THE PAPP FAMILY

So I've been gone for a while.....

2011-02-23T20:13:00.006-05:00

Well....it's been quite a long, long time since I last "blogged" and have been contemplating whether or not to get back to it and I am "biting the bullet" and am going to give it another shot! :) I keep all of my pictures on facebook but still want to actually write about what's going on in life so I'll have something to look back on from time to time and what better way to do it so here goes nothing....

So the last post I made was in 2009 about Bryson's baptism and 4th of July and we all know a lot has happened in almost two years! Will still continued to attend Sunshine House and loved it there and was learning so much which we were very thankful for at the time! We had another fall season of Clemson football and most of you know we love this time of year for that reason alone! :) We of course celebrated another Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas by spending lots of time with family and friends which we love so much! I found out in November of 2009 that I was pregnant again but shortly after finding out I went back to the doctor for another ultrasound because the first one was so early on in the pregnancy and they couldn't find a heartbeat....this was devastating to me and was even harder on me because Rick was out of town (this also happened with the first miscarriage that I had before we became pregnant with Will) so I was dealing with it all on my own until he came home that day. This was and still is hard on me from time to time but I know that God has His reasons for everything and I'm trusting in His plans for me and our family!

In January of 2010 we registered Will for kindergarten!!! I know....I couldn't believe it myself that time had flown by so much and that my baby had grown that quickly! Will had his "graduation" from Sunshine House which was held at North Springs Elementary School...they had the cutest program and it would've been an almost perfect night if Will and some of the other boys could've behaved themselves on stage...no such luck though! Graduation from Sunshine House didn't mean the end though....Will still continued there throughout the summer for their summer camp program. He had a fun-filled summer with many wonderful field trips of which quite a few of them I was able to participate in which was so much fun for me too!

Will also started t-ball this year and it was a wonderful season! He learned so much and is quite the little athlete! His team was the Hooks! He loved it so much and we are continuing with it again this year because he loved it so much!

We also found out early this year (2010) that my grandfather had cancer which was very hard for all of us! We decided to have a celebration for he and my grandmother for their 61st wedding anniversary since we knew this would most likely be their last...we had a cake made for them and a delicious meal and had all the family over together! They were so surprised and loved everything so much! I'm glad that we were able to do this for them because we could tell it meant the world to them! Granddaddy was quite the fighter throughout the months that he was battling the cancer but on July 28th of 2010 he "went home to be with the Lord." This was a very hard time for all of our family and it's still hard on us from time to time....I catch myself tearing up every once in a while when I go through old pictures and see him in them....I miss him so much but do know that he's in a better place and not suffering anymore and just thinking about that makes me happy!

We celebrated Will's 5th birthday party and had a Clemson football themed party and had a blast!!! The Papp's rented a humongous water slide that was fun for all ages and it couldn't have been a better day weather wise! The food and cake was all wonderful and I can't wait to do it all over again this year! Will also started kindergarten 2 days before we had his party....such a bittersweet time for us! Our "little" Will was just not so "little" anymore! The first start of the school year was quite an adjustment for Will and rough from time to time but he did finally start working through some of his issues and is doing much better now....still has his days but it's still much better than the start of 2010's school year! :) He's learning so very much in kindergarten and his teacher, Ms. Holly Turner is an amazing teacher.....she's so very patient and does so many wonderful things for their class! We've been so very pleased with her and know that God placed Will with her for a reason!

September also brought about the start of another Clemson football season!!!

Ava was also born on September 24th and was just as precious as her big sister, Emma, and big brother, Bryson! I love them all so much and am so blessed to have such wonderful nieces and an amazing little nephew! :)

Our family friend/"mother," Jane Kimbrell went to have heart surgery in Cleveland, OH, in October 2010 and everything seemed to be going well but unfortunately she ended up with complications and we lost our dear friend in November of 2010! This loss hit me so very hard...this was not easy on me at all because she was such a close friend to our family and was really like another mother to me growing up. She is still missed so much and it's hard seeing picture of her too....I find myself with tears in my eyes every time. We loved her so much and again, the only thing that makes me happy about her being gone is knowing that she is with the Lord and is having the time of her life! At least we know we'll be with these loved ones again one day!

We headed to Florida over the Thanksgiving holidays this year (2010) to attend Rick's cousin, Tammy's wedding and since we were going to be going the Papp's planned for us to have a couple of days at Disney World also!!! This was Will's first time to Disney and it was so worth it!!! I can't wait for the day that we do it again because we all had so much fun together!!!

Christmas wasn't too far after this wonderful trip to Disney and the excitement just continued on for all of us! I love Christmas so much and am so fortunate to have a husband who loves it and giving just as much as I do! :) Thanksgiving and Christmas this year were the first holidays without Granddaddy (we weren't around for Thanksgiving though) so this was hard on all of us to not have him around....I know it will eventually get better on us but it definitely doesn't make it any easier right now.

We also lost Rick's grandmother, Erna Young, on December 16th (I believe), which was very hard on us....she had been battling cancer for about 3 years and man was she a fighter!!! She was trying so hard to make it until the 18th of December so she could be there for Rick's cousin Brian's wedding but unfortunately she didn't make it....she went "home" to be with the Lord and again, we know that she is in a better place and rejoicing!!!

We had our first snow of the winter months on the night of Christmas Day....it was beautiful!!! It didn't last very long but while it was there we enjoyed it!

So....as you can see the past two years have been quite eventful for us and we have joked about 2011 having to be better than 2010.....I sure hope that is the case for us all!!!

Happy 4th of July and Bryson's Baptism

2009-07-09T20:53:00.007-04:00

Happy 4th of July to everyone!!! I hope that everyone had a very safe and fun 4th of July with family and friends!

I was supposed to have a biopsy done on Wednesday of last week but earlier in the week my throat started to hurt and by Wednesday morning I was pretty sure it was strep throat so I called my doctor's office and got worked in for later in the day and in the meantime I went on to my appointment for the biopsy but once I got there and told them how I was feeling they decided it would be safer to reschedule so we did that and I went home until my next appointment for my sore throat. As I suspected, I did get a positive test for the strep throat and went and got some medication right away so I'd start feeling better as soon as possible. In the mean time my mom had come to help out for the day with Will and since I wasn't feeling well she ended up spending the night which thrilled Will! They went for a long walk through the neighborhood and played chase in the park and my mom cooked dinner for us which was a big help!

I had doctors orders to stay out of work that Thursday and Friday was a day off for me so Will, my mom and I headed to Rock Hill on Thursday evening for the holiday weekend! We didn't do much on Thursday because I didn't want to infect anyone but on Friday Will and my mom rode bikes, we went and got alterations taken care of for me for my dress for DJ's wedding and ran some other errands and later in the evening we headed to Elizabeth and Ben's house to eat pizza and let Will and Emma play in Emma's pool and run through the sprinkler. They also were treated to a bath in the jetted bath tub, which they love!

On Saturday I slept in and we later went and hung out with Elizabeth, Ben, Emma and Bryson for a while since they weren't going to be with us that evening. We came back down to my parent's after playing and Will and I worked on making macaroni and cheese for lunch for the next day...Will was so excited to be able to help out and actually did a very good job!

Kent and Meghan suggested that we go to the Charlotte Knights game that evening and enjoy the fireworks show afterward so my dad went online and ordered us tickets - by the time he tried to order them all the regular seats were taken but we were able to get tickets for the hill, which turned out to be great seats, especially for the fireworks! My dad got a few too many tickets and ended up selling some to my aunt and uncle and some of their friends. Rick came up for the evening which was a nice treat and we all piled into the Suburban that evening after eating supper at my parents and headed to the stadium. We had so much fun watching the game, eating funnel cake and cotton candy and hanging out with each other and the fireworks show after the game was phenomenal!!!

Sunday was Bryson's baptism and he did a wonderful job! We all headed to Elizabeth and Ben's after church for lunch and everything was delicious! We enjoyed spending time with our family and Ben's and were so happy to be able to share in Bryson's special day!

2009 FAMILY BEACH VACATION

2009-07-09T19:49:00.003-04:00

We just got back the other week from our annual family beach vacation (June 20 - June 27, 2009) and had a blast as always!!! We couldn't have had a better week weather wise - it didn't rain at all until Friday night right before dinner time and then cleared away in time for those that were going out for dinner to go out and eventually all meet up later that evening at our favorite ice cream place, PAINTERS! We even got a rainbow from the rain! :)

We spent most of our time as always on the beach playing in the sand, laying in the sun, reading books, playing in the ocean and taking walks on the beach! Lots of card games were played at night and we watched some movies together - got to watch Marley and Me for the first time and loved it!!! The boys played some football and baseball from time to time and paddle ball and bocci ball was played a good bit too. We built some sand castles, dug huge holes (Rick and Christopher even built some holes with stairs) and caught lots of little crabs that were brought in with the massive amounts of sea oats! Will even got to go kayaking with his great uncle Bob and he was so excited about this because Bob even let him "paddle" - he was so proud of himself!

We had our night out to eat with the whole family to Nance's and had a nice time hanging out with everyone there and taking some pictures afterward.

Kent and Meghan went out shopping one day and came home with some adorable shirts for Will, Emma and Bryson:

Will's was a Duke's of Hazzard shirt, Emma's was a Carolina Cutie shirt and Bryson's was a cute little shirt (can't remember what it said but it was cute). Will was so excited about his and wanted to try his on right away so I got some pictures of course!

The rest of the week was spent just hanging out together with everyone and we all had so much fun together!

My dad, Kent, Rick and Ben went golfing on Friday so myself, mom, Elizabeth, Meghan and the kiddos went to eat breakfast at this place called Eggs Up Grill - everything was delicious (a little stressful with dealing with Will and Emma because they were pretty worn out by Friday)! After breakfast we headed back to the beach house to get ready to head out for our last day. Will and I headed to the store, JAWS, for him to spend his money that was given to him by his great grandparents and he ended up getting a stuffed shark and a plastic shark and orca whale - he loves them all! It was nice for us to get out for just a little while with just the two of us!

I don't know what it was about this year but I know I had a wonderful time with everyone and look forward to many more years to come with my wonderful family! I'm so glad that we've been able to do this together for as long as we have - it's something very special to all of us and has given us some very special memories in our lives!!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

2009-07-09T19:37:00.002-04:00

I know this post is a little behind but Father's Day occurred while our family was away on our annual beach vacation so I wasn't able to write anything. I just wanted to wish all of the amazing father's out there a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY and hope they had a great day with their families! I know that I am very blessed to have an amazing father - I couldn't ask for anyone better than my dad! I love him so very much and consider him a great friend! God truly blessed our family with my dad...he's been there for our family through so much and has helped us to create so many wonderful memories throughout our lives and I hope to continue making more amazing memories with my dad and family! I also wanted to take this time to "brag" on Rick....he is needless to say an amazing husband and better yet a fantastic dad to Will!!! Will strives so hard to be just like his daddy and I couldn't have asked for anything more! We love him so much and hope that he had a very Happy Father's Day!

Since we were at the beach for Father's Day I decided to make pancakes for everyone that morning to treat the father's and everyone else. We also did our dinner that night and for a special treat for the dad's we did banana splits!

Will gave his gift to Rick before we left for the beach...it was a hat that he made in daycare that said World's Greatest Dad and he was so proud of it! He had also made a card at school. I was able to get some pictures of Rick with his hat and this was the cutest of them all:

Like Father, Like Son

2009-06-17T23:24:00.004-04:00

Will loves mowing the grass with his daddy and so as soon as he saw Rick come out with the lawn mower tonight he just had to go and get his lawn mower too! He's so precious and just absolutely adores his daddy so much and so wants to do everything like Rick! He's always saying, "one day I'll grow up to be big like daddy?" We of course have to tell him he's got to eat like daddy to grow up as big as him one day! :)

Another Fun Swimming Day at Grandmom and Grandpop's

2009-06-15T21:58:00.004-04:00

We headed to Rock HIll on Sunday since it was such a warm, sunny day to go swimming at the Papp's! Will was so excited about this and Rick and I were looking forward to the relaxation ourselves! Will had a blast as always hanging out with his grandparents and swimming in the pool. He even started jumping off of the diving board - he wanted Rick to hold his hand the first time and as he was jumping Rick let go! Will was so proud of himself for doing it all by himself so he continued jumping off of the diving board and jumping all over the pool the rest of the day! It's been so much fun watching him really learning how to swim! It makes me so happy to see all that he is accomplishing but sad too because my little baby is not a little baby anymore - he's a BIG BOY!!!

Last Day of 2009 Swimming Lessons

2009-06-12T10:51:00.013-04:00

Will had his last session of swimming last night (6/11/09) and had a blast! The night before was cancelled due to storms and we were worried that last night was going to have the same outcome because some very bad storms rolled in that evening but luckily it all passed on by in time for the lesson. Rick had been out of town and was able to get there right in time to surprise Will before they went to watch a safety video...Will was so happy to see Rick!!! After the safety video was over they came out and put on life vests and goggles and practices jumping into the water, kicking, laying on their backs, etc. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Will learn and am so very proud of him!!! Can't wait until next year!

These are pictures of the storms trying to ruin the last night there but luckily they kept on going but this was an awesome sight to see!

Safety Lessons:

Video of Will practicing jumping - he loves this so much!

HAPPY 8th ANNIVERSARY!!!

2009-06-11T01:05:00.003-04:00

Eight years ago today (6/9/09) I was marrying the love of my life and my best friend!!! Rick is an amazing man of God and I grow to love him more and more every day! He never ceases to amaze me with some of the things he does for myself and our family! He is a wonderful father and husband! God did an amazing thing when he "introduced" Rick into my life and I thank God every day for giving me such an amazing husband!

Unfortunately Rick is out of town for our anniversary this year so we'll celebrate at another time hopefully...I'm just so excited that he'll be coming home tomorrow night and I know that Will is too!!! We've missed him so very much and can't wait to see him walk through that door!

Here's to many more years to come!!!

Me-Mo comes for a visit

2009-06-11T00:19:00.007-04:00

Rick had to go away on a work trip to the Bahamas from this past week. I know most of you are thinking, "poor Rick," right??? :) He did have a very good time at Atlantis riding on the lazy river and the water slides but is glad to be coming home to see us and we are very happy that he is coming home....we've missed him like crazy! We got a special treat though since Rick went out of town....my mom, better known as Me-Mo to Will, came to stay with Will and myself for a few days to keep us company and we all had so much fun together, especially my mom and Will! I don't have pictures of much of what they did but they did a lot! They rode bikes, played in Will's pool, watched some movies, finger painted and colored and I'm sure did some more stuff but I can't remember everything. They headed to Rock Hill on Tuesday to watch a movie with Emma and Elizabeth and a few of the kids from the church and then after that was over headed to my mom's to hang out with them a little longer and to see uncle Kent and Daddy-mo! Will was so excited about going to visit Rock HIll again! They headed back to Columbia that evening and met me at Will's swimming lessons.....Me-Mo thoroughly enjoyed getting to watch Will learning all that he had learned in the lessons! After the lessons we headed out to eat at Olive Garden and it was absolutely delicious! My mom said that she was treating me to dinner for mine and Rick's anniversary since he wasn't here to celebrate with me! :) Me-Mo had one more day of play today (6/10/09) and they played so hard that Will actually took a nap - almost 3 hours (my actually coaxed him into going on a ride in the truck in hopes that it would put him to sleep b/c he needed it and it worked)!!! Those of you who know Will, know that's a miracle but he was beat! He woke up just in time for me to get home from work and head to swimming lessons....unfortunately they were canceled for tonight due to some bad storms so Will was a little bummed about that! We headed back towards the house and stopped and got some food and I told Will we would have a "picnic" in our bonus room once we got back home so that cheered him up! So...as soon as we got back we went upstairs, laid out a spread and ate our dinner and played a little longer. Unfortunately after we ate, we had to say our good-byes to Me-Mo because she has to go to class in the morning! My mom and I of course cried...it's our usual routine! Will was asking us why we were crying and we had to explain to him that we were going to miss each other. :) After Me-Mo left Will was saying, "I miss Me-Mo...she's going to come back tomorrow right?" We'll see her soon enough and I'm sure we will shed some more tears! :) Thanks again momma for coming to just hang out and help us out with everything!!! I so enjoyed the time together and just getting to hang out just the two of us and look forward to the next time we can do it! :)

These are pictures from our picnic with Me-Mo:

Me-Mo also brought some sea shells for Will to do a countdown for our family beach vacation! He loved this so much so we'll be continuing it every night until we leave next weekend! He takes a shell out of his container every night and puts it on the end table by our couch and then takes the shells that are left, lines them up on the table and counts them out and screams out at the end how many days until Garden City! It's so cute so I decided to get a video of it tonight.

Fun at Grandmom and Grandpop's

2009-06-06T23:03:00.002-04:00

We headed to Rick's parents house last night (6/5/09) for a spend-the-night and had so much fun! We ate pizza together and hung out talking and Will and grandpop spent time playing with his toys and watching movies. Today we got up and Rick's mom made us some delicious pancakes and after that we headed outside so Will could ride his bike. Rick's mom and I took Will around the neighborhood and as he was riding grandpop pulled up behind us in his truck and said to Will, "you wanna race" and of course Will said "yes" and took off riding his bike after his grandpop so grandmom and I had to run to chase after Will...we definitely got our workout! Will also rode around in his little "57 Chevy" truck and mowed the yard. After he was done with that he played in the back of the big Chevy truck of grandpop's....he loves that truck! Grandmom, Will and I then headed to the store and bought some food for dinner and some water guns while Rick and his dad headed to the store to get my tire fixed (had a nail in it). Once we got back we all headed out to the pool to show Will's grandparents what he's been learning at his lessons! :) He had so much fun! The pool was a little chilly since the sun didn't want to stay out from behind the clouds today but we still had a nice time. The sun did finally come out but by that time it was close to dinner time so we waited until after dinner to go in for another swim. After our last swim we headed in for some banana splits which were delicious! Will got a bath and played with his blocks and cars with grandpop while I was packing things up for us to come home! Will wasn't very happy about having to leave so we'll just have to make sure we do it again soon!

Days of Work with Mommy

2009-06-04T23:06:00.002-04:00

Will ended up going to the doctor yesterday due to a sore throat and I was so glad that I took him because they did a strep test on him and it showed up positive! So....we sat out work day yesterday since he was contagious and headed back home after the appointment with the doctor. We hung around the house for a little while resting and watching some cartoons and then headed to my dental appointment to get my permanent crowns put on - amazingly enough Will loved watching all of this - he had many questions! :) We headed to the Village at Sandhill after that and had some ice cream because I wanted to treat myself after all I had just gone through! :) We went back home after that and just hung out together watching some movies.

I decided to take him to work with me today (6/4/09) to give him one extra day with out "kid germs" from the daycare and he had fun as always! He watched a couple of movies, played with his cars, colored, ran up and down the halls and in the office flying paper airplanes that I made him and then he ate lunch at Firehouse Subs with myself and Beth. It's always a little stressful having him there with me especially as the day continues and he gets tired because he won't nap but I still enjoy having him there with me despite the stress! :) I'm so fortunate to have a job that allows me to do this and for the most part he does a very good job behaving himself - as well as and almost 4 year old can do! :)

I took a few pictures of him today to get a glimpse into what my desk area looks like with Will there:

Swimming Lessons

2009-06-01T23:04:00.006-04:00

Will started swimming lessons today (6/1/09) and loved it!!! He's taking the lessons at Columbia College. He was a little shy at first but warmed up very quickly to his instructor and thankfully remembered a good bit of what he had learned last year in his lessons and put it into practice! By the end of the night tonight he was "swimming" on his own with a noodle wrapped under him! He did a wonderful job! Can't wait until the rest of the lessons! Got a few pictures tonight and a video and have put them on here:

Lesson #1 (6/1/09):

Lesson #2 (6/2/09):

Lesson #3/4 (6/4/09) - Will missed his lesson on 6/3/09 because he was sick with strep throat and I didn't want to spread the germs with the other children anymore than we might have already! We were able to make it back tonight though and he had a blast as usual!:

Lesson #5 (6/8/09) - Me-mo got to come and see a few of Will's swimming lessons this week and he was so happy to be able to show off some for her too! He was very well behaved!:

Lesson #6 (6/9/09) - Will continues to learn more and more with the swimming lessons and is having so much fun at the same time which is wonderful! I've been enjoying watching him and am so proud of him and what he has accomplished so far!:

Summer Fun!

2009-05-30T22:22:00.002-04:00

We spent the day doing nothing today (5/30/09) and it was nice! :) We brought out the pool for Will to play in since the weather was absolutely beautiful today and he had a blast! I was able to just lay out and rest some which was very nice! Will kept constantly saying, "take my picture mommy, take my picture!" So...of course I had to take advantage of that! If I do say so myself we got quite a few good ones out of the bunch today!

Kent's 27th Birthday

2009-05-30T21:52:00.002-04:00

We headed to Rock Hill last weekend for Kent's birthday. Kent, my dad, Rick and Ben all headed to Atlanta, GA for their annual trip to watch a Braves game....they've been doing this for the past couple of years and have had a lot of fun together! They unfortunately didn't get any pictures since it was raining but they did still get to watch the game and the Braves won!

We gave Kent a gift Friday night before he headed out for the evening. We had recently given him our grill so we decided to get him a grill tool set and a grilling cook book...can't wait to taste some food that he cooks for us now! :) Happy Birthday Kent!!! We love you very much! :)

Slip-N-Slide Time!!!

2009-05-25T20:56:00.004-04:00

As promised.....here are the pictures of Will playing on the slip-n-slide on Mother's Day!!! He had a blast and it was so much fun watching him!

Will playing in the back yard

2009-05-17T23:19:00.004-04:00

Will loves playing outside and loves to pick flowers for Rick and myself. Today we were outside and he was playing and brought a little flower to me and then decided to take it back and play with it and make silly faces. I decided to take a few pictures of him playing with the little flower - he can be so silly sometimes!

Boys Will Be Boys!

2009-05-12T14:33:00.003-04:00

I went to pick Will up from daycare yesterday and got a call into the main office from the director - I was thinking the worst...figured he had gotten into trouble for not listening again because we had issues with that on Friday and all weekend - luckily he was not in trouble but I wasn't surprised at what she had to tell me. :)

1) He had gotten hurt while dancing in the 4's room - bumped into another kid and got scratched/cut.

2) While his teacher had gone out of the room for a minute (another teacher was in there) he somehow managed to get into some wax and coated his hair with it - had a nice clump right on top of his head!

The saying is "boys will be boys" and Will sure does fit that stereotype! He is into everything these days...he's so independent and most of the time is able to do things on his own with no help and in some of these cases manages to make quite a mess trying! :)

When we got home last night I waited until Rick got home to help me out with Will's hair problem. We plugged in my curling irons and tried to melt the wax out - this worked ok but there was still a lot of stickiness in his hair and the more I brushed the louder he screamed and the more he cried so we decided to call it a night and decided that we'd get up in the morning and work on it a little more (he had a little bit of sunburn from the weekend and this wasn't helping the matter either). This morning when he got up we went with the peanut butter idea and amazingly enough it worked!!! I was so happy because I was to the point that I was going to have to have his hair cut off if it didn't come out and I didn't want to do that. I didn't get pictures of the wad of wax in his hair but I did take pictures this morning of him with the peanut butter in his hair....as you can tell from the pictures he could've cared less....he was grinning from ear to ear (you can also see the band-aid under his eye where he got cut yesterday)!

Easter 2009

2009-05-11T21:52:00.001-04:00

We weren't sure what Easter was going to be like this year because Elizabeth's due date for Bryson was April 10, 2009 but fortunately he decided to arrive on April 2, 2009 and was able to join us for Easter this year! :) We had an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday with all of the children and they had so much fun especially since all of the eggs that they hunted had candy in them! They had some bible stories read to them about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and did some crafts. We went to Elizabeth's house later in the day and had a photo shoot with Bryson (our friend DJ did this and as always did an amazing job) and dyed Easter Eggs. Will and my mom also rode bikes through the neighborhood while we were taking pictures of Bryson - he loves doing this every time we go to Rock HIll now so we always pack the bike! :) After church on Sunday we all gathered at my parents house and ate lunch together, took pictures and had another Easter Egg Hunt with Will and Emma. They had so much fun with everyone! As always we had a wonderful time with our family. We unfortunately didn't get a chance to visit with Rick's family this year (Rick was at home on call) but it worked out ok because later that week Rick's family from New Jersey came for a visit and Will got to stay with all of them in Charleston for majority of the week! He had an amazing time and misses them all so much and the beach! :)

Yard Projects

2009-05-10T19:26:00.004-04:00

Well...we are almost done with our monstrous hill in our backyard! :) Rick really has gotten tired of mowing it and so we finally decided to try and complete it and if I do say so myself it is looking wonderful! I actually got out there yesterday while Rick was flying and planted a bunch of the plants and he finished them off once he got home! This left us to the project of adding weed fabric and mulch which we did today and we'll eventually add some flowers, etc! People always say a house/yard is work and boy is it but we love doing it and it does give us something to do!

Here's some pictures of the "HILL" and a few other areas of the backyard and once it's finally complete I'll post some pictures!

Happy Mother's Day (2009)

2009-05-10T19:10:00.006-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mother's out there!!!

I didn't even think to take a picture of myself and my mom on Mother's Day because we were just enjoying our time together and having fun watching Will play so I pulled one of us from last year at the beach!

I myself had a wonderful day today! I started off the day with a precious card from Rick and Will that Will actually wrote "MOM" on - very impressive! :) I also got many "Happy Mother's Day Mommy" from Will all weekend but especially today! :) Then Rick (and Will) made me breakfast this morning which consisted of french toast, eggs, bacon and toast and it was delicious and was a very nice treat for me! We then headed to Lowe's to buy stuff to work on our ongoing project....the backyard! :) Rick pretty much completed everything - just a little left to finish and we are hoping to finish this by the end of the week. My parents also made a trip down here to see us for a little while and were nice enough to grab us some lunch on the way here! They also got to enjoy watching Will play in his slip-n-slide (I didn't take any pictures but my mom did so hopefully I'll get some later to post) - he had a blast and is finally starting to learn how to actually use it! We topped off our evening by heading to the Village at Sandhill to Marble Slab Creamery for some ice cream - yummy! I am so very blessed to have an amazing little boy who is growing up so fast right before our very own eyes and an amazing husband who both love me so very much!!! That reminds me of something that Will recently said to me...he's starting calling me his princess! Puts a smile on my face every time I think about it or hear him say that to me! He really is an amazing little boy and such a blessing from God to Rick and I! Don't know what we would do in life without him! :)

First Rose Bloom of the Season

2009-04-21T19:35:00.003-04:00

Our first rose bloomed this week and it's absolutely gorgeous and smells so good!!! I'm so happy that our roses are doing so well and can't wait until the rest of them start blooming!

Visit from Rick's New Jersey Family and Brother

2009-04-20T23:04:00.004-04:00

Rick's Aunt Bobby, Uncle Jeff, Cousin Janice and her children, Justin and Kaylee, came to South Carolina from New Jersey for a visit this past week (it was their spring break). They drove down to Rick's parent's apartment in Charleston and stayed there from Tuesday to Saturday and everyone had a wonderful time!!! They came on Wednesday to Columbia to spend the day with Rick, myself and Will. We went to Riverbanks Zoo and had an amazing time there with each other and afterward headed out to eat - we chose Carrabba's Italian Grill - everything was delicious!!! After dinner, they all came back to dinner to drop Rick and I off and headed back to Charleston. They took Will with them also so Rick and I had a couple of days to ourselves (we didn't know what to do without Will around but did go out for Frosty's as soon as they left us Wednesday night (Rick knew I might need a pick me up since I was sad about Will leaving) and then Thursday night we went out to dinner together to O'Charley's - was nice to have a "kid-free" dinner). They headed to the South Carolina Aquarium on Thursday and played on the USS Yorktown ship at the Aquarium. They also took a horse-drawn carriage ride and Will, Justin and Kaylee all fell asleep by the end of the ride. They went to the Isle of Palms on Friday and played in the sand, built sand castles and played on the swings and slides! They went out to dinner Friday night and were surprised at dinner by uncle Mike and Lacey (Mike took a flight in to surprise them all and Lacey picked him up from the airport and took him to meet the family for dinner). Lacey, Mike and Janice were the keepers of this wonderful secret and it was such a wonderful surprise for all of them!!! The kids were so excited to see Mike and loved "beating" up on him all night and on Saturday morning! Will, Justin and Kaylee had so much fun having sleepovers together, playing with cars on the car table, watching movies, and acting like dogs! They had pancakes each morning (Will's favorite) and were so excited about this too! They had a wonderful time "vacationing" together but I'm sure the grandparents and Janice were very worn out by the end of the week after keeping up with 3 3 1/2 year olds!!! We appreciate this wonderful trip since Will had so much fun!!! He's already talking about the next time he's going to the beach with grandmom and grandpop!!! Will told me this morning on the way to school that he misses Kaylee and Justin!!! I hated to hear that! I know that he really does miss them - he had so much fun with them - we'll just have to look forward to the next time! :)

Thanks to Rick's cousin, Janice, I have pictures to provide from all of their fun:

More Yard Projects

2009-04-19T22:38:00.004-04:00

We just finished up our natural area in our back yard this past week (May 11th - May 15th) and are very pleased with all of the hard work that we put into everything. I also gave Rick a bird bath last night (early father's day gift since we'll be on vacation for father's day) to add to the area and it seems to be attracting some birds already along with the bird feeders that we have set up right by it! Next project is trying to get some more grass growing! :) Rick's already started one patch of grass so we hope that it will work and then we'll go from there! We are definitely enjoying our backyard these days - very peaceful out back!

Numbers

2009-04-08T01:37:00.001-04:00

These are the numbers that Rick has done every year of Will and his life in a year:

The 1
Pictures of Wills first year.
For the full size version go to:
http://www.baseballonlinenews.com/numbers/the1.jpg

The 2
Pictures of Wills second year.
For the full size version go to:
http://www.baseballonlinenews.com/numbers/the2.jpg

The 3
Pictures of Wills third year.
For the full size version go to:
http://www.baseballonlinenews.com/numbers/the3.jpg

Macy's 1st Birthday Party

2009-04-04T22:36:00.002-04:00

Our little cousin, Macy, had her 1st birthday party today (4/3/09)! All the little children had so much fun! Macy enjoyed her enormous cupcake once she really starting "digging" into it! All of the food and cupcakes were delicious! Macy got some wonderful gifts from everyone: her mommy had to open most of them b/c once she opened her second gift - a bug puzzle - she wanted that open and was ready to play and wanted nothing to really do with present unwrapping! :) She was a precious little "BUG" and we can't believe she already almost ONE!!!

Bryson James Howell

2009-04-03T21:58:00.002-04:00

Bryson James Howell was born at 7:07 pm on Thursday, April 2, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs., 14 oz. and was 20 3/4 inches long. He has a full head of dark hair! We are seeming to think that he really favors Ben. He's absolutely precious and we have all enjoyed holding him in our arms and welcoming him into the world! Emma is quite the proud big sister and Will is loving his little cousin! Can't wait to watch him grow up and make some special memories with him!

Yard Projects

2009-04-01T20:28:00.006-04:00

It seems like there are always projects that come up when you own a home but the ones that we enjoy the most are the outdoor ones! Rick's been working so hard on building retaining walls and keeping beautiful landscaping all over the yard. These are just some of what's been done.

We just recently made the decision to "fence" Hawker in within our fence to help with "saving" our yard - he was peeing all over the plants and digging up landscaping and everything else in sight so this was the solution that we came up with and he actually likes it!

Finn's 4th Birthday Party

2009-03-28T21:32:00.002-04:00

Will's friend Finn turned four the other day and we went to his birthday party! They had a PIRATE themed party and almost all of the kids and some parents dressed up as pirates! As we arrived at the party they decorated swords with stickers and were given their treat bags! They had a plank for the kids to walk, a treasure hunt, a game where they popped balloons with candy in them and a pinata! The kids had so much fun!

Ringling Brothers Circus Videos

2009-03-15T23:05:00.002-04:00

Circus Clowns and Everything:

Motorcyles:

Tigers:

Trapeze Artists:

Elephants:

Rope Swingers:

Ringling Brothers Circus

2009-03-15T20:18:00.006-04:00

Will went last month with his grandpop and grandmom (Rick's parents) to the circus in Charlotte and got to ride the train there! He had so much fun with them. They got Will a sword while they were there which he absolutely loves - lights and all! :)

The circus came to Columbia this past weekend so Will and I headed to there yesterday (3/14/09) with my friend, Beth, and our friend's son, Finn and we had a blast!!! Much different from what I remember the circus being like when I went as a child! It was called "Over The Top" and it really was...they had everything - even a porcupine! They had horses, miniature ponies, goats, pigs, elephants and tigers! They had motorcycles everywhere - even in a steel sphere - that was AMAZING!!! There were trapeze artists and rope swingers and of course...clowns!!! There were so many different things happening and it was so much for Finn and Will and Beth and I had lots of fun ourselves! I let Will pick out one toy to get when we were there and he picked a rubber Siberian Tiger - it's actually pretty cool! We also got some cotton candy which came with a clown hat - Finn got one also so of course we got pictures of them with the hats on - very cute! I'm sure there are a few things that I'm leaving off but I just can't remember it all - the pictures show it all! Can't wait until the circus comes to town again! :)

Trip to Riverbanks Zoo - 3/8/09

2009-03-15T18:51:00.002-04:00

The other weekend myself, Rick, Will, Allison, Brian, Jackson and Bailey took advantage of the lovely spring weather that we were having and took a trip out to Riverbanks Zoo and had a wonderful time!!! We couldn't have asked for better weather! Will and Jackson enjoyed getting to feed some of the animals. We actually got to see the zebras up close this time - they are never out when we are there! :) Rick was happy too because he got to see his tigers! We were able to see the gorillas being fed and learning all about them! We also were able to see all of the lion cubs that have grown up quite a bit from when Will and I had seen them as baby cubs last year - that was amazing to see all of them! The boys enjoyed seeing the fish, etc. in the aquarium. Can't wait until the next visit!

Batman Sleeps

2009-03-01T23:10:00.005-05:00

We put Will to bed tonight in his Batman pj's. We usually check on him after he falls asleep and Rick had gone to check on him this evening and found him in his bed with his Batman mask, cape and shoes! After we had left him in his room this evening for him to go to sleep he must have gotten up and put all of this on - it was hilarious! :) He never ceases to amaze us with the things he does.

Happy 31st Birthday to Rick

2009-03-01T22:40:00.004-05:00

We've been celebrating Rick's birthday for about a week now (our families seem to stretch out birthdays as do many others I think).

Last weekend Rick's parents came for a visit and celebrated Rick's birthday a little early - we had pizza and just hung out around the house per Rick's request! It was nice just to sit around and catch up and allow Will to hang out with his grandparents for a while!

Last night we had my parents, grandparents, Elizabeth, Ben and Emma (Unfortunately Kent couldn't make it because he was sick) come over for a visit and for dinner. I made one of Rick's favorite foods, meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and green beans. Will also helped me make Rick a cake - we used my football cake pan: had sprinkles and all - Will was so excited about being able to help make his daddy's cake! Will and Emma had fun helping Rick blow the candles out on his cake and licking the icing off of the candles and digging their fingers into the cake! :)

It was nice to have everyone over to celebrate Rick's birthday and it was also nice just to be together: we've had a rough week this week with news from my grandparents that my grandfather had lost vision in his left eye and they found out that he had had a stroke so I think it was good for him and all of us just to have some time together!

Bobby Legg's 30th Surprise Party

2009-02-21T10:22:00.002-05:00

Rick's family had a surprise party on 2/19/09 for his cousin Bobby for his 30th birthday! They held it at the Bowling Center in Lancaster, South Carolina. Rick, Will and I were able to make it up there for the evening to join in on the celebration and Will was so excited mainly because he was going to get to play with Blayne and Colbey but was also looking forward to see Grandpop and Grandmom! :) They had lots of delicious food as Rick's family always does and the cake was great!

Will was looking forward to bowling because this was his first time ever bowling - actually first time ever in a bowling alley! :) We all had a blast and I actually didn't do so bad at the bowling myself seeing as the last time I bowled was probably about 4 years ago - I bowled a 121! Will actually woke up the next morning talking about going bowling again! :)

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T22:53:00.003-05:00

Hope that everyone had a very Happy Valentine's Day this year! We celebrated Valentine's Day at home this year. I had my parents come over for dinner: I made manicotti, salad and breadsticks and my mom brought a cherry pie for us - everything was delicious! We had fun hanging out with each other and got a few pictures of Rick, Will and myself for the church directory - guess it turned out to be a good Valentine picture too! :)

My baby is growing up!!!

2009-01-29T21:17:00.004-05:00

As the saying goes, "Time flies by when you're having fun," .... well that's the way I feel these days when it comes to Will! He's been learning so many new things lately and it's amazing to see it all unfold right before our eyes! He got a bike for Christmas from Santa and has been learning to ride it and if I do say so myself, has done a wonderful job and is so proud of himself:

We've continued to work very hard with the potty training and I believe I can say that he is fully trained and we are so very excited about that! Over the Christmas holidays Will out of the blue one day said to me, "I'm not going to wear my pull-ups tonight," so I told him that he'd have to wear them that night and we'd get him a mattress pad for his bed the next day. Elizabeth and Emma came over for the day the next day and hung out and we ran a few errands so while we were out I ran into the store and got the mattress pad. Every night since then (around the 1st of January) he's been dry!!! He's so proud of himself for this achievement also! Every once in a while we'll take him to the store still and let him pick out a toy and tell him it's for doing so well with staying dry at night so this is quite the incentive for him! :)

We keep working on colors, letters, numbers, etc. with Will and he continues to amaze us with all that he knows and continues to learn every day! I know he's my child and I don't brag on him very often but he's a pretty smart kid if I do say so myself!

Will loves to sing and loves learning new songs...my mom said he reminds her of me when I was little because he picks up a tune with no difficulty whatsoever! Lately we've been listening to some Bible Songs CD's that I had bought for Will a couple of years ago - he calls them his Jesus songs and tells me he wants to hear his Jesus music - it's so cute! He loves music so much!

He's quite the little athlete too - we'll see what becomes of his skills as he gets older! We would love to see him play some sports but we'll leave that up to him as the years go by - I don't want to be a parent that pushes something on my child that they really don't have a love for or don't want to put the heart into it! I want him to be able to make some decisions like this on his own one day! His favorite sport right now is football and most importantly....CLEMSON FOOTBALL!!! He comes home every day and puts on his uniform and wants to play football with daddy!

I could go on and on about him but I just wanted to "touch" on a few BIG things that had been happening lately around the Papp household! As I said before I'm happy to see Will growing up but somewhat sad at the same time....before we know it he'll be in kindergarten!!!

Will and Emma and the fun they have together!

2009-01-28T22:30:00.004-05:00

Elizabeth and Ben went to Gatlinburg, Tennesse from January 22nd through January 25th - it was their Christmas gift to each other....my parents kept Emma for the weekend and since Rick was going away on a trip also, Will and I decided to go and help out and boy were my parents happy about that! I've been pretty sick lately with some nasty cold thing so I was only so much help but it was nice to have Will there to help entertain Emma because she loves him so much! They had so much fun with each other; dressing up as Batman and as football players and playing football, watching movies, swinging together in the new swing, riding bikes, feeding the birds and I'm sure their was much more but can't remember it all! They had a "sleep over" the whole weekend and were very excited about this - didn't go so well the first night but much better the second one. We're trying to get in some practice before Bryson arrives and the beach trip with the family because I believe Emma will be sharing a room with us at the beach this year so Bryson want wake her up at night! :) It should be interesting! The took baths together and had so much fun playing around with each other. We made pancakes for them which they loved! The two of them love each other so much and I'm so glad that they have such a wonderful relationship with each other and I hope that it continues for many years to come! I love that we live so close to each other and are able to give them so much time together and give them so many opportunities to make these wonderful memories!

First Snow of 2009

2009-01-23T10:18:00.002-05:00

Well....we had our first snow of 2009 on 1/20/09 and in South Carolina any little bit of snow creates chaos and closes down schools and businesses or at least gives delays! :) It's nice for those of us that work but it's still funny to think about things shutting down for such little snow! :) I had a 2 hour delay that morning so we got Will up that morning and took him out to play for a little while in the snow while it lasted! He and Rick threw a few snowballs at each other and built a snowman - not real big but it was his first snowman! :) He was excited to see the snow and so were we even if it wasn't much! Maybe we'll get some more this year but I'm not very hopeful! :) We'll see what happens in the future! At least I can wish for a miracle!

Will's 3 year Pictures

2009-01-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

Feeding the Birds with Daddy-Mo

2009-01-23T09:35:00.004-05:00

These are just some pictures of Will feeding the birds with Daddy-Mo (my dad) - Will saw that my dad was going to put bird seed in the houses and just had to help! He was so excited to get to be helping out and spending some one on one time with my dad!

Emma Turns TWO!!!

2009-01-23T08:53:00.002-05:00

Emma had her birthday party on 1/10/09 and had a SAFARI THEME for her party - everything was so cute! Elizabeth worked really hard at getting everything just right; she had Rick draw animals on a board in which she and Ben painted and cut holes and made a bean bag toss game out of which was absolutely wonderful, she had little animal sippy cups, animal crafts and much more for the children and they had so much fun! Emma has some wonderful family and friends and they were all there for her special day and she was so excited to have everyone there with her! She kept going around saying "I'm two" to everyone - it was so cute! Rick, Will and I had called her on her actual birthday to wish her a Happy Birthday and she talked and talked and talked and told us all about how old she was! When it came to opening gifts Emma got a little overwhelmed at first; the first gift she opened was a package with two baby dolls with accessories and a double stroller....needless to say she wanted to open that one right then and Elizabeth had to take it away to open up other gifts so Emma had a little meltdown for a minute! :) It's obviously hard for children to have to open up gifts and not be able to play with them right away especially at such a young age! She got better as the gift opening continued though! We waited until everyone left and let her open up the families gifts and to give her a break for a little while...definitely a good idea! My parents got her a polka-dot rain coat and Hello Kitty Rainboots which she absolutely loved and they had also gotten some frog rain boots for Will so of course they had to try them on together and play in them! We got Emma some pretend food for her kitchen set that she got for Christmas and a Barbie Beach Cruiser Car and Beach Barbie doll - she was very thrilled about the Barbie and car - glad that we went with this one! Everything was wonderful and I can believe my little niece, EMMA, is TWO now! HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!

Trip to Riverbanks Zoo - 12/30/08

2009-01-22T23:22:00.002-05:00

We have a membership with the Riverbanks Zoo so while Rick was out of town on 12/30/08 I took Will to the zoo for the day - this is something that he loves to do because he loves the animals so much!!! He especially wanted to feed the cow this time which he was able to do and he was so excited about it! We were able to see the Tiger out that day and got a video of it also for Rick because it seems like every time he goes to the zoo with us he never gets to see the Tigers! It was a cooler day so many of the animals were actually out and about so it was a great day that we picked to go to the zoo! We went to the store while we were there and picked out a shirt for Will with Tigers on it - no surprise! :) As we were walking out of the zoo there was "snow" falling - it was the last night of Christmas Lights at the zoo so they had the snow machine going - Will had fun for a few minutes playing in the snow! I look forward to a little warmer weather again so we can make another trip to see the animals together!

2008 Christmas

2009-01-22T21:16:00.007-05:00

This past Christmas (2008) was a whirlwind of fun-filled events. We started with heading to Rock Hill on Christmas Eve day to my mother's house and hung out for a little while and then headed to our church for the Christmas Eve service which was absolutely amazing as always!!! It was a little more eventful because we had Will and Emma in there with us this year (I decided that Will was old enough and would really enjoy the music and Emma was sick so Elizabeth decided to bring her in with us also) and Emma decided to come down the pew to sit with Rick, Will and myself and Will and Emma sure did have some fun together! After the service was over we headed back to my mom's house for dinner with the family. We had a birthday cake for Jesus which Will and Emma were so excited about when they saw it and got to blow out the candles! We want to make sure that Will knows the real meaning of Christmas and know that this is the real reason behind the celebration during the holidays. Santa Claus and gift giving of course is a lot of fun too! After dinner and cake my grandparents gave Will and Emma a gift (this is something that they used to do for all of us on Christmas Eve and wanted to do this for Will and Emma now): Will got a Spiderman bike helmet, which he was very excited about and Emma got a Princess tea set! A little while after this the phone rang and it was a phone call for Will and Emma from Santa Claus (my dad started doing this last year for Will and Emma and this was something that my dad and uncle did for myself, brother and sister and cousins years ago when we were young - a tradition that we loved and am so glad that it's being passed onto our children now!) and they were so thrilled to get to talk with him!!! Later in the evening Rick, myself and Will headed back to Blythewood for the evening and put Will to bed because we knew the next day was going to be a busy one for all of us!

Christmas morning came early (about 6:00 am) for us and we had a blast! Will got a bike, trampoline, fish tank and fish and CARS vehicles plus a few other things from Santa this year and was so happy about it all! He was a little upset when he saw that Santa didn't get him MAC from the movie CARS - it was the one thing that he asked for from Santa - little did he know that his uncle Kent had gotten it for him! :) I got Rick a digital camera so he'd have it for his trips that he takes with work, a Tom Tom so he could use while he's away on trips....seems to be a pattern here! :) I also got him a book called, Survive by Les Stroud, that he'd been wanting. He was very excited about everything! Rick got me a digital photo frame, which I absolutely love and a special pancake pan, which we've already used and it's wonderful!!! We had a wonderful morning together!

After we were done with our gift exchanges we got dressed, packed up the car and headed up to Rock Hill for the weekend! We went to my parents first and exchanged gifts with everyone and had a wonderful time just being together with everyone! After we hung out for a while at my parents we headed to Rick's parents and followed them out to his aunt Kathy's and uncle Rob's house for dinner which was delicious! It was nice to see everyone and enjoy the time together! We headed back to Rick's parents after dinner and opened gifts with them - they gave us some wonderful gifts as they always do! We spent the night with them that evening and the next morning got up and ate pancakes and played around for a while and then headed over to my parents for the day. We played around there for a while and then headed to Fort Mill that evening for dinner at my aunt and uncle's house. After leaving Fort Mill we headed back to my parents to spend the night.

Sunday we headed to church with everyone and then went back to my parents for lunch and spent a while letting Will and Emma play together and just enjoyed some more time together with everyone! We left later in the day and went back to Rick's parent's house to see them for a little while and packed up everything and headed home!

As much as I always hate leaving everyone it was very nice to get back home too!

It was so nice to have spread out all of these "events" over a couple of days because we didn't feel quite as rushed doing it this way and were really able to enjoy our time together with family!

I know that we had a an AMAZING Christmas and hope that everyone else did too!

These are some extra special pictures that I wasn't able to get a picture of on Christmas Eve but Elizabeth shared the ones that she took with me - it's the pictures of Will and Emma singing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus blowing out the candles to the birthday cake that my mom baked especially for baby Jesus - I cannot express in words how excited they were about this and these pictures make me smile every time I see them.

2008 Cookies for Santa

2009-01-21T23:04:00.002-05:00

Will and Rick helped me make cookies for Santa Claus this year and if I do have to say so myself, they turned out very nicely! Will was so excited to actually be able to help me out with making the cookies this year - he had so much fun! Will decided he wanted sprinkles on them this year so we had many different types of sprinkles that we used to cover the cookies! The cookies were delicious! This is another tradition that I've tried to start with the family because it's one that we all can have fun with doing it together!

Will's School Christmas Program - 12/19/08

2009-01-21T22:27:00.002-05:00

Will's school held their first ever school Christmas Program this year and there was a wonderful turn-out from all of the families and friends. The children all did an amazing job performing their "numbers." When Will's class came out to perform their song Will kept standing there looking around the room for us and as soon as he saw us he starting smiling and ringing his little bell! He was so excited to have us there - my mom, dad and Emma came to watch so that made it an extra special treat for him! Emma was so happy to be there watching her "Woo" that evening! All the children got a special treat at the end of the program - SANTA came for a visit and brought them all candy canes!!! It was nice to see all the hard work that was put into this Christmas program by all of the teachers, staff and volunteers....they did an AMAZING job!!!

2008 Christmas Tree Decorating

2009-01-21T22:00:00.002-05:00

As always we had a lot of fun decorating our Christmas Tree this year. Will was actually a very good little helper and did a lot of work on the tree this year! So far we think this was the best tree yet!!!

2008 Train Ride With Santa - 12/6/08

2009-01-21T21:33:00.003-05:00

Allison and myself took Jackson and Will on the train ride again on 12/6/08 and they once again had a blast! They actually had some time before the train ride to go "exploring" on the stationary trains at the South Carolina Railroad Museum - it's amazing to see how small they are beside the trains! While we were waiting for our train ride we decided to go take a look in the store at the museum and Will picked out a Thomas the Train book while we were there that day and his very first train shirt from the museum - he was so happy about buying the shirt even though it was a little large....so excited that he made me put it on him before the train ride started! They had fun playing together during the train ride, checking out all of the scenery (especially the planes and helicopters at the airport) during the ride and got very excited when Santa came onto the train car to see them - you wouldn't know if by the looks on their faces in the pictures but they were very happy to see Santa! They love this train ride and look forward to doing this every year - it's a tradition that I'm glad we started with them because it means so much to them!

Clemson vs. USC - 11/29/08

2009-01-21T20:56:00.003-05:00

We actually had an "adult day" at the Clemson vs. USC game this year and it was so nice to not have to keep up with children for the day! Don't get me wrong....I love taking Will to the games but it's a lot of work so it was a nice change and it was nice to be able to have Rick come to one of the games since he doesn't get to go to many! The day was a little dreary but at least it wasn't hot like the usual games that we attended during the season! We didn't really care about the weather by the end of the game because we pulled out another "W" against the Gamecocks with a score of 31 to 14! It was great!

2008 Thanksgiving

2009-01-20T23:45:00.002-05:00

We spent the day in Lancaster, South Carolina for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time hanging out with the family. We took a short walk in the woods at my Pa's house on his land in the morning and let Will and Emma play in the leaves and walk the railroad tracks...they had so much fun! We headed over to my grandparents after hanging out for a while at Pa's house and had a delicious meal like we always do! We then headed outdoors for Will and Emma and some of the "big" kids to play some football. After we left my grandparents we headed on to spend time with Rick's side of the family for the rest of the evening and had a wonderful evening with everyone! I'm so glad that both of our families live so close together and appreciate the importance of being together with family!

Clemson vs. Duke - 11/15/08

2009-01-20T21:30:00.003-05:00

Well we pulled out another "W" against Duke this year for our Homecoming weekend. The final score was 31 - 7! As always we had so much fun hanging out with each other and enjoying such a lovely day! Years ago we used to walk around campus and look at all of the Homecoming displays but didn't get a chance to do this this year so I took pictures from the car.

A Day at the Airport

2008-11-08T20:12:00.005-05:00

Rick, Will and myself headed out to the airport today (11/8/08) to play with the airplane. Will had so much fun and got to see what Rick does when he goes to work. :) Will enjoyed playing with all of the buttons and headphones on the plane. He got to see a few planes take off while we were there also. Now that he's older he has such a better understanding of some things so it makes "trips" like these so much fun with him because we can see how much he's actually learning!

Bailey Anne Grier

2008-11-06T21:31:00.002-05:00

Will's best friend, Jackson, became a brother today (11/6/08)!!! Bailey Anne Grier was born at 3:06 pm and Allison and Bailey are doing very well! She was 7 lbs. 11 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. She's absolutely precious! Brian is a very proud daddy too! Jackson, from what I've been told (we didn't get to see him tonight) wasn't quite sure what to think about his new sister - he just wanted to get back home to play with his grandparents! :) I'm sure he'll warm up to his little sister soon enough! We made a visit to see them tonight and got some pictures that I've posted:

Meet Bailey:

2008 Halloween

2008-11-05T21:30:00.004-05:00

Halloween this year was so much fun!!! We joined up with a couple of our neighbors and went around the neighborhood trick-or-treating again and this year and the kids had so much fun going door to door and saying "trick-or-treat" and collecting candy! They walked the whole time on their own also which was amazing in itself! :) Will was a Clemson football player this year - James Davis - imagine that! He loves Clemson football so much so we figured this would be the best costume for him this year and he loved it! If I do say so myself, he was a pretty cute TIGER...

2008 Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-05T00:01:00.002-05:00

Rick and Will carved our pumpkin the Sunday before Halloween this year and we decided to carve it into a TIGER PAW this year - No surprise there! :) We left the decision up to Will and that's what he wanted and if I do say so myself, Rick did a wonderful job!!! He also painted a pumpkin for Will with Diego on it and did a great job! He did a Mickey Mouse one for Jackson - forgot to take a picture of that one though! He enjoys doing this and has fun doing it for others! Yet another reason I love him so much - he's always doing for his family and others!!! Will enjoyed helping in the whole pumpkin process - even got to scoop out some of the inside of the pumpkin! :)

Blythefest - October 25, 2008

2008-11-04T23:55:00.002-05:00

Will, myself, Allison, Brian and Jackson attended Blythefest this year in Blythewood, South Carolina. The boys had a blast jumping around and sliding in all of the bounce houses and even Brian had some fun! We bought some goodies for them and they took the time to enjoy one of the cupcakes that we bought them as you can tell from some of the pictures! These two have so much fun together and I'm so glad that Will has a friend like Jackson and that we have his parents as wonderful friends also!

Clemson vs. Georgia Tech - 10/18/08

2008-11-04T21:24:00.002-05:00

We were all able to go to the Clemson vs. Georgia Tech game on 10/18/08 (even Ben and Rick) and this was also a game with a new interim coach - Dabo Swinney! The Tigers played a much better game than they'd been playing most of the season and even though we lost it was still nice to see them "playing their hearts out!" The day was great and it was wonderful just to spend the time with the family!

2008 Physics & Astronomy Annual Departmental "Retreat"

2008-11-04T21:04:00.002-05:00

The department that I work for at USC (Physics and Astronomy) held it's annual "retreat" at Saluda Shoals in Columbia, South Carolina this year! We had wonderful food and had a lot of fun hanging out with each other! It was a little chilly and windy that day but perfect fall weather! The kids had a blast riding bikes, running all over the place and playing on the playground! We had a wonderful day and look forward to next year!

Videos from Cell Phone

2008-10-08T19:59:00.003-04:00

Here were some videos taken with my cell phone that we just pulled from the phone: one was of him playing during bath time and the other two were him yelling at the TV during a football game - it was really funny!!!

Pictures from my phone

2008-10-08T19:02:00.006-04:00

We were able to finally pull some pictures from my cell phone that I've been wanting for a long time and here they are - they are very random:

These were just of Will in the car playing around:

These were of Will playing around at home:

These were of Will at his 3 year well visit - he did really well and luckily didn't have to have any shots that day:

Allison Grier's Baby Shower (10/5/08)

2008-10-07T22:53:00.005-04:00

We had my friend Allison's baby shower at my house this past weekend and had so much fun! She had many family members and friends attend and we all had a wonderful time! Lots of yummy food, an amazing cake, lots of fun games and prizes!!! I had someone make a ladybug cake for the shower and it was AMAZING....Thanks Beth!!!

I also had someone make a picture frame for Bailey's nursery - Thanks Jodi!!!

I also made a bag for Bailey:

Here are pictures from the shower:

CLEMSON VS. MARYLAND (9/27/08)

2008-10-07T19:20:00.003-04:00

We played Maryland the other weekend and ended up losing, 20 to 17 - it was very disappointing because the Tigers had played so well the first half and it just seemed as if the team didn't even show up on the field the second half (or at least the coaches didn't)! I didn't get to watch any of the second half of the game because I spent it with the EMS people! :) I was sick already before we went to the game and had been taking some DAYQUIL without taking my blood pressure medicine for a while and obviously the combination didn't work well together - I started feeling very week and my mom took me up to the concession area just to get away and try and cool down and see if that helped but it didn't so we went and got them to check out my blood pressure and it was 160 something over 100 something - NOT GOOD!!! So....I laid down on a cot with a fan blowing on me the whole game and watched it on a TV while I was there. My mom stayed with me also .... we decided that it was kind of nice being able to just enjoy the game without being so hot....besides, my blood pressure may have risen even more with seeing the way they were playing in the game! :) Hopefully we'll have a win this Thursday night against Wake Forest!!! We'll see what happens!

Will also spent Sunday afternoon playing football with Daddy-Mo and had a blast!!! He loved this time and it was such a beautiful day outside for them to be able to have this time together! My mom and I enjoyed watching them play ball together! We're working on playing "CATCH" with Will these days - he's working so hard at this and he's a very determined young man! It's amazing to watch him learn every little thing that he learns every day. He's a lot like his mommy and daddy in the way that he learns everything - he observes and then "does" what he wants to do and he's such a quick learner! It's amazing!

Jackson Grier's 3rd Birthday Party

2008-10-06T22:49:00.003-04:00

We attended Will's buddy Jackson's 3rd birthday on 9/21/08. They had a John Deere theme party and held it at Leapin' Lizards - this is a place that Jackson and Will both love!!! Its a building full of bounce "houses" and lots of toys to play with. The children had a blast! It was a wonderful birthday party and Jackson had a great time! Can't wait to go back again sometime soon with the boys! :)

Will Swinging in the Backyard (9/26/08)

2008-09-26T22:37:00.011-04:00

Well...I officially have a "BIG BOY!" We were out in the back yard Thursday afternoon and Will ran over to his swingset and just started swinging himself and it wasn't in the "Baby Swing" as he calls it now! That was the first time that we had seen him do that - it was an exciting moment for Rick and myself! He's doing so many new things and likes to do them all by himself - he's growing up right before our very own eyes - it's so amazing watching them learn new things!

Will also played some football with his daddy and had so much fun doing this! I was able to get a few videos of the swinging and playing football:

CLEMSON VS. NC STATE

2008-09-15T01:01:00.003-04:00

We played NC State this past Saturday, September 13, 2008 and had another win (27 to 9 - final score)! We still aren't playing up to our potential but seem to be getting better at each game! Hopefully they keep up the good work the rest of the season! We had a wonderful time at the game even though it was way too hot! Will had so much fun cheering the TiGERS on and I bought him a new hat that he absolutely loves!!! He doesn't really wear hats (just like to play around with Rick's at home) but he wore this one all game long and all weekend so I think we have a winner! He actually picked it out himself and I think he did a pretty good job! I really don't like these noon kick-offs - I'd love it if they changed that but don't see that happening! Hope everyone enjoys the pictures from the game:

CLEMSON VS. CITADEL

2008-09-07T22:04:00.002-04:00

Clemson played the Citadel this past weekend (9/6/08) and we came out with a BIG "W!" Much needed after the awful game played against Alabama the weekend before. We'll have to see how the rest of the season goes for us though - hopefully it will only continue to improve! My mom, dad, Kent, Elizabeth, Will, Emma and myself all piled into the Suburban and rode to the game together and had lots of fun! Emma and Kent did some "head banging" to Metallica - that was hilarious to watch Emma do this! It was a very hot day so that made it a little miserable to be at the game but winning the game at least helped out some! :) We won 45 to 17! Go Tigers!!! Here's a slide show from the day:

Labor Day

2008-09-01T19:56:00.004-04:00

My mom, Elizabeth and Emma headed down to Blythewood today to hang out with Will and I since I had Labor Day off. We ate lunch together when they got to our house and we decided to go to Ed Venture and were hoping that all would go well with both Will and Emma since Emma had only had like a 30 minute nap and Will didn't have one at all! :) For the most part, until the very end of the day, they did very well! They had so much fun with the bubble-loosa exhibit, playing with the blocks, tractors, cars and fire trucks. They also got to plant food and milk the cow. They played in the 40 foot boy and listened to his heart beat - they were a little unsure about this one - maybe in another year or two they'll be big enough to go through this on their own and really enjoy it - it was really cool though! They went shopping in the grocery store, played with sand, on a boat and in the dentist office. The funniest part about the grocery store was that Will went straight for the meat and filled up his cart with this - this is the one thing that he eats the least of! :) It was so cute though! I'm sure there was much more that they did there but I can't remember it all and am not going to list it all because you'll see it in most of the pictures in the slide show! We had such a good time together and can't wait to do it again! Thanks Me-mo, Aunt-E and Emma for a wonderful day!

READY FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!

2008-08-31T18:46:00.002-04:00

We have been ready for quite some time around this household for college football, especially the CLEMSON TIGERS! Will for months now has been going to bed and waking up talking about going to see the TIGERS play football! Unfortunately we had our first loss of the season last night against Alabama and boy was it an awful game! We played terrible and they just wore us out! Will and I were at home watching the game and he was so excited about it - he didn't really care about how we were playing or that we lost - he just wanted to see his TIGERS on the field! :) Wish we all could have that attitude about it all but I doubt he'll remain that way forever, especially in this household - we're a little competitive around here! :) The slide show is of Will yelling "Go Tigers" and "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, C-L-E-M-S-O-N, T-I-G-E-R-S, Fight Tigers, Fight Tigers, Fight, Fight, Fight!" He loves all of the cheering!

This picture is of Will finishing up some of his birthday cupcakes - I thought it was just too cute and funny not to post:

Will's 3rd Birthday Party

2008-08-27T22:14:00.002-04:00

We had Will's 3rd birthday on August 16, 2008 at Rick's parent's house in Rock Hill, South Carolina - another POOL PARTY!!! We had a CARS theme this year - No surprise because it's Will's favorite! He had a wonderful time with all of his family and friends! The food, cake and ice cream was delicious and everyone was so generous in all the wonderful gifts that they gave Will! We appreciate everything and he loved everything! We can't believe that our baby is 3 now - time flies by so quickly!

Will's 3rd Birthday Gift

2008-08-07T21:20:00.003-04:00

Rick and I finally decided what we wanted to get Will for his 3rd birthday and we bought it tonight and gave it to him a little early so he could actually begin to enjoy it! It's a Radio Flyer Big Flyer (big wheel)! He loves it as you can tell from the pictures...

POTTY TRAINING

2008-08-07T13:56:00.004-04:00

Right before the beach this year (2008) we sort of started working on the potty training with Will. We knew that he was ready and he understood the concept - he just wasn't quite getting it so after we got back we tried another method. He absolutely loves the movie, CARS, so we bought some of the cars from the movie as an incentive to go to the potty and believe it or not....it worked! We showed him the cars and told him that if he went to the potty he would get one so he ran straight to the bathroom, sat on the toilet and went "potty!" It was actually hilarious to watch him because after we gave him one car he wanted to keep going to the bathroom for more and we were worried that he was going to hurt himself after a while! He's gotten quite the collection now and is still working hard at this - he's even moved to underwear and is staying dry through the night a good bit! :) I've changed the method a little and made a potty chart for him to put stickers on it each day so at the end of the week he can see the progress he's made and on Friday's we give him a new car - he likes this and gets so excited by the end of the week about this! It's such a relief knowing that we'll soon (for the most part) be out of pull-ups! :) He also picked out a toilet seat the other day (football) and he was so excited about this also! We are so very proud of Will!

The famous football toilet seat:

The potty chart that I made for Will:

The big boy himself and his Lightning McQueen underwear:

HAPPY 35TH ANNIVERSARY!!!

2008-07-29T20:59:00.003-04:00

Monday, July 28, 2008 was my parent's 35th anniversary so I just wanted to acknowledge this because it's so very rare these days that we find marriages that last even a couple of years! They have set such a wonderful example for us and many others in the love that they have for each other and the Lord and I know that this love is what has held their marriage together! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad and here's to another wonderful 35!!! :)

Here's some pictures from the past couple of years of my parents - we love you both so very much!!!

Will's 1st Baseball game

2008-07-29T19:27:00.002-04:00

Will and I headed to Rock Hill this past weekend to spend time with my family since it was my parent's anniversary. My dad treated us all to a baseball game - this was Will's first and he loved it! It was the Charlotte Knights vs. the Buffalo Bisons...unfortunately the Knights lost but we had a wonderful time together! Will was taking everything in and was very observant during the game. He also really enjoyed the cotton candy that I got him! :)

Swimming Lessons

2008-07-29T18:31:00.002-04:00

Will and his buddy, Jackson, started swimming lessons last week and haven't had many lessons yet due to weather but what they have done so far is learn to put faces in the water, blow bubbles, kick, paddle and try and float on their backs. They've had a lot of fun together and with the other children. Hopefully we'll get some better soon so we can continue with the lessons and have some more fun at the pool! :)

The recreation center where they are taking lessons has a park also so Will and Jackson had lots of fun playing there after lessons:

A date with Will

2008-07-21T22:19:00.002-04:00

Rick was away in Connecticut for a couple of days so I decided to take Will on a "date" to the zoo this past weekend (7/20/08). We had a wonderful time together even though it was almost 100 degrees! We were able to see the lion cubs that were born last month, the crocodile being fed, the penguins being fed, played on the playground and rode the carousel and many other animals! I bought him a stuffed elephant while we were there - it was the animal that he chose out of all of the ones that were in the store. He loves the elephants!!! Can't wait for the next time that we go!

Playing in the rain

2008-07-12T11:40:00.003-04:00

This past week we had quite a few storms around the area and on one of the days Will and his buddy, Jackson, got out together and played in the rain together - unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them together but they were soaking wet and had a blast! They were running all around in the cul-de-sac and playing in puddles, etc. After the rain died down a little the sun started to come out and we got a beautiful rainbow out of it! Here are some pictures:

Saying our Goodbyes

2008-07-06T00:38:00.003-04:00

On the last day at the beach we really just spend it cleaning up, packing up and saying our goodbyes to the beach and each other! It always makes me a little sad but at least we having something to look forward to next year!

Last day at the Beach

2008-07-06T00:12:00.003-04:00

On our last day at the beach we, as always, spent all day outside playing and had so much fun! Can't wait for next year! :)

Our little Emma

2008-07-05T23:27:00.003-04:00

Emma loves her Hello Kitty sunglasses and loved "chillin out" on the beach in her little chair, drinking her drink and wearing her sunglasses! She was so precious watching all that she did during the week at the beach this year - so different from last year at the beach! She wanted to do everything that Will did so we've decided that we're going to have to work very hard on making Will into a good leader instead of a bad one since he does have little ones watching everything that he does also even as young as he is! I'm so grateful that the two of them are so close to each other - they love each other so much!

Will on the Boogie Board

2008-07-05T23:12:00.002-04:00

Will got a chance to try out the boogie board at the beach this year and loved it. There was a little "river" that formed on the beach on the last day there so we drug out a boogie board and pulled him through the water - he loved it and thought he was such a big boy! It was so cute!

Train Ride

2008-07-05T15:45:00.008-04:00

Rick, myself, Will, Brian, Allison and Jackson all headed to the South Carolina Railroad Museum this morning (7/5/08) for a train ride. I know that Will and Jackson were very excited about it but I don't know who was more excited between my two men - Rick or Will??? :) Will loves trains bur Rick really loves them! :) Rick had so much fun and I'm so glad that he was able to go on the train ride with us today (he wasn't able to at Christmas). There were so many things that we saw while on the train ride: old train equipment, all kinds of scenery, the old train station, airport, etc.

These are some of my favorites from the trip today:

Will looking at all of the trains while waiting to board the train:

Rick and Will waiting to board the train:

Family picture:

Will looking at his train ticket:

Will playing on the train and making choo-choo sounds:

Best Friends - Jackson and Will:

2008 4th of July

2008-07-05T15:13:00.003-04:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! Rick, Will and I had our neighbors, Serena, Brian, Allison and Jackson come over for 4th of July this year and we had a wonderful time and so much fun together! We had fun just hanging out and talking, eating lots of yummy food, watching the boys have a blast playing in the pool and slip-n-slide, and enjoyed the many fireworks throughout the neighborhood! Rick helped me out so much with everything, as always, but I want to brag especially about the watermelon that he made for me - it was amazing!!! He never ceases to amaze me! :) We let Will have some fun later that evening by playing with some sparklers for the first time - he was very fascinated by them and thought that he was such a big boy getting to play with them himself! He's growing up into such a little man! :)

Here's pictures from 4th of July a- can't wait until next year:

A Visit with Rick's Cousin

2008-07-02T08:20:00.003-04:00

We were able to take part of a day and head to North Myrtle Beach to visit with Rick's cousin, Scott, and his family that are from Arizona. We never get to see them so it was great to get a chance to hang out for a while and catch up with them and let the kids play. Their daughter, Julia, and Will had lots of fun together playing in the sand and water! They definitely all have some similarities in their looks too - it was neat to see this! Hopefully we'll get to see them again sometime in the near future!

Footprints in the sand

2008-07-02T01:03:00.005-04:00

Morgan played with Will one day and helped him make footprints in the sand for me to take pictures of and he had so much fun doing this, as you can see:

Jumping in the Waves

2008-07-02T00:37:00.006-04:00

Will had a blast playing in the waves this year and it was so much fun watching his excitement:

Time on the beach

2008-07-01T23:51:00.006-04:00

Our family loves playing on the beach - we just can never get enough of it. We love playing in the sand and in the ocean! Emma and Will loved running around with each other this year - it was so much fun for them!

It's boogie board time!!!

2008-07-01T23:24:00.002-04:00

An every day occurrence at the beach is boogie boarding and a lot of that was done by the guys especially:

Card Games at the Beach

2008-07-01T23:07:00.004-04:00

A nightly event at the beach is card playing or board games and here are some pictures I took one night:

Walks to the Inlet

2008-07-01T21:25:00.002-04:00

We take walks down to the inlet every year. Some of the family goes every day but Rick, Will and I only went twice this year. One of the nights we were able to take some cute pictures of Emma and Will playing and of everyone else and I got some amazing sunset shots! Another night the boys went fishing and I'll have to post some of those pictures later when I get them from Elizabeth. We saw tons of sting rays and hermit crabs while down at the inlet the evening they went fishing - it was pretty cool! It's so calm and peaceful down at the inlet - I guess that's why we all enjoy our walks there! It's just amazing to sit around there and look at what all God has created - I guess that's why the beach and the mountains are two of my favorite places! I've put up a couple of slide shows of the walks and the sunset shots:

My sunset shots and pictures of the rocks at the inlet:

Another visit to the inlet:

My mom and dad on a walk together:

House with a view

2008-07-01T00:20:00.006-04:00

This is the view that we had most nights from the front of our beach house (canal at Murrell's Inlet) - AMAZING!!!

CARS & Emma with the Freezer Pops

2008-06-30T23:25:00.006-04:00

Will and Emma took some time out from playing on the beach to watch the movie CARS together...it's Will's favorite and he watches it all of the time and watched it many times at the beach. Emma decided to sit down to watch with him one day and they had so much fun snacking and hanging out together watching the movie.

Emma tried out some freezer pops and had the funniest faces so I just had to get some pictures:

2008 Beach Vacation Pictures

2008-06-30T23:01:00.006-04:00

Me having some time alone with Emma and Will - a rare occasion:

Heading out to the ocean:

"Play date" with Jackson:

Baseball with the Boys

2008-06-30T22:29:00.002-04:00

Will playing baseball with his daddy, uncle Kent and Kent's friend, Josh on the beach. He had so much fun with them and if you take a very close look at one of the pictures you can see that he's got awesome form and check out the index finger placement in the baseball glove! :)

What you've all been waiting for....

2008-06-30T22:07:00.002-04:00

2008 Family Beach Vacation Pictures!!! We headed off to Garden City, South Carolina on June 21, 2008 for our family beach vacation. We had a wonderful time and couldn't have asked for better weather! It was gorgeous! We were able to hang out with Will's best friend, Jackson, one day and Jackson's parents, Allison and Brian, and his grandparents. We found out how small a world it really is when Jackson's grandparents walked through the door....my mom and her brother had grown up with Jackson's grandfather! So...we couldn't decide who had more fun - the little kids or the big kids! :) They had so much fun catching up with each other! We also got to spend a day with Rick's cousin, Scott, and his family and had fun catching up with them. We had our traditional dinner at Nance's but didn't get any pictures there this year due to a really bad thunderstorm! :( First year in forever that I haven't gotten pictures taken at the inlet. The boys were able to get a little bit of fishing in although they didn't catch anything this year. Will was given a fishing rod by my grandparents (we made fun of it b/c it was a pink barbie rod - couldn't complain though b/c they got it for 25 cents at a yard sale and Will and Emma loved it) and he loved using this and getting to fish with Rick and Ben! Rick, Ben and my dad did their annual golf outing - unfortunately Kent wasn't able to make it b/c of his broken hand .... hopefully next year! Everyone had a blast boogie boarding and playing in the ocean and just hanging out with each other on the beach! We had a few walks down to the inlet which were very nice and lots of fun! Will and the "boys" also made some time to throw the baseball on the beach and Will loved this - he was so excited to be hanging out and playing ball with his daddy, Kent, and Josh! If I do say so myself (and Rick) I think we might have a future "allstar" on our hands - he's got quite the form! :) Sadly we headed back home on the 28th of June and came back to the real world and will be ready to do it all over again next year! Looking forward to it already!

The Backyard Project

2008-05-18T21:01:00.003-04:00

So we've started working in our backyard and here are some pictures of the beginning stages:

The deck that Rick built with our gazebo that we bought:

Flower beds and natural area, etc.:

Ebenezer Homecoming 2008

2008-05-18T20:07:00.004-04:00

We had our annual Homecoming at Ebenezer ARP church this year and it couldn't have been any more perfect than it was! Greg Marshall, one of our previous youth pastors, gave the sermon and did a wonderful job! The music was amazing and the weather was gorgeous so we were able to eat out on the front lawn this year! It was a great day! Here are pictures of Will and Emma and Uncle Kent. Completely forgot to take one of myself and Will b/c I was busy keeping up with him instead! :) Maybe next year!

Early Mother's Day Gifts

2008-04-27T15:57:00.008-04:00

I came home the other day from work and Rick and Will were outside playing and Rick whispered something to Will for him to tell me and so he did... all I could get out of the conversation because Will was so excited was BIRD! :) So....Rick, myself, Will and our neighbors, Allison and Jackson headed to the backyard and Rick showed me what was my early Mother's Day gift - a birdhouse (I've been asking for one for years)! I absolutely love it and hope that we'll actually get some birds, especially with having Hawker in the backyard. Here are pictures of it:

We also went to the store yesterday and got an arbor - this is actually something that both Rick and I have been wanting for a while. We bought some Wisteria that we put on the sides of the arbor and were hoping that they'll start growing real well and look good with the arbor. Here are pictures of the arbor:

The Many Faces of Will

2008-04-26T22:45:00.003-04:00

Will has been getting himself into some trouble lately for not listening and while he was sitting in "time out" tonight for once again not listening I took some pictures and the pictures obviously show everything - the many different faces of Will....

Will and his new wheelbarrow

2008-04-26T22:13:00.006-04:00

We went out shopping for new landscaping bricks for the yard today - Rick's decided to make some changes! :) While we were out today we ended up buying Will a wheelbarrow of his own along with some plants and an arbor (which looks wonderful)! The wheelbarrow is just like his daddy's but obviously smaller and it's red! Will "helped" Rick put it together and then started to "work" once the job was done! :) He loved it so much!

Glenn Cairn Gardens and Come-See-Me (April 20, 2008)

2008-04-20T23:23:00.004-04:00

Come-See-Me used to be something that we did every year growing up as kids so we all decided to try it out with our own children this year! We headed to Glenn Cairn Gardens first and got some yummy ice cream and Will got to take his picture with Diego - he was SOOOOO excited about this! This just made his day! The Gardens were gorgeous as always and Will and Emma enjoyed playing with the water fountain there also! We then headed over to Cherry Park where Gourmet Gardens was taking place and they have all kinds of yummy foods there - we went there for the funnel cakes! :) I also got a corn dog that was delicious and Ben got a gyro. Will and Emma both had their first experience with funnel cake and cotton candy and they of course, loved this! Were not too sure what to think of the cotton candy at first but definitely knew what to do with the funnel cake! After this we went to where all of the activities were - there were bounce houses and all kinds of fun activities! Will chose to play on the bounce house shaped like a fire truck and he had a blast as he always does on these things! :) We all hated to leave because we were having such a wonderful time but Will and I needed to get back to my parents to pack up and head back home to start another week!

Here's a slide show of all the fun stuff that we did today:

Here's also a separated picture of Will with Diego:

Macy Kiser Magyar

2008-04-09T13:28:00.007-04:00

So Rick's cousin, Macy Kiser Magyar, was finally born on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 8:50 pm and was 6 lbs. 10 oz and 19 3/4 inches long and is absolutely adorable!!! Didn't get to hold her yet but did finally meet her last night - way too many people visiting last night to take a turn with the little one - we'll just have to make a visit to her home one of these days and take her mommy and daddy food and play with her then! :) Amanda is doing very well - tired and sore - as to be expected, Macy's great, and Gary is doing very well too - all just trying to get used to the new life of theirs that has begun!!! :) Here are pictures I took last night of the visit at the hospital: