Trampolines, a Brave Birthday, and Family

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Happy Monday, everyone! We had a full weekend in North Carolina celebrating our niece Lauren’s 4th birthday. My dad, aunt, and uncle drove up from Georgia for the weekend, and my mom and brother drove down from Richmond Saturday. I know there will come a time that the entire family can’t gather for the nieces’ parties, but for now I love the tradition. 🙂

We drove down early Friday evening and met my sister, brother-in-law, nieces and friend Jeanine at Defy Gravity–Raleigh’s indoor trampoline gym. If you have never been to a place like this, find the one closest to you and go. Today. Jumping in a room full of trampolines makes you feel like a kid… and also gives you a fantastic workout!

Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to get a non-blurry, mid-jump iphone photo. 😉

Saturday morning, before the party prepping picked up for the day, my aunt Ann and I went for a run through the Capital Area Greenway–a beautiful park with lots of trails (paved and unpaved) and wildlife.

I took these photos as the end of the run, but I wish I’d run with my phone to capture some of the beauty of this place. We ran around a lake, jumped across streams, high-stepped over roots, and ran within feet of a bunch of deer, who were obviously accustomed to having people around. It was fantastic!

After the run, it was party prep time. I’ve mentioned this before (see Kendall’s birthday party back in March), but Whitney and Jeanine go all out for birthdays. Lauren’s party was “Brave” themed (the movie, not the adjective ;-)). Here are a few of the details:

Plus the Highland Games in the backyard:

Beanbag toss (board painted by Jeanine), log toss, and archery

Everyone had a great time at the party, and we were all pretty wiped out afterwards! For the rest of the evening we relaxed, made tacos for dinner, and just enjoyed time with family. Most of the crew hit the road early Sunday morning, but Andrew and I hung around to have brunch with the birthday girl (her actual birthday was Sunday.) Finally, with full bellies, we said goodbye and drove back home.

The first thing we did when we arrived home was crawl into bed and take a 45-minute power nap; between the travel and the excitement of the weekend, neither one of us were going to be functional without a nap :). Afterwards we made a trip to the grocery store, and when we arrived back home, Andrew mowed the grass, and I started dinner: salmon, roasted acorn squash, and a brown rice/quinoa mixture (we had about 1/2 c left of each that we needed to use!)

Delicious.

What was the highlight of your weekend?
Have you ever been to an indoor trampoline gym? What did you think??

The Weekend: Family, Vegetables, and a Police Report

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

What a weekend! I may need a few days to recover from the busyness.

I kicked things off Friday evening by filing my first police report after being stalked in the grocery store and parking lot. I’ll write a full post on this either later today or tomorrow, but suffice it to say that it was a very scary experience, and I’ve been a little bit on edge ever since.

On Saturday, we held a memorial service for my grandmother, and it was all that we wanted it to be. After the service and wonderful reception put on by the Bereavement Committee at church, family gathered back at our house. We had a veggie tray with a lot of goods from our garden, as well green salsa that Andrew made from our tomatillos! It was a lot of fun to show off the garden to our family members who had heard about it but never seen it. After the weight of the day, it was so nice to relax with family, share the Grandma Tudor stories that weren’t appropriate for non-family, and laugh.

The nieces and me before the service 🙂

My brother and brother-in-law passed out in my living room 😀

Andrew, Ross, and my dad in the back; Aunt Ann, Kendall, Lauren, Whitney, and me in front (Charles behind the camera!)

On Sunday, we slept in and skipped church (I know. Sometimes you just need to be a recluse for a day, and yesterday was one of those days for me.) Andrew and I went for a walk, then spent a few hours working in the garden–harvesting, weeding, pruning.

We finally harvested our beets and carrots and had a good laugh about it:

Five tiny carrots and a toothpick, and a bunch of beets… the largest of which is roughly 1.5-inch in diameter 😀
(Side note: I just started using Instagram! Follow me @ctstorey)

You win some, you lose some, right? Well, what we lost in root vegetables, we are winning in squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers…

Yesterday’s harvest (minus the beets and carrots) + the crazy-tall tomato plants (those are 6-ft stakes!)

After gardening, lunch, and a few episodes of New Girl, Andrew went to the gym, and I stayed home to lift weights in the living room (again, the recluse thing.)

In the evening we went to Bonefish Grille to celebrate my mom’s birthday! We love Bonefish. Four of us split an order of Bang-Bang Shrimp (which I’d never had before because I always go with Andrew, and he can’t eat it… it’s delicious!) and an order of Saucy Shrimp. (My mom’s friend Bill then ordered another Bang-Bang Shrimp for himself…before his entree. ;-)) For dinner I had the grilled scallops and shrimp with steamed broccoli and garlic whipped potatoes. Mmm. 🙂

We loved celebrating with my mom (and we missed you, Whitney and Charles!)

The weekend was a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but held more smiles than tears. I was able to see so many of my favorite people all at once, and for that, it was awesome. 🙂

What did you do this weekend?
Any tips for growing full-sized carrots and beets? 😀

Father’s Day, a Retirement Party, and a Wedding

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Andrew and I kicked off our weekend with a date night Friday at the Mellow Mushroom–a new-to-Richmond pizza restaurant. We had learned they make gluten-free, dairy-free pizza, so Andrew was excited to try it (as excited as you can be about GF, DF pizza. 😉 Don’t tell Andrew I said that… I always tell him his pizza tastes delicious.)

Overall, the food was really good! Andrew ordered their version of a supreme pizza, minus the ground beef that usually comes on it, and I had a cheese pizza with Roma tomatoes. My only complaint is that I received a rather pitiful amount of tomato, as you can see in the photo above. One thin tomato slice per pizza slice? Come on, Mellow Mushroom… you can do better than that! We both definitely enjoyed our meals though… and had plenty of leftovers!

On Saturday morning I went for my first run since hurting my quad during softball. I kept it to an easy 30 minutes, and my legs felt good other than being a little achy from not running a lot lately. Success! I am going to take a break from our softball game this week, then hopefully play again next week (with a thorough warm-up and stretching.)

Saturday late morning/early afternoon, we worked in the yard (ah, the joys of home ownership. :)) I weeded the garden bed around the perimeter of the back yard, Andrew mowed the lawn, and we cleaned up the vegetable garden a bit.

(Also, I think it might be time for me to buy a new camera. All my photos have been blurry, regardless of the setting, lighting, etc. Something is “off,” and I don’t think it’s just user errors.)

…And we picked and ate our first green bean 😀

That evening went to our good friend Erin’s wedding. Everything was wonderful–Erin looked absolutely beautiful, and both she and Nick seemed so happy. It was a joy to celebrate with them!

(I may have borrowed this photo from Facebook…)

Additionally, we were able to visit with friends who came in town for the wedding. We don’t get to see them as often as we’d like, and it’s always great to catch up!

Sunday morning we went to church to hear our pastor’s final sermon before retirement. John has served our congregation for 16 years! It was a bittersweet day, full of emotion as John’s wife, Julie, escorted him out of the sanctuary at the conclusion of each service. After the final service, we had a reception/farewell party in our fellowship hall. The committee in charge of decorations went all out! They created a “tailgate” theme and used the school colors from John and Julie’s alma maters: Randolph-Macon, UVA, and Duke.

For Father’s Day, Andrew and I were limited to phone calls with our dads–mine lives near Atlanta, and Andrew’s dad was at the Cape. In honor of my dad, (Papa Walt, as he has been renamed since the addition of my nieces, the next generation,) I resurrected this photo gem to post on Facebook:

This was taken at the preschool party for my 4th birthday. Andrew pointed out that I still make that face, minus the green marker on my nose. 😉 Papa Walt is the best dad a girl could ask for; I love you, and I’m so proud of you, Daddy!

Sunday afternoon, after an accidental nap on the couch, Andrew and I went to the hardware store, purchased supplies, and built a more permanent cage for our strawberry plants.

We bent 2-ft tall chicken wire to make a box, secured the top with small wire pieces, and added a rope handle so we can lift the whole thing off. Take that, birds. I am 83% sure that our neighbors think we are nuts. 😀

And now, off to tackle Monday!

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Youth Stuff and Yard Work: A Full, Fabulous Weekend

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Well, I survived the crazy weekend! Despite the stress I experienced leading up to this weekend, everything went incredibly well. Here’s what the last two days held:

Saturday morning I went with a group of our youth to volunteer with the Miracle League of Richmond–a baseball league for kids with disabilities. We “buddy-up” with the players each week during the league’s spring and fall seasons to help them enjoy the great American pastime. It is an absolute joy to know and be able to spend time with these guys and girls. Plus, it’s my kind of baseball: everyone gets up to bat, everyone swings until they hit the ball, and everyone makes it home. 😀

One of our youth, Eliza, and Carrie Rose have been buddies almost every game for about four years!

If you live in the Richmond area and are looking for awesome volunteer opportunities, check out the Miracle League!

When I returned home Saturday afternoon, it was time for yard work. Andrew was working on the roof installing… something related to ventilation along the very top (not my area of expertise. ;-))

After thanking Andrew for having such useful life skills, and also having a serious chat about not climbing on the roof when a. no one else is home and b. no one is holding the ladder (seriously, Andrew, what were you thinking?), I offered to mow the lawn. Now, I mowed the lawn frequently when I was in high school, but the lawn mower we have now stinks. It just stinks. The previous owners of the house left it behind, and it works, so we figured, why buy a new one? It is a full-body exercise to push it across the yard, and only once have I successfully started it by myself. (Andrew started it for me initially, and then when I took a break after, oh, four rows, Andrew was back on the roof, and our neighbor Gary took pity and started it again for me :-D)

In the garden we thinned the broccoli, Swiss chard, and beets. I know it has to be done–if two or three plants are too close together, none of them will thrive–but I have such a hard time pulling up little plants that are doing well!

Saturday night, this happened. I am scarred. Absolutely scarred.

Sunday morning was Youth Sunday at church, which meant the youth were responsible for most every aspect of all three worship services. This was a large part of my crazy-stressful week last week. Everything came together beautifully, and all our youth did a wonderful job! I am one proud youth director. 🙂

Meg was one of two high school girls to offer the sermon…Go, girl 🙂

After following the bulletin closely and nervously for three services thinking, “What did I forget? Where is there a hole in the service?” I headed home to rest for a few hours before our youth year-end banquet. I was nervous about the banquet, but all went well! Okay, I forgot to recognize and include one of our mission teams from last summer in the slide show…Sorry, LA Team! (Or as Forrest renamed it, the “Lost Angeles Team.” ;-)) Oops. Aside from that, all went well. 🙂

We ate, watched the slide show, thanked our parent volunteers, and honored our seniors and some other youth, including our awesome Servant of the Year, Lauren!

…and the public speaking wasn’t as horrible as I’d imagined 😉

When I returned home at the end of the night, I enjoyed reading through notes from youth and parents. Thanks to everyone for your kind words…they brought me a lot of joy! Perhaps the greatest…item…I received last night was this collage from hilarious 9th grader, Courtney:

Why, yes, she photo-shopped herself into a bunch of pictures and added captions like, “Our engagement photos turned out GREAT” and “I’m so glad we’re married now!” 😀 Andrew and I laughed SO hard. What a funny kid. We’ve considered adopting Courtney, but because she comes from such a loving, outstanding family, we don’t think the courts would approve the request. 😉

While I feel like I say this every Monday, this was a full, but great weekend! Thanks to everyone–youth, parents, Andrew–who stepped up to make everything run smoothly!

Today, I enjoy my first day off in three weeks. 😀

DIY Sewing Organization & A Surprise Party

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

My sister, Whitney, turned 30 last week, and we drove to North Carolina Saturday for a surprise party thrown by my brother-in-law, Charles. The party was a huge success– backyard barbecue, fantastic bluegrass band, and Whitney was genuinely surprised. Everyone had a blast!

I meant to capture the entire party, but mostly just took pictures of my family. Sorry for the photo-overload, but I really love these people. 🙂 Ross, my mom, and my mom’s friend Walter drove down from Richmond, my dad, Aunt Ann, and Uncle Richard drove up from Atlanta, and Whitney’s best friend Jeanine drove down from Northern Virginia:

I think the best surprise of all for Whitney was this:

She babysat these girls during her college days 10 years ago, and they made the trip from Northern VA to celebrate her birthday. Whitney actually screamed when she saw them. Charles set the bar pretty high for himself for future birthday parties. 😉

As for our present… Whitney is incredibly crafty. Among other things, she sews/monograms/appliques adorable children’s clothing which she sells here on her Etsy site. <–Check it out! The last time we visited, I noticed that she could use some organization in her sewing room. I searched Pinterest for inspiration, presented a vision to Andrew, and we began work on a project…

…that ultimately turned into this:

A pretty sewing organization board!

Plus a set of pincushion mason jars for storage and, well, pins.

We were pretty pleased with the outcome and thought crafting a present was a great way to honor the ultimate crafter on her birthday.

Happy birthday, Whitney, and happy crafting to all!

A Rock Star Birthday

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Six years ago I drove down to Raleigh, NC for my spring break; my sister was due with her first child that week, and I was hoping to be there when my niece made her debut into the world (uh, not in the room… just nearby ;-))

After spending a few days waiting, I finally had the joy to meet Kendall:

I didn’t know it was possible to love someone so quickly and so deeply, and my life was forever changed.

Last weekend, Andrew and I had the pleasure of attending Kendall’s 6th birthday party. To make a long story short, Kendall’s parties are elaborate. Like, make-other-moms-look-bad elaborate. This year the party was “Rock Star” themed. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking:

Friday night, the photo booth needed to be constructed and tested:

Saturday morning we had a bit of downtime to relax and break-in the bounce castle:

Andrew stepped up to the role of Cake Engineer and made an awesome guitar cake for our little rock star:

Impressive, right?

VIP passes and sunglasses for the guests, cream cheese and JAM! sandwiches, yogurt-dipped pretzel drum sticks, pop star popcorn, guitar pick carrot chips…

Kendall was born for the spotlight; this was the best smile we could get from Lauren 😀

Cake and presents, of course:

Isn’t Lauren a good helper? 😉

There was also Just Dance happening on the Wii and guitar decorating for the photo booth. Speaking of the photo booth…

After all the kids left (and I should mention there were 30 kids!), the ~~big kids~~ adults had some fun:

Charles, Kendall, Whitney, Ross, Ms. Patsy, Lauren, Andrew, and me… My dad, grandmother, aunt, and uncle were not able to make the drive from Atlanta, and we missed them dearly!

The masterminds behind the Jam: my sister, Whitney, and her best friend Jeanine:

We had a wonderful time celebrating Kendall. I sure am glad that kid was born!

A Two Storey Home

Where Marriage and Healthy Living Meet

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