Fun Weekend

Clay & I had a great date on a rooftop in downtown Charleston. We had a table overlooking the harbor and Market Street while the sun slowly went down behind us. The weather was just right with a steady breeze. We had a fantastic meal and great company (each other)...it just doesn't get better than that!

Abby was playing "mail man" this weekend. She kept getting into my trash can and pulling out my junk mail then walking them over to me. Only a few of the letters ended up ripped, crushed or slobbered on by the time they made it to me....just like our regular mail. She's got what it takes to join the postal team. I think Abby takes after her Grandma Carolyn!

Abby was playing in her play pen when all of a sudden she gave out a loud cry. I ran over to her to see what was wrong and then I quickly grabbed the camera (I know, bad mommy!), but it was too funny to pass up. She had fell into her little drum bucket and got stuck. I quickly helped her out (after taking a picture for the blog of course!).

Oh what fun we had this past weekend. We went to the Children's Museum downtown and had a ball with the kids. Here is a picture of Cody in their castle room where he ran through the dungeon and sat on the royal throne.

Abby got to dress up in traditional Chinese garb in her baby area - she wasn't too keen on wearing the hat.


Cody loved playing in the water and on the big shrimp boat. Daddy put Cody in the fish net and other kids joined in as they hoisted him up in the air. Cody showed off his prize catch of a plastic fish. You can tell he has this whole fishing thing figured out.














Here are a few fun photos I took of me with each of the kids.

How cute are you?

Kids Update

Here are some pictures from this last week. Cody had his friend Mackenzie over. They played pirates all night (I made them pirate hats out of construction paper)...hording "booty" and eating their pirate "grub" (goldfish). Here is Pirate Madame Mackenzie and Pirate Crazy Cody showing off their pretend pirate swords for the camera. Abby didn't really understand what was going on.

Speaking of Miss Abby, she is walking now! She is always on the go, never wanting to stop. (I wonder where she gets that from?) I was able to catch a few picture of her on the move. There's no stopping her now!



Here are a few more cute pictures of Abby flashing her two-tooth-grin...man, she is too cute!



















And Cody is still excited about firetrucks and firemen. He helped make cupcakes to take to our local fire station last weekend. He just loves it and I think they love showing him all of their cool stuff. Clay even got a chance to check out the jaws of life. We may make a trip to the fire station every weekend...its as good as going to the park!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

This is such a sweet picture of my dad dancing with me at my wedding five years ago. I remember thinking how sweet it was that I was actually dancing with my dad. I don't remember ever doing that before. I was just trying to take every second of it in while encouraging him to keep moving....I think at one point he was just standing still. Dad never told me what he was thinking about during our dance, but I think his expression says it all!

Well, today is Father's Day, so I thought I would share some of my favorite things about my dad:
Early years:
- Dad drove me to school most mornings and picked up a grilled cheese with mayo at Bill Mack's Diner on the way...I probably had the highest cholesterol in my elementary school!
- He let me go with him and sit in the firetruck while he was on a call...I was (and still am) proud of him for serving in the fire dept for almost 30 years!
Teen years:
- Dad always said "I love you" even though I always responded with a "me too" response (I was a stubborn kid)
- Taught me to drive...threw a fence! (who knew the brake and the gas weren't the same thing?)
- He came to all of my football games when I was in the band...definitely my biggest fan!
College and beyond:
- Marshall football games...do I need to say more? (Go Herd!)
- Encouraged me to finish school no matter what...thanks for letting me change my major several times! (so it took five years...but I finally graduated!!!)
- Helped me move all of my stuff to South Carolina from Ohio...I know that had to be hard for him.
Now that I'm grown up:
- Gave his ok to Clay to marry me....definitely one of the best decisions he has ever made!
- Showed up for both of the grandkids' births....that meant the world to me!
- Still loves me no matter what!

Thanks daddy for just being so good to me over the years....I think you are even better as a "Poppy" to my kids! I love you and can't thank you enough for all you've done. I wish I could be there with you today to give you a big hug and kiss. We all love you so much! Happy Father's Day!

Some happenings around the homestead...

We took Cody to the Daniel Island Fire Station last weekend to see the firetrucks. If I haven't mentioned it before, he LOVES firetrucks! The weird thing is that he gets really scared once he gets right up close and won't even touch them. Well, he finally climbed up in one last weekend - which was a pretty big deal for him. He was ok with the lights, but wasn't ready for the siren yet.

The fireman then took him out to see the ambulance, which Cody quickly jumped up into and was very curious about everything. He pointed out the bed and the TV to us. We told him that they use this truck to help people with booboos. He then gave a pretend chicken nugget to the fireman to help his booboo feel better. How cute - he thinks that paramedics bring chicken nuggets to people who are hurt. Hmmmm....he could be on to something here.

It was about a year ago that the "Charleston 9" lost their lives in the Sofa Super Store fire in West Ashley. It is nice that they are still honored at all of the Charleston area fire stations.

Abby got to have fun playing with Miga in the house. We let her in to help clean up the mess around Abby's high chair....it was easier than mopping!

Here is a picture from their visit with Lee & Martha Ann. She was teaching them to play the piano. I think I have a video somewhere that I may post at a later time. They had a ball! (and it didn't sound half bad)

One more cute picture of Cody wearing my sunglasses. He knows that he looks like a rock star when he puts those on and always makes funny poses. Here is one of my favorites!

Abby learns to chew with only 2 teeth

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Clay & I ventured out on a date night to the movies on Monday. (Thanks Mr. Kevin for babysitting!) We saw the new Indiana Jones movie and I loved it. Sure, it had some cliche Indiana Jones moments and predictable storylines, but that's what makes it so good. Through the technology, they were able to do some amazing action scenes...it was non-stop adventure. Makes me want to dust of my luger and put on my leather fedora! (insert crack of whip)

32 Things to Know

I was going to write 32 random things about me but I realized that's not very exciting. So, here is a list of some useless info (one can never have enough) about the number 32:

1. The freezing point of water at sea level in Fahrenheit


2. The fifth power of 2


3. The atomic number of germanium (Ge)


4. Jesus was crucified in his 32nd year


5. In chess, the total number of black squares on the board, the total number of white squares (also the total number of black & white chess pieces at the beginning of the game)


6. The number of teeth in a full set of teeth in an adult, including wisdom teeth (except for those in West Virginia)


7. The jersey number 32 has been retired for the following players: the Los Angeles Lakers' Magic Johnson,


8. the Utah Jazz's Karl Malone,


9. the Portland Trail Blazers' Bill Walton,


10. the Philadelphia 76ers' Julius Erving,


11. the Boston Celtics' Kevin McHale,


12. and baseball pitcher Sandy Koufax


13. A soccer ball has 32 panels of leather


14. Total number of pages in an average comic book, not including the cover


15. In the Kabbalah, there are 32 Kabbalistic Paths of Wisdom


16. The number of completed piano sonatas by Beethoven


17. It is the totient function for the first ten integers (math geeks rule!)


18. Number of guys I dated before meeting Clay (that list will not be published)


19. Shoes in my closet (16 pairs for those who are counting)


20. The 32nd state is Minnesota - also called the "Land of 10,000 Lakes"


21. The number 32 is represented in binary as 100000


22. The winning car number in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911


23. Huggies Little Swimmers Diapers (large) can hold up to 32 lbs


24. A beheaded body can take 32 steps (that's what I hear, but not sure if I would ever want to see that on YouTube)


25. According to the American Management Association, there are 32 steps to being an outstanding communicator (seems like they could have condensed it to under 10)


26. Number of wives Ghana's king Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II had when he died (in case you are wondering, they didn't kill him)


27. When playing World of Warcraft, in order to keep teams in Alterac Valley numerically balanced, players will enter Alterac Valley on a one-for-one basis (i.e. if there are 30 players in the battleground for each side with 10 players in the Alliance queue and 2 players in the Horde queue, only two players from each team will be added, bringing the total to 32 per side.)...um yeah, whatever that means. (that was for Clay)


28. The code for international direct dial phone calls to Belgium (hello, chocolate? it's me!)


29. A 32 inch flat panel LCD is about $1,000 at BestBuy


30. Number of teams in the NFL


31. Number of birthdays I have had so far


32. How old I will be on June 1st!