"Snow" much fun for a Saturday

Believe it or not, we had snow fall on December 4th....in NC of all places. I cannot remember a snow this early. Granted, we only got a heavy dusting, but still it was SNOW! Early snow! We had been out and about earlier in the day and as we got home the snow began to fall. When Quinn woke up from his nap 2 hours later, this is what we had.



He was super excited to be outside playing in the snow. He told me "Mommy, snow cold...Brrrr!", complete with shivering noise and hugging himself.
(And this precious child will NOT wear a hat or a hood....at all!)







He was simply amazed watching the white flakes fall from the sky.

Contemplating the next plan with Daddy. I think this is when we decided to go for a walk around the block.



And we found every puddle along the way. Because what good is a walk in the rain/snow without jumping into puddles?

And as we made the last turn before heading back to our house, I couldn't help but stand amazed at the beauty of the trees, all covered in snow. I wouldn't necessarily marvel at these trees on a normal day, but on a snow day, they are gorgeous!

Looks like he's off to explore his Winter Wonderland!

Here's hoping for many more beautiful snow days this winter!

Unbe-LEAF-able Fun!

On Thanksgiving morning, Buddy, Quinn, my dad, AKA: Grandpa, and I went on a walk through "the woods". When I was a kid, my cousins and I called the tree-lined area that separated my grandma's yard from their grandma's yard "the woods". We would meet in "the woods" because it was halfway. There used to be a lot more trees, but over the years, we had to cut some down as they began to die.





My dad had asked his yard-guy not to pick up the leaves, so a certain little boy could play in them. Quinn was super excited to see all the leaves.

Quinn and Grandpa immediately began to play in the leaves.



Quinn being attacked by leaves.

Then we went walking through the woods.

Quinn had fun finding sticks and playing with them. He picked this one up and slammed it down shouting "Hi-Ya!"

At the far end of the woods we stopped to pay our respects to our sweet Desi girl.

We had such a fun time playing in the woods! The smile says it all!

Why we went shopping on Black Friday

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house in SC this year. It was a nice change of pace for me, since I've done the cooking at my house for about 4 years in a row. The only thing I had to tackle was the traffic between here and there....that's a post for itself!

Buddy and I got up super early on Friday morning and we waited outside the local Home Depot store, in hopes of getting a $28 shop-vac, and an air compressor kit.

We ended up with a way to keep Quinn entertained....

First you tell Grandpa to "get in da box".



Then Grandpa realizes he can't bend the way he used to and asks the almost 3 year old to help him "get in da box".



Then you look at Grandpa and say "My Turn!"



And then you "get in da box" with Grandpa!



Fun Times....and I'm so thankful I got up at 4:30....that smile is totally worth it!

Halloween 2010

My son is too cute, and I'm not "Lion"! (ha ha)

Curly Hair

I just have to say.....I LOVE THIS BOY!!!!


We've let his hair grow out and all his little boy curls came back!




I love this precious child so much. Thank you Lord for letting me be Quinn's mommy!

A Night Out with Veggie Tales

On Wednesday evening, Quinn and I got to have our first "Mother-Son" date. We went out to see Veggie Tales Live, that was being held at a local church. I only just heard about this show a few days ago. A guy I used to go to church with in SC posted on Facebook that he had taken his son to see it (they live in Kentucky). I looked the show up online and was quite surprised to see that a show would be here in town. I was thrilled that tickets were still available! I even got brave and drove into downtown and bought tickets early...only $10 each! (My trip into downtown would be a post all its own...I hate driving in downtown with all the one way streets. I always get turned around and this trip was no exception.)


What is a Veggie Tale, you might be asking. Well, it is a Christian cartoon series, featuring vegetables as the characters. Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber get letters from children with various problems and they give the child advice based on a Bible Story....only these Bible Stories are a little twisted. For example, Moses and the Exodus turns into "Mo and the Big Exit"....set in the Wild Wild West. Mo gets the Israelites away from Pharoah aka "The Mayor" by crossing Death Valley, California. God allows it to snow in the desert. The show always ends with a Bible Verse and the famous phrase "God made you special...and He loves you very much!"


Quinn loves Veggie Tales.....I mean he L-O-V-E-S them.


Here are Quinn and I before the show started. We even got to sit with some friends from church. As we walked through the parking lot, we saw Kim and Claire, our pastor's wife and daughter. Even though they were attending the show with some of Claire's friends, they asked us to sit with them too. Kim took our picture. I'm not sure who was more excited...me or Quinn.





Each episode is interrupted with a silly song sung by Larry the Cucumber and various other characters. So this performance was supposed to be "The Silly Song Countdown", but various characters wanted to do songs other than Silly Songs. The show teaches that you should share with your friends, so each character ends up singing the song they wanted to do. And in the midst of all this they did 3 songs from the 80s.


Here are two characters: Bob the Tomato and Junior Asparagus. Junior is supposed to be a young vegetable, while the others appear to be "full-grown"....(adults).




Here is Larry the Cucumber singing "The Song of the Cebu".

These are "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."

This is a scene from the song "Endangered Love"...where Larry is in love with Barbara Manatee, a character from his favorite soap opera. Larry utters the famous line "I'll take you to the ball Barbara Manatee!" ( I also found out this is Pastor's favorite Silly Song!)

This is some of the characters performing that 80's hit "Walking on Sunshine".

And the #1 Silly Song of all time...."The Hairbrush Song". Larry gets out of the shower and realizes he can't find his hairbrush.

"Oh where is my hairbrush? Oh where is my hairbrush? Oh where oh where oh where oh where..........is my hairbrush?"

And in The Hairbrush Song, Junior asks the most important question of all....

"Why do you need a hairbrush? You don't have any hair!"

Quinn had the best time at this show. He pretty much looked like this throughout the entire thing. As each song would end, he would scream and shout and clap his hands. Then he would turn to me and say "Again Mommy?" And I would say, Yes they will sing again.

Pure joy....clapping for his Veggie Friends.

And the grand finale was the Veggie Tales Theme Song.

"If you like to talk to tomatoes....if a squash can make you smile...if you like to waltz with potatoes...up and down the produce aisle.....Have we got a show for you!"

The only thing that would have made this even more fun was if Buddy could have gone with us to the show. If you know us in real life, then you know why Buddy wasn't there. He insisted that we go on without him, since this was a one night event.

Quinn had a great time, dancing in the aisles to the songs. He especially seemed to like the 80's song "FootLoose". That's when he really showed some great dance moves! I think I even saw him try to breakdance for a second! He absolutely loved everything about the show. I was a little nervous, since he had never been to a show, but he didn't seem scared of the characters at all.

I also have to say the people working the character costumes must have really practiced. The mouths moved in time to the words of the songs. The eyes moved up and down to help indicate feelings.. It was really well done and the dancers were great at engaging the audience. I would go see this show again for sure!

Quinn, I know you probably won't remember this day when you are older, but I will! I will always remember your big smile and the look of excitement on your face! I hope you always remember that God made YOU special and He loves you very much. And I love you very much too! Love Mommy

2 Years of Blogging

I missed my "Blog-a-versary" by a few days. I can't believe I've been writing about my life for 2 years now. I looked back over a lot of my posts as I thought about this one. There are some things that, if it were not for this blog, I would not remember them at all! I am just not a scrapbook kind of girl, but I love to write out my thoughts.


I looked back at last year's anniversary post and re-lived all those memories too! Fun times.


I thought I would do another Top-Ten list for year two of blogging. But first I wanted to re-live my favorite post since last September. It seems funny now, but getting locked outside on the coldest night of the year is not something I will forget any time soon.


These were the posts that had the most comments from the past year of blogging. How many of these do you remember?


#10: The Cutest Biker Boy Ever......click here.


#9: "Handy" Buddy's latest project.....click here.


#8: Quinn, the St. Bernard.....click here


#7: When our best friends moved....click here.


#6: Quinn and Tillman....click here.


#5: The "infamous" KNIFE....click here.


#4: Quinn is just as clumsy as his Momma....click here.


#3: The day I needed stitches....click here.


#2: My "Heaven" baby....click here.


#1: An Update....click here. (This just doesn't seem like the kind of post I would have ever expected to get the most comments. It really was not meant to be a significant post when I wrote it. Oh well... you just never know.)


Looking back, the month of March was pretty crazy around here. I wrote six posts in March, and 4 of them are in the Top-Ten. Interesting.


I hope you had fun remembering the past year with me! I would love to hear from some of my "silent" readers....you know who you are! You read, but you never comment! Let today be the day you come out of hiding....I would love to know who is reading!


Thanks for continuing to read my blog....because This Is My Life!

I Will Sing of Your Love Forever

I can't believe I haven't written on my blog in over a month. The start of this school year has been really tough on me for many reasons and I've not been in a writing mood. But last night, something happened that just lifted my spirits and touched my heart.

Quinn got a DVD of praise and worship music for babies on his first birthday. I have since bought him another and when he isn't watching VeggieTales or Blues Clues, he will sometimes ask to watch Baby Praise. He brought me the DVD last night and said "My turn?" (his way of asking to do something). So we put it in and started listening. I've heard this DVD so many times that I've got all the songs memorized, although many of the are songs we sing at church anyway.

I was washing dishes and cleaning up and singing along. Quinn again said "My turn?" The next thing I knew, he was trying to sing along! He couldn't get all the words, but I clearly heard him sing "Holy Holy Holy....I see you". It was the sweetest sound I've heard in a long time! To hear my two year old singing songs of Praise to our Lord is something that just blesses my heart! He's been coming home from church singing songs from Sunday School as well.

I may not be the perfect mother, but this is one area I always want to do a good job in, and that is making sure that my child is being raised in a Christian home. When Quinn was about 3 months old, we were driving in the car and I had a local Top-40 station on the radio. This was what I had listened to forever and thought nothing of it. But that day, a song came on and I caught myself really listening to the lyrics. I felt the Lord telling me that this was not the things Quinn needed to hear, regardless of his age. I flipped until I found our local Christian station and that's where the dial has stayed.

Open the eyes of my heart Lord, Open the eyes of my heart.
I want to see you....I want to see you.
To see you high and lifted up, Shining in the light of your glory
Pour out your power and love as we sing Holy Holy Holy.
Holy Holy Holy....Holy Holy Holy....Holy Holy Holy....I want to see you

Quinn, my prayer for you is that you always want the eyes of your heart opened. I pray you always have a sweet spirit and a love for the Lord! I am so blessed to be your mother.

"I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations." Psalm 89:1

"Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day." Psalm 96:1-2


And here's a couple of cute pictures of Quinn I haven't shared with you all yet.

All Dogs Go To Heaven

This past Saturday, August 14, 2010, our family had to say goodbye to a special friend. My parents had to put down our toy poodle, Desi. I say "our" because she was technically my dog.

The summer when I was 15, I baby-sat for the son of one of Mom's co-workers. He was an only child too, and I think we just fell in love with each other. He was about 8 years old and was like the little brother I never had. Even after that summer, I would keep up with him, since our moms worked together. The next summer, as I was turning 16, they gave me the coolest present....first pick from a litter of toy poodle puppies. They had a female and had decided to breed her. Instead of keeping the first pick, they gave it to me for my birthday. I still remember going to their house when the puppies were just 2 weeks old and making my "pick". How I told them apart, I'll never know, since they were such tiny balls of black fluff. But I managed to choose one and we tied a red ribbon around her neck so we would know which one she was. A few weeks later I brought her home.

Desi was instantly part of the family! And in keeping with the true, girly poodle impression, when she got her hair cut, she came home with ribbons on her ears and painted toe nails to match! She and I were best pals! When the time came for me to go to college, she of course stayed at home but was ever so happy to see me when I would come home for the weekend or holidays. Momma always teased me that when I finally moved out, I was taking Desi too. However, when I got married and was moving out, Desi stayed with my parents. They became so attached to her that they were not willing to give her up too! So while she was "mine", she ended up being my parents' dog.

As she got older, her health got bad, as happens to most of us. We learned about a year or two ago that she had developed a heart murmur, so I knew that the time was coming closer. She had several times in the past year when we all thought this was the end for her, but she would bounce back. However, this past week was just too much suffering for her, so Mom and Dad had to make the tough decision to have her put to sleep. I had already told them that whatever decision they made, I was agreeable with. So while I was expecting to get a phone call one day soon, I was still shocked on Saturday morning when Mom called to tell me that Desi was no longer here. My dad stayed with her until she fell asleep, and then he buried her out at the edge of our yard, where he had buried my cat.

Desi was the sweetest dog and she was part of our lives for 15 wonderful years. We will miss her dearly, but she will always be in our hearts.

Quinn's visit to Nana and Papa's

Hi everybody....it's Quinn again! This time I'm going to tell you about my trip to visit Nana and Papa. They are Daddy's parents. They came to see us last Saturday because Daddy's birthday was soon. When they went back home, I went with them, and Nana brought me home after a few days. I got to go to their new church and visit some of my family.

Nana knows how much I love my Magna Doodle so she made sure that Mommy packed it.

This is my cousin David. He is only 3 months older than me. He's a lot of fun. He has a big brother named Trey and a big sister named Rebecca. He only lives a few minutes from Nana and Papa. Sometimes he stays with Nana and Papa for the whole day. When he goes to school, Nana gets to pick him up too.

On Monday, it was just me and Nana and Trey. Nana took us to a park so I could play. We tried to go see some animals at the nature center but the doors were locked. Nana said they were closed on Mondays but she didn't know it. It was ok because I love playgrounds. There is one right behind Nana's house too, but this one is much bigger. Look how big the slides are!

I really liked playing with Trey. He is a big boy. He just had a birthday and he was 12! Not many 12 year olds would want to play with a little guy like me, but Trey is used to it because of David. Nana thought it was funny that I tried to do everything Trey was doing. It was like having a big brother of my own!

There was this big pile of little rocks and shells and stuff. Nana said you could sift through it and find cool rocks or shells. I preferred to run to the top of the pile and then jump down! Maybe next time we can bring a shovel or sifter and try to find treasures.

We also found some dinosaur bones. Nana told me that this was another kind of animal that God made but they aren't alive anymore. She also said that someone found his bones in the ground and laid them out so we could see what it probably looked like. I don't know much more about dinosaurs, but I know they can ROAR!

On Tuesday, Nana was really brave and let me and David play together at her house all day! Trey came over too and he helped Nana watch us. When David got to Nana's, we shared a waffle breakfast!

Nana has a little park behind her house. There is a playground and a place to walk around a track and also this water place. It is so cool because the water comes out of the ground and splashes you. When we went to Nana's house in June, they water park was being built, but now you can play. It was so much fun!

Dear Nana and Papa,

Thank you for letting me come to your house for a few days. It was my first time staying with you without Mommy and Daddy. I had so much fun at your house and I want to come every summer too! I love you!

Love, Quinn