2009 NC State Fair Fun

Today we took part in a North Carolina tradition - The NC State Fair! This is an annual favorite for our family and Sierra's first exposure.

Like most state fairs the goal is to indulge in as many foods and activities that are extremely bad for your health. Mission accomplished as we took in corn off the grill, corn dogs, maple cotton candy, caramel apple, popcorn, donuts, pizza, chicken pita, ice cream and last but not least a deep fried snickers!

Of course, we also took part in the activities that are at the fair. The boys rode as many rides as they could.

They also rode the ponies, visited the petting zoo and milked a cow - all of which they like to do each year.

The boys added a new activity this year and did the bungee jumping! And Sierra met her first Llama.
However, what sets the NC State Fair apart from all the rest (even ESPN agrees!) are the Pig Races!!! This year the boys were chosen to captain one of the races. Needless to say fun was had by all!

Light the Night Walk

Our family walked with a team from our church in the Light the Night Walk on October 17th in honor of two very good friends. Gene Kennedy is currently battling Lymphoma and Sherwin Murphy was diagnosed only a few months ago with Leukemia. Both are amazing men and an inspiration to our family.

Sterling's Children's Choir Debut

When mom had finally given up on trying to get Sterling to join the children's choir at church Sterling surprised her and said he wanted to join. It seems that Miss Allana is a favorite of his! :-) He was so excited to wear a robe for the first time and did a great job singing and doing the signs that went with the song. We couldn't be prouder. :-) He sings again on 11/8.

A few smiles from a Pretty Girl

Over the last few weeks, Sierra has started to smile at us more and more. She is a very happy baby so far. We hope that continues. She reminds us a lot of Stone as a baby who was also a very happy baby. What we are unsure of is whether she'll be as free a spirit as him as she grows older. Only time will tell. If she is, the chances of Stone watching her while mom and dad go out for a movie will become less and less likely as we would be afraid of the party that would occur. :-) Here are a few of her addictive smiles for you to enjoy:

At 3 weeks...

At 5 weeks...

Hockey Town U.S.A.

Sterling's latest sport that he is playing is hockey. He just started taking classes called "Introduction to Hockey" where they skate for an hour each week. They don't actually play against one another yet but he hasn't complained.

His foray into this sport wasn't something that just started this fall. He has been begging to play hockey since the opening game of the Hurricanes in October 2008. We were not really into allowing him to play but he was persistant. His persistance showed that he really wanted to play. Being parents, you have to recognize what your child loves to do and allow them to do it even if you are unfamiliar with it.

As you can tell, he is really enjoying it. The smile that he gets on his face from playing is one of the true joys in life as you get to see your child truly enjoying himself. He is one of the smallest in the class but that doesn't stop him from doing all of the skating drills. He suits up in his Hurricanes jersey just like he is going to play with the pros. He has gotten a lot better over the weeks and now can skate backwards all the way across the ice. He even promised his dad that he would teach him how to skate. :-)

Sterling's Baseball Birthday Party

After our night out playing mini-golf we were excited to celebrate Sterling's birthday with friends and family the next day at his Baseball Party. Sterling had the great idea of having a baseball party at a local park that not only had a picnic shelter and playground but also had a full size lit baseball field. Everyone seemed to have a blast - especially Sterling!

The action on the field lasted for hours...

An exhausted crew waiting for eats...

And then baseball cake...

And then there was one tired 6 year old...

Sterling's 6th Birthday

Sterling turned 6 on September 4th. It's hard to believe how quickly our 'little monkey' has grown into such a big boy! He's loving first grade and his new school. Favorite things include football, race cars, hockey, movie night (Fridays in our house) and popcorn. :-)
To continue an annual tradition we all went to play mini-golf and drive go carts on Sterling's actual birthday. Not only was it the first time we were on an outing as a family of five but we were lucky enough to have Mimi here to celebrate with us!

Stone Loving Soccer

Stone started playing soccer for the first time and is loving it! In the first few minutes of his first game he took the ball down the field and scored the first goal! Everyone cheering (and the other team getting the ball) was a bit too much excitement and he ran off the field not to return that game. :-) His courage (and goals) have increased since! He's playing with two very good friends from school and they are all having a blast!

Welcome Sierra Grace Hensley!!

On Monday, August 10, 2009 @ 1:51 a.m., Sierra Grace Hensley was born in Raleigh, NC. Both mom and dad were very excited to have another healthy baby join their family. Mommy was especially happy that labor did not last as long as her first baby (Sterling was a 24 hour process with over 1 hour of pushing).

I think the nurse and doctor were a little shocked though that it went as quickly as it did. I have never seen 2 people move so fast as when they realized that Sierra was ready to come into the world and they didn’t have long to get ready. The delivery wasn’t supposed to happen until Monday morning….

On Sunday evening, Sheila and I were going to go out for dinner at a nice restaurant before we had to check into the hospital so that she could be induced Monday morning. On the way to dinner, we got a call from the doctor’s office that they were ready for us to check into the hospital. Instead of eating out at a steakhouse, we re-routed ourselves to Char-Grill for a steak burger and a shake before checking in. After we got to the hospital, the doctor told us what the “plan” was going to be. They were going to give Sheila a gel at 9:00 and then give her an Ambien @ 11:00 so that she could sleep and they would start inducing @ 7:00 the next morning.

Just like dinner though, the doctor’s plan didn’t go as they thought. The gel kicked Sheila into labor. After enduring back labor for over 2 hours, they gave her an epidural and claimed that she would be delivering around 1:00 or 5:00. We had to call the nurse in around 12:45 a.m. to check on Sheila’s IV. The nurse decided to check her and found that she was 9cm. The nurse in a more panicked state told Sheila to not do anything because she was going to get the doctor. The baby was coming. J After the doctor came in the room, the nurse told Sheila to push. Before Sheila could finish pushing, the nurse urged her to stop as Sierra was trying to exit the womb ASAP. Within 60 seconds the nurse and doctor had assembled the battleground and were ready for Sheila to finish pushing. Three pushes later and presto….a baby girl had entered the Hensley family!

Sheila and Scott were excited that she was finally here and that she was healthy. After about an hour where they weighed her, measured her, and bathed her, we were transferred to another room. That afternoon, the boys (Sterling & Stone) met their new baby sister. Both of them were very excited to meet her.

Stone still is infatuated with holding his baby and kissing his baby all of the time. He is very concerned if she is crying. He also shows a keen interest in the process of breast feeding.

Sterling loves to check in on her but being the big kid in the house, he is ready to move on to playing. He has assumed the role of the biggest brother by checking to make sure she is okay.

Sierra is lucky to have them as her big brothers (even if they tend to crowd her at times). Mommy & Daddy are the most blessed though as they have 3 beautiful, healthy, loving children!