March 20, 2012

For Mama...

Today would have been my mom's 60th birthday.  Last year at this time we were celebrating, not only my mother's last birthday on this Earth, but my sister's beautiful wedding as well.  It's crazy to think how much things can change in a year's time.  March 19th will forever in my heart be a day of tremendous joy, extreme sadness and one that's flooded with memories from the 30 wonderful years I was lucky to be able to spend with my amazing mother.

Like I've said before, my mom was a huge part of the reason I kept this blog going for as long as I did.  So, to honor her on her birthday I want to have a post of pictures....pictures of her daughter who misses her like crazy, her son-in-law who loved and respected her, and her two grandchildren who were the light of her life and whom she loved to no end.

Happy 60th Birthday, Mama!  I hope you enjoy the pictures!

 Here we are at the Bobcats game.  The boys really enjoyed it, especially Austin!

We got to see Michael Jordan (from afar), which Ryan and I thought was pretty cool!

Austin loved dancing in the aisle!

Owen had a ball roaming free up and down our row...he always likes to be on the move these days!

Austin had his first T-ball practice last weekend...and you'll never guess who's coaching his team, Ryan!  Both boys are doing awesome and are really enjoying it.


Ryan does great giving each of the kids individual attention and batting practice while the assistant coaches keep the others active and busy.  Our first game is in a couple weeks and we're all looking forward to it!



This was Austin one afternoon after playing at the park all morning.  He's been protesting naps a lot lately...which means he falls asleep in random places sometimes when he has a big day!  I've never seen him fall asleep like this before!!

Owen's too young for team sports, but he's still having a blast and making friends!  This is him and his buddy Everett at the park one day last week.  The weather has been beautiful lately and we've been soaking it up!

Boys will be boys!  Three little boys playing monster trucks in the dirt!

This is Austin's "best friend" Christian (Everett's big brother).  They play really well together and we really look forward to our play dates!  Their mom is really cool too and we enjoy hanging out while the boys play.

Of course Christian's parents are big Gamecock fans, which makes me love this picture even more!!  :-)


My silly boy on his way to preschool before St. Patrick's Day.  He looks cute in his green!  I packed him an all green lunch that day and he was most excited to eat his shamrock cookie and green Jell-O!

We made his teachers a special St. Patty's Day treat and he was excited to get to school and hand them out!

The boys made some cute artwork which I just had to show you.  Austin's turned out really good and he impressed me.  Of course he liked opening the gold coins and eating the chocolate more than anything!  Owen's is a little more abstract but totally cute nonetheless!

We spent St. Patrick's Day (and your birthday) weekend in Columbia this year with daddy and the family.  We took the boys to Chuck E Cheese which was quite the interesting experience!!  Afterwards we went to see Aunt Geraldine and Uncle Carroll's new house that they're building.  It's gorgeous and the boys loved running all around the big open spaces.  We all got filthy but it was worth it!

"Mister Blue Eyes" (as you liked to call him) really had a blast.  He was playing peek a boo around the columns and just laughing away!


Ryan gave us all a little scare as he tossed Owen up in the air a few times.  Owen calls it "flying" and asks to "fly" all the time!  This boy really is fearless!

That's a face of pure joy!

On Sunday we met with the family at Miyo's for lunch (because we know it was one of your favorites)!  We had a delicious lunch and then came back by the house for some Easter egg hunting fun!  Owen was exhausted and had to take a nap, but Austin really enjoyed hunting the eggs and found all 36 of them...twice!


He really like when we hid them in the cars!

It was a beautiful day and your dogwood tree out front was in full bloom.

Those yellow flowers (I know they have a name but that's all I ever knew them by) were really beautiful and made me think of you.  The yard and front porch are still just the way you left them.  Even though everything around there reminded me of you, I felt more at peace being home because it made me feel closer to you.

I spent a lot of the afternoon at the cemetery.  It's a peaceful place and somewhere I can always talk to you and know you're listening.  The boys stopped by and Owen said Happy Birthday and Austin sang to you.  

We all love you so much and miss you more than words can say.  Happy Birthday, mama!

February 29, 2012

21 Months!



Well, I couldn't stay gone forever and I was starting to get sad that I haven't been keeping up with Owen's monthly posts.  So, here it is, Owen at 21 months!

-Can recognize and say every letter of the alphabet and numbers 1-13
-Can count to 10 in Spanish (Thanks, Dora!)
-OBSESSED with monster trucks and would rather watch a Monster Jam event on TV than anything else.  He requests to watch Monster Jam every morning when he wakes up and at least several other times throughout the day. Oh, and he knows the name of almost all the trucks!
-Calls himself Owie
-New favorite phrase is "ach dis!" (watch this) and he will stare you down and continue to repeat it until you watch him.  Usually this is in reference to launching his cars in the air...
-LOVES to read and will sit in my lap and read books all day if I let him.  Some favorites are Dear Zoo, Goodnight Gorilla, Potty For Me, Freight Train, Easy Street and his Pixar Look and Find book.
-Talks all the time now.  I can't believe I was ever worried!
-Says please and thank you most of the time.
-Asks for a sucker every time I sit him in a shopping cart...or a cookie if we're at the grocery store.
-Really loves animals and blows them kisses when we see them out, on tv or in a book.
-Likes to run around, race and play chase with Austin.  He thinks he's just as big as his brother!
-Knows his shapes and colors, but can't ever get red right.  We're starting to think he might be color blind like my dad.
-Sleeps about 11 hours at night and takes one 2-3 hour nap each day.
-His favorite thing to do at playgym is go down the slide, walk the balance beam and play with the parachute.
-Has really come out of his shell lately and loves to be around other people.  He still has his shy days/moments, but they are becoming few and far between.
-Tells me and Ryan "Lub Eww" (Love You).
-Says "Bess Eww" when someone sneezes.
-Is waaay too busy to eat most days so I have to follow him around with a spoon at mealtime.  He's also extraordinarily picky.  Lately his staples have included PB&J sandwiches, Nutella sandwiches, greek yogurt, goldfish, chicken nuggets and pizza.
-Still sucks his thumb at night and sleeps with his duck duck.  He's a total cuddlebug as well and I love it! :-)
-Weighs about 25lbs. I haven't measured height in awhile, but judging by his peers he seems to be on the shorter side.
-Wears size 18-24mo. and a few 2Ts.
-His favorite toys (besides cars and monster trucks) are his Leap Frog Laptop and VTech Text & Go.
-Randomly sings songs to himself.  He loves Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle, Twinkle, Happy and You Know It, Taxi, and the ABC's.  Yesterday he starting singing "Moo Moo Cow" in the car

January 13, 2012

Gone but Not Forgotton

Dear Friends, Family and Followers,

     For those of you who do not know, my mother unexpectedly passed away on January 3, 2012.  I am grief stricken, in disbelief and dealing with a sadness I have never felt before.  My mom adored my boys more than anything and she loved this blog.  She's a big reason why I kept it going as long as I did and if there was a period of time where there were no posts, she would let me know and ask for more stories and pictures ASAP! For that reason, I plan to keep blogging, but for now I have to step back and take a break.  It may be a week, a month or several months, but hopefully when I do come back it will be in full force with tons of pictures and updates.

     For now, please follow my Facebook account for pictures and updates on Austin and Owen.

December 30, 2011

Catching Up!

December is always such a fabulously busy month, but this year really takes the cake!  As much as I hate it, I don't have time to write a post for every fun event that has taken place this month.  In fact, I'm finding it hard to find the time to blog at all as of lately (am I'm sure you've noticed), but I promise not to give up as long as a few of you just hang in there with me!  :)

So here goes...our December, the condensed version:

My cute little Clemson elf loved decorating his very own orange Christmas tree!

Only 2 ornaments were harmed in the process...

Setting up the Santa train!

After driving through the lights at the speedway

Am Ma and Austin feeding a goat at Carolina Christmas

Owen's turn!

Guess who wasn't a fan of Santa...

Austin mailing off his and Owen's letters to Santa.  He asked for cars, trucks, crayons, trains and stickers.  Owen asked for everything his big brother wanted.  Mom and Dad told Santa that sharing wasn't one of the boys' strong points and maybe he should just bring two of everything.

If you can't see over it, just look through it! 

Austin trying out one of the Legend cars.

Our attempt at a Christmas card photo.  One hour and over a hundred pictures later, this was about the best we could do.  However, it didn't really matter in the end because I forgot to send out Christmas cards this year anyway! (I told ya its been a crazy month!)

Before the holidays, we met up with friends at Discovery Place Kids.  Austin and Christian had a blast playing together!

How cute are these two firefighters? 

Trying to decide who should be the cashier and who should bag the groceries.

Owen loved doing the grocery shopping!

Austin was shocked to hear me over the speaker when he pulled up to the bank window! 

Austin's Christmas program at preschool.  He really liked those jingle bells!

Showing us their obstacle course.





A well-deserved snack after all that hard work! 

Owen and daddy were there too.  Owen is mad that he doesn't get to go to preschool because it sure does look like fun!

Austin was so excited about making this gingerbread house so as a treat to him, we made it together while Owen was napping one day.

He ended up eating more candy than he actually put on the house, but it was a lot of fun and an excellent way to teach and reinforce patterns.

The finished product!

Update:  Owen still doesn't like Santa.


He got over it as soon as he saw the remote control cars, however!

Making cookies for Santa!



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