The Haynes Family

Coming Back...

2011-10-29T14:16:00.003-04:00

Bear with me... I have no internet at home. We are coming back this holiday season. I need to use my blog for some things and I need to get back in the habit of updating family and saving memories. Blogging, photo-taking, and scrapbooking and needlew0rk have all taken a backseat. It's time to put the things that make our memories back together - I want to categorize all of my photos and get them on CDs. I want create a photo account - any suggestions for a photo storage/display program online? I want to make more things for the kids and other kiddos in the family. I miss scrappy time!

Gotta run for now - but hope to get it all back together and online soon!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-07T15:34:00.003-04:00

So far this summer...

2010-06-26T12:39:00.003-04:00

We've been to do lots of different things! :) Mallory was with us from May 30th -June 6th and June 11th-June 25th.

In that time the kids went to 2 different Vacation Bible Schools together - Saddle Ridge Ranch and Galactic Blast - at a local Baptist church and Methodist church respectively. We went to 2 days of High Seas Expedition at a local Lutheran church until the kids came down with Strep Throat (as did both me and Tracy).

We have been to Chattanooga/Lookout Mtn. in Tennessee. We went to Point Park and the Chattanooga Zoo. This trip was rather interesting because it was a spur of the moment, let's go somewhere and see what happens. Turns out that the weekend we picked, was Tennessee H.O.G.s weekend in Chattanooga. As in, Tennessee H.O.G. = Tennessee Harley Owners' Group. Biker week in Tennessee means it was packed - so we drove around and looked at a lot of things and planned what to do when we came back there an extended trip. :)

We went to a birthday party by the pool for Julia's "boyfriend", Holden where we saw several of Julia Grace's friends from the preschool at Oakland. We went to the Swim Center a few days for open swim time. We went to the pool in Tarah's neighborhood for a lunch/pool date with one my mom groups as Mallory says. :) We also started swimming lessons for Julia Grace at the Swim Center this past week and continue into next week.

We went to a wedding in Flat Rock, NC for cousin Jimmy and Melissa, where we saw a lot of our other Asheville family. We went to see Toy Story 3 in 3D (this is only the second time we've taken JG to the movies ever and paid - she's been to free movies). She's still a little stir crazy close to the end of movies sometimes even when they're new and cute. And we met Super Why and Wonder Red of Super Why! at KidSenses museum in Rutherfordton and had a nice dinner at Graziano's. The girls all managed to get some face time in with the UNC-TV guy at both the children's museum as well as the restaurant afterwards. He didn't make promises about whether they'd be on TV or not, but Mallory seems to think he'll put them on there.

I will admit - the only thing good about strep throat, is it left us at home to rest after all that. I think we all needed the rest, but maybe not at the expense of our poor throats! I got in some scrapbook time last night at my favorite scrappy spot and will be going back today for a Cricut class. Then I'm off for a little more crop time to finish some layouts and swaps at Angie's house after the class. I promise - this is my mommy R&R. Trust me!

Pictures to come later as I take them off the card this week - lots and lots of pictures! :)

Wordless Wednesday - Chattanooga/Lookout Mtn edition

2010-06-23T03:55:00.002-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T13:22:00.005-04:00

followed by a kiss for the turtle...

SoCo makes me oh so HAPPY!

2010-04-22T13:09:00.002-04:00

Something Corporate is officially back and this just totally makes my day, maybe even my year. I discovered them a few years ago just as they were taking a break much to my dismay. The only concert they had anywhere near here, was summer and I was pregnant.

So very happy about this! :) Enjoy their new and remixed stuff - new video out now too!

Chasen - On and On - I love these guys!

2010-03-24T13:04:00.011-04:00

well. well.

2010-03-22T18:33:00.004-04:00

Deep thoughts. Exhausted me. It's been a wild and crazy last few weeks. I won't kid you on that one. I had thought about not revisiting my blog at all, but then I thought why let a few get me down like that? So... I'm happy to have my blog and post my thoughts and family events here. I'm happy that I serve a loving God that I can petition for prayer and I am as happy to cast my cares upon Him as to I am to lift up others to Him. Through Christ I can do all things. To God be the glory, and you're not gonna get me down.

I am satisfied. God is good all the time and all the time, God is good. Prayer requests will still be posted on here. Funny stories still to come and photos of those two rotten girls that I love so much will grace my pages again soon.

In the meantime, bear with me. I decided to go back to school again back in January 2008 - it's been an off and on process and I'm trying to press on to the end. I'm taking the full amount of courses that I can at the moment and sometimes it's all I can do to find time to sleep after school, work and family time is met. Julia Grace is doing well and there's lots to tell you about Mallory too. Tracy had his wisdom teeth out this morning and he was in pain for a while, but he's finally fallen asleep. Pray for him to be on the mend quickly. I look forward to catching up with everyone out there. Everyone have a great week - it's 4 more days 'til Spring Break and I can't wait! Call me what you want, but I have made an itinerary for the week so I don't forget about all the cool things I want us to do together as a family.

Looking forward to catching up on here! More to come soon - Love you guys!
Tracey

Build a Bear giveaways!

2009-11-30T10:12:00.005-05:00

I just wanted to let you guys know about some Build a Bear giveaways I've run across. I know some of you are huge fans of Build a Bear. It looks really cool but I've never been or taken the kids. Mallory has been often with her mom and loves it!

The first giveaway ends TODAY -NOVEMBER 30th. It is hosted by Mommies Angels - BuildaBear Review and Giveaway.

The second giveaway ends December 10th. It is hosted by 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires - Giveaway-Giveaway-BuildBear-Workshop-Fashions.

Good luck with the entries! I hope someone lucky I know wins even if I don't win myself! Happy Cyber Monday to everyone! (Husband did not know there was a Cyber Monday to Black Friday - wow! Had to explain that one this morning!)

St. James Fall pictures

2009-11-30T01:07:00.004-05:00

I will post more things in the following days (I'm off for two whole days - hooray!). These are the highlights from Julia Grace's fall photos at her preschool. I'm amazed she sat still long enough for any of them! Enjoy!

Madeline doll giveaway

2009-11-19T08:10:00.004-05:00

Anybody that knows our sweet Julia Grace knows she's really got some favorite characters and she's super attached. The Big Ones (in no particular order) are:

Curious George - one of her first words was "George".
Wonder Pets - this is a fairly recent one and she sings/hums their songs all the time.
Wiggles - we LOVE the Wiggles!
Blue's Clues - or in this house - " A clue a clue - I want to watch a CLUE!"
Madeline - forever she was known here as Mad-a-NINE! She is a favorite of my almost 10 year old stepdaughter, Mallory, too.
Elmo - of course!
Clifford
Veggie Tales
Bear in the Big Blue House
Thomas the Train

I know there isn't much girly material in there. Julia Grace likes what she likes I suppose. We love the classy, yet funny, antics and learning manners there are in the Madeline books and DVDs. Julia Grace really learns a lot from all of these shows though. She's learned so much just from Curious George and Blue's Clues. The Wiggles really stimulate her love of music and we all like the Wiggles in our house even if the grandparents aren't too keen on them! The Wonder Pets have become a recent favorite and she wakes up singing their songs and asking to watch "Won' Pets!" .

I've been given links to the following contests in the last few days and I wanted to share them with you if you like these characters too. One is an entry to win a talking Madeline doll designed for her 70th anniversary for Toys R Us by KidsPreferred. This giveaway is being offered by The Art of Being Mom .

Another giveaway is given by the crew at 5 minutes for mom which has always been a favorite of mine to read for reviews, giveaways, and just total - hey-I-identify-with-that-totally! :) Their link to the Wiggles giveaway for a "Wiggly Christmas" which is a WHOLE lot of Wiggles stuff is here: A Very Wiggly Christmas!

Go check them out and check out more than their giveaways while you're at it - you'll be pleasantly surprised. You might be hooked and come back as often as I do! Good luck on the giveaways!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-18T23:33:00.002-05:00

The Nutcracker

2009-09-26T01:07:00.004-04:00

Last year, I took Mallory to see the Nutcracker and Snow White performed by Ballet Spartanburg. We even got brave and took Julia Grace with us to see Peter and the Wolf in the Spring. Mallory was quite taken with the studio's performance right away with Snow White. She was even more excited by the time the Nutcracker rolled around because her friend, Madison, was a toy soldier in the production. I remember last year as we left Twichell Auditorium after the performance, Mallory said to me, "next year I am going to audition for that - it was AWESOME!". So, this year, she did audition, and I'm so proud of her because she won a part as a cherub as pictured in the photo near the bottom from a previous performance. She's super-duper excited and we are too! Congratulations Mallory! :)

Julia Grace's first day of school!

2009-09-25T18:06:00.008-04:00

These were from Julia Grace's first day of 3 year old preschool at St. James in late August. She had a good day but was soooo sleepy afterwards. She really gets excited about going to school now and starts trying to head us out the door before we're ready to take her!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-05T12:56:00.003-04:00

(It's almost time for another birthday party!!)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-29T09:15:00.004-04:00

Just hangin' around...

2009-07-27T21:59:00.003-04:00

I have lots of pictures that are on a different computer and some still on the camera and some still on my phone.

We have lots going on at our house. Mallory is at her mom's for the rest of this week and back here for 2 more weeks this Sunday. Mallory is going to an art camp at Anderson Mill Rd Baptist. Mallory will be playing soccer again this fall and Tracy is going to be a coach so we're getting back into fall soccer mode. We have found a place where Julia Grace will be old enough to play soccer as well but we're torn between soccer and more swimming lessons. She really likes to be in the water but she does so well kicking and running after a ball. Julia Grace will also be starting preschool at St. James United Methodist this fall as well.

We're getting ready for birthdays - my mom will be ___ on August 7th. My grandmother will be 80-something on August 14th. My baby girl will be THREE on August 18th and my hubby will be 28 on August 19th. It gets a little crazy at our house in August but it's a good kind of crazy!

I hope everyone is doing well out there. I have lots more to post but it's close to bedtime and my pics aren't on this computer. Hope everyone is enjoying the last bits of summer!

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-07-22T00:00:00.001-04:00

Julia Grace goes to see Dr. Muncy...

2009-07-09T07:50:00.005-04:00

On the way to see the dentist!
Julia Grace is laughing at Mallory.

Both girls... in between giggles!

Where did she go?

"Ee-pie"! There she is!

I thought he had it all with the TVs in the ceiling, the snowboarding game, and Dr. Muncy even upgraded from Nintendo to XBOX 360 in the waiting room.

But holy cow! He added a jungle gym area to his waiting room for 3-12 year olds!

They even provide socks if you don't have any!

Mallory is helping Julia Grace up the steps.

Julia Grace paused to pose for the camera!

That's Mallory crawling through the shifting tunnel thing.

The chase ensues...

Julia Grace is tuckered out from playing in the waiting area, screaming through her visit, and lunch afterwards at Chick-fil-a.

We took Mallory with us to Julia Grace's dentist visit. This is Julia Grace's third visit to the dentist. She's not really any more used to it than the first time we took her. She's screamed and cried at every visit. I guess it's a good thing they have rooms that are sound proof for the most part or she might be scaring other kids away from the place! Seriously - she started crying after getting off the play area and I warned the lady, Emily, that cleaned her teeth. I said I'm really sorry in advance because she is going to scream and cry because she doesn't like any doctors touching her. She said I know I read her notes. What? What notes?

Apparently Julia Grace has notes in her chart that say: "very reactive; bites". Nice.

Her checkup was good. No cavities and the bottom two molars came in sometime over July 4th weekend. They weren't in on Friday but were in on Monday at Dr. Muncy's office. She has two more that you can see the little points of the teeth pressing the gums and outlined. Any day now he says. I sure hope so! Julia Grace is having a hard time with them through the night.

She cried as soon as Dr. Muncy came in - even though he didn't try to cut up with her this time. He just said hello and she started crying. Now don't think bad of Dr. Muncy because as far as dentists go, he's the best one I've seen in quite some time and definitely the best pediatric dentist I've met. Julia Grace just screams bloody murder with any doctor. She has done it to Dr. Webb about 2 weeks ago, at the audiologists, and with the doctor at the genetic testing session on Wednesday (that's a post for another day and I don't know what I would have done without Mallory to help me).

Anyhow, she had a good checkup, didn't bite them this time, and cried/screamed a little less this time. They let both girls get a prize from the bucket. Mallory was a sweetheart and picked out something for Julia Grace instead of something for her. She is such a thoughtful child and really growing up on us. Each girl got ice cream at checkout too - Mallory thought it was de-lish! We took the girls to Chick-fil-a for lunch before heading home. Tracy won't take pictures of Julia Grace having her teeth cleaned or even in the dentist chair at all because she pitches such a fit. I guess I don't blame him so all I have are before and afters.
Just wondering - anyone else have tips for all the screaming and commotion at the doctor's office? I don't think she's scared of them, just doesn't like being touched!

even MORE Riverbanks Zoo pics

2009-07-07T09:12:00.008-04:00

More Riverbanks Zoo pics...

2009-07-07T09:00:00.007-04:00

Riverbanks Zoo (in June)

2009-07-07T08:44:00.008-04:00

Going to see the birds - mostly the PENGUINS!

Yes, that blur is what we see often in our house!

So I'm way behind in blogging and posting pictures and I hope to catch up on it. My scrapbook is the same way. I signed up for lots of swaps and spent all my crop time making my swaps instead of being able to work on Julia Grace's scrapbook. Don't get me wrong - the swaps are fun and some folks sign up for way more of them than me. I usually do the buy and bag and I'm doing the cookbook swaps. I have one for June and one for July due the end of this month - yikes!

Back to blogging and pictures. We went to Riverbanks Zoo on a Monday in June. We wanted to do something outdoors and every direction we looked (towards Atlanta, towards Asheville) had thunderstorms coming in the afternoon - 80% chance. I was frustrated when I went to bed on Sunday because Mallory and I really had our hearts set (and bags packed!) to go somewhere where there was water for sure to picnic and swim! I woke up Monday and checked the Columbia area. They were okay on the weather - all the storms looked liked they would bypass them later so off we went to the zoo! I know it was not at all what we planned but I know we had just as much fun! Enjoy the pictures!

Our Little Fishes...

2009-07-06T08:43:00.003-04:00

Swimming in the pools in Sun City!

There she goes!

Mallory enjoying our time in the pool!

Our little fishes about to go outside in the sprinklers after dinner...

My parents community has 4 pools and since it's a place for "active adults 55 or BETTER" children can only go swimming at certain times. Julia Grace is not allowed in their pools until she's 4 and potty trained however. So... Mom got a splash pool for Julia Grace to play in in their backyard while Tracy and I took Mallory off to the pools. This is from Father's Day weekend - we spent 4 hours after lunch between the outdoor and indoor pool swim times. We had a lot of fun! It was supposed to be around 100 degrees outside that day - the pool temp was 89!

After dinner that evening the girls went back out again and played in my parents backyard. My mom had also gotten a hopscotch sprinkler and both girls played in that too. Julia Grace took turns running through that and then jumping in her little splash pool.

We also played catch with this velcro paddle/ball set (don't know what you call it) until it broke - gotta take that back to Walmart. I've already bought a replacement set elsewhere for $1 more than Walmarts and it's so much sturdier. Julia Grace has learned to take the ball off and throw it too. Now we're just working on catching!

Happy Anniversary!

2009-07-03T10:01:00.003-04:00

Happy 32nd Anniversary to Mom and Dad!

Swimming Lessons

2009-06-30T13:42:00.005-04:00

Day 1 of Swimming Lessons - Julia Grace is afraid of nothing as we pretty much know but now it's confirmed that taking swimming lessons is a good thing! She's been trying to get me to just let go of her in the pool but once she went totally under and popped back up she seemed pretty surprised that that would happen! She's held on a little bit more in the last few lessons. She doesn't mind being dunked - there are 2 girls that cry any time "dunk" or "under" is mentioned at the lessons!

I do think unless something happens in the next 2 days we'll be repeating the Water Babies class. I don't feel comfortable with what she's learned to pass her on to Water Tots (she's close enough to 3 which is the age limit to move her up to it). In Water Tots the parent doesn't get in the pool with them and they are expected to hold on to the side until the instructor comes for them. Julia Grace isn't always wanting to kick and swim when we're supposed to be. She is getting what they're doing, just not when they want her to do it. Today she was content to be floating on the noodle that was meant to encourage them to let go of their parents and go on their own kicking and "scooping" with their hands. She will still get a certificate on Thursday for completing the program though. She is trying and she likes going to 'wimmin'. She's been excited to go and not given me any trouble getting ready to go in the mornings because she's ready to go. I'm glad she's excited about it and not dreading it!

I'll keep you posted on the lessons and we'll get more pics this week!

I think I'm about to go crazy over here...

2009-06-25T23:04:00.004-04:00

Wow. To say that my plate is full right now would not even begin to explain the half of it really!
Mon, Tues, and Thursday this week we took Julia Grace to swimming ('wimmin' as she says) lessons. She is having a blast! We missed Wednesday because I got off work late. It reminded me greatly why I exited the grocery business in the first place - rule 1 in grocery - you NEVER get off on time EVER!

I don't have the pictures where I can upload them, but Tracy and Mallory came to day 1 of swimming lessons and took some pics. I hope to get more next week. She's taking lessons Mon. through Thurs. at the Swim Center for two weeks. Today she was dunked under water for the first time - didn't phase her a bit! She looked surprised the first time she went under but the other 3 times she just wiped her face and looked around wide-eyed!

My mom's scans and blood work came back. Her iron is low and she is stable. I think she's a little disappointed that it's stable and not a decrease in mass size, but like the nurse told her - we'll take stable! Mom has hair growing back too! :)

My mom's sister, Kaye, however, who has been being treated for cancer as well has had some of her numbers up on her last tests and it's not a good sign. I will have to let you know more as I know more. My sister's nodule on her thyroid was not cancer and that's a good thing.

A coworker of mine has been diagnosed again with cancer - I don't know all the details - I hear bits and pieces because I work opposite of this lady in my department for the most part. She has been told it's stage IV and that it's from her prior bout with melanoma. I know she was scheduled to see a surgeon for a consultation yesterday. Hers has moved to her lungs and I am not sure where else. Her name is Linda if you would like to add her to your prayer lists.

Julia Grace - I'm not sure where to begin with everything. I've not really put a lot on my blog about her I realize. She has qualified for therapy through Baby net. She has an early interventionist named Kim who is great! The EI comes out once a week to work with Julia Grace and work with us on things to help her progress. Julia Grace doesn't speak too often and her communication skills are lacking. Her fine and gross motor skills were way above her age and they have told us she's really smart! I know that the words are in there and we just have to coax them out of her. She's trying hard but we don't know what's not clicking. She has a speech evaluation tomorrow at noon and has already been referred by our EI and our family doctor for speech therapy. She will be having a hearing test on Monday to rule out any hearing problems being a source of the communication issues since my family has enough to consider it a family history of hearing problems (mom and sister wear hearing aids and have for a long time). On Tuesday we have our EI come back out for a weekly visit and on Wednesday, the EI, Julia Grace and us parentals will meet with a district 2 person to see if she qualifies for a program or speech therapy through the school district this fall.

Did I mention in all of those appointments that we still have 'wimmin' going on and that I will have to work at some point?

Oh, and on another - great!- note - Monday we are switching over to Charter - bye bye bunny ears and converter boxes and hello cable TV and Internet that actually WORKS! And might I mention that it should be less than the prior phone/Internet bill from the evil company who can't seem to make anything here work. We are however doing away with the home phone. This is new territory for me - my sister's family did this for quite some time. So if you have the home number, you should lose it. We are keeping our phones with Sprint - we're happy with them and even with not using the home phone at all since April, we've not gone over on our minutes. The home phone itself physically broke, but the wiring for the phones has been so staticky and fuzzy for over a year that we rarely used it anyways. AT&T never could make it work quite right. Now we won't have to worry about that!

Other than that we're just trying to tie up loose ends on other things and Tracy's plugging along with Shelton Properties. This July marks 4 years that he's worked there! It's hard to believe that much time has passed! I have some house projects I hope to get started and some others to get finished in July as well.

July 2 is my mom and dad's 32nd anniversary! July 3 they are coming to town and staying through Sunday July 5th. We're having a multi-family cookout on July 4th with my sister's dad's family (mom's ex-husband), mom & dad, and us. July 5th we get to see Jayne and Steve off at the airport - they're taking a vacation to the Dominican Republic (sans kids) for a week. I know they can't wait! I'm excited to see them again too - hate that I don't get to see Greybaby now that he's 1. Riley and Greyson are staying in Canada with Steve's parents for the week so I'll have to squish their cheeks when they come back to visit later this year! July 6th - Mallory comes back to stay for another 2 whole weeks of summer vacation! I am really enjoying having her here more often - I know she's loving it! :) The second week of July is the Anchor's "Mission Trip" (Hope Point's children's summer program) and Merissa plans their time well! They serve the Lord in various venues for a week and they have great fun doing it! People always ask when our church has Vacation Bible School and I love to tell them about what an awesome thing our children do instead! Don't get me wrong - I love VBS and I know Mallory does and I'm sure Julia Grace will - but it's so refreshing to do something so different with our children. I love it!

Speaking of VBS, Mallory attended Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church's VBS again this year. She's attended each year since she was 3 and old enough to go so I guess this makes like 6 years of VBS there! They always do a great job and Mallory has a blast. Mallory will be attending the Creative Arts Camp hosted by AMRBC as well later this summer in August.

I was a little disappointed (and I know there are plenty of years ahead) that Julia Grace couldn't go this year too. They were willing to let her go even though she's not yet 3 because she would be by the time school starts in the fall. However, she's not potty trained so this rules out VBS and lots of other camp options for her. We're working on potty-training though! We watched E-mo's potty time DVD again this afternoon!

Wow that's a whole lot of updating! And to think there are other things I didn't even squeeze in there to tell you! I am off to work on some things before I call it a night - waiting on the laundry to get done for the evening. I am going to scrapbook with my girls tomorrow evening after work and Saturday, I am off work and Tracy and I haven't decided exactly what we're doing yet - I know we're taking Julia Grace 'wimmin' at some point in the day!

Hope everyone is having a blast with their summer! I know I am! Later taters! :)

Where we are...

2009-06-02T10:50:00.002-04:00

It's been a long week this past week.

We've all been sick but I think we're finally getting better. Unfortunately, my mom seems to have caught whatever we all had but we did warn her not to kiss all over Julia Grace!

I'm another year older and so is my sister. My birthday was last Saturday and Rhonda's was yesterday.

Rhonda had surgery to have a nodule removed from her thyroid and they took part of the thyroid with it. It turned out to be benign which is a good thing - they were removing it to be sure it wasn't more cancer. That was last Thursday. Yesterday morning, Rhonda called me to tell me her grandmother, Granny, had died (her dad's mom). This was also Rhonda's birthday. I feel so bad for my sister - she's just had it rough lately.

Mom and Dad are coming back to town for Granny's funeral on Wednesday. I'm sad about Granny's passing. Even though she wasn't my "real" grandmother, I grew up around her and I've always called her Granny. She was a loud, funny, crazy (Daddy said she was a good kind of crazy) lady who definitely lived her life to the fullest. Granny was my mom's ex-husband's mom but she still treated my mom just like she was still family. She was such a blessing to Mom over the years. Granny always told Dad he was her third son. I wish that all people could be so accepting and loving despite what comes in their lives. I am glad she's no longer in pain. I know she is basking in God's glory right now and that comforts me. I know Granny will be missed by everyone who had the chance to meet her.

Keep my sister's family in your prayers and our mom as always. Thank you and may God bless you all!

Jack and the Beanstalk

2009-05-26T10:56:00.009-04:00

I had forgotten to post about this - how could I do that?

In late April, Tracy and I took the girls to see a black light puppet show presented by Theatre/Converse. They did a presentation of Jack and the Beanstalk. Both girls really enjoyed it and for the most part Julia Grace is good when we go to productions like this. I have been pleasantly surprised! It's a good thing it was a kids show though because Julia Grace got a little interactive with it. When Jack and his cow were fishing, Julia Grace said "MOOOO!". And this is my most proud/embarrassed moment - Right when the beanstalk started growing to the sky, Julia Grace said "What's THAT?"! This is a proud moment because we just had her evaluated and she qualifies for speech therapy. Part of that diagnosis (of sorts) was based on her not asking questions and having many phrases. Embarrassing obviously because she was loud and beat Jack to his next line which was "What's that?".

Both girls really enjoyed the show as did the adults - it was cute and funny. Converse College theater shows are always great - I often forget this and they're affordable too. Although, you need to check because most of them aren't family productions unless they say they are (language and situations within the productions). Julia Grace really enjoyed climbing the steps up to Hazel B. (the theatre). Tracy and I also got to introduce Mallory to Ms. Mary Nicholson who has been instrumental in too many things to even write about with theater in our community. Tracy and I got to work with Ms. Mary at the Spartanburg Youth Theatre and I got to be in her theater class and a production at Converse College as well.

I almost forgot about one other cute thing - Julia Grace was taking the steps DOWN two at a time after the show. She kept putting her finger to her lips saying "SHHH!". Apparently, after she climbed in Tracy's lap from her seat, she tried to be more interactive and he was shushing her. So she thought that was something you did was to "SHHHH!" - so cute!

We followed with dinner at McDonald's and playground afterwards. Needless to say both girls were asleep shortly after arriving home! It was a great night out with the family!

It was in here that Jack would speak to the cow, the cow would "moo", and Julia Grace would "MOOOOO" back to them.

The Giant is eating Pig and won't share with his wife!

The Giant is dead!

This is Theatre/Converse's promotional picture - I can't take credit for it. :)

This is Julia Grace walking on the sidewalk like a big girl - I love these pictures!

Airport!

2009-05-25T11:04:00.008-04:00

Julia Grace didn't know what to think of that Mocha Frappuccino!
She hugged Grandma and was patting her back with her right hand.

Julia Grace and Grandma are listening to Julia Grace sing on Daddy's cell phone.

Grandma is tickling Julia Grace!

More tickling and trying not to smile...

Julia Grace is on Tracy's shoulders in the airport parking lot.

First escalator ride!

If you ask her is she a little rotten, her reply is "I tink so" (tink not think)!

More being a little rotten!

Julia Grace kept stopping to check out things - she was looking downstairs at the steps and escalator.

Also on Saturday, right after Zoo Tots, we drove to Charlotte to meet Grandma and Grandpa at the airport to see them off to Boston!

Unfortunately you can't go past the check-in area upstairs so we sat at a little spot called the Charlotte Bistro. It was definitely a misnomer if I ever saw one! It was a snack shop with coffee, soda, juice and other drink selections with pre-made sandwiches. They had little bistro-type iron tables and chairs outside the snack shop across from the baggage claim. We didn't get to spend much time with them since they had to be upstairs and in their "gate" by 2.15 and we couldn't get there from Greenville until just after 1 p.m. Tracy and I had Frappuccinos (thanks Dad!) and my mom tried to get Julia Grace to try some but she wouldn't. Thank goodness! I'm not ready for that yet!

Julia Grace got to see some of the airplanes around the airport during the car ride. We also saw a bird inside near the ticket area and she rode down an escalator for the first time. She definitely enjoyed looking around and I know Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed seeing her before their takeoff to Boston! We'll see them later this week when they get back and stay in town for a few days!

Zoo Tots

2009-05-25T10:33:00.007-04:00

Julia Grace is playing with the plastic animals and learning their names.

Julia Grace pet the leopard gecko above - I couldn't get a pic of her petting the snake. She wanted to squeeze him and I had to keep trying to show her the "right" way to pet the snake - with the back of your hand.

She was confused by the big bucket of crayons in the middle at craft time!

They were passing out pie plates with glue and paintbrushes too.

Naturally she thought it was paint since she just learned to paint in the last 2 weeks!

JG is coloring her animals...

The finished product with her snack - the photo was upside down and that's why the funky angle! She was sitting there but had got up and run away right when I snapped the pic.

Imagine that!

ZOO TOTS at the Greenville Zoo!

On Saturday, Julia Grace and I attended a zoo program just for 2-year-olds. She was scheduled for April, May, and June - we missed April because we were stuck in Louisiana.

The program for May was called "The Skin You're In...". They talked about how our skin feels soft, how different animals feel, and why their skin feels that way. It was really neat. They had circle time and each child got to pet a leopard gecko, named Leo, and a black snake that was white (not an albino), named Louis I think. I forget the word she used but the director said the snake was not albino but had something else that caused the snake to be white. The eyes were the normal color for a black snake.

They also had a craft and snack time. They had cut-out shapes of lions, pigs, and birds. We talked about the sounds they made and how their skin felt to touch as well. They were given crayons to color them, some glue to put the "skin" on each animal, and the "skin". They were given a piece of furry fabric to go on the lion, some feathers for the bird and a pink piece of foam sheet for the pig. Julia Grace seemed to think it was paint since they had a paintbrush with it. Her animals were over glued but they turned out OK.

Their snack was "lizard skin" - a green rice krispie treat. She just licked it for a while but finally decided to eat it in the car on the way home. This was definitely a cute little program. I hate that we missed April and I'm looking forward to June's class!

Fancy Paper Crafters

2009-05-11T22:40:00.003-04:00

Round two of Scrappy Bingo is going on now! What on Earth is "Scrappy Bingo"? Come on over and find out! I won last time so I'm not sure I'm allowed to play this time around - lots of fun swaps and challenges going on each month too. Last sign up for swaps and challenges is May 15th!

Come Scrap with US!

FancyPaperCrafters

We had a great weekend!

2009-05-04T14:48:00.003-04:00

Great weekend with the kids! I had to work Saturday night so we didn't get to do much together on Saturday but we went out on Friday evening and to Spring Fling on Sunday. I'll post more and put up some pictures hopefully later on this evening! Josh had a great show and we had a good time at Spring Fling aside from Julia Grace's hissy fit (after his show, not during). She fell asleep in the stroller about 10 minutes later so we at least knew what was wrong in the first place!
Hope everyone had a great weekend! I enjoyed catching up reading some of my favorite blogs! I like seeing what everyone is into these days! :)

Josh Ridings

2009-05-01T14:54:00.005-04:00

This weekend is Spring Fling and on Sunday afternoon our worship leader at Hope Point, Josh Ridings , is performing at 2 p.m. We plan on trying to go see him if the weather permits and check out the other festivities.

Josh Ridings and his band are awesome - if you know him or you come to Hope Point, you already know this. If not, then check out his website - I posted the link above - or his YouTube videos. He also has a blog and he's a pretty funny guy - it's on my blogroll.

I'm AWAKE!

2009-04-30T09:48:00.005-04:00

I have been awake since 3 a.m. At first I could not figure out why on Earth I would be awake at such an hour. I got up (went to the bathroom - you know what everyone goes to do initially when they wake in the middle of the night) and that just wasn't it. My hand was still hurting some so I took something for that thinking maybe that little nagging pain bothered me enough to wake me. I drank some grape juice. Nah... none of this seemed to be it. Nor did I seem to be getting sleepy.

So I laid back down and that didn't work. I was warm and cozy and it was dark. So I got back up and I had some quiet time in prayer. And afterwards it was one of those moments I just realized hrmmm.... I'm up because you wanted me to get up and get going right? It was as though I could feel God shaking his head YES (emphatically!). So yeah, here I am God - I am up and at 'em! :) Hehehe. I think God knew... well, no I know God knew I needed some quiet time to myself this morning to get some things done that couldn't be done with a little girl running around the house and that included some morning time with Him. It's a good thing He woke me so early 'cause the little girl of the house woke up at 7 a.m. herself! Wowsers. I've been going to bed earlier and she has too. So we're having more early mornings and it's not been bad at all so far.

Yesterday, Julia Grace woke up around 4 a.m. and decided to kiss my face over and over while I slept and sing. Yes, SING. In.the.dark.at.4a.m. Like... Bababbabebaabaaaaa and Whoa Whoa Whoa ya Bow (Row, Row your boat). But how on Earth can you get upset with that? I finally said Julia Grace you're not going back to sleep are you? She giggled, ran in the living room, stood on the couch to turn on the overhead light and got in the recliner and waited. You know. For food and TV. Rotten I tell you! She had some ice water, an apple and watched 85% of Toy Story 2 before conking back out right around 6 a.m. I went back to bed after calling dad to wish him a Happy Birthday. She woke up in time for Sesame Street. Never fails. EVER.

I tell ya - I will be ready for a nice nap after lunch with Kari today! Maybe it will be raining by then to help me out with that! :) Oh, and thank You, God, for awakening me today!

Happy Birthday 'Ampa!

2009-04-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday 'Ampa!

Today is Grandpa's birthday - not sure if we're supposed to share his age with you so we won't! We hope he has a great birthday!

(It's also Uncle Phil's birthday too and we hope he has a great one too! He's 24 - we can tell you that much!)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-29T10:15:00.007-04:00

I am ready to go in the zoo now!

2009-04-27T19:46:00.004-04:00

On the way to Columbia to meet Grandma & Grandpa - finally after having to get a new battery for the Jeep on Easter Sunday of all things!
Grandma is hogging Julia Grace during our Easter lunch at Ruby Tuesday's.

Grandma gave her some good stuff to eat! She was eating Mom's mashed potatoes but NO broccoli today. She had already eaten some of her own kids meal.
Forget the Ruby Tuesday's food - I have Reese's Pieces in MY Easter basket!

Notice how she's more into the Reese's Pieces than what's in the basket...

Oooh... what's that? Chalk! (WASHABLE)

Julia Grace started pulling everything out of the basket one by one finally!

She liked her new Sesame Street books!

Puzzles too! George and Melissa & Doug!

We probably had about the most non-traditional Easter we've ever done this year. We met my mom and dad in Columbia and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's instead of anyone cooking. Tracy and I had not spent actual Easter Sunday with my parents in at least 5 years.

After Ruby Tuesday's, we went to Riverbanks Zoo down the road. Mom and Dad had called the previous Tuesday night and said they wanted us to meet them for Easter in Columbia and take Julia Grace to the zoo. SO that's what we did and we had a great time ! We saved Julia Grace's Easter basket to open in front of Grandma and Grandpa. I will post Riverbanks pics later - I posted enough zoo pics earlier today!

Louisiana Day 4

2009-04-27T08:54:00.015-04:00

Yummy chicken at Cane's!

This is what happens AFTER the Zoo!

Waiting on Nana to come get us...

Onyx the black panther - she had come running up to the zoo worker at the fence like she was going to pounce and suddenly laid down and PURRED!

The white tiger kept pouncing at the glass window whenever Tracy would look in at him!

Baby EMUS!

This was the parent emu that almost pecked me because I was leaning over taking the baby emus' picture. YIKES!

I told you she loves the zoo!

Tiger Tiger - ROAR!!! We would say Tiger Tiger and JG would roar. Ah... the Wiggles.

Rafiki!

Train at the zoo - it wasn't running yet on the weekdays.

Monkeys!

'Gators sunning themselves on the bank.

Why yes, that IS a peacock walking across my path!

It's an 'iraffe!

JG REALLY liked the llamas!

I did NOT let her pet anything at this petting zoo - it smelled and the pig had stuff flying around it. ICK!

250 lb. tortoise!

Julia Grace did "moo" when the cow mooed!

Yup, that's a rooster in my path!

I only let her pat the plastic alligators.

Pygmy Hippopotamus - It STUNK!

Bats

Black bear

Macaws

On our last day in Louisiana - we spent the afternoon at Zoo of Acadiana in Broussards. Tracy and I took Julia Grace while Philip and Nana were taking care of seeing about the Saturn being fixed. They told us about noon that it "COULD" be fixed that day.

The zoo wasn't a huge one but it was neat to go to one somewhere away from home and see how things were different. We had to wait in the parking lot for Cathy to come pick us up because the car seat was in her car at this point. JG ate some -ironically- animal crackers and fell asleep while waiting.

We ate at a chain called Cane's chicken for dinner before hitting the road. It was really good - wish we had one here! Tracy drove all night long Wednesday into Thursday to get home. We enjoyed seeing Philip and seeing Louisiana but we all had things to do and were just ready to be home.

lots to update...

2009-04-25T20:27:00.003-04:00

I know I know...I keep saying I'll finish updating and I don't. But I will do it this weekend - most likely tomorrow evening. We're going to Nana and Papa's for a late dinner with them and Mamaw.
Julia Grace and I spent the day shopping and hanging out with Jayne and her boys all day yesterday. It was nice to get out and do something with a friend without being rushed to be anywhere else. Thursday afternoon I got really brave and took Mallory and Julia Grace to the Greenville Zoo all by myself! They played on the playground outside the zoo for an hour past close and then we met a clean Daddy (he'd been cutting yards all afternoon) for dinner and hanging out before Mallory went back to her mother's. Wednesday Tracy and I took Julia Grace to McDonald's for some playtime and lunch before they dropped me off at work,headed to get some pictures for some BPO's, then they came back to get me. It's just been a really busy week.

I've got a lot of things I want to get done this week. Lots of little projects around the house that I hope will make a big difference around here. Busy planning some small day trips for us and the girls too - I will be glad when summer gets here and Mallory can join us on our day excursions too. Hope everyone has had a great weekend so far and check back for more updates and pictures from the rest of Louisiana and Easter and 3 zoos in a month - whoa baby! Julia Grace is learning to say things like zoo and tell you what sounds animals make. She says E-ra (zebra) and A-raffe (giraffe). Hey...it's progress! She and Mallory really like petting zoos - they have a hoot and a half at them! Take care and check back later!

Louisiana Day 3

2009-04-21T21:37:00.012-04:00

This was the first stop JG made in the museum.
Magnets...

Notice how they are color coordinated.

She does this with everything especially her tea set at home

A plethora of Potato Heads! Hahaha!

Of course - refridgerator magnets are exciting to Julia Grace no matter where they are!

Can he do it?

Yes, he can! Tracy in a bubble!

Bubble daddy!

Julia Grace tries her hand at making Bubbles like Daddy...

Hey... it popped!

Trains!

Julia Grace loves toy trains - Thomas, Brio, Melissa & Doug - doesn't matter just love the wooden trains!

I guess the folks in the ambulance needed some plastic lettuce?

Steering while under the influence of plastic lettuce - is this allowed?

Hey - look at me!

In the ambulance still...

It all looks yummy to me!

The "view" from the cafe window!

Julia Grace is serving up some lettuce for Nana!

And this is what happens when Julia Grace plays hard! Sleepy Julia Grace - look at her arms folded on her chest - so sweet and content!

On Tuesday, April 7 we checked out our hotel and headed over to Uncle Philip's place to unload. We decided to spend the remainder of our nights at his apartment.

After unloading and Tracy getting his emails handled for the day, Tracy, Cathy, myself and Julia Grace ventured out for a bit. We went to the Children's Museum of Acadiana . We spent several hours there and had a good bit of fun. It was similar to KidSenses, but with a local flavor. They had a restaurant which had crawfish on the menu and the grocery store was a Winn-Dixie (yeah they're extinct up here ya know!). Tracy and Julia Grace had fun with the bubbles and the trains the most I believe. Julia Grace served all three of us plates with lettuce on them in the restaurant.

After visiting the museum, we ate lunch at Don's Seafood Hut. Nana just had a salad. Julia Grace had their cheeseburger plate. I had a seafood platter with oysters, shrimp, catfish and a stuffed crab. Tracy was brave and tried the local dish of crawfish etouffee and friend crawfish tails. I tried some too. We really liked it everything we had. I forgot that I do actually like fresh fried oysters. It was really yummy! We then stopped by a local Starbucks 'cause hey... there it was and I'd been craving it for 2 days. We all, well, not Julia Grace, had Starbucks and I really enjoyed my Vanilla Latte. Starbucks is dangerous for me - I just LOooooVE a good coffee!

After this we headed back to Uncle Phil's place and everyone opted for a nap. After Philip got home, he and Cathy went to the grocery store and got some things Philip needed and some groceries. I made spaghetti casserole and Phil's friend Nathan came over to eat with us. We all had a good dinner and chilled out at his place the rest of the evening.

Prayer request

2009-04-20T15:42:00.004-04:00

I would like to ask that my readers pray for a family that I went to church with at Powdersville First Baptist. I did not know until today that Ernie Simmons had cancer until I found out he had passed away last night. He was a faithful man to the Lord and he and his family were at the church whenever the doors were open. Ernie had a rare soft tissue sarcoma that did not respond well to chemo or radiation and it spread quickly despite trying various treatments. Please pray for peace for their family in this difficult time of grief.

One of the journal entries Ernie wrote himself on his CaringBridge site really touched me as I read it this morning:
Let me share this one with each of you. It has become my favorite. It's found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

We can rejoice in the knowledge that Ernie is no longer in pain and is dancing with our Lord this very day! Thank you for your prayers!

A favorite verse of mine in times such as this and one Ernie's wife mentioned on the site as well:
Jeremiah 29:11-13
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Busy weekend ahead!

2009-04-18T09:49:00.003-04:00

I will post more on Monday of our trip to Lousiana, Zoo of Acadiana, Riverbanks Zoo and Easter with Grandma and Grandpa.

Today I am having the one day I can count on each month to hang out with my friends and scrapbook ALL DAY LONG! :) Today is our scrappy day where we crop literally all day - the crop is from 10 a.m. til midnight. I usually don't arrive until lunchtime due to other things in the mornings - usually a dance practice for Mallory or a short shift at work. Today I am off work but I'm taking care of a few things before I pick up Mallory from dance rehearsal. Then I'm off to scrappy time! Tracy will spend the day with the girls - they usually have a good bit of fun. They play board games, GameCube, watch movies with popcorn and he often cooks dinner for them although they're often known to get a $5 pizza or two from Little Caesar's as well. Sometimes he cooks breakfast for them - cheese omelettes and pancakes - and he's cooked ribs and wings for him and the girls before too. They're a little spoiled can ya tell? I'm really grateful that he doesn't mind staying home with them so I can have my day with my friends. I'm also thankful for a Nana that watches the girls when Daddy and Papa have basketball at church for 2 hours on Saturday nights too while I scrap! Today is a no-basketball day though and after Daddy and Papa taking a tumble on the courts last week I'm not sure they both would have went back!

Tomorrow is Tracy's grandmother's 80th birthday party. This is actually a bigger party than I realized. All of Granny's children helped plan it and they expect to have a really large crowd of people between church members and out of town family. It will be at their church, Oteen Baptist Church. Granny said she doesn't know if she'll be able to stand all those people looking at her and paying attention just to her. She's so sweet and humble! So tomorrow we'll be spending the day in Asheville with family after church and we just love that! I plan to take lots of pictures there as well. Be back to post more on Monday!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!

Louisiana Day 2 of my captivity...

2009-04-17T19:06:00.007-04:00

Julia Grace is coloring in her Rainbow Fish coloring book.
Getting up close and personal with the Robin Hood DVD - I bought a DVD copy recently and it's become a favorite of Julia Grace. Mallory was pretty happy about the decision to get a copy on DVD too - they watch it together often.

More Julia Grace and her DVD player - note the sunglasses to the side. She would put them on her face off and on while watching the DVD - I wasn't successful in getting pics of them on her face. She's such a ham!

Whoa baby! Check out the Heels hat and the cheese face! Yes, Julia Grace got into the bag of Dorito's! She loves them!

Well, actually, Julia Grace and I spent Monday (day 2) in the hotel room. We were cranky about it to begin with but decided to be content with what we had.

Julia Grace and I woke up about 9 a.m. - anyone that knows my husband and his mom, knows that they DID NOT wake up at 9 a.m. More like 11.30 a.m. Anyhoo... I fed Julia Grace breakfast from our stash we brought with us and we had apples, bananas, and leftover Cracker Barrel biscuits and milk for her and Coke Zero for me. Nummy Nummy!

Julia Grace colored quietly and drew on a hotel notepad for a little while. I'm not sure they would have woke up when they did but she was having a hissy fit because I was doing the "pre-brush" on her hair - the one where we brush some of the tangles out before bath time to make washing and brushing afterwards as effortless as possible. (did I just use effortless in a sentence about Julia Grace - wait those don't go together!)

Nana got up and called a dealership and scheduled an appointment even though OnStar said it could wait. Tracy and I were both ill about this in the beginning because she was told it could wait and we thought she was being paranoid (it was a good thing she went after all). There was also a misunderstanding and Philip thought someone would be back to take him somewhere at 10 a.m. . Cathy left to take him where he needed to go and then to the dealership. Then they called Tracy and told him he needed to come sit at the dealership while they went to eat lunch. The dealership said someone had to sit and wait on the car. I've never heard of such and neither has my 20+ year veteran service dept father. He said he's sure never told anyone that.

Carrying on here... So... Tracy went to the dealership and sat and used Philip's laptop and the dealership's Internet to take care of some BPO's and monthly status reports. I guess the good news is in his wait there he got all of his work done for the next few days. I had brought along Julia Grace's portable DVD player, 3 coloring books, crayons and 8 DVDs. Yeah I know - for 3 days? I tell you... I'm glad that I did. Julia Grace and I ordered Papa John's pizza and cheese sticks. As soon as it was delivered Julia Grace jumped on the bed and yelled NUMMY! and got over to the table to eat pronto! We spent the afternoon watching Robin Hood and the Wiggles and then took a really long nap!

This was a good thing - we ended up getting things for sandwiches at Wal-mart that evening and munchies and chilled out watching the Tarheels win! :) Yeah! Julia Grace is even sporting her Daddy's Tarheel hat in some pics! Day 2 in captivity, I mean, the hotel wasn't so bad by the end of the day. It was great Mommy/Julia Grace time!

Easter Egg Scramble - April 4, 2009

2009-04-17T18:08:00.010-04:00

On Saturday, April 4th, Tracy and I took the girls to USC-Upstate for the Easter Egg Scramble. This was the first year we've been able to take the girls to this hunt. I think Mallory had been one time a few years back with her mom and Richard but I am not sure. Usually we just have always gone to the pre-school Easter egg hunt at church - with Mallory for several years and then we skipped a year when she was too old and Julia Grace was just born. Now we've gone with Julia Grace and Mallory and Adrienne have come along too as "older siblings and guests" :) . We didn't make it to the preschool egg hunt this year - Mallory was at her mother's on Easter weekend and cousin Adrienne wasn't with us either.

Back to the Egg Scramble - Tracy and Mallory headed up to the older kids field to hunt. We ran into the our friends the Henke's a few times on the field and Mallory caught up to Robert and Justin on the field a few times. I stayed down on the toddler field with Julia Grace. Talk about antsy children! You would think they would have lineup a little less chaotic with little ones wanting to get to all those eggs! Julia Grace got fussy and wanted one of the DumDum suckers she'd already been given and not her blanket for once. So I gave her the mango flavored sucker (she likes mangoes so I figured why not?). This kept her content and she ate the sucker and looked around at everyone lining up okay. They finally sound the horn to go get all those eggs. Julia Grace - oh my - she ran and got 4 eggs after saying Julia Grace look! Then she just stood there watching everyone else eating her sucker. I guess that was sufficient for her!

Mallory got a lot of eggs but no "prize" eggs. Robert Henke got a "prize" (piece of paper) in one of his eggs and ran up to show it to Mallory before he went to the tent to claim his reward. Mallory's known the Henke twins since preschool and my neice, Amber, has been their babysitter since the boys were 3 or 4 - a very long time! Other than the Henkes I'm really surprised we didn't see more people Mallory knew. Tracy and I ran into an old coworker of his and I waited in line with her and her toddler at the field. I ran into Michaela and her little ones from MOMS.

Tracy and Mallory went to look at the Soapbox Derby car and some bunnies in a tent while I talked to Michaela - then we all walked over to the petting zoo and took Julia Grace back to look at the bunnies in the tent. She wouldn't touch the bunnies for some reason. She likes petting zoos and so does Mallory - our girls really LOVE the zoo!

We had a great time at Easter Egg Scramble and I think we'll make that a yearly outing - it wasn't expensive at all ($2 each kid in advance) and we all had fun on a nice SUNNY Saturday morning!

(My photos got out of order - I did good to get 2 'blog posts done in a day so far so I'm not redoing them. I think you, dear reader, can figure out what we're doing!)

Louisiana Part 1

2009-04-17T17:44:00.004-04:00

Julia Grace in the car after eating at the Cracker Barrel in Montgomery, Alabama.
Julia Grace thinks Cracker Barrel is all kinds of "NUMMY!" I agree!

A bridge before Mobile, Alabama. Lots of waterways and then a huge bridge - don't remember anything else about it now! I was driving at this point.

The view from the center of the big bridge - It was overcast so it's hazy looking but we were pretty high up there!

The sun is setting somewhere on Interstate 10 in Mississippi - this is pre-car fiasco with truck tire.

Getting there...

We left on Sunday morning about 9 a.m. from Boiling Springs for the long drive to Lafayette, Louisiana to visit Tracy's brother Philip and take him his car that was here and not there. It was me, Tracy, Julia Grace and Tracy's mom, Cathy. Mallory had to go back to school from Spring Break or we would gladly have taken her with us too. She made Philip a sweet card though for us to give him since she wouldn't get to see him.

We stopped in Montgomery, Alabama to eat at the Cracker Barrel just off the interstate. Food was great as usual but the service from our waitress was just lousy. In fact another waitress noticed we needed things and brought them to us. Tracy looked for her afterwards to give her a tip and she hugged him and I swear I thought the lady might cry telling him he was so sweet for doing that. We got Julia Grace a really cute dress that was on clearance there for her to wear this spring and I'm hoping to have some photos made in it.

Tracy was driving Philip's car and Cathy was following us - Overall the trip down was okay until Gulfport, Mississippi. Tracy swerved and dodged a piece of truck tire in the road but Cathy couldn't miss it. Her check engine light came on immediately and we stopped. They called OnStar who told them it was emissions issue and just make sure to take it to a dealership within 7 days. Holy cow. Yeah we drove the rest of the way to Lafayette. Cathy had her Vue checked out at a dealership there on Monday and it turns out we shouldn't have driven it after all because it could have caught on fire at any moment. Nice. Not so sure we should trust the OnStar folks henceforth. Needless to say this prolonged our stay in Lousiana by almost 2 days getting it fixed since there is no Saturn dealership there.

We did get there in one piece and checked into the hotel. Then we went over to Philip's apartment at a little before midnight. We had Taco Bell for dinner and Julia Grace ran in circles in his apartment squealing and laughing and hiding from Philip. She sure does like her Uncle Philip! My camera was at the hotel and I didn't get a single picture. We finally got back to the hotel around 1 or 2 something - which was central time there meaning 2 or 3 our time. I don't think anyone moved an inch once the lights were out at the hotel!

A looooooooong week!

2009-04-11T11:00:00.004-04:00

It's been a long week. I will probably blog about most of it later. Sunday through Wednesday evening we were in Lafayette, Lousiana visiting Tracy's brother, Philip. Tracy drove all night long Wednesday into Thursday morning to get us home.
I worked yesterday evening and that 5 hour shift sure did turn into a 7.5 hour shift and I am still feeling beat. Gotta go back and do it all over again this evening, but praise Jesus, they gave me Easter Sunday off work. I think if I see any more dinner rolls after this evening I might just scream. I saw dinner rolls and pound cakes out the wazoo last night at work.
Anyhoo - we had a good time in Lousiana aside from the car mishap - more about that later too. We took Julia Grace to the Children's Museum of Lafayette on Tuesday and had a great late lunch at Don's Seafood Hut where we tried crawfish - yummy! We took Julia Grace to the Zoo of Acadiana on Wednesday and had dinner at a chain called Cane's before hitting the road. Lots of pics to post but I have to get ready for a busy day today if I hope to relax at all on Easter Sunday! We also have to go buy a new camera - we had 2 cameras we used for work and family photos - they have all now bitten the dust. Ironically the el cheapo one we bought for work lasted the longest and finally died yesterday evening. RIP Vivitar camera (hehehe - vivitar). Have a great sunny Saturday!

JAMBOREAD!

2009-03-30T10:39:00.006-04:00

Yes, I know - that was the beginning of March - the first Saturday actually!

I don't have very many pictures because I forgot the digital camera and these were on my cell phone which also wasn't fully charged. This was Julia Grace's first trip to the library- she's such a wild child I have been fearful of taking her even for story time! And go figure - the one day you can be loud in the library - she was quiet!

Mallory had her face painted, made a clay culpture and ran all over the train!

Julia Grace stayed in the stroller and took it all in - quietly! She whimpered as Mallory was having her face painted and when the girl got ready to do Julia Grace's face, she started crying. So obviously there was something scary about face-painting to Julia Grace. We didn't get balloon "art" - they wouldn't let anyone else in line after 3.15 and we just got there at 3! Oh well. We mainly went to take a look around and see what it was since we'd never been to the library's annual Jamboread! festival.

I would say both girls had fun - we came home with 4 balloons and a clay sculpture. Julia Grace had a silly straw with a little plastic thingy that says Jamboread! - Mallory had laid hers down somewhere and when we asked for another one as we were leaving they wouldn't give us another one. Oh well. We did see the end of the bicycle stunt show, but Mallory wasn't too impressed - she said that's the same guys that came in second grade to my school - same stuff. :) Oh my. Enjoy the pics - I think we'll definitely try to go to this again next year - just a little earlier so we can enjoy more of it!

Daddy Daughter Dance

2009-03-26T09:46:00.002-04:00

In February, Tracy and Mallory attended the Daddy Daughter Dance hosted by the county's Parks & Recreation group. It was held at Cleveland Park. The dinner was catered by Fatz and they had a DJ. They also took a professional photo of each Daddy and daughter as they came in the door. They mailed it to us a few weeks ago and I'd meant to post it but hadn't. Don't they look so sweet together? I think it's a great picture of both of them!

They really had a blast and I think they plan on doing it again next year. I'm so glad our parks & recreation provided an opportunity like this!

One Sick Julia Grace...

2009-03-25T10:06:00.004-04:00

Julia Grace hardly ever gets sick. Her doctor visits are usually for other calamities (think glue, steri-strips, and stitches) and checkups and that's it.

Well... I'm not sure what she has but I've got an idea now. I took Julia Grace to a MOMS function and she was fine that day. Two days later - not so fine. I thought it was just the nasty cough she's had that made her gag and vomit. Not so much. Stomach virus is in full swing, but looks like it's on its last legs. Hopefully she'll be well by the weekend.

Basically none of the places I planned to take Julia Grace this week have panned out because she has spent almost all of her day in the recliner sleeping (as above) or watching movies. We've seen Lord of the Beans- VeggieTales, Curious George - Zoo Night & Other Adventures, Elmo in Grouchland, Follow that Bird, Splish Splish Big Red Boat - Wiggles, and as of yesterday, Annie. Julia Grace likes to watch the same thing again after it ends. In between have been the actual Curious George show, Clifford, and Sesame Street on PBS. She's done a little coloring but mostly just lying around recuperating.

Daddy is hanging out with Julia Grace this afternoon while I go to work but first I'm off to get some more things from the store - more Pull-ups and some Gatorade. My little girl has suddenly decided she doesn't like Pedialyte - oh well. At least she is still drinking ice water! We hope our little sweetie feels better soon and we can go out to play again soon!

Mommy and Daddy's little Artist!

2009-03-24T14:05:00.004-04:00

Here are some pics of Julia Grace's smiley faces on the Magna Doodle! I know some are darker - I don't know how to make them lighter. A lot of the photos were taken while I was home with only the camera-phone to take them. She drew the first one at the top in February and the one on the bottom is one that she drew Sunday afternoon. She had the Magna Doodle in bed with me when I was sick as could be and drew that and left it without erasing it. Those that have seen Julia Grace draw know that it's erased almost the second it's done being drawn.

I'm so proud of her - she's so precise now with putting those little dots in the eyes. I think that's her favorite thing to draw!

Peter and the Wolf

2009-03-23T14:44:00.006-04:00

Yep. Those were the only photos of our trip to the ballet with both Mallory and Julia Grace. Julia Grace did fine at her first "big girl" performance. She watched everything quietly and moved to my lap a few times and back to her seat. She did turn around and try to get high-fives from some girls seated behind us twice. However, it was dark and they didn't see her and she wasn't loud so it was all good.

You aren't allowed to take photos during performances so we didn't have any from that. Afterwards my plans were to take photos of the girls with the performers that are in the lobby. Mallory always enjoys getting their "autographs". We had seats in the balcony so rather than try to go down the stairs with Julia Grace, we took the elevator. Mallory was in such a hurry to get out to the lobby she bolted out and stepped on Julia Grace's blanket and tripped her. With her being under the weather she never got over it and Tracy ended up taking her to the car while Mallory got autographs. And Ms. Mallory is getting to be very anti-pictures so she was zipping around so fast I didn't manage to get any of her either.

Only Peter, the Duck, and the Cat came out after the performance. The young man who played the Wolf usually dodges the lobby crowd in the other 2 performances we've been to this seasons - Mallory and I happened to catch him both times on his way out the door of both Converse and Chapman Cultural Center. He's a very talented young man - his name is Alastair Mann (I hope I spelled that right) - he's a teenager and he's been the Blue Cavalier in Snow White (Mallory reminded me of this when I couldn't recall it) and he was the Nutcracker Prince at the Nutcracker. Mallory remembers him by name too because he's so hard to find. I thought it was sweet that Mallory wanted to see the artistic director/Grandfather in this performance and get his autograph. We couldn't find him either. I know he had probably zipped off elsewhere to prepare for their festivities that evening at the Cultural Center - they were having a pre-gathering and a performance of a different dance ensemble at 8 that evening.

We had fun and it was a great show. Mallory and I have really enjoyed going to the ballet this year. I think Tracy may have actually enjoyed himself too. He didn't go to Snow White and Nutcracker but he did come this time. At this point, I would have to say I highly recommend any show that Ballet Spartanburg has to anyone. It's always a great performance and a reasonable ticket price.

Hey look!

2009-03-15T00:43:00.002-04:00

It's some Leprechauns! Hahahaha...

:) Happy St. Patrick's Day! :)
(just a little early!)

Mad-a-nine!

2009-03-14T23:18:00.006-04:00

Julia Grace has been coloring a lot lately and is improving as you can see. She's trying really hard to color specific things and stay in the lines. I first noticed this a while back in December when the only thing she colored was the reindeer's nose.

Julia Grace also is branching out beyond Curious George and Elmo - I know I've mentioned the Wiggles are high up there. She really likes Veggie Tales and Madeline too. She sings along with a lot of the DVDs she watches and when she sings with Madeline - she calls her Mad-a-nine! Elmo is Eh-mo or E-mo depending on the day. George (pronounced Jor-jor) has been one of her words for quite some time - before she was 2 actually. She calls the Wiggles - 'I-ggles (like the I in it). She also tries to do the Wiggles hand motion and it's so cute!

She's been coloring and drawing a lot lately. I still don't have any smiley faces uploaded to the computer. She's starting to add some hair to her creations now and it's quite funny. She gets frustrated that I try to get pictures before she can erase it. Julia Grace likes to draw something on the magna-doodle and immediately erase it. And if she's letting you draw, you're lucky if you get to finish it before she erases and takes the pen back from you!

I'm so proud of all the good work she's doing with letters and numbers and drawing/coloring too. She's so smart and so good with her fine motor skills! The next task I have is to try to tape her singing - that's a hard one to nail down because she does it at the most random times! I was getting ready to go somewhere this past week and she started singing Whoa Whoa Whoa Ya Boat... yeah you get it! She sang Row, Row, Row your Boat and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star ('winkle, 'winkle, 'ittle s'ar) while I was putting on makeup and brushing my teeth. She's dead on with her notes too! She will mimic any tune we sing - Tracy even put her up to Mallory's karaoke game one night on XBOX and Julia Grace got a GOOD(!) on "Heartbreak Hotel"! It's more important on that game to get the notes right than the words. So proud of our little girl! I'm trying very hard to capture it all! She's so creative and smart - I just can't say enough about her!

Cold and Rainy Saturday morning BLAHS

2009-03-14T10:01:00.002-04:00

Blah! It's cold and rainy and I'd much rather still be asleep in our bed. Julia Grace wouldn't have it any other way - she's wide awake, had her breakfast and is concentrating on a Curious George DVD. I'm still bleary-eyed from lack of sleep in the meantime. I guess that's what staying out scrapbooking until 2 a.m. will do to you! Thank goodness I have nowhere to be today! I have a few errands I'll probably run in a little while but nothing major.

We had planned to take Julia Grace to Shamrocks on the Square but the lovely cold, rainy weather nixed that idea as the whole thing was cancelled yesterday. We have good friends in town and if they're feeling up to it, we may meet up with them later too.

I guess the really good thing about a day like today is if need be, we can just stay home and get things done. I have a lot of crafty things I've been wanting to get done for a while for me and for Julia Grace so maybe we can do that today too. Rainy days are good for lots of things besides sleeping so I think I'll go get started! I may post some more blogs this weekend too - I've not posted in a while. Julia Grace has started drawing smily faces on her magna-doodle and I'd like to share those pics with you guys! Everyone have a good rainy day and I may post more in a bit!

See ya later taters!

If you are a SCRAPOHOLIC...

2009-02-19T15:23:00.008-05:00

Or just really into scrapbooking, cards, and other paper crafts, you need to go to join Fancy Paper Crafters!

Visit Fancy Paper Crafters

Bye Bye Saturn!

2009-02-19T14:31:00.005-05:00

Yes, I know. It technically belonged to Papa. I know I mentioned that Tracy had a wreck in the Saturn that we had been driving for a few years. They decided to "total" the car and had said they'd come get it for weeks. In fact, they picked it up on Monday which was a month after the wreck.

I got up early and cleaned everything out of the inside and Tracy cleaned out the trunk. Every time we had mentioned that the Saturn would have to go soon, Mallory would say, I really like that car.

It had so many things going wrong with it before the wreck. And then the wreck happened. To fix the Saturn would cost a good bit of money. We do have a possible option of buying it back from a "dealer only" auction at the end of March. We haven't decided if we want to try to do that or not. I can't imagine that it would go for a lot of money with the whole driver's side being damaged and the bumper hanging off of it. Then there would be how much would it "REALLY" take to fix it - you know, properly.

So several things to weigh and consider... I didn't think to take a picture of it. That may have made some people more sad anyways.

But anyhoo- gone is the little blue-green Saturn L200 that accompanied us on so many family journeys to Hilton Head Island & Bluffton, SC and Lynchburg, Virginia for a wedding. It took Daddy all over the place for work to places like Franklin, NC (he lived there for a bit as a kid), Orangeburg, SC, and recently we accompanied him for the afternoon to Beech Mountain and Blowing Rock. It's the car that took me to Greenville Memorial and brought home a Julia Grace from Spartanburg Regional. It's the car that took us to dance practices and Saturday morning soccer games for Mallory.

Little Blue Saturn - you will be missed!

Elmo's World Survives the Toilet

2009-02-12T20:06:00.004-05:00

Yeah you read that right.

Julia Grace has this habit of throwing her toys at you. She wants you to stop whatever you're doing and play with that toy with her right NOW! Tracy had come in the bathroom to tell me something while I was in the shower. Julia Grace marched in behind him and threw the Elmo's World game at him. The only problem was, he was standing beside the toilet talking to me - an OPEN toilet. Hysterical Oh No's and crying ensued as Tracy realized that the game had landed in the toilet. He threw the game in the sink and took her out of the bathroom as she was screaming. She wanted the game back.

To be fair, this was Mallory's toy at about age 2 or 3. Mallory was kind enough to let cousin Adrienne play with it at Nana and Papa's before passing it on to little sister.

Back to the Elmo game...

We both accidentally pushed play while it was still wet. It warbled and talked in fast forward like the Chipmunks. We managed to find a screwdriver to fit the holes on the back and take it apart so we spread it out in 2 pieces to dry.

Surprisingly, 2 days later (the numbers wouldn't work 24 hours later - it would register that you'd pressed them without pressing them) the whole thing worked. We put it back together and Elmo's World has been fine ever since that day. She's even been a little bit better about throwing toys at us. So there you have it - Elmo's World survived the toilet!

A Prayer Request...

2009-02-06T10:28:00.003-05:00

Please be in prayer for a friend's family - her dad has cancer. Apparently, they were told after a CT scan this week to go ahead and call in hospice. She has come home from Georgia with her family to be with him as he makes his way Home to God. Her dad was a teacher and principal in district 2 and 7 schools - he touched many lives. Her parents were both also great supportors of our marching band and I care very much for both of them. Tracy and I both had him as a teacher in junior high school. Please pray that he does not suffer and for peace and healing for his family. Thanks!

44 Questions

2009-02-04T11:19:00.007-05:00

44 Questions

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? not that I know!
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? last week listening to "cancer" by MCR for evident reasons. I was actually listening to the Black Parade is Dead CD.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?Yes - many people tell me it looks very neat - it was even neater in high school when I handwrote things more often than I do now.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Deli sliced Roast Beef
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?Mallory 9 and Julia Grace 2.5
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yup! I am funny and I'll do anything for you!
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Sarcasm is fluently spoken as a second language here.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? No tonsils since the early '80's.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No way!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Frosted Flakes or Honey Nut Cheerios with strawberries or bananas.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? I try to remember when they're new but I eventually just pull them off with the laces tied.
12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Mint Chocolate Chip or Moose Tracks or Chocolate with Peanut Butter ribbon.
13. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? I notice their eyes first.
14. RED OR PINK? Red from those two - not a pink fan. Navy blue or purple are the best!
15. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORlTE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I procrastinate.
16. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Papa - Daddy's dad. I wish Julia Grace could have known him.
17. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? Sure!
18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Navy pants and grey tennis shoes by Adidas that I've had forever!
19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Julia Grace is playing one of the 4 V.tech computers the girls have gotten over the years - it's going boing and uh oh. Not sure why.
20. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?Aubergine ('cause it is fun to say and I like all shades of purple) or Cerulean (blue)
21. FAVORITE SMELLS - COFFEE - Vanilla, Roses, Cinnamon and Pumpkin Pie baking
22. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Tracy
23. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yuppers.
24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Baseball and soccer and hockey
25. HAIR COLOR? brownish blondish fluffy stuff
26. EYE COLOR? blue
27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes - I got them in the 6th grade.
28. FAVORITE FOODS? shrimp, lasagna, anything Mexican or Japanese
29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings!
30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? In the theater? Twilight and some other Disney movies with Mallory :) Princess Bride on TV.
31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? white
32. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter hands down! I like cold and snow but I want a warm cozy house to retreat to from both of them!
33. HUGS OR KISSES? Kisses from Tracy and my little pookie, Julia Grace!
34. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? hopefully everyone that reads it!
35. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? couldn't tell ya!
36. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Bible. No time for other ones lately!
37. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Winnie the Pooh - the same one I got with my brand new computer in 1997. Yeah I know. :)
38. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?Without a Trace and the Mentalist (I think that's the name of the other show that I saw before WaT).
39. FAVORITE SOUND(S) - children laughing, rain falling, the ocean.
40. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles - Sir Paul McCartney is my fave!
41. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Wales and Scotland and Ireland and England - whichever is furthest from the States - don't feel like looking to see which one wins.
42. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I'm crafty.
43. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Spartanburg, SC - Mary Black Hospital.
44. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?Anyone that will post this - but I don't get why these things ask that question so much!

It's been a loooong week.

2009-01-30T09:41:00.003-05:00

I'll have to blog more about it this weekend since I have lots to do today.

I guess the main things going on right now are:

Tracy wrecked his dad's car about 2 weeks ago and we're somehow still driving it. The insurance company plans to "total" it but that's about all that we know right now and we won't have the car after that. Tracy was fine; someone ran him off the road on I-85 and left the scene. The car is scraped, dented, and flat out missing chunks of the driver's side of the car. He hit the metal fence in the median that keeps you from crossing into the other flow of traffic. How on earth he didn't get hurt or have airbags deploy is beyond me and I'm so glad God was watching over him. So depending on how things work out, we will either be car shopping earlier than anticipated or repairing the Saturn if we work out that option with the people who get it after Farm Bureau takes it.

I finally finished knitting my mom's hat - it looks a little big to me but it fit my head just fine. I just hope it fits hers! I knitted on circular needles and then 4 double-point needles and I don't even know how to begin to explain any of that to blogland! I will have to take some photos of the hat - it's a pale rosy pink yarn called chinchilla (no it's not made of them, just soft like them!). I am so glad I met my knitting ladies - they are really a sweet bunch of women and I wish I had more time to spend with them each week!

I have missed the last 2 Tuesday nights of Bible study but I'm really looking forward to being able to go this week. I have a good time with them and usually learn a lot! we're doing a 12 week Beth Moore study this time.

We have had tons of work for Shelton Properties this week. I guess that's how it is - it comes and it goes. For this I am grateful, for about 5 weeks we had nothing as far as work goes and from Dec. 19 to until the second week in January we didn't get a check at all and when we got one it was for $350. I'm glad we had saved money for other reasons and that we were able to pull through it all. Tracy has travelled all over the state in the beat-up car as far down as Yemassee and Walterboro and as far west as Aiken and North Augusta. I won't complain about miles and hours it takes because in the present economy, I'm just grateful to have work and a job at all.

Last but not least in the long week - Julia Grace fell last night in their bedroom and had a small gash above her right eyebrow. We think it may have been where she was running with a block in her hands but we're really not sure. I was home alone with her and cleaning up spilled milk.Prior to me cleaning it, Julia Grace was lying on her belly trying to lap it like a dog or cat and I said get out of that! She ran away when I said that and fell or ran into something in the bedroom while I was cleaning. She came out crying and saying ow ow ow. She had blood on it and I cleaned it and she screamed. It was evident she needed to go to the doctor, but the blood wasn't gushing anymore, it was starting to clot some. She allowed me to get her dressed and then went back to playing with her toys in the bedroom floor and jabbering and LAUGHING! When Cathy got here to take me to the ER, she was jabbering and smiled and laughed at her too. I felt bad; Tracy was at Mallory's PTO program and had to leave without talking to Mallory. He did get to see her part of the performance in the recycling program and took pictures of her dressed in her trash bag. That's a story for later!
Anyhow - long story short, Julia Grace got 3 blue stitches last night by Dr. Rauch. She didn't like the band aid over it while the numbing medicine took effect and she didn't like them binding her arms so she couldn't push them away. I had to hold her legs down at her knees so she didn't kick them. It was definitely an experience - after watching how they stitched her together this time I am certain they should have stitched her eyebrow last August instead of steri-stripped and glued it.

And I guess somewhat ironically, Jayne had just called me yesterday morning asking how deep Julia Grace's cut was last August, did it ooze, etc because Riley had hit his head on the coffee table at her in-law's before she got there to get him. She was debating on whether to take him to the doctor. Well, she went and Mr. Riley got 2 stitches himself. His cut was in the same area as Julia Grace's last one. So we have matching 2 year-olds! Definitely not planned but they both have done so well with this hiccup in toddler-hood. Riley gets his stitches out in 5 days and Julia Grace gets hers out in 6 days.

Well there's the updates I can think of for now. At least all the news that's fit to know for now. Haha.

Everyone have a good day and a good week and stay safe out there!

BUSY!

2009-01-24T10:15:00.003-05:00

We've all just been so busy in our house - lots of different things going on right now. We've had meetings and Boot Camp and work and activities and well you get the picture!

I am taking a breather today and spending it scrapbooking with Angie. I need days like this. Tracy and Julia Grace are hanging out for the afternoon until he goes to play basketball this evening if that works out for him.

I've got some errands to run before scrapbooking. I've got to run to Ingle's - it's the last day of triple coupons! I've got to go to Gymboree too - I have some Gymbucks that will expire this weekend so I'm going to redeem those as well. Depending on time (it may get pushed to tomorrow) I've got to go to Sam's too and buy some food for the freezer. The pantry is looking pretty gaunt at this point.

I hope to get Elmo pics up later this evening and what little snow we had on the ground as well.

Have a wonderful day!

Please continue to pray for my mom - she is still receiving chemotherapy treatments! Also if you would please pray for a friend of mine who is really going through a hard time right now. Thanks so much! Later taters!

A Wiggly Exercise routine...

2009-01-21T01:50:00.004-05:00

Without fail every day now we have Wiggles DVD time. Julia Grace got "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing!" by the Wiggles for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa (and Chris & Jennifer and Christopher - had to exchange the last two). She loves this DVD! Julia Grace and I have started dancing to the Wiggles because it makes us feel like dancing! Ha!

Seriously - if you did all the dances, the Wiggles do in time to the music - holy cow! You would be in great shape! Julia Grace has 3 other Wiggles DVDs but she really gets into this one the most! She sings the "Ahhs" with the first song on it. But she loves Dr. Knickerbocker. She tries so hard to get the rhythm of the number 9! I'll have to make a video of it some morning because it's so cute! We'll sing it to her and say now we've got the rhythm of the number and she jumps and says NINE! Love it! In the meantime, the 4 devilishly handsome Wiggles are performing in attached YouTube style.

I have to say the Wiggles are great - I can't wait to see them on tour this year. Is that goofy of me to say? It's definitely in the plans for when they come through which doesn't appear to be until OH MY! Late summer or Fall ? Wow... They really do make great music that doesn't get on your nerves and I can definitely get behind these guys educationally as well! We love the Wiggles!

Oh and Julia Grace's other cute thing is she says "Wake up EFF!" We're still working on the "J".

I'm seriously going to bed now. I've had Dr. Knickerbocker in my head for 5 hours now. I danced to it 5 hours ago as well. The things we do for our kids! Yeah, that's it! :)

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Coffee...

2009-01-21T00:29:00.004-05:00

Those that know me well know that I am a coffee junkie. Addict. whatever. I love coffee. I prefer it sweet . Splenda does well and those little Equal tabs are okay but plain old sugar is awesome. I like flavors. Currently I have 5 different flavors of creamer in my fridge. No joke. They're all on the top shelf. In addition to this I have 4 different roasts of coffee in there as well. One day - when I have more counter space and some money to burn - I will have the cappuccino/espresso maker in my house and a coffee grinder. Is it sad that I dream of these things? Is it sad that I love coffee so much? I don't think so. It's healthy to have aspirations even if it's only for a better cup of coffee!

I love the smell of coffee. It's intoxicating to me. Forget wine or mixed drinks - give me a good coffee any day. I love the dessert coffees too - I really like Bailey's Irish Creme and coffee together. YUM! :) I can make do without the creamer in my coffee but I better have some sugar. I like strong coffee. And please don't disgrace the coffee with whipped cream. Really. What did the coffee ever do to you?

Okay. Now that you know about my coffee addiction, I think I should get back to work. Tracy drove 11 hours today. He ate dinner, did one BPO, and went to bed with Julia Grace. He's exhausted. He was down near my parents house in Walterboro and Yemassee today. Believe it or not - it snowed down there too but it didn't stick. It was snowing all of his day today until he left Yemassee at 6. It snowed here pretty good but it just never stuck the way it should. By the time Julia Grace woke for the day, we only had the same dusting we had when I woke at 3.30 a.m. I took pics (at 3.30 a.m. and at 9.30 a.m.)but I'll have to find the camera later and upload them. It was mixed with crunchy ice in our yard so it wasn't worth taking her out to play in it. We rode with Nana to some errands today and by the time we got home at 3 p.m. it was all melted and gone except the icicles hanging from our roof. Oh well. Maybe next time! Go have a good cup of coffee for me ! Good night everyone!

Scrap Giveaway

2009-01-21T00:26:00.004-05:00

Feeding my need for scrapbooking:

Win everything pictured at this site :http://socalscrap.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentines-day-giveaway.html .

Yes, I should be doing work and not looking at items of craftiness. :) Hehehe.

I've had coffee. Beware.

last few Christmas pics

2009-01-18T13:27:00.007-05:00

This is the proof that Makenzie actually sat in Edward's lap! (an uncommon occurrence)

Look at Julia Grace's pretty curls!! No, I do not curl her hair!

hehehe... Jimmy gave them thongs! No lie!

This is Julia Grace's "Are you kidding me?" look!

Nana with Julia Grace and Makenzie in her lap.

Julia Grace is so sleepy before heading home from Gigi's house.

These were in random places - the red dress with the big red bow were taken Granny's house in Asheville on Christmas Day evening. We still missed a few people at Christmas (I still have some presents to mail to Canada in my living room) and missed Carl & Bev's family. We just couldn't possibly be in all the different places this year - it was exhausting as it was. It was quite possibly the best Christmas with the kids yet though!

Christmas at Gigi's house (weekend after Christmas)

2009-01-18T12:29:00.010-05:00

On the Sunday after Christmas we met my parents at MY Grandma's house for lunch and Christmas. We were trying to make sure we had a day together that wasn't rushed to be somewhere else. I have always enjoyed visiting my Grandma but it seems like such a long trip. We spent the night there when I was younger but over the years we started making a day trip out of it. Grandma goes to pick up my Aunt Elaine from her group home - Elaine is mildly retarded and cannot live on her own but can live in an assisted living home. She cannot cook - she doesn't comprehend enough directions and pay enough attention to be allowed to do things of this nature. Someone has to check on her and be sure she takes her medications. She did have a job working in their "warehouse" (not sure what work they do) and also Ruby Tuesday's until a few years ago. She would fold the napkins and silverware and help with the salad bar a few days a week. Those were great milestones for her - developmentally she has the mind of an 8 year old child. They have crafts and social activities too and I think it's been great for her to be in this setting. She lived at home with my Grandma until about 10 or so years ago. Maybe longer - I can't recall exactly when they looked for her a place to stay.

Anyhow - we spend a few Saturdays or Sundays a year making a day trip to visit Gigi who is in her 80's and my Aunt Elaine who is in her 60's. Gigi cooks for us and we have a great time talking and Julia Grace does a great job of entertaining! I wish my Papa was alive to meet Julia Grace and that she could have met him. He was in the Army and worked in a factory after this time. He smoked Lucky Strikes like there was no tomorrow but was considerate enough to go outside to smoke in his own home when they found out I was allergic to cigarette smoke as a child. He grew most of his own vegetables and I remember walking to the barn - well I called it a barn - didn't have animals. It was at the edge of one of his fields and in muscadine vines grew all over it and we used to go look for some to be ready to eat. It doesn't produce nearly what it did when he was still alive. I'm sure he tended to it some. He gave the greatest hugs but he was so rock-solid that it felt like hugging a tree literally! I remember he liked his coffee sweet (I do too!) and loved the hot peppers and anything pickled - yeah I think I get that from him too!

I will have to take pictures of my Grandma's house and put them up sometime. They have two swings on their front porch. Julia Grace and Mallory have always liked to swing on them just as I did when I was little and still do.

We had a great Christmas visit. Gigi made a bucket of cookies for each girl - Mallory got butterscotch chip cookies and Julia Grace got vanilla cookies. Each family got a bag of pecans that my Grandma went out and picked up from the ground and inspected herself. I'm sure that took her a better part of a day or two picking them up and sorting them by herself. She also sends a check each year for us to buy something from her for Christmas. The gifts we're unwrapping are the ones we bought to be from her - she still likes watching us open presents but has a hard time getting out shopping for everyone. Red Springs is a tee-niny town that doesn't even have a WalMart and has a catalog shopping center instead of the actual department stores. Here are the pictures! Mallory wasn't able to join us for this trip. Julia Grace's dress is a Ralph Lauren dress that's identical to one she wore her first Christmas. My parents bought it for her to wear to a Christmas party and for Christmas that year. Mom found it in a 2T on sale just before Christmas and we put it away until now. She looks so pretty in it! I love it!

Christmas Day in the morning...

2009-01-18T11:48:00.008-05:00

This is the first Christmas Day morning that Mallory has spent with her dad since she was 1 year old. We had great fun opening presents and being silly. It was so nice to have the whole family together for the first time ever on Christmas Day!

Mallory's big present from us was the complete set of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Tracy wrote a letter to Mallory and included several photos of the coming package - hence the letter that says Warning! Do Not Enter! I think Mallory really enjoyed the letter to her from Santa Daddy.

See if you can spot the picture I mentioned in an earlier blog about Christmas Day - you know - the one where Julia Grace is looking like what just happened to me?

It was so great to be together at Christmas!

Julia Grace likes the Wiggles microphone!

Mallory is so hard to figure out sometimes - this is the Jonas Brothers book. I asked her if she wanted it several times out shopping... sometimes it was a yes, sometimes it was an I don't know... I told her Angie wanted it for Christmas and she giggled (yeah I know - it was a story but I was trying to get her to look at the book and talk about it!). Soooo... when she opened it Christmas Day - she laughed and said oh my gosh Daddy she told me she was getting it for ANGIE! I told her if she didn't like it I would give it Angie. I'm not allowed to give it to Angie. :) Which is good because I don't think JB is Angie's thing. Hehehe.

...even though you have the aroma of chicken...

Mallory's "Ultimate" Pokemon guide - she pointed that out and said I want that!! That wasn't hard to decide to buy!

The girls' stockings - Mallory picked hers out the very first Christmas we were in our house in 2005. We still have to upgrade to another stocking for Julia Grace - we have the basic red one and then 2 Baby's First Christmas stockings for her. The stuffed dogs are Mallory's and the Madeline and monkey are Julia Grace's. Julia Grace and Riley Pig got matching monkeys for Christmas - his is the boy version without a bow though. Steve might not like him getting a girly monkey!

I love this picture! Julia Grace is having a belly laugh and Mallory is checking out her Pokemon cards.

Julia Grace is checking out her newest George.

What on Earth just happened to me? I was in a warm bed and then I wasn't!

Fisher Price Nativity scene - Julia Grace loves it! We try to tell her who they are but I don't think it will become a really teachable moment for her until next year. She loved playing with it and she chewed on the cow's tail for some reason. I caught this on sale last year at Christian Supply and have been considering the additional sets that join it.

Long week...

2009-01-17T00:58:00.003-05:00

It's been a long week, but a productive week. It is late and I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is the second half of Bob's BPO Boot Camp and we have lots of work to do at the first of the week. I am hoping it's a little more calm by mid-week next week.

Have lots of pictures to post of various things - Julia Grace loved Elmo (E-Mo) and mostly just looked around the place and smiled. She did stare long and hard at this little boy's light-up toy souvenir in front of us. She even leaned forward a few times and looked at it. I thought she was going to try and grab it. She never did though and I was proud. She tries so hard to sing Elmo's World too. Tracy bought her the same light-up toy as we were leaving. It was overpriced for what it was but you know, she was so good and didn't have a fit over it so I think she may have (for lack of a better word) earned it. He also bought her cotton candy which she tasted and said no, unh-uh when we tried to give it to her. Instead she fed it to me and Tracy, then wanted to play with the cone that held the cotton candy. Go figure!

It's cold and I'm going to get in my warm bed. More posts tomorrow when I'm home alone with Julia Grace while Tracy is at boot camp. Lucky him! :)

So tired and it's only Wednesday!

2009-01-15T00:52:00.003-05:00

I have been trying to get rid of "stuff". Tracy and I have spent time in the attic getting things gone from there and making room for other things. We have "girl clothes" that the girls have outgrown but we may need down the road so we were putting them away. The Christmas tree and most Christmas things are in the attic. I still have some down in our bedroom that after I find a suitable box for them will go up in the attic as well.

Tracy's been several different directions for work this week- he has to get up early tomorrow and head to Greenwood before coming back this way to be in Gaffney in the afternoon for Bob's BPO boot camp set-up at Limestone.

Then tomorrow evening we're going to see ELMO LIVE! :) Or as Julia Grace has taken to saying this evening : E-MO. Used to be Eh-mo. Now it's E-Mo. I know she doesn't have a clue what we're talking about right now but we hope she loves it tomorrow night. We also hope that she doesn't try to join them onstage (my mom is the one that made the last mental imagery).

I am going to bed. I am beat. I have several things to do tomorrow but for the most part, Julia Grace and I can relax. She and I have nowhere to be until our evening with Daddy at ELMO. Maybe we'll just snuggle under the covers and jabber in the morning. I like that - I know she does. She's funny that way. She will pull the covers up to her chin and lie there and talk talk away to us. We have no idea what she's trying to say but it's starting to come together. I love it that she's trying to say names; she gets so excited over saying Mallory - Mah-ry! Sometimes Mah-uh-ry! Always excited though and it tickles us! Tracy has been working on Yes, No, and Maybe with her - so cute - they do the head nods and everything.

Alright... I am off to bed. We had a great evening with Mallory - Tracy and I cooked dinner together. He decided to make homemade mashed potatoes. That took longer than anticipated but had great results! Julia Grace ate two bowls of mashed potatoes and all the meat off one chicken leg. She had the first bowl of potatoes gone before we had all sat down and Mallory had said the blessing. She'll learn one day.

Have a good night or day - whichever it is when you read this!

Cancer update

2009-01-12T21:11:00.005-05:00

Mom had her chemotherapy and blood work done today. Her magnesium levels had been down for the last few weeks. The trial drug depletes her body of magnesium. She even had to go last Tuesday night to sit in the ER and have a magnesium infusion. This week the magnesium level was back up to a 1.6 and they prefer it to be a 1.7 so she's still taking extra Mag-Ox tablets. I didn't realize they didn't do a bone scan and so that's why she said there was no report on her bones. I thought she meant they just didn't tell her where that stood ( she thought they would be able to tell her about her bones too). No bone scan 'til the end though because she doesn't have bone cancer - they're concerned with the organs.

Her lung masses, as I said before, have shrunk a great deal. She got the results on her neck back today though AND there is NO sign of a tumor present! :) It appears to be gone and have left some scarring. The cancer had eaten part of her C2 vertebrae away and she will always have some neck pain and arthritis as a result. Did you get that though? The one in her neck pressing against her spine and base of her brain appears to be GONE!

And here's the funny part - we were talking about all the words Julia Grace is saying and about things going on in my day, my mom was lamenting missing her "nap" today during chemo, and that she had to shampoo her wig (that just sounds funny to me too). She FORGOT to tell us her good news! I'm so happy for her and hope she continues to do well! Thank you for everyone that prays for her and continue to keep her there!

Today has been a good day for many reasons and things are definitely looking great overall! I have to get back to my rearranging and sorting things to donate. Tracy will be gone during the day tomorrow for work and I have Bible study beginning tomorrow evening.I'm so happy about that - I love our ladies group! I may be back to post some more in the wee hours of the morning after J.G. has gone to sleep. I get more done that way sometimes! Later taters!

Tackling things one at a time...

2009-01-12T14:56:00.003-05:00

I have tackled one big hurdle for today I think - just waiting on responses. I don't really want to talk about them until they happen because I am afraid I will jinx things. I've been working on this one since last summer and hadn't figured out how to make things work. Everything came up in the fall with Mallory and then my mom finding out she had cancer and I had to put things on hold. I think I'm ready to start tackling things and make life better for us. I know this year will be one of sacrifice in many ways for me but it will be worth it for our family in the long run.

Now it's off to tackle some housework - I have really torn the house apart (just ask anyone that lives here and they'll tell you) trying to reorganize and purge the house of things we just don't need taking up the space anymore. I mean really - last week I discovered we had 7 phone books in this house. Who needs SEVEN phone books? I sure don't! Rhonda took 2 off my hands to keep in their cars. Great idea but it still doesn't begin to handle all the phone books laying around this house! I recently reorganized the bookshelves and the kids have one bookshelf to themselves and we have another for more "adult" fare - things like our old schoolbooks we kept, finance books, Left Behind series, Twilight series and just other old favorites.

Ooooo and consignment sales are coming up in February- can't wait to get rid of some of these clothes and make some money. Tracy thinks I get into this way too much - but I really have one sale that I absolutely love doing and have done since the year Julia Grace was born. I even got paid to work there last fall! :) I know I'm goofy.

Off to finish reorganizing the closets and clean the kitchen - hope everyone is well. I will post again if I have time with Christmas pics from Red Springs with Gigi and Aunt Elaine and if my mom has anymore updates today. Today is a chemo day and more tests. Please pray for her as always. I also would ask for special prayer for Mallory as well - she goes back to the doctor on the 23rd about her wrist. Have a great day everybody! :)

Things are going...

2009-01-11T00:46:00.005-05:00

I have a lot on my plate (figuratively speaking, not literally). I have some decisions to make this week and lots to do. I think this year won't be an easy year for our family but it will hopefully be a landmark year when we look back.

I have been blessed with a good husband, wonderful, silly daughters, and a roof over our heads. We have food in our fridge (hey, it's not caviar and crab legs or anything but it will do for now!) and warm beds to sleep in at night. We have entertainment in its own silly form in this house. We laugh, we dance, we draw, we color, we bounce balls around the house and off of each other. We sing, we stomp, we tickle, we watch elmo and the wiggles and curious george and random other movies. we read and play board games (no, allison, that's not BORED games - i know you're not a fan there). While we don't have cable - oh my gosh - yes, there are still rabbit ears on our TV and yes, we've ordered our converter box coupons - we have plenty of entertainment in this house that's for sure. and best of all, it is free. I'm all about free happiness.

Tonight, I hung out with the girls while Daddy went to watch the Panthers have their you-know-whats handed to them. The girls watched Aristocats and had butterscotch chip cookies that Gigi had made for Mallory (my grandmother - mallory calls her Grandma and the closest we get with Julia Grace is Gigi because she calls my mom Grandma or well "Am-ma"). Mallory wrote thank you notes and addressed the ones that I knew addresses for off the top of my head - she wrote them from the whole family. We had cheeseburger macaroni Hamburger Helper for dinner - I know, basic but it made us happy. Tracy is not so much a fan of that flavor so we had it while the daddy was away. We talked about lots of random things and it was nice to just have an evening at home with the girls. Mallory was super sleepy, went to go to bed, and when I got there to tuck her in, Julia Grace had snuggled into the bed with her. That didn't last long. 30 minutes later a sleepy Mallory opened the bedroom door and said she doesn't want to sleep in here anymore. It was sweet while it lasted. Mallory of course went right back to sleep. Julia Grace, unfortunately, got a second wind and played with her kitchen while watching "Eh-mo" in Grouchland.

On another note, my mom got some of her reports back on Friday and the masses in her lung have both shrunk but no change was noted on one on her liver. She doesn't know about her bones or her neck yet. They told her they would either have the rest late Friday (she didn't hear anything) or they would be at the office in time for her appointment on Monday, hopefully. We are planning a trip to see them the last weekend of the month.

And next week will be a busy week for many different reasons - too numerous to really explain or post at the moment. I'll just tell you as it comes. Bob's BPO Boot camp is next Friday and Saturday at Limestone College and that always keeps us busy - and the whole office. Tracy is doing his very own presentation on their Central Business Console (CBC) that he's done the work on and integrated for Shelton Properties to all the attendees. I told Mallory we have to get him a haircut and something pretty to wear. well, you know. not really pretty but that's what we say when Daddy has to dress up for work. :)

Keep praying for us - lots of decisions, lots of things to come in the next few weeks that will make a big difference in the long run. Hope everyone is well and if you want me to add anything to our prayers specifically let me know!

Today is a new day...

2009-01-07T01:54:00.003-05:00

Yup, You got that right. Although, it is nearly 2 a.m. and I should be sound asleep. I have a busy day planned tomorrow and I hope to be quite productive as well. I can't really disclose everything I have planned. Well, no, I take that back I could but then I wouldn't sound NEARLY as dramatic as some OTHER people on their blogs. Hehe. WoOtWoOt. Yeah. Need sleepy like whoa.

I could disclose to you but alas, I'd rather not. Boring really. Just say lots of prayers that the Haynes family has a fruitful day and that my mom's test results come in and that they're good. And these things being said, I know that even if the day is bad, it's exactly where God meant for me to be. And that's alright too.

Everyone have a good day! I'm going to get a few hours of sleep and get going!

where have you been?

2009-01-06T13:24:00.003-05:00

where have you been? I've been blah. We all have had a cold in the last week. Julia Grace and I have been getting caught up on sleep. I scrapbooked some last weekend and we had dinner and Christmas presents with Dan and Angie.
We missed Jayne and Steve when they were here (the whole 26 hours they were in town). They got here about 3 a.m. Saturday morning and left about 5 a.m. Sunday morning. We're going to catch up with them in March when they come back down from Canada.

I apparently will have to finish blogging later. And uploading pics will have to wait for sure. Julia Grace is very "in my space" the last few days. I sat down to the computer and she climbed in my lap. She has put the Elmo game (that was Mallory's at this age!) on the keyboard and I have to move it to finish my sentence. I'm going to play with Julia Grace. This will have to wait 'til naptime.

Hope everyone out there is well!

Please pray for my mom. She had her scans yesterday and should get results starting tomorrow.

I will post more when I can!

Two-fold.

2008-12-31T23:54:00.006-05:00

This blog is 2 things. One, it is my 100th post - wow, when I started I had no clue it would get here this fast! Two, it is the last of 2008.

I won't lie - 2008 can go. It's been a rough year in many ways, but at the same time, I cherish all the family moments we've had. Julia Grace is getting so tall - still weighs 28 1/2 lbs since March - and she's just hitting all kind of milestones right and left. It's hard to keep up with it all. She's so loving, feisty, and silly. She's really begun to talk a lot in the last month. Today, Tracy was fixing a plate for dinner and said Julia I'm fixing a plate. She said Plate! He said is this a good thing? Sure!
She's really gotten into coloring and drawing on her chalkboard. She tried to drink the water while doing paint with water so I'm not sure we'll attempt that again for a bit. I think tomorrow since Tracy and I are both home with nowhere to be the first of the day, we may try finger paint. Julia Grace has really gotten into the Wiggles and Elmo as well as maintaining her interest in all things Curious George. We're really looking forward to taking her to Elmo LIVE in 2 weeks. :)

We were going to have a Grandma & Grandpa visit and then traditional New Years dinner with Nana & Papa. Grandma & Grandpa cancelled their visit because they were coming to visit us and my sister's grandmother, Granny. Granny and I were both under the weather so they thought my mom shouldn't chance it (I have a cold and a random fever off/on last 2 days). Mom is doing well with her treatment and she has a sore mouth and throat. She is wearing her wig all the time now, but it's hard to notice if you don't see her often. It looks very much the color of her normal hair - just thicker (she had naturally thin hair) and a little longer. Please continue to pray for my mom - she will have another set of scans on Monday, January 5th. This is a little past the halfway mark of the 18 week chemotherapy treatments. She had good results at Thanksgiving for her 6 week checkup. I am so glad she's still doing well this far and they're even going to take a trip this weekend to Charleston from Friday through Sunday since they had a long weekend.

We will still be having dinner with Nana & Papa. Nana is off all day and Papa is working. Tracy is going to Asheville to play football with his cousins for a few hours in the afternoon but will be home for dinner as well. I am looking forward to black eyed peas and greens. Nana is the only one that eats those things like me. My grandmother was sweet enough to fix greens just for me this past weekend too and sent home leftovers. I love it - however, Mallory and Tracy have always told me they stink and even begged the Cracker Barrel waitress once to tell me the kitchen was out of them so I wouldn't order them.

On another note, Mallory broke her wrist at her mom's house this week. Tracy told her one day she'll have a normal birthday but not this one. Mallory has been sick so many times on her birthday - once even in the hospital. Even last year, Tracy had to go pick her up from school because she threw up in the classroom on her birthday. Poor gal! She will be getting a cast on Friday.

While I think the things I won't miss from 2008 are obvious (if they aren't, you can ask me privately), I am hoping for better in 2009.

I pray that my mom will continue to feel better and do better.I know that she won't ever be 100% well unless that is what God has chosen for her. I hope that Mallory will have a new year free of any accidents and that it may be everything she hopes it will be. She deserves a good year. I hope that Julia Grace continues to do well - she will be 3 later this year and it just doesn't seem like she should be! I hope Tracy's career path continues to do well and that several things come to fruition this year. And me, well I can always be a better me. I've got things I'm working on too.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! I'll post again later with Christmas pics and let you know if we attempt the finger paint.

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy Birthday again Allison! :)

Happy Birthdays!

2008-12-30T00:11:00.004-05:00

I am trying to cover all the bases here :

Happy (late) Birthday to Angie - this bestie is a Christmas Eve baby!

Happy (early) Birthday to Allison - Goobyhead is a New Years' Eve baby!

and

a most Happy Happy Happy Happy (early) Birthday to my munchkin/punkinhead/chickenleg, oh wait, I meant Mallory! - She will be a big 9 years old on January 4th!

New stuff...

2008-12-29T22:51:00.004-05:00

I am really not feeling the blog thing tonight so I'll keep it short. Maybe.

I am worn out from Christmas but it was such a blessing to see so many family members even if it was crammed into a short span of time. We still missed seeing a few family members and we still have friends to spend "Christmas" with - Jayne and Angie. I'm not sure if we'll get to see Jayne this weekend as anticipated - I know she's worn out with working and travelling - we may be sending a package to Canada instead and see them later in 2009. I'll know better by the end of the week how she's feeling with travelling. Riley Pig and Julia Grace have matching monkeys they got for Christmas - he has the boy monkey and she has the girl monkey - that would be a great photo-op!
Angie and I have some scrapbooking times planned this weekend, but I think we're trying to wait until Mallory is with us to exchange gifts with them. Mallory's 9th birthday is coming up on Sunday and I know Tracy has some Daddy/Mallory things planned for the evening.

I have gotten to see my mom the last 2 weekends. We travelled yesterday to Red Springs, NC (far far away) to have Christmas with Gigi and it was a great afternoon together. I got to wear my new outfit my mom and dad gave me for Christmas. I was so proud to wear it! I wish I'd thought to have a picture made. You see, I have lost 17 lbs since the first of August and I hope to continue with the trend. The pants and the sweater were both a size down from what I've been wearing. I think my mom is tired of me fooling with that same pair of blue jeans and khaki pants - they both fall down as I walk. In fact, at home, I've made them laugh by walking right out of my pants just to be silly. But I digress... I do have a photo of me in my baggy blue jeans from the rear, but no one wants to see my butt. Really. They don't. Except. Well. That doesn't count.

It was a great Christmas and so wonderful to have Mallory over for the first time ever on Christmas Day as well as Christmas Eve all day too. I really enjoy having her here and I love how she likes to create things - be it in the kitchen or art-wise. I hope she really enjoyed being with us on Christmas Day and that it was all she thought it might be. I think so. I slept on the couch and I opened my eyes and there stood Mallory with wide eyes looking at all the presents under the tree. I said you can't touch a thing until your sister gets up too. The next thing I know I see Mallory carrying a very sleepy Julia Grace to the recliner and sitting her in it, saying She's awake - see? Too cute - I have a pic of Julia Grace in the recliner. She looks like what just happened to me?

I am going to go to bed. Julia Grace got the Aristocats for Christmas from Gigi (along with some books and Wiggles DVDs and Here Comes the 123's cd/dvd). The movie is now over and that little girl still hasn't conked out for the night. She didn't even finish her nap earlier - the phone kept ringing (same person over and over- grrr!). C'est la vie!

Good night everyone and I will post pictures from Christmas Eve and Day later!

The Big Ones

2008-12-27T13:20:00.007-05:00

The girls always get lots of "little gifts" and one "big one". So, here are the photos of the "big ones" before the girls got hold of them. This was, oh, say about 5 a.m. that these photos were taken - that's when Daddy finished putting them together.

Mallory didn't tell us for sure about a big gift from us for her until Monday, Dec. 22. I couldn't find it anywhere so I had to order it. By the next time she's here, it will be waiting on her. It actually is scheduled to be here according to the website on Tuesday, December 30. She asked for the complete set of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Daddy made her a "mini-book" as you will see in later pics and posting.

Julia Grace received a Little Tikes Cook 'n' Learn kitchen. I think I had mentioned previously that she was getting that. She has been carrying around the foods and banging on pots and pans. I caught her pretending to wash dishes yesterday! So sweet!

I will have to post more photos later of actual Christmas Day with the girls and Christmas Day evening dinner/ gifts at Granny's house. We actually will be seeing more friends and family for gift exchanges and a birthday dinner for Jennifer today. Tomorrow, we're travelling to Red Springs, NC for Christmas with my aunt and grandmother, Grandma, or as it appears Julia Grace will call her, Gigi. :) You know, as in G.G. - Great-Grandma. We also still have to schedule Christmas time with Dan & Angie - so as you can see, we're nowhere done with Christmas here!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus! :)

Christmas Eve 2008

2008-12-26T15:04:00.007-05:00

The Little People Nativity scene - I didn't get it out until Christmas Eve. I have been trying to tell Julia Grace who they are as she points to them. She just mainly likes making the Angel play music so far.
The girls' stockings - Mallory's is on the left and Julia Grace's on the right. Mallory picked hers out when we first moved into our house almost 4 years ago! The dogs are for Mallory and the monkey and Madeline for Julia Grace.

Haynes Family Christmas tree 2008 - mostly decorated by Mallory with special effects by Daddy.

Julia Grace and Makenzie play with a Christmas tree decoration and Jordan's dinosaurs.

More dinosaur play!

Mallory receiving her presents from Mamaw.

Julia Grace running all through Mamaw's house like a wild child!

Julia Grace would come running at Mallory and take a flying leap to knock her over. I think Mallory was letting her! Either way they had fun!

They both got Littlest Pet Shop coloring books from Mamaw. Mallory loves Littlest Pet Shop and Julia Grace seems to think that because it's "little" it should be hers. It's something they both like though so that's kinda neat!

We had made Mamaw a gift basket of goodies for Christmas - Julia Grace took one of the apples and started eating it. It was a huge apple as you can see!

Mallory is loving on Papa!

A Road Trip to McDonald's...

2008-12-24T03:52:00.002-05:00

No, not really. But, that IS what we tried to tell Mallory. Too bad she can read and it spoils surprises. :)

Actually we had work to do on Monday in Rutherfordton, N.C. So... we took the girls with us. We got to the house we were visiting and Mallory kept asking questions. What does it look like? What color is the building? Can we see it from here? Have I been to it before?

We went to McDonald's after the house. We got to the red light and we're waiting to turn and said well, that's it. We brought you all the way here to eat at that McDonald's. She said no you didn't. You're not serious.

Then she seriously says: Dad, I saw a sign that says children's museum. Is that where we're really going? There went the surprise - but it was only one red light up from there so she was about to see it anyways.

We took the girls to KidSenses museum in Rutherfordton. I hadn't ever been before although MOMS does do field trips there. Tracy and I pass it quite a bit when we're going through the area for work and have actually been in the little town once a week for the last month. The girls loved it! I was afraid without having checked it out before that it would have been a little "babyish" for Mallory but she had a great time. I got some good pics of the girls and Tracy got several of me on their "teleprompter" that for some reason didn't pick up the color of my hoodie, but did on all the other shirts. It made me appear to have floating hands and head. The employees and the girls really got a kick out of that!

It was a great little road trip that took care of work and let the girls have fun too!
And... Dad got a new listing about 6 this evening in where else? Rutherfordton. Looks like we'll be going back soon!

The kids had a BLAST!

2008-12-24T03:11:00.006-05:00

The Locker area of the "fire department" - this place was too cute! This is looking at the upstairs of the museum from downstairs...

Again, Mommy got the wrong thing for Julia Grace this year - I started to buy trains and didn't. She was quite engrossed in this Melissa & Doug train set.

Mallory is serving up her Daddy some lunch at the Mi Pueblito Cafe (mexican restaurant in the area sponsored that one).

I love it - Mallory actually posed for this on her own before she "climbed" downstairs. They call it a FUNctional sculpture that the kids can pass from one level to the other.

Yes, that IS my head atop a building between some flag posts. Weird.

Here are my floating arms and head and me being silly. I didn't know he snapped this one!

Mallory is checking out the television studio!

Daddy's giving Mallory some plastic - better hope it's good!

Mallory practicing her scanning techniques. It really made the grocery store scanner noise when you passed it over the square.

Julia Grace and Mallory load up on their veggies at the Little Family Dollar (that was the sponsor).

Mallory is checking out nobody at the Little Family Dollar.

The kids are in the giant firetruck - what kid doesn't like a firetruck? This one had all the whistles and bells too. They didn't put them on but there were boots and firefighter coats too.

Today's show : Mallory!

Christmas with my family...

2008-12-23T12:31:00.004-05:00

Julia Grace is all tuckered out from Christmas festivities and snuggled her Grandpa's arms.
Julia Grace is taking Hailey on a stroll...

into the walls and stairs at my sister's house!

Julia Grace is taking Hailey on a very bumpy stroll.

Mallory is a "dog person" in case you missed that memo. :)

Yummy! My mom and Julia Grace - Julia Grace is getting a play kitchen for Christmas from us but obviously she doesn't know that yet. She got a chef hat, apron, and oven mitts from my parents.

Mallory got the American Girl movie collection! So guess what we watched when we got home Saturday night? You got it!

Josh is looking pretty good - He's leaving to go to work at CVS/Pharmacy.

Here you go, Hailey - sit in your stroller like a good girl! Julia Grace even tried to buckle her into the stroller.

Amber and Julia Grace check out Hailey.

Grandma helping Julia Grace with her new baby doll, Hailey. Grandma picked out a doll that sucked it's thumb like Julia Grace did.

Grandma & Grandpa gave her the Wiggles' new DVD - You Make Me Feel Like Dancing. She kept turning it over and looking at it.

Julia Grace kept swiping everyone else's presents and trying to stack them like blocks. Those are her bowling pins (set) from Grandma & Grandpa.

Amber gets a copy of Grandma's favorite recipes in a binder - look out Paula Deen!

Dad, Julia Grace, Amber, Mom, Mallory, Josh - it's so hard to get everyone to look at the 3 different cameras taking pics! :)

We celebrated Christmas early with my parents and sister's family this past Saturday. I am uploading a few pics from that day. It was great to see my family and to finally see my mom. We haven't been able to coordinate seeing her since October between various holidays and Mallory, Julia Grace and I were all sick on separate weeks with separate contagious illnesses. She looks well and as always, is in good spirits. It was a very merry visit! :)

Stolen from Angie :)

2008-12-23T11:51:00.003-05:00

A: Attached or Single - Attached
B: Best Friend - Angie, Andrea, Jayne, and Kari are always there no matter what may come! I love you guys! :)
C: Cake or Pie - Cake most of the time but I do love PUMPKIN pie!
D. Day of Choice - Saturday - nowhere to be most of the time unless it's soccer season!
E. Essential Item -COFFEE!
F: Favorite Color - Navy Blue
G: Gummy bears or worms - Bears - bouncing here and there and everywhere - haha!
H: Home town - Spartanburg, SC - born in the big ole Mary Black hospital.
I: Favorite Indulgence - a good coffee and a good book!
J: Jan. or July - January - don't like the heat of summer - plus there is more chance for snow in January!
K: Kids - Mallory (almost 9 in about 2 weeks) and Julia Grace (2)
L: Lemon in your tea - Icky poo! I went through a phase though where I liked lime in it though!
M: Marriage Date -12/04/03
N: Number or siblings - 1 sister, Rhonda
O: Oranges or Apples - granny smith apples with caramel dip or peanut butter
P: Phobias - mountain roads that DON'T have the guard rails and drop off really steep on one side. Like that guard rail is going to help SO much right?
Q: Quotes - http://www.bartleby.com/quotations/
R: Reasons to smile - Tracy, our girls, my friends and "crafty time".
S: Season of choice - most definitely winter - I just wish it actually snowed here!
T: Think of 5 people who may do this - Jayne, Angie, Kari - not sure who else??
U: Unusual Fact - I can write both left and right handed.
V: Vegetable - mushrooms, onions, broccoli and squash
W: Worst Habit - procrastinating on tasks - getting better about it though.
X: Excited about - Christmas in 2 days!
Y: Your Favorite Food - I'm like Garfield - LASAGNA!
Z: Zoo or ZZZZZ's - Zoo - I love the zoo! :)

24 hours later...

2008-12-18T22:26:00.002-05:00

Julia Grace's fever finally broke this evening while she slept somewhere around 7 - about the time it started spiking last night. We took her to see Dr. Thomas today (who is awesome by the way, but he's leaving Spartanburg in January). She has an infection in her left ear and she's having her chest x-rayed tomorrow just as a precaution. She was breathing really shallow earlier in the day. She woke up about 7.30 and has been flying around ever since. She's wired! And why shouldn't she be? She's only slept most of the day away.

I'm glad she's feeling better even if she is starting to destroy the living room again in ways only a toddler can. I love her so much and I hate to see her not feeling well. Daddy has to administer the antibiotics for the next 10 days because I'm allergic to it. Julia Grace has a habit of buzzing her lips when she doesn't want to take medicine and I got some Motrin on me today from her doing it. Not taking chances on getting hives or anything before Christmas. I just want everyone well for Christmas!

pray for Julia Grace

2008-12-18T06:38:00.004-05:00

It is earlier than I am usually awake. Julia Grace has had a fever all night long. She fell asleep while I was cooking dinner around 7.30/8 last night. She woke up later and we could not get her to eat and I noticed she was really warm. I took her temperature and found that it was 103.2. I gave her Tylenol and called our doctor's office. He suggested I just watch her since we weren't seeing any other immediate symptoms. It got up to 104.7 about 2 a.m. It was 103.2 again at 5.30. I gave her Motrin and I'm just waiting. I had been giving her Tylenol before now. She just got up and came in the living room and is actually talking in the dark. She's saying it's good it's good. I'm not sure what's good. I'll let you know if she lets me know!

Just pray that she feels better today and the fever is maybe a fluke thing and no doctor visit. Grandma is supposed to be coming for Christmas this weekend and she can't be around sick people. I'm not sure how that is going to work out anyways given that my brother in law, my nephew and Mallory are all on antibiotics right now.

I'll keep you posted - hope everyone feels better soon! And that I don't get it!

Hollywild pics

2008-12-16T01:05:00.006-05:00

Hollywild and a few of our favorite things...

2008-12-16T00:09:00.005-05:00

We took the girls to Hollywild on Saturday night and got some great pictures and some sorta blurry ones of our favorite things there. We had taken Julia Grace to Roper Mtn. lights one night a week or so ago - she did enjoy it. Don't get me wrong - she did love it. We didn't get out and walk their Winter Wonderland because it was cold and rainy the night we went.I also didn't realize until we got there that you could get out and walk part of it or we would have waited til a non-rainy night. She said hi and waved to the Snowman and about broke her neck trying to look at the butterflies at the science center. We made a few rounds through it before heading home.

However, after revisiting Hollywild we all agreed that Roper Mtn. lights had NOTHING on Hollywild! There were so many people waiting to get in there though it was crazy! While we were waiting Tracy serenaded us with alternative Christmas lyrics. He and Mallory also asked each other what their favorite things were like book, movie, song, color, food, tv show. It was quite funny - Mallory said her favorite movie was Twilight! :) Yay another convert to the Twilight saga! Haha! Oh my Edward! hehehe...

We did buy the deer food and attempt to feed the deer. Please note the word attempt. There were so many little ones and so many cars there, they all were skittish. The closest they got to our car was about 3 or 4 feet from it, except one brave one came and ate out of Mallory's hand very briefly. Last year they were all around the car, heads in the car, and the zebra was trying to lick the camera and my hand! The zebra was on the other side of the field and we couldn't get to him.

It was fun - the place was packed. We had considered getting out of the car at the rides and bonfire but there were so many people and it was already very late so we decided not to get out of the car. Julia Grace saw that big bouncy slide though and just like the butterflies at the science center, she strained her neck to look at it til she couldn't see it out of the car anymore. She loves those things! Mallory had to be up early for the play at her Mema's church so we didn't want to keep her up too terribly late! I love doing the little things like this at Christmas. The kids really enjoy it and it's just dazzling. :) I can't wait for the rest of our Christmas as a family uninterrupted for once. It will be so nice. I know Tracy and Mallory agree.

On another note, I finished Breaking Dawn. I tried to finish during that 3 hours of my life I'll never get back, but people had just agitated me too much for me to concentrate. This is quite possibly the best book series I have ever read. Go read Twilight and see the movie! :)

Posting pictures next...