Fun Fall Weekends and Amelia's 2nd Birthday

Fall and September means lots of football and birthdays in the Simon and Steele Families.

Last weeekend Aaron was home to celebrate his 27th birthday (September 23) and to go to the ECU vs UNC game. It was good that he brought a victory back to NYC.

This weekend Michael (Meredith's NYC brother) traveled to Raleigh and the rest of the Steele Family came for a visit to celebrate Meredith's birthday (September 21), Amelia's 2nd birthday (Spetember 26), and Jason's 37th birthday (October 3). We need a pay raise after all of those birthday celebrations! We had a great time opening presents and had a delicious cookout.

Next weekend we are off to Charlotte for a weekend event at Johnson and Wales University and will hopefully see the Columbia, SC Coopers and Brissettes.

Puppies Update: Zeke and Zoe' are growing. They are both about 7 lbs. They are NOT happy when we leave them in their crate for the ballgames and the birthday celebrations! They continue to be cute and affectionate.

Sous Chef Amelia

I can't think of a better way to spend the holiday weekend than to spend time with Amelia. Well maybe, if I had all the family here....that would be even better!

Daddy Jason brought Amelia over this morning. Amelia immediately put on her cooking attire, got her hands washed, and helped Bubby with weekend preparations in order to get food prepared for Poppy's "solo" week. Poppy will be taking care of the puppies by himself most of the upcoming week as Bubby has to go to a four day meeting near Ashville, NC. We know....Poppy loves to eat "Bubby's home cooking"!

I think that Amelia loves "helping" in the kitchen so much she might become "SERVSAFE Certified" by the time she is five! Amelia loved mixing up the "veggies" for the homeade soup and the spagetti sauce. She also liked taking frequent breaks to sample blueberries, chips with hummus and canteloupe. The most fun also was helping Bubby prepare a picnic tailgate lunch of hotdogs, chips, slaw, and potato salad. It was quite a challenge for us to enjoy our tailgate lunch as Zeke and Zoe' wanted to join in and taste the hotdogs. We loved watching ECU's first game of the season as the played Virginia Tech.

Before naptime, Amelia took Zeke and Zoe' for a long walk around Westlake Reserve. She was really good about holding hands and holding onto the puppies' leash.

Amelia is looking forward to going to a neighboorhood party this evening. We might even take a quick trip to the store.

2007 Summer Vacation

It's been a while since our last post. We have had a very busy summer. June and July were filled with Judy's NC DPI related conferences for teachers. Finally the first 2 weeks of August we traveled to Portugal and Spain. We had a great and relaxing trip! Here are a few photos from the "Easy Pace" bus tour with 18 Canadians, New Zelanders, Australians, British, Singaporans, and Americians.

CHINESE DINNER

We had a special treat in the middle of the week. We met the kids at a new Chinese Restaurant for dinner after work today. Amelia has had a summer cold and of course Daddy Jason has it also...but worse! I was especially happy to see that little Amelia was sporting her new dress that I made for her over July 4. It looks great on her and fits so well! I was pleased. Here's a few "coordinated" photos.....We are all in green and pink!

Amelia is such a good eater now. She even puts the napkin in her lap. I am not sure her Daddy had such good manners at her age. She is also really expanding her vocabulary. All of those books her Mommy and Daddy are reading to her has paid off! She loves to read too!

We hope they all have a great and safe trip to NYC to visit Aaron, Caren, and Michael beginning this weekend.

FATHER'S DAY 2007

It was a good FATHER'S DAY for the Simon Dads. Maury received a 50" flat screen , HD, plasma t.v. for a combination retirement present and Father's Day. He loves it and spend lot's of time in front of it! He also received a framed piece of artwork from Amelia. It is proudly displayed in the favorite room of the townhome, the kitchen! We spent part of the weekend near Pinehurst visiting with The Greens at their lake house for Jerry's birthday and then came home early to take the "Raleigh KIDS" out to dinner at the new Vivace' Italian Restaurant. Amelia loved sharing Bubby's pasta and especially the ice cream at Ben and Jerry's at Horth Hills. She was so cute all dressed up in her new dress and purse....quite a little lady!

The puppies are at home now . Zoe' has had her operation and Zeke is scheduled for next week. All is fine now with little Zeke. We had a little scare with his blood work, but all is o.k. Thank Goodness!

We sure missed having Aaron and Caren home for the weekend events. They are anxious to go to Viet Nam on their vacation. We can't wait to go on our three week trip in August to Spain and Portugal! Vacations are LONG OVERDUE!!!!

MEMORIAL DAY BATH

It was a relaxing long weekend at the Simons'. We saw several movies, cleaned out the garage and closets, and of course gave Zeke and Zoe' their holiday bath. Zoe' wins the gold star for behavior during the bath. Zeke just does not like to get a bath in the jacuzzi!

Yesterday the Roses, Solashs and Jason's family came over for a late afternoon cook out. It was a warm day with no rain.

Maury is counting the days down until the last day of 1st session summer school. I can't wait for the next two month to pass then on for a three week vacation to Spain and Portugal. It is long and overdue!

MOTHER'S DAY 2007

We had another great Mother's Day weekend. On Saturday, Jason, Meredith, and Amelia drove down from Charlotte to Columbia and we drove from Raleigh with Zeke and Zoe'. We shared a couple of meals together and went to visit "MaMaMa" (a new name for Great Grandma Emily) at Steel Hopes. Everyone loved her new home. It was a beautiful day with lots of new flowers in bloom! Amelia especially loved making wishes and throwing penneys in MaMaMa's fountain in front of her "Mansion". The puppies earned another trip to Jane's and Peter's house as they were "pretty good"....even though Zoe' had one little mistake and Zeke ate part of a bag of "Life Savers". We also missed having Aaron and Caren close by.

SLEEPOVER AT BUBBY'S AND POPPY'S HOUSE

Wow, What a great weekend! We picked up Amelia about 5:00 p.m. on Friday and went to her favorite outdoor resturant. She loves the Mellow Mushroom's pizza and all of the activity outside on the deck. She especially loved the big purple mushroom which covered our table like a giant umbrella.

We came home, played with Zoe' and Zeke, read a few books, played with toys, got ready for bed, and went to right to bed without any crying.

We woke up early Saturday and played with the puppies and then Amelia "demanded" to watch her "SHOW" "THE BACKYARDIGANS". We sang and watched every move of every segment. It was hard to pull her away to eat breakfast. But of course, she liked the eggs and fruit that Bubby prepared. By the time we gathered all of her belongings, it was time to meet Jason and Meredith at the mall where we had lunch together and did little shopping before Amelia's afternoon nap.

All in all it was another great visit. We are hoping that at some point that we will be able to have Amelia for a "WEEKEND VISIT"....we might even settle for a trip to the Asheboro Zoo together as a family.

EASTER AT THE SIMONS

It was great having Friday and Monday off from work. I spent most of the weekend preparing for a great Easter lunch with neighboors and Raleigh family. The Greens went to church with us and then the Roses with Alise (their 6 year old granddaughter) plus the Greens joined us for a traditional Easter feast. Amelia really liked the orange and pineapple conjealed salad.

As you can see from the photos, Amelia and Alise had an Easter Egg Hunt and Amelia loved having her first taste of candy....chocolate to be exact. She loved the chocolate! After dishes were cleaned and put away, I took a long nap.

Monday was planned around Zeke and Zoe's first trip to the groomer. They got their "Summer Cuts". All of the puppy hair is gone now. Most of their black hair is now a mixture of silver, apricot, and a few fringes of black. They still look pretty cute.

A new friend came to visit in Raleigh. Joshua Nyland's, our nephew, "Flat Stanley" was set to us in the mail. We are busy coordinating Flat Stanley's tour of Raleigh, Greenville, and then on to New York City to visit Aaron and Caren.

We missed other family and friends that could not be with us over the holiday. We hope to see you all soon!

AARON CAME HOME AND A TRIP TO COLUMBIA, SC

We were thrilled that Aaron came home to travel to Columbia, SC to visit his Grandma Cooper's new Retirement Home. The place is gorgeous in a southern plantation called Still Hopes. I am trying to download a video clip for your viewing. On Sunday the Raleigh kids came over for a walk around the lake and a cookout. It was wonderful having all of the kids at home again!

Amelia, Zeke and Zoe' are growing up

Poppie and Bubby spent the morning on Saturday shopping for Amelia's overnight visit. We bought a bubble machine for the outdoors (even though it was too cold yesterday to try it out), a fishing puzzle for colored fish, a sous chef hat, apron, and lots of kid sized pots, pans, and cooking utensils, and a new suitcase full of Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Carrot, and Mr. Pop Corn figures. We enjoyed playing with the new stuff.

Amelia helped clean up from the cookie making that Bubby did....since cookies are one of Amelia's favorite foods! She also told Zeke, Zoe, and Poppie to stay out of the kitchen until we had finished.

Then we went to Lone Star Steakhouse. We took some of our new toys to play with while we were enjoying dinner and watching basketball games.

In the morning, the puppies woke up Amelia and then we met Daddy Jason and Mommy Meredith at Courtney's for a delicious breakfast. But, first Amelia and Poppie enjoyed giving Zeke and Zoe' some puppy treats as they performed what they had learned on Saturday morning at the Leesville Rd. Puppy Obedience School. They have a LOT to learn! Zoe' might need some remediation!

Later Bubby and Poppie went shopping and found a new toy for the puppies. We saw Amelia and her family there too!

Even though Amelia has grown alot the past month, the puppies are more active and "hyper" than she remembered. She wasn't too sure she like them hopping up and down. However, she loved kissing the puppies and getting kissed back.

We loved the fact that Amelia has learned to say "BUBBY and POPPIE"....of course with a lot of prompting! She melts our hearts!