The Gray's Polliwogs

Mardi Gras @ the Gray House

2012-02-19T20:05:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we put our Red Beans and Rice in the slow cooker, and went on with our day.
Every year we purchase a King Cake and drag out the beads.
With Pandora on the computer, we make our own little Mardi Gras Party here in our own home.

With all of our day done, we sat down for dinner.
Dinner was awesome.
Look at this full little fellow!

Then the party began...

Our King Cake (we get it from Whole Foods), the Pollies look forward to this yummy dessert!
So, this is a cinnamon like roll, stuff with cream cheese, and iced with yummy deliciousness.
So, technically Mardi Gras stated on January 6th, it is also known as "Twelfth Night" or "Three Kings Day". This cake is to represent a jeweled crown, topped with the three colors (purple, green, and gold) that represent justice, faith, and power. Looking back, it celebrates the Three Kings, that came bearing gifts at Jesus' birth. Inside each cake hides a tiny toy baby, which whomever ends up with the baby has to host the next party.

I grew up with Mom picking up a cake from our local grocery store, and I love the tradition. We also have very close friends from New Orleans that took us under their wing during Mardi Gras in college. Steven and I love the celebration, and will continue sharing this with our Pollies. As for now we will not take them to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, yet...but, it could happen one day!

Jamie like the icing and the cream cheese, but the roll he leaves behind!

Check out her nails!!

Guess who has to host the next party...crazy little man!

We are contemplating what we should sacrifice for lint, Aubrey said the TV, that would never happen. She would never make it until Easter!
We are looking forward to Ash Wednesday!

As far as today after church, we all rushed home and jumped into our PJ's. It was a snugglie afternoon. The kids did puzzles with Dad, and I blogged while sitting with them.
Hot Chocolate and Girl Scout Cookies where the perfect combo for snack time!
We were all waiting for the snow to fall. Finally, about 4:00 it arrived.

Here is Jamie watching the snow!

Bowling Blast

2012-02-19T16:58:00.012-05:00

Saturday we ditched cleaning the house and headed out with the neighbors.
They invited us to go bowling with them.
We were off to Z-Bowl, with the Flores crew.

Here is one of my besties, meet dear sweet Ambar. I love her dearly, not only do we live across the street from one another, we work together too! Our children play really well together and the girls are on the same soccer team.

Who new she was a Pro...you can tell her prior hang out years were at the bowling alley!
You go girl!

Those balls look heavy!
Love the shoes!

At night was a different story. I headed back to the bowling alley to meet up with some girls from church. One of our friends is getting married! So, us girlies meet up with her there!
Check out the names on the board...I was the "Baker"...I don't even cook! We had the seamstress, the wedding singer,the flower girl, and of course the BRIDE!

What a blast girls! We love you Yvonne!

Your favorite Brownie delivers...

2012-02-19T16:42:00.004-05:00

"COOKIES"...it is that time of year again!
This Pollie got out and did her share of selling. This year she pre-sold 128 boxes.

Most of the cookies are delivered except for the cookies headed down to Thomasville!

Friday night she did her time at the cookie booth at the grocery store.
I think they could sell anything with those smiles!

Now these girls will be rolling in the "Cookie Dough"...making big plans with their cash!

Sharing the "LOVE" with our sweethearts!

2012-02-19T15:27:00.003-05:00

Valentine's Day is always so much fun in the Gray House! We had lots of fun as packages arrived this week! The Pollies love their Grandparents! Also, Aunt RoRo and Uncle Don sent in a little something...something! Thank you all! Look at how much they love the bubble wrap!

Aubrey has her classmates Valentines ready to go.

Looks like Jamie got into to his!

Dad and I shared a little love with the Pollies!

Steven cooked a "Sweet" meal for us!

I hope you all had a "Lovely" Valentine's Day!

Visit from our besties!

2012-02-19T15:10:00.002-05:00

We were so excited to have a weekend with the Schwartz crew. We have not seen them since December and we soaked in as much fun as we could. The girls are getting so big, and they are so smart! We love them so much and can't wait to see them again!

We were able to head off to the ballet on Saturday afternoon. We had a great time!

See you all soon!

"Just Flip It"

2012-02-13T20:37:00.009-05:00

The past few weeks we have been attending UNC's Gymnastic meets. Aubrey has fallen in love this February, with these great gymnast. It is funny how she seems to know all of these girls names. She is excited to see them one more time next week. They even have a meet at ALABAMA. I some how think, it maybe a little tough for the TAR HEELS, Bama usually does really well. However, that has not stopped Aubrey from telling the girls to "BEAT BAMA"!

The girls are so sweet and give so much attention to the little girls with big dreams!

Aubrey got a new shirt this week, and she got all of the girls autographs!

A couple weeks ago, Katie and Emily joined us!
We had a chance to run into Sugarland before the meet!

Here is my Mimosas cupcake!

The girls got to meet Ramsey!

Super Bowl

2012-02-07T21:32:00.004-05:00

We had the pleasure of having Grandma Marilyn over the weekend. She came and stayed with the Pollies while we got away. However, we made it back in the house for dinner and to watch the Super Bowl. Now, Jamie watched the 1st quarter, and we let Aubrey stay up until after the half-time show. She loved seeing "MADGE"...she thought Madonna was to cool.
We did not have a lot of time to shop for goodies for the game. So, it was the perfect time to get out our Christmas gift from Steven's brother "Uncle Chris".
The Pollies really enjoyed the popcorn.

Thanks, Uncle Chris!

Hope and Love Ball 2012

2012-02-05T19:54:00.015-05:00

If you know much about Steven and I, you know that we are truly committed to an awesome cause. That would be the "Hannah's Hope Fund for GAN". This is the story of an amazing set of parents that upon receiving a horrific diagnosis for their precious daughter, threw themselves into a massive pursuit to save their daughter's life. While doing this, there were other children with the same diagnosis, and this has become an amazing and quick journey to save many lives. Steven has been the leading scientist on this project, and dealing with these amazing children it tugs on Steven's heartstrings. We are blessed to be a part of such an amazing journey.

This weekend was The Hope and Love Ball, where thousands of dollars are raised to help start a clinical trial for these children. Steven and I are honored to a part of this relentless pursuit.

This was our weekend:

We had a two part flight into Albany, NY. Our first stop was in DC. We had to get off the plane and get into a shuttle, and make it to our next flight. I was amazed, you could see the dome from the White House and the Washington Monument.

On Friday, after arriving in Albany, we separated and went different ways. Lori Sames, (Hannah's mother) and Sarah Sames (Hannah's Aunt) picked me up and we headed off to pick up things for the ball. Steven went off to the University of Albany to speak about GAN. We met back later that night, while finishing up work on the baskets for the auction.

Here is a picture of the medical center across the street from our hotel, Friday night.

On Saturday we met with other families of GAN and moved over to the
Desmond where the ball was held. Steven and I made it to a late lunch together at the Desmond.
This is such an incredible place to stay.

This was our room.

I saw the clock and had to make a wish...I hoped that great things would happen at this event!

Time to get ready! I was all excited about my new nail polish..."Forever Yummy"! It was a perfect match with my dress.

I love my hair dresser "Terri" at Madison Heath! She is like the (Hair Whisper) for me! I wish I could have fit her into the pouch, but I think we manged OK!
Once we were ready we headed downstairs for a toast, and then off to the auction we went. I had a few items in mind that we could travel back with.

So one of the ways they raise money is by the Silent Auction. Here are some of the items.
They also had a massive "Wine Pull" and a chance a winning a loose diamond worth $2200, in a "Diamond Raffle"! The exciting thing was that Hannah's Grandfather and I both were the last 2 in the running at the diamond and would you believe...Grandpa won, and of course returned the diamond back to the charity! Perfect! The funny thing was I had the same intentions...amazing!

Here is Steven with a new friend. This is Nick. He is a super amazing child, he has just recently been diagnosed with GAN. He is from Canada. He is such a gem, we are truly blessed to have met him. Nick you look stunning!

Here is Steven with Hannah. We can not began to tell you how much she means to our family.
I hope you all get a chance to meet her. Be ready...she is smart, she is sassy, and she will still your heart! Aubrey declares she is coming next year.

We were also blessed to meet sweet Chrissy and her family! She was brought by her sweet Father, Grandmother and Papa! She is from Texas. She was recently diagnosed and just met Hannah. Chrissy also has a sister, Amanda who was diagnosed last week. This was devastating news to this family last week. Amanda is two, and sweet Chrissy is six. We did not get to meet Amanda nor her mother, I am sure it will not be long. I was in love with Chrissy's sweet rose she wore.

These two beautiful ladies are Hannah's sisters. Meet Madison on the left, (she just turned 13) and Reagan on the right. These girls are glamorous. The are so much fun, and such a big help with everything. Matt and Lori are a truly bless with such an awesome crew.

The auction closed up and we headed back to the ballroom.

Chrissy and her Dad were great dancers!

I did find my husband, we stopped for a moment while he had some tea, I had a cup of Joe!

After an amazing event, we headed to the after party. It was nice to sit back and chat.

Now, lets go back to the auction...remember this item!

Well, it made it back to my room.

Then on Sunday, it made it on to our plane.

And then to the sky!

Can you believe it made it safely to NC!

My sweet husband, bid on this for me! Can I just tell you that my Valentine's Day gift "SUCKS"!
This is such an exciting thing here in the Gray house with 3 cats!

Blue Fish, Old Fish...Red Fish, New Fish

2012-01-31T21:05:00.003-05:00

On Saturday morning our beloved
"Sparkles"
joined a bigger school of fish in big blue ocean in the sky.
We did hold a small service in the backyard
near the flower bed.

This emptiness lasted less than 24 hours.
Jamie officially has his own pet.
Meet our new fish:
Dragon-Fireball-Rudolph Gray
and yes Jamie named his fish.

Last, I wanted to leave with a favorite Gray activity...Thumb War!

Great Job Jamie!

Aubrey's Story

2012-01-30T12:22:00.008-05:00

As I made my way through Aubrey's yellow take home folder, I came a cross a interesting story that she wrote. Ms. W had written 'This was excellent!" along with a :). I had to read it, I was amazed what the mind of a 2nd grader could compose. I thought that I would share with you her story.

I went outside and found tracks in the snow. What an adventure I had! (The teacher starts off the story)

One bright snowy day I went outside and saw some footprints. They where very small, way to small for me I whispered to myself. Then I saw moer footprints and more and more! I hurried inside and grabbed my coat, mittens, and hat. Then I got my big magify-glass, After that I hurried outside to be a detective. I knew I had to crack open this walnut! Then I followed the tracks across the yard, then HAH! The tracks ended! I need a trap to catch this monster I said madly! So I set up the biggest trap I could make. After I was done I went to find a hiding place and snap the bell rang. I looked up and guess who I saw? My sweet little brother! After I opened the cage I gave him a big bear hug and I told him I love you my ferocious beast! The End!

Interesting Read

2012-01-30T11:26:00.005-05:00

I have a close friend that shared an article with me this morning. I feel the need to share it with you. Here is the link, enjoy!

Another week down

2012-01-28T08:04:00.004-05:00

Monday was a very foggy day. I took some pictures as I drove threw campus. It was sorta pretty.

Monday was also Chinese new year. Aubrey was out of school because of a teacher workday. Steven worked from home and stayed with her. However, they did have a lunch date. Steven took her into Chapel Hill to meet his lab for lunch. They all went out for the Chinese New Year. Aubrey is not crazy about traditional Chinese food, and keep it simple with a plate of rice. I think she enjoys getting to see everyone better than eating Chinese.

When I drove home Jamie, got in a little nap.
I always know that when he quits talking, he is asleep.

Another thing this week...we have been DVR-ing American Idol. We have been sitting with the Pollies watching it. Look what Aubrey has picked up, planking. She is pretty funny and loves to show people. "Look at my plank she says"! Jamie...loves to say "They goin' to HOLLYWOOD". Here he is with his "TICKET"...he said he was "Goin' to HOLLYWOOD"!

Another afternoon, we got home and decided to ride bikes, and look other neighbors were out riding too! It was as though we had our own neighborhood parade.

Let me explain this. This is the Orange County United Methodist Church parking lot. We drive right by there every day. They have been expanding their parking lot. We always get caught at this red light, and Jamie has to have a big discussion about they machines that they are using.

This is my last picture from yesterday. Aubrey is eating her breakfast while this giant cat sits beside her. He loves her so much.