Andrea's Wedding

Tom's cousin, Andrea, married her high school and college sweetheart, Joey, on June 23, 2007. Joey and Andrea both went to school with Brittanie when she was at Grace. Joey was even a coach for one of Grace's intramural basketball teams. Brittanie always thought he was so great! Joey's mom was Brittanie's 5th grade teacher at Grace and she is such a wonderful woman. She is so sweet and kind and an excellent teacher. Here are some pictures from the wedding.


From left to right: Nathan, Nicole, Laurel Brackett, Andrea Rowell-Gwaltney, Trey & Evan Rowell.Here comes the bride!Andrea looked so much like her mom on her wedding day. The round picture on the left is Ann, Andrea's mom, on her wedding day. The others are obviously Andrea.
Their beautiful cake. I especially love the Air Force soldier on the cake topper!Mother (Ann) and grandmother (Aunt Doris) of the bride. I LOVE Ann's dress!!!Here are Tom's two favorite cousins, Jessica and Andrea. Jessica and Andrea are first cousins but also best friends. Jessica was Andrea's Maid of Honor.Here is Joey and his mom, Mrs. Gwaltney.Andrea and her mom, Ann.The moms/mothers-in-law!Is this beautiful or what?? I LOVE IT!How do you give away your baby girl without crying all the way down the isle? You have to be a strong man!I love the flower girl in these pictures. Too cute!Till death do us part.....You may kiss the bride.Mr. and Mrs. Joey Gwaltney!!!Joey and Andrea with her parents, Ann and Bro. Gene.Andrea and Joey with his mom, Mrs. Gwaltney.I was going to say here they are with Andrea's family but we are all Joey's family now too!
Andrea and her niece, Laurel.

Everybody loves Andrea!!!

Andrea with her nephew, Evan.
I love this ice sculpture!
Signing the license!
Thumbs up!Beautiful rings!

I love this picture. (above)A toast to their future! (Nonalcoholic of course!)Off to start their lives together!At the hotel.One more kiss before going upstairs!That's it! No more pictures! LOL

I have a joke!

Q. What do tornadoes and Clemson graduates have in common?

A. Both always end up in trailer parks!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Katie came home from Grandma and Grandpa's with lots of stories to tell. She had a great week. They took her to the park, to McDonald's to play in the Playland, to Chuck E. Cheese's, and of course to Vacation Bible School. Grandma's friend's granddaughter and Katie are now good friends....they are the same age and were in the same VBS class together. Katie was quite upset that she didn't get to tell her friend goodbye. Well at that point, they didn't realize who Katie's friend was. They made plans with Grandma's friend to go eat out at Cracker Barrel after VBS commencement Friday night and when they got there, Katie saw her friend getting out of the car and was so excited. She yelled "THAT'S MY FRIEND!!!" So now Katie has a friend she can play with when she goes to Grandma and Grandpa's.
Today Katie couldn't wait to give Tom his Father's Day gift....the PC version of Roller Coaster Tycoon Platinum Edition. Brittanie had it stashed upstairs so Katie tried waking Brittanie up to make her bring it downstairs but was unsuccessful. Katie's disappointed little face was heartbreaking. But Brittanie eventually came down and we had a good Father's Day. Our girls are lucky to have Tom as a father. He is THE BEST daddy on the planet!

Much better

Brittanie took her SAT last month and lets just say the scores were less than impressive. She told me it was EXTREMELY hard and that she didn't think she did well....plus she took it the same week all that crap happened with Randy. Well the dust has settled and she took her ACT yesterday. She said that was MUCH better. She thinks she did really well on it. We are looking forward to those scores. They will be available online in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!

Last night she went to the races at "I-20" and had a great time. She said for the first time in her life she can understand why people like racing. Of course she wasn't in the stands...she was in the pits. I bet she wouldn't have had as much fun in the stands. I don't get the appeal of racing but to each his own.

While Brittanie was at the races, we had a Pictionary party. Frank, Lynn, their son, Will, and his girlfriend, Lauren played with us and it was so fun. Tom and I won the first game then we played half a game and lost to Will and Lauren by one square. They are very good. We had a great time!!

You might be from Gaston/Swansea if...

Your idea of Friday night entertainment is going to The Gin to watch the lawnmower races. At first I thought that was a joke like in the old days guys would take a girl to the lake to watch "submarine races." Obviously that was just an excuse to make out. But lawnmower racing is actually Friday night entertainment in Swansea.

John Micheal took Brittanie to the lawnmower races last night and she said it was fun. Unfortunately Randy was there with his new girlfriend and John Micheal wanted to have a man to man talk with him for calling Brittanie Thursday night. Brittanie was able to convince him to let it go because she told him herself never to call her again. Well when they got out to the parking lot to go home, someone had written all over John Micheal's windows with window chalk some ugly things directed at both him and Brittanie. John Micheal thinks Randy did it. Brittanie doesn't think so because it looks like a girl's handwriting so her theory is it is either Randy's new girlfriend or John Micheal's ex-girlfriend. The chances are extremely low of it being Randy because Randy is too much of a wimp and would be too scared that John Micheal would kick his butt.....and boy did he want to! But this is just the kind of BS that Randy's new girlfriend would do. She lives for drama and when things are going smooth in her life, she creates drama. But they asked one of John's friends if he saw Randy and Victoria back there (they were parked WAYYYYYY out) and he said yes. Whoever did it needs to grow up. Randy broke up with Brittanie. I don't understand why he and his new girlfriend would feel the need to start crap with them. Brittanie does NOT want Randy back. And I saw on her cell phone that HE called HER Thursday night and she told him not to call her anymore. That's it. I don't know John Micheal's ex but she would have more a motive to do this because John dumped her for Brittanie. Remember the movie "Mean Girls?" It is like a documentary of high schools everywhere. That's why Brittanie doesn't have many female friends.

But Saturday night's redneck entertainment is going to be "going to I-20." It is a racetrack and John Micheal's dad is racing tonight.

I'm thrilled. She is slowly wearing less and less black stuff and listening to more country music now. Brittanie has always loved Dixie Outfitters shirts and she listens to a wide variety of music. But since she started dating John, who HATES that black stuff, she has been letting her closet redneck out a little more. I love it but it still makes me laugh at what passes for entertainment around here.

My little control freak!

Today is Katie's last day of soccer camp and she didn't want to go. Tom and I both gave her a little pep talk but she still wasn't at all happy about having to go because she hates the heat....which has been her only gripe all week. Well when we got to the soccer field, she unbuckled, stood up, and put her arms on the dashboard with her head down on her arms....like she was depressed about having to go. It was so sad. I just couldn't make her go after seeing her like that. So I saw her coach at the top of the stairs and called her over and told her that Katie didn't want to stay because of the heat and could I just get her T-shirt that they give out on the last day. She said sure and ran up there to get Katie a shirt. Well after she left, Katie said "I changed my mind. I want to go." I said "Baby, you don't have to go if you don't want to. It's ok." She said "No. I want to go. Bye!" She jumped out of the van and smiled and waved at me all the way up the stairs. It's all about control! When I was making her go, she didn't want to go. But when she didn't have to go, she made the decision to go. She is just like Tom and I....we HATE being controlled. But I swear we didn't start this stuff till much later. She is going to be something else when she becomes a teenager. Have mercy!

Here is picture of Katie on her last day of Columbia College Soccer Camp!


ADDENDUM: When I picked up Katie from soccer camp today, she was crying. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she is going to miss Miss Jamie, her camp coach...who is actually a Columbia College soccer player. She was broken hearted. This child who griped and complained ALL week about not wanting to go to camp is now going to miss it. Have mercy! But Jamie and another girl suggested that I talk to the soccer coach, April, and ask if Katie can be a ball girl for the team next year. I will talk that over with Tom and see if that is something she should do.

January, 1988

Most of you know I'm adopted. I met my biological mom and sisters in January of 1988. Well I am fortunate to have a good relationship with my little sisters....I adore them. There are pictures of them on here for spring break and Christmas last year, as well as for my birthday this year. But my lil sister, Aimee, found some pictures from the first weekend we met. You can tell I was nervous because my hands are in my pockets in all the pictures. But it was cool seeing them again. So here is a blast from my past.

These two were taken the day we met at the home of the people who were mutual friends of my biological mom and my parents. They were the ones who told my parents about my biological mom looking for a loving home for me.
Me and my beautiful little sisters...who I just adore. That's Jeannette on the left and Aimee on the right.
Here I am with my biological mom, Bobbie, in my dorm room. Another one in my dorm room with my little sisters and our mom in my dorm room. Check out the poster of Dan Marino on the left. He was my first love!

This one was taken in the lobby of my dorm at Louisiana College. The man in the picture is Mike, Bobbie's husband and Aimee and Jeannette's daddy. He is so sweet. He welcomed me into the family with open arms the day I met him. I liked him instantly.This was taken the day that our mom took us to the store to get some things and Aimee introduced me as her sister. I wish I had had a camera for the shocked look on that cashier's face. It was great. She couldn't figure out where I came from. Too funny!

Katie in her soccer outfit.

She just looked so cute with the shin guards and cleats!!

I told her to smile for me and this was the first smile I got. She's so funny!

That's a better smile! By the way, I think this is the ugliest soccer ball she could have picked but she didn't want the pretty ones. She wanted this one because it had gold on it. Grandma Sightler had gold shoes that she wore all the time. So maybe she got this love of gold from her?Tom had just moved the AC from our bedroom window to our living room window. We stayed so cool last night. Katie slept on the floor by our bed in her Lightning McQueen Sleeping bag. We were all perfectly cool last night. Brittanie has her own wall unit upstairs so us being without AC doesn't bother her at all.

I can't wait till 2nd Wind comes today!

I'm MELTING!!

Normally melting would be a good thing but in this case...not so good. Our central air conditioner went out Sunday night. An hour later, the ceiling fan in the living room went out. So I called 2nd Wind and they came out today and told me that the motor for the exhaust fan is out, as well as the bearings. Unfortunately they don't have the parts in stock so they have to order the parts from a place in Columbia and they will be back out tomorrow between 3 and 5 to fix it. In the meantime, it is HOT! Tom and I considered going to a hotel with the girls but instead Tom bought a 5000 BTU window unit for the same price as a night in a hotel room. He put it in the living room tonight and now, as we are about to go to bed, he is going to move it to a window in our room. We will just let Katie sleep on the floor in our room tonight. Tom will move it back to the living room before going to work in the morning. Sounds like alot of work but it is better than being hot.

Katie started soccer camp at Columbia College today. This morning, she didn't want to go. She was almost in tears. I told her that she is not going to stay home in the hot house doing nothing all day. The camp is from 9 to 12. She didn't cry when I dropped her off. When I picked her up, she was smiling big and told me she had made lots of friends and had fun. BUT she said she didn't want to go back because it was too hot. But as the day went on, she kept talking about looking forward to going back. So she is going to be ok. This is my first experience with soccer. Tom played as a kid for half a season at Grace. But my school didn't have soccer and neither did the parish I lived in. So I was shocked at how serious soccer people are even for 4-year-olds. Katie was the only one not wearing soccer clothes, shin guards, and cleats. So we ran to Dick's Sporting Goods tonight and bought Katie some outfits, cleats, socks, and shin guards....$193!! The camp was $65. This is turning out to be a very expensive experience. But I want to start her young in a sport, like I did with Brittanie and softball, to keep her active and hopefully she will make exercise part of her life and not have the weight problem that I have. I will take a picture of her in her gear tomorrow morning.

Commercials work on kids

Everyone in my house loves commercials....mainly the funny ones. But Katie soaks them all in. While we were at my mom's house, I was talking about not understanding why people like to drink alcohol because it it cold in your mouth but gives you a burning sensation going down....like heartburn. Katie was only half paying attention. She thought I was saying that I had heartburn. She grabbed a Tums out of my mom's bottle and brought it to me and said "Just one and heartburn is done." LOL

Yesterday she went grocery shopping with Tom and he went to pick up some sliced cheese and she asked him if that was California cheese. He told her he didn't know. Today while I was making ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, she asked me if the cheese daddy bought yesterday was California cheese. I told her no, it says Salisbury, NC on it. She said "Aww man! The best cheese comes from happy cows and happy cows come from California!"

She just cracks us up!! She is like a sponge soaking up everything around her!

Very cool

Tonight, Brittanie and John Micheal cooked dinner for us! It was great!! John grilled pork chops and Brittanie made mashed potatoes, corn, and Texas garlic toast. It was all delicious. I needed to type tonight so it was great not to have to worry about dinner. They were pretty proud of themselves and I was proud of them. I told John he is definitely a keeper....ya gotta keep a man that is willing to cook. Tom HATES to cook....even if it is just BBQ'ing. I can relate because I hate cooking also. We all ate together and watched TV and then they went to get a movie to watch with us. My baby is growing up. *sniff*

I almost forgot!!

On the way from the hospital in New Orleans (by LaPlace) on the way to my mom's house, we hit a water cooler in the road. We were in the right lane, there were cars in the left lane, so Tom steered to the right to go around it. Unfortunately, the cooler blew to the right and ended up going under the van and getting jammed between the tire and the wheel well. Tom pulled over and had to use force to get it out but he got it. Unfortunately, it damaged our front bumper on the driver's side. That was our first day down there.

On the last night down there, Katie was taking a bath and decided to play with my mom's razor that she had on the bathtub. She cut two of her fingers. She got out of the tub and was dripping blood but didn't cry. She said "Mom, I need a Band-Aid." That's when I turned and gasped at all that blood....that's when she started crying. It took awhile to get the bleeding to stop but it wasn't bad enough to need stitches. I took the Band-Aid off of one of them this morning and the minute she bent it, it started bleeding again so we replaced the Band-Aid on that finger. Brittanie shaved her legs with my razor when she was 3 and had knicks all over her legs.

ADDENDUM: I forgot one other thing! On the way home from Louisiana, we were driving through Atlanta during rush hour and Tom was driving like a true Atlanta maniac. The poor lady in the gold Honda Accord nearly got plowed over by Tom twice. I bet you shouldn't have passed a hair between us and her bumper both times. The second time, I literally screamed because I just knew he was going to hit her because he accelerated fast when he was a micro-inch from her. It scared me to death!!! The moral of this story....don't EVER ride with Tom in big city traffic!