Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!!

Levi and his gifts from family and from Santa!
Benjamin with all his gifts. Eden Rose and all her gifts. Santa Claus at our church Christmas party with Ben. And with Levi. And with Ede.

We have had fun making our own family traditions in the last few years. Our own traditions include: Eating Chinese take out for supper on Christmas Eve, setting out milk and cookies for Santa, putting a magic key outside for Santa to use to get inside (since we don't have a chimney), putting on our special Christmas PJ's, reading the book T'was the Night Before Christmas and a story of the birth of Jesus called Room for A Little One. It was an interesting turn of events on Christmas Eve this year. Benjamin ended up getting a really bad cough and congestion so I was up until 11pm giving him respiratory treatments, cough medicine, Vick's vaporub and about a half hour of sitting bundled up outside for the cold night air to help calm his lungs. All of this left Jeff on his own for all things that "require assembly". :o) But thank goodness, Christmas morning didn't come as early as it did last year. The boys woke up first at 6:00 this morning which woke me and Jeff up. We all went into Ede's room to get her out of bed. She started to whine a little but was interrupted with "Santa has come and brought you some presents". She quickly hopped out of bed to see what she had. They all had fun opening up all their gifts from family and friends. We were supposed to go to church this morning but Ben still has a constant cough and they all are sniffing and sneezing. We are blessed with family and friends who we love dearly. And from our family to yours as we think of you today.........Merry Christmas and WE LOVE YOU ALL!!












Saturday, December 17, 2011

Guess what we did today.......

We went to a Town Hall with Mitt Romney! So I found out the night before that Mitt Romney was holding a Town Hall at the college campus near Levi's school. I wanted to go but could not find a last minute baby-sitter for my kids. Levi also wanted to go. I decided to brave the elements and take all 3 kids with me. We started at the back of a much smaller room than I had envisioned. Once they opened up the floor to questions, I actually knew one of the guys holding one of the microphones, I pressed my way forward with the kids to ask my question....."With the two political parties being so diametrically opposed in their views of the roll of government.....How would you compromise while standing firm on the principle of small government?" He gave a good but political answer. :o) When he was finished I pressed my way thru the crowd with the kids. Mitt signed my pocket Constitution and took a second to chat with me and take a picture with Levi. He asked Benjamin to join them but Ben did not want to go. I had to bribe Levi for the picture in the first place. When I told him I would pay him $5 he tried to up the anny to $11 after the picture was taken. And as he walked away from taking the picture "You owe me money!" He hasn't actually held me to it yet. I pointed out that he just took a picture with someone who might be the next President of the United States. Hopefully that will satisfy him. I hope they will all remember this experience for the rest of their lives.....I will.




Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Look-a-like Contest??




















Benjamin doing his McCauley Culkin imitation. I thought it was pretty good.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family to yours: Happy Thanksgiving!

I had to lie to Levi and Ben just to get a smile. I told them I had something for them if they would smile......all I really had was a whole bunch of food to eat!
My table set for a picture before we all sat down to eat. Yummmmm!! All the fixin's. We had all of our "must haves" for our Thanksgiving meal tradition. Levi smiling without any prompting from me. :o) You all know that Benjamin doesn't like to eat but I did get a picture of him with his mouth full. He actually took about 10 different bites before he wanted to get down from the table. My mom and Manfred came for the holiday. Before they left my mom wanted to take a walk on the beach. It ended up being such an ordeal! So I grabbed my camera and when we got there I asked everyone to turn around and said "No one Smile for the camera!" As you can see Benjamin was so disgusted that he didn't even want to come stand with everyone. :o) Hahaha! What we will do to create a memory!









Friday, November 4, 2011

My Halloweiners!

I was only able to get one good picture of the kids in their costume. The kids were really close to having melt-downs and their parents were really close to postponing trick or treating until 2012. We managed to keep it together though and borrowed a golf cart from our neighbors Wendy and Kelly to take the kids around our community for trick or treating. One house even makes a "spook house" every year and we felt Levi was finally old enough to go.......with his dad. They seemed to enjoy it. I was scared enough sitting in the golf cart waiting on them to come out. We came home once Benjamin told us that he didn't want to go to anymore doors because he had enough candy for now and Eden Rose was complaining about carrying her bag and wanted me to do it for her and Levi didn't bristle at the suggestion that it was time to get ready for bed. We all slept well that night. :o)


I also included some pictures of the kids at our yard sale we had a week before Halloween. We have a community yard sale every Spring and Fall. Our family has decided that we really enjoy these yard sales because we get to cut up with our neighbors, who we would otherwise not spend much time with because life situations take you in opposite directions. Jeff said that he will be sure to take these Saturdays off from now on and next year us and two of our neighbor friends are going to get out our grills and our coolers and have a few hot dogs together. Who knows.....maybe we will sell a few too!









Monday, October 17, 2011

Eden Rose Graduates.........

.....Into her "Big Girl" bed!


Tonight is her first night in the big bed. We pulled the trundle out at the bottom in case she falls off. I hope she sleeps as good as she did in her crib. She sure did like her crib!


And for all the grandparents, I included some pictures of the boys too!

Levi is decorating his toothbrush that I just brought home from Wal-Mart.


And Benjamin insisted that I take his picture with him in his bed too.


We are also officially out of pull-ups! The kids are growing up so fast and right before our eyes.

And for an update from my last post......I still really like my new job. Jeff is still serving as the Postmaster of Pawley's Island with no news about how long the position will remain open like it is. Levi is liking and doing much better in 3rd Grade. It has been a bit of an adjustment for us. 3rd Grade seems to be pushing him "out of the nest" as far as school work goes. Ben and Ede still really like their new school. They are now in two different classes but eat lunch together and nap in the same room. And when I pick them up in the afternoon they are also in the same room. So the split has not been traumatic for either of them. Life is definately busy for us and I am finding that I still feel like I'm in the transitional phase of this part of our life. We are apart during the day but have been able to prioritize our family time. So.......I would say "So far, so good".
















Tuesday, August 30, 2011

New Beginnings.......

Sorry, no pictures on this post. I just wanted to update close friends and family on some of the "New Beginnings" that have come our way this month. Well, the month is over! Our family is looking forward to some new adjustments that have just come our way. Levi is in his second week in 3rd grade! He is still at the charter school, Palmetto Academy and he loves his teacher. After the first day of school I asked him how his day went (which he said went well) and how he liked his new teacher. His reply......"I like her, she is fun." FUN!? Wow, what an unexpected way to describe a teacher. Needless to say, we were very pleased with the school and teacher last year and are definitely looking forward to this year as well.

Jeff has been the "interim" Postmaster at Pawley's Island for a couple of weeks now. He likes the job and has applied for the permanent position but we are unsure of when the decision will be made. He is not a shew-in for it either. It is, after all, the government we are dealing with and people who have never even seen his face or probably ever even seen his name written on a piece of paper will be making the selection for the official Postmaster position. But this is the second time he has been in a temporary postmaster position and however you slice it, it does still look good on a resume.

And for myself, today was my first day working in a new position at the hospital. It is an 8 hour a day.....DAY SHIFT position!! I am so happy to be on the day shift. I actually found myself remembering small details of certain things during work today. Really, night shift has worn on me. It clouds my mind and I swear I don't even recognize myself sometimes. I have even felt like it affects my personality. Today I have felt so normal. It is too early to really tell, but I think I am going to like this new position very much. By the way......I'm now working in the Surgery Center in the Endoscopy unit. :o)

Benjamin and Eden have started in a part-time daycare. We took them last week just to get them oriented to what was to become our new schedule. The first day both of them cried when we left. The second day they were smiling as they waved "good-bye". And the third day they didn't even turn around to say "good-bye". Oh! And Levi has been enrolled in the after-school care that his school provides (for a $fee). Ben and Eden are probably just waking up from their nap and Levi asked if he could stay later than he did yesterday. The double edged sword here is that for the longest time I have not wanted to depend on a daycare or after-school care because I worried about my kids doing okay without me taking care of them and it turns out that they actually like these programs. All 3 of them are all smiles when I go to pick them up. It is comforting to know they are happy but deep inside I hope they are not too happy. :o)

I will keep you posted on any more new events. Next time there will be pictures! Even if they are random pictures. But so far, we are greeting our new challenges with smiles and excitement. I'm sure there will be some adjusting that will come as bumps in the road though. But I'm positive that we will get over them as we work together as a team. We have been blessed.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Busy Month!



This month has been fun and very busy! First of all, Levi celebrated his 9th birthday. I cannot believe it. My first born child is growing up so fast. He is such a smart boy. Levi has watched "ANNIE" so much that he has decided he wants to be like Daddy Warbucks. He really is into saving his money so Jeff took Levi to the bank and Levi now has his own savings account! I am so proud of him. He is already thinking of saving up for a car when he turns 16. We have visited Wal-Mart and if he sees something he wants he will ask if he has enough money to buy it and I will tell him "Yes, but you can't spend your money and save it at the same time." The funny thing is that he understands that. He also seems to understand that the hard part of saving money is that you sometimes have to go without things that you want and could buy now but it would only be a short-term gain.



We took a small vacation and drove to Ohio to see my Grandma who lives in a nursing home there. It was great to see her. Bragging on Levi a little more......he was so caring over Grandma. He was right by her side all the time, getting her things she needed and talking to her about what she does during the day. He has such a big heart and loves to serve others in any way that he can. My grandma can't go outside by herself so we spent a lot of time walking around the grounds. They have a large fishing pond and the kids would go out on the dock and feed the fish bread or we would sit in the shade swinging on the porch swings. It really was a nice visit. It was a long drive but it was beautiful scenery and good company. Well worth the trip.










Here is the cottage we stayed in. The cottage was about a 40 min drive south of where my grandma lives. We weren't there but a few hours every evening but we were sure to take in all the attractions they offered in our "down time".




Getting ready for bed....yes the sun is still shining but we were all tired!




The paddle boats. More work for me and Jeff. The kids enjoyed the ride!







They had two large playgrounds. This is one of them.




The fire pit beside our cottage. We of course had to roast some marshmallows. Don't be fooled though. We did some high class camping on this trip. Our cottage was more like an over sized hotel room than a camping cabin. It was one large room but had a full bath and kitchen with one double bed and two bunk beds. Towels and linens were supplied and left for someone else to wash! :o) There was also a pool. I didn't take the camera to the pool though. Sorry! She is so sweet when she sleeps! By the time the sun went down we were all tired and we all slept well.
























Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Independence Day!

My favorite holiday! You just can't beat what all comes with this holiday. The patriotism, good food, friends, family and the sand between your toes as you watch the FIREWORKS!!
The Case family joined us at our house for some hot dogs. Our hot dogs are done the South Carolina way.....grilled with hot dog chilli and coleslaw on top. Yummmm! And then we all went to the Surfside Beach pier for some fun in the water and a firework show.

Levi getting ready for the fireworks to begin.


Ede really enjoyed the firework show AND her root beer.

Me and Benjamin.

And some of the fireworks!

Isn't this one cool? I don't remember it looking that way, it's just crazy what a camera can capture.














Monday, June 27, 2011

H-O-M-E

Our home town.....Gaffney, SC

Home Sweet Home. We took a trip to Gaffney for a week.

We went to Charlotte, NC (which is only about an hour away from Gaffney) to go to Carowinds. My niece, nephew and mom came with us. My mom is behind the camera. :o)


Benjamin is scared of heights so he was only excited about the rides that stay grounded.


Ede was a different story. She wanted to ride everything!The Intimidator!Levi was tall enough to ride every ride in the park. Jeff went with him and this ride was the biggest hit. I rode it once and closed my eyes for half the ride. It was intimidating for sure!! The reason we made the trip. Jeff's dad was getting remarried.

Here are the Bride and Groom with the wedding party.

Greg and Brenda Blanton.Benjamin actually sneeked his way into the picture. He was not posed that way.

From left to right: Jeff, Greg, David(Jeff's brother), Benjamin and Levi.

The three most handsome are MINE!! Levi and GiGi, his Great Grandmother. We had to arrive early and wait for the festivities to begin.

When Ede falls asleep in public you can bet it is picture worthy.