Graham Central Station

Materpiece

2012-02-06T14:52:00.001-05:00

Before my sweet sisters make fun of me, yes... Sandy Patti is singing on my blog and yes, I meant for that to happen.

The other day, Caroline came home singing a song that her class is learning in music. It was a song that I performed in a church musical when I was little and it was done by Sandy Patti. Does anyone remember the "Friendship Company"????!!! I think her class is singing it for kindergarten graduation, so we went to itunes to find it so we could download it to our ipod. When I typed in "Sandy Patti", tons of songs came up including "Masterpiece"--the song playing. I remembered hearing this ALLLLLL the time on our local Christian station when I was growing up. It never really meant anything to me, but now that I'm a mommy, whoa! When I clicked on it to play, I got a huge, old lump in my throat and before I knew it, I had hit the "buy it" button.

I love to listen to this song and sing it to my kids now--Caroline's even started to sing it. It brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it and the words are so sweet. And to make it even more sweet, look what I found while cleaning this weekend:

A true masterpiece, Roy Austin Graham, Jr. at 7 weeks, 4 days...after I thought I may have miscarried him. But nope! There he is! This is such a treasured picture of him--look at his little tail!

Oh, and call me crazy, but I LOVE Sandy Patti!

Birthday, Tom and Jerry Style

2012-01-27T21:16:00.004-05:00

For the past two years, the kids have picked the theme for Roy's birthday. This year there was no question....it would be TOM AND JERRY! Roy and the kids love this show and watch it together daily. My big problem was coming up with a Tom and Jerry cake. Surprisingly, when I googled it, tons of cake ideas popped up, but they were elaborate cakes with fondant, something I haven't mastered. So, I took some ideas from one cake and ordered a cake topper from another place and came up with what is probably the cheesiest cake I've ever made (pun intended):

Do you get it? It's supposed to be a piece of cheese with Tom and Jerry on top. Tom's tail is stuck in a mouse trap. Get it? Like I said....cheesy. It was very tasty, though:)

So today I made a huge mistake that caused me to stand in my kitchen and give myself a good tongue lashing. I had planned Roy's birthday dinner for a few weeks. I was going to try a new recipe that I knew he'd like: The Pioneer Woman's Beef Brisket. I read up on how to prepare it, marinaded it for 48 hours and this morning I just knew that I would have a hit on my hands tonight. So I calculated the poundage of the beef and the time it would take to slow cook it to tender goodness. Let's just say I calculated wrong. At 5:15, I peeked under the foil and realized that it was nowhere done. What I thought was going to take 2.5 hours ended up taking 5....WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!! I have been beating myself up all night.....I'm basically a loser. BUT It was extremely good brisket when we sat down for Roy's birthday dinner around 8:00! Here is my patient family waiting for their dinner.

Yes, the kids are already in their pajamas and poor Charlotte was in bed. She missed out on the birthday festivities.

So we sang the song and blew out the candles....ate the cake....

...and opened presents...

...and then sat to watch, what else---Tom and Jerry:)

Much Ado About Nothing

2012-01-26T15:43:00.006-05:00

Why is is that when you see someone you are just an aquaitance with after a long time, the conversation goes like this:

"Hey! How are you? I haven't seen you in so long! So, what's new with you?"?

This happened to me recently with someone I hadn't seen in over a year. She asked me what was new with our family. I replied with the classic answer, "Same old, same old". Later I thought back on that conversation and realized that nothing IS new! I wish I had had some great, exciting news to share about our life, but there just wasn't any....or so I thought. Then I realized that we are living our life, as mundane as it may be. And however dull it may seem to me at times, I am helping form my children's memories, ones I hope they look back on with fondness. So, there may be no exciting news to share, but here are some bits and pieces of news from around our home. I'll start with our boy.

Today was his parent teacher conference. I'll admit I was a little nervous to see what was going to be presented to me, but the reports came back better than expected! His teachers basically summed him up as a child who is just so happy! They said he is always laughing, smiling and enjoying life. They also said he was a caring and good friend. This all made me happy:) Roy and I have seen a lot of change in him this past week...just taking more responsibility and striving to obey. And he is starting to work really hard with his writing. Here he is recently practicing his "R"'s, which he has mastered pretty well!

Aren't those good?! I promise he made them all by himself. I feel bad that we call him by a double name, now. He's got such a long name to write. He's mastered the "ROY" but that "AUSTIN" is kind of hard.

Now onto Sweet Caroline. She continues to be such a joy to us. She is growing up too fast and starting to mature in her thinking and speech. She'll say the funniest "Big Girl" things at times and I'll just smile to myself. I love listening to the advice she gives to Roy Austin:) In November, she went to her dental checkup and the dentist told her that she needed to stop sucking her thumb before her top teeth fell out because they'd grow in funny. She only sucked it at night, but that's all it took. She stopped instantly all by herself! So, the other day she asked me if she could get her nails painted since she didn't suck her thumb any more. She is almost 7 and has never had them painted, so for her first time last week, we painted them a fun, glittery gloss:

And speaking of teeth coming in funny. Poor Charlotte. When she smiles, all you see is teeth. We love it! The other day in the car Caroline said, "Mommy? Charlotte's front teeth look like Mater." I had to think for a second what she was talking about and then I just started laughing. THEY DO!

When she looks at you (always with a smile), these sweet little baby white bucks show. I have to admit, she gets it honestly.....

That is me circa 1988. Right at the beginning of my buck-tooth phase.

Bless Charlotte's heart....I don't think she stands a chance getting around it. Braces will be inevitable.

And just for fun, here is a little clip of a typical night at our house waiting for Roy to come home so we can eat dinner...basically just us living life!

Laughs from '11

2012-01-14T09:16:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year to clean out my Laugh Jar from 2011 and type out all the funny things my children said or did. This time, the jar was filled with items from Roy Austin (go figure). Here are a few favorites:

First I'll start with his funny vocabulary and pronunciation of words in 2011:
Sweet Frog Yogurt Shop= "Leap Frog"
Frozen Yogurt= "Freezing Yogurt"
Bathing Suit-= "Baby Soup"
VBS="CVS"
Charlotte = "Shah-wet"
You= "Yours"

*I was getting ready to go to my annual appointment with my OB-GYN and I told the kids I had to go see Dr. Stein. "Why", Roy Austin asked. "Yours going to put Charlotte back in your belly?"

*One afternoon at Harris Teeter, I heard a familiar voice announce "4038" over the loud speaker followed by hilarious laughter. He figured out how to pull down and turn on the microphone from a nearby checkout counter and was VERY proud of himself. I couldn't help but laugh, although I was embarrassed.

*One afternoon, while visiting my parents, Roy Boy went down for his nap in our bedroom. I was getting ready to take my shower and I was gathering my clothes to bring in the bathroom. I was looking for my bra and asked him if he'd seen it. The word "Bra" made him giggle and he sat there looking at me with a funny grin on his face. As I looked in suitcases and around the furniture he said, "Yours only has one boobie bra?"--with the continued funny grin on his face. I told him that I had another but I wanted the one I was looking for. So, I gave up and went ahead and showered and got ready. When Roy went to wake him from his nap, he was sleeping while clutching my lost bra in his hands. He had it the whole time.

*Last December, Roy and I were checking out at a store and the kids were watching a video clip from St. Judes on a nearby TV. It was about a little boy who had leukemia and he did not have any hair. So of course when we got in the car, they had tons of questions. I told them how he had a sickness in his head that the doctors had to cut out and that it made him lose his hair. They asked how the doctors knew he had that sickness so I said that he got in a big X-ray machine and had a proceduere done called a CAT-scan. I told them it wasn't a real cat, but it was just called that. So at bedtime devotions when it was RoyBoy's turn to pray, this was his prayer, "Dear Jesus, please be with that little boy. He had his head cut open and then the cats got in." Bless his sweet, little heart! Roy and I smiled so big but were so proud.....he was very sincere and God knew exactly what he meant:)

And Caroline continues to be such a sweet, caring big sister. She is a thinker and says the sweetest things:

*While listening to Michael W. Smith's "Awesome God", she said that it reminds her of all the people we know who are in Heaven already.

*RoyBoy said something mean to Caroline in the car. I made him apologize and she said (through tears), "It's okay, Buddy, but you broke my heart!"

*I had told the kids one morning about Grumps (Roy's dad) as a child and how naughty he could be. I told them how TaiTai (his mom) put him in the trunk once because she was so frustrated with him. Later that afternoon, Caroline asked me if I could put them in the trunk the next time we went out. I told her a policeman could get me if I did that. She asked why TaiTai didn't get in trouble with the police and I told her I didn't know, to which she answered "I bet she just acted really confident."!

*Last December Caroline asked me if I was going to be ready for school to start again after Christmas. I told her no and that I enjoyed having her home. She said, "Oh, Shew! I'm so glad! Michael Buble said, 'Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again'!". (we were listening to "It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas)!

And last but not least, these two LOVE and adore their baby sister...they have since Day 1! Out of the blue one August afternoon, Roy Boy came up to me and said, "I think we should keep Charlotte". And in the car on the way to school one morning last Spring, Caroline said, "Charlotte? Can I tell you something? I sure am glad we have you."

Be still, my heart:)

Can't They Bend the Rules?

2012-01-10T18:35:00.002-05:00

Rewind about two months ago. I was talking to a friend about how she had to go to jury duty. I said, "knock on wood, I've never been called to do that." Fast forward to December 30th when I went to my mailbox anticipating late-sent Christmas cards and saw a nice envelope from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg court system with the words "Jury Summons" on the outside. Aw, man! I quickly opened it and saw that I was being summoned to do my civil duty on February 14th, 8:00 at the court house....AND I need to expect to stay until 5:00. Hold that thought.

At Caroline's school, parents are invited to sign up to be "lunch mom" at least once a month. Each time it's been my turn, she'll be so excited and Roy Austin will be so sad because his preschool class doesn't have lunch moms and he wants me to do this in his class. I guess he wants to show me off:) So each time he gets sad over me being the lunch mom, I tell him that I get to help with his class' Valentine's Day party. I've told him this for months and he has wanted to know for those same months how far away is February. Last week, it was my day to be the lunch mom and he told Caroline in the car at drop off that I was going to be his Valentine's party mom, so he wasn't going to be sad. I agreed with him and then I remembered....THE JURY SUMMONS!!! I instantly had major middle-child mom guilt.

So tonight the word "February" came up in conversation and he said, "my Valentine's party is in February and Mommy's coming to that." Again....M A J O R middle-child mom guilt. I decided it was a good time to warn him, so I explained jury duty to him in the best way I could to a disappointed 4 year old, and I watched his little expression turn so, so sad. So I quickly said, "Don't worry! Daddy's going to be there!" Yikes, I hope Roy is okay with this. He'll have to be the hero who stands with the other moms in a classroom of 4 year olds passing out Valentines cupcakes, juice boxes and playing games. I just wish on my jury summons paper where it has a place to write in a legit excuse I could write " Valentine party mom at son's preschool, scheduled for months in advance." I don't think they'll go for it.

PLEASE LORD, LET ME GET OFF!!!!!!!!!!

Christmast Catch Up

2012-01-07T09:16:00.011-05:00

I realize that Blogs are kind of old news. Nobody really read blogs anymore or blogs anymore, but I am keeping up with mine because I truly want to make it into a scrapbook one day for my kids. I actually went back a few years and looked at some of my posts the other day and I couldn't believe how little my babies were! It made me so happy that I am keeping up with mine because one day, (when I look at that blog scrapbook I WILL make) I will be glad that I kept this thing called Graham Central Station alive!! So, those of you who have given up on blogging, rethink it. And those of you who still read mine (whoever you are) this is our catch up from Christmas.
-----------------------------------------
We got Christmas off to a rough start this year. The day we left for Virginia, we had to put our 10 year old Chihuahua, Maggie, to sleep. She had an eye problem that the vet said was going to kill her within 6 months. We waited a month and the eye just got worse, so we reluctantly went ahead with it. Now, I know some of you are laughing at that last sentence....."reluctantly". It's no secret that she and I had a love/hate relationship, but it was honestly very hard to do this. Just knowing that she was going to be put down was really sad. And saying goodbye to her was awful. We got Maggie for our first Christmas, so all of our newlywed memories include her. That's what made it extra sad. The kids took it really hard and it was just a sad, sad day for our family. It didn't help that it was a rainy, gloomy day and when we left for our trip, we had car trouble that held us back an extra 2 hours!! Let me also add a side note here....I never realized how much Maggie ate. I now need to vacuum our kitchen daily from all the crumbs!

The first morning in Virginia, the girls in the family got together for our annual bake-a-thon. This year it was at Dolly's house and we got busy baking up treats to eat on Christmas Eve night. It's always a fun time laughing, acting crazy, eating and enjoying time together:

This year, the big girl nieces were invited. Maddie, Gracie and Janna. (I guess they're at the age where "big girl" is not appreciated anymore!!).

Denise, you're going to kill me, but this picture cracked me up! I love how you're doing the "ILY" sign with your left hand. LOL!

On the menu was classic iced sugar cookies, peppermint cookies, molasses cookies, heath wedges, corn flake wreaths, oatmeal cookies, rice krispie treat ornament balls, and others I cannot remember. It was a lot of cookies!

Well, look what the cat dragged in. Roy always calls us the hens so we decided that he should be called "Rooster". He's all talk when it comes to his sisters-in-law....he loves all of us and all the noise, laughing, and craziness we bring when we gather together.

Grammy had some help from sweet Janna!

Maddie Girl and Charlotte. I cannot believe how grown up Maddie has become. She's almost 14 and has grown into such a beautiful young lady.

Eleanore was about to get her morning bath, so we decided to let Charlotte join her and make a mini-photo session out of it. Dawn, Dolly, Maddie and I literally were in front of these two babies making faces and squealing trying to get them both to look and smile. They probably thought we were insane, but they sure looked cute!!

On Christmas Eve night we all met at my parent's house for our Christmas time together. Again, more chaos when all 25 of us are in one room!

Getting the Santa talk on the steps from Grandaddy:

Grammy, Grandaddy and all 14 of them:

RoyBoy got a Chuggington train set and let's just say that it hit the jackpot. He actually cried when it was time to go to bed because he was worried that Santa would steal it when he came down the chimney.

What do you get two people who have everything?! Dawn got them an XBox for their basement so their house will be reallllly fun for some pre-teens when they visit!

This picture makes me laugh! Poor Michael had a L O N G day going to his great grandparents house for lunch and activities, then he sat through a long church service and then had all the commotion of Christmas with our family. He had no nap and I think it finally got the best of him:) The next morning we woke up to more presents that Santa had left for our kids. RoyBoy got these Woody Pj's on Christmas morning and quickly shed his Christmas pajamas for them. They crack me up! That's a lego man headlamp on his head that he wears at night to "read" with. Auntie Dawnie is reading them a little book they got in their stockings:
You know the old saying that all babies need at Christmas is paper and boxes? It's so true. I wasn't going to give her a stocking, but I knew the older kids would wonder why she didn't get one, so she received some shoes (that I had already bought waiting for her to grow into!), some wipes, and because I felt bad, a little mommy and baby giraffe set (that she could care less about). She cared more about the green bag it all came in:

I love this picture of Charlotte because this is how she normally is: smiling and so happy to be alive:)

After we returned home to Charlotte and spent a few days in our pajamas and playing with our new toys, we headed up to Boone one night to see Nana and give her our presents. It wasn't long enough!

And I have to say that the transition this past week back into reality has been a rough one. The worse part has been getting all of us out the door by 7:40, clothed, fed and ready for our day. Hopefully next week will be better. I am so thankful for a good Christmas break and truly having two weeks where I wasn't totally ready to send my children back to school:)

Things That Annoy Me About Shopping at SouthPark Mall on December 20th

2011-12-20T16:54:00.003-05:00

I thought I was done with my shopping, and I was very proud of myself. I realized this morning that I had to head to SouthPark Mall to run a quick errand. Lucky for me, I only had my two girls, so I thought it would be a quick in/quick out trip. Hmmm....After being in a huge traffic jam at 1:20 in the afternoon on Sharon Road, I quickly realized that this could be a very bad decision that I made.

1. The parking decks were ALL filled. Even the top of the deck between Belk and Nordstrom (which is never full and where we finally ended up finding a spot).
2. Why is is that the department stores put these huge displays of makeup, jewelry and perfume right in the middle of the aisles right in the front of the mall entrances? It makes for a constant traffic jam and lots of irritable people (especially with strollers).
3. I think adults should have to complete a refresher course on how to walk in public. STAY TO THE RIGHT, people! This is concept learned in kidergarten!!! It annoys me so much when people walk to their left, making you (who are walking to the right) have to get out of the way, or stop...again, while pushing a stroller.
4. People who stroll slowly through the main sections of the mall, seeming to have no cares in the world, while texting. If you're going to text, move out of the way or sit down. Don't be a traffic jammer. And while I'm on this point, families or friends who shop together and walk slowly while in a horizontal line--taking up all the room in the passer-by areas.
5. Children who hang on the stroller handle bar while you're trying to push the stroller, making it harder to push. Yes, I think I said more than 10 times, "Please don't hang on the stroller!".

So, I'm home now and in my comfy clothes. My baby is up in her bed screaming. She missed her nap and she's not about to take one now, my oldest is watching a Christmas Hallmark Movie (she loves them, like her Mommy!!), my sweet boy is playing his heart out at a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party and I promise my bah-humbugness has passed. The Christmas lights are all glowing in the house and I am feeling comforted and joyed:) Merry Christmas!

Christmas in the Queen City!

2011-12-18T15:23:00.005-05:00

This weekend was a first December weekend in years that I can remember us being home with no real plan. I love weekends like that--especially at Christmas time--so we decided to make Saturday a fun family Christmas weekend in Charlotte. We decided to check into this place to get the weekend started....

Just kidding:) We did go there, but not to sleep. For the past few years, my friend Jessica has talked about the life sized gingerbread house that the Ritz displays each year. So, we decided to go see it. It is all hand made and 100% organic (in case that impresses you):

The minute we stepped into the lobby, we could smell the yummy gingerbread scent. The kids thought it was pretty cool!

Charlotte loved just being along for the ride. She enjoys a good stroller outing.

Jessica also visits the singing Bears each year at Founders Hall with her children, so we walked right over to see them, too, after seeing the gingerbread house. The kids LOVED this part:

Lynchburgers, think RiverRidge Mall Bears x 10. This is a full orchestra of bears including

a bear trio: Caroline and RoyBoy stood against the fence for a good 30 minutes just watching the show.

This sweet girl loved the music and clapped along. I'm not talking about the girl in the heels, either. She was headed to the Nutcracker that was playing in the same building:)

Saturday was a chilly and overcast day. When we left uptown I mentioned that hot chocolate would be nice. So, we drove on over to the Billy Graham Library (because we seem to always end up there) and enjoyed some hot chocolate and some gingerbread men:

RoyBoy loves their chocolate covered peppermint sticks they give out to stir the hot chocolate:

Charlotte inhaled more than half of my gingerbread man:

She loved it:

Roy Austin was so excited the he got to skip his nap that day, but on the way to Sam's he fell asleep. He slept the entire time we were in Sam's (in a stroller) and then when we got home at 6, I just put him right to bed. He didn't get up until 6:15 this morning! I guess almost 14 hours of sleep is a sign that we had fun:)

Nibble, Nibble, Like a Mouse....

2011-12-13T09:42:00.002-05:00

On Sunday night, Roy took our older two out Christmas shopping. Charlotte and I stayed home and I enjoyed my nice, quiet house. So, I was on the computer--probably checking the latest deals of Hip2Save or looking at FB--and I looked over to see my sweet girl lounging out in this little chair by the Christmas tree. She was so proud that she was able to climb in it all by herself. She was making me laugh because she was just laying back in it with no care in the world: (Pardon the graininess of this picture. I took it with my cool Razor phone:) I cannot find my camera battery charger ANYWHERE!!!):

So, back to my computer I went, because I'm such a good and focused mother. A few minutes later, I noticed that Charlotte was grunting and sucking on something. I walked over and noticed that she was sucking on an ornament. This ornament:

This ornament is a mini-wreath made of red berries and other kind of wreath-y materials. She was going to town just sucking away. I looked a little closer and noticed her face. Her nose, mouth, chin and cheeks were covered in red stickiness from the berries:

Again, thanks to the quality of my fine Razor, this picture does not do it justice, but she was a proud girl with her red face. And, like any concerned mother, I took the ornament and sucked on it for a second to see what the taste was like. It was just like you'd expect: artificial wreath taste, which I guess is appealing to 14 month old taste buds. I'm laughing at this picture because my sweet girl looks like a little rag-a-muffin. My sister, Denise, and I were laughing the other day, because she said her youngest, Jane, is always disheveled looking no matter how much she tries to keep her looking clean and put together. I think it must be a youngest child thing because this is how I ALWAYS looked as a child. I think Charlotte may be "that girl", too:)

More Christmas Fun:)

2011-12-11T13:22:00.004-05:00

Each year I like to try to make a gingerbread house with the kids. It always seems like a great idea but those kits drive me nuts! They are so hard to get to stick together, they are never even on the sides and that frosting is gross. So, this year, as I was getting ready to throw away a box that delivered one of my online Christmas purchases, I had an idea to make my own little house out of cardboard. I bought some frosting in a can, our favorite candies and we went to town. The kids loved it (especially a certain little boy) and we had fun building it together:

The finished product. I think our elf on the shelf, Jingles, really liked it because the next day, he was right next to it! When the kids get a little older, I think we may each make our own house:)

____________________________________________________________

This morning while Caroline and RoyBoy were eating their breakfast, I sat down with them with my cup of coffee. I have all the Christmas cards we've received so far hanging around our back door. Roy's grandfather's sweet card arrived yesterday and this is the conversation we had:

Me: Look at Daddy Bill. Isn't he precious?

Roy Austin: Is Daddy Bill a baby? (because I used the word "precious").

Caroline: How old is Daddy Bill?

Me: He's 93 (followed by a gasp from Caroline). He has a friend who is 103! (followed by another big gasp and huge eyes and a huge opened mouth). They must have been really obedient to their parents when they were growing up because the Bible says that when you honor your parents, your days will be long on the earth.

Caroline: Mommy, you must have been really obedient to Grammy and Grandaddy when you were little.

I love those two:)

Christmas Fun!

2011-12-07T09:00:00.004-05:00

We had a busy start to the Christmas season this past weekend. We kicked off the month by going to the Billy Graham Library on Friday night. The kids love going each year, so we make a few stops there throughout the month. I have taken a picture of the kids looking at the live Nativity like this for the past four years and I love to see the progress of their growth!:

Then the next day we did the Teddy Bear Tea there. I was able to help with the planning of the event this year and it was a lot of fun. We did a barnyard theme and it was a really sweet program:

Caroline and her friend from school, Hope:

She and Anna Preston have attended this event each year, too:

This picture cracks me up. Caroline is entering the "silly girl" stage. She gets embarrassed really easily and in this picture, I can tell that she was:) Here she is with her friends Savannah and Jack:

Then yesterday we went to the Samaritan's Purse warehouse in Charlotte for the Operation Christmas Child press event. Charlotte got to spend a little QT with Grumps:)

Today is the last day of piano lessons for 2011, and next week is the last full week of school. Where did this year go???

I Don't Like That Sound

2011-12-03T22:25:00.002-05:00

Oh, my goodness. This video clip that Roy took today has made us laugh SO HARD tonight. Today Caroline and I were at a little Christmas event, so Roy took Roy Austin and Charlotte to the Charlotte-Douglas airport overlook to waste some time. The overlook is a place where people go to watch planes land or take off---usually it's people waiting for planes to land so they can waste some time, too, before they pick up passengers. Anyway, apparently there was a person who was sending off a loved one in a very special way. This video is kind of long but it had us laughing so hard, we were shaking. Sweet Roy Boy didn't "like that sound".....

It's Begun!

2011-11-28T20:46:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we took our Christmas tree from this.....

...to this!

After our tree was on the grass, I realized we forgot to take a family picture with it, so Caroline hopped in there. I made her pose with the final picture, too. That is Roy and RoyBoy playing with the train at the bottom. Roy Austin is OBSESSED with trains. He literally sat in front of the tree for the majority of the day with a huge smile on his face just playing with that thing.

And here are our first batch of invalids in our Ornament Hospital. Yes, all of these needed a super glue fix the first day. And yes, that is my poor Rockettes ornament that has made the pile for I think the 5th or 6th year in a row:(

What's Your Persuasion?

2011-11-23T13:43:00.003-05:00

I'll never forget the first time I saw The Polar Express. I was about five months pregnant with Caroline and I went to the theater with my sister and a friend. I remember crying during the movie because it was just so good and sweet and, since it was Thanksgiving, I left truly in the Christmas spirit. Ever since that November day in 2004, we have made watching this movie a family tradition. We break it out early each season and it is watched over and over again until January. Both of my older children were obsessed with it when they were young toddlers, and they still will sit on the couch mesmerized by it. Even though it's watched an extreme amount of times each Christmas, it seems to never get old.

So, the other week we were watching it for probably the 200th time and all of a sudden it dawned on me that this movie has a major spiritual tone. I always knew it did with the "believing" concept, but it was like a huge light bulb went off in my head--the characters of the hobo, the conductor and Santa represent the trinity! Stay with me now...

First, let's start with this guy:

I have always wondered what or who he was. Why was he in the story? And why does he look like the conductor and Santa...it's like they're all the same person, even though they aren't. If you notice, he's always asking the little boy (who isn't sure if he believes in Santa) what he thinks of Santa Claus....does he believe in him. He's always popping up in the story when things get tense and he either helps or questions the little boy's thinking. I think this character represents The Holy Spirit. I figured this out when the little boy picks up the bell at the North Pole and looks at it. If you'll notice in the movie, you'll hear the hobo's voice say "NOW!" really quietly (I had never noticed it before) and THEN the little boy says, "okay, I believe....I believe!". It's like the hobo (HS) was convicting him and making him realize that he does believe.

I think this guy represents Jesus:

He is the one who brings the train full of people to Santa (God). You can't get to the North Pole without him. When Billy is hesitant to get off of the train once it reaches the North Pole, the conductor tells the little girl and little boy that you can't make someone come...they have to be willing. Hmmmmm. AND on the Polar Express song that the conductor sings, he says "you can ride for free, if you just say yes!". We all know that salvation is free for anyone who is willing to accept. He's also aware of the Hobo and refers to him while looking at the little boy with a knowing look in his eye.

So, obviously this guy represents God:

In the movie, Santa is revered by all. He knows the very instant when the little boy says "I believe" and he approaches him by saying, "What is that you said?"

Has anyone else thought of these metaphors before? Am I crazy that I never have? There are so many others....Billy is a poor little boy and some of the others on the train are privileged (salvation is for all people), the elves could represent angels, the North Pole represents Heaven. Your mind could go crazy thinking of all the metaphors. Anyway, I knew I always liked the movie and now I really do. My sister said that she read somewhere once that Tom Hanks (the man behind the movie) is a Christian. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I hope that he is and that he put these metaphors into the movie purposely. Anyway, just some thoughts by me. Can anyone else think of any other metaphors?

"Midnight" is Out

2011-11-21T20:08:00.004-05:00

This morning on the way to school, I told the kids that if they were good today, they could skip quiet/nap time and we would get their bedroom Christmas trees out to start decorating. They were so excited and promised to be good. Roy Austin started saying that he wanted to get "midnight" out. I thought maybe he was mispronouncing something so I kind of ignored him, but he was persistent. "Can we get midnight out to play?" I finally asked Caroline what he was saying, and she confirmed that, yes, he was saying midnight, but then she said something that made my heart smile...."You know, Mommy. Si-midnight." Yes, Roy Austin thinks the song is titled "Si--midnight" and he has incorporated that sweet song (Silent Night) with Baby Jesus and the Nativity! Bless his little heart! I smiled and told him that we would definitely get it out today...and we did. We now refer to it as, Midnight:)

Another B I B L E Song!

2011-11-09T16:20:00.000-05:00

Last night was Roy Austin's Family Night at preschool. Each November each class prepares a song to sing for the parents. It's a long night because there are about 15 classes that perform, which equals many preschoolers and MANY parents, but it makes the kids feel big and proud. We couldn't wait to see what song RoyBoy was going to do because all he would say was that he sings "that's what God tea--ches me". Here he is before the program started. Roy went over to get his picture and he said Roy Austin was being very shy. He's wearing a blue denim baseball cap:

He was so sweet. When he got up on stage I could tell he was so nervous. Caroline and I went up front to record his class and we called his name before the song started. When he saw us, he looked so relieved and happy. It made my heart smile:)

After the program, we went back to his class to see what he made for me and Roy. It was a cute turkey handprint hot plate!

As you can see, he was very proud:

Here is the video (if anyone cares!). We were impressed at how well he did with the motions and his little left leg was getting a good workout!!:

The B I B L E

2011-11-06T18:53:00.002-05:00

Caroline has been taking Spanish in Kindergarten this year. I didn't really know how much she'd learn but so far, she'd been picking up a lot of words and phrases. She told me that if you want to say "oh, yeah" in Spanish, you say, "Oh, Si" and she'll now say that around the house. So the other day, I heard her singing this song and was suprised how much she has already learned in the first 2 months of school:

Trick or Treat 2011

2011-11-02T16:59:00.002-04:00

For Halloween 2011, we chose a Peter Pan theme. Roy always laughs at me for picking themed sibling costumes for the kids, but I love it! I know there is going to be one year that they will all want to be different things for Halloween, but as long as the kids will play along, I am happy:)

We started off our festivities at Roy's office to pass out caramel corn and candy to some co-workers. This was after school and during nap time.....and probably not the best idea of the day.

Most Likely to Play Tinkerbell Award goes to...... Charlotte! The blue eyes and blond hair really helped her win the part:

Most Likely to Play Big Sister Wendy goes to....Caroline! She LOVED being Wendy and she loved the dress:)

(I thought for sure Charlotte would be walking by now but she has zero interest. She is a true hip baby.)

And our Peter Pan had to be Roy Austin. I had to wake him up from a deep sleep to get ready for trick or treating, and let's just say he wasn't in the best of moods. He needed some pixie dust to get him going.

Just about ready to go, but first...let's take some pictures!

Come on, everyone. Say "trick-or-treat!":

Just one good picture!

Not happening. I think my kids see me with a camera in my hand and they automatically get annoyed. Happy Halloween! (oh, and notice the cool alien from ToyStory that Roy did on the pumpkin. I bought a nice, big pumpkin to carve and when we opened it, it was ROTTEN inside and SOOO disgusting! The smell was horrific!)

Sweet Sisters:)

Daddy and Tink:Our neighborhood gave our really good candy this year. I sorted through it when the kids came home to get rid of the gross candy (Laffy Taffy and old lady candy). There really wasn't much of it! Now I'm home each morning with a gigantic bowl full of good candy. Not good!!!!

D-I-S-N-E-Y!

2011-10-27T21:25:00.019-04:00

*****Warning: LOTS and LOTS of Disney Pictures below!*****

Disney or Bust! That's the attitude we all had last weekend on our way to Orlando. We had been planning a quick Disney getaway for the kids and the countdown had finally arrived. I was just as excited as the kids--Disney makes me feel like I'm one of them! Here they were in the back of the car watching Disney movies the whole way down the road:

After checking in the hotel, a quick dip in the pool, meeting up with Grammy, Grandaddy and Aunt Cissie, we all headed to Downtown Disney by boat!

This little girl has wanted Jessie for over a year, apparently. She didn't understand why Santa didn't bring it to her last Christmas when she asked him for it. Yikes! I think Santa didn't think she was serious!! When she spotted her in the store, she quickly snatched it for her souvenir:

So, off to bed we went because the next day....WE WERE GOING TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!! Now, this is when it all changed. I had it all in my head that our sweet children were going to enter the park with mouths wide open, immediately run up to me and Rog, hug us and thank us for bringing them to the happiest place on earth. And I just KNEW we'd get our Christmas card picture taken while we were there. We stepped off the bus and I asked for one quick picture. Big mistake. This is what happened:

Yes, those sweet children (in matching Mickey and Minnie shirts, thanks to my sweet friend, Jessica) wanted none of it--especially our 6.5 year old. Welcome to Disney World, folks!

You know how on the commercials for Disney, it always shows a nice family walking hand in hand through the park. The Dad is holding the little girl's hand and the mom is holding the little boy's hand. The kids are wearing the Mickey ears and they're smiling and so happy. Here is our attempt at Take Two:

At least we had one child who was happy to be there:

Hmmm, maybe this will work. Everyone smile at Mommy so we can get one good Christmas card picture! (I think we promised ice cream if they would smile, but due to the sun in their face, it wasn't happening).

As I looked around the park that day, I had a good laugh. There were so many families like ours where the kids were crying, fighting, having meltdowns. Parents were getting irritated at the kids and with each other...kind of funny! The parade went by, though, and our children absolutely LOVED it. There is nothing like a Disney parade!!

Anastasia walked by with her other sister and mother and asked if we had any food!

Three cheers for these two! They joined us on our vacation to watch Charlotte for us! What a great help that was to us and what a great job they did. Daddy told me he felt like they were playing house:)

Maybe Disney put some wishful thinking in my brain but I was still hoping for that picture. Nope. Get over it, Donna. On to the rides. Caroline did it....she rode Space Mountain and loved it

Roy Austin was terrified of the Buzz Lightyear ride. I don't know why. After his 3rd time, he finally liked it and rode through it without covering his eyes.

We did Small World:

The Flight of Peter Pan:

Dumbo:

And Pirates of the Caribbean, which freaked Roy Austin out!!!

So, after our long day, we headed back to the hotel and changed into our costumes to return for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. After our long day there and after returning to see the crazy crowds, I have to admit I was wondering why on earth we were doing this to ourselves. But it ended up being a very fun night! Here is our Peter Pan and Wendy. Tinkerbell will make her appearance on Halloween night:

The coolest part of the night was the parade. We had perfect seats for it. Here is the Grand Marshall of the parade---the headless horseman:

During the parade, Wendy walked by with the Peter Pan group and she came over to tell our little Wendy hello. It made her night!And the fireworks at the park that night were truly amazing! We actually did have a "Disney Moment". We were all on the Dumbo ride soaring through the black sky when, out of nowhere, huge fireworks started going off over our heads! So, we had a short view of the fireworks on Dumbo. It was very nice and very cool:) We also went to Woody and Jessie's dance party:

It was in an old saloon style building and Roy Austin fell asleep while we were there. We joked that he passed out at the bar:

Day Two!:

Aunt Cissie joined us this day

We saw TONS of characters that day:

Someone was SO shy when she met the Princesses:

This is for you, Michael! (he LOVES Pinnochio!)

One of my faves--Tiana. Love her!

And the icing on the cake....Woody and Jessie!!!!

We conquered Disney that day, even though the park was SO crowded. We had such a great time, and our kids were much better the second day. Too bad Charlotte wasn't with us for that family picture:)

The Party

2011-10-27T11:02:00.004-04:00

Last April at Caroline's birthday dinner, I asked Roy Austin what kind of cake he thought he wanted for his next birthday. He instantly said a guitar cake...and he wanted it to be red and brown--his favorite colors. We laughed because we didn't understand why he picked a guitar and I figured the theme would change a few times before October. Nope! All summer long he talked about his guitar cake and how it was going to be red and brown. The only change was he wanted the strings to be white. Thank you, Lord, that Michael's sold a guitar cake pan! So, he got what he wanted....a red and brown guitar cake with white strings!

The birthday boy waiting for his party to get started:

RoyBoy's face looks just like a picture I have of Roy when he was little at one of his birthday parties! So cute!

Here he is listening intensely to Caroline tell him what she loves about him. We had to make him sit still and look us in our eyes while we told him why we loved him. He was ready for presents! I think one of the things that Caroline loved about him was that he loves Cheetos:

Present time! I think all of his gifts were opened within 1 minute!

This was his favorite--more GeoTrax! I got this train set at a consignment sale back in September and it was basically brand new, in the box. He has a bunch of the sets that match it and they can be expensive so I was happy! He played with this thing all night and couldn't wait to play with it again first thing this morning:

Happy Birthday, Roy Austin!

2011-10-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today is the day that this sweet boy turns FOUR!!

At the age of four, Roy Austin loves to make tracks for his trains, play with his cars, ride his bike. He likes to talk about the Haunted House at Carowinds but refuses to go in it, he loves a good amusement park and talks passionately about them! He loves to smile and his laugh is contagious.
He loves his blue blankie and his "Ellie" the blue elephant. He adores his sisters, but also enjoys tormenting them...
This boy loves to stay in his pajamas all day. Some days when we get home from school, he'll ask me if we are going anywhere the rest of the day. If the answer is "no", he'll rush upstairs to get in his pj's! He also is becoming interested in spelling. He always wants to know how certain words are spelled and he's proud when he thinks he spelled it correctly. This is the latest conversation that happens a few times a week: RA: I know how to spell pee pee...P P! (followed by a proud and mischievous grin).

Which brings me to another favorite of my funny boy...potty talk. He LOVES it. Nothing gets him like potty talk. He thinks the words poopoo, peepee, panties, and underwear are absolutely hilarious. Something tells me we'll never get out of this stage!

It's no secret that Roy Austin has kept me on my toes since he learned to walk. Every day is a true adventure with him and there have been too many adventures in the last four years to count!! Even though he can bring me to tears most days and cause me to question my mothering, I know that God handpicked this little boy just for me and his Daddy. He is ours and he is a blessing. I absolutely cannot wait to see what he does with his life!

Happy Birthday to our little boy...our Roy Austin!

Roy Austin

2011-10-20T17:31:00.004-04:00

One of Roy Austin's favorite places to go is Roy's work. He LOVES it!! Roy returned from a trip on Tuesday night, so I thought I'd drop RoyBoy off with him for a little fun while I ran Caroline to piano lessons a few miles away. He was so excited and talked about it all morning. So, I dropped him off (without his carseat), got to piano lessons and realized that my back tire is going flat!! Roy left him with some guys at work because he didn't have the carseat and came to my rescue. I got this email sent to me later that night. The guys in facilities entertained him and I think he enjoyed himself:

Did you hear him say "Do it again, guys!"? When I picked him up, he was chewing gum and came out with prizes from his "friends" at Daddy's office.

And check this out. I literally laughed out loud when I pulled this from his school bag today. These are his school pictures and no, I did not send him in a Dick Tracy hat. I guess the picture people thought it would look good with his plaid shirt? The thing is, it would have made a nice picture minus that hat. Why do school picture people use props? Can you guess the one we are buying?

Never Too Young for Homework

2011-10-12T20:24:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not, Roy Austin's preschool class has a project due tomorrow. I kind of laughed when I got the assignment in his folder--he's not even four yet. He had to pick his favorite book and then make the lead character out of an artificial pumpkin. I thought for sure he'd want to pick Brown Bear, Brown Bear or Corduroy. When his big sister, who can be bossy at times, found out about the project she coaxed him into picking Chicken Little.

We have never seen this movie. I bought a Chicken Little baseball book at a consignment sale for him and I guess he likes it? I think we've read it a time or two, but it's definitely not a favorite book of his! But once his big sister picked it, he was set on it. If it's cool for her, it must be really cool. I have to admit, now that they make white pumpkins, this guy was pretty easy to create.

So tomorrow our almost-four-year old will carry Chicken Little proudly to preschool and do his presentation. Still laughing that he had a project due:)

Party, Birdie Style

2011-10-09T19:33:00.010-04:00

Back in August I realized that Charlotte's first birthday was fast approaching. I like to do small family parties in our family, but I like to do a big one for the "Big One". I did a big party for Caroline and Roy Austin when they turned one, but Charlotte really has no "friends" her age. I told Roy that I felt that I had to do something so we don't get the "poor me card" thrown at us from her one day, so we decided Roy would get out his smoker and do barbecue and I'd send an email to our families inviting anyone who wanted to come to our little celebration for Charlotte. Well, 23 people later....our little celebration turned into her party yesterday afternoon! I still can't believe she's one!

Thank you, Auntie Dolly, for being my photographer yesterday, by the way. Because she's so tiny and dainty, I did a bird theme for the party. Pinterest helped inspire me! Caramel corn makes an EASY and yummy party favor and it was a good way for Charlotte to thank everyone for coming to her first "bird-day"!

These four sisters of mine and their families made the 3.5 hour drive down just for the day! I was shocked and very appreciative:) Nothing like sisters!!

Michael and Roy Austin had fun playing. Roy Austin figured out how to connect the wagon to the John Deer trike and he was giving hay rides on his "trailer":
Here are some brothers-in-law talking over some ribs:

Some of the others stayed inside. Jane, my mother-in-law refused to get any pictures taken, but she's in the far left corner holding the birthday girl!! Jane also brought along our niece, Rachel. It was so good to have them there, too!

Here are our teenage nieces, Grayson and Maddie with little Margaux (who is four but might as well be a teenager!!). I have absolutely loved watching these girls grow into beautiful young ladies:

And here is Grammy with our football obsessed nephews Danny and Juette and my niece, Janna. 11 year old boys crack me up!!!:

My birdie cake...again, thank you Pinterest! It was a coconut-lime cake and it needs to get out of my house now because the leftovers are getting to me!!!!

Time for cake!! This was her first dessert and I think she was wondering why 27 people were looking at her and clapping and singing with cameras in their hands:)

She liked it! As Dolly said, her nostrils were flaring after that first initial finger lick!

Sweet Grandaddy helped her eat her cake!

Present time! I think Charlotte's siblings and cousins liked this part the most. The presents were opened within 2 minutes and there was paper and chaos everywhere!

I loved having a house full of family and the cousings playing together. It was a special, special day!

This boy had a FULL day. He was exhausted by bed time and we didn't hear a peep from him once he was down. I was exhasted, too, and was asleep by 8:45!

Thanks to all of you who made the drive for Charlotte of Charlotte's First Birthday party! She may not realize how many people love her but we do and we love you ALL, too!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Charlotte!

2011-10-05T06:15:00.000-04:00

Today is the FIRST birthday of sweet Charlotte McCue! I know every mother says this, but where did this year go? Was this picture really taken a year ago????

I have picked a song for all three of the kids to claim as "theirs" and it becomes their personal lullaby. When Charlotte was in my belly, this song came on my ipod one day and we picked it for baby #3, not knowing the sex. It fits sweet Charlotte so well...it's happy, upbeat and just...sweet!

We have truly loved having her as our baby......

She has been such a patient little baby....

A great sleeper, and even good when she misses her nap (which she does very often!!)...

Her big, wide, blue eyes make us all melt in this house. Her sister and brother adore her and I have to tell them daily to put her down or get out of her face! And she, in return, lights up when either of them enter the room.

This picture pretty much sums up Charlotte. She's ALWAYS smiling, always going with the flow...

She loves me, too. Sometimes I'll feel someone starring at me, and I'll look over and there she is....smiling away! And she loves her "Daa-da"! She crawls to the front door and looks out the side windows when he gets home from work to wait for a big wave from him.

We've had many nicknames for our sweet girl this past year, but my favorite is simply, "Lovey" because that's what she is....a little lovey:)

Thank you, God, for our Charlotte Girl!

She is such a blessing, and just what our family needed!

...and we love her DEARLY! Happy First Birthday!
**********************************************
P.S. And HIP HIP HOORAY for me! I don't mind saying 3 children= HARD WORK! I am celebrating October 5th too. I made it!

Be a Mod Parent!

2011-09-28T08:30:00.002-04:00

If you are looking for a modern and cool, yet practical and cost friendly place to buy baby items, check out ModParent! Some friends of ours own this site and we can attest to their strong values and great customer service! Plus, during the month of October, they are giving 50% of their profits to Samaritan's Purse to help children in Africa! So, you can be sure that when you buy from MP, you are helping to support a great cause. Spread the word---they are on Facebook and Twitter, too:)

A Little This and That

2011-09-24T10:15:00.002-04:00

1. If you want to be in the Fall Swap, go here. A group of us girls have done this for about 3 years and it's been such a fun thing. Don't be afraid to get involved--it's easy!! The site has more details about it. If you want to join, do it by Wednesday morning. The Fall swap is the best!! Who doesn't like to get a package in the mail with fun surprises in it?!

2. If you come to our house don't think we're in the Overeaters Anonymous Club. Remember how we had to get a lock on the pantry? Well, we now have a lock on our refrigerator, as well, due to a certain someone devouring two slices of pizza and two squeezable yogurts while I got ready on Friday. Then I looked over a little later and saw him sitting on the counter trying to pour an almost-full 2liter of Sprite. He's also been spotted a few times trying to make his own chocolate milk with Hershey syrup and a huge gallon of milk. It was an accident waiting to happen.

3. Here is our little kindergartner veterinarian, Dr. Caroline Graham. Friday was Community Helper Day at her school. She loved that she got to bring her stuffed animal to school. She had to make a bank for school, too. All the kindergarten classes put their buildings together to make one big community and the parents got to come for a little reception. Cute, cute, cute!!

4. For those of you on Pinterest, you may have seen this. I saw it on my sister's board and decided to give it a try. It was so easy to make and looks really pretty at night when the candle is lit. I searched everywhere for Indian corn and finally Walmart got a huge shipment in this past week. It look much prettier in real life, so if you want a pretty Fall centerpiece or something to put on a coffee table, this is nice!

5. And last but not least, here is a sweet little video clip from last weekend when our VA cousins and aunties came to visit. Charlotte suddenly realized that Eleanore existed and every time she was let down to crawl, she'd find Baby Eleanore and want to attack her. SO funny!!!

A Whole Decade! That's a One and a Zero:)

2011-09-22T06:30:00.000-04:00

The other day while having a conversation with a lady I had just met, she asked me how long Roy and I had been living in Charlotte. For the first time in a long time, I felt like such an adult when I answered "almost ten years". Ten years....that's a long time! Today is the tenth anniversary of the day I married Roy Graham. I remember thinking way back in 2001 that our tenth anniversary was so far off, but yet here we are one whole decade later.

As I think about all that has taken place during the last ten years, I am proud. The years hold such precious memories in my heart that I pray I never forget....all the firsts we experienced together. I'll never forget the excitement we shared as we called that little apartment on Poppy Hills Lane ours, or the pride we felt as we purchased our first home. We were so proud of that house and then so fearful the night we closed and we stood seeing it empty for the first time and realizing all of the work we had cut out for us! We put so much labor and love into that home and we did it side by side--together--the entire time. That house holds nothing but good memories for us! And then the joy and nervousness we felt as we drove away from Carolinas Medical Center with a sweet little girl in our backseat headed to that house. We even set our alarm clock for 3AM the next morning...just in case she slept through the night. (We ended up turning the alarm off way before 3).

I think about the pure joy on Roy's face as the ultrasound technician told him that there would be a Roy Austin Graham, Jr. in this world. I think about the sound of my doctor saying "It's a girl!" as he pulled sweet Charlotte from my belly and the faces of our older two children as they walked into the hospital room that night to meet their new sister. I think about all of the "good mornings!" and the "Daddy's Home!" announcements in the early evenings. The chaos that our noisy home creates at times, the teaming up for bath duty and Bible stories at bedtime. The many Saturdays working in the yard, the relief of seeing Roy's face return to us after he's been on a trip, all the inside jokes we've shared and the little getaways we've experienced. The commonality of all of these sweet, cherished moments is that Roy and I have experienced them together....and I could not be more blessed.
As I think about me being that young, 21 year old year old who, ten years ago, was preparing for her big day, I remember how stressed I was about the place card settings, about the candles that were going onstage that were supposed to be drip-less but weren't. I think about the girl who thought she had it all together and had pretty much figured out life. I laugh at the things that she thought were SO important and the silly disagreements she'd have once in a while with her new groom. I love those newlywed days and memories and I smile when they come to mind.

I can only pray and hope that this is just our beginning. I pray that God gives us many more decades together, for us to grow and create more firsts. I am so glad that the shy girl who became intrigued by Roy Graham got up the courage to ask him what his major was, and I'm so glad he answered her... and then said that her major, History, was worthless! I love my RoyBoy:)

**(P.S. This song playing was the song that we had our first dance to. And that picture of us dancing to it includes my sweet and funny Daddy trying to cut in:)

I Think We're Alone Now...

2011-09-06T10:41:00.002-04:00

Is it Tiffany who sang, "I Think We're Alone Now"??? Well, regardless, that was what popped in my head to sing to sweet Charlotte as we drove out of the WeeSchool parking lot today:) This morning was the first day of school for this sweet boy:

After Roy dropped Caroline off at school, he met us at Chick-fil-A (shhh, don't tell Caroline!) to celebrate this big day for Roy Austin. Then it was off to preschool...

Here he is with Miss Jen and Miss Peggy. I can already tell they'll be great! Someone was a little embarrassed:)

But, he didn't even turn around to give hugs or say good-bye. He went right to the table to do a puzzle. Puzzles...good job, RoyBoy!! Go for the intellectual toys!!!

I'm going to like Tuesdays and Thursdays, I think. Charlotte and I went to browse the aisles of Marshalls and now it is 10:45...she is fast asleep upstairs and the only sound I hear is my fingers clicking on the keyboard of the computer. Ahhhhhh. I like school.

Gone Hunting!

2011-09-04T06:58:00.005-04:00

Ever since we first got married, Roy always talked about how he couldn't wait to take his kids hunting one day. Each Labor Day weekend, he gets invited to a local dove hunt. Last year, he took Caroline and this year, Caroline and Roy Austin went. The kids couldn't wait for September 3rd to arrive--Caroline was dressed in her jeans and camo at 7:30 (the hunt started at 1:00), but ROY was so happy:) He couldn't wait to take the kids.

After a BBQ lunch and saftey talk, my hunters hit the field. One of Caroline's favorite things to do on the dove hunt is play with the corn in the field nearby:

Sweet RoyBoy:

Here they are with some of the birds they got. Roy said that when he'd shoot a bird, it would fall from the sky and the kids would take off like dogs to find it.

Dove hunting RULES! When they got home at 7:00, they were WILD. They had a blast and they have asked Roy several times already if they can go tomorrow.

Can't wait for Dove Hunt 2012!!

How to Tick Off an Almost Four-Year-Old

2011-09-02T16:57:00.003-04:00

I don't know if it's just my kids or if it's all kids, but lately I am constantly hearing, "Mommy, I'm hungry". It can be heard after breakfast, after lunch or after a snack has already been given out. Trying to keep my kids out of the kitchen and helping themselves to whatever suits their taste buds is hard work!! I feel like all summer long I told my kids to get out of the pantry and wait until dinner to eat! Especially with this guy:

He is a true swiper, and this summer he proudly mastered climbing the shelves in my pantry. I keep the good snacks on the top shelf, and so that is always his destination when taking a climb. So many times I will come downstairs and he will run to the couch and hide in the pillows. This is the sign that he's been into something and knows he'll get into trouble. Sure enough, the pantry door will be open, a box of something will be spilled over or fruit snacks will be cut into with scissors. And much too often, I will find a wrapper for a breakfast bar or the plastic from a fruit roll up in the playroom, just sitting there on the floor...and I did not give it out to be eaten. SO frustrating.

In the past, we bought the circle-lock-thing that fits around the doorknob to keep children out. He mastered that over a year ago. So, Roy and I came up with a new plan...

I installed this thing during nap time and I could not wait to see what happened next!

It was like clock work. After nap time, he came running into the kitchen to help himself to the pantry. Yes, he is in his pajamas still at 4:30 in the afternoon. It's been one of those days:)

This next picture cracks me up. "GOTCHA!". He was so mad after this and pitched a MAJOR fit. He instantly fell to the floor and the fit began. He even said, "Yours a bad girl for doing that!", which got him in a lot of trouble.

After explaining to him that he can always ASK for a snack, but I may say no, he pouted for a while and then a few minutes later came over to me and asked if he could please have a snack.
He is now watching Dino Dan with a baggie of proportioned crackers/fruit snacks given out by me and my pantry is locked.

Fingers crossed!

It's That Time of Year Again!

2011-08-28T19:25:00.004-04:00

One of the things I love about the upcoming Fall season is the beginning of all the consignment sales that take place around Charlotte. I was so sad when Divine Consign decided to stop having their sales. This particular sale sold only upscale items and smocks galore. I was a big fan:) The same year they decided to leave, a new sale popped up...The Posh Closet!

They are about to have their fall sale and I am looking forward to it. Every year I say the same thing..."My kids are pretty much set. They don't really need a thing." and yet, there I am....browsing through the racks and finding that one (or more!!) outfit that is just too cute not to claim. The couple that run this sale go to our church and they have a really sweet family.

The sale starts on September 14 and runs through the 15th. From 6-9pm on the 15th, select items ar 30% off. I like to return for that sale:) They have sizes newborn-18 and there is a huge selection. Go here for more information and for the brands they accept!

If anyone in my family needs any cute church clothes let me know!

Now You Know!

2011-08-25T21:13:00.003-04:00

The other night as we were laying out Caroline's clothes for school, she asked me why a Peter Pan collar is called a Peter Pan collar. I honestly didn't know, but to appease her and get her into bed, I told her I'd google it and let her know. I forgot. She didn't. She asked me today if I googled it yet--I always laugh when my kids use words in their conversations like "google", "Ebay", or "Craigslist".

So tonight I did my homework. Basically the collar takes it's name from....yep, Peter Pan! Remember how he doesn't want to grow up? He wants to stay young and innocent forever. And, even though Peter Pan is a masculine character, the collar is mainly used only on little girls' clothing --evoking a sense of innocence and youthfulness. The collar became popular in the mid-twentieth century, starting with school uniforms and then flowing into other wear.

Am I the only one that didn't know the history behind this famous collar?

Baby Giggles

2011-08-20T08:32:00.002-04:00

Here is a cute clip of Charlotte's little giggles. She is pulling up on everything now. In her mind she thinks she can walk, because she'll be standing up against something and suddenly she'll just leap out and fall. I think those first steps may come soon!

Caroline was taking a bath the other day and they started playing peek-a-boo!

Caroline Goes to Kindergarten!

2011-08-18T14:29:00.018-04:00

The title to this post sounds like a children's book, doesn't it? Roy and I were talking last night and we both remember Kindergarten, but not necessarily our very first day. So, this post is for our sweet girl who made a big step today! And she just might remember her first day on her own because of how it started. After months of talking about it and weeks preparing for it, the day before Kindergarten arrived. We had been to the classroom, met the teachers, laid out that first day of school uniform and then BAM! Caroline got sick. After three episodes of vomiting, it was clear that she wasn't going to make it to the first official day of school. I felt so bad for her! She rested the next day and by dinner time, she was her old self again.

We had even gone out to buy "The Night Before Kindergarten" to read at bedtime. This is her right before vomit #2 happened:

TAKE 2...NEXT NIGHT:

Always our drama queen, she told me to take one picture with her looking sick...

....and then a normal one! This was HER night before Kindergarten!

The day she had been waiting for finally arrived! She has been waiting all summer to wear these uniforms and carry this backpack. And after our cousin, Maddie, introduced hair straightening to her this summer, we had to straighten her hair to wear with the headband:)

I love this picture! True bliss!

A little blurry, but here are our three sweet children. It was an early morning...and it may be hard getting used to!
We kept our annual first day of school breakfast tradition going and went to McDonald's for a little celebration...

Then it was off to school! But first, there had to be a big hug from Daddy:)

RoyBoy felt awfully big walking with his sister into school. He'll be taking this same walk in two years!

Caroline has the sweetest teachers this year. Here she is with Mrs. Haan. Mrs. Hancock is also her teacher and we couldn't be happier!

She found her cubby and put her backpack and lunchbox away...
...then she found her seat, I gave her a kiss and a goodbye hug and Kindergarten officially began for our sweet Caroline! One of the things I love about her school is 1:00 pick up for Kindergartners!! And I think I'm going to like this carpool lane thing! Here is her class waiting patiently for the mommies at the end of the day:

Did Caroline like Kindergarten? Here is her reaction when she got in the car....

I had a million questions to ask but I didn't want to bombard her and I didn't want to get one word answers, so I asked them slowly and carefully, which she happily answered. Basically she said her day was "awesome" and she loved going to the cafeteria for lunch:) Because it was her special day, I told her to pick out anything she wanted for dinner and I'd make it. Out of everything I could possibly make, she picked Piggy Pudding...her favorite! Easy and very, very yummy.So, it's the end of the day and Caroline has been smiling for the majority of it. She's been giddy and excited and she is acting in a way that I totally remember when I was a little girl. She didn't want to change out of her uniform when she got home and she's played school up in her room (with her backpack and lunchbox). I love it! Roy told me today that he is so sad that she's growing up. If I think about it long enough, I get a little sad that her toddler days are now over, but I'm not hiding in my closet with a box of Kleenex singing "Sunrise, Sunset". To borrow a quote from my friend, Inger, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." How true! Caroline has given us so many happy memories and now we've moved on to a new chapter in her childhood. How exciting!!

She Did It...Again!

2011-08-15T20:55:00.002-04:00

At the end of the season last summer, Caroline worked so hard to earn her yellow necklace at the YMCA. This allowed her to swim in the "almost deep end" without a parent. She was SO proud....

This summer, she was working hard to earn her green necklace. This allows you to swim anywhere you want AND go down the big water slides. Tonight was a beautiful night in Charlotte, NC, so we decided to hit the Y after dinner. We encouraged her to try to pass the test and she did it! She had to swim the length of the pool, tread water for 60 seconds and then float from her stomach to her back. When the life guard told her she passed, her smile was priceless. And let's just say that our green necklace girl was giddy tonight. Can you tell??

Montreat

2011-08-10T16:00:00.002-04:00

After our Chicago trip, we headed to Montreat NC. Roy's sweet grandmother invited us this summer so the kids could go to a day camp during the week. We decided to make it a fun time for all the cousins, so Kristy and her two came up, and all 8 of the Graham cousins spent the week together. Kristy, Kendra and I had lots of fun hitting some good shoe sales and just hanging out. We decided to make camp in Montreat a summer tradition!

Where do you take 8 hungry kids for dinner? How about Sam's Club?! It's cheap and the pizza is REALLY good. Wil met us there after work and after we ate, we decided to walk around the warehouse. Wil was in the middle of all the chaos--3 woman wearing wedding rings, babies and lots of kids circling around us. Kristy mentioned that we looked like Sister Wives and we all laughed so hard! We do, don't we?????

Charlotte was a good girl all week. But what else is new?! One night we packed a picnic dinner and headed to the creek in Montreat. There is a huge park with a really nice creek area. The kids had so much fun playing in the water together:

We walked around Lake Susan...

and fed the swans...

There was LOTS of tire-swinging....

We watched some movies together...

This is totally random, but does anyone else think RoyBoy looks like Speaker of the House John Boehner???? Maybe as a child? I think it's the eyes or something. Every time I see his picture on TV, I laugh!

Here are all eight Graham grand kids...

Charlotte and Liam spent a lot of time together, too. This boy is 4 months old and is 6 months younger than Charlotte and has already surpassed her in weight!! He is so sweet and such a good baby!
On our last night in Montreat, we had a cookout and invited Roy's grandparents and aunt and Uncle. Here is Charlotte with Roy's Aunt Delle Blount...

After the cookout, the kids had fun playing in the yard while Roy built a fire and we made S'mores! Does this guy look like a true mountain boy or what?!

Here's sweet Hannah eating her S'more....

This fun night outside produced tons of poison ivy on Caroline the next morning. She had it everywhere!!! So we made an early trip home to Charlotte. We had such a nice time being with our family and we're going to do the same thing again next year. But it sure did feel good to walk in our house after being gone nine days....there is NO place like home!

Family Reunion, Olsen Style!

2011-08-10T14:31:00.000-04:00

As I said in my earlier post, we headed up to the Chicago area two weeks ago for my mom's side of the family reunion. She and her five siblings and her three cousins arranged to have a cookout at my uncle's house. I haven't seen most of her family since my grandmother's death 7 years ago, so it was nice to meet some spouses of my cousins and see their children. My grandfather is 90 years old and has been in the best shape for years. He had been driving alone and working out weekly and was just so independent. He had a stroke in May and has been in rehab since. He was able to make it to the reunion, which was so nice. The stroke slowed him down tremendously, and it was sad to see the toll it took on him, but it was so nice to have the chance to see him with all of his kids, grand kids and great-grand kids. He truly enjoyed himself:) I didn't get as many pictures of the party as I thought I did, but here are a few...

Okay, here is Eleanore and Charlotte in the backseat of the car, getting ready to go help with the set up...

We had a huge cookout with tons of food. Dawn, here is the nice fruit arrangement you sent. It was gone in no time! HUGE hit:)

Some of the cousins' children:

Caroline and Samantha:

My uncle and aunt have a pond in their back yard, so everyone enjoyed paddle boating. My Uncle Mike was the "fun uncle" growing up and apparently he's the "fun great uncle" too. He did a cannon ball jump off the dock in his clothes. The kids loved it!

Then he gave row boat rides to whoever wanted them. I think Roy Austin spent most of his time near the pond that day.

And there was a fun jump house in the front yard. The kids loved this, too!

This made me laugh...I came near the jump house just in time to witness this. Roy Austin knocked Wyatt down in the jump house in a playing way. He wasn't being mean but thought it was going to be funny. Wyatt didn't like it and so his brother, Juette, comforted him and was telling him that Roy Austin didn't mean to, etc...

Then Roy Austin got sad because he felt bad and he started to cry. Maybe it was nap time, too, and they were exhausted:)
One of my other uncles brought a DVD of old family movies. This was a sweet sight to see my grandfather, in his wheel chair, looking at old times. Kind of sad:(

I had plenty of help taking care of Charlotte. My Aunt Amy was always willing to hold her!

And of course Grammy!

And our Grandaddy!

This little guy is just TOO cute. He is my cousin, Jack's, son James. He is a carbon copy of his daddy when he was little. This is exactly how I remember Jack as a child!

And this is my cousin, Suzanna, who just had her first baby, Ruby. I can't believe she's a mommy. I remember when she was born!

It was a great day and hopefully we'll start having these kinds of get togethers more often. After we left the party, Roy took our family to a Cabela's that he saw down the road---he was very excited to go. The kids loved all the animals, but I think Roy loved them the most!!

Chicago!

2011-08-08T11:13:00.020-04:00

Two weeks ago, we headed up to the Chicago area for my mom's family's reunion. The last time we were in Chicago, Caroline was in my tummy, so we decided to enjoy one day in the city with the kids. We couldn't have picked a nicer day. It was overcast, breezy and very nice. And to top it off, our kids were angels the ENTIRE day!! This made the day so much more enjoyable!!

We passed by a huge statue of Marilyn Monroe doing her famous pose:

Marilyn had nice little white, lacy panties drawn on:) You should have seen some of the poses other tourist were doing!

One of the highlights of our day was seeing sweet Caroline's reaction to the American Girl store. We had taken her to the one in Minneapolis when she was 3 but she could have cared less. This time, she was so into it. Once we got closer to the store, we saw people everywhere carrying those signature red bags. I could tell Caroline was so excited. When we walked in, she was giddy!!! She was in awe of all the dolls, the clothes and the accessories. I think we had to do a few walk arounds before we realized that there was an upstairs, too!! She picked out a new dress for Samantha.

We have already decided that we'll have to go to the one in Atlanta soon:)

Roy Austin was very good and patient in American Girl. He actually enjoyed it, too, I think! We were happy to see a big Lego store next door for him. He loved it!

Woody made of Legos. How Cool?!

As we walked to lunch, I couldn't help but smile at this sweet girl. She was SO proud of her American Girl loot and held that bag and Samantha with pride:

We ate lunch at Giordano's Pizzeria. All I can say is that it's a good thing we don't live in Chicago because between Giordano's deep dish pizza and Garrett's Chicago Mix Popcorn, I think I ate my caloric limit for a week! Both of those places are SOOOOOO good! Yum, I wish I had some of that popcorn right now!
Then it was off to the Hancock Building. We took the world's fastest elevator to the very top: We saw these two cute window washers way up there:

The kids loved seeing all of the swimming pools on top of the buildings!

And they enjoyed watching the boats go under the bridge:

Poor Charlotte was a trooper all day. She never once cried, even though she missed two naps. She finally couldn't take it any more and fell asleep!!!

Then we went to Millennium Park to run around and let off some high energy. Here we are in front of the big Bean:

Look who we saw as we were walking around Millennium Park!

Auntie Dolly and baby Eleanore were with them, too! They had been at the Aquarium all day with my sister, Dayna, and her family and decided to come into the city to find us:

We had a light dinner with them and then headed out to the fountain/splash pad at the park. We told the kids they could get their feet wet....

....which made this boy all the more curious....

....until he finally couldn't take it any more and got totally wet. At one point, he was standing under the "shower", as he called it (the fountain).
He was in heaven:) Caroline is our rule follower and she obeyed until she saw that her brother was having all the fun. We figured we were in Chicago. They could get wet and we'd figure out how to dry them off later:) Good thing we changed the kids into their pj's in the car the night before. We had Roy Austin's old clothes he wore the day before still in the car and I just happened to have a shirt in the car that we put on Caroline. All the touring and splashing made for two tired kids and they were out in no time:)

The next night, my dad took Roy and Roy Austin, my brother-in-law and my two nephews to a White Sox Game. They had a fun "Boys Night Out"!

Grandaddy bought Roy Boy a White Sox hat. He LOVES it. On the way home, he wore it over his headphones as he watched a movie:)

Homemade Fudgesicles!

2011-07-26T08:40:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, the kids and I made homemade fudgesicles. They were so easy to make and they are very tasty. As you can see, this made for some happy faces...

Yes, RoyBoy is wearing a "Fruit of the Spirit" shirt. Caroline made this in school last year and he always begs her to wear it. If you ask him what the FOTS is, he'll say "Love, Joy, PEACE!!!"

So, here is the easy recipe:

Mix together 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 tsp vanilla extract until smooth. Pour into ice-pop molds and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours.

**(Mine took overnight to harden up. Also, you could probably make these with fat free sweetened condensed milk and skim milk to make them truly fat free.)

It's Like Christmas in July!

2011-07-21T08:47:00.008-04:00

I was talking to my friend, Jessica, the other day and she mentioned how her children love to play with her husband's old toys at their grandmother's house. Her mother-in-law has saved so many of Russ' toys from when he was little and their children get to enjoy them now. This reminded me of the two trash bags full of vintage toys in our garage that were waiting to be played with. My mother-in-law recently gave us all of Roy's old toys that she had saved. When Roy Austin saw them in Boone, he was so excited that we got to take them home with us. Then I forgot about them and they sat in our garage for a good month.....

So, after my conversation with Jessica, I took those things out and started to clean them up a bit and I have had two happy children ever since! They have sat on my kitchen floor---for some reason, the kitchen is where they have ended up---for hours upon hours just playing with these old, but well made, toys!Last night, they had Roy show them how his Space Probe worked. Someone must have been fascinated with space travel when he was little, because there is a wide assortment of space toys. The cool thing is, with fresh batteries, these toys STILL WORK!!!!

It is so cute to see little boy hands play with and work the toys that Daddy once played with---sound effects and all:) It gives me a glimpse of how my sweet husband probably acted when he was this age!
This is off subject, but last night RoyBoy bent over quickly to pick up something and hit his head on the corner of our coffee table. It was a loud hit that I heard from the kitchen. He had an instant goose egg on his forehead. Poor boy:

Here's how he looks this morning. I sure do love this handsome fella:
Dolly, we call this guy "Uncle Leland". I think this happy farmer looks like him! He even comes with a tractor and hay trailer! Sweet Charlotte even likes these toys. Doesn't she look like a trailer park baby this morning? Bless her heart, she has a bad cold and her nose is so stopped up. So, she's had her mouth open for the past three days to help her breathe, which has made her drool like crazy. It's just easier to do the diaper look.
And here is Roy's baby doll. He said that when he got potty trained, his grandfather took him out to buy any toy he wanted, and he picked this little guy. Funny, huh? Dolly, didn't you or Dawn have this doll? I remember this from my childhood for some reason. He cleaned up nicely and now sits next to my first baby doll in the cabinet in Caroline's room:

Thanks, Jessica, for the inspiration to get those toys out and clean them up! And thank you, Jane, for passing them along to new hands. My kitchen may have toys everywhere, but I'll take it for the hours of quiet play that are taking place!

A Time to Laugh

2011-07-15T14:00:00.007-04:00

Since we're more than halfway through the year 2011, I thought I'd share some of our Laugh Jar entries. Here are some of the things that my kids have done so far this year that have made me smile. It's funny how many of our laughable moments take place in the car!:

1. Caroline: "Do nuns love God?" Me: "yes." Caroline: "Maybe I'll be a nun one day." Me: "Nuns don't get married." Caroline: "EW! I'm not getting married!!".

2. We kept finding Roy Austin sneaking into our bathroom to steal some of Roy's Old Spice deodorant. Roy finally told him he could have one of his own and he put it in Roy Austin's bathroom. It made his day to have his own deodorant and be like Daddy!

3. Roy Austin said something mean to Caroline in the car one morning. I made him apologize and Caroline said, "It's okay, Buddy, but you broke my heart!". On that same ride, he looked out the window at a lady in another car and said, "she's bad!". Caroline replied, "Buddy, only God knows if she's bad or not." (I had recently told her that only God knows a person's heart!).

4. In the car one morning on the way to school, Caroline said, "Charlotte? Can I tell you something? I sure am glad we have you!".

5. Caroline loves Michael W. Smith's song, Awesome God. One day we were listening to it in the car and she said it reminded her of all the people we knew who had gone to Heaven:)

6. Caroline's job once we get into the car each day is to make sure Roy Austin gets buckled up. One day while she was buckling him up, he started pitching a fit. She said, "Ugh!! Buddy!! I've been helping you for years!! It's so hard!!" (she is 6, he is 3.5. I think there are MANY more years of helping him out ahead!!!)

7. I was getting ready to go see my OB-GYN for my annual check up. I had a babysitter coming over to watch the older kids and I told them I was taking Charlotte with me so Dr. Stein could see her. Roy Austin looked at me puzzled and said, "Yours going to put Charlotte back in your belly?". (Why else would I go to the doctor who took Charlotte out of my belly??!)

****************************************************

All week long, Roy Austin has been really into his GeoTrax train set. He has dumped his big blue box of trains and tracks in the upstairs hallway and has just taken over the entire hallway as his train play area. It really annoyed me earlier this week, because you have to literally walk around and on top of tracks to get back and forth. Then the other day, I was putting away laundry and looked over at him, watching his train go around the track he made while he sucked his thumb and held his hair (his trademark pose). I then realized that seeing that was a treasure I needed to have in my heart forever:) It's a sweet sight I hope I never forget. Here is a picture I captured of the same situation later that day:

And another sweet treasure....last night we went to Carowinds after dinner. We told RoyBoy to run upstairs and change his clothes so we could hurry up and get over there. This is what he considered appropriate amusement park attire:

Any time he dresses himself, you can bet the boots will be involved. His shirt and shorts are always on backwards, too:Are you getting tired of reading about my kids yet?! Well, here is one more sweet thing. Caroline's new thing she loves to do is dance. The other day, I found her laying on the playroom floor next to the CD player studying the songs of Mary Poppins so she would know the right moves to put with each song. Every day, she dresses up, closes the playroom door and dances her heart out. If she catches you spying, she gets so embarrassed and mad!! It is so cute to see her singing and dancing and it reminds me SO much of myself at her age! Here is a picture I got the other day before she saw me and literally almost started crying:

Time to Get Out the Gates!

2011-07-11T13:43:00.006-04:00

I left Charlotte playing nicely in her room and ran downstairs for a few minutes to do some things. I figured I better go check on her and when I rounded the corner to go up the stairs, I saw this sweet thing checking out the view from above:

She's getting faster with her crawling lately! She was so happy just sitting there on her knees, holding on to the spindles and looking down below.

She's getting so big and losing that baby look:( She's drooling like crazy, saying "Dah" all the time, and just continues to be a joy to everyone in this household!

A Special House Guest

2011-07-09T15:58:00.006-04:00

Last week we brought our sweet niece, Maddie, home from Virginia with us. This has been the second summer that she has come to visit us alone and we love it!! I think this is now a summer tradition:) It gives us a chance to spend time with and spoil her, but at the same time, she helps me out a lot, too! I was able to do so many things alone this week because of her help and I loved it! Denise, you raised this girl right. She saw a mess and cleaned it up, stripped her bed the day she was leaving and took her dirty towels out of the bathroom. She bathed my children for me, helped brush their teeth and even helped with bedtime! Man, I wish she lived in Charlotte! I can only hope that my girls are like her one day!

Speaking of my girls, I think this one had the most fun with her big cousin this past week:

Every day Caroline would plan her outfits around what Maddie was going to wear...even her pajamas! When we were going to see Cars2 the other night, Caroline ran upstairs quickly and then came down with her skinny jeans rolled up and a shirt on the same color as Maddie's. Roy and I looked at each other and laughed a little. The funny thing is, she knew to roll the jeans and they actually looked cool! And Maddie did Caroline's hair each day, too. I'm going to have to purchase a new hair straightener now because we have seen how good Caroline's hair looks when it's straightened:)

She had her hair in a side pony tail this week, a few braids, pulled back with a tiny braid to the side, so many hair styles and she loved every minute of it:)

This girl loved Maddie, too. It's so funny to see her with my baby like this, because that is exactly what I was like with her--couldn't get enough!

Maddie, you are welcome here any time. We all love you so much and think you hung the moon. I'm so glad our children have you for a role model! Keep it up:)

A Fun Fourth

2011-07-06T14:47:00.010-04:00

Our July 4th was spent in Virginia and started with a family photo shoot on Saturday. Pictures to come, but I have to say....there is NOTHING more stressful to me than taking family pictures. It's the same scenario every single time. I have an image in my mind of how the pictures will look: the kids are smiling (at the same time) and looking in the right direction (at the same time), our family looks so happy and carefree. Nobody is crying, there are no threats being given through gritted teath by me or Roy, no squeezing of upper arms while giving those threats, there is no need to promise ice cream or cake or any kind of candy they want to choose at the gas station. None of that. Too bad each time, this is our reality:) Can't wait to see how everything turned out! Here are some random pictures of our fast weekend. Sunday night we went to the mall parking lot in Lynchburg to watch the fireworks over Liberty Mountain. We all had a fun time together just hanging out together:

That night we had Michael spend the night with us at Grammy and Grandaddy's house. It was the boys' first sleepover together and it was hilarious. It started with them making a huge mess with styrofoam peanuts in the basement and then Michael laying in the big boy bed wide awake until 1AM!! He had never been in a big boy bed before and I think he was a little nervous!
The next morning, Daddy made his pancakes for us and included his special peaches. These things are so good and bring back many memories from my childhood....it's just peaches and sugar, but the way he concocts them are a party in your mouth (that was for you, HPS)!

My two oldest neices, RoyBoy and I made cupcakes for our 4th of July party and then headed on to the Logans for lunch and then on to the Seckmans for swimming and games:

I can't believe another year has passed. It seems like just a few months ago we were celebrating the 4th of July in 2010! And I can't belive that it's already July 6th...slow down, summer!!

Miss Caroline

2011-07-01T20:46:00.006-04:00

Caroline is starting to outgrow nap time and instead has a quiet time in her room. Today, I came up the stairs and peeked in her room. She had papers everywhere with shoes on top and the shoes all had some type of hair accessory on them. She said she was playing school and these were her students! She had searched through her books and found different names and then used them for her students' names:

There was a Meg, a Mag, Princess, BenBen (not Ben), Carolina, Nan, Max and Bob, to name a few (I think she got most of these names from the Bob Books)...

Now, I can totally remember doing this when I was little. I would take my sisters' yearbooks and search for the youngest class in the school. Then I would find the cutest kids in that class and start my class roster! So, I came into her classroom and said hi to her class. When she realized that I was playing along, she got the biggest smile on her class and there was pure joy in here eyes. I asked the "kids" to pardon the interruption while I talked with their teacher. She LOVED it. I had so much to do today, but when Caroline asked me to play school with her, I couldn't resist:)

So, she had me read a story to the class. As I read, I would stop and ask Bob or Max to quiet down. When I did this, I could tell she loved it, and as I continued to read I could see her out of the corner of my eye quietly tell another student to "shhhhh".

I love this girl so much! She has grown so much lately---physically and mentally. She has said the sweetest things lately and has just been a joy. Oh, and see her shirt? She came downstairs the other day with her shirt like this and said she discovered a new way to wear her shirt. I think she thinks she's a big girl by doing this! But, I think she's about 25 years too late for this trend starter:)

A Change of Scenery

2011-07-01T13:57:00.009-04:00

Last Sunday the kids and I headed on up to Boone for the week. The kids were going to attend VBS at my in laws' church and I was going to just relax for the week. Poor RoyBoy got denied at the door because he was a few months shy of 4 years old. He pitched a fit all the way to the car, saying, "I WANT TO GO TO MY CVS!!!", which was very embarrassing. So Caroline got to go to VBS each morning and she LOVED it. She didn't know one person there and I thought for sure she wouldn't go, but like she told me, "I tried it and I liked it!"

So, while we were in Boone, which was perfect weather and a good change from 95 degrees+ Charlotte, we did a lot of this:

and a lot of playing in Nana's creek:

Roy came up on Tuesday night and the next day we went to Tweetsie! Roy Austin is terrified of this fake jail that you can go in and get your picture taken. Every year he screams when we put him in there:My kids---especially Caroline---are currently in a Little House on the Prairie obsession phase. They want to watch it all the time!! They get it honestly:) So, Tweetsie was right up their alley, with the themes. Here they are in Doc Baker's wagon:

And in the Ingall's wagon:

While we were there, we panned for gold:
And just enjoyed being together:

Ferris Wheel riders can ride alone if they are 6 and above. Caroline LOVED this idea and rode all by herself. She had an ear to ear smile the entire ride:)

Thanks, Jane, for watching sweet Charlotte during the week and for feeding us!! It was so nice to have a lazy week. We all had a great time!

Just Me Being Crafty:)

2011-06-12T12:22:00.012-04:00

So far, this summer, I've tried to think of some fun things to do at home with my children. With the heat the way it is outside, we can only do so much outdoors! I've tried to think of a few fun "art/crafts/projects" to do after nap time. So far we've made our own playdough. A little trick, if you're interested, is to add some extracts to the playdough. I added some lemon extract to our purple playdough and it smelled yummy!

We have made edible playdough in the past. This is good, too. It's a little expensive because you have to use powdered milk (why is this so pricey???? Even the Wal-Mart brand!) and honey, but the end result is fun that kids can even eat.

Something that I have always enjoyed making with kids is homemade butter. (I like to do fun activities involving food!!) I learned to make this when I taught preschool and our class would make some every year we discussed "farms". This is SO easy to make and it's actually really good! Try it and wow your family with your skills.

1. Start with a clean, small container. I used a large baby food jar, since I have many availaible, lately. I have also used a small food storage container in the past.

2. Pour some whipping cream in the container and add a pinch of salt. Don't fill the cream to the top of the container. It looks like it is in this picture for some reason, but it's not.

3. Close the lid tightly and shake that thing like crazy! When we did it, we all took turns shaking. Now, this part takes a long time and requires a lot of HARD shaking. Once the kids are done (which will be after a few seconds), you take over and just shake it! You'll start making some weird faces....I tend to do an overbite, where my top teeth clench my lower lip.

4. After a few minutes of shaking the container, you'll see the mixture get lumpy and then solid, while turning a slight yellowish color. It's ready! You'll see some excess liquid. I like to pour this out. What you're left with is actual butter that you made!!! You can leave it in the jar or....

...you can take out your favorite cookie cutters and make the butter into fun, little molds!

Either way, you can serve your new creation at dinner and your husband will think he's married to a true Ma Ingalls. LOVE her!

This week's fun activities at our home will include finger painting with pudding and making our Father's Day cupcakes. I found a CUTE idea that looks easy. I'll post next week! If you have any fun craft ideas for me, please let me know. I am running out of ideas and it's only mid-June....a few more months to go!

Looth Tooth

2011-06-11T11:26:00.009-04:00

Yesterday morning, Caroline's first loose tooth was hanging by it's root....gross, I know. Auntie Dawnie was in town visiting and she is a pro at pulling loose teeth. We begged and begged Caroline to let Dawn pull it out all day long. She would let her get close and then say no. Throughout the day, many tears were shed, there was lots of drama. But in the Marshall's parking lot after dinner, a little white tooth came out of Caroline's mouth! She was so happy and just laughed and laughed!

She told Auntie Dawnie that she could pull out all of her teeth in the future. Good thing because loose teeth make me queasy! Thank you, Dawnie!!!

Here she is getting ready for bed. I went in at 11:30 with some money in my hand and she was still wide awake. I had to clench it in my fist!!

Pure giddiness this morning! Two dollars! Add this to the $1 the Toenail Fairy left her last Sunday night....that is a lot! (hahaha...I just realized she changed her pajamas during the night. She's famous for doing this!!)

The Tooth Fairy also left her a special note thanking her for her tooth....

...AND a Cabbage Patch Kid with a missing tooth, just like her! The Tooth Fairy bought this at Target on clearance for $6 two years ago and has had it stored for just this special time:)

And this it totally random, but funny. Speaking of Cabbage Patch Kids, this morning Dawn and I went yard sale-ing and I bought Caroline a bag of little Cabbage Patch Kids to play with. When I gave them to her when we got home, she looked through them and asked me what was wrong with this one's hair? I told her that it was just the way that the company made her hair. Caroline told me I could have her if I wanted because her hair was kind of funny. I took a closer look at her and laughed. Doesn't she look like Michelle Duggar? I mean, the hair is dead on! I told Caroline we needed to name her Michelle:

Boone Weekend

2011-06-07T08:15:00.000-04:00

I guess when I gave my kids the option to go to Carowinds yesterday morning or stay home and have a relaxing day and they picked the second option, that summed up our busy weekend! It started with our last soccer games early Saturday morning. We have enjoyed soccer, but I have to say that I have missed our lazy Saturday mornings!

Roy Austin and Team Blue Whales had their soccer party with their cookies, water, orange slices and muffins----fun party, huh?!

Daddy made the morning extra fun during Caroline's game by swinging him around:

Caroline played for a little bit before we had to leave early and head to Boone for a 2:00 wedding. We were rushing like crazy to get there in time!

It was a fun weekend in Boone, since Kristy and her two were there along with Cissie and her husband, Corey. Roy and I also were able to stay in the cabin that we lived in for the first month of our marriage. Love that place! Brings back SO many happy memories of our first days of marriage:)

Charlotte got to spend a little time with her new Graham cousin, Liam. This boy is adorable! So big and sweet. He and Charlotte are six months apart, but have the same size foot and wear the same diaper and clothes size!

Roy gave us girls a break one night and took the kids out for a pizza picnic and ended up making a little campfire for smores:

Corey decided to build a super-sized slip and slide over the weekend and everyone had fun playing and watching. We didn't bring bathing suits, but those soccer uniforms sure did come in handy! Caroline LOVED that slide:

RoyBoy went down two times before deciding that he did not like it. He looked at me and said (through his tears) "I don't like that! That's bad!!!"
Hannah didn't like it, either!

Here is Uncle Corey making a big splash:

I think RoyBoy enjoyed playing in the pond better:

We all got a little sun burned during the water fun and then had a little drama on the way home. Caroline had hurt her toe in VA last week. We had been to the doctor earlier in the week to extract some of the built up blood, and throughout the week, it would look better and then worse, and then better again. Well, I think with the playing in the pond and the toe getting hit and stubbed a few times over the weekend, by Sunday night it looked awful after one last stub. When I saw it, I almost gagged. We were getting out of the car for dinner and it was gushing blood and the toenail looked like it was definitely going to come off----all of it!! Once again, Uncle Dick came to our rescue! This sweet man is Roy's godfather and the man that gave Roy Austin his stitches last summer in Alaska. He took care of Caroline on Sunday night and told her the toenail fairy would come to see her if she put it under her pillow. Sure enough, she came! I didn't know there was a toenail fairy?! We had one excited girl on Monday morning:

And just for fun, here is how RoyBoy came downstairs last night ready to play outside.....khaki shorts with cars on them, an orange shirt turned backwards, cowboy boots, his Woody hat and his prized soccer medal:

We are leaving pretty soon to go to a ToyStory camp at our church and he is SO excited! Last year he wasn't old enough for camp but not this year:)

How to Spend a HOT Day....

2011-06-01T20:59:00.009-04:00

It's now officially summertime, and what better way to celebrate the 95 degree heat in hot, humid Charlotte, North Carolina than to load up three kids and head to an amusement park!

A child's paradise: having an amusement park all to yourself. Carowinds + Charlotte area schools still in session= a good time.

This little girl just sat and took everything in. She is an angel baby!!

Charlie Brown must have had his Old Spice on today. It was a scorcher! I felt bad for those people dressed up like the Peanuts gang.

Charlotte's first "roller coaster" was a slow moving helicopter on a track. Does she look like her daddy in this next picture, or what?!

When we accompanied the kids on the carousel, the ride worker asked me if it was Charlotte's first time on the carousel. The next thing I know, she was announcing on the loud speaker that there was a special rider on board today. "Everyone welcome Charlotte on her first carousel ride!". I laughed but felt kind of silly, too. We were sitting in one of those sleigh things on the carousel and all the moms looked at me and smiled. I think they thought I was some first time mom, taking my 8 month old on a carousel!!

Who wouldn't like to have a roller coaster all to themselves? Caroline is our child who loves roller coasters. She wants to ride the big ones so badly! She had to settle for this baby one, but she got to ride it alone three times in a row:

And there was no crowd-fighting to find seats for "Charlie Brown's Hoedown". We were front and center:

But then again, this was their audience for the 11:00 show:

And when they asked for some volunteers to come help sing a song about Grandma's feather bed, guess who raised her hand?

She said it was so embarrassing, but I think she liked it:)

Oh, and you know those "People of Wal-Mart" emails that have been around for a while? Well, with all of our visits to Carowinds this summer, I promise you that we will have a "People of Carowinds" blog post in the near future. I need to get my nerve up, but it will be done.

Isn't She Lovely?

2011-05-30T11:35:00.012-04:00

On Saturday afternoon, we headed on up the road to Virginia to meet this sweet, little thing.....Eleanore Ruth Seckman, the latest addition to the Reber family:

Thank you, God, for another perfectly healthy blessing!

Here's the proud Mommy. She had this baby in ten minutes with no drugs and you really can't even tell she had a baby. Dolly is amazing! I'm so happy that she has a daughter and can experience the joy and privilege of raising a girl:) She is so happy!

I think Michael will do great as a big bro. He loves babies and was so sweet to Charlotte. He kept wanting to hold her hand:

After church on Sunday, we all met at Mom and Daddy's house for some pot roast. A certain someone in the picture didn't want to sit by Roy Austin because "he puts food on my plate!!!". Poor RoyBoy!

Here is that certain someone: Harry Jack. This boy is hilarious! He has the funniest sense of humor, is always smiling and is always making someone laugh:

Here is his baby sister, Jane. She is so tiny and petite and a typical youngest! So precious!!!

LeRoy was spotted watching a little television together:

Grammy and Caroline got to love on Eleanore some more:

Then Teecy stopped by for an Eleanore visit and got to see Charlotte, too:

And these two got to bond! I see a future of playing Barbies, dressup, swimming and annoying big brothers together:

We were only in town for 24 hours, so on the way out of town, Grammy and Grandaddy took some of us to the new SweetFrog frozen yogurt shop.

Thanks Daddy Boy! SweetFrog is GOOD!

Told you he was funny:

It's Official...We're Going to Kindergarten!!

2011-05-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

This morning, our sweet Caroline "graduated" from TK! This was such a milestone for her and our family. Last year, we slightly struggled with the whole TK thing. We signed her up and knew that this was where she needed to be, but I still had a few lingering questions in the back of my mind. I can now say that we are 100% certain that we did the right thing. I cannot say enough positive things about transitional kindergarten. I won't get on my soapbox, but if you are thinking about doing it for your child, you will not regret it!

Caroline cracked us up when she walked in. First of all, the teachers had that graduation song playing (I can't think of the name of the song) and then all these tiny kids marched in. It was so cute! Caroline is such a shy little girl and she gets embarrassed VERRRRRRY easily. This is how she walked in:

.....and she stood like this for a little bit:

The class wowed the parents by performing the pledge to the American flag and the Christian flag, saying all 66 books of the Bible, and other things they learned. Then they sang a few praise songs. (Caroline is behind the boy in the green shirt):

They learned the Fruit of the Spirit this year and so each child received a "Fruit of the Spirit Award". We beamed with pride when Caroline received the award for showing Faithfulness throughout the year:

Then she received her diploma:

Each graduate drew themselves on a huge banner. Here is Caroline's rendition of herself...smock and all!!!

Sweet Charlotte was an angel during the program. She sat like this the whole time. Thank you, Jesus, for Charlotte!!!! She is a blessing:)

Afterwards we went to a little reception where cake and punch were served. Caroline got to spend some time with some of her friends,too:

And here she is with her teachers, Ms. Helen and Ms. Melissa. I absolutely hate that this year is finished mainly because of these two ladies. They are great teachers and have made Caroline's year so wonderful. They have amazed me with their patience and alllllll the cool art and activities they do each week. It is obvious that they love what they do and they have definitely been our WeeSchool faves:

And speaking of "moving up", today this guy finished his first year of preschool and LOVED it! He had sweet teachers, too. Each school day, Ms. Cathy and Ms. Stacy met each child at the classroom door, on their knees at the child's eye level, and had their arms opened for a hug. I loved that! Roy Austin started the year wearing diapers, and then pull-ups to school, and now my big boy is in underwear!! He is SOOO excited that next fall, his class will be upstairs with the "big kids" and he gets to go to a new playground!!!

So to celebrate our kindergartner-to-be, we had a special cake for dessert tonight. Kindergarten or BUST!!!! We are definitely ready!

Strawberry Flop

2011-05-21T21:44:00.006-04:00

Every Spring we go strawberry picking at a nearby farm. Last year we were a few days too late and when we showed up there was nothing left. I thought for sure we were ahead of the game this year, but when we showed up on Friday, the berries were slim pickins'. We were able to find a few here and there and we brought our Aunt Cissie to join in on the fun!

This sweet boy has really made strides in "growing up" this past week. He politely says "muse me" (excuse me) when he has to ask a question or interrupt me, he has now learned his letters and all of his phonics thanks to LeapFrog Letter Factory (LOVE that movie), and he LOVES to dress himself. His new favorite combo is camouflage and orange.

Our annual "Hall Family Farm" picture. We've been coming here since Caroline was 2!

Denise, someone loves her Hello Kitty shirt. She calls this her cool outfit--Hello Kitty shirt and skinny jeans:) Pretty cool, huh?!

And here are some photos of my cool, little Mommy. Caroline truly loves her baby sister. She wants to hold her all the time and the other day she asked me to teach her how to feed sweet Charlotte. I often catch her trying to carry her and last night, I calmly came to Charlotte's rescue when I saw Caroline laying on the floor playing "airplane" with her. Yikes!!!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-09T14:30:00.005-04:00

Mother's Day is always a special day, but this year it was very special for me. Our church had a baby dedication ceremony in the afternoon and so we were able to dedicate our little Charlotte to the Lord! She was so good during the ceremony. She just sat on Roy's lap looking around and pulling on her socks. It was a sweet service (with crying babies!).

Here is Charlotte's picture when it came up on the baby video:

Our family, minus RoyBoy. I don't know where he was:

There he is (licking the frosting off the cake):

The sweet Capins have been to each of our childrens' dedications. It has meant so much to us!

After the ceremony, there was a reception for the families. Each table had a little bowl of pink and bluw M&M's with a spoon to take them out with. At one time, I looked over and saw my two older children eating the M&M's with the spoon. Where is these childrens' mother??

It was also special to have both of our mothers spend the day with us. How often do people have both moms together on Mother's Day? We did! Thanks, Grammy and Nana for being a part of our family's special day!!

My Little Da Vinci!

2011-05-04T20:09:00.006-04:00

This morning, Caroline's sweet TK class had a "Mom's Art Show" to celebrate Mother's Day. All of the mommies came to a room that was set up like a mini-art gallery filled with art that had recently been done in the classroom. Then the teachers had little easels set up with chairs next to them. We all took turns sitting down while our little artists drew renditons of us. It was definitely a special morning and a sweet way to celebrate Mother's Day! And can I just say that I am SO sad that this school year is coming to a close. Caroline's teachers are the best she's ever had and I am truly going to miss them. Only 17 more school days? Doesn't seem right!

**By the way, the beautiful rendition of me features brown streaks in the blonde hair. I was told that this was my "brown roots". Ouch.

A Great Night to See the Knights!

2011-05-01T16:22:00.004-04:00

Friday night our family went to a Charlotte Knights baseball game. Roy was given some front row seats from a friend, so we decided to see what all the fuss was about. The weather was perfect and we ended up having a great time and decided that we'll have to go back soon! When we walked into the stadium and Roy Austin saw the field, he just stopped and stared. He couldn't believe it! And then when we went to our seats and he saw how close he was to the team, he was in awe:

This little girl was happy, too! Especially since her Daddy bought her and her brother a huge bag of cotton candy and a coke---EACH! They were wild.

We sat right above the opposing team's dugout and one of those cokes fell on top of the roof of the dugout and rolled right over the edge. She thought she was going to get in so much trouble. I love my rule-follower! Here she is being comforted and assured she wouldn't get in trouble:

But she was soon much better when Daddy caught the ball thrown by the team as they came in from the outfield. Caroline and Roy Austin had sheer joy on their faces! They were so proud of Roy and they think that baseball is the coolest thing:

Our Royal Wedding Experience

2011-04-29T10:15:00.000-04:00

When Diana married Prince Charles, I was one year old, so I don't remember it. But, growing up I was in awe of Princess Diana. My mom had a huge coffee table book all about Diana and I remember sitting on the couch so many times and looking through that book just studying her. I loved it! I can remember the exact place I was when I heard that she had died and I woke up at the crack of dawn to watch her funeral. The other day, I realized that Kate Middleton will be to Caroline and her generation what Diana was to me and my generation. She will always know her as a princess and she is at the age where she will remember events that are taking place now. Plus, there is the added bonus that everything princess and happily ever after is Caroline's second language right now! So, I knew that I had to celebrate this wedding and do it up right for our Princess!

I broke out the china and silver for this occasion. On the menu was French Toast with fruit, bacon, juice and a pot of tea. And let me just say that I just about drank (or is it drunk? hmmm.) that entire pot.

Do you like our napkins? They're in honor of the House of Windsor. And I pulled out RoyBoy's Double-Decker bus for a little salute to jolly old England.

I was up at 3:30, but I waited until 5:45 to wake Her Royal Highness. She was tired....

...but when that bride appeared, she piped up!

She had the funniest remarks throughout the wedding. When the Reverend was praying at the beginning, Caroline asked if they were praying to God and I told her yes. She quickly clasped her hands and bowed her head and closed her eyes. It was sweet!! She prayed along with the church the entire wedding! Also, she wondered why "those boys sounded like girls" when the boys choir sang and then she thought it was funny that Prince William had a bald head!

Then this funny boy woke up and he was INTO the wedding! He was all about the pomp and circumstance.

Lady Charlotte of Charlotte. She wore her Cinderella smock today to celebrate the nuptials.

Now, the wedding was definitely worth celebrating, but we had another reason to celebrate April 29th, too. Today is the 10th anniversary of the day that my own Prince asked me to marry him! That was a gorgeous Spring day back in 2001. I can't believe it's been 10 years!

It was a wonderful and memorable morning for this house! We will never forget it! Best Wishes to the new Royal couple!!

Little Household Annoyances

2011-04-27T13:52:00.005-04:00

I never buy gum. I guess I take after my Mom---chomping and smacking of gum drives her crazy and it does the same for me, too. But, yesterday I had to attend a meeting and wanted to make sure I had minty-fresh breath so I bought a pack. Roy Boy noticed it in the car this morning. When we pulled into the school parking lot and he got out of his seat, he ran to the front of the car. I was getting Charlotte out of her seat and he was hurrying as fast as he could, getting a piece out of the box, unwrapping it as quickly as possible and stuffing it into his tiny mouth---chewing like crazy before I could reach him. The whole situation was so funny, it was hard not to laugh. So, I let him chew it with the promise that he would ask me if he ever wanted a piece of gum. By the way, this is my sweet gum chewin' Big Bro/cowboy today:

He dressed himself. He loves this shirt and the boots!

He did really well keeping the gum in his mouth all morning. Until right before lunch time. He was playing in the playroom and I noticed a nice piece of blue gum sitting in the TV cabinet. I went back later to take a picture and it was gone. Hmmm. I've searched all over for gum in the carpet, curtains, hiding in a bed, etc. He says he ate it. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

So this got me thinking of other annoyances around my house. This first one is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine. Unfortunately, it's carried out mainly by the main man of our house:

Come on! Go the extra step and just insert the roll onto the bar!

And this next annoyance is by my other sweet RoyBoy. For some reason, he is certain that a shower curtain is a towel. I have told him and told him, but nope. He still believes that the curtain is hanging there for him to wipe his face and hands. Here is his shower curtain. It's a little hard to see, but there are some dirty marks from his "Clean" hands, and some toothpaste marks from a nicely brushed mouth being wiped on it:

And his sister's pretty, white shower curtain with another mouth-sized mark of bubble gum flavored tooth-paste. I know he did this because I watched him do it:

Total change of subject, but if you are a woman and are looking for a great book to read, read this:

My Bible study has been reading this book this past semester and we are just about finished. It is SO good! She hits the nail on the head throughout the entire book. I have learned a lot about myself and my insecurities and I do not want to pass them down to my two girls. Women are really complex human beings!!

Cousin Time!

2011-04-18T08:03:00.006-04:00

Sunday morning was early for us. We woke up, loaded the car, took three sleepy kids from their beds to their car seats and pulled out of our driveway by 6:30! We left for Savannah, GA to meet this sweet boy:

William Scott Graham, or Liam!

I thought Charlotte was tiny, but she no longer a newborn:( Liam is a big boy! He's not even three weeks old yet, but he looks like he could be six weeks! For some reason, this blog layout is all mixed up and I can't get it to set right, but here are some pictures from our day. Caroline and Roy Austin loved playing with Hannah and all of her toys, and Uncle Roy got to hold sweet Liam for a little bit.

Two brothers and all of their children: Caroline, Charlotte, Liam, Hannah and Roy Austin. Uncle Edward asked RoyBoy if he wanted to see his motorcycle and he couldn't get to the garage fast enough. He put him up there and this guy was all smiles:)

Pretty in Pink!

2011-04-12T14:29:00.008-04:00

Call me crazy, but I have never put polish on Caroline's finger or toe nails. I don't know what I've been waiting for. I guess I just liked the innocence of plain fingers and toes. Since she's been in TK this year, I've taken her out a few times just to have a special Mommy day and today was one of those days. We dropped Roy Austin off at preschool and then headed to get a little girl pedicure!

She said she wanted her toes to be a pale pink. She settled for "Aphrodite's Pink Nightie". Yikes!

Soaking her "piggies" (what she calls her toes):

It's funny how when I cut her toenails, she squirms and cries. But when a stranger does it, she doesn't even flinch.

When the lady brought the paint out, Caroline leaned forward to watch. I could tell she was in awe! You can't really see the color, but believe me, her piggies are very pretty! She keeps telling me, "Mommy, I look really old with my toenails painted!"

She also asked me if we could go back one day:) Definitely!

Six and Loving It!

2011-04-07T16:39:00.009-04:00

April 7th began with the Birthday Fairy leaving her trademark balloons in our birthday girl's room. She woke up at the crack of dawn and came running in our bedroom with her sunglasses on, holding a flashlight and singing "Happy Birthday" to herself! She was ready to ce-le-brate!

Auntie Denise called soon after to sing her annual rendition of the birthday song. It brought a smile to this giddy girl's face:

Later that morning, I brought McDonald's Happy meals for Caroline and RoyBoy for lunch and cookies for the rest of her friends. Roy Austin wanted to eat lunch with Caroline so badly in her classroom and he felt SOOO big doing it. She was very sweet to him, helped him out and made him feel welcome with all the big kids:)

After the party, the class had to write in their journals and the topic was "Caroline". It was so cute to see everyone's drawings of her.....all the "Caroline's" had big bows in their hair! That bow's been a trademark since she was an hour old, and I can only hope that the bows stay in the picture this year. Headbands are starting to creep in!

Caroline wanted a Jessie the Cowgirl theme for her birthday and she picked barbecue for her dinner choice. She loves a good barbecue meal (my kind of girl!!). She wanted a cowgirl boot cake, too, but it had to be pink...not Jessie's signature red boot.

While we were practicing our piano, Roy Boy was in the kitchen alone and later I saw what he was doing....check out the heel on the boot:

Let's get this party started!

One of her favorite gifts....matching pajamas with her Samantha doll! She was so excited when she opened them and it was so nice to see her happy reaction. They were put on right away!

Year 7....BRING IT!

April 7th

2011-04-07T06:00:00.001-04:00

Today is the day that this sweet girl turns SIX!!!!!!

We thank God all the time that He gave her to us first. Being a typical oldest, Caroline is such a little mother, has a lovely, giving heart like her Daddy, is a peace-maker and truly wants to please the Lord in all she does. It has been so special to watch her willingly give her heart to Jesus this past Fall and then continue to grow spiritually. We are so proud of our "Liney"!!

So, Happy Birthday to our girl who loves to: sing opera style and annoy her brother by doing it, draw pictures of her family, play Barbies, swing on the swingset, hold her baby sister, read books, sing "God Bless America", go to Pei-Wei, the colors pink and purple, headbands, dessert, Tom and Jerry, and so many other things. We love YOU and are so glad you belong to us! You make our hearts smile:)

A+ For Creativity!

2011-04-05T11:28:00.004-04:00

As we were leaving the neighborhood for school this morning, we saw this: Seven signs that brought a smile to my face. Here's what they said: #1: Hey, Beautiful! #2: Yes, you, Emily. #3: P #4: R #5: O #6: M? #7: a box with "yes" and another box with "yes" to be checked:) Wasn't that a cute way for Emily to be asked to the prom? I hope she says yes, and I hope she lets the neighborhood know her decision:)

Soccer Mom

2011-04-02T16:07:00.007-04:00

Back when Roy and I were newlyweds and had nothing to do on Saturday mornings than to sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast while tossing around ideas about what to do with our day, we'd pass soccer fields on the way to the mall and we'd smile and say, "one day we'll be there with our kids!". Well.....today was that day!

For weeks, we've been waiting for soccer to begin. RoyBoy, especially, has been so excited to finally do a "ballgame". The other day on the radio, "Eye of the Tiger" came on (it was a kids station, I promise) and I told him it was a cool ballgame song. He loved it! So this morning when he woke up I started singing it to him and again, he loved it! It was a cold morning here in Charlotte, so he had to wear some sweats that I pulled out from storage that were his cousin, Harry's and....again...he LOVED it! You could just tell that he felt SO cool. It took Caroline a little longer to get out of bed and feel the excitement, but once we showed up at the fields, she was ready. RoyBoy played first. He plays in a 3 year old league and it is the cutest thing to see those little boys kick balls all over the place!

Caroline plays in an older league and did very well, too....considering she's never played any sport. On the way to the game she even said, "I can throw a ball really well!". We quickly reminded her that soccer was played with feet:)

She was so sweet cheering her brother on while he played. He didn't care so much when she played. He was more into playing in the gravel and dirt. She even gave her team snack (a Dunkin' Donut hole) to him after he had his own team snack and started whining when he couldn't have any of her team's snack. I love this girl!

Both kids were thrilled to get their jerseys and soccer socks. Let's hear it for the Blue Whales and Team Brazil and for getting up and out the door early on Saturdays for the next two months!

Do it...do it!

2011-03-23T15:30:00.004-04:00

Lately we have been enforcing "first time obedience" with our sweet Roy Boy like crazy. This boy loves to push buttons, do things his way, and test the limits. And something else he loves to do? Encourage others to disobey and do things that will make others mad. We often hear (in a whispered voice) "Do it! Do it!" and, although funny, it can be really annoying, too.

Another annoyance lately around this house: potty talk is back!! Will we ever get out of this stage? The sad thing is, it's more with Caroline now. I often hear, "poop!" or "pee pee!" and then lots of giggling. At night when we put the kids to bed, they will yell back and forth potty words. Again, funny....but reaaaalllllly annoying. So this morning, I had had it. We were loading up the car for school and sweet Caroline, who is almost six, said "Ooo! I like to poop in my pants!" (said while shaking her bottom)which was followed by hilarious giggling. I had just buckled RoyBoy up and I looked at her and said, "I'll be right back. I need to go get a diaper.". When I got back in the car, I told her that I'd give it to her teachers just in case she had a poopy accident today...since she likes to poop in her pants and all. She looked horrified and begged me not to. Instantly, Roy Austin said his encouraging phrase "do it, Mommy, do it!" and Caroline promised never to say bad words again (yeah right). So as I drove to school, I wondered if I was being too mean making her sweat it out in the back seat. Then I figured that I needed to teach her a lesson. She was an angel on the way to school, too. So we walked to her class, me holding the diaper, her asking me if I was going to tell, and RoyBoy encouraging me. She ran to her class and looked back at me with a smile and a look like "please don't do it!". She came back to give me a kiss, while I pretended to be looking for her teacher, and smiling. I finally told her that I wasn't going to leave the diaper, but she needed to clean up her words. Lesson learned.

As we walked away, RoyBoy still begged me to give the diaper to her teachers. Hmmm....what kind of lesson can I teach him about positive encouragement?

Bobcats and Cool Cats

2011-03-14T15:30:00.000-04:00

When we were trying to potty train RoyBoy, we promised him that when he was finally trained, we'd take him to a ballgame. Lucky for us, we live in a town with a pro-football and basketball team. The kids were so good on Friday, so I let them skip their naps and play. Roy called me around 4:30 and said that he was going to take Roy Austin and Caroline uptown to find tickets for the 7:00 Bobcats game and they'd ride the train to make it fun. I felt bad for him because I knew a long night was in store for him...

Two excited kids who had no nap, were hungry and had no idea what a Bobcats game was like.

The only tickets Roy could scalp (sp??) were way up in the nosebleed section. After buying the kids pizza, cotton candy and coke, they found their seats.

Roy said Caroline was SO excited the entire night. He didn't think she stopped screaming and cheering the entire night.
She especially liked the Bobcats cheerleaders. She told Roy that she didn't think their costumes were appropriate, though. Good girl, Caroline:)

Roy's brother, Will, was giving a mini-sermon after the game for Faith and Family Night. Roy called me at 10 and told me they were getting ready to leave and head home. He had to take two tired kids back on the 45+ minute train ride back to their car and then they were home by 11:15. They had a long day, but they have a good Daddy--especially after working all day:) Thanks for getting potty trained, RoyBoy!

____________________________________________________________

Then on Saturday night, Roy and I attended a murder mystery dinner with our Sunday School Class. There were about 16 couples there and the theme was a class reunion set in the 80's. There are SO many possibilities for 80's looks and all the costumes were perfect!

Roy and I were Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but we were not related. Roy's character had total amnesia and he had to make up stories the whole night about what he did. We decided on a Magnum PI look for him. Hawaiin shirt, white pants, mullet, gold aviators, brief case and even a cigar:)

Chrystal and Dave (aka Tiger Dave)

Jill wore one of her old dresses (complete with a big old bow on the back).

April's outfit was HILARIOUS. She won for best costume!

Laura and Ron. Ron's character was a celebrity who was a little crazy and had a temper. He kept walking around giving autographs and taking pictures and throughout the night, you'd randomly hear "WINNING!" being shouted out by him:)

Dawn played a rich socialite-kind-of-girl. Ron's character offered her a cigarette during a tense time for her character!

Abby was a bounty hunter who trained in Asia somewhere.

We had a great night and all of us agreed that we would definitely do another one sometime soon!

25 Things

2011-03-10T16:30:00.000-05:00

I am copying my sister, Denise, and listing 25 random facts about me. I did this before a few years ago, but here are 25 more. And by the way, it is HARD to think of 25 random things about yourself. So here they are, in no particular order:

1. Boogers: I love it when one of my kids has a (don't get grossed out) huge booger in their nose...especially infants. Nothing thrills me like seeing a crusty boogie. I stick my pinky nail in their and do a "pinky sweep". LOVE it.

2. Thank You Notes:I am getting terrible about writing thank you notes. I used to truly enjoy writing them and I'd get them out immediately. I mean, I prided myself in the fact that I had ALL of my wedding thank you's written within our first month of marriage. Now, when I have to write a thank you note, it brings on thoughts of dread.

3. Bucket List: On the list: See Barbra Streisand in concert. She was on tour a few years ago but she didn't come near Charlotte, and her ticket prices in other cities were ca-razy! I know she stands for the exact opposite of what I believe, but I can't help it. I like Babs. I love her voice and Funny Girl is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'll have to stick to her Timeless DVD concert I have for now. I love cleaning the house to this:)

4. Road Rage: I do not have road rage at all. I am usually very nice about letting people in front of me, etc. BUT, I cannot stand the parking lot at my kids' school. Everything about it drives me nuts. The moms who take forever to get the kids in and out of the car when they're parked next to you and you can't get in or out of your car, the moms who have long conversations with other moms in their car and hold up the lines, the parking lot guy who ALWAYS stops my car to let others go, and then it takes an eternity to get out of the parking lot. I am looking forward to the car-pool line next year:)

5. More Bucket: Another Bucket Lister that will hopefully be crossed off this year: Go to Italy with Roy. We have always said that we were going to go to Venice for our 10th anniversary. Can't you just see us on a gondola going down the canals??? This is the year of our 10th, but I'll have an almost 1 year old around that time. We may have to postpone it a few months, but so far it's still in the plans:)

6. Bull Chase: When I was in the sixth grade, I had to build a replica of the Great Wall of China. I went out into our cow pasture one day to gather some moss to place on the mountain parts. All of a sudden I heard a galloping sound behind me and I was being chased by a herd of cows, led by Chief, our bull! No joke. It was a terrifying experience for me. Chief got so close to me that I could see his nostrils flaring. I started screaming and waved my grocery bag at him and all of a sudden he turned and took off running the other way. I truly believe I had a guardian angel standing between us that day. The funny thing is, when I RAN back to the house telling my family what happened, they didn't believe me! The men working on the barn confirmed it, though:)

7. Sports: I am not athletic, at all. I can work out, run and I can play ball casually, but I'm not a hard-core athlete. This makes me an odd ball in Roy's family because EVERYONE is an athlete and they "get" sports. The only sport I truly enjoy is basketball. I was the statistician for the varsity boys basketball team in highschool with my friend, Holli. We really had a fun time with that:) Anyway, I still love the smell of a gym mixed with the smell of popcorn. The sound of a buzzer going off and the squeaks of tennis shoes! I just signed the kids up for soccer this week and I think I need to pay a visit to Barnes and Noble and purchase Soccer for Dummies. I'm n0t joking.

8. Alcohol: When I was 19, my sister's sister-in-law was tragically killed by a drunk driver. It affected me in so many ways. It was the first time I had ever experienced a true tragedy from the sidelines. I still think about it often. I have zero tolerance for people who drink (any amount) and then drive.

9. Music: I love to go grocery shopping in the morning hours because they play my kind of music. I guess it's the time that the elderly are usually out, because it's always nice standard-type music playing. In fact, the other day at Harris Teeter, I had Charlotte in the Baby Bjorn, I got my Starbucks and then I perused the produce section as I hummed "The Tender Trap" to her (a great Sinatra tune).

10. Weird Habit: When I drive down the streets in our neighborhood, or drive into the kids' school and wave hello to someone, I have a weird habit of humming, "mmmm, hi!" to them. I know they can't hear me, but I always do the humming bit before I mouth "hi".

11. Term of Endearment: It drives me nuts (and Roy, too) when couples call each other "babe" or "baby".

12. Talent??: I have a weird talent of being able to think of a song to go with any situation. It just comes to my head instantly when something happens or is said. My brother-in-law, Leland, seems to think this is funny (I think it annoys him!!).

13. Be Still, My Heart: In the fall of 1999, when I saw Roy walk into my dad's office (I was the afternoon receptionist), I got instant butterflies. This was the start of my crush on him (see, right now I have I've Got a Crush on You playing in my head!). This boy still gives me butterflies, especially when he's been on a trip and I pick him up at the airport and see him waiting in front of the US Air area:)

14. Playing Hookie: Growing up, my sister, Dolly, and I were the last ones home. My parents were going to Israel one day and before they left for their trip, I got Daddy to sign a blank sheet of paper, to which I added above (afterwards), "Please excuse Donna and Dolly from school today at 9:00." The secretary got kind of suspicious because Dolly had another excused absence for later that afternoon. She had to go to some type of appointment. So, the secretary called my mom to confirm these notes. I had an office runner come to my first period class to tell me that I needed to stay in school. Ouch.

15. Perks of Being the Youngest: By the time it was just me in highschool, I played hookie a lot. My dad had this rubber stamp with his signature on it and I would stamp that thing on a note written by myself. I was good at them: "Please excuse Donna today at 10:15." "Please excuse Donna today at 1:00". I had an assortment and used them especially during my senior year, which was a joke because I only took 3-4 classes. I guess this is a privilege of being the youngest??!

16. Gifts: You know how people say that if they got a blender or a vacuum cleaner for their birthday from their husband, they'd be mad? Well, call me crazy but I love these kinds of gifts! I love getting clothes for birthdays and Christmas, but I also love a good 'ol appliance. I even hinted to Roy that I wanted a grilling pan for my birthday this year, but he didn't come through. I think he thought I was joking?

17. Sisters: Nobody makes me laugh harder than my sisters. And besides Roy, there is nobody I can be my total self around and act crazy with than these 4 girls. They "get" me. These relationships are truly a gift and I am THRILLED that Caroline and Charlotte have each other!

18. Chores:I love to do laundry, but I detest putting it away. I love to load a dishwasher, but I can't stand unloading it. Many times a laundry basket will sit in the laundry room or in the upstairs hallway with clean, folded clothes for days. And many times, our dishwasher will sit with clean dishes in it for many days and I eventually rewash it (after adding more dirty dishes) because of the stale smell it gets.

19. Cruella DeVil: Okay, this is really mean but you know those animal rescue commercials...I think it's the ASPCA? I always get the giggles when they come on! I think it's the music that is played during them. Like "Arms of an Angel" and "You Were Always on My Mind" and they have pitiful looking puppies with sad eyes that say things like "abandoned and suffering from a broken heart", or a cat with a tiny cast on it's leg and the caption says "beaten and left to die". I don't know why but I always end up giggling to myself when they come on!

20. Speed: My first car was a 1983 Honda Accord. The speedometer did not work. My mom told me that if I was passing a lot of cars, then I'd know I was speeding. This kind of trained me not to watch the speedometer when I drove, so now when I drive, once in a while I'll glance down and realize I'm going kind of fast! Since I first started driving, I have received 2 speeding tickets....both for going over 15 miles the limit. YIKES!! But, my last ticket was in 2001. Knock on wood:)

21. Soaps:The summer of my 6th grade year, Marlena Evans came back from the dead on Days of Our Lives. My mom had watched the show when she was a newlywed and she loved Marlena, so she wanted to see her return. So, I watched with her and I became hooked! Throughout my highschool days, I was a litttttttttttttle obsessed with Days of Our Lives. I loved the Jack and Jennifer storyline the best. Nowadays, DOOL is ridiculously stupid (as if it wasn't back then), but if I'm home during the 1:00 hour and the kids are napping, I may occasionally flip between All My Children (Teecy got me hooked on that when I was a teen) and Days.

22. Favorite Day: My favorite day of the week is Saturday. I love to spend it with Roy and the kids just doing whatever we want--no schedule or obligations. I especially like working in the yard with him or doing a home project together! Bring it.

23. Double Standard: I am a pop-culture junkie. I love a good People mag, a reality show, and when the kids are upstairs and I'm making dinner, I love to watch TMZ or E! I love celebrity gossip, but I cannot stand celebrities. They annoyingly intrigue me (is that even a correct phrase?). I don't enjoy narcissistic people and for the life of me, I cannot understand people who chase fame. I don't get it! (said like the guy in "Big"...I know my sisters are laughing:)

24. You're Just Like Your...: Each year I find myself gaining more and more characteristics of both my parents. For example, I can't take noise/chaos--just like my dad. If the TV is on, and the kids are being loud, and a toy is making noise and Roy's trying to tell me something, I have to stop everything and turn the TV off, tell the kids to be quiet, etc. And when I am driving and come to a traffic light, I turn the volume down on the radio...same with commercials--the TV volume gets turned down. I can also be walking through the house and see a speck of something on the floor and stop to pick it up. (Thanks, Daddy!) And I am becoming more like my sweet mom each year, too. The way I stand, the way I say things (sometimes I'll say "Oh, Roy!" and he'll call me "Jan"). I think everyone becomes their parent(s) eventually!

25. Guilty Pleasure: If I could splurge on any guilty pleasure, I would definitely chose to have a daily housekeeper. I would love to have someone come each morning and clean up the breakfast dishes, pick up the house, make the beds (with fresh sheets), clean the bathrooms, do the laundry, pick up the toys, dust and vacuum EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Just Me...Rolling My Eyes.

2011-02-24T14:44:00.008-05:00

Things That Have Annoyed Me This Week:

1. Five year olds who are obsessed with Justin Beiber and people thinking it's adorable.

2. Charlie Sheen. This guy is cuckoo for coco puffs! I can't wait for 20/20 tonight.

3. Lindsay Lohan's smirk when the judge talked to her about how serious her issues were. Sad to say, but I bet this girl will be dead in a few years due to her reckless, narcissistic lifestyle. What happened to the sweet Lindsay from Parent Trap?

4. Check out Gadaffi before and after. He was kind of good looking back in the day. Looks like he had a few plastic surgeries go bad:

4. Brad Womack. This guy is a LOSER! I'm sorry but I don't get the appeal. I know he's good looking, but he has no personality and his forehead doesn't move when he talks! Any guy who gets botox is strange in my book. Did you hear last night when he told Ashley that he had never come close to proposing or marrying a girl? LIAR! Read last week's US Weekly.

5. The Dancing With the Stars cast is a little boring this season. The only ones I'm interested in watching is Kirstie Alley and Kendra Wilkinson. Oh, and I heard that they are trying to get a same sex couple on the dance floor soon. They tried to get Ellen's "wife" to do it this season but she wouldn't sign. If they bring same sex couples to the dance floor, my days of watching the show will be over.

Chaw-uhl-stun

2011-02-23T11:06:00.009-05:00

I'm laughing right now at my post title. I wanted it to sound like a good 'ol Southern Belle's version of "Charleston". Did it work?

Last weekend, I joined my mother-in-law and my three sisters-in-law on our first ever Graham Girls Weekend in Charleston, SC. I LOVE this city...the history, beauty, food....it's wonderful! We went to celebrate Jane's 60th birthday and we had a fun time together just doing whatever we wanted. I brought along Miss Charlotte because #1. She's just too little to leave and #2. She has a strong dislike for bottles. She was an absolute angel:) But I left my camera in the room for about half of our stay, so my pictures are slim pickins'. I stole a few from Cissie's Facebook page:)

My in-laws. One certain girl (hint: wearing black stripes) likes to tease me that I need to get with the times and own an iphone. Apparently my 5 year old Razor is not 2011 enough. I only answer my cell 40% of the time so I like to tease back that I am not a slave to my cell. Case in point: Check out these four slaves with their gadgets:

That photo was semi-posed. I looked up at one point and saw three of them doing this!

Here I am with my nice Razor talking to Roy and getting an update on things at home. Yes, that is a Hooter Hider around my neck and yes, I did feed sweet Charlotte in the restaurant. I never thought I'd be one of "those" ladies:

Here we are at the Battery. We had fun looking at all the beautiful homes:

A visit to Charleston must include a walk through the old slave market. I bought a cookbook from the Charleston Junior League Club. Can't wait to try it out!

This little piggy went to market:

I didn't make that up. A man stopped us and told us that as we were walking down Market Street:)

Perhaps the best part of the trip was dinner on Saturday night at High Cotton. This is Roy's and my favorite restaurant in Charleston. We discovered it on our first anniversary and we visit it each time we return. We had the best waitress ever---so sweet and friendly.

Charlotte was a hit in this restaurant, too! Our waitress even took her and carried her around while we ate our dessert! As she walked into the main part of the restaurant I heard her say to some people, "this is Charlotte!". It was funny:

Oh, and a bit of trivia, The Notebook was filmed in this restaurant! Just another reason to love Hight Cotton.

It was a very relaxing 2 days. Pedicures, walking, eating, shopping....we really enjoyed ourselves and decided that we will make a girls weekend an annual thing!

Valentines 2011

2011-02-15T08:11:00.000-05:00

For the past few Valentine's Days, Roy and I have either gone out to eat and waited in huge lines or waited until the kids went to bed and then had a LATE meal alone. This year, I decided to start a new tradition--throw a Valentine's Ball at home, with a homemade meal at a normal time and with all of my Valentines! I put on a little Frank Sinatra and got the party started...

I made everyone dress up for our shin-dig. Caroline was really into this! RoyBoy's shirttail was untucked and the sports coat was off in a flash.

I broke out the nice china, silver and crystal for the occasion. It was actually a good chance to teach the kids about how to use it and correct manners for eating at a nice restaurant, etc. One child was really interested, one could have cared less.

On the menu was Beef Wellington, heart shaped smashed potatoes and a side salad. See the nice card my sweet husband had for me? That is the only thing I ever want for V-Day or anniversaries...just a sweet note telling me what I mean to him:) He did good and I was very appreciative:)

Now for dessert, I made chocolate lava cakes by Musing Foodie's Catherine. These were so easy to make and very good, but very rich! I was impressed! (See my Starbucks giftcards from my nice, little children?! I will enjoy these very much.).

Sweet Charlotte was content as could be in the kitchen kicking to Frank's music. I love this girl so much! She is such a sweetheart girl!

Hmmmm.....I wonder where Roy Austin sat?

Me and my Valentine and our baby. Caroline took the picture:)

After dinner, we did a little dancing....

I'm thinking this will be a yearly tradition for our family. It was fun and dinners at home are always the best!! When Caroline was going upstairs to get ready for bed she said, "This has been the best Valentine's Day ever!".

Thirteen Things

2011-02-11T05:00:00.001-05:00

Today is my niece, Maddie's, birthday. This isn't just any birthday. This is the day she becomes a teenager! WOW.

Maddie was the first grandchild born into our family and you would have thought we won the lottery when she was born. To say we were thrilled is not the right word! I was hooked--line and sinker-- from the moment I found out she was forming in her mommy's belly, and when I first saw her red, screaming face, I was head over heels in love.

So, because I can't be there to help celebrate the big day, here are 13 reasons why I love sweet Maddie Girl. Maddie:

1. I love that you made me an Auntie.

2. I love how happy you have always been and still are. You have such a pretty smile:)

3. I love how kind you are to everyone you meet. You are never embarrassed to meet a stranger or talk to anybody (well, maybe at McAlister's Deli on New Year's Eve!!).

4. I love how excited you've always been to see me. (I can still see a 2 year old Maddie standing outside Grammy's house ringing the doorbell, looking through the window and when she spots me coming to the door, she goes crazy!!).

5. I love how cool you are. If I was 13, I would totally want to be your BFF.

6. I love how you helped prepare me to be a mommy. I loved babysitting and taking care of you when you were little. It was a true joy:)

7. I love that when we get together, you always want to bake cookies with me!

8. I love how thankful you are. You are always so quick to say "thank you". You are a very appreciative person, and this is a great characteristic to have in life. Keep it up!

9. I love that you love to eat candy! Any time I see candy, I think of you (and your siblings)!!

10. I love that you always want to come visit us in Charlotte. You are welcome here any time and I am glad that you think we are fun to visit!

11. I love what a good help you are to your mom. You are great at it! You also help me out so much with my kids when you come to visit. Your cousins LOVE you and they think you hung the moon:)

12. I love the young lady you have become. And I love that you talk to me about your life! PLEASE keep this up!!!!

13. I love all the memories that flood my mind with you in them. We've shared some fun times and there are only more to be had!

So, even though I have my own children now, you still hold a special place in my heart. You were the cutest toddler, the most obnoxious 7 year old, and now you've grown into such a beautiful young lady--inside and out. Happy Birthday, teenager! I love you!

Glad I'm a Member!

2011-02-10T13:33:00.002-05:00

This was the scene in front of the kids' preschool as we left to come home today (a little after 1 pm). See the small line forming in front of the entrance? That is the line for public registration.....TOMORROW! Yes, once registration is complete for church members and current school families, it's open to the public and people stand in line a day in advance to be first the next morning. So crazy!! It's famous for being one of the best preschools in Charlotte and so this line is infamous. A few years ago, they started opening up the gym so people wouldn't be freezing to death during the night. Like the title of the post says, I'm so glad I'm a member!!

For Those With Girls

2011-02-09T16:24:00.009-05:00

My friend, Teecy, sent me this link today for a great blog she found. If you have daughters, read the first two blog posts she has posted. It's SO true. And don't laugh at me when Caroline isn't allowed to listen to the Justin Beiber of her time!
Click Here for the link.

Mission Accomplished!

2011-02-05T20:33:00.008-05:00

After waking up dry for many nights in a row, we finally decided to take RoyBoy to Build-a-Bear today to pick out his prize for becoming potty trained. For days he has been telling us that he was going to get a "boy Flopsy" (Caroline's Build-a-Bear is a bunny named Flopsy) and he was going to name it "Sponge Bob". Let me give you some back ground info here: We do not watch Sponge Bob at our house. Roy Austin was somewhere recently where he accidentally watched an episode and ever since then, he talks about SB all the time and he can spot his character anywhere in any store! He knows we don't watch him and that I don't like him, so he loves to say, "I like Sponge Bob, Mommy" just to watch me light up! He's a mess!

So, the five of us took off for the mall this morning. I think everyone in Charlotte was there today, because it was extremely busy. He would not look at the camera, but here is the big boy before he went in the store:

He needs a haircut desperately. When his hair gets like this, we call him "Mountain Boy". He looked at all the choices and then he spotted him.... the wolf. He insisted that this was the one he needed to get. Roy and I laughed, because it was totally him!

I love Caroline's face in this picture! She brought her Flopsy along, so she could give her a bath at the store:) She never asked for anything for herself while we were there, and she was genuinely happy for her brother--one of our family bylaws: Always share each other's happiness and hurts.

Out of all the clothes that were for sale, RoyBoy picked a good 'ol Harley Davidson shirt for his wolf and some black jeans. Should I be scared?? A wolf and a Harley outfit? We sat down to register his wolf and when it came time to pick the name, there was no hesitation....."Sponge Bob Graham". So, here is RoyBoy (after a long day without a nap) and Sponge Bob: