Tractors and Bows

Caroline's 3rd birthday part at The Little Gym

2011-10-20T11:09:00.008-04:00

Caroline's Birthday

2011-10-11T19:37:00.007-04:00

I can't believe that Caroline is already 3 years old. Seems like just yesterday that she was born, although I can't imagine life without her. She is definately a girly girl and very strong willed and, yes, sometimes stubborn. She loves to play with her babies, Barbie's, and even legos. She doesn't mind to get dirty but doesn't want to stay that way for long. She loves to wear her hairbows and has a fascination with shoes! (No idea where she got that from!!!) She is definately my favorite girl and I just love her so much.

She had a great birthday and birthday party, pictures to come soon.

2011-08-28T14:58:00.014-04:00

Anthony and Caroline both started their first day of school on August 15th. Anthony started Kindergarten and Caroline started at First Baptist WEE school. This was a day that I have not been looking forward to for the entire summer. I am used to being home with the kids 5 days a week so Anthony to be gone 5 days a week is going to take some adjusting. Anthony was super excited the night before his first day and got up that morning and was dressed in record time. When we got to the school he started getting nervous and by the time we got to his class he was clinging to me and playing with mine and Charlie's hair, which he now mostly does just when he's nervous. I finally got him to stop clinging long enough to get some great pictures. When it was time for Caroline, Charlie, and I to leave his teacher had to pry his arms and legs off me, he cried, I cried, and Charlie cried. LOL. When I went to pick him up from school that afternoon he told me that school was AWESOME and he couldn't wait to go back. The next morning his teacher had to keep him from chasing me down the hall but every morning since then he has given me a quick hug and kiss and has been fine. He tells me everyday that school was "awesomer than the day before" but that he doesn't learn anything and they play all day! At least he likes it!

When we took Caroline to school the first day she was so excited to be going to Anthony's old school. She walked right in and didn't even look back. When I picked her up that day she said she loves school. She gave her teacher a big hug and told her she would see her the next day. When she found out that she didn't go to school the next day she was upset. So when it was time for her to go to school again she was super excited but then we got to her class and she wanted to me to stay with her. As I left she started crying but only cried for about a minute then when I went to pick her up she cried because she didn't want to leave! And that has been the cycle for her everyday at school since then!

Anthony and Caroline ready for the first day of school

Anthony in his classroom. Looks can be deceiving, he was totally not this happy when I left him!

Anthony checking out his desk for the first time

Right before I told him that I had to leave

Aunt Cha Cha and Anthony

Mommy and Anthony

Caroline on her first day of WEE school playing in her classroom

Getting ready to go in her new school

Picture that her teacher took of her playing outside

She loves the outside playground, she says it's her favorite time in school

I am slowly adjusting to Caroline being gone 2 days a week for 3 hours and Anthony being gone 5 days a week. It is much easier to run errands and I am finally getting back in to running when they are in school. I still wish they were home everyday with me but I know it's good for them and they love it. Can't wait to see what the school year holds! Let's just hope Anthony stayes out of trouble, he came home with 2 green cards this week and 3 yellow cards! His teachers say there is an adjustment period I just hope that he come home with more green cards a week than yellow!!!

A Rockin' Good Time

2011-08-15T19:50:00.016-04:00

I can't believe Anthony turned 5 years old on Saturday. It seems like just yesterday that he was born although it's hard to remember life before he was here. He is such a sweet and snuggly boy but is definately strong willed also. (I have no idea where he got that from!) He loves to play outside and will stay out there all day if you let him and he loves to do "jobs" with his Daddy, Papa, Papaw, and Grandad. The more jobs he can help do, the happier he is. He is the greatest boy ever. I also tell him that he is my favorite boy ever!

I can't believe how much he has grown and changed over the last 5 years.

This year Anthony decided he wanted to have a Rock Star birthday party. So we went all out and had the most fabulous rock star party ever. We hired a DJ from Sound Extreme and got him the most awesome birthday cake ever. All the kids had a great time and the parents and grandparents had great entertainment watching the kids play and dance.

Adley bustin' a move! He is a great dancer and quite entertaining!!!

Charlie has always wanted to be a tattoo artist but since she can't draw she always volunteers to do the temporary tattoos for all the kids.

Kids playing "guitars"

Anthony can "play" his guitar behind his head. AMAZING! he says. LOL

Charlie and Erin Ashworth dancing (Erin was one of the DJ's for the party)

Anthony getting ready to blow out his candles

The was an awesome guitar cake, it was huge and looked fabulous and tasted even better!

Overall, I think this was his best birthday party so far. He told me it was the coolest party he has ever been too and wanted to do it again next year. I told him next year we will have to hook up the ipod to a set of speakers, lol.

Long Overdo Update

2011-08-10T08:05:00.024-04:00

Wow, I didn't realize just how long it's been since I updated the blog. So much has happened this summer that I don't even know where to start. We have spent the majority of the summer at Lake Keowee, it's been super hot and the kids love going to the lake. Anthony has learned to ride the water sled, ski, and tube like a 16 year old boy! He has no fear of anything and the faster and rougher you are the happier he is. Caroline, on the other hand, won't even try the water sled. We have gotten her on the tube one time and she had a good time but she didn't stay on for long. She won't jump of the dock because she hates to go under water and she doesn't like to get her hair wet. She is such a girl in all ways (except when her brother is messing with her, then she beats up on him!) Both of the kids ask me everyday when it will be time to go back to the lake.

Anthony also graduated from WEE school this year, which means he starts Kindergarten next week and Caroline will start her first year of WEE school. I am not sure that I'm ready for both of them to be gone because I'm so used to having them with me all the time but I know when I adjust to it I will enjoy some alone time. Anthony is finally starting to get excited about his "big school". Mom and Dad took him to the playground at his school and let him play and since then he has been ready. I took Caroline to open house at WEE school and she is finally excited also. Hopefully next week they will still be this excited becuase it sure will make it easier on me!

We also had a week long vacation with my family and it was wonderful. I still have tons of fun on family vacations! Can't wait until we can do it again. It was a week long of riding the boat, tubing, and just laying on the beach at the lake.

Anthony learned to ride his bike without training wheels. Mom and dad took him to the baseball fields and he learned in no time! So proud of him and he was super proud of himself. We haven't been back to the bike trail for him to ride for a while because it is just to darn hot but when we were at the lake with my parents he got to ride at the campground. He had just learned to ride and at the campground he was already trying to jump the speed bumps! See, no fear!

I'm sure there are plenty of things that I'm forgetting but that's all for now!

Caroline got her fingernails "professionally" painted for the first time this summer and she LOVED it!

Lacey, Mark, Chad, Anthony, and Colton went to TN and the Dixie Stampede for Colton's birthday. The kids and adults all had a great time and Anthony can't wait to go back.

Anthony riding his bike

Caroline napping on the boat

Just hangin' out on the boat

Anthony on the water sled

Caroline "taking care" of her baby

Caroline's first s'more ever! She liked it but loved eating the Hershey bars better.

Watching Anthony ski

July 4th we decided to stay home and do our own fireworks. Caroline had never seen them before and loved them. Both kids thought they were great and we had a wonderful time.

Playing in a HUGE puddle at the bike trail. Mom and Dad let them play in it forever and they talked about how much fun they had for days after!

Play date at Melanie's house. Super hard to get 6 kids looking at the camera all at one time!

Anthony's new 4-wheeler helmet

Riding his tube

Skiing

Anthony's graduation

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T19:24:00.018-04:00

We had a great time today with my family for Easter. We dyed eggs this morning and the kids thought that was great. It was slightly messy and Caroline still has multiple colors on her legs and arms but hey, they had fun and that's all that matters. Messes can be cleaned up! After dying eggs we had an Easter egg hunt. Charlie bought some great things to stuff the egg with and it wasn't candy so I didn't have to have heart palpitations about it! We had a total of 2 egg hunts today and the kids thought it was just fantastic both times. Glad the weather was so awesome that we could be outside for the entire day. We grilled out so that we didn't have to spend the day inside cooking and it worked out great. After we finished eating and had the second egg hunt the kids played with the kites that ChaCha got them. I have figured out that I am not a gifted kite flyer. The kids pretty much ran around the yard pulling the kites behind them! Here are some pictures from the day.

After the first egg hunt, the kids were seeing what their eggs were filled with.

Caroline showing off her new earrings.

Nanny was helping Caroline a little

Lots of new pictures

2011-03-07T13:02:00.012-05:00

I have been such a slacker lately and not updating much at all. Things have been busy around here and now that it is starting to be warm a little more we are spending a lot of time outside and going places. Colton's 3rd birthday party was Saturday at The Little Gym. We had never been there before but the kids LOVED it. Caroline has already told me that she wants her birthday party to be there.

Caroline really did have a great time, I don't know why she has such a serious look on her face. It's the only picture I could get of her the whole time because if she was doing something I had to hold on to her. I don't trust her on the balance beam or bars, she's a little too clumsy for those things alone!
Anthony loved the uneven bars. He did them tons of times and after having help the few couple times he started doing it all on his own.

Anthony also learned how to drive the Bobcat all by himself. I came home from running one day and saw Chad on the bucket. I wondered what the heck he was doing until I noticed that Anthony was sitting in it. He then cranked it right up and starting driving. He drove it all over the place. When they were finished for the day, Chad got off and told Anthony to park it. I almost had a heart attack but Anthony parked it just perfect. I'm pretty sure Chad forgets that he is only 4!!!

Charlie bought Caroline some princess stick on fingernails and Caroline absolutely LOVES them. She wore them for the longest time until she couldn't eat her Cheetos that she always gets from Charlie. She pulled the off and ate then put them right back on. It's so funny to watch how she plays when she has them on, she doesn't want to mess them up so she is so super careful.

Just a couple of cute pics of the kids.

Our new puppy Bingo. The kids love her and she follows them around everywhere they go.

Anthony's Valentine's Day party at school

Caroline thought it was super cool that she got to go to school with Anthony since I helped with the party.

daily conversations with the kids

2011-02-06T20:53:00.009-05:00

There are certain conversations that the kids and I have almost on a daily basis, especially when it's a WEE school day for Anthony. So here goes:

About 7:30am

Anthony: Mom, where are we going today?

Me: School

Anthony: I don't want to go to school today! (carried on in his whiny voice most of the time)

Me: You have to go to school

Anthony: Why?

Me: Because you have to learn so you can go to Kindergarten this year

About 8:30

Anthony: I have to poop!!!!!!

Me: Well go but you have to hurry, we have to leave for school in 5 minutes

Anthony: Mom, you can't hurry pooping, it just happens!

8:35

Me: Anthony, are you done yet we have to leave for school

Anthony: Not yet

Then we finally get out the door for school

8:55 as we are getting ready to pull in the parking lot at WEE school

Anthony: I have to poop!

Me: Anthony, you just went before we left the house, can you hold it until after school?

Anthony: No, I'll poop all over myself and then Ms. Babb will be mad at you.

Me: Well let's go but next time make sure you go completely before school because we are not doing this every day at school. You will be late for class.

Anthony: Ok Mom. Let's hurry and get to my class, I can't wait to go to school, it's going to be so much fun.

Me thinking: Wait, didn't we just have a conversation at home about him not wanting to go to school?!

(and it happens again and again. He ALWAYS has to go before we leave home then when we get to WEE school or church or anywhere else we happen to be going for the day)

After dropping off Anthony

Caroline: Let's go see ChaCha and Pam and get some Cheetos

Me: No, I think we are going to go home today, we need to clean up a little bit

Caroline: NNNNOOOOO, I want ChaCha and Cheetos

So 3 days a week after dropping off Anthony we go see ChaCha and get Cheetos. It kills me to give her those that often but there is no putting it off. I have tried and she cried for an entire hour about needing to see her ChaCha and Cheetos. LOL. So we go and she has fun and ChaCha loves to see her. If we miss a day then Charlie is calling wanting to know where I am at. While at Hair Mechanix we also have to go over to Pam's shop for her to see all the dresses and look at the jewelry.

After school:

Anthony and Caroline: Can we go see Nanny?

Most days we do, but if not they are never happy about that either. They want to go see Nanny on her lunch break because she always has snacks for them.

On the way home after seeing Nanny

Anthony and Caroline: I'm hungry

Me: We are on our way home and I'll fix you some lunch

Anthony: I can't wait any longer, I'm starving!

Me: We are only 2 minutes away from home, I think you will live

Anthony: No I won't, I'm gonna starve to death!

These conversations happen on almost a daily basis at our house. There are more that I will post later, jut thought you might find this humerous!!

Here are some pictures from the eyes of a 4 year old. Anthony got my camera last week and asked if he could take some pictures, I thought sure, why not and this is what I got.

Yes, I know Caroline has no pants on. You try getting either of my children to leave clothes on for 5 minutes while we are at home. I'm lucky she is even wearing a shirt.

We had just finished dinner and were getting ready for baths so Caroline's mouth is still dirty and she had pulled her hairbows out already.

Getting water in her cup and drinking it out of the bathtub faucet. I don't know how many times I have told her not to do this but she does it anyway

Guess he thought a picture of my bed was a good idea! Least I had made it up half way that morning! That doesn't happen on a daily basis.

Random picture in the bathroom. Caroline had opened my drawers and gotten out a few things she wanted to play with, like makeup and fingernail polish.

1st lake trip of 2011!

2011-01-29T21:01:00.012-05:00

Today was a gorgeous day! We decided since the weather was so wonderful that we would go down to the lake for the day. We don't have our boat ready for the water yet but decided we could still go down and have a great day. We took the kids fishing, knowing that it was probably still a bit cold to catch anything from the dock but knew the kids would still have fun. We only fished for about 30 minutes before Anthony decided that the fish were still "wrapped in their mud blankets" and weren't coming out now. Caroline fished for all of 2 minutes before she was done but all she could talk about all day was "catch a fish, let's catch some fish". She was more interested in walking around the dock and I had to stay right there on top of her because I was afraid she would decide she wanted go swimming. She kept saying "It's not cold, I'll just swim for a minute".

Anthony, the serious fisherman!
Caroline thought the best way to fish was to put the end of the fishing pole in the water.

She was quite mad that her daddy was trying to help her cast it. I think I heard "I got it, I do it myself" about 100 times in the 2 minutes she fished.

Anthony is great at casting all by himself.

We also took the kids to play miniature golf. Anthony loves to play and would play all day, once again, Caroline was interested for about 5 minutes then was done with it. I think they had a great time though, Anthony playing and Caroline just walking around.

The first 3 holes Caroline would hit her ball one time then pick it up and carry it to the hole and then hit it in. After that she wouldn't hit it at all, she would just carry her ball to the hole and throw it in then play with the flags that were in the hole. It made Anthony so mad that she wouldn't get out of his way. Caroline's response to Anthony when he would get frustrated with her "It's ok bro, calm down". Both my kids just crack me up!

One of the few times Caroline tried to hit the ball.

Anthony looking quite serious.

Just a side note: I no longer have any kids in diapers!!!! OH HAPPY DAY! Caroline has been in panties except nap time and bedtime for the last week and is doing great. She was in panties all day today while we were out and no accidents!! This makes me so happy.

A lot of updates!

2011-01-21T10:24:00.008-05:00

Wow, I am getting really bad about posting often. Guess I am going to have to do better about that. Things here have been a little crazy busy and there isn't a lot of extra time to post. I will definately try to do better though. A few weeks ago we had another big snowstorm. I, of course, had to work and daddy was sweet enough to take me and pick me up from work. The whole way that morning you could see no lines on the road and we didn't pass not one state truck but we made it fine. Charlie had to be at my house at 5:15am and anyone who knows Charlie knows that she doesn't do mornings well at all! Anyway, she took Anthony out to play while Caroline was napping because it was just a little too cold for her outside. Anthony said he had the best time ever except that he couldn't sled a lot because the snow covered up his sled. So here he is riding his track hoe and digging in the snow.

He said this was a snow beard.

Charlie made the kids snow cream after coming in from playing. Anthony thinks it's the best thing he has ever eaten and asks for it daily. He wants it to snow more just so we can make more, but he did tell me that only Cha Cha knows how to make it so she is just going to have to come play with him in the snow then make some.

Anthony at the bounce house.

We went with some friends to lunch then to the bounce house. It's amazing how many people stopped us and said how brave we are for taking out 6 kids to lunch. There were 4 adults and 6 kids ranging in age from 4-1. They were actually really good, no major meltdowns, everyone ate good, and they weren't too hyper at the table. It was a great lunch. It just amazes me how many people think we are crazy for taking so many kids out. It really is fun and the kids have a great time, it's not too hard at all. Plus, we can't handle being in the house all the time so this is a great time to get out and let the kids have fun but also get to have some adult conversation while they are playing.

Caroline waiting her turn on the slide.

She was watching a baby. She is totally obsessed with babies and wants to hold them and play and talk to them all the time. It's hard to keep her away from other peoples kids.

The kids helping me cook with their aprons

Anthony and I went to the movies with some friends a few weeks ago. This is up right before we went in. He looks excited doesn't he?!

For my birthday weekend Chad and I decided to go to The Grove Park Inn for a night. I won a free night at a race that I ran last year so we thought this was the perfect time for it. We dropped the kids off with their Nana Kim and Grandad on Saturday morning and we went to Asheville. We decided to go to the movies first since we haven't done that in a few years together. We saw The Fighter. Very good movie. After that we went and checked in at The Grove Park. We felt a little out of place there. There were tons of older people and middle aged people that were dressed very nicely that were carrying around their glasses of wine. Chad and I had on nice jeans and shirts but we were totally the only ones. We went to the room and got settled, Chad of course watched a little TV while I was getting ready for us to go to dinner. He also looked at the menus, and couldn't believe that how expensive everything was! I wanted to order room service and of course he said, "Kendra, there is no way that I am paying that much for room service and then having to tip the guy. We could go to Texas Roadhouse for that!" Oh jeeze, all that man ever talks about when we go to Asheville is eating at Texas Roadhouse. I would prefer to eat somewhere different at least part of the time but I have realized if we do he spends the whole dinner comparing it to Texas Roadhouse so it's not worth it.

So off to dinner, to guess where???? Texas Roadhouse! I was hoping we could eat at Grove Park but there was nothing there that Chad would actually eat. We had a great time at dinner, it was nice to have some alone time. Then we came back to the hotel and relaxed.

4am on Sunday morning I woke up with gastro. So there went the rest of our weekend. We missed breakfast at Grove Park and our couples massage, which secretly I think Chad was thankful for. He wasn't real sure about a massage. I think he would have loved it but oh well. We headed home about 9:30am and on the way home Chad called his mom to tell her that he could bring me home then get the kids. Kim told him that Anthony had woken up at 4am with gastro also. Oh dear is all I could think because neither one of my kids has ever had gastro before and I wasn't sure how well Chad would handle it because I totally couldn't get out of bed to help. Kim decided to keep the kids for a few more hours so I could get home and then about lunch time Chad called and said he was coming to get the kids. As Kim was putting Caroline in the car she started throwing up. So now Chad was the only one that could take care of us all. To be honest, I was a little nervous, he doesn't do well with sickness. But he did a great job.

A couple days later Kim and her husband got it, Chad got it, and now Betty has it. Guess we are passing it along in the family. So sorry everyone!! Hope everyone feels better soon.

Happy New Year and late Merry Christmas.

2011-01-03T13:19:00.002-05:00

We had the most wonderful Christmas this year. The kids got tons of toys and it even snowed on Christmas! We got a total of about 6-7 inches of snow on Christmas which meant that by 11am Chad was out working. At least we got to open up gifts before he had to go out. I woke up Christmas morning about 6am and started making baked french toast, which I make only one time year and it is AMAZING! I then woke Chad up about 7am and then we got the kids up about 7:15am since we knew that my family would be there by 7:30am. Chad made the rule that we can't leave the house on Christmas but he never said my family couldn't come to me! I don't think I could stand having Christmas without my family so it works out great. Caroline was thrilled with her new Bitty Baby Twins and Anthony loved his Leapster Explorer but I think what he liked best of all was his Paper Jams. He rocked out all morning and had all of my family playing with him. I totally could see him in a rock band because he gets all in to, singing, dancing and jumping around.
We then let them open the gifts from us and my family. Anthony loved opening but Caroline really couldn't have cared less because she was too busy with her babies and stroller that Nanny and Papa got her. It took her until about lunch time to open everything and the only reason it was done by then was because Anthony opened most of hers also!
Overall, it was an amazing Christmas, I love Christmas even more now that I am a parent than when I was a kid and that's saying a lot. (My sister and I used to get up between 1am and 4am every year). It is just so fun seeing the kids open their gifts and play with everything and just be so excited and getting to spend time with family is awesome too.
We had Christmas with Chad's family on Dec. 22nd and had a wonderful dinner then the kids opened their gifts. I don't think that my house will ever be the same though! I have their playroom full and we still have toys in the living room. I definately have to go through all their stuff and make a trip to Goodwill.
I have to tell about the gifts that the kids got for Chad and I. Mom took them shopping and just let them loose in the store and let them pick out anything in the store that they wanted to get. Mom said she had so much fun and would definately be doing it again next year. It is just amazing how much thought they put in to the gifts as young as they are. The ones that the kids got for Chad are just priceless. Anthony was so excited about what he got Chad that he told his Nanny that his daddy would be so excited that he was going to just jump up and down! So here is what we got. Caroline to Chad-Elvis Pressley coffee cups and hot chocolate. She totally knows that Chad is always looking for coffee cups because he always leaves his outside. Anthony for Chad- Fix a Flat!!!! Isn't that priceless??? Chad did a really good job being super excited about this one. Anthony kept saying you can fix flat tires on anything now, and you have a lot of stuff that could get flat tires. Caroline for Anthony- nerf football. Anthony for Caroline- pom poms and a megaphone. (Oh dear, lets hope this doesn't mean she will be a cheerleader). Caroline for me- hairbows, fingernail polish. Anthony for me-earrings, key chain, bracelet. These gifts from the kids are definately my favorite of all for Christmas.

the best camel ever!!!!

2010-12-22T21:50:00.008-05:00

Anthony's Christmas program at WEE school was last week and he was the cutest camel I have ever seen. I was a little worried earlier in the month because everytime I asked him what he was going to be in his program he always said "I'm not doing it because I don't want to." I could totally see him refusing to go on the stage because he does get pretty shy with a lot of people around. Well, about 3 days before his program he decided that he was excited and finally told me he was going to be a camel.

He has had a cough for about the last month but I really think that sometimes when he coughs it's totally fake. Well the morning of the program he coughed all morning. I gave him cough drops hoping that would help but I guess it didn't because he proceeded to cough through the entire program! I'm sure there were some upset mothers that thought I brought my sick child to the program but I think half of the time he was coughing up there it was fake. LeAnna told him in the middle of the program to quit coughing. LOL. Anyway, I still think he was the most handsome camel ever and he did great. By the end of the program his camel was having some issues though.

Anthony coughing! It was quite dramatic.
Camel starting to go sideways.

Camel even more sideways!

At the end of the program his camel was completely backwards. He said he knew it was but thought it was ok that way and didn't want to disturb the camel by messing with him.

Caroline at the reception after the program. She loved to watch the program but gave us a running commentary of the whole thing. She would say "Oh look a MOO cow, a baby, a dog". She was too cute though.

snow and lots of ugly sweaters!

2010-12-19T21:21:00.009-05:00

The kids had a great time with the snow last week. We played outside forever and built a snowman and had a snow ball fight. Caroline definately likes it more this year than she did last year. I told Anthony to go put his snow clothes on so we could go outside to play and when I got my clothes on and came out of the bedroom this is what I found!

Making a snow angel

My daddy

Anthony, Nanny, Papa, and Caroline had a snowball fight. Here is Anthony getting his Nanny.

Our snowman!

We also had my family's Christmas party on Saturday and we had an ugly Christmas sweater party. I had already made my sweater for the work Christmas party but I added a few more things to the outfit for this party. Charlie found these "fabulous" stirrup pants for me to wear. I looked totally ridiculous but so did everyone else at the party! We had a great time though.

Everyone with their ugly sweaters.

The guys!

Terrified!!!!!!!

2010-12-11T20:18:00.012-05:00

Today we went for our annual trip to see Santa. We decided to go to the Blue Ridge Mall, and I highly recommend that Santa. He was the best one we have ever been to. Well, I have been talking to Caroline for a few weeks about Santa and everytime I ask her if she was going to sit in his lap she would say "Don't want it, don't want it!" I figured she would cry a little or maybe even be ok if Anthony sat on his lap. Boy, was I wrong. When we walked in the mall I asked her if she was going to sit on Santa's lap and she said "Yes" then right after that she said "Don't want it Santa Claus." So we went and got in line, when we were about 15 minutes away from Santa he stood up and Caroline started crying. She kept saying "Don't want it Santa Claus." I then figured out that it would not be an easy trip to see him. I kept telling her that she would have to sit in his lap to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. All she would say is "Don't want baby doll, don't want it." She was totally willing to not get any presents from Santa if she could just get the heck out of there. She continued to cry, and when everyone around us in line figured out that she wasn't having a meltdown she was just terrified of Santa they were all laughing. It actually was quite humerous! When we were about 2 people away from seeing Santa she asked to get down. I put her down and she tried to run away!!! I picked her back up and held her as she continued to cry. There were tears and snot everywhere. I started to feel a little guilty but no way was I missing a year of her seeing Santa, plus Anthony was quite excited to see him. He totally thinks he is cool. When we were next in line she really started screaming, the photographer was laughing hysterically at her. Santa was trying to bribe her with a Twizzler and she totally was having no part of it. So, we finally get our turn to see Santa and Anthony is so excited because you know, Santa is magic and that's just cool. I sat on the side of the chair with Caroline thinking that would make her happy, um no. She continued to scream. Santa asked if I wanted him to go behind the chair to see if that made it better and so he did and that didn't work either. She continued to scream like we were killing her. She couldn't even see Santa and she was a total mess. When we got up from seeing him I asked her to just wave at him and she said "Don't want it". I planned on only buying 1 picture but the pictures of Caroline are so priceless that I had to get all of them. So, here they are!!! i just love all the looks that Santa has in these pictures.

After we finished with pictures we let Anthony get back on Santa's lap to tell him what he wanted for Christmas since Santa totally couldn't hear him while Caroline was around. He told him that all he wanted for Christmas was a remote control motorcycle. Sure wish he would have told Santa that a while back, because that totally was not on Santa's list!!

When we were walking out of the mall I asked Caroline if she liked Santa and she said "Oh Yes"! What??? Then I asked if she sat on Santa's lap and told him that she wanted a baby doll for Christmas and she said yes again. Then on the way home she told me that she wanted to sit on Santa's lap again. So I'm going to try to take them again to see him to see if it is any better next time. Totally not holding my breath on that one and if she doesn't like him again then I won't make her sit on his lap.

off roading!

2010-12-09T12:33:00.009-05:00

On Sunday we went to the Land Rover Winter Off Road Event. We had a fantastic time, although it was bitterly cold. When we left Land Rover Asheville it was snowing and I definately didn't dress warm enough. I was also extremely nervous about taking my brand new car off roading but I am so glad I did, it was the most fun I think I've ever had!

Chad and I standing on the platform at the top of the trail. When you stand in the middle of the platform you are in NC and SC. It was beautiful up there.
Leaving from the top of the trail.

This hill was so steep that we couldn't see where the trail went. I kept asking Chad "do you see the road?" His response "Nope, lets just hope we are supposed to go straight!" There were a few other hills that we went down that Chad had his head stuck out the window to see where we were supposed to go. There was also one spot that we only had 2 wheels touching the ground at a time, I'm pretty sure I almost had a heart attack on that one!

One of the mud puddles toward the end of the trail.

My shiny white car not so shiny anymore. It still has mud caked under the fenders and on the tires. Guess I'm gonna have to actually wash it because the drive through car wash just didn't get it.

I also took some pictures from inside the car but I was bouncing so high and trying to hold on that I didn't get very many. There were no photographers standing in some of the roughest spots where there were huge rocks/boulders and holes so we don't have any pictures of that. It was so much fun that I can't wait until the summer to do it again!
Chad asked me if I was going to drive it next time. I told him sure I would drive, I think that would be tons of fun. I don't think he thought that I would ever agree to drive it because as soon as I said yes he gave me a crazy look and told me that he would never ride with me through something like that. Thanks for the vote of confidence Chad, I think I would do just fine!!

Christmas tree "hunting"

2010-12-02T09:16:00.012-05:00

Wow it's been a long time since I have posted anything, so sorry, things are just a little crazy around here most days! We had a great thanksgiving dinner with my mom with tons of great food and I totally ate way to much. After we ate with mom and dad Charlie, Quentin, Anthony, Caroline, and I went to Zeiglers Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree. We decided not to go to the same place as last year hoping that we could find a place that wasn't quite so steep. Well, we found a place that wasn't so steep but it was 6 miles up a dirt road! We kept driving and driving and driving but when we arrived it was totally worth the drive. It is beautiful up there and they have tons of trees and many of the places weren't very steep at all. So then we started walking around looking for the perfect tree. Anthony kept saying "let's keep hiking, we are on an adventure." He got tired of walking pretty quickly and made Quentin carry him on his shoulders and I carried Caroline on mine. I wish we would have gotten there a little earlier so we could have walked around more but it was getting dark and we did find the "perfect tree".

Caroline hiking
Quentin carrying Anthony after he got too tired to walk.

Our tree. We had to cut off about a foot to get it in the house and it's a fat tree but it's great. Anthony is so proud of his tree.

Petting the dog. It's supposed to be an Eastern working dog but the owners of the Christmas tree farm said they think he must be a Western lazy dog. He was so sweet and great with the kids.

On Friday I invited Charlie and Mom over to help us decorate. We turned on Christmas music and made hot apple cider and set to work.

Caroline loved the "balls" She proceeded to break 2 ornaments by throwing them because she thought they were balls. She also tried to put all her ornaments on the same limb of the tree.

Anthony concentrated so hard to put his ornaments on perfectly but the only place he wanted to put his were on the back of the tree.

The final product. The Galloway family's PERFECT Christmas tree. It was decorated almost completely by the kids so it's definately not perfect but to me it really is!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:11:00.007-04:00

We met some friends from work and went trick or treating in Brevard tonight. Thank goodness we started at 6:00 because by the time we were finished it was dark and we were totally afraid we were going to lose a kid or two! All the kids looked super cute and had a great time. Thank goodness for Charlie coming with us or I swear we would have lost Caroline. I don't know what was up with her but she was WILD when we got there, she ran and ran and ran some more and sometimes just ran in circles. We were all running to keep up with her. Anthony had a great time to, he was a little hyper but nothing like Caroline. She was definately a swarming busy bee but it was tons of fun.

All 8 of the kids that we went with.
Of course I only got one really good picture because Anthony and Colton were running out of the picture as soon as we would try to take it!

The kids got TONS of candy and toys and I dread the sugar high that they will have for the next week. I have finally convinced Anthony to take some of his candy to my dentist's office where they are giving money in exchange for some of the candy. It was a hard decision for him because he loves candy and he loves money. Chad of course told me that I could only take the crappy candy and sell it because he wanted to keep the good candy, he is worse than the kids when it comes to sweets!

meeting the Ringgold's & Jonah & the EB race

2010-10-31T20:48:00.014-04:00

Halloween weekend was super busy. On Friday Melanie, Lacey, and I drove to Winston-Salem to meet Jonah, and the Ringgold's (Bella's family). It was great to finally meet someone we feel like we know so well, although I was a little nervous to meet them because I know a lot about them but they don't know a lot about me. It was great though, they were wonderful to talk to and super sweet. Jonah is even cuter in person than in his pictures!!! It also made me know with all my heart that spreading the word on EB and teaching area hospitals is what I want to do. It will be extremely rare that someone with EB is born in this area but there is always that chance and I want to be able to educate the staff about what to do and not to do just in case. We got some great information from Tim (Bella's dad) and also I emailed a nurse at CHOC (Children's Hospital Orange County) and she sent us all of her information on EB. After the EB gathering we drove home and I got home around 11:30pm and then the next morning got up to go run a 5k race for EB. It was FRIGID! I am definately not a cold weather runner and it was 32 degrees that morning. For the first 1.5 miles I totally couldn't feel my face and I was running with the sleeves of my shirt over my hands. The last 1.6 miles was a little better, I just had to keep thinking about those precious babies and the pain they live with. We hope to help organize the race next year and gets tons more runners to be able to raise money for DebRA.

Melanie, Lacey, and I after the race. (I also won a free night at the Grove Park from buying $10 worth of raffle tickets!!!! So excited for that.)

The back of our shirts. We wore these while running and many people asked us about the kids at the race. We all wore our shirts the whole day and many people asked about them so we were able to get the word out to more people. It was great to be able to let people know that this disease exsists because most people have never even heard of it.

Lacey and I before the race.

Melanie and I before the race.

Tim and Ali (Bella's sister) at the EB gathering on Friday.

Ali and Jonah

Jonah LOVES to swing. We had to get all of our pictures with him still moving because that was the only thing that was making him happy.

conversations with Caroline

2010-10-26T20:42:00.002-04:00

Here are the EB shirts. Aren't they cute?

Here are a few of things that Caroline has said this week. She is getting to be to darn funny.

Charlie and Caroline were at the salon and Caroline was looking under Charlie's station and Caroline said "a bunch of shit cha cha". Charlie said she didn't think that's what she said so she asked her again what she said and Caroline said "a bunch of shit cha cha". Charlie said she wasn't sure if she said battleship or the other. As much as I wish it were battleship that she said, I just don't think that's what it was!

Charlie was at the house keeping the kids yesterday and Caroline shut the bedroom door and said "bye bye cha cha". Charlie said she wasn't sure where she was going so she went to look for her. Caroline was standing on the table with her legs spread wide apart. As soon as she saw Charlie she said "AAAHHH aroline (Caroline) not do it. Baby pee pee on papble (table)". She had gotten up on the dining room table and peed on the table!! When Chad got home Charlie said "Caroline where did your baby pee pee"? She said "on the papble". LOL.

Today Anthony got in trouble for pitching a terrible fit. Chad went to Anthony's bedroom and as he was walking down the hallway Caroline yelled out to Chad "spank his butt, spank his butt."

She is just too funny. I think she is gonna be just as funny as Anthony is!

EB awareness week!

2010-10-25T22:30:00.002-04:00

October 25th-31st is EB awareness week. EB stands for epidermolysis bullosa which is a rare skin disorder that causes severe blistering of the skin and even internal organs. I have followed several blogs about kids with EB and will be running a 5k on Saturday for EB. You can follow Jonah and Tripp by clicking on the buttons on the side of my blog. These precious little boys will touch your heart with their beautiful eyes and smiles even while they are in pain. Bella died on October 11th after her battle with EB. As of now there is no cure for EB and these kids live a life of pain and suffering and many of them do not live long due to infection, malnutrition, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalance. Please consider making a donation to www.debra.org to help find a cure for this horrible disease. I am also collecting donations that will go to DebRA so if you want to contribute please email me or leave me a comment. We also made wonderful shirts and if anyone is interested in buying one to wear to spread the word on EB then please let me know. I will post of picture of the shirts tomorrow since it's 10:30pm and I don't feel like going to take pictures right now!

Grandad's Apples

2010-10-16T12:40:00.012-04:00

On Sunday Charlie and I took the kids to pick out pumpkins and pick apples at Grandad's in Hendersonville. We all had a great time, Anthony picked about 15 pumpkins and I had to make him put all but 5 of them up. I think 5 pumpkins is more than sufficient, that's a lot of pumpkins to carve and paint. We picked out our pumpkins then went and let the kids pick apples then we ate at the BBQ place there. Definately some of the best BBQ I have ever eaten, I think I may go back just for the food!

Feeding the llamas. Anthony wasn't so sure about them but Caroline loved them. Anthony may have been a little hesitant because one of them spit on him last year!

Why is it so darn impossible to get a picture of the two of them actually looking at the camera?

Caroline loved picking the apples but every time she picked one she wanted to take a bite out of it. I had to chase her around and try to grab the apple before she starting eating on it. I think she managed to get to about 4 of them and then of course Anthony had to eat one too. But they had a great time.

Walking down the road beside the apple orchard.

I cleaned most of the "stuff" out of the pumpkin because neither one of the kids liked doing that too much. Caroline kept saying "that's yuck, gross". But after I finished cleaning out the first pumpkin I caught Caroline picking the seeds up and putting them back in!

Our finished product. We only got 1 pumpkin done that day. Hope to get more done today. One side is Anthony's (the spider) and the other side is Caroline's. Whoever said carving a pumpkin with a 2 and 4 year old is fun, lied! All Anthony kept saying is "give me the knife, I want to cut" and Caroline kept throwing the seeds back in. Oh what fun, but it is a another memory to add to the collection.

Bella

2010-10-12T13:25:00.003-04:00

Anabella Claire Ringgold

May 27, 2009-October 11, 2010

Bella passed away yesterday from her battle with EB and a BMT. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.

You can read about Bella and her fight on her blog.

Happy Birthday Caroline!

2010-10-09T21:03:00.028-04:00

Today Caroline turns 2! Can't believe it has already been 2 years, the time just goes by so fast now. It seems like she should still be a baby but she it totally not my baby anymore. She is so big and starting to talk a lot. She pretty much repeats everything you say and is starting to talk in short sentences. She also has learned some basic spanish that she likes to use all the time. She is such a girly girl, loves her dresses, earrings, hairbows, and most of all shoes.

We had her birthday party yesterday and it turned out really good. We did a bumble bee theme and she wore her Halloween costume. It is the cutest costume ever and she just loves it. Here she is right before the party started. Doesn't she look so big? (She is playing with her new earrings in the picture)

Here is my first attempt at making a birthday cake. It turned out better than I thought it would and the cupcakes were super cute also.
If you know me at all then you know I am not crafty like that so it's a complete suprise that I did this at all but I had such a great time doing it that I think I will start making their cakes every year.

The kids all painted their own pots and then planted flowers. It was a messy project but I think the kids had a great time doing it so it was totally worth it.

Painting their pots.

Yes, they are wearing trash bags over their clothes, but it's better than ruining clothes!

Taking a break from the party to walk Drake. She thinks Taylor's new puppy is the greatest thing ever and she asks for him at least 3-4 times a day. He is pretty darn cute.

Eli is concentrating sssoooo hard!

Caroline got new boots for her birthday and she had to wear them around for the rest of the day. They are pretty darn fabulous. Wish I had a pair!

Caroline loved when we all sang Happy Birthday, she has been singing it to herself all week and when everyone else started singing she was all smiles. When we finished singing she clapped and starting yelling "Yay". She also had to blow out her candles 2 times.

Caroline on her BIRTHday.

Caroline at 6 months old at our photo shoot for the billboard.

Caroline at 2 1/2 years old.

Hasn't she changed so much!?!?

catching up

2010-10-05T13:31:00.012-04:00

Yesterday at nap time I guess Caroline didn't want to go to sleep. I layed her down in her crib and was walking to the door when she stood up and threw herself out of the crib. She did a flip and landed on the floor because I couldn't get to her quick enough. So I decided today that she needed to be moved to her "big girl bed". I converted her crib in to a toddler bed and here she is, her first nap in her new bed. She was none too happy about it at first. I closed her gate at her door and she kept opening the door yelling "Mommy, it lock". But she did finally lay down and is right now sleeping away! Let's hope bedtime goes as well.

Lacey and I ran in a 5k on Oct. 2 for Alzheimers. Lacey came in 3rd overall for girls and 11th overall. I came in 1st in my age group and 20th overall. We decided that we should take a picture because it will be the only time we ever get a medal for running!!! It was frigid that morning and neither one of us had bought pants to wear running so we froze to death in our shorts, I totally went and bought pants and shirts after the race.

Since I had to work after the race and for the rest of the weekend Kim took the kids to Farm Day. They had a blast and did lots of fun things. Anthony apparently talked to a fireman because he walks around the house saying "Stop, Drop, Roll if your clothes are on fire. Ok Caroline let's practice cause you never know when you will catch on fire!" So he puts Caroline down on the floor and rolls her through the house, she thinks it's funny for the most part.

Here is Caroline playing in a box full of corn kernels. Anthony decided he didn't want to do that.

Coloring pumpkins.

We went to the fair when it was in town. Anthony loved all the rides and would have stayed all night riding if we would let him. Caroline didn't like the rides as much.

Here they are on their first ride. Caroline looked so excited and happy but as soon as the ride started she decided she hated it. After one lap around she started crying and yelling to the top of her lungs "I'm done Mommy, I'm done" and reaching for me. We tried one more ride with her and she did the same thing so the only other thing she rode was the merry go round because I could ride with her. She loved that and kept saying "Yeehaw Yeehaw, giddyup". I think she just liked it because I rode with her.

Anthony loved all the rides.

After we tried the rides and Caroline didn't like them I took her to jump while Anthony finished riding. This she absolutely loved and when it was time for her to get off she looked at the man and pointed her finger and said "No touch aroline (Caroline)".

Anthony started preschool again for the year in Sept. He for the most part loves it and wants to go everyday. Every now and then he will cry because he wants to stay at home but after he gets there he is fine and has a great time. Here is a picture of him on his first day of school. He was up and ready to leave at 7:30.

a girl's weekend

2010-09-24T15:37:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago I went to the beach for a girls weekend with some of Chad's family. We had a good time and it was good to get away for a few days without the kids. Although, the whole time I was sitting on the beach reading a book I was thinking about how much fun the kids would be having. Anthony and Caroline stayed with mom while I was gone. Here is a text message I received from mom:

Is this really the face of a little boy that likes to pull the legs off granddaddy longlegs? Yep sure is.

The first time she sent this text she sent it to the wrong person. They texted her back and said he is a cute boy but who is he? So some random person knows that my son likes to pull legs off animals!

The reason that he gave to mom on why he pulled the legs off is "Nanny I didn't want it to run away". LOL. How does he come up with these things? Just wondering if I should be worried. He has cut an inch worm in half with a plastic knife and now he is pulling the legs off granddaddy longlegs!?!? Oh dear, but dang he is so cute!

Here are a few pictures from our girls weekend:

While we were at the beach we went to eat at Dicks. I had never been there before but oh boy was it an experience. I laughed so hard, it was ridiculous. Of course our waiter made us all hats. Just wanted to share with you what they said.

Shaina: The health department closed my legs.

Melissa: I see tables and poles in my future.

Me: SL_T all I need is U

Kimberly: I have been around the block more times than the paper boy

Betty: My crotch is so dry that my crabs ride dirt bikes

How in the world do they come up with that stuff. LOL. Too funny.

more beach pics

2010-09-01T21:06:00.011-04:00

While at the beach Anthony learned to swim on top of the water. He just jumped in the pool and starting swimming and when I said something about him swimming he said "Yea I guess I am." Just like it was no big deal. Now every time we go to the lake he has to practice swimming so he "doesn't forget how to swim when it's snow season and we can't go to the lake."

He also loves to be thrown up in the air at the pool. Charlie and I tried but we couldn't get him high enough so while Quentin was at the pool he threw him. Mom almost had a nervous breakdown and I probably would have to if I would have realized just how high in the air he was. But he totally loved it and he thinks the higher the better.

Anthony swimming.
Good gosh I can't believe Quentin could throw him that high.

If you look close at his facial expression you can see just how much fun he is having.

Our last night at the beach we took the kids down to the ocean to try to get a few good pictures of them together. Caroline insisted on taking her purse and her necklace and that's how she walked down the beach that evening. No amount of talking, bribing, or asking would make her give up her stuff. And we still didn't get but just a couple of pictures of the two of them together, dang it's hard to get them to sit still long enough!

In none of the pictures of them together are they both looking at the camera and smiling. Oh well, it is what it is.

a pirate party

2010-08-22T21:24:00.010-04:00

I still can't believe my "little" boy is 4 years old. Here are some pictures of him from the time he was little until now. I can't believe how much he has changed, except the fact that he still is the clone of his father!

3 1/2 years old

2 1/2 years old

16 months old with his hair!

12 weeks old.

Here are some pictures from his birthday party on Saturday. We had it at the house hoping that it wouldn't rain so the kids could go outside and play. Of course it rained the whole time but I think the kids still had a good time.

The cupcakes that Charlie, Mom, and I made. I think they turned out pretty good considering I have never done anything like this before and I am not Suzy Homemaker.

He hated it when we sang Happy Birthday. He got very embarassed and we had to stop half way through singing. Guess next year I will ask him before the party if he wants us to sing:)

The monkey that Caroline made Anthony. As soon as he opened she took it over and has had it ever since. When Anthony asks for it she says "No mine, can't have." He loved all the toys that he got but now I have to go through all his toys in the playroom because we are running out of space.

Thanks everyone for coming to his party! He loved it.

Anthony turns 4!

2010-08-17T21:26:00.015-04:00

Anthony celebrated his 4th birthday on August 13 while we were at the beach. He wanted to go to "the place that has a pirate that gives me a necklace and has crab legs". So that's where we went. It's one of my favorite places to eat but I now spend a good portion of the meal cracking crab legs for Anthony!
It seems crazy to me that Anthony is already 4 years old. I can't remember life without him but it seems like he should still be a baby. He can be the sweetest child ever, he still loves to play with my hair and will give me 100 hugs a day and say "I love you" at least that many times a day. Of course he also has his moments but I can't imagine life without him. He has so much energy and there is never a dull moment. He loves to talk and you just never know what he going to say. Some of the things that kid says is just hilarious! He is such an awesome boy! I love you Anthony, my favorite boy!

Quentin, Caroline, Anthony, and Will with the "pirate". Caroline wasn't sure what to think. She would look at him and want to touch him but as soon as he would look at her or speak to her she would almost cry.

The only family pictures we were able to get while at the beach. It's dang impossible to get Anthony and Caroline to stay still long enough for a picture.

We also took Anthony and Caroline to play putt putt while at the beach. I just don't feel like it's a trip to the beach until we play. It's one of my favorite things to do down there. Anthony loves to play but Caroline was totally not interested. Chad would help her hit her ball then she would take off running after it and pick it up. She would also just walk around getting in Anthony's way and make him so darn mad. Anthony started to just hit his ball and Caroline's toward the end. They had a ton of fun though.

Caroline in Anthony's way.

Caroline trying to take off her shoes, we were only on hole #2 at the point. I knew then it was going to be a long game!

Deciding to take a break right in front of the hole when Anthony was trying to hit the ball. He was so mad at her but she couldn't have cared less. She didn't move until I picked her up and moved her.

Just thought these pictures were just too cute.

Myrtle Beach vacation

2010-08-15T20:16:00.009-04:00

We returned home today from a week in Myrtle Beach and we had a wonderful time. The weather was great but crazy hot! The kids loved the ocean and the beach, we were down on the beach all day everyday. Totally my kind of vacation, although there is not a lot of relaxing when you have 2 small children to keep up with and they have no fear of the water. Anthony loved to boogie board and just swim. Caroline would run straight in to the water and we would have to be right there with her so when she fell she wouldn't go under the water. The few times she did go under she got right back up and went at it again. Anthony loved to go "way out deep" to jump the waves. Caroline and her daddy playing in the sand
Papa, Anthony, & Caroline building a shark! We had to keep Caroline away because all she wanted to do was destroy it.

Nanny and Caroline sitting in the sand feeding the birds. More pictures of that to come.

Anthony jumping and landing flat on his belly in the waves.

Just playing in the sand.

Caroline just playing in the sand. Don't you just LOVE her bathing suit?! Found it at one of the shops at the beach and just couldn't resist getting it for her.

Caroline and Papa playing in the water.

More beach pictures and stories to come later in the week!

another fun outing with friends

2010-07-27T20:17:00.010-04:00

Last week the kids and I went to the waterpark in SC with some friends from work. The day didn't start out so well. First, I was running about 10 minutes late. I hate being late and it just throws my whole day off but I had to stop and get gas or we wouldn't make it. So I pulled in to the gas station and went to take my gas cap off and the cap broke. By that point I was ticked off so I called the Land Rover dealership and I had to go and get them to replace it before I could even go. Well we finally made it and we had a wonderful time. There were 3 adults and 9 kids but it wasn't as stressful as I thought it was going to be. All the kids were wonderful and had a great time. The whole time all the adults were looking at each other giving a thumbs up sign or holding up fingers to show how many kids they had at the time. I think I counted to 9 about 1,000 times that day but I can't wait to do it again. Caroline was a little social butterfly. She was walking around talking to everyone and would even sit down beside some of the adults and play with their bracelets or just touch their arm. She was so cute and everyone was very tolerant of her being right there with them. All the kids love going down big slide but there wasn't nearly enough adults to be able to take them more than 1 time but they had just as much fun going down the small slides and just playing in the water.

I have no idea what Caroline was doing in this picture but she was sure having fun.
Just floating in the water. It was nice that they had places that shallow so the little kids could play.

Caroline and Liam playing.

Anthony had the best time. He can't wait to go back. We didn't get a lot of pictures of him because he just never stayed still long enough to get any.

Several of the kids playing.

more fun in the wa-wa!

2010-07-11T20:29:00.009-04:00

As you can pretty much see, the kids spend most of their time swimming or playing in some type of water. It keeps them happy and us out of the house, I can't imagine staying at home all the time. Plus it has been so hot this summer that it's a great way for them to stay cool.

On Sunday the kids went with my mom and dad to go swimming. Caroline found a bug shell and absolutely loved it. They said she would hold it and play with it and chase Anthony around trying to scare him with it. I have no idea where she learned that from because mom and dad said they didn't teach her that. Guess she probably learned it from Anthony at some point. Caroline with her bug shell

Showing the camera her bug

Anthony playing with his new float that his Granny Byrd got him. He is so close to swimming. He can swim under water and for a few seconds above water. His Nanny Cathy also taught him how to dive and she said he does a great job. I can't wait to take him and see it. He was so proud of himself. He also loves to go off the slide.

Caroline jumping to Papa

Relaxing on the float. She loves to just lay back and float. The look on her face doesn't look like she is happy but I promise she is. The more pictures I look at of her, the more I realize that she can give some pretty nasty looks! Wonder where that comes from???? (Thanks Kelly for pointing that out) Ha Ha

Playing in the lake with her daddy. You can tell she is having a great time. She likes to float in the water with her daddy. But the whole time she yells "HELP HELP" and laughs about it. (And yes she is just as country sounding as Anthony when she says help, it is too cute)

Anthony and Caroline swimming in the shallow water at the beach area that we go to all the time. It's perfect for them because they can touch pretty much everywhere so we don't have to worry as much about Caroline running to where she can't touch. (Still have to watch her close though because while walking in the shallow water she still falls all the time and we have to pick her back up.

fun at nana kim's house

2010-07-11T20:28:00.000-04:00

Anthony loves any kind of water. He will swim all day so he and Caroline have their own pool at Nana Kim and Grandad's house.

Here is Anthony helping Grandad plant the garden. He is in typical Anthony fashion, underwear and shoes!

2010-07-09T22:00:00.001-04:00

Here are a few more pictures from today. Caroline holding the baby goat. Every time it tried to run away from her she would scream "Hey, back now!"

Looking at the baby pigs.

Still feeding the goats

a day at the farm

2010-07-09T21:58:00.002-04:00

We went to Andrew's today to see his new baby pigs that were born last night. We stayed for quite a while so the kids could play with all the animals. They loved it. I think we may be up there a lot more in the future because they just had so much fun.

Caroline with Max. Andrew got him when he was only a few days old and has been bottle feeding him ever since. He is so cute and loves people. Caroline thought he was the best.

Feeding the goats.

Still playing with Max. The look on Caroline's face is priceless, it's her half happy half mad face.

5k

2010-07-04T20:55:00.006-04:00

On Saturday Melanie, Lacey, and I all ran our first 5k. It was a lot of fun but also very hard. We all had our personal best times so we were happy with that. We didn't win but our goal for this whole thing was to finish without walking and we all accomplished that. I finished 53th out of 159 women with a time of 29 minutes 30 seconds. Definately want to improve my time but for now I am happy with that.
Here is a picture of the 3 of us before the race. Lacey and I before the race.

Melanie, Lacey, and I after the race. This was a little while after we finished because if we had taken a picture as soon as we finished it would have been terrible. We were so hot and sweaty.

We will all be running an 8k in September then a 5k in October and December (and maybe more if there are more scheduled). My next goal is to be able to do a half marathon next year. We'll see about that.

random pics

2010-06-16T14:00:00.016-04:00

Quentin graduated from high school.
My Uncle Bobbie and Aunt Dodie at graduation

Charlie and Alyssa at graduation

Mom and Dad at graduation

Caroline while we were hiking at Pink Beds a few weeks ago.

Anthony and LeAnna decided that they had to hike with their shirts off!

Carl Sandburg house.

Caroline loved seeing the baby goats, except she kept calling them puppies no matter how many times I told her they were goats. She calls everything puppies.

fun in the forest

2010-06-07T21:59:00.009-04:00

Some friends from work and I met at Sycamore Flats and let the kids play, have a picnic lunch, and play in the river. Of course the river was frigid and the adults didn't even want to get our feet wet but the kids couldn't have cared less. They had a great time even though it was a little cloudy.
Playing hide and seek.

Not sure what Caroline was doing in this picture but it's so darn cute.

"Mowing the grass"

Isn't Colton just precious?!

Caroline continues to have those fabulously chunky legs!!!

Caroline goes bungee jumping; Anthony goes to time out

2010-05-26T13:45:00.002-04:00

On Monday Charlie had the kids playing outside. Well they were playing up on the top of their swingset and Anthony had a bungee cord. Charlie thought he was tying him and Caroline together so they could go down the slide together. Instead he put the bungee cord through the belt loop of Caroline's shorts and then pushed her off the top of the swing set. She fell and the bungee cord stopped her about 3 inches from the ground and her hands were on the ground. It only scared her for just a second before she was holding her hands out to Charlie saying "hands, hands" she was only worried about her dirty hands. Of course Charlie almost had a heart attack. I cannot imagine being there to see that, it would have scared me half to death. When I got home from work I had a talk with Anthony about not pushing his sister off the swing set because she could get hurt very bad and have to go the hospital. He responded by saying "Mom, I tied her off and I was holding on to the other end. She didn't get hurt and it's no big deal." Oh dear, I hope that's the last time he tries something like that. We did have quite a serious talk so hopefully he has learned his lesson.

dirty kids; clean kids

2010-05-23T19:14:00.008-04:00

Last Monday while I was at work Charlie had the kids. After Caroline's nap she decided to take them out to play. It had rained tons the day before and we had a drainage problem so we had a HUGE mud puddle in the driveway. And I do mean MUD puddle. Charlie said she turned around to tell Anthony to come back down in the yard to play and when she turned back around Caroline was running through the mud puddle. She decided since Caroline was already dirty that she would just let them play in the mud for a while. So glad it was her with them that day because I'm not sure I could have handled all the mud and nastiness. I don't mind the kids getting dirty but this was CRAZY but the kids had a great time and Charlie is just wonderful for letting them have so much fun.
Caroline thought the best thing in the world was throwing rocks in the water to watch it splash.

Don't you just love the overalls. LOL.

After the mud puddle! Had to soak their clothes for a while and have major bath. Thanks Chuckie!

Last weekend the kids stayed with Nana Kim for a day while Chad and I went to the lake with Taylor and Melissa. The kids had a great time playing in their pool.

Before they had swimming attire on, yes Anthony insisted on wearing this pair on underwear that day.

lake time!

2010-05-08T20:26:00.008-04:00

It's finally lake season again. We went today for the first time this year and the kids absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure that we were going to get to go because Anthony has had strep throat and gastro this week (Caroline had gastro last week) and last night he still wasn't feeling very well. But when we got up this morning the first thing he asked was when we were leaving for the lake. The water is still frigid and Chad and I didn't get in at all but Anthony was jumping off the back of the boat and swimming around and didn't think it was that bad. Good thing I was holding on to Caroline's life jacket because as soon as the boat stopped she tried to jump off the boat also. She has no fear at all. I didn't let her jump in but I eased her down in the water and she decided she wanted back up, I'm sure because it was just so dang cold. Then about 30 seconds later she wanted back in, we did that the entire day. She also thinks that when we are riding that she can walk around on the boat. Not sure why she thinks she can walk around on a moving boat when she struggles to walk on land but she did. She would fall and get right back up and walk some more. She also starting telling me "No ma'am" today, guess she is just repeating me because I tell her that all the time. So when I would tell her no about climbing on the back of the boat she would say "No ma'am, no ma'am" and of course keep trying to climb.

Don't you just love her sunglasses? She wears them all the time now. It's hard to get her to take them off at all while we are home, in the grocery store, or outside. I bought her the cutest bathing suit yesterday but since we didn't get off the boat because of the cold water she never had her life jacket off so I couldn't get a picture.

Here are just some pictures of when we were outside playing this week.

Can you tell Anthony dressed himself to go outside??!!

I just love the smile on her face in this one.

new pics

2010-04-20T12:25:00.016-04:00

Anthony making "chocolate cream pie". He was so dirty and muddy after this.
Playing on daddy's lawn mower. Anthony was trying to teach Caroline how to drive the lawn mower. He told her "here is how to turn it on, here is the gas, and here is how you steer. Now you do it Caroline." This is the only time that you will ever see Caroline on a lawn mower, she hates the mower when it is on and cries if we try to get her to ride it.

Sliding down the slide. Doesn't her pig tails look like Fraggle Rock?

Anthony went to a birthday party on Saturday and in the goodie bags that he brought home were eye patches. Anthony wanted Chad to put them on with the earrings. Chad will probably kill me for posting this picture but it was just too funny not to post.

Charlie taught Caroline to "talk to the hand!"

Don't they look tired? Maybe it was because that was the day that Anthony had been up since 0530 and then daddy had been up since 0550.

Anthony and daddy "thumb fighting!" He thinks it's the funniest thing ever.

This is how Anthony went outside to play. He said it was too hot to play with clothes on. I did make him put clothes on before all "the boys" got home from work.

18 month check up

2010-04-19T13:14:00.002-04:00

Caroline had an appointment with Dr. Thomas this morning. It's really hard to believe that she is already 18 months old. I know everyone always says they grow up fast, but dang they really do grow up fast. She weighs 24 lbs 9.5 oz, this puts her in the 50% for her height. She is 33 inches tall which puts her in the 90% for her height. Dr. Thomas said she is gonna be tall and skinny, bet her daddy won't be happy to hear that:) I also mentioned to Dr. Thomas about her falling so much and running in to things. He put her down and had her walk to me and of course she walks right into the side of the exam table. He wants her to have her eyes checked to make sure that her vision is ok since many people on my side of the family and Chad's family wear glasses and have had to wear them starting at an early age. I really hope it's not her vision because I have no idea how you keep glasses on an 18 month old. She likes wearing sunglasses and some other play glasses but I'm not sure she would be thrilled to have to wear them all day. If her vision is fine then we will have a consult with a physical therapist to make sure that it's nothing with her equalibrium. He told me that if both of those things turn out fine then we know it's all caused because she is a blonde! Dr. Thomas is too funny sometimes. Otherwise everything else with her is fine. She had to get a lead test today and 2 immunizations which she was unhappy about but got over quickly and was asleep before we ever even got out of the parking lot. Anthony kept asking me "Is Caroline ok, I don't want Caroline to hurt." He doesn't like to see his sister in pain unless it's him that's doing it!

Anthony stayed with Nanny and Papa this weekend. He woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning and insisted that I take him to Nanny and Papa's. So I had to wake them up and drop him off on my way to work. He refused to come home Sat. night because he had to "swim in the hot pool". Mom said that he was so sweet on Saturday and just kept telling his Nanny and Papa "I just love you youngins!" He is just too cute. Chad had to chase him around the yard on Sunday when he went to pick him up because he didn't want to come home then either.
He was also playing with Alyssa on Saturday and they were taking turns hiding toys. Anthony hid a toy in his Nanny's pocket and as soon as Alyssa opened her eyes to start looking for the toy Anthony said "It's in Nanny's pocket. But make sure you look real hard". That child cannot keep a secret which is not a bad thing but he is all the time telling on himself.

Easter weekend

2010-04-05T20:40:00.010-04:00

I had to work this weekend so the kids stayed with Nanny and Papa. Here are more pictures of their fun weekend.

Caroline playing in yard with the "chickens"
Church Easter egg hunt on Saturday. The kids had a wonderful time and Nanny and Papa were half dead by the end of the day. They had to take a nap after Chad came and picked up the kids. LOL

They also had pony rides and Anthony loved it.

I absolutely love this picture of Caroline and Papa.

Before dinner playing with my sunglasses.

After dinner, definately had to take her straight to the bathtub after this.

lots of pictures

2010-04-03T20:48:00.022-04:00

Coloring easter eggs!
Caroline wanted no part of coloring the easter eggs. Notice to blue on her legs? While I was mixing up the colors she decided to pull one of them off the counter!

I got some really cute pictures of Caroline while Anthony was busy with his eggs.

Sorry this one is blurry but it was too cute not to post.

Not sure what this look is for.

Swimming in the hot tub at Nanny and Papa's today.

Caroline really did love the hot tub, not sure what she is doing here. Probably wanted the camera.

Why?????

2010-04-01T19:24:00.004-04:00

Conversation with Anthony:

Anthony: Why are there cables on those polls?
Me: So we can use the telephone.
Anthony: Why are they called telephone polls?
Me: Because we have to have those polls and cables to be able to use the telephone.
Anthony: Why?
Me: Because.
Anthony: Because why?
Me: Because that's what makes the telephone work.
Anthony: Why do we have to use the telephone?
Me: To talk to people.
Anthony: Why do we have to talk to people?
Me: So we know what's going on.
Anthony: Why do we have to know what's going on?
Me: Just because. Could you please stop asking why?
Anthony: Why?
Me: Oh jeeze!

He askes why about EVERYTHING now. Saying just because is not good enough for him, you have to have a detailed answer and if he doesn't think it's good enough he will keep asking why until he has an answer that makes him happy. I will be so glad when he is out of this stage. Our conversation in the car are endless.

He has been the best boy for the last few days. He hasn't had to be put in time out or have a spanking in 3 days now. I really think it's because we now spend most of the day outside and he doesn't get bored when he's outside. It was beautiful here yesterday and today. Yesterday the kids played outside from 9:30am until 6:30pm except for the time when they were eating and Caroline took a nap. Otherwise, they didn't come in at all and they both love it.

Here are some pictures of Anthony and Caroline that I took yesterday. I was cooking dinner and went to the living room to check on the kids and they were sitting on coffee table. Anthony was explaining to Caroline what they do when you go to the dentist (he had just gotten home from the dentist earlier in the day).

Yesterday it was so warm and we decided to let Caroline play outside in shorts. To say the least it was a big mistake. She is entirely too clumsy to be able to play in shorts. I think she may have to wear pants for the rest of the year. I wanted her to wear a dress today but decided that it wasn't a good idea because her poor legs look terrible after she fell a few times.

new pics

2010-03-26T12:08:00.016-04:00

Here are several pictures that have been taken over the last week. This is when the kids were with Charlie on Monday before they went to the bouncy house and out to eat. Thanks Aunt Cha Cha. The kids had such a great time!
I'm pretty sure Anthony took this picture of Charlie and Caroline.

I think Caroline is taking after me, she loves to look at books. I found her the other day "reading" the books in my basket.

Getting mad because I wouldn't give her the camera.

Really upset because she couldn't have the camera!

She is really developing an attitude lately. She must get it from her daddy! (LOL) Mommy's little helper.

The kids playing ball outside this morning. I am so glad it is getting warmer, we spend tons of time outside now.

Anthony petting Tyson this morning. Anthony still doesn't want to be around him when we let him run around but he will put his hands inside and pet him when we have him put up.

Caroline loves Tyson. Everytime she goes outside that is one of the first places she goes.

Playing with the sled. Thank goodness there is no more snow so we don't need the sled anymore!

This is the only "tractor" you will ever find her on. She is scared to death of the Bobcat, tractor, and lawn mowers. Some days she doesn't even like the four wheeler or Papaw's Gator.

I almost had a heart attack when I looked outside this afternoon and saw Chad in this tree. He was tying a chain around the tree so that he could cut it down. There is not a lot of things that he does that makes me nervous but this definately did!

After they cut down the tree Anthony was right out there with them "helping".

new words

2010-03-16T20:09:00.002-04:00

Caroline has finally decided that she wants to talk. For quite a while now you can tell her something and she will do it, she understands everything you say perfectly. She just didn't want to talk. In the last week she has really started talking a lot. Granted sometimes what she is trying to say sounds nothing like what she is really saying. But after she says it a couple times I get it. Here is what she has started saying in the last week or two.
ank yoo (thank you, while nodding her head)

fooba (football)

down (she puts her hands in the air and yells "down". She is trying to say touchdown. Guess that's from all the football that Chad, Anthony, & Caroline play in the evenings before bed)

li (light)

sit down (she started saying this after spending the weekend with Nanny and her having to tell Caroline to sit down while on the couch. She now says it all the time while pointing her finger)

dog (she has a stuffed dog that she carries around the house petting and kissing all the time)

eba (zebra)

bi bi (bite bite because that child loves to eat. She had 3 bowls of spaghetti tonight plus dessert)

She also has learned where her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, & belly are.

She will also repeat anything you say now. I have a feeling once she starts talking a lot she won't stop. I don't know what we will do when she starts talking a lot because we already have one child that never hushes. Anthony talks and talks and talks. He is in the question stage. Everything he sees he has to ask you a question about it and "I don't know" is not a good enough answer for him. You have to have detailed answers for everything. We went to dinner in Hendersonville on Sunday and he never even caught his breath the whole way there and the whole way home and Caroline just repeated Mama and Daddy the whole way there and the whole way home. I don't know why but everytime we get in the car she just says Mama over and over and over. Car rides are not quite as peaceful as they used to be but its a lot of fun!

The weather has finally been nice the last several days and we are spending a lot of time outside now. The kids love it and Caroline now cries to go outside everyday. It makes the days so much easier when we can get outside because they get so bored being in the house all day. Spring can't come soon enough for me!

a fun filled weekend

2010-03-08T19:23:00.017-05:00

I had to work this weekend so the kids stayed with Mom and Dad. They had a wonderful weekend and Anthony is still talking about all the fun things they did. Here are some pictures.

On Friday Chad and all his "boys" (Anthony calls all of Chad's employees "the boys") cut down several pine trees around the house. Well of course they couldn't be outside without Anthony "helping". Here he is taking a break with Andrew and Mauricio.
The kids gathered up pine cones at Nanny & Papa's house this weekend to make bird feeders. They never got the feeders made because Anthony and Papa had so many other "jobs" to do. But they had fun finding the pine cones.

Chad forgot Anthony's jacket on Saturday so he wore one of Nanny's shirts as a jacket.

I'm not exactly sure what Anthony thought he was doing here, he just told me that he was "doing jobs"

While Papa was working on the house Anthony was working on hammering in a bunch of nails on a piece of wood. Kept him occupied for quite a long time. (I used to love doing the same thing when I was out helping daddy. I would make pictures by hammering nails in wood)

The finished product.

Anthony and Papa taking a break. When it was lunch time Anthony took Papa out to lunch at Twin Dragons. He had told me on Friday that he wanted to take Papa out to lunch. So I sent money with Anthony on Saturday for him to take Papa out. They had a great "just boys" lunch.

Caroline liked to stand in the chair on the porch watching all the cars go by.

Anthony told me that after him and Papa did all of their hard jobs then they had to get in the hot tub to "lax" (relax). He thinks that the hot tub is the greatest thing ever made. He even told Chad on Sunday that he needed to buy one. When Chad told him that they needed a track hoe first, Anthony told him that a hot tub is much better than a track hoe. Coming from Anthony that is saying a lot. He loves everything about a track hoe. I'm suprised that they had any water left in the hot tub by the time that he finished swimming.

Caroline decided on Sunday that she didn't want to take a nap so she tried to escape the pack-n-play. She is really clumsy anyway and it's not a good idea for her to try and climb out of anything. She fell on her head on Nanny and Papa's wood floor. See the big red spot on her forehead?

Work was slow on Sunday so I got off at 1pm. I went to Nanny and Papa's to pick up the kids and Anthony insisted that I "swim" in the hot tub with him. He jumped and splashed and played forever. He told me that he may just have to go live with Nanny and Papa now that they have a hot tub! LOL.

more snow, a sick boy, and a dirty girl

2010-03-02T20:12:00.009-05:00

Well I guess winter isn't over yet! We got another 7-8 inches of snow today. I hope winter will be over soon but it doesn't look like it. Anthony is upset because he can't go out in play because he has strep throat. Had to take him to the doctor today in the snow and he loved riding in the snow. He looked out the window and watched it snow for a while today asking if he could go out and play "for just a minute". Thank goodness mom kept Caroline today so I could just deal with Anthony. He layed in the bed and watched TV and played with my hair for 4 hours! Suprised I have any hair left. Every time I would get up to try to get something accomplished in the house he would just cry for me to come back. So, yes I let him watch excess amounts of TV but it was the only thing that was making him happy and he totally didn't feel like being up and playing. Hopefully by tomorrow the antibiotics will help and things will be better.

Caroline after she finished eating supper tonight. She insists on feeding herself everything now. She is so independent, so every night after dinner I have a huge mess to clean up. The worse mess is when she tries to feed herself yogurt. I'll have to get a picture of that soon. I took her shirt off before dinner so that would be one less thing I had to try to get clean.

Don't you just love those HUGE brown eyes?!

pizza & fudge popsicles

2010-02-21T10:46:00.010-05:00

Conversation with Anthony on Friday morning:

Anthony: Mommy, what's today?
Me: What do you mean?
Anthony: What day is it today?
Me: Oh, it Friday
Anthony: Oh good! We can order pizza today!
Me: Anthony, we don't have to order pizza today. I know it's Friday and we eat out on Fridays but we can order something else.
Anthony: Nope, I want pizza and I know Daddy will to.

Guess what we had for dinner on Friday?! Pizza!

Caroline ate 2 pieces of pizza, 1 breadstick, and 1/2 Skinny Cow Fudge Popsicle (which was mine but she stole it) Here is what she looked like while eating it. It was just too cute to not let her do it. So we just had quite the mess to clean up after dinner.

By the time she finished she had popsicle up her nose!

What happened when I tried to take it away, needless to say, she got it back!

Jonah's EB auction

2010-02-10T15:33:00.002-05:00

I have had a button on my sidebar for quite a while for little Jonah. He is a child that suffers from Epidermolysis Bullosa or EB. His mom and a friend are holding an auction February 23-February 27 in honor of his 1st birthday. This is a huge accomplishment because there are many EB babies that never live to see their 1st birthday. All proceeds go to dEBra.org. Please stop by and bid on items to help raise money and find a cure for EB. Also, please tell all your friends!! Here is the link for the auction. They currently have around 100 items going up for auction.

one of those days

2010-02-08T21:33:00.004-05:00

Friday was "one of those days" at our house. You know, a day where you just want to give your kids away. I think that we have all been stuck in the house for a little too long due to all the nasty weather that we have had lately. I felt like a terrible mother because I let Anthony watch too much TV but it was the only thing that would keep him happy and quiet. I just couldn't take him running through the house as fast as he could with his shopping cart and knocking Caroline over. Caroline has figured out how to climb on the couches so it is a constant battle of trying to keep her off the couch or off of the fireplace. No matter how many times you tell her no, she just keeps climbing. So to say the least Friday was not the best day we have ever had but we survived then I had a girls night with several girls from work. Come to find out, it wasn't just my kids that had been terrible that day. I think everyone's kids just need to get out of the house for a while. Anyway, we had a great time at dinner and bowling. I think it is just what we all needed and I can't wait to do it again.
I had to work on Saturday and the kids went to stay with mom. Sunday was Charlie's birthday so Anthony made Charlie a cake for her birthday and since he hadn't made me a cake yet he also made one for me (with the help of Nanny of course). He is so proud of the cakes he made. But earlier that morning he was watching TV and saw an infomercial about the cake pans that make the cake into a big cupcake. Well he told Nanny and Papa that he just had to have that cake pan because it would make the best birthday cake in the whole world. So Papa had to go all over town looking for the cake pan and finally found one at Walgreens. Then Anthony and Nanny baked the cake and Nanny put the icing on the cake and Anthony did all the decorating. There was a few fingerprints in my cake icing where he thought Nanny had gotten too much icing and he just had to eat it off to make it better. LOL. I'm sure he had a nice sugar high! Anyway, when Charlie came to pick up her cake Anthony told her "Cha Cha I made you the best birthday cake ever. I'm the best birthday cake maker in the whole world." He was so proud of the cakes he made and had a great time doing it. By the end of the day when Chad went to pick up the kids Mom said she was exhausted and just needed to have a nap. But Anthony had the best time and still talks about him making the best birthday cake ever. Here is a picture of the cake Anthony made me. I think it is the best birthday cake I have ever had!

Doesn't he just look so proud of himself?!

mortified at mcdonalds

2010-02-05T09:44:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Charlie gave the kids some money to go to McDonalds. This is not somewhere that Anthony has been in quite a while (at least while he has been with me, who knows when he is with his grandparents. lol) So I didn't feel like getting the kids out of the care so we went through the drive-thru. I ordered their happy meals and proceeded to the window to pay. While I was handing the man our money Anthony starts talking in the back seat. At first I really wasn't paying attention to what he was saying but he kept getting louder and louder. I then realized he is saying "Mommy, why is that guy so ugly? Mommy,why is that man ugly? Moooommmmmyyyyy,I said why is that man so ugly? I kept trying to get him to be quiet at least until we pulled away from the window but he wouldn't do it. So I'm sure that the poor guy at McDonalds yesterday had his feelings hurt. I did talk to Anthony about how it is not nice to tell people that they're ugly, it hurts their feelings. His response to me was "Well mommy he was ugly, I was just telling the truth." Guess we won't be going back to McDonalds anytime soon! Or at least through the drive-thru. Kids, they are so brutally honest!

My Little Nudists

2010-01-25T21:16:00.008-05:00

It's official. Both of my kids hate to wear clothes. I went to get Caroline out of her crib this morning and she had her arm out of her pj's and was trying to get them all the way off. Then later today I came in the living room after cleaning the bathroom and this is what I saw. She somehow managed to get all her clothes off! Everyone already knows that Anthony hates clothes and doesn't wear them unless he has to.

Notice the pig tails? Another thing she can't leave alone. She pulls at them all the time and messes her hair up.

Anthony pushing Caroline around the house in her baby doll stroller.

Video

2010-01-15T22:28:00.002-05:00

Love this video of Caroline with her Papa. Her new favorite word is yea and I just think that her laugh is so cute. (sorry about the video quality but it was taken with my phone)

Random pics

2010-01-13T09:54:00.010-05:00

Anthony at the rodeo eating popcorn. His daddy also let him have Sprite. He thought his daddy was the best for that.
Looking at Andrew. I just love the look on his face.

Going to the rodeo.

Sorry this picture is blurry but I just thought it was a cute picture of Caroline smiling. She's so serious that we don't catch a lot of smiles with the camera. She still has those fabulously chunky legs!

I have no idea what this look is for but it's priceless!

Waving bye-bye. Her hair is a mess because she just woke up and was waving bye-bye to daddy as he left for work.

Riding the horse is part of the nightly routine at our house. After dinner and baths Chad gets in the floor and plays with the kids until bedtime and every night Anthony talks him in to riding the horse even though it's killer on the knees with hard wood floors.

off to the rodeo!

2010-01-05T20:06:00.002-05:00

Chad & Anthony went to the rodeo on Saturday night. We thought that Anthony would absolutely love it and we were right. He now wants to be a bull rider when he grows up. Here is what he looked like when he left the house.

leah

2010-01-01T19:36:00.003-05:00

I have a heavy heart today. As most everyone knows I follow a lot of different blogs. I have been following a blog about Leah, a little girl that was born with Epidermolysis Bullosa or EB for short. This is a genetic skin disorder that causes painful blistering all over their body. There is no cure for this disorder and can be fatal in the first year of life, which is the case with Leah. She passed away yesterday morning around 9:45 am. Her parents were able to hold her and be with her during her last time here on earth. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have a child that was in pain continuously from her first day of life and I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose a child. Leah is in heaven now, pain free and EB free. For that we can praise God but here on earth her parents and family are suffering even though I know they are grateful that she doesn't hurt anymore. Please pray for this family and other families that have children with EB and other disorders. Here are some links Leah, Jonah, Tripp, Ryan, Karsie, Sarah, Emma.

first hair cut

2010-01-01T19:23:00.006-05:00

I did something that I swore I would not do for a very long time. I got Caroline's hair cut. It looked so bad in the back because it was two different lengths and it just had to be done. So we went to see Charlie and she trimmed it up for us. But we did not cut bangs. I will never as long as I live have bangs on Caroline. Thanks to Charlie for doing a great job and thanks Emily for keeping Caroline occupied and letting her play with your phone so I could take pictures. Everytime we go see Charlie Anthony wants a hair cut so of course since Caroline got hers done there was no way we were leaving the shop without Anthony getting his done also. Here is a picture of him after his new "do".

Caroline is starting early with texting!

Caroline

2009-12-26T17:45:00.004-05:00

I just had to post this picture because her outfit is just too darn cute!!!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T10:54:00.017-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas, the kids received lots of great presents and have played till they just fell over. I'm just not sure if my house is ever going to recover, I still have so much left to clean. Here are some pictures from the day (please just ignore the mess everywhere!)

Anthony "helping" Caroline open her presents. He "helped" everyone.
Caroline with her new ride on toy.

Anthony on his new bicycle that his Nanny and Papaw Bryson got him. He loves it.

Caroline with her new car. She didn't want us to put it together, she thought it was just fine like that so we had to wait for her to take a nap.

Caroline is such a girly girl. She got a baby sling and now she carries her baby around in the sling. She looked so cute cooking in her kitchen while wearing her baby. She's such a little mommy. She got a new baby that coos and moves and everytime it makes a noise she pats it on the back and says "Oh Oh". She walks around the house talking to it now to. It's so darn cute!

Aunt Cha Cha with Caroline and her new baby.

They both got play food that they can cut and that has entertained both of them for hours.

Caroline in her new car after we finally got it put together. She takes her baby for rides all over the house now.

I just love this picture.

Andrew and Taylor came over and played Anthony's new Wii. Everyone has had a great time with it, although I think Chad has taken it over. He played it for a long time yesterday then we played together after the kids went to bed. It's so fun.

Anthony bowling with his new Wii, but his favorite game is shooting chickens with eggs. He thinks it's great.

2009-12-23T09:24:00.006-05:00

We got a total of 7 inches of snow, not as much as some people but plenty for us. Anthony had a hard time walking in all that. Mark, Lacey, LeAnna, & Colton came over on Saturday to play. Here are some pictures from the day. Colton didn't like the snow, he was happier to sit on Anthony's jeep the whole time. Caroline's favorite part was when I would throw snowballs at her, she was just smile and laugh. Of course LeAnna and Anthony loved sledding down the hill but we had to pull them back up the hill, not easy to do! We survived the day with no broken bones but LeAnna did get a busted nose, upper and lower lip, and a red spot on her forehead from when Charlie stopped them from hitting the playhouse and LeAnna fell forward in to the back of Anthony's head. Sorry LeAnna! She sent Anthony the cutest video that night thanking him for busting her lip. LOL.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!

2009-12-18T15:48:00.015-05:00

We have about 4 1/2 inches of snow so far and it's still snowing. Here are a few pictures of the day with more to come later.

Papa had just gotten hit with a snowball from Anthony! He would have either his Nanny or Papa make him a snowball then hit them with it. He thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Anthony making a snowman. We don't have a picture of the finished product because he knocked it down about 30 seconds after it was finished. Such a boy!

My wonderful mother having fun in the snow.

Anthony and his HUGE snowball.

My fabulous daddy!

Caroline had quite a hard time walking in the snow. Here is what she spent most of her time doing, trying to get back up!

She was completely amazed by her first snow.

Caroline's first steps in the snow. Chad took her in after about 15 minutes because she couldn't keep her gloves on. Chad was happy to take her in, he doesn't like the snow as much as we do. Guess it's because he always has to go to work when it's snowing. Looks like his Saturday is going to be spent working:(

(Please just ignore the bruise on her face and the busted lip)

Time out

2009-12-16T12:41:00.002-05:00

I thought this picture was cute. Anthony had to go to time out last night and as soon as he went and sat down in the corner Caroline went over there and sat with him the whole time. She never talked or tried to play with him, just sat there. When I told her she could get up she just ignored me until I told Anthony it was time to get up and then she got up and started playing. It was very cute. (Sorry about the picture quality but it was taken with my cell phone and it was kind of dark in the living room)

We were playing with the kids in the floor before bed last night and I just thought these videos were cute. Shows just how clumsy Caroline can be some days, also shows her saying diaper.

2009-12-14T21:18:00.008-05:00

I just thought this picture was funny. Anthony decided he wanted to wear my pink and white bath robe around the house the other day. His daddy was not thrilled about this at all but Anthony just wanted to wear it because he said it was warm and he was cold (of course he was wearing nothing but his underwear, I can't keep that child in clothes so I have finally just given up)
I love these pictures of Caroline. She loves her "babies" and has to go to bed with them or she will not go to sleep. I laid her down for a nap and came back to check on her and just had to take a picture.

Caroline has figured out to climb on the ottoman and then up on the couch. I was making pancakes this morning and it got really quiet and you know that is never a good thing so I went to check on her and she was on the couch laying down watching Super Why. She is so clumsy and can't figure out how to get down and I'm afraid she is going to fall off the couch so we have moved to ottoman in our bedroom while she is awake. Doesn't she look so happy and proud of herself?

Everyone knows that Anthony loves to do projects and "jobs". He has been helping me cook almost every meal now and thinks it's the greatest thing ever. He also loves art projects, nothing keeps his attention for long but he does like to do it. So we made a paper chain for our Christmas tree. He was more excited about getting to use glue than anything and instead of just putting glue on the ends he had to put glue on the whole piece so it was quite messy but still a lot of fun. I just love the look on his face in this picture.

Concentrating so hard!

We also made a gingerbread house and tree today so Anthony could decorate. (Ok, so I bought the premade gingerbread so all we had to do was put it together) Can you tell that Anthony did most of the icing on the Christmas tree? I think he ate more icing and candy than he put on the tree. He kept going under the table to eat candy cause he thought I wouldn't know. LOL. I put the icing on the house and he put all the candy on then I went to fold a load of laundry and came back and he had green icing all over his mouth and so did Caroline. He was sharing with her!

Here is what the house looked like after I went to do laundry. I think half the candy is missing on this side now. When Chad came home he was picking candy off of it to and when I fussed about it he said it was meant to be eaten not looked at. He is very serious about his sweets.

Santa

2009-12-05T21:17:00.007-05:00

Brevard's Christmas parade was today. We went even though it was bitterly cold because of the wind. We bundled the kids up and they had a great time. Someone threw out some candy and Caroline got the lolipop. This is only the second time she has ever had one. She was not going to let it go. She loved it and cried when I finally took it away.

After the parade some friends and I decided to take our kids to see Santa. So with 3 adults we took 5 kids to eat and then to the mall to see Santa. Scroll down and you will see the picture of Anthony and Caroline with Santa.

Can you tell that Caroline absolutely hated Santa this year? I still love the picture even though she isn't smiling. It's just another priceless holiday memory. Below are pictures from past Christmases with Santa. Thought it would be cute to show you all of them. (sorry I can't find the one from Anthony's 1st Christmas, gonna have to keep looking)

Anthony hated Santa 2 years ago!

Christmas Tree

2009-12-01T11:10:00.009-05:00

After we got home from having Thanksgiving dinner with Chad's family all Anthony wanted to do was decorate the tree. So we went downstairs and found the decorations and we started decorating. We got the lights on the tree while Caroline and Anthony were both trying to "help." So we decided to let Anthony stay up a little late and decorate it after Caroline went to bed.

I never really understood why my mom always wanted to keep every ornament that Charlie and I made when we were kids. But now I totally understand. The ornaments that Anthony has made are my most cherised ornaments now. That is mainly what is on our tree this year and I love it. While we were decorating Anthony wanted to play with the ornaments for a while before he would put them on the tree so to say the least it took a while to finish it all. Anthony told me when we finished decorating that he had the best tree in the whole world.

The next morning when Caroline woke up the first thing she went for was the tree. She pulled out 3 of the balls and started throwing them through the house. Thank goodness we put all the non-breakable ones on the bottom. She has pulled off some of the lights and pulls the ornaments off several times a day. Everytime she gets near the tree she looks at me and gives me the biggest smile before she pulls something off because she knows she is not supposed to be doing that. They really know how to work it!

"THE" Tree

2009-11-26T21:13:00.010-05:00

We decided this year for the first time that we were going to get a real Christmas tree. No matter what it looked like, Anthony was going to get to pick out the perfect tree. So today we went to a local Christmas tree farm to find that perfect tree. When we arrived my first thought was "there is no way we are going to have to go to the top of the mountain. They must have somewhere else for us to walk and find a tree." After talking to the owner, sure enough we were going to have to hike up that mountain. So off we went. I had Caroline in a hipster sling and Anthony was walking with Chad. This mountain was so steep that you needed to be a mountain goat to walk up it! (Danskos are wonderful shoes but not so good when hiking) Anthony slipped and fell a few times but finally we made it to the top. After taking a couple of minutes to catch our breath we started looking. Anthony kept choosing the biggest trees and when we told him that those wouldn't fit in our house he started choosing 2-3 ft trees. So Chad showed him the size we needed and he started looking again. After walking and walking we decided that we needed to go back to the begining of the mountain to find the right size. So finally Anthony found the tree. We took our ribbon and tied it around the tree and decided that we couldn't make it back down the mountain the way we came because we aren't mountain goats and it was too steep! So we walked around the rest of the trail and finally made it back down to the bottom. We told the owner that we would be back after Thanksgiving dinner to pick up the tree. Chad and the owner started talking and Anthony and I were looking at all the trees that were already cut. He looked and looked and then looked at me said "Oh Mommy this is the tree, I want this one not the other one. It's perfect!" My first thought was "you have got to be kidding me. We just walked on top of a mountain and searched and searched for the perfect tree and all along the perfect tree was at the bottom already cut and ready to go." But since we told Anthony that he could pick any tree he wanted we told the owner that we wanted that tree instead. So we did find the perfect tree even though we did take the long way! It's just another priceless memory with my kids and was totally worth every step. Anthony had the best time and that is all that matters. Caroline couldn't have cared less. Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Finally at the top!

The 1st perfect tree!

The 2nd perfect tree!

Rewards and Jobs

2009-11-23T19:51:00.009-05:00

We have started a points system with Anthony. He has a list of chores he has to do everyday and if he does them and listens well then he earns a point. When he gets 10 points we go do something special. He decided that he wanted to go to the movies. Here is a picture of him at the movies today.
After dinner tonight Caroline had part of my Skinny Cow Fudge Popsicle. (They are the best ever!) She loved it as you can see!

Here are a few pictures I took of Caroline over the weekend.

Caroline loves to throw balls and play "football" with Anthony and her daddy. She will run for the ball and then run through the house or yard as fast as she can then throw the ball. Hopefully this means she's not going to be a cheerleader! LOL.

Anthony loves to do "jobs" as he calls them. Whether it be with his daddy, Papa, Papaw Dennis, or Grandad he thinks that it is the greatest thing ever. He talks about doing "jobs" all the time and what a big helper he is. Here are some pictures of him "helping" his daddy grease the lawn mowers over the weekend. He had the best time ever.

He was so dirty when he came in the house for lunch. But he told me "Mommy, we had a lot of jobs to do, and sometimes you just have to get dirty. It means we are working hard. Daddy needed help with the mowers so I just had to help and get a whole lot dirty." He was even more dirty after he came in the house that afternoon but he had a great time and I guess that's all that matters.

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

2009-11-17T10:39:00.009-05:00

While the kids were at Nanny Cathy's on Sunday she decided to let them play in the leaves. So they raked up a ton of leaves and let the kids go. Anthony is still talking about getting to jump them. Thanks mom for the great pictures! Aren't they so cute?!

Cooking!

2009-11-14T22:30:00.009-05:00

Anthony stayed with his Nanny Cathy today while I slept after working nights last night. Every time he goes to stay with her he has to make muffins for breakfast (he tells his Nanny everyday he is with her that his daddy never feeds him breakfast. Most of the time he has grits or something else on him that shows he did indeed have breakfast.) Well, today he also decided to make pizzas at her house and then wanted to come home and make more pizza for him and his daddy tonight. So we let him make his own pizzas for supper even though we had pizza for supper last night and he also had it for lunch today. Oh well, he likes pizza just like his daddy.

Caroline's new obsession.

2009-11-14T00:53:00.007-05:00

Charlie got Anthony "funny face" glasses for Halloween and took this picture. I think it's so cute!

For some reason Caroline loves to play with and eat tampons. Everytime I am in the bathroom getting dressed she is under the cabinet as fast as possible trying to find them. She is cutting all 4 of her 1 year molar teeth at the same time. So to say the least, she has not been very happy for the last week.

Here we go!

2009-11-14T00:50:00.002-05:00

Many of my friends have been trying to get me to start a blog for quite a long time. I never got around to it but now since I am working a night shift (I have no idea why I agreed to work a night shift ever again) and trying to keep myself awake I am giving it a try!

Tractors and Bows

Caroline's 3rd birthday part at The Little Gym

Caroline's Birthday

A Rockin' Good Time

Long Overdo Update

Happy Easter!

Lots of new pictures

daily conversations with the kids

1st lake trip of 2011!

A lot of updates!

Happy New Year and late Merry Christmas.

the best camel ever!!!!

snow and lots of ugly sweaters!

Terrified!!!!!!!

off roading!

Christmas tree "hunting"

Happy Halloween!

meeting the Ringgold's & Jonah & the EB race

conversations with Caroline

EB awareness week!

Grandad's Apples

Bella

Happy Birthday Caroline!

catching up

a girl's weekend

more beach pics

a pirate party

Anthony turns 4!

Myrtle Beach vacation

another fun outing with friends

more fun in the wa-wa!

fun at nana kim's house

a day at the farm

5k

random pics

fun in the forest

Caroline goes bungee jumping; Anthony goes to time out

dirty kids; clean kids

lake time!

new pics

18 month check up

Easter weekend

lots of pictures

Why?????

new pics

new words

a fun filled weekend

more snow, a sick boy, and a dirty girl

pizza & fudge popsicles

Jonah's EB auction

one of those days

mortified at mcdonalds

more snow and couple cute videos

My Little Nudists

Video

Random pics

off to the rodeo!

leah

first hair cut

Caroline

Merry Christmas!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!

Time out

Santa

Christmas Tree

"THE" Tree

Rewards and Jobs

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

Cooking!

Caroline's new obsession.

Here we go!