more pics

Irina w/ her Datty

loving the country air and flowers

Last Day in NC

irina's last walk on the farm

pointing to the horses

Photos of Irina

these are some photos i took of irina around the farm. she is looking at Lady & Jesse in these
she loved it so much, she is just like her dad who enjoys camping and being outdoors.

making smores an open fire

yummy!

just like her datty

Craigs mom and stepdad have a huge farm with lots of land so we took advantage of it and had a mini bonfire with smores! Irina had a great time running around but seemed a bit scared of the fire, which is a good thing. We had a great time sitting outside in the cool weather. I loved looking into the sky and staring at the stars, its amazing how many more stars are are seen in the country skies.

THE DEPOT & LOWES

On Friday we went to visit some of Theresa's co-workers and friends. She works for the corporate office of LOWES as an accountant. Irina had a great time pretending to work with her grandmother.

chapel for weddings outside The Depot

a beautiful gazebo

craig & irina inside The Depot

it was so "earthy"

After Church on Sunday we went out to eat at The Depot, I wasnt sure about the name but I was sure the food was going to be Southern Style. To drive into the property the restaurant is on, you have to drive on this really old little bridge, the view was amazing. The entire place was gorgeous, I was later told that people reserve the gazebo and chapel for weddings. The food was delicious but I was even more impressed with the land around the restaurant.

North Carolina Trip

Last week Craig, Irina, Priscilla (my sis) and I went to NC to visit my MIL and FIL (step father in law but I love him no different). I was a bit worried about traveling with a toddler during flu season (both swine and seasonal) but we took some precautions prayed for the best. We decided to not buy Irina a seat on the plane and have her sit on our laps, we will have to pay for her when she turns two so we thought we would save the money now. Things worked out great because the row behind us was completely empty and they allowed us to set up her car seat free of charge. I am so proud of her, she was a terrific traveler! As we took off I gave her a dum-dum to keep her ears from popping, she watched her dvd and then fell asleep. We arrived in Charlotte and drove nearly 2 hours to my inlaws farm, the scenery was amazing. Over the next week we ate the best southern cooking, had shooting practice, kept up her horses, ate some more, made smores on a little bonfire, went shopping and SOO much more! We all had a great time! My inlaws gave me a horse a couple of years ago named Lady and they just gave one to Irina as well; his name is Lil' Man. He is smaller than most horses (14 hands tall, most are 16 hands tall) but he still seems huge to me! These are some out of order pics of us with the horses. Irina loves horses, I was very surprised because she is scared of most dogs. I will post more pics later. Irina did great flying back home, we had another free seat for her and she slept most of the way again.

fast asleep on the plane

watching a movie

she was scared at first
then fine after a few minutes!

feeding lady some yummy hay w/ tia pris

helping out on the farm!

mommy & irina after running around playing hide and seek

carrying hay to the horses to "feed up"

Halloween

Irina & Liam the Monkies, Bella the witch and Luke the Dinosaur!
Funkey Monkey Faces!
Irina & Liam

Here are a few pics from Halloween, I realize I'm a bit late on posting these.

Jeanine came over with Seth and Liam so we could go trick or treating in our neighborhood. We were some of the first ones out on the streets. We ran into lots of play group buddies and had a great time. We did not stay out long, I didnt want Irina to see all the scary faces and costumes that were out there. We are not big Halloween people but I thought it would be fun for short while. Irina got the hang of it after a couple of houses and was on a roll, a tootsie roll that is ;)