Cael Nicholas Schupp

How precious is he??

Cael Nicholas Schupp

9:21am

7lbs, 8 oz, 19.5 inches

Jack and Madeline are so excited to have a new cousin! My sister is doing well and Maeve is excited to be a big sister!

Happy Birthday Jack!!

Jack has been so excited for his birthday. This is the first year he really "gets it." He has asked every day for weeks "is today my birthday?" Well yesterday we finally got to tell him "YES!" He came downstairs- bright and early at 6am - to find...

Handy Manny waiting for him!
Jack loves Handy Manny (a bilingual fix-it guy for those of you without toddlers) and had been eyeing this toolbench.

He got right to work building a race car before he even touched the other presents.

The airplane from Aunt Julia was a big hit!

Madeline wanted to get in on the action too!

She has a look like "Is Jack watching? I think I will play with his toys!"

We had the Smiths and the Starritts over for dinner , cupcakes and pumpkin pie. This is the adult table.

McKenna turned 8 on Friday so she and Jack shared candle blowing duty!

Today I took cupcakes to Jack's class at school. He was very excited to have me there and his teacher made him a birthday crown!

I can't believe my little boy is THREE! Jack, you are a sweet, sweet spirit that blesses our lives every day! Clay and I never thought we could ever love someone so much as we do you and Madeline!

Standing

Caught Madgirl in the act yesterday. She has started pulling herself up on most everything. But we can find her doing this on the stairs when Jack is going up. She wants so much to follow right behind him!

We love Etsy!

I got a couple of these super cute hats for Madeline off Etsy, which I spend way too much time perusing. The flowers are interchangeable with different colors. Having about as much hair as I have on my arm, she needed something to keep her head warm this winter!

Trunk or Treat

We broke out the costumes for our first Halloween event of the weekend- Trunk or Treat at church. Jack really wanted to be Diego this year. After searching Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Party City, I finally found the costum on Craigs List! He was so excited!! Madeline got to be a butterfly courtesy of her cousin Maeve. As you can see below, she was pretty thrilled too!

Clay decided to wear a costume to work on Saturday so he bought this beauty and tried it out tonight. It went over well with most people. Madeline was a little unsure!

Jack and his girlfriend, neighbor and preschool buddy- Brooke

We had a great time and Jack was very good at "trick or treating." I think Saturday should go well! Clay is breaking out the cotton candy machine so if you are nearby, come on over!

Doll House

I put Madeline in front of this Little People dollhouse the other day with some LPs to see what she would do. She LOVED it! She would take the people out and put them back on and on. And she would turn to the farm and do the same. It is so cute to watch her. I would have never given Jack these toys at 8 months but she is benefitting from having all Jack's toys around. She seems so grown up!

Swine Flu

We interrupt this blog to bring you the swine flu. Yep, we've been struck! Jack got it last Wednesday and is finally getting back to his normal happy go -lucky self. He was pathetic, the sickest he has ever been. We thought Madeline was out of the woods until Tuesday afternoon when she woke up with an 104 degree fever! She is on the mend now. It is a scary bug- we hope it stays out of your house!

Pumpkin Patch

We took these two cuties to Hillridge Farm last week. It was a great family day!

Jack found just the right one!

Poser

Madeline puts EVERYTHING in her mouth these days. Here it is the grass.

And the pumpkins...

The girls

The boys

There was a hay loft to jump in. Jack loved it!

And a corn house where we buried him in corn

And tried to keep Madeline from eating it all!

My life as I knew it

For seven years, I worked for KaBOOM!- a non-profit that works with communities to build safe playspaces. I traveled ALOT- 38 states and 4 Canadian provinces. I racked up many frequent flier miles, hotel points and lost luggage. I went places I would never go on my own and did things (like get really dirty) that I would not have done and although there were some really tough, cold, hot, rainy, snowy, windy days, I would not trade that time of my life. I learned so much and was challenged in so many ways to go outside of my comfort zone. I learned about sump pumps and well point systems, sono tubes and allen keys. I learned to use an auger and "shoot" holes to make sure they are level. I can look at bolts and know if they are 1" or 3/4" just by sight. I also learned the power of doing something as a community. I learned that although many people may not initially volunteer, that if asked directly, they are usually pretty willing to jump in. I learned that people who may not have much by the world's standards, usually give more than the rest of us. I learned what it feels like to be so physically exhausted you don't want to move for days but when you look behind you and see what you accomplished, you will travel to the next city and do it again. Whether there was 50 inches of snow in Calgary or it was 110 degrees in Reno, the job was to build a playground for kids who didn't have one and really, what could be better? I "retired" when we moved to Raleigh last year but all these emotions came flooding back last week when KaBOOM! and The Home Depot teamed up to build a playground on Lane Street in downtown Raleigh. My wonderful friends watched Jack and Madeline and I got to spend the day with my former co-workers, my wonderful husband who help organize the project on the HD end and the great downtown community. It was the perfect playground day!

The site- 8am

Getting started- 9am

Working hard- 10 am

The swings are in!!- Noon

Complete!!- 2:30pm

Clay leading the Home Depot cheer to get the day started

The 115 cubic yards of mulch that was moved by volunteers with tarps and wheelbarrels

The tools

Mixing concrete

Yep, all this was mixed in wheelbarrels!

The folks from Clay's store

A view from the basketball court

The board cutting

Me and Clay

The old Atlanta KaBOOM! office. Erica is now in DC and Jenna works for HD. Erica just got engaged which means that we all three will have married guys who worked at the HD corporate office!!

Team Picture

The night before the build we had Jenna, Erica and Cassie over for dinner. Jack provided the entertainment.

It was such a fun day and we loved having our KaBOOM! friends in town! If you live in Raleigh, check out the playground at Lane and Idlewild.

Happy Birthday Maeve!

My niece, Maeve, turns three today! I can't believe it! I feel like it was just yesterday that Clay I drove up to Knoxville from Atlanta on a Friday afternoon, got to the parking lot of the hospital and and saw my mom running from her car, exclaiming "she's coming, she's coming." Shannon had to have an emergency c-section. We all got to her room in time to wait for she and Maeve to be wheeled in after the surgery. It was amazing! And gave me confidence that I could do the same thing four weeks later.

Maeve came into the world with a bang and hasn't slowed down since. She is so smart and so funny and we love her so much! I love that Jack has such a good friend in his cousin and excited for Madeline to have Cael when he gets here next month! Happy Birthday Maeve!

Fame

Apparently the leg warmer look wasn't enough for her and Madeline decided she needed to go for the Flashdance/Fame one arm look. This is what I found when I went in to get her this morning:

And then Jack jumped in and wanted me to take his picture "just like Madewin."
These two cuties don't sleep past 6:30am much but I guess if you have to get up that early, they are a good reason!

Yeah for Fall!

We broke out the leg warmers and jean skirt today. I still need to teach Madeline how to sit like a lady :) but she is so darn cute!

Wrightsville

We capped off a great birthday week for me by going to Wrightsville for a few days. Clay had been to the resort for a meeting when he worked in Atlanta and wanted to take me there at some point so he decided it would be a great bday present- and it was!! The weather was perfect and it was lots of fun to see Madeline and Jack enjoy themselves so much!

Madeline discovered sand this trip. She literally sat and ate handful after handful.

She also loved seaweed. Don't worry- I didn't let her swallow any of it!

Clay bought a raft and used it as a boogie board for Jack. He loved riding the waves!

How lucky am I to spend my 33rd bday with these cuties???

And my handsome husband!!

Our suite had a half bath so we put Madeline's pack and play in there! It worked great and she seemed quite happy!

Love this chubby girl!

I had a wonderful birthday week!!

Maeve comes to visit!

Mom, Shannon and Maeve made the trip over the mountain and across NC to see us last week. It was so fun to have them here.

Halloween pajamas

We went to Marbles Children's Museum on Tuesday and Jack and Maeve had a blast. Here they built a house out of huge legos and then enjoyed knocking it all down and then building it up again.

We celebrated my bday with cupcakes from Knoxville's Cupcakery. They were yummy! Maeve doesn't look please here but she loved the cupcakes! And Shannon would want me to tell you she is 8 months prego b/c I know she isn't going to like this pic!

We had a great time and wish we lived closer and could do it more often!

First Day of School and then some

Jack started school on Wednesday. He was very excited! We switched schools this year so I was nervous he wouldn't be okay at the beginning. Clay and I brought him to his classroom and he walked right in and never even turned around to say goodbye! We are very blessed with a social child who loves being with other kids!

Jack's buddy, Brooke, who is in his class (and lives behind us).
Madeline learned to clap hands this week. So stinking cute!

This morning we went up to the store where they had a "green your home" event. The Hurricanes were out with their mascot- Stormy the Pig- and their hockey blow up goal. Jack enjoyed both!