Saturday Fun...

This is going to be a quick little post.  We have had a fun-filled day.  Since we were out pretty late last night celebrating Matt's 35th birthday...Emma & Evan & Mommy slept until 8:45 this morning.  You aren't reading that wrong it really says 8:45!!  Justin got up about 6:30 and headed into work and to pick up the trencher.  He is FINALLY getting power and water run to his building outside so hopefully he can get it fixed soon from where the tree fell on it last January!  We don't do anything quickly around here!!  We spent our morning playing outside while Daddy & Uncle George worked in the yard.  E&E played in the sand and mud all morning.  They were FILTHY!!!  After lunch they both went down for naps and I headed outside to the pool.  I got a good two hours in before they woke up.  We even got my new umbrella up, that I bought two years ago.  Again we don't do anything quickly around here.  Then, naptime was over and here came the rain.  Tonight we headed into 96 for the Festival of Stars.  I know I brag on here a lot about my babies...but isn't that the purpose of a blog??  I have to admit E&E did perfect tonight.  We got to town about 7:00 and just walked around talking to people and hanging out with friends.  They sat in their strollers without making a noise until probably 8:45.  That did include us eating a funnel cake though!!  Evan was so sleepy that I got him out and held him about 8:45 and of course then Emma wanted out.  She just played with her stroller right there beside us the whole time.  We left right at 9:30 before the fireworks started because it started drizzling and we were parked 10 miles away.  We didn't want to get soaked.  As we were getting in the car the fireworks started and E&E were both amazed by them.  I really think we could have watched them this year and they wouldn't have been scared.  Of course I got a few pictures of the night.  So I hope you enjoy these!!

Here we are dressed and ready for the fireworks!!

 

Justin caught me saying Cheese and Emma being silly!!

A little blurry.  Me & Evan apparently weren't being still!

Daddy and Emma having fun!!

Me & my sweet boy!! 

One in a Million...

I mentioned a couple post back that I was doing a bible study.  It is "One in a Million" by Priscilla Shirer.  I just love it when God's timing is perfect!! In this study we are learning about the Israelites and God leading them into & through the wilderness.  Everyone goes through the wilderness at some point in their life.  It has been neat to see that God actually allows those wilderness times to grow us closer to Him.  How many times in life do we tend to forget God when things are going our way??  It's the hard times that we tend to realize that we need Him and draw closer to Him.  I will be the first to admit...up until 2009 most of my life had gone like I had planned.  I finished high school and went on to Lander to get a degree in the field I chose, I married the man I wanted to marry.  I even got a job when others were having a hard time finding jobs.  We bought our first house and were able to fix it up like we liked.  Things were going pretty good for us.  It wasn't until 2009/2010 that things started not going like I had planned and that has become such a special time it my life.  We wanted a baby so bad and things just weren't happening like they were supposed too.  For once in my life...I wasn't in control and I had to learn to trust God.  I think He definitely used that time to show up in my life and show me how real He is.  I think often times....what would I be doing right now if things had gone like I wanted them too back in 2009??  Would I be close to God or would I just be carrying on with life like I had been?  One of the things Priscilla suggest we do is make a "He speaks to me folder" on our computer and write in it times that we have heard God clearly speak to us!  Then, when our wilderness times come we can look back and see how God has been there for us and brought us through tough times.  I know while we were waiting for God to bless us with a baby so many times I would be upset and would get the perfect email or would hear a song on the radio at the perfect time, so I knew it was God telling me to be patient.  That waiting was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do but looking back now...I am so glad it happened the way it did.  God did know what He was doing and I think how He has blessed me.  As I sat rocking my sweet boy to sleep tonight and watched my princess sleeping in the crib in front of me, I was reminded that I don't want control of my life.  If I had had things go my way...I would have never had the two precious babies I have!!  Is our life perfect???  Not by any means.  Are there days when I feel like I am just not equipped for the path God has place before me??  Absolutely.  But I also know that He has been so faithful to me for almost 30 years and there's not reason to doubt Him now.  I don't know about you...but I want to be that "One in a Million", who chooses to follow God through the good times and through the wilderness times!! 

Girl's Night Out plus 1...

This weekend Justin, Matt, Brian, John, & Todd (3 guys from Sunday School), headed to Greenville for the Wildfire Weekend at the BI-LO center.  It is a weekend specifically for men and helping them draw closer to God.  Some of the guest speakers were Willie & Jase Robertson off the TV show Duck Dynasty...which we are HUGE fans of...and Tim Tebow, a professional football player.  There were several other speakers but I wasn't too familiar with them.  So, since the men were away (well most of them and the ones who weren't we either too little to go to the event or working) the girls decided to play!!  Katie came over earlier in the day to lay in the sun.  Once E&E got up from their naps we headed for the pool!!  After an afternoon of playing we headed inside to get dressed and meet Alison for supper and playtime.  We went to O'Charley's for supper and then on to the park at Connie Maxwell to play.  Here are a couple pictures from our night out.  Alison & Katie haven't been on the blog in a LONG time...we whether they want their pictures posted or not...here they are!!

Waiting for Evan to climb up and slide down.

Twins with twins!!

Katie showing Evan how this works!

Alison & Emma swinging!

Me & Evan swinging!

Giving this fun toy a shot.  Emma & Katie are having fun.  Who knows what I am doing and Evan is more worried about the ball the kids playing next to us have!!

 

 

After playtime, we headed back home to put some sleepy little ones to bed.  It was way past their bedtime by now.  Then, we painted toenails, watched the country music countdown and hung out.  Alison went home a little after 11:00 but Katie spent the night.   Then, this morning we got up about 8:00...yes that says 8:00...and had breakfast.  We played and watched Mickey Mouse, then Katie headed home to get her shower so we could go shopping this afternoon.  E&E have had baths, lunch, and are taking naps as we speak.  So, I am going to get ready myself. We haven't decided if we are going to Greenville tonight to meet our guys when they get finished or just hang out around Greenwood tonight.  It was fun to have a girl's night out with my sisters and just have fun.  We decided we need to start making an annual Charleston trip every year just the girls...plus Evan (until he gets a little older).  Don't you just love family???  I can't WAIT for Katie & Alison to have little ones for us to share these times with!!  Happy Saturday!!

Father's Day Weekend--part 2!!

Today we are celebrating our father's!!  We started our day by giving Justin his present from Emma & Evan.  This momma worked real hard on this for him.  E&E don't like to sit still for pictures much less hold anything.  First let me show you our present...then I will give you some more details on how difficult this was!!

I was able to get the pictures of Emma & Evan each holding the "D" several weeks ago.  But at the time they weren't to into this little project so I decided to wait until this past Friday to try for the "A".  Nothing like waiting for the until the last minute.  Here is the process of how picture time went...

Great picture...just the wrong way for the picture frame. 

 

Evan is already bored with picture time and starts messing with Emma!

Then, he decides he wants to hold the "A".

 

And grabs it from Emma...to which she starts screaming!

 

Then, the fighting starts...  

 

 Like I said...Justin was lucky to get this gift. I couldn't help but post this process because it is so the story of our lives anymore!! HaHa!!  The poem included in the gift is called "Walk Alongside Me, Daddy. It's a sweet poem about Dads.  I thought it was fitting.  Now, on to the rest of our Father's Day!!  I got Justin a new blower.  His broke a few months back and he keeps saying he is going to fix it.  Well, I knew that would never happen so I just bought him a new one.  We were having breakfast at church so no need for me to cook Justin breakfast. We had a Sunday School social.  Tables were set up outside each classroom and everyone brought food.  So, before Sunday School started we got to walk down the hall and help us a plate for breakfast.  It's funny because all the people in our class have small children and most all of us brought things someone else made.  For example...I brought cinnamon rolls that BI-LO made.  None of us have time to cook in the mornings! :)  All the other classes had homemade stuff...but we got to enjoy it too.  After church, my family came over for lunch.  We had hash & rice, ribs, slaw, corn, deviled eggs, watermelon, tea, homemade ice cream & sugar cookies.  What a southern meal!  After lunch we gave out gifts and just sat around for a while. 

Then, we headed over to Justin's mom's for supper with his family.   Of course, we went fishing again.  There isn't much else to do out there in the middle of no where!  Corley, Cooper, & Reagan really get into fishing. Emma & Evan...not so much.  At least this time Justin actually caught something and let Evan help him reel it in.  Evan like that part but he wasn't a fan of the fish.  He inspected it while Justin took it off the hook. He wasn't about to touch it.  As soon as Justin threw it back in...then Evan decided he wanted to hold it.  It was too late then and that was our only catch for the night.  Emma wouldn't go near the fish either.  They both only had about an hour nap today..so they were a little lot cranky.  My kids need their sleep.  I think they may be kin to their momma!!   Here are a couple pictures of their first fish! 

This is Evan inspecting the fish as Justin gets it off the hook.

Here is Evan not wanting to touch the fish but wanting to know all about it!

 

Well, I have to go get ready for the week ahead.  It is going to be an exciting one.  My boss is going out of town for over a week and a half...starting Tuesday and I am on my own.  I've got this!!  I've got all Stephen's stuff caught up, so as long as he stays out of the office and Mr. Davis doesn't throw anything difficult my way...I should be good to go!  Prayers are appreciated!! :)  Only 4 weeks until the beach!! Hope you all have a good week!

 



 

Father's Day Weekend...Part 1

I decided to have our annual Father's Day gathering at my house this year.  No worries...Katie is still cooking the food...I am just making her transport it to my house!  So, operation clean-up has begun.  We finally finished getting sand around the play set, we got the pool ready, I got out my cushions for the 1st time this year, Justin cut the grass, and the house got a major cleaning!  I even pulled my coffee table back out and set my pictures back up.  Now...I just have to keep Evan away from the DVD player and TV for one and a half days!!  Here are some pictures of my hard work. 

My den is actually straightened up and toys are put away!!

Sand around the play set is done!! 

Finally got my hummingbird feeder up.  This flower bed is a work in progress so ignore how bad it looks!!  This butterfly bush does it's job though.  We have butterfly's everywhere!!

Got the pool ready. 

 

We even got to so swimming today.  Here is Emma waiting for Evan to wake up from his nap.  I love this picture because it shows Emma perfectly.  Everywhere she goes she has her bunny, her blanket, and now Baby Jenna!  This girl has too much "STUFF".

He finally woke up!!

Here's my sweet girl crying because I made her leave all her "stuff" inside.  Such a typical girl!!

 

I think we are ready for tomorrow!!  If not...oh well, we are tired!!  Justin's father's day weekend has started off great.  He had his annual golf outing with his Dad & brother this morning.  We went swimming this afternoon, he grilled us burgers for supper, we went to Charlie B's and got some ice cream.  Now, he is watching the baseball college world series on TV. Y'all be sure to come back tomorrow for an update on how Father's Day went and for some behind the scene pictures of how we made Justin's Father's Day present from Emma & Evan. You don't want to miss this!!

A whole lot of Clemson...

Those of you that know me know I am a proud Gamecock fan! However, I am not one of those fans who hates Clemson.  I will even actually pull for Clemson as long as they aren't playing Carolina!! Me & Justin cut up and makes jokes about each other's teams all the time...but in reality we are both good sports when it comes to the whole South Carolina rivalry!! Friday we headed into town for supper and to do our yearly trip around downtown looking at the topiaries!  Of course, we had to take our pictures with the tiger and the gamecock.  E&E weren't to interested in any of the topiaries...but they LOVED walking around.  Here are our yearly pictures:

The County Bank has come a long way with their tiger.  The first couple of years it struggled...but it looks great this year, I think! Evan is busy asking "What's that?" while Emma is more interested in the bricks underneath her feet!  Justin did like he was supposed to and looked at the camera.  Evan has started growling when you ask him what a tiger says.  His daddy is so proud!!

The Gamecock looks great every year!!  This is a horrible picture but it was either accept this one or not have one of us...so here it is!! :) At least we are all looking at the camera!

  

Then, this afternoon was Clemson day on the plaza in from of the County Bank downtown.  I knew Justin would want to go so as soon as I found out about it, so I made plans to go.  Justin met me at work with the twins and we grabbed supper real quick before heading down town.  There were people everywhere and it had to be 100 degrees out there.  It was HOT!!!   Justin was able to get a couple of pictures that he wanted.  Here they are:

My three most favorite people in the world!!!

Evan was not a fan of the tiger. I had to post this because it was hilarious! He at least would let Justin get near the tiger...he just didn't want the tiger talking to him.  Emma was kicking and screaming the entire time the tiger was around.  I almost couldn't even take the picture of Justin and Evan because she was so terrified.  Obviously there won't be any pictures of Emma & the tiger anytime soon!  The whole night she knew exactly where that tiger was at all times! I laugh...but only because they get this honest.  I was terrified of anything dressed up.  I can remember being at the 96 parade and the Piggly Wiggly pig coming over to talk to us.  Me & Katie both were climbing up momma's body trying to get away from that pig.  To be truthful...I am still not a fan of anything dressed up!!

 And then of course the picture with Tajh Boyd.  It would be awesome if Evan were able to play college ball one day!!  We can always dream right???

 

Well, it's getting late and I haven't done my bible study for the night!!  We started Priscilla Shirer's "One in a Million" bible study last night.  We had a group of almost 15 girls.  It was an awesome night and I am so looking forward to the next 5 weeks!  So,  I have to go but until next time...I will be working with Emma & Evan on saying "Go Gamecocks"!!  They need some good parental guidance on which team they should pull for!!

On to better things!

Have you ever felt there was a time in your life to just move on??  There has been a lot going on lately in our little town with the TB outbreak, the pointing fingers, and the ugliness people are showing is unreal. The situation is very unfortunate.  At first I didn't blame the first person who contracted the disease...even though now I do because he won't follow guidelines and isn't trying to not spread the disease any farther.  And I surely don't blame the other ones who have contracted the disease because it isn't their fault they were exposed to something without knowing it.  However, I do believe people should be told who actually has the disease so if you have been in contact with these people that you can be sure you aren't carrying the disease yourself.  As I sat in the doctor's office Thursday for my 15th million sinus infection...I couldn't hardly believe the conversations going on around me.  I just can't help but think how I would feel if I were the one who had caught the disease and people were talking about me that way!  I almost spoke up and said something and I probably should have...but I didn't!!  I do blame the school district because they knew well before May 27th that there was a possible TB case at the school.  I had even heard about it months earlier and I don't have any association with the school what so ever!  I feel that even if there hadn't been a confirmed case...they should have notified parents that they were investigating.  It is crazy how both the school district & DHEC started off saying they did everything they were supposed to, then DHEC fires people, and now with the lawsuits...they are both pointing fingers at each other trying to take the blame off themselves.  I think it is time for everyone to admit it wasn't handled right and move on to making sure this gets under control!  I think people just thrive off creating drama!  I feel like that even in my personal life.  There are people I am associated with that constantly are trying to do things to hurt others.  I can't understand that.  What do you really gain from hurting others??  I think it mostly comes from the fact that people are so unhappy in their own lives or are so jealous that they treat others ugly in efforts to make themselves feel better.  In reality that only hurts you!  Oh well...enough on that little side note!  We have a busy day ahead...so let me get going!!  Hope the rain holds off so we can get some things done!  Have a great weekend!

Tuesday= Our 18 month check-up + a few other things!!

Emma & Evan turned 18 months old the week Justin was in Oregon and I rescheduled their appointment for this week.  I was not about to do shots by myself.  I'll start with Emma.  She weighed 25lb 8oz (65%), was 32in long (56%), and her head still measured 19 in (89%).  To be so little she apparently has a large head! :)  Evan weighed exactly 27lbs (65%), was 33in long (66%), and his head still measured 19 1/2 in (89%).  The both are doing great developmentally.  Some of their words now consist of no-no, thank-you, please, no-mam, what's that, dog, cow, ball, mick-mouse (Mickey Mouse), etc.  They love to sing their ABC's and you can actually tell what they are singing now.  They will do I Love You by pointing to their eyes, heart, and then to me!  They both love to give me hugs and I love every minute of it.  They also like to hug each other a lot.  Evan gets tired of Emma's hugs real quick but it is so sweet.  She treats him like her baby.  She will brush his hair, rub his back, and try to bathe him in the bath tub.  Whenever Evan cries she tries to give him his paci and make him feel better.  Poor Evan...he is going to have two momma's his whole life!!  Here is a picture of her giving him his paci.  Too cute!! 

Back to the 18 month appointment.  They did great with the exam, other than the whole letting Dr. Felder look at their teeth part.  Our 1st dentist appointment is going to be FUN!!!  They even did really good with getting their shots.  Of course, they cried while they were sticking them.  Good thing was that two girls came in and did them both at the same time.  So, as soon as it was over they left the room and E&E were back to their normal selves.  They didn't even run fevers this time!!  YAY!!! When we got home it was about 3:00 and E&E were both knocked out in the car.  Naptime around here is usually between 12:00-1:00...so this was a late nap! Emma woke up about 5:30 and I woke Evan up at 6:00.  There is no telling how long he would have slept!  While I cooked supper E&E played with all their new toys.  A lady that works with me cleaned out all of her grandchildren's old toys and we really got some neat things!!  Blocks, train sets, baby dolls, movies, books, a bowling set that is actually their size and not oversized like the one I bought them, trucks, tools, and this neat little toy that has lots of hand-on activities all over it.  My mom is already working with E&E with their counting and colors.  They will both count to 3 sometimes 5 and occasionally they will get their colors right.  Leave it to a teacher to be working with 1 year olds!  After supper Tuesday night, Justin had his last regular season softball game.  Since our naps were so late this afternoon we decided to go with him to his last game.  We lasted about 5 innings before we headed to the car.  For the longest time...they just sat in their strollers and watched the game eating their cheerio's and playing with my water bottle!  Then, Evan was ready to get out of that stroller so we went to the car to watch Mickey Mouse.  They sat in the car and I watched the rest of the game.  At least I got to see one of Justin's games this year.  Here are a couple pictures of my sweeties at the ball game.

This wasn't their first because Justin played in the industrial league with Capsugel last year...but they were too small to even remember that...so this was the first ball game where they knew more about what was going on.  I spent LOTS of days at a ball field growing up and it looks like my sweeties might spend some quality time there too!!  Anyways...Happy Wednesday!!  The weekend is in SIGHT!!! :)

Daddy's Little Helpers...

Friday...we met some friends at Chick-Fil-A and then headed over to Jumping Jax.  I have never been there but Corley & Cooper had their birthday partied this year at Pump It Up in Spartanburg and E&E loved it so I thought this would be a fun night out.  Emma thought it was a fun night out but Evan was less than thrilled.  He didn't love the slides.  He didn't love the bouncy house.  He did love pushing the buttons on the motorcycle arcade game & he loved shooting the basketballs in another arcade game.  Emma loved the slide and jumping...but they ended up playing with a push car for most of the night.  We could have just hung out at home and saved $20.00 if they wanted to play on push cars and shoot basketball!  Oh well!  Here is a picture Meg sent me of Warren & Emma with the push car!.

Saturday was such a beautiful day and we spent a good bit of time outside.  After playing in the pool (baby pool...because our big pool still isn't ready) and playing in the sprinkler...Daddy thought it would be a great idea to wash my car and he had to willing little helpers.  They actually ended up wasting most of the soapy water in the bucket...but they thought they were something big.  Regardless...it was time well spent.  Here are our little helpers!

Emma had to play in the soap before she started washing!

Getting their rags soapy!

Washing away!

 

That was pretty much our weekend!  It's time to get things ready for tomorrow.  Hope you all have a great week!!