Carolina Tailgating

It isn't fall unless there's tailgating for Carolina football games!  Although the kids and I have missed more than usual, we've still made it for some fun times, Hege style!

Decked out for football!

Having fun with Aunt E!

Giving Aunt Judi some lovin'.

Taking a quick break in Nannie's lap.

Jack borrowed some of Jake's coolness.

Go Tar Heels!

Fun with Nannie and Pops!

Bye-Bye Miller

Miller was our "first baby".  Will and I got him after we had been married a couple of years.  He did pretty well transitioning from all of the attention to Anna being born.  But as Anna got older and the attention got less and less, he started acting out, just like a neglected child does.  A year ago, we adopted Murphy, thinking that he might help fill Miller's attention void.  What it did instead was illuminate how needy Miller really was and how we were not providing the best place for him.  It got worse once Jack was born.  His saving grace was that he would never have ever hurt the kids.  I had little positive feeling for him other than that fact because he was making my life so stressful.  And I could tell that Anna was beginning to mimic the way I treated him.  I don't want my kids to think that it's OK to be mean to animals.  So, we eventually put an ad on Petfinder and found a sweet family with four kids who wanted a dog.  On Friday, October 21st, we took Miller to meet his new family.  I just pray that he is happier and that they can give him all the attention that he needs.  I'm sorry that we couldn't be that family, but I'm hoping things worked out for the best.  We'll miss you Miller!

Jack Found the Doggy Door

What is this thing?

How does it do that?

I'm so proud of myself for figuring this out!

It made me remember back to when Anna found it when she was 9 months old!

Our Weekend with Brandon and Anita

Just before my grandfather passed away, he revealed to the family that he had a son from a brief marriage prior to my grandmother.  Overnight, we discovered this whole family in Wisconsin and Minnesota that we didn't know about...and they found out about all of the crazy North Carolina clan.  We have only been able to get together sporadically since then since we are so far apart.  My cousin, Brandon, got married the first weekend in October and decided to bring his new bride to North Carolina for their honeymoon.  They spent a couple of days in Wilmington, a couple of days in Asheville and Lake Lure, and then a few days here with Sarah and me.  We toured Mayberry and Old Salem and then had some down time to just sit and chat.  We had a blast getting to know each other better and catching up on all the drama we had missed!  I hate we're so far away from each other!

Brandon had been married a mere 7 days and was already in the dog house! Ha!

Sarah and me with the happy couple.

Brandon and Anita with the Smith family...

...and the Hege family.

With all the babies!  Being around our kids made Anita not so eager to go the "tomorrow" kids route and Brandon realized that he might be able to be talked down from the five year plan he thought he had.  Compromise!

Cousins!

The Fair 2011

We were so excited about the fair this year because we knew that as much as Anna had grown, she would be tall enough to ride some new rides this year.  She wanted to do as much as possible by herself!  And she finally got her long-awaited cotton candy!

Bless his heart, Jack was a trooper and spent much of the time just like this.
Your turn will come, sweet boy!

A tired Jack!

Anna riding Andy, the pony.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Look What I Found!

On the morning of October 1st, the day he turned 8 months old, this is how I found Jack in his crib--standing up for the first time!  He was so proud of himself!