No picture to prove it, but trust me...

Quinn hasn't used his paci in a month!  And I mean not at all.

Not to sleep with.

Not for nap time.

Not because he had been crying and needed it for comfort.

Not because he was bored and had nothing better to do.

And this from a boy who has been known to hold 4 of them at one time!! I actually saw him get two in his mouth and one in each hand. Usually he had three though, and would interchange them. He would also take the one in his mouth and twirl it every few seconds or so.  He loved his "na-na" so much and I've been dreading this time of elimination.

When we got Quinn packed up and ready to go to my parents for his summer trip, I slipped one of his pacis to my mom to put in her pocket, with instructions to only use it if necessary. He used it in the car but once they got to their house, Mom took it away. At bedtime, he didn't ask for it and she didn't think to offer it. The next day, he didn't ask for it in the morning or at nap, but he did ask for it at bedtime. On the third day, he didn't ask for it all, and it continued throughout the trip. Even when I went down to their house to pick him up, I thought my being there would "remind" him to ask for it....but NO!

I brought him home and wouldn't you know, we had been in the house about 15 minutes and Quinn said "Mommy, I need my na-na." 

Uh oh.

I quickly replied, "You can't have it. We left it at Grandma's house."

Quinn said, "Na-na at Grandma's?  Ok Mommy."

That's it? That's all it took? 

We should have left it there at Christmas!!

For no reason at all

That's the best reason to get flowers, I think.

I always tell Buddy not to buy me flowers on Valentine's Day due to the jacked up prices.
I don't want them on my birthday or our anniversary because that seems so "expected" and I'm a low-key kind of girl.

But I've always said, If you are going to ever give me flowers, just do it because you love me!

Well, I guess he loves me because I got these today!

A dozen sterling roses! (aka...lavender roses).  I've got such a wonderful husband and I love him so very much!

HollyWILD

Quinn went to my parents' house for his annual summer trip to Camp Grandma and Grandpa. I went down to pick him up a day early so we could all go on an adventure together.  We visited Hollywild Animal Park, which is located about 15 minutes from my parents.   I went there several times as a child, but haven't been in probably 25 years!  Here are some pictures from our visit.
This is the sign at the entrance. Hollywild started out as a small petting-zoo in the 40s, added more animals in the 70s, and then changed the name to Hollywild in the 80s. Why the name change? Many of their animals have been featured in movies, TV shows and commercials!

They have many animals that just wander around, like this flock (herd??) of geese that Quinn decided to follow.

Quinn was happy to see this zebra, mixed in with several goats.  One of the neatest things about this place is you can buy bags of animal chow and feed the different animals.  One thing our guide mentioned (which I already knew) was that the stripes of a donkey are like our fingerprints....no two donkeys have the same pattern!

My dad made friends with this "ze-donk"....a cross between a zebra and a donkey. It has the body and head of a donkey, but you could see the black and white zebra stripes on his legs. The body had faint brown on grey stripes.This little fella was ready for eating and almost made off with my dad's fingers!

We took a bus ride around the park so we could feed the animals. You can see another bus behind ours. These deer are from Europe. Unlike our deer, these deer keep their spots as adults.

This little baby buffalo wasn't quite two days old. It is standing beside its mother.

These are Watusi cattle from Africa. Their horns are really sensitive and we were told not to touch them...but who would want to? Those horns are huge and dangerous!

This is Tank the Rhino. He is one of the super stars at Hollywild. He was featured in a Land Rover commercial. Our guide said that Tank totaled 7 Land Rovers before the director thought that the vehicle had been destroyed appropriately. I bet that was an expensive commercial because Land Rovers aren't cheap!

I said earlier that there were lots of animals wandering around. I probably saw at least 10 peacocks strutting their stuff. One was solid white, but most of them looked like this guy. And I say guy, because in the animal world, the males are the colorful ones! I tried to "flirt" with this one in hopes he would open up, but he didn't. Look at how long the tail feathers are! He would have been gorgeous!

And what trip to the zoo isn't complete without a picture of a Tiger?  You know this Clemson fan can't pass that up!

The only animal I didn't get a picture of was a black panther who is used for a lot of Carolina Panther Football promotions. It was pretty hot and he must have been in the shade. I never saw him.

This visit to Hollywild was a lot of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad (aka Grandma and Grandpa)!

Another Beautiful Sight in the Sky

Tonight there was a thunderstorm and lots of rain. The sky was really dark and for it to be 6 or 7pm, it seemed more like night time.  At about 8:15pm, I noticed the sky seemed much brighter. I went outside expecting to see a beautiful sunset.  Instead I saw this.

Quinn had never seen a real rainbow before so I brought him outside to see it. He said "Mommy, dat's a pretty rainbow."

Thank you Lord, for sending such a beautiful sight on this day, the 4th of July. Our true freedom is found in You, Lord, and in You alone!

VBS 2011: Nights 4 and 5

The last two nights of VBS started out the way each one had, so I don't have any pictures of that part.

On night 4, the craft was making a cowboy hat. You could paint it with glue and then add decorations.

Here is Quinn, waiting on instructions from his buddy Johnathan.  Or as Quinn would say, "Johna". Please notice Quinn ALREADY has the glitter bottle in his hands!

Johnathan had barely gotten the hat painted in glue when Quinn did this.  Notice the grins of the other worker and even the other child.....

And here's a close up the hat.  You can clearly see why my friend Kim, who is our Pastor's wife, dubbed Quinn "The Rhinestone Cowboy"!  And every little bit of that glitter stayed put!

On the last night of VBS I was able to sneak away and get a picture of the registration area. The College and Career class did a great job of decorating the entrance area as well as the stage. With the theme being "Gold Rush", the designed the downstairs area to look like a gold mine. You can't see (and pictures inside didn't turn out), but on the walls are the Bible Verses of the week stuck to the walls with glow-in-the-dark stickers. There was also some black lights to light the way, and a wheelbarrow full of "gold nuggets" and other gems. The floor was laid out to look like train tacks.

Here's a closeup of the poster on the wall. The CC Class thought of everything...down to the little details. The three men in the picture are Pastor Ken on the left, Pastor Josh (youth pastor) in the middle, and Pastor Bailey (asst Pastor) on the right.

On the last night of VBS, the boys won the Penny War! The girls did win 3 nights to 2, though. I'm still waiting to hear how much money was raised. I did hear that this year's buckets are bigger than last year's buckets! A couple of the 6th grade boys brought whole boxes of pennies. I think I heard someone say that a box of pennies was $25 worth. There's 2 boxes on top and I think another box was dumped inside the bucket.

The last craft of the week was one that the craft workers had been prepping for all week. One night they painted the bottles, one night they painted the hats. But finally on the last night we got to put together the cutest craft ever.

A juice bottle painted green....add a cowboy hat, a bandanna, some arms, facial features, and a star....

And you get a Cactus Cowboy piggy bank!  Too cute!

Overall, I think Quinn had a great time at VBS. He talked about it throughout the week. He didn't always sit still like the other kids did, but he did enjoy the different events.  I am so thankful for all the workers who gave up their evenings to work with these children. It was worth all the sacrifice to know that several children came to know the Lord as their personal Saviour thanks to what they heard at VBS!  I'm already looking forward to next year!

Show me YOUR happy face!

Quinn got a MagnaDoodle from his Aunt Kristel for his first Christmas.  I would have to say this is one of his most used gifts. He loves to draw on his "doodle".

 One day this week he drew the following picture.

Pretty cute, huh?

Do you see what I see?

On Wednesday night at VBS, I noticed some of the teenage girls that were helping Quinn's group all looking up at the sky and pointing. I looked up too and saw this.

Do you see the heart?  Reminds me of these verses:

Jeremiah 31:3  "And the Lord appeared to us from afar saying I have loved you with an everlasting love..."

Psalm 19:1 "The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hand."