Katie's 7th birthday

Katie turned 7 on Friday but unfortunately she couldn't enjoy it. She has the flu. We had to cancel her party Saturday. We did let her open her presents when her fever was down a bit. She is doing better this morning. I gave her Ibuprofen at 1am and then went to bed. She woke me up at 5am to tell me that she was hungry and asked if she could have a sandwich. I told her yes but then she decided she wanted baby carrots and ranch dressing. She hasn't eaten much this weekend so whatever she feels like eating, I let her eat. She ate her carrots and went back to bed. Throughout the weekend, she would get Ibuprofen or Tylenol highs where she had no fever and felt great and would play some Wii games. That was fun. Here are some pictures of her opening her gifts Friday night. You can tell she doesn't feel well.
Air Hogs Jet from Jonathan. (Tom crashed the other one Jonathan sent her high up in a tree. He ordered it from Amazon and they sent two so now she has a spare if Tom crashes one in a tree! haha)
Jessica gave her an MP3 player and ear buds. She can't wait to get better so she can go skating while listening to her MP3 player. (I was very proud of myself. I ripped her CD's, changed them from .ogg format to MP3 format, and loaded them onto her MP3 player without one bit of advice from Tom!)
Kidz Bop 15 CD from Randy.
ICarly scooter from Grandma and Grandpa.
Tom and I gave her a Wii, Mario Kart for the Wii, an extra remote, extra nun-chuck, and double remote charger. Brittanie bought her an extra steering wheel for Mario Kart. She was VERY excited when she realized it was a Wii she was opening.
Randy also gave her a Ravman Raving Rabbids game. It is a weird game and a little too hard for her. But it was fun watching Brittanie play it.
Brittanie and Katie playing Mario Kart. Jessica was helping Katie.Katie's ICarly cake. It was beautiful and delicious! Susan is awesome! All of her cakes come out great!Katie didn't feel well enough to cut her cake on her birthday so we cut it Saturday instead. We didn't want her blowing on the whole cake since she has the flu. So we cut her piece and put candles in it. She only ate one bite. She just didn't feel well enough to eat it. But it was delicious!Jessica had to work Halloween night and her supervisor gave her a bag of candy and this IV of "Bloody punch" was in the bag.

We have a new Gamecock!!!

Brittanie wouldn't pose for me! This is the best I could get. She cut the back of the envelope and put it on the back cover of her binder. Yep, she's a little excited!

I haven't updated lately because there really hasn't been much to report....until now! Brittanie applied to the University of South Carolina, main campus, on July 22nd. They were taking so long to tell her whether she got in or not that we decided to apply to USC-Aiken as a back-up. She found out within a week that she was accepted to USC-Aiken. So we knew no matter what, she would be taking nursing classes next semester. Well yesterday Tom walked in with the mail and he was holding a big envelope from USC's main campus and the back of the envelope had a big Gamecock on it that said "YES!" She was so excited that she ripped open that envelope and quickly read the letter. Tom and I were just as happy as she was. She has wanted to be a student at USC for years. She didn't get in as a freshman because she needed two foreign languages and only had one. It would have been nice for her high school guidance counselor to tell her that. She didn't apply for fall semester of her sophomore year because Midlands Tech was cheaper and there were still prerequisites available to her at Tech. She has taken all of the prerequisites she can at Tech so she needs to start taking nursing classes in the spring. We were pretty sure she would get in because she needed a 2.5 GPA (she had a 3.6 her freshman year and should be higher this semester) and she needs to have at least a C average in her science class. She is taking chemistry this semester and has a 98 average. So we knew she met the requirements but it was nerve wracking that it took so long to get a definite answer! We are going out to celebrate tonight!

Katie got her first real report card yesterday. She has made the A Honor Roll!! The teacher always puts a comment on the back of the report cards. Katie's teacher's comment was "Katie does very well in school. She is a hard worker and is very knowledgeable in many areas. I am so glad she is in my class!" She is right that Katie is very knowledgeable in many areas. She asks ALOT of questions and her daddy is always eager to answer them and explain things to her.

October 8th was Grandparents Day at Katie's school. They were told to dress like their same sex grandparent. Katie wanted a cane and a shawl like some of the girls in her class were going to use. I told her that her grandparents weren't that old! Tom's mom is a nurse. So I dressed her like a nurse. She had a real stethoscope that my little sister, Jeannette, gave her. Tom's mom pinned her hospital name tag on her and even let Katie wear the nursing cap and RN pin she got when she graduated nursing school. I don't have a picture of her with the cap and name tag but here is a picture of her before she left to go to school that day:
Katie has been excited about Halloween. She loves going Trick or Treating. Brittanie takes her every year and they have a good time. Well she heard about the Cayce/West Columbia Jaycees Haunted House and asked Brittanie to take her. Brittanie doesn't like being scared so she refused. So she climbed up on her daddy's lap and tried to convince him to take her. After Tom found out that there is an age limit and if you take her child in their anyway, you have to sign a waiver acknowledging that you won't get a refund when your kid goes screaming out of there, he told her no!

Katie loved Connect Four. She has been playing for over a year now and is really good at it. Tom was playing a few games with her and only half way paying attention to what he was doing and she beat him 3 games in a row. That's when he decided to put down his laptop and give his full attention to the game and she still beat him one time after that point. He gives her tips on how to improve her game. She is really an analytical thinker.
As smart as Katie is, she still makes bonehead decisions! Saturday night after she got out of the bathtub, she decided that her bangs were too long and were bothering her. Instead of telling me so I could schedule an appointment with our hairdresser, she grabbed Brittanie's scissors out of the bathroom drawer and gave her bangs a trim herself. They look awful! Brittanie noticed it first on Sunday morning. I asked Katie three times if she cut her own bangs. She lied all three times. So I took away her TV for a week for lying and took away her Nintendo DS for a week for cutting her own hair. I also made her wear her hair like that for at least a week until I could get an appointment with our hair dresser to fix it. Hopefully she will think twice before doing that again!

Omazing Grace???

This video was so horrendous that I just had to share. The Bible says to make a joyful noise. I don't know about joyful but this is definitely noise!! hahaha

Omazing Grace

Update on Tom

The rental car Enterprise gave him is a Dodge Avenger. He is NOT happy. He said that thing is a plastic car and he hates it. He is going to go back to Enterprise and trade it in for something else.

Tom's wreck

Today, Tom was T-boned by an old man coming out of a gas station in Orangeburg as he was coming back to Columbia for a dentist appointment. The impact spun him around and turned him to face the other direction. Thankfully, he is ok but he is not happy that his beloved car is smashed. He just kept saying "I can't believe my car is smashed! It will never be the same again."

I did have to laugh at him because I went to Orangeburg to pick him up and he drove my van home. When we pulled into the garage, he pulled the key out and said, "I'm back to using a key! It's like stepping back into the stone age!" He is funny!

Tommunism!

Ok so we are very unhappy with the current president. So we have decided that we are going to start our own country. It will be Tommunism! Want to join our country? Just let us know. We won't charge any taxes. The only requirement is that you are your own defense....arm yourselves! It will be our 1st ammendment....we are in the south afterall! Elected officials won't be paid. They will serve on the basis of wanting our Tommunist country to be the best it can be and that will be the only thing in it for them.

Want to join our country, just apply for citizenship with us. We reserve the right to refuse citizenship to people we feel wouldn't make proper contributions to our new society....like Clemson fans! hahahaha



PS before anyone calls the secret service....I am just joking!

Celebrating Brittanie's Birthday

Brittanie is going to be 19 on the 25th of September. She is going to the beach next weekend so we decided to have a family celebration a week early. We all went to Yamato's Japanese Steakhouse in Irmo, which is her favorite restaurant.

No, Tom hasn't been hitting the saki. He was just intently watching the chef.

After we ate, we came home, opened presents, and ate cake.

She was very happy that she got cash for her birthday. That's always a great gift for teenagers! Katie made her a turtle out of a paper plate. It was cute. She was very excited to give that to Brittanie. Brittanie has been wanting a netbook for awhile because taking her laptop to class is inconvenient. The battery life stinks so she has to try to get near an outlet and sometimes she can't. Plus it is very heavy to carry around. We had her convinced that she was getting a little cheap black Acer. She has been dying for a red Dell Mini. Well that's what we gave her. In the picture above, she just realized it was red!!She was VERY excited!

She never dreamed Tom would pay the extra $40 for red! It was her birthday so he sprang for it but didn't neglect to point out that he thought it was stupid to charge $40 for a color.

We had a great time. Tom's parents came down, as well as his brother, Jesse, and his wife, Melissa, and their daughter/our beautiful niece, Leah. Melissa and Leah loved Brittanie's puppy, Jasper. Jasper barked and growled at Leah but she wasn't scared of him at all. She laughed and chased him and imitated his bark. Leah and Jessica were having fun with Jessica's camera.

She is so precious!!

We had a very good day. We don't get to see Jesse, Melissa, and Leah near enough so when we do get it see them, we enjoy every minute of it!

Brittanie was interviewed by Fox News!

Brittanie attended the Joe Wilson rally this afternoon and was interviewed by Fox News! Hopefully her interview won't end up on the cutting room floor and we will get to see it tonight!!

House Hunting

When Tom and I have free time, we hop in the car and ride around the Lexington, Irmo, and Chapin area looking for either a house or area we would like to move to. Jessica had the day off today, so she and I went riding through Chapin and I LOVE Chapin. But the more I talk to Tom, the more I realize that his pickiness is going make finding the right house impossible and he doesn't want to build....which I do.

Now this may sound stressful but it really hasn't been. Tom is actually very fun to shop around with. But tonight he had us all laughing at his reaction to my demand for a big tiled walk-in shower with no door. I showed him on the internet that it is a modern feature found in upscale homes. He doesn't care. He just kept saying "NO DOOR??? WHAT?" I tried to explain that there is no need for a door because the shower is 5ft long and the shower head is deep enough that water will NEVER get out of the doorway. He didn't care. He said that is just as bad as a clear walled shower. The more he talked about it, the funnier it became. He is hilarious!

Sunday we were riding in the Dutch Fork area and found Colony Ridge by Essex Homes. It is a very new development and they are preselling lots. I called today and found out that it starts at $170K and goes up to $220K. Tom said "Nope too cheap! That makes it too easy for undesirable people to move in." He wants twice that! I tried to get him to list our house for sale so that the first time buyers can use Obama money to buy our house before December 31st. He isn't ready to do that yet. It was worth a shot but I kinda knew he would poo-poo that idea.

I think whether he likes it or not, we are going to have to build our own home to our specs. It is so hard to find a nice house that meets our criteria, which are no screened in back porch, at least a half acre....prefer more, all brick, one story with a bonus room, two to three car garage, granite tile in kitchen and bathrooms, hardwood floors, open floor plan from the kitchen to the den, big walk-in tiled doorless shower and no tub in the master bath, etc. I have picked out a blueprint that I love. But no matter which way we go, I am really enjoying the house hunting process with Tom. He is so fun.

Here is a home that Jessica and I found out in Chapin that I would love to have but Tom poo-pooed living close to a golf course! But this gives a general idea of what kind of house we are looking for.

Family Weirdness

Last week everyone was just goofy. I can't explain it but I definitely enjoyed it. One day, Tom came home from work and was picking on everyone....including Jessica. I have posted pictures on my blog of Tom trying not to let Jessica touch him or get near him. Well this night, he was the polar opposite. He sat between Jessica and I on the sofa and was pushing on her and cutting up. So much so that I threw Brittanie the camera, since she was sitting on the floor across the room from them, and she took some pictures. After the first picture, Tom put his hands over Jessica's face and said "Don't want you to break the camera." We were all enjoying his goofy side....we don't see Tom being goofy very often.

A couple of days later, I went in the bathroom to find this. That's Katie's wash cloth that she bathed with stuck to the wall. Why?? Tom and Jessica both said they used to do that too when they were kids. I didn't. I just found it strange. (By the way, excuse the ugly yellow 70's tile. It is on the upgrade list! We hide it with the Gamecock shower curtain.)

Happy Monday!

I know it is Monday but I'm declaring that this is going to be a good day anyway! Katie is feeling better. Tom is feeling better (or he is really good at faking it so I will stop telling him to go to the doctor). Brittanie is about to start her second week of her sophmore year of college. Randy had hernia surgery Thursday and is doing great. Life is good!

Tom and I have been really proud of the effort Brittanie is putting into her classes. She straight out told Randy that while she is in school, he is not her first priority. She is excited about her classes....even BioChem. She isn't thrilled with Developmental Psychology because it is focused on children and Brittanie doesn't like children. But she says her teacher does tell stories about mental disorders that Brittanie finds very interesting so it all works out. Her History class starts with the Civil War....which she loves. (She is a South Carolina girl after all!) She has applied to USC for the spring semester. She has a 3.6GPA from her Freshman year so hopefully that will get her in. The waiting is tough!! I will update when we hear from them. I am worried that they won't approve her until they find out what she makes in BioChem since she has no science classes her first year and she is applying as a nursing major. Guess we will see!

Katie is liking school. Her teacher is very nice. She has had nothing but good teachers at Grace. I took her to the doctor this summer and had her evaluated for ADHD and her doctor agreed with me that she definitely needs treatment. He tried her on Adderall, which hurt her stomach. So then he put her on a Daytrana patch. It helped but after a week, he upped her dose and it is perfect!! Her manners, which I always knew she had, are now being used. Her handwriting is tremendously better. She can now focus on tasks. I have been very pleased. Tom was against medicating her. But he wasn't the one with her all summer while she was driving me crazy. Even though he was against it, he agreed to let her give it a try. At first he didn't like it. He missed his ball of energy. But last Monday we were running late and I forgot to put her patch on her before school. That night after just a couple of hours with her, he told me not to forget her patch again. He missed the calm Katie. haha Another great side effect is that she isn't begging for food 24/7. When she isn't on the patch, she has an obsession with food and wants to plan her meals and snacks in advance and watches the clock (cuz I won't let her graze all day) to know when she can eat again. While on the patch, we have to make her eat. Brittanie has taken her to the mall twice and came home and told me Katie was perfect! She had absolutely NO complaints. That's amazing because Brittanie hated taking Katie places because she was hyper and got on Brittanie's nerves. Katie even says she likes her patch because she doesn't get fussed at near as much. It was the best thing we could have done!!

I almost forgot! Katie had her first library class Tuesday. She checked out a book for the first time. I was impressed with her choice. Let's hope the book helps!

Out of the mouth of babes

It is no secret to those that know me that I'm not particularly fond of old people. I guess Katie has picked up on that because today she told Tom that he can't go to the store because there are old people there and old people carry diseases! She cracks me up!!!

Tom has been sick for 3 weeks and refused to go to the doctor. Well this week, it got really bad and he started taking left over antibiotics that we had in the medicine cabinet and Tylenol Cold. This weekend, he looks like death and still refusing to go to the doctor. He is weak and feverish....and totally annoying! I have heard wives complain about their husbands being big babies when they are sick. Tom is the complete opposite of that. He says he is sick not helpless and flat out refuses to let me pamper him. He went to take off the trash today and came home exhausted. Then he decided that he HAD to go to the store. He is really wiped out from that. He claims he is going to work. Mr. "Don't call in, crawl in" just thinks he is going to work tomorrow. I'm scared for him to drive all that way as weak as he is. He has been laying down off and on all weekend. You can't do that at work....not to mention he will get everyone at work sick too. I am going to try to get him to go to the doctor Monday. Why are men so stubborn??

Katie's first day of 1st grade!!

Today, our baby started 1st grade. It is hard to believe that she is old enough to be in 1st grade. We went to Open House Friday night and found out that Katie's teacher taught Tom in 5th grade when he was at Grace! She has had great teachers so far and we are feeling great about her having a seasoned teacher this year. She is going to learn alot and do great!I hate the dress code but it is a great school academically so we just have to deal with it.

My true Gamecock Fan!!

She is very excited that she no longer has to use the ugly plain little bags that the Kindergarten gives everyone and requires they use. She LOVES her Gamecock bookbag. What can I say...the girl has great taste!!!

I cook breakfast for our girls on their first day of school every year. The rest of the year if they want breakfast at all, they usually eat cereal in milk. But on the first day of school they get to choose the breakfast they want me to cook. Katie made it easy on me and chose blueberry Eggo waffles and apple cinnamon oatmeal....we use the Quaker instant oatmeal packets and nuke that in the microwave. I put her milk in Brittanie's light up bottomed Bubba Gump Shrimp Company cup. She turned the light off so she could see the strobe effect better and wanted me to take a picture. We sat at the table and talked. I really enjoyed it. Right after she finished eating, she grabbed one of her new shoes and brought it in the kitchen to see which one was brighter, the lights on the cup or the lights on her shoes. The shoes won. Tom said the teacher is going to hate those shoes by the end of the year! Oh well, Katie LOVES them! Both of my girls have had light up shoes before but the lights on these are by far the brightest I have ever seen. They are called headlights! They are Skechers, which was the brand Katie asked for. She wanted Twinkle Toe Skechers. After I looked at them, I refused to buy them. They are ugly. They look like they were designed by 60's flower children. No way! These are much better! They are princess shoes for my little princess! I just can't get over how style conscious she is at just 6 years old! She is going to be a little diva very early!

After I took all the pictures I wanted to take, my little ham requested I take two more pictures.

Here is the first one: And the second one I told her may look cool to her now but I WILL be showing it at her wedding. hehehe

Date night!!

Tom and I don't get nearly enough alone time. Brittanie and Katie fight so much that we don't like to have Brittanie babysit much. Randy had the day off yesterday and I knew he would be with Brittanie if she babysat Katie. Randy is MUCH more patient than Brittanie is. So date night was set! Tom and I went to The Crab Shack in Lexington and it was delicious....as always. He offered to take me to a movie that I have been wanting to see (The Ugly Truth) but Tom is not really a movie person and this was a chick flick...which definitely wasn't his thing. So I told him I would rather just ride around and talk. I am so glad we did that. It was so nice to be able to talk in peace. We love Katie but she is so hyper that she drains your energy and when Tom gets home, she is so excited that she is stuck to him like glue. It was nice to have him all to myself. We ended up driving down Highway 1 all the way into Aiken (passing The Big Mo in Monetta along the way!!). When we got there, we started a hunt for Bruster's Ice Cream. When we finally found it, it was closed and for sale. So we just went to Sonic for ice cream then took the long way home.

I just love Aiken. It is such a pretty city. I wish Tom's company had more IT stuff in Aiken. It would be a great place for us to move to! I don't know what their public schools are like but I know there are good Christian schools in Aiken and Augusta to choose from....as opposed to where we are now having a horrible public school district and only one affordable Christian school to choose from. Oh well I'm dreaming but we scoped out a couple of places to eat on our next date night!

Katie's first trip to Carowinds!!

Tom took Katie to her first trip to Carowinds today. Brittanie and Randy went with them. Katie has been begging to go to Carowinds for 3 years but we knew she wouldn't be able to ride anything big, which is what she was dying to do, until she was 48 inches tall. Well this year, she is 49 inches and begging to go!

She road Thunder Road 3 times, the Hurler 3 times, Carolina Cobra twice, and the Carolina Cyclone once....as well as alot of other rides. The wilder the ride, the more she liked it. Tom said her first adult coaster was Thunder Road. It was also Brittanie's first adult coaster when she was little. Brittanie got mad at Tom back then because he told her it wasn't bad but she found it really scary. Tom was looking forward to seeing what Katie's reaction would be because she is naturally braver than Brittanie was. When Thunder Road started moving, Katie grabbed onto the bar and stared wide eyed in front of her....and that's how she stayed the entire ride. Tom said it was like she was in shock. He had trouble getting her out of the car after the ride was over because she appeared to be catatonic. Walking away she initially refused to go back on it. But after she got 10 to 15 feet away, she told Tom she loved it and wanted to do it again. So back in line they went!

She had a great time and can't wait to go back. When they got home, I looked down at her shoes and noticed that they were on the wrong feet. We have been letting her do her own shoes since she learned how to tie her shoes. Tom even tied one of the shoes this morning that she was having trouble double knotting. He didn't notice anything different. She had been complaining that her feet were bothering her. Brittanie and Randy were laughing at the way she was walking but none of them thought to check to see why because she is a drama queen so they thought it was just Katie being a drama queen again. Nope.....her shoes were on the wrong feet all day! Tom felt bad that when he realized that but she has no blisters or anything and it is her own fault for being so whiny butt all the time. If she never complained, they would have taken this complaint seriously. But I think when school starts I'm going to paint each big toe a different color and put that color under the shoe that corresponds with the foot, that has the matching toe, that it goes on.

When they got home, everybody took showers and Katie hopped up on Tom's lap to tell him goodnight and thank him for taking her to Carowinds. She had a great day and was worn slap out! (You can tell by this picture that she adores her daddy!!)As you can see in the pictures, Katie had sunscreen on today....Tom did not. He thinks sunscreen is for girls. Have mercy!!Here they are being silly!

Tom now has a new roller coaster buddy to ride with him since Brittanie is older and has Randy to ride with her. Next on the agenda is Hershey Park to ride their newest roller coaster. Brittanie has been dying to go and Katie is excited at the thought as well!

Catchin up...again

I absolutely loved having my sisters here. I miss them so much now that they have gone back home.

The day after we went to Savannah, Jeannette, Jessica, and I went to Greenville and ate at Joe's Crab Shack. It was fun but just a tip....don't order the Orleans. That is NOT what crawfish is supposed to taste like. It was awful. I ate mine anyway with ketchup and Tabasco because I haven't had any crawfish in over 2 years and who knows when I will have some again. But Jeannette lives down there and knows she can have good crawfish anytime so she didn't eat hers. I also am not at all a fan of seasoning sprinkled on the outside of the shell. All that does is burn your lips and makes it impossible to taste the flavor of the seafood you are eating. But the shrimp were really good. I just peeled all of my shrimp, then wet napped my hands and ate them with a fork to avoid burning my lips off with that cayenne pepper. The service was great. I enjoyed watching them dance every 15 minutes to the music and the disco lights. That was really neat. We stopped in the gift shop on the way out and Jeannette bought Brittanie a T-shirt that said "Joe's Crab Shack." I bought Brittanie a black shirt that had HUGE letters that spelled out "CRABBY" and little letters under it that said "Joe's Crab Shack." I wanted to buy Katie a shirt but the only kid's shirt they had displayed a peace sign on it. I have my own personal beliefs about the peace sign and thus I skipped the shirt and bought her a beach towel since she is swimming so much this summer.
For dessert, Katie got a crab shaped Rice Krispie treat and caramel, chocolate, and strawberry sauce on a palate with a paint brush for her to paint it. She loved it!!
The next day, we went to northeast Columbia and took pictures at Portrait Innovations. The pictures came out great. I am going to take Brittanie and Katie there for Christmas pictures. The whole thing took an hour and a half and we left with the pictures in hand. It was great!! Here is the picture of my sisters. Nope not putting my picture on here. Sorry!

Thursday night, we met up with Frank, Lynn, their daughter, Rhiannon, and my friend, Jenn, at Catch 22 in Irmo to eat and watch Jenn's husband, Red, sing. We had a great time. Between Red and Jessica, we were laughing all night long. Here is a video of Red doing Elvis and Willie Nelson at the same time. It was pretty funny!!


Jeannette and Jessica were feeling REAALLLLYYYY good by the end of the night. I don't know who did it (my guess is Jessica since she was sitting behind me) but one of those nut balls braided my hair while I was driving home.
I was sad to see them leave Friday morning but I know they had to get back to work and we had to get back into our normal routine. It was way too quiet after they left. We had had someone visiting in the house everyday since June 9th. When the last two left on July 10th, it was kinda lonely. But you can't stay on vacation forever!

The day before my sisters went home, the washer finally died and the dryer was starting to need two cycles to dry our clothes. So Tom ordered a new front loading washer/dryer set from Sears. It came this past Saturday. Unfortunately, the dryer has two dents in the side so they are going to have to replace it. In the meantime, the fluorescent light fixture in our kitchen went out. I was thrilled. I have been wanting to replace it since we redid the kitchen but Tom was putting it off. Saturday he went to Lowe's and bought a new vent hose for the new dryer and new track lighting for the kitchen. I LOVE IT!! Now I'm looking forward to getting rid of the ceiling fan in the kitchen and replacing it with hanging track lighting over the table.

We are down to just a month until Brittanie and Katie go back to school. Katie is going to miss jumping in the pool everyday.I have no idea why she ALWAYS has her mouth open. She's a nut!!
She tans so easily (even with SPF 60 on her). She has very white tan lines. It is amazing how fast she tanned and never burned! I know Brittanie is going to miss all the free time. Won't be long before she is going to be glued to her Chemistry book!! In the meantime, she is just enjoying her puppy, Jasper, that Randy gave her. We love Jasper....even though Tom would never admit that he likes Jasper. Tom has never liked small dogs...only big muscular dogs like Rotties. But Jasper is so adorable, it is hard not to like him. Jasper loves Katie's knee pads and elbow pads that she wears to rollerblade. Here is a video of Jasper and Katie playing with them.


The biggest news is that my wonderful godson, Jonathan, is back in Iraq. This is his 3rd tour. It was soooooo hard to say goodbye to him when he left on June 29th. I wanted to freeze his face in my memory. Actually what I really wanted to do is lock him upstairs forever so he couldn't go. But he is a true soldier. He would never go AWOL....no matter how much I beg. So all I can do now is pray and ask everyone to pray that he, and all other deployed soldiers, come home safe and sound. The one silver lining is that his time in Germany is up in December so as soon as possible after he gets back from Iraq, he comes back to the states! *HAPPY DANCE* I'm very excited!! Even though he hates being called a hero, he will always be a hero in my eyes!!

This n that

As you can probably tell by my lack of posts, I have been really busy in the last month. Jonathan flew in June 9th for block leave and left June 29th. I LOVED having him here. I have missed him so much. It was so hard saying goodbye because he is deploying for his 3rd tour in Iraq in just a couple of weeks. I'm never more close to God than when Jonathan is in Iraq. I pray for him numerous times a day when he is there. I can't wait till his tour is done and he is back home. If he never saw combat again, I would be the happiest person alive! On June 28th, my little sisters came for a visit. I am really enjoying their visit. I don't get to see them nearly enough.

That's Paula's husband behind the buffet bar!

Yesterday, we went to Savannah, GA. I have never been there before. We got there at 10:30am and went straight to Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady and Sons, to put our name on the list for a table. If we had gotten there any later, we wouldn't have been able to eat there. We got the last time slot of 2:30. I have only watched bits and pieces of her show and am not a fan of country cooking but my sister, Aimee, was real excited to go because she is a huge fan of Paula Deen. We had 4 hours to kill so we rode around Savannah soaking in the atmosphere. Savannah is like a combination of Charleston and Aiken....both beautiful places. Jeannette dropped us all off and Jessica went to get the card to get into the dining room but since Aimee was in a wheelchair and I was pushing her, they let us in without the card to wait in the waiting room. While sitting in the waiting room, Paula Deen came out of the kitchen and walked just a foot away from us and said "Hey yall!" to everyone in the room, then went to her cut out and said "I like this picture! Don't yall like this picture?" Call us dorks but Aimee and I got VERY excited! Well Jessica came in and got us to go to our table with Jeannette soon to follow as soon as she got a parking place. While we were sitting at our table soaking in the atmosphere, Jessica spotted Paula's husband at the buffet. She grabbed her camera and asked him if she could have her picture taken with him. He was very nice and said yes. Jessica must have gone around there 100 times and even saw one of the sons! It was so cool. Aimee got fried shrimp. Jessica and Jeannette got the buffet. The buffet was just country crap so I didn't want any of that. So I ordered a crabcake burger. I love crabcake and have had it at many different places. I have to say this was by far the best crabcake I have ever eaten and it was HUGE! I couldn't stop going "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" while I was eating it! For dessert, we had a little bowl of chocolate chip ooey gooey cake. That was awesome too! Paula looked like she had been cooking all morning in that hot kitchen.
We had such a wonderful time in Savannah. Jessica kept us laughing and on the way home, she was bouncing off the walls hyper in the van and was taking pictures of everything. There is never a dull moment with Jessica! Ya gotta love her!!

Jess and my lil sister, Aimee (above)
Jess and my little sister/our chauffeur, Jeannette.

Fort Jackson

I hate suspension bridges. This is the suspension bridge over the Savannah River. It looked like a big scary bird to me!

Katie has a new haircut

We are trying, once again, to give Katie a new shorter hairstyle. The last time it was so frizzy that we had to let it grow out. This time, we cut it into layers and after she washed it, we noticed just blowing it dry got the frizz out. But in case it doesn't, Jessica sold me her InStyler. Katie was so excited when she saw it. She has seen commercials for it and she is a sucker for commercials. So it thrilled her that we actually had what she saw on the commercial.

We had 8 inches of hair cut and we are donating it to Locks of Love. I wanted to take pictures of her with her new haircut but she wouldn't stop making goofy faces.
After she took a bath, I took a picture...
then we dried it and I took another picture...with a forced angry smile. She is something else. This picture was taken right before Brittanie took her to see a movie.

I'm 40!!!

Thanks to everyone who sent me e-cards and facebook comments, as well as texts, wishing me a happy 40th birthday. I had a great day! I celebrated at Carolina Wings in West Columbia with Tom, Katie, Brittanie, Randy (he wasn't drinking...it is just bad timing),
Jessica, Jenn Fraley, and Frank and Lynn Eargle. Our waiter was the worst, but the food and the company were great!! I had the best night! I don't have any pictures of myself on here. I put them on myspace so I can control who sees them.

My wonderful husband gave me an AWESOME birthday present....a Samsung Impression. I have been looking forward to getting rid of my old cell phone and getting a new one. Well he bought me exactly the one I wanted and I LOVE it!!

Katie's K5 graduation

I have become addicted to Farm Town on Facebook so I haven't been updating my blog like I should. But it is time to catch up!

On May 21st, Katie graduated from K5 at Grace Christian School. I asked Melissa's sister-in-law to make Katie's cake since she did such an outstanding job on Tom's birthday cake. Well she outdid herself. It was a very cool looking cake and tasted GREAT! I loved it!! Tom's parents brought it to our house early so we ate cake before graduation. Katie loved it!!After cake, it was on to the ceremony!
She was bored waiting for Mr. J to get to S so it would be her turn to go up and get her diploma.It's official! Now on to 1st grade!!

After graduation, we went to Katie's favorite restaurant, Ruby Tuesday, so she could have the mac and cheese she loves so much. We were very touched at how many people came to see Katie graduate and went out to eat with us afterwards. Tom's parents came from Spartanburg and his brother and his family came from Rock Hill....on a Thursday night. We love our family!

Brittanie and Jessica waiting for graduation to start. I loved this picture so I had to include it!!

We took 3 short videos. The one of Katie getting her diploma is so cute because she wasn't used to walking in heels and she is walking very carefully, especially coming down the steps.

My birthday present!

Tuesday is my 40th birthday. My wonderful husband gave me my birthday gift a little early because I have been dying to have it for so long. He gave me a Samsung Impression. I LOVE IT!! It is the coolest phone I have ever owned.

ewwwwwwwww

I am going to sound like a commercial but I'm going to say it anyway. You know those commercials that talk about spots on your dishes that are washed in the dishwasher. I have seen those for years but have never seen spots on our dishes in the 15 years we have had a dishwasher.....until today. I always thought the people with spots must just have hard water or something. We have great water here in Gaston so it was never a concern. I have always used Cascade. Well I ran out of Cascade and used some Electrosol packs that Brittanie bought from Dollar Tree when she lived in her apartment. I unloaded my dishwasher this morning and my dishes were covered with icky spots. It was disgusting because I am now wondering what the heck left the spots. Is it food residue or soap scum? I'm chunking the rest of the Electrosol and making sure I keep my Cascade in the house from now on.

Good weekend!

We all spread out in different directions this weekend.

Friday, Brittanie and Randy left for their weekend in Greenville. They attended the Greenville Crawfish Boil. There were alot of bands there that they loved. Brittanie thought the crawfish were really good for South Carolina....meaning they weren't Cajun crawfish but they will do. She said they were actually seasoned, unlike the ones you get at the Rosewood Crawfish Festival in Columbia. But they were expensive. The 1lb box was $12! You will never find prices that high in Louisiana! But Brittanie liked the crawfish so much, she wants to get the company that catered the affair, Catering Cajun out of Atlanta, to cater her wedding. I told her we would definitely look into that. They got back Sunday afternoon tired but with lots of stories to tell. They had a great weekend. Brittanie really enjoyed being away from Gaston.

Saturday, Tom, Katie, and our friend, Frank, went to the Beaufort Air Show in Beaufort, SC. Katie LOVES jets. So she was in heaven. She had a blast and couldn't stop talking about the Blue Angels. She told me she wants to fly with the Blue Angels one day! Tom didn't think the sun was that bad but they both came back sunburnt. Fortunately for them, they have an olive complexion so by the next day, the red was replaced by a very nice tan. They are so lucky. Brittanie and I are just about albino and burn very easily! Anyway, Katie asked me today when she will get to go to another air show. I told her Shaw has theirs in September and Daddy will take her, I'm sure. So she is really looking forward to that.

While Tom and Katie were at the Air Show with Frank, Frank's wife (who is also my best friend) and their daughter stayed here at our house and we watched movies. We had a really good time. I haven't seen her since before our kitchen project started, so I really missed her! We are having Pictionary night again on the 30th. Can't wait!!

Field Day!

Today is Field Day at Grace but because the kindergarteners are really too little to compete in the games, they take each class somewhere special. Katie's class is going to the zoo and then to the park to have lunch. Well I bought her a Grace Field Day shirt. It is gold. When she brought it home two days ago, she and Brittanie had an argument over what color the shirt actually was. Brittanie said it was yellow. Katie said it was orange and she didn't want to wear orange. My little Clemson hater never ever wants to be seen in orange.

Well because of the stupid dress code, I had to buy her Bermuda shorts because it was the only shorts that were long enough to be in dress code. Well she isn't used to wearing shorts that long. So this morning when she got dressed for school, she was not at all happy to have to put on an orange shirt with long white shorts. She said the shorts were too long (they were to the top of the knee) and didn't match her shirt. Tom and I both told her that white matches everything! But she was still not happy and refused to let me take her picture. Tom tickled her and tried to lighten her up so she relented and agreed to let me take a picture but she refused to smile. So I didn't take her picture at all.

How can a 6-year-old have so much attitude???

The things kids say!

After Katie got home from school today, she asked me if Tom and I were the same age. I told her that I'm 11 months older than Tom. She said, "That's great!" I asked why that was great. She said, "Cuz I LOVE old people!" Have mercy! Now I'm an "old person!"

It is FINALLY finished!!

Katie made this plate for me for Mother's Day, as well as a book of drawings. Tom and our girls are so wonderful, they make everyday Mother's Day!Saturday, Tom's dad helped Tom rip out the old counter tops and install the new counter tops. Try as I might, I was unable to convince Tom not to cut the hole for the stove. I was perfectly willing to make the sacrifice of never cooking again. But he wouldn't let me make that sacrifice. hehehe For now, it is done! Later on we will be changing the sink, faucet, and light fixtures. But I think Tom needs to relax and not think about that kitchen for awhile. He worked ALL day today cutting the hole for the stove, installing the stove, painting the line all around the kichen because the new backsplash on the countertops is lower than the old one, plus touch up painting the white speckles left by the guy who painted our cabinets. He had to go to Wal-Mart and then Lowe's and get a little more cranberry paint. Once he finished all of that, he cleaned up the big mess, went to the store, and he looks totally exhausted. But he did a GREAT job on our kitchen. I'm so proud of him! So here are the pictures!

Coming into the kitchen from the living room.I think the pictures are too high on the wall but I was outruled by Tom and Brittanie.

With the exception of the pulls on the cabinet doors, which Jessica did, Tom did EVERYTHING in this kitchen.

I need to put more stuff on this wall.Oven and microwave with my pot holder and oven mitt handy!Our Gamecock Utility Room.

Yes I know my trash can is huge but there are 5 people in this house. We make ALOT of trash. We don't want to have to deal with the trash 40 times a day with the smaller kitchen cans.

Gamecock clock and Gamecock welcome mat!

Dean's List again!!

Brittanie took her last final Tuesday and all of her grades were posted today. She made the Dean's List again!

English II: B (She is protesting that one. She is going to bring all of her papers and tests, which were all 100's. She thinks she earned an A.)
Political Science: A
Econ: A
Psychology: A
Computer Science: B (Go figure!)

Her GPA this semester (before she protests the English grade) is a 3.6. (Just like last semester!)

In the fall, she will start taking classes that are prerequisites to her nursing degree, like Anatomy and Biology. I sure hope she keeps her grades this high next year. If she does, it will be a snap to get into USC for her Jr. Year. We are so proud of her!!

Katie's K5 graduation pictures are in!

She lost a tooth an hour after this picture was taken.

Tom's 39th birthday celebration

Today we officially celebrated Tom's birthday. Tom grilled steaks and we had his parents, his brother and his brother's wife, beautiful daughter, and his brother's nieces on his wife's side of the family over to celebrate with us. We had a wonderful day. I love talking to my sister-in-law, Melissa. I love seeing my beautiful niece, Leah. It was a perfect day!

Melissa's sister-in-law makes delicious cakes that look great. She made Leah's cakes for her 1st birthday and Tom said it was the best cake he had ever tasted. So I asked Melissa to ask her sis-in-law to make Tom's cake for me. Tom was so anxious to eat it, he cut it before we could get a picture! It was delicious and smelled good and looked great. Check it out:We had a great time playing with Leah. She is growing like a little weed! She is such a happy baby. At one point, Katie gave her a toy dog to play with. Tom was playing with her and tried to take it from her. She grabbed onto it with both hands and was pulling to make sure he didn't take it from her. It was so adorable!!I asked Melissa to bring her niece with them because Katie enjoyed playing with her at Leah's birthday party. She brought both nieces and they had a great time. They jumped on the trampoline, played with the hose, got dirty, fought and made up, etc. I asked Katie if she enjoyed her day with Gracie and Emma, she said "Definitely!"

Tom's parents were the last to leave and Katie jumped on Tom's dad's shoulders. He was picking at her acting like he was going to shake her off. She holds on tight. Tom had to peel her off of him when they got ready to leave and she was trying to take his head with her. She is so tough!

It was great to be able to use my kitchen again. It is almost done. We still have to install the counter tops. Lowe's called Thursday and said they were in but we haven't picked them up yet. We have to borrow a truck and trailer from Tom's cousin to pick it up. Tom is determined to install it himself. He is going to paint the plywood that he put under the washer and dryer also. Then we will be done!! He used appliance paint and spray painted the oven door, which had an ugly 70's burnt orange color, and the dishwasher door, which had a beige door. His dad thought we bought a new oven. Tom did a great job painting it!
I'm posting a picture of the oven and dishwasher so you can see how great it looks but not posting any other pictures until the kitchen is completely finished.

You heard it here first!

A car has been hit by a train in Gaston. The driver, who had her children in the car, claims that her car stalled on the tracks. Thankfully she and the children all escaped without serious injury. One of the children was hit by the guard rail in the hip and has a big bruise. But that's something minor compared to what could have happened.

Jessica was in the area and took pictures with her cell phone.

Mixed reactions

I mentioned in my previous post that I love my table and chairs. Jessica hates it....she doesn't like black. She is more of a brown person and I absolutely hate brown. Different strokes for different folks. Brittanie doesn't like the table because she said it looks like paneling on top. That is what I like about the table. It gives it style. Tom got home and initially said he liked it then I told him what Brittanie said and he said he didn't really care for that either. You can't please everyone so when it comes to the table and chairs, I'm fine with being the only one pleased. :-)

Jessica went with me to pick up Katie from school yesterday and we rode around several places in Lexington that I wanted to see in the daytime. She showed me the castle home off of Old Chapin Road. That was neat to see but I wouldn't want a house like that. But right past the castle house was a subdivision that I really liked but unfortunately no homes for sale in there. But Tom and I have pretty much decided to stick to the 5 year plan we originally had. Brittanie will be graduated by then and maybe even married. That will give us plenty of time to upgrade the rest of the house and landscape the yard. By then hopefully the economy will be back to normal and we can get top dollar for our house. We won't stop looking for areas we would like to live and keep our eyes open for a good deal. I love the 378 area headed towards Gilbert. Tom said last night that would make it easier for him to get to work as he could go the back way through Pelion. That's also in the Lexington 1 school district, which is what we would like to stick with. I have to admit that waiting 5 years is going to be tough because I love house shopping and am looking forward to moving. But in the meantime, I will be able to enjoy the upgrades we do to our present home.

Things are finally going right

Haverty's delivered my table and chairs today. They are even nicer in person than in the picture. I LOVE the table especially! I can't wait to see it in our new kitchen!! For the time being it is in the formal dining room. Cogdill called this morning and told me they will be out here in the morning between 9 and 10 to install the floor. That makes me so happy. A table and chairs are alot easier to move than a huge refrigerator....which is coming Thursday!

After this week, the last thing will be the counter tops, which will be here May 14th. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!!

Great night

Last night Tom, Brittanie, Katie, Randy, and I went to O'Charley's in Lexington to celebrate Tom's birthday. We had a good time. After we ate, Brittanie and Randy headed home and Tom, Katie and I went exploring in Lexington. It was dark but when you house hunt, you should really check out a neighborhood at night to see how well lit it is, as well as if there are undesirables walking the streets....at least that is my main concern. We rode through Vista Springs and it is a gorgeous neighborhood. Of course I want the biggest house in the neighborhood. We rode around several places including going to Hammock Bay, which he wasn't as impressed with as Brittanie and I were. On the way back from Hammock Bay, we saw a sign that said "To I-20." Tom wanted to see where that went. We used to do that all the time....just take a road and see where we come out. I love exploring with him! He is a human GPS so we are never really lost. Last night, he wasn't sure where he was. We passed by Michelin and US Food Service and he decided the road we were on ended up in Red Bank. To me, we were headed in the wrong direction but, again, he is the human GPS and was right. When we got to Red Bank, Brittanie called me. She didn't have her house key. I told her she would have to wait. That ended our exploring unfortunately.

After we got home, Brittanie badgered Tom to cut the cookie. He didn't want any but she wasn't cutting HIS cookie. So he grumbled a bit and went and cut it for her. Then Jessica got home and we went into redneck mode. We played the "What weird thing can you do" game. Jessica showed us how her jaw pops in and out and told me to feel her cheek when she did it. Then she jumped up and went to Tom and told him to feel her cheek. Tom doesn't touch anyone but me, Brittanie, and Katie. He may make exceptions occasionally like he loves our niece, Leah, so of course she is exempt from the "don't touch me" rule. But Jessica doesn't fall into that category. He loves her...like all of us do....but she isn't exempt. She said "Put your hand on my cheek!" He said "No. I'm not a touchy feely person." Anyone who knows Jessica knows she is going to have fun with this one. She kept getting closer and closer to him while he pulled away. He even threatened to spit on her, knowing she HATES spit. It was so funny that I had to take pictures!