what's new

wow, i can't believe that march is already almost over! this time of year always seems to move so fast, and i'm glad, because it gets us that much further away from the end of winter, which always seems to drag. we've had a busy week. let's see... i did a little spring cleaning, which included a major mopping of all the floors. yikes, that mop water was black! (note to self, i need to mop more often!) we've been working on sleep training again with malcolm, via a little bribery, but more on that in a later post.

on thursday we were pleased to find out that alanna has been selected to attend an early college high school program at nc state university starting this fall. she will be going into the ninth grade (which is high school out here) and this program will allow her to earn both a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit at nc state university (for FREE) at the conclusion of this five year program. this is a brand new school, so alanna will be one of the first fifty six students in the county ever to have been given an opportunity like this. we are beyond thrilled! alanna... well she's not as excited as the rest of us, but we hope that once she visits the campus and then when the school year begins, that she will change her mind and realize what a wonderful and rare opportunity she has been chosen to be apart of. fingers crossed. i know how hard it is to start at a new school where you might not know anyone, but she will be fine. she is always good at making new friends.

let's see, what else... oh yeah, malcolm is almost completely potty trained! hooray! no more money wasted on diapers! we've been working on this since the weekend. saturday and sunday he had a few accidents at home, sunday and monday he also peed while at the park (which made him so sad) but he did really well while we were out running errands etc. and all day today he did not pee his pants at all. we even went to marbles, and drove to danny's parents house and back (45 min. each way), and he held it well the whole time. he is still using pull-ups at night, but most mornings it is dry, so we are making great strides and i could not be happier. i'm so proud of how big and smart he is getting. he's such an amazing little dude. 

here are a few random photos from the week:

malcolm and i watched this buzzard (turkey vulture) enjoy a nice meal of roadkill on the street in front of our neighbor's house. it was pretty gnarly. he was definitely the largest wild bird i have ever been so close to, yikes!  
r.i.p mr. squirrel :(

i went to work for a few hours on saturday, and i got to spend part of my shift with this amazing dog! cuda is a local celebrity of sorts, and she came to our store to do a fundraiser, "kiss a cuda!", to help out two rescue dogs that we currently have up for adoption. i haven't really posted about the store on my blog yet, so here you go: it's the cutest locally owned jewelry & accessories boutique you'll ever see. my boss is a true dog lover and is constantly rescuing dogs in the area (many are pit mixed), so we quite often have a dog in-house. she puts out so much of her time, heart, and money to help place these furry friends in their forever homes, which truly makes her happy. it's pretty awesome to go to work and be surrounded by such good energy. "we sell jewelry and rescue dogs!" my job rules.

here are a few links you can check out if you want to know more:
cat banjo on facebook
catbanjo.bigcartel
cuda on facebook

malcolm kissing cuda!

showing off his new underoo's! he chose super hero squad :)

sunday evening we met up with danny's family for dinner to celebrate the news that alanna had been selected. vicky & dan gave her a very generous gift, and made her this huge cookie, plus another giant one for the rest of us to enjoy. it was a nice time.   

welcoming spring

it is definitely springtime in raleigh, and it is beautiful here. plants are in bloom, the grass is starting to grow green, the weather is wonderful, and we are trying to spend as much time outside as we can. as i type this, thunder is clapping outside the window, and it is starting to rain. i love this time of the year.

on monday, malcolm and i spent a good part of our day exploring our yard. we have only lived in this house about 9 months now, so this is our first time enjoying this season here. i took some photos.

he found this little frog toy. it probably belonged to one of the three dogs who lived in this yard before us.

these large bushes on the side of our house are currently covered with the prettiest flowers. anyone know what type of bush/flower these are?

even the dying ones are beautiful.

the large rosemary bush by our front door is also in bloom. it smells so good.

a boy and his dog.

thank goodness for that old tuff shed. we don't have a garage, covered porch, or back deck, so everything goes in there. our many bikes, the mower, malcolm's outdoor toys and kiddie pool, etc. 

jack dogrel

the many faces of malcolm

as captured by grandpop dan :)

scary

mean


happy


sad

whole foods tour

today was the grand opening of a brand new whole foods market in north raleigh. it's a bit of a drive from our house, but it is closer to danny's mother than the current (old and small) location near us, so she has been anticipating this new arrival for quite a while. i heard last week that the grand opening was coming right up, so i googled for the date and found that they were offering sneak preview tours of the store. i signed us up, and on monday afternoon, alanna, vicky, and i went on a tour of the new digs, while danny took malcolm to the park nearby. it is a beautiful store -huge, and spacious, and brightly lit (led lighting). the layout and amenities are great, and this particular location is super "green", meeting LEED standards and qualifying for gold certification. (yes, i am a hippie, and yes i was very impressed with all of the info we received about how green this new store is!)

i took this photo for danny... look husband, vegan crabcake sandwhiches! yum! :)

the tour was long, like an hour and a half, and once we had made our way through it all, we were each given a reusable tote full of free samples and coupons. it did cost us $5 each to take the tour, which was donated to the local YMCA and food bank (thanks vicky for paying our way!) but i think we received well over that amount in free goodies. pretty awesome.

they had these "fruit cocktail" trees for sale outside. pear, plum, nectarine, and apricot all growing on the same tree!? seriously? yes, please!

we all loved these beautiful flowers. i can't wait to start making our yard pretty.

vicky also surprised me with a new vegan cookbook. she bought a copy for herself and liked what she has tried so far, so she thought we would like it too. thanks again vicky!do any of you have this book? and if so, which recipes do you like?

late this evening we took a trip to the new store to get a few staples (vegenaise, daiya cheese, etc) that we can't get at our usual stops (trader joes & kroger) and to check out the selection. we are hoping they will get in more vegan items, but the staff was helpful and said that they planned to when we asked about certain things (dandies marshmallows and cupcakes from the bakery) so we will definitely be shopping there more often. i know a lot of people don't agree with some of the business practices and ethics that whole foods follows, but i am grateful that we have stores like this that offer so many great vegan items.

good month, so far

march sure has started off nicely. on the first, alanna and i met up with danny's sister catherine to see gnomeo & juliet in 3D, and boy was it cute! like really, really cute! and i'm not just saying that because i love gnomes! if you like cutesy animated movies, go see it, you won't be disappointed :)

the theater had this life sized cutout of justin bieber, and since alanna loves him (like really, really loves him, haha!) we made her pose for a picture. she was pissed, and said something about how she didn't want to do it "because it would just end up on mom's blog." welp... here it is. she'd be so mad if she actually read my blog.

we took a trip to marbles and had a lot of fun because it was pretty empty. malcolm met a new friend while we were there, and they had a great time running around and playing together. (he also made a new friend at our neighborhood park. danny has been taking malcolm up there almost daily so that they can play. i've only been with them once to meet andrew, but next time i go, i will try and get a photo of the boys together) i love that he is at the age where he is interested in befriending others, and likes to meet new people. he's becoming so independent!



on saturday we went to chapel hill for a few hours. we made our usual stops at the comic book store, the record store (danny), the local co-op -for vegan cake/apple pie/coffee, and the used book store, before heading home. it was a lovely day.





malcolm being silly...




...until he noticed the teeny tiniest lil' bug on his hand. then he got really upset, and almost started to cry. this boy has suddenly become seriously afraid of bugs. i don't know where it comes from, but i hope it doesn't last long?!










on monday afternoon the kids went to the dentist. this was malcolm's very first visit and cleaning, and he was so good the whole time. alanna has been a patient there since we first moved to raleigh, and we've always been pleased with their service. they recently remodeled and updated their office, and it is so nice now.

malcolm went back with alanna, while i finished filling out his paperwork in the waiting area. when i joined them, he was sitting on a little chair while the hygienist explained to him what she was doing to alanna's teeth. it was so cute. then another hygienist came in and said it was his turn in the room next door. he got up in the chair by himself and let her do what she needed to do, without any fuss. i was so proud of him. i've been prepping him for a couple months now, explaining what would happen, and he was such a big boy while we were there!


all done, and NO cavities! hooray! he got to choose a toothbrush and something from the prize drawer.


alanna had no cavities as well, like usual, she always has good checkups. we are fortunate that the kids have good teeth. my teeth were (are) a disaster as a child.

this is the walkway to the dentist office. it is located inside of a professional park, that is designed like a conservatory. it is so green, and lush, and pretty.

after the dentist, i took the kids to get huge vegan carrot cupcakes from whole foods, as their reward for such a wonderful appointment. you know, because that's how i roll :)