we tried to get a good impression. She loved curling them up. After the second try, we got a good impression. It was fun.

I am sure this will be the first of many arts and crafts projects that Amelia gets to enjoy!

HOME SICK WITH MOM

Poor Amelia and Mom. They were both at home the past two days sick in bed. We stopped by the Raleigh Day Care today during our lunch time and we were told that Amelia was at home. Therefore, we stopped by their house to see if they needed anything. Meredith wasn't feeling well at all. Amelia is still fighting a little case of an ear infection. Both of them went to the Doctor today.

We managed to get a little holding and hugging in. Amelia was full of smiles and giggles as Mama Meredith played "horsey" with her. Bubby then played "airplane" with Amelia. She especially liked doing that infront of the hall mirror. We can tell she is going to spend lots of hours infront of the mirror as she grows up. Just like a girl! She loves looking at herself in the mirror.

We hope that everyone is up to par before the end of the weekend. Stay warm and safe....I hope we get a little snow this weekend. It will be the first snowfall for Amelia!

SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE RBC

It was a great weekend!

It began with going to a nice dinner with neighborhood friends on Friday night to celebrate another "Bubby" birthday. On Saturday we did our regular Saturday errands and went to the gym. Later in the afternoon we went over to Jason's, Meredith's, and little Amelia's for another birthday dinner with Meredith's family who came up from Charlotte. The dinner was delicious and Amelia was a cute as ever. Today we all went to the NCSU vs. Maryland game at the RBC Center. Amelia and her mom sat behind Jason who was the official scorer, as usual. As you can see from the photos, Amelia was well behaved. She continues to love the jumbotron, the players, the band, the cheerleaders. I understand that she dozed off in the second half. She was all "togged out" in her new red Valentine's warm up suit that Bubby bought for her at Baby Gap.

SITTING UP AND SHOWING OFF FOR BUBBY AND POPPIE

Today's Friday visit composed of Amelia sitting up at four months old with an ocassional help from the pillow or from Poppie. She is ALMOST there on her own!

Bubby got to feed Amelia again as Poppie, the photographer, was trying to snap just the right photos. (I think he might need a few more photography lessons!) This time Bubby avoided getting "barfed" on today! Poppie and Bubby also got to sing along with Amelia as we listened to the music from the toys in the nursery. We all did pretty good as it has been about 23 years since we sang all of those nusery rhymes and songs to Uncle Aaron.

Today was another "NO CRY VISIT" as we spent our lunch time at the Raleigh Nursery School. She was really good and showing off for Bubby and Poppie as she was giving her good bye kisses.

We hope we will get to see Amelia again this weekend....after Dad gets to spoil her a little since he has been gone, of course!

HUGS, KISSES, AND CUDDLES ON FRIDAY

It is always a great Friday when we can celebrate the week being over with a school visit with Amelia. She is almost four months old now...Almost a half of a year old! Time flies!

We had a great time rocking and holding Amelia today. She only threw up on Bubby two times during this short visit.

Amelia is sporting a big, red BUBBY kiss from her 30 minute visit today. Check it out! Maybe it will last until her Mom or Dad pick her up at the end of the day. She also really loved showing off for Poppie as he shot a few photos. It looks like she really grew alot this week. She had lots of smiles and giggles for us today.

Here's hoping that Amelia and her Mom and Day have a great weekend outside in this 60+ degree weather.