8 years and counting...

Tuesday Justin and I will celebrate 8 years of marriage.  This past February we celebrated 16 total years together.  I can't believe I have put with him that long!!  I joke and say things like that but I wouldn't trade him for anything!!  He is my best friend and I thank God every day for him.  He provides for us and always tries to do whatever I want.  He may not love my ideas but he always goes along with them.  He is a great daddy!!  He genuinely loves our two kids and is one of the best daddy's I have ever been around!!  I am so blessed to have him in my life!!  After Evan's ball practice last week...we headed to Charleston for the weekend.  My mom kept E&E Saturday afternoon and Katie kept them Saturday night.  We had our 3rd Saturday outing with the Sunday school class so Katie & Matt took them and Laney.  They are getting brave and venturing out with all three of them now!!  They said E&E were good at the social and even took them by Connie Maxwell to see the animals when heading home.  Apparently a llama looked in Evan's window.  He was happy about that.  Anyway...back to our trip.  We got to Charleston about 4:00 and checked into the hotel.  Next time we try to plan an event...we are going to check other events going on that weekend as well.  We had an awful time finding a hotel because it was fashion week in Charleston that weekend and all the hotels were booked with people in town for that!  Luckily I found us one.  We headed down to board the boat about 6:15.  The boat has tables for two only but when I signed us up...those were booked and we ended up sitting with an older couple there celebrating their 46th wedding anniversary.  I was a little nervous how this would go but it was great!!  They were the neatest couple and this lady sure had a great testimony.  She had cancer many years ago that cause damage to her heart.  So, she had a pacemaker, she was bad diabetic and even had to go give herself an insulin shot during the meal, she was deaf in her right ear and hard of hearing in her left ear.  Two years ago, she was in hospice not expecting to live and here she sat in front of us alive and as well as could be.  Her husband was so sweet to her.  You could just tell he takes good care of her and was so patient and gentle with her.  It was so encouraging to see and older couple who had been through some tough times still in love!  She wants to go on a cruise but he said he was afraid to go that far with her by himself.  They were originally from Pittsburgh but live in Myrtle Beach now.  So, it was a fun night getting to know them and another couple that was right beside us.  This other couple was celebrating two years of marriage.  The girl was a dental hygienist and is fixing to start back to school to become a dentist and the guy was a personal banker!!  They were a lot of fun too!!  The food was DELICIOUS!!!  I have never had a steak as good at the one I had that night!!  Our dinner was a three course meal.  We had she-crab soup, a salad...that was a little different than your normal salad, and then I had steak, horseradish potatoes that were really good!, and green beans.  Justin had mahi-mahi and he said it was delicious too!  As we were eating, you would see dolphins swimming by and it was just a neat night!!  The weather actually turned out good.  It was a little breezy up on the top after dinner but not bad!  The last stop on the boat was the Ravenal bridge.  It was so pretty to see at night all lit up.  Our cruise ended about 9:30 and we headed back to the hotel.  We had a great time celebrating our anniversary!!

                  

A couple pictures of us!!

The boat as we were boarding!!

We headed home Sunday morning.  Katie & Matt braved public again and went to church with all three kiddos in tow!  They even made the early service.  After lunch at my moms and after Justin and I got home...we dyed Easter eggs!  Evan was in heaven.  He loves some eggs!!  Justin took at couple pictures while Katie worked with the kids.

They had a great time with aunt Katie and we had a great little get away!!

Four words that really hurt...

I'm sure you are wondering where I've been in blogging world.  We have still been fighting sickness! I have never in my life see such! I sure hope this warmer weather is here to stay and we can all get better...myself included! I'd rather fight the springtime battle with allergies than all the viruses and flu! So what have we been up to??? Well, the few times that we have actually left the house that didn't involve the doctors office or the hospital, were for some fun and exciting things! Evan started tball this past Saturday. He got up all ready Saturday morning.  He got his glove and was throwing with Justin in the house.  He has actually gotten a lot better at throwing and catching. He will actually turn his glove to try and catch the ball now rather than take the glove off like he had been doing to catch the ball. You have to know how to work Evan. He does NOT like praise or you to make on over him. Wonder who he gets that from?? So, you have to just let him work at his own pace and figure things out for himself. As soon as Justin Turner realized that...life got much easier. So, once we got to the ball field...Evan was frozen to Justin's side and wanted no part of tball. About 15 minutes before practice was over he warmed up and started participating. He hit a few times and ran the bases. I thought about getting my camera out Saturday morning and thought I'd get it later and never thought about it again...so my trusty cellphone pictures are all I have and I only have three of those. So here is our little River Cat at his tball practice.

Evan getting his glove ready.  You have to look hard...we were trying to stay out of the way!!

Waiting on his turn to run to 3rd base!

Evan running toward home!!

After practice we had lunch and headed to Colby's Monster truck party! A guy they knew let them borrow a truck and ride the kids around in the field beside their house. The kids played and played for over two hours. That on top of tbball practice wore my two out! i tried taking a picture of them riding in the truck and this was the best I could get.

  

So, here it is Sunday afternoon.  It's actually my moms birthday and we aren't getting to celebrate. My dad has been in the hospital since Friday with a virus and now my mom has it too. I'm just praying hard she doesn't get as sick as my dad did. No worries though...her present will keep until next weekend and we will get to celebrate soon!! Justin has taken Evan on his first fishing trip that involves a boat! I am super nervous about that but Evan was excited. He told me to stay home and he'd bring me a fish back. I sure hope he catches something!! I did snap one picture before they left.

My baby is getting so big!! And my other baby is snoozing away! She asked me to lay down with her this afternoon and even though I know it was a ploy to put off nap time a little longer...it was such a sweet time together this afternoon. I had my phone playing music in the hall as they went to sleep so we could hear it over the monitor.  The house was all quiet and she was laying beside me and in her sweet little voice she started singing along with Laura Story's song "Blessings". I just laid there and cried listening not only to how big my baby sounded singing that song my sing but to hear her sing about Jesus is awesome! On our way to church this morning, about a mile before we got there...Evan realized we were going to church and asked..."Momma are we going to church?" When I said yes...he responded "I love church!" Oh how they make me so proud!! Our Sunday school series right now is Visionary Parenting and it is fabulous!! Today's lesson was on life at home. One thing Rob said was " who we are at home is who we really are". You know so many times we put on fronts in front of others to make ourselves seem perfect and then have a completely different look at home! I really want my attitude to be the same at home and everywhere I go. That leads me to my title "four words that hurt". Are you wondering what those words are??? They are " I want my daddy!" I know it sounds simple but when for so long all Emma and Evan ever wanted was me...those words hurt! I can't even begin to count the nights I sat here holding them both as we wound down from the day or had to carry them both because daddy just wouldn't do. Momma always made everything better and now Daddy is coming into the picture. I said hundreds of times that I just wish they'd just let Justin do something for them but I never really meant it.  Don't get me wrong...I am so glad they love their daddy and more importantly that they have a dad that loves them unconditionally!! So, I am learning to adjust to the fact that I am not always going to be number one to them. I knew it was coming but it just hit me too fast! Now, the reason they want daddy is usually when mommy fusses at them but Evan was sick Friday and cried for Justin! Ouch!! All sick babies want their momma!! Anyway...we are just getting started on this parenting journey and I think I am in for a lot of surprises!! I would trade any of it though!! Hope y'all have a great week!!

A "first" we weren't expecting!!

Well, last night South Main did a parents night out and Justin and I were going to use this time to celebrate our Valentine's Day a little late. Well, that didn't happen! Evan got sick Friday morning about 3:00. After that he was fine. We got up and we're fixing to leave for school when he said he didn't feel good. Yep, he was sick again. Or he would have been had he had anything on his stomach! So, Justin went ahead and took Emma to school and I stayed home with Evan. I figured he had the dreaded stomach bug going around. He played and watched tv all morning. He even ate a few crackers and drank some Pepsi. It was all he would agree to since he couldn't have his milk. He fell asleep about 11:30 and slept until 2:30. He got up and ate some more crackers. About 3:30, he got sick again and started running a low grade fever. It was like 99.6 or something like that.  Well, we decided to take him to the doctor to be sure he didn't have the flu. I had signed up for sandwiches for the parents night out so since I had to take them anyway...we let Emma go ahead and participate and headed to the doctor with Evan. We waited and waited! Doctors Care is the slowest place EVER!!! They finally called us back. Evan's temp there was still right around 100...nothing to high for kids especially since he hadn't had Tylenol. So, they did the dreaded nose swab and left us to wait again. The doctor came in and was acting so strange. She wouldn't even go near Evan. She told us he had tested positive for flu strand A & B. She proceeded to tell us how concerned she was with this because there was a high mortality rate in kids who tested positive for both strands. She said that we needed to take him straight to the ER so they could start him on iv's and treat him further. She was going to call and tell them we were coming. I did good until we got outside and I started crying. I felt like she was telling us there was a good chance he could die from this. We called my mom...no answer, we called my dad...no answer, we called Katie...no answer, we called Matt...no answer. Finally we got Alison. Someone had to go get Emma! We arrived at the hospital and the waiting room was full of people. I just knew we'd be waiting for hours. We told them why we were there. They gave us a mask for Evan and made us sit in a secluded area away from the other patients.  Evan started crying saying his stomach hurt. So yes, he started throwing up in the waiting room. There wasn't anywhere for us to go! Thankfully it wasn't a lot and the girl was already coming to get us to take us back! The nurses came in and started taking his vital signs and Evan kept saying I want to go get Emma and go home.  I was still crying and I look over to see Justin on the phone and his eyes were all watery! That made me even worse! I can't even begin to tell you how scared we were! Just that morning we had been talking about the child in Laurens dying from the flu...so I know that was on Justin's mind just like it was on mine. The doctor came in and said he wanted to retest him and ordered a cheat X-ray. He kind of acted like the doctor at Doctor's Care had over reacted. So, they gave Evan some zofran to keep him from getting sick, they gave him some Tylenol and we waited for then to take us to X-ray. Evan did really well during the X-ray considering he was not a fan of this hospital. Once the X-rays were confirmed to be okay, the doctor came back in. Evan only tested positive for strand A. He said we had caught it early and that with Tamiflu he'd be better soon. So, they gave us a prescription, they dismissed us, and we headed home. We did take one picture to document this first!!

But it was only after we knew he was going to be okay!! My mom ended up calling before Alison got to far into Greenwood. She got Emma and took her home for us. So at 10:30 last night...Justin and I were eating take-out at our table at home with Evan sitting right there with us. Emma was already asleep. So, it wasn't a romantic dinner out for Valentine's but since we then knew our baby would be okay...we were okay with our Valentine's dinner. We prayed a lot during all that and thanked God A lot for protecting Evan!!  It still makes me a little teary eyed to think how differently that night could have gone! So, yes that doctor may have over reacted and cost us who knows how much for a trip to the ER but for my baby...it was all worth it!! He's now back to his normal self and is playing.   Emma is still going strong with her princess attire! I wondered what she was doing in her room so quietly and this is what she came out looking like.

Princess Emma!

We are sooooo blessed to have these two kiddos!! So, this was our first trip to the ER with them and I hope we never go back!! :)

Happy "Love" Day!!

Isn't that what Valentine's day is about??  LOVE???  Who doesn't like to be shown that they are loved every once in a while???  Well, our Valentine's day wasn't anything special!! We did make our homemade Valentine's for Emma & Evan's class at school!  I think they turned out pretty cute!!

Saturday morning, we got up and gave E&E their Valentine's present!!  Since we just took them to the circus several weeks ago and that wasn't cheap...that was their main Valentine's present.  I did of course get them a little something for that morning.  I got Emma a new Princess tumbler and Evan a new camouflage cup and they both got some Skittles.  They were more excited about the Skittles!!  We baked some red velvet cupcakes and delivered them to some of our favorite people Saturday morning.

I let Emma & Evan decorate them with sprinkles.  Our first few cupcakes were loaded down with sprinkles...but they got better after a little instructions from momma!! We took some by to Mrs. Lynn and her kids.  I just had her on my mind and knew that on her first Valentine's Day without Bobby, that she needed to know she was loved.  She wasn't home when we made our visit but from the text I got later in the day...I think she appreciated the gesture!!  We them delivered some cupcakes to MaMa & PaPa.  Of course my mom had a gift for them.  She gave them some new pj's and a puzzle book.  Emma & Evan are still playing with that puzzle book!!  They loved it.  While we were out delivering goodies...Justin was at home taking down our old pool.  That was a fun chore getting it drained and cleaned up!  A couple from 96 that we knew bought it from us. So, the old pool is gone and the deck has been demolished!  Most of the wood has been taken off.  One other guy wants to come tomorrow to get some of what is left.  After he gets what he wants...the rest is being hauled off and our yard will hopefully be cleaned back up.  This whole winter so far has been quite warm for winter.  We decide to get a pool and all of a sudden we have some of the coldest temperatures on record since like the 1900's and they are calling for snow twice next week!!  Good thing we have three full months before swimming time to hopefully get this thing built!!  Saturday night we had our monthly Sunday school social at the Calhoun's house.  They did a low country boil.  The gathering also served as a prayer time for five of our guys that are leaving for a mission trip soon. So, we had a good time fellowshipping...if that is a word...and praying for these guys as they go spread the word of Jesus to non-believers.  That is a true example of showing LOVE!!  When I think about the word love...my mind almost immediately goes to Emma & Evan.  I of course love Justin and my family and friends...but there is no greater love this side of heaven than the love a parent has for their child.  I of course don't always show that love to them...especially when I get frustrated with them...but at the same time this love pails in comparison to the love God has for us.  Each time I find myself frustrated with E&E...I try to remember how many times I have frustrated God and how he still loves me unconditionally.  That is so hard to comprehend that even when we mess up...He still loves us!!  We listen to His Radio at work everyday.  And since I am no longer up front nor do I take a lunch hour anymore...I always get to hear "Focus on the Family" from 2:00-2:30 each day.  The broadcast from yesterday was a GREAT one!!  If you have a chance to listen to is...I recommend you doing that.  It was talking about some of the greatest things parents can do for their child.  The number one thing was to create a loving safe home environment for your child.  Our children need to see us loving each other and no just saying we love each other.  Statistics show that most kids who come from an unstable environment are the ones who are itching to get as far away from their parents as possible as soon as they can.  I know from personal experience that when Justin and I are arguing that Emma & Evan's whole personalities are different.  They can tell when their is unrest in the house and it shows in them too.  Of course there is NO family around that doesn't argue...we just have to be careful not to argue in front of our kids.  They second greatest thing we can give to our kids is our time.  So many people don't ever even talk to their kids.  If you can't spend time talking with them how can we ever expect them to come to us with problems??  And the guy broadcasting yesterday specifically said we needed to be having face to face time with them.  Let our children see us genuinely showing interest in their lives and listening to them with undivided attention!  We are starting a new parenting series in Sunday School.  Our girls bible study actually did this study last summer!  It was so good that they thought the guys and ladies that didn't get to come to bible study needed to see this series.  We kicked it off last Sunday when Scott Smith, the guy over BCM at Lander, came to talk to us.  He is such a sweet man!!  He said 90% of the conversations he has with college students are about their parents.  Not only do these college students want to tell the bad things their parents have done but lots of his conversations are about good things parents are doing.  It just seems that this week that I have heard over and over how important our responsibilities as parents are!!  And it's not something we should take lightly!!  So, enough of my ramblings!!  Hope you were able to share Valentines day with the ones you love and that you will always remember God's love for us!!

Dance Fever!!

Last weekend was an exciting one!! Emma finally got to go to the "fire" dance! This is what she thought we were saying when we said "Father/Daughter" dance. It took us a while to make her understand what we were saying. Then she started calling it "Father" dance. Either way ...it was close enough! From the moment we told her about this dance, she has talked and talked about it.  Every day and I literally mean every day as soon as she gets home she puts on one of her dress-up dress and wears it over her clothes until bath time.  And she twirls around non-stop.  She even talks Evan into holding her hand up so she can twirl around like a ballerina!

This is what I am talking about!!

 She is most definitely taking dance in the fall!!  I already have a reminder set up on my calendar at work to remind me to call about registration in May.  She LOVES to dance!!  So, Saturday night, we got her bathed and dressed.  I fixed her hair and even used a little hair spray.  That was a big deal to her!  I put on some of her play make-up.   It is real make-up but it is such light colors that you can't really tell it's on.  I painted her fingernails and toenails.  She was all ready.  I even bought her a corsage to match her dress.  Actually I hadn't even thought anything about it and my mom called me Saturday morning asking if I had her one.  So, I called the lady at Bi-Lo and she made me one in 30 minutes for $5.00...and it matched perfectly!!  So, of course we got ready to take pictures before we left and my camera batteries were dead!  Of all times and I couldn't find anymore that worked!  I was so mad!  We resorted to Justin's cellphone because mine was dead and all of our pictures were hazy.  I was so disappointed.  But anyway...this is the best we had of the night!!

So, they were off to the dance.  Justin said once they got there Emma stood right beside him most of the night and watched the other little girls dance.  He does have one short video of her dancing.  Their picture time was 8:00.  So, they ate a little and took their pictures.  After that, they left and Justin took her to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.  She had such a good time with her daddy!!  We got the proofs this week of the pictures taken at the dance.  Her's & Justin's pictures were absolutely precious!!  So many people have said how good they were!!  I have ordered the one of the two of them that I like best. I tried to take a picture of it and this is the best I could get.  You have to ignore the Copyright stamped all over it and the fact that the colors are faded out but it gives you an idea of just how precious this picture is!!  I LOVE IT!!!

So, my little princess had a wonderful night!!  And of course since Emma was having her first date...I took my little man on his first date too!!  We went to the movies to see the movie Paddington while Daddy & Emma went to the dance.  Lauren & Colby went with us!!  Evan did so great at the movie and I knew he would.  He loves all kinds of movies about animals!!  I got him a bag of popcorn and a drink and he was good to go.  Him and Colby sat in the same seat for a while and share popcorn.  It was such a fun time.  I sure hope they are good friends always!!  After the movie they wanted to race the cars outside and of course we let them.  They couldn't reach the pedals so we had to help a little.  

We had a great time too.  So, Emma & Evan's first dates were a success!!  They are growing up too fast!! :(

New Year=New Things...Part #3

This is going to be my last post in this series!!  Well...here we are on a Sunday night again.  Evan is laying in his bed watching his ipad, Emma is already asleep because she skipped nap time, Justin is watching the Super Bowl, and I am waiting on my next load of laundry to finish drying!  We are party animals!! We have had a fun filled week!  Wednesday we made our trip to the circus!!  We left Greenwood right at 4:30, stopped for supper, ran by Cabela's, and got to the arena about 6:45.  We made good time!  The doors opened not long after we got in line and we were able to go down on the floor for some pre-circus fun.  They brought one of the elephants out and it was doing tricks.  Evan LOVED that.  Then, we tried to get their picture with some of the circus people...but they weren't having any part of that.  So, we headed for the potty's and to get some popcorn and drinks before the show started.  We didn't buy anything at the circus last year because they were little enough for me to pack them a bag...so we were quite shocked at the prices!  A bag of popcorn and two drinks was $20!  I couldn't believe that.  But they enjoyed it none the less thanks to MaMa and the money she gave them to spend at the circus!  They enjoyed the show!  They sat or stood right between me & Justin the whole time and watched.  It was hard to get bored when their is so much going on!  As we were leaving, Evan looked at Justin and said...I had fun at the circus!  I love that sweet boy and his love for animals.  I had packed their pj's...so we changed in the car before we left and they were out just a few miles down the road.  We didn't take to many pictures...but I will share a couple!

It is nearly impossible to take a selfie with four people in the picture! 

They were so excited to finally see the elephants!!

Friday afternoon, Bennett, Jillian, & Jonathan come over to see us.  The kids played and played while us adults got to talk for a while.  They are now at a good age where they can just go play and we don't have to watch them constantly!  Emma & Evan enjoyed playing with Bennett!!  Saturday morning, we got up and headed to Spartanburg to celebrate Corley & Cooper's birthdays at Pump It Up in Spartanburg.  It is the same type place as Jumpin Jax.  They played and played.  Even Justin and I raced in the obstacle course a couple times.  We had fun and E&E loved watching us race!!  They were exhausted by the time we got to the car.  Saturday night we had our annual gathering with our high school friends.  I think KG said this was our 11th time getting together since high school.  It started out just us 6 girls...then we added 6 husbands, and now we have added 6 kids.  Our group is growing fast!!  Here is a picture of us girls with our kiddos!!  

Wow...what a crew!! Once again poor Emma was surrounded by boys!!  Next year...Laney will be able to play!  

So, as the title says...this is part #3 of our new year=new things.  Well...January 5th...I started the 21 Day Fix workout program by Beachbody and I finished it this past week.  I did really good!  I am down almost 10 lbs and have lost inches.  I didn't measure myself before I started but I can tell just by my clothes that I have lost inches.  I am getting ready to start round two tomorrow!  I still have a long way to go but I am going to get there!!  I have a great reason too because we will be getting a new pool within the next few weeks!  We are so excited about getting an in-ground pool!  If any of you have seen our pool and deck that we have now...it needs a lots of work.  Mainly the deck and instead of putting money into that...we have decided on the in-ground pool.  We have gotten several estimates and made up our minds which one we are going with.  The pool company has one pool they are starting on tomorrow and three others trying to get financing.  So, since we already have our financing issues figured out...we should be next in line after the one they are starting tomorrow.  If not...we still have several months before pool season anyway!!  We are also planning to add to the Turner clan!! No...I am not talking baby!!  I am talking chickens!! I know I have shared so often about Evan's love for animals and chickens rank pretty high on his list.  Well on his list of possible animals at his house anyway!!  We don't live on a farm but as long as these chickens don't smell or keep me awake...I am ok with him getting some chickens!!  I think Justin is just about as excited as Evan is.  Justin is just excited about building the chicken coop!  As if he needs to add another thing to his to-do list!!  And I hate to end on a sad note, but our sweet Cody may not be around much longer.  He had a large tumor come up the end of the summer.  We have begged and begged Justin to take him to the vet.   Justin is ATTACHED to this dog.  I type that in all caps because Justin doesn't show emotions much but each time we talk about putting Cody to sleep...you can tell how much it bothers him.  Justin was pitiful when Sadie drowned.  I was almost afraid to leave him.  He felt like it was his fault and took him several weeks to get over that.  So I am not looking forward to what it will be like when Cody is not longer here.  Justin finally took him to the vet last week.  They told him exactly what he didn't want to hear.  The tumor probably isn't a good tumor from the looks of it and the coloring in Cody's eyes and gums, and the fact that he is loosing weight.  So, we have three options.  1) go ahead and put him to sleep  2)try to remove it and if when they open him up and see that it is a "bad" tumor...then they will put him to sleep  or 3) do surgery and if they see it is a good tumor they will remove it.  Of course, we opted for option #2.  Justin feels like at least this way he will have tried to help Cody and not just put him to sleep.  He was supposed to take Cody Friday and came up with an excuse as to why he needed to wait until this week.  So, the plans are to take him one day this week!  He has by far been the best dog ever!!  There will never be a dog as good as this one has been!! We got Cody three months before we got married so he has been a part of our lives for over 8 years!  He will defintiely be missed!!  Anyway...that's whats going on with us!! Hope you all have a good week and that the ground hog doesn't see his shadow tomorrow!!  Bring on SPRING!!! :)

New Year= New Things....Part #2

Well, last week was a busy one!  I can't believe how quickly time seems to be passing these days!  We had some beautiful spring like weather this week and I loved it!!  We got outside and played several days in a row and E&E thoroughly enjoyed being outside.  After weeks of what seems like being cooped up inside...the fresh air was nice!! I took a couple pictures one afternoon while they were playing.  They have become much more dare devilish in the past few months...and I am not sure this momma like that!  The like to slide down the slide head first now.  They also like to swing higher, climb up on the trampoline by themselves, and even stand on their bike handlebars and figure out how they can climb over the fence.  Yeah...there is no taking our eyes off them these days!!  

Making sand castles!

                     

Emma sliding down head first!!  This was before she got a mouth full of sand!

            

And Evan of course wanted to do this too!!

Friday afternoon, E&E spent the night with the Babb's and Justin and I went on a date!!  It has been a while since we have been out without Emma & Evan!  We dropped them off about 6:30.  Katie had a night full of activities ready for them.  They made pizza's for supper and even a chocolate chip pizza for dessert.  They also made play dough and of course sweet Laney watched the whole time.  They went to bed about 10:00 and it didn't go to well after that!  They went to sleep fine but it wasn't anytime Evan woke up crying saying his legs hurt and wanted him momma!  His legs hurt him lots of nights and I can remember mine doing the same thing when I was little.  Once Katie got him settled down...Emma woke up.  Once she got Emma settled down, Laney woke up.  So, Katie & Matt didn't get much sleep!  So, I told them we would keep Laney for them sometime soon and let them have a date night. 

Here they are with their packed suitcases and backpacks!!  I know...they were only going for one night but I had to make sure they had everything they needed a little more in case Katie & Matt needed extra entertainment!!  Emma & Evan had a great time with Aunt Katie!!  Then, this morning...we headed back to get them about 8:30 because Justin and Evan were heading to the Clemson basketball game!!  Katie even cooked us breakfast this morning!!  Once Justin and Evan left, us girls headed out to do a little shopping.  Then, me & Emma went to a little girl's birthday party in her class at school at Jumping Jax.  Emma had a great time and from the stories Justin has told...Evan had a great day too!!  Justin said he did well even being as tired as he was.  He went to be early tonight!!  Here is the one picture Justin sent me while they were there!!  

Evan looks like such a big boy here!! 

So, we have had an exciting weekend so far!  As for the new year=new things part 2...I have signed Justin and Emma up for the Father/Daughter dance in 96 on Feb. 7th!!  Emma had told me twice now that she wants to wear her pretty dress and go dancing.  She is going to love this night!!  We are hoping to get her into dance in the fall!!  Or maybe gymnastics.  She will be great at either!!  We are debating on whether or not to sign Evan up for T-ball next month!!  We were all excited until we found out all the games are on Saturday morning the whole months of April and May.  Justin is a HUGE fan of turkey hunting and Saturdays in April are always spent hunting.  He might just have to put hunting on hold for a while.  :)  So, this week...we are heading to the circus on Wednesday, we have Corley & Cooper's birthday parties in Spartanburg on Saturday morning and we are getting together with our 96 girls on Saturday night at KG's house.  So, this week will be a busy one too!!  Hope you all have a great week!!