Hangin' on the porch

Paisley

Whit

Reese, Brett & Paisley

Reese

Carson

Over the weekend the weather warmed up significantly. It was in the 60's and we were outside a lot with no coats-so much easier than having to bundle everyone up! It did drizzle a bit on Saturday but we just hung on the porch and enjoyed the fresh air.

Toothless

Hadley has FINALLY lost her 2 front teeth. Those little suckers have been wiggly since before Christmas and they were just hanging on by a thread. She refused to wiggle them-said it "hurt" and they had gotten to the point of looking so GROSS! I am so happy they managed to fall out on their own!

Topless

Whit has discovered that he can now remove his own clothing. If he gets out of sight for a minute or two this is how I usually find him-TOPLESS! If he has more time he can get his pant and diaper off, too!

DF vs. Aiken

Griffin's team played Aiken last week and won another close one. The final was 42-37 and Griffin played really good. I am not sure why they have Griffin playing in the post sometimes on defense but he seems to hold his own against the "trees" inside. More basketball to come this week. I hope they continue their winning ways!

Geologist Reese

Reese got this Smithsonian Gem Hunt from the craft store and she and Brett went to work looking for all the gems hidden in the plaster block. The picture on the box suggests that the gems are fairly large but much to our dismay they were teeny tiny. At first we overlooked several of them until we realized how small they were. Oh well, they still seemed to enjoy it an Reese has saved her "booty" for all to admire.

Outside Fun

The weather is slowly warming up. YEAH! Whit and Brett love to be outside so I am thankful that we don't have to bundle up so much. There was a patch of ice that formed on the sidewalk and the boys spent the better part of the afternoon chipping away at it and collecting the pieces. Oh what fun!

DF vs. Lexington

Griffin's team recorded another win against Lexington. It didn't look good at the beginning as they fell behind 13-0. Fortunately, they managed a 2nd half come back and ended up winning by 10. I guess they just wanted to make it interesting.

Carolina Classic Gymnastics meet

Hadley had another meet on Saturday. She was disappointed with her results but I thought she did very good. She placed 6th in the all-around but she thinks she is suppose to always place in the top 3 so when she doesn't she thinks she did "horrible" to put it in her own words. Luckily, she doesn't stew over for too long and is usually back to her old "sweet" self a few hours later.

Here are a couple of her routines (Bars & Beam).

Mom's Pedicure

Reese with the left foot

Carson with the right foot

The girls must REALLY LOVE ME (or just want something really bad) because they gave me a pedicure. My feet are definitely NOT my best feature (too many hours spent in sweaty running shoes). So for Carson & Reese to voluntarily offer to give me a pedicure must mean they just love me more than I ever knew! Boy, did it feel good to have my feet rubbed after a hard day! I hope they want to do this every week!

Outside Finally!

Brett under the hat somewhere

Crazy Whit

Love the messy face!

It was finally a little warmer yesterday so we ventured outside for a bit. It was good to get some fresh air and my kids do so much better when thay have time to run around outside. We are suppose to get another "Arctic Blast" tonight so our next trip outside may not be for a few days so I guess we'll enjoy the "warmer" weather while it lasts!

Hadley reading to Whit

I just love it when my kids interact in a positive way with each other which is actually most of the time. I snuck this photo of Hadley reading to Whit last night. Isn't it SWEET!

My new ride-aren't you jealous(ha-ha)

OK! So I have only needed an 8 seat car for 2 years now. We finally broke down and got this "lovely" 8 seat minivan. I really wanted a Suburban but I couldn't stomach paying an extra 10,000 dollars just so I could be "COOL"! After all, I am a MOM so I guess I should drive a MomMobile- Right!? It is nice to have a newer car (we bought it used so it is actually only new to us) and the kids seem to like it and now I have an extra $10,000 to spend as I wish (ha-ha). In fact, it will probably be spent on a car for Griffin when he is ready to drive in the next year or so.

Winter Wonderland?

So this is our Winter Wonderland. As you can see the weather man was WRONG! I wish I had his job. He is wrong at least 50% of the time and he still gets paid! My kids were disappointed and went off to school with unhappy faces. The good news- at least it is FRIDAY!

Hopeful Anticipation

Oh, the forecast is calling for a chance of snow hear in "Southtown". My kids and all of their schoolmates are hoping and praying for it to come true. They so want to have a glorious day of frolicking in the snow that comes so infrequently down here. I can remember the excitement and anticipation of a "Snow Day" when I was growing up. Of course it was a little more likely in Maryland than it is down in South Carolina. Even though it would "mess up" my plans for the day, I hope this once the weather man gets it right and we wake up to a blanket of white. I am pretty confident that it won't materialize but here's hoping!

My "Baby's" Birthday

!

15 years ago today I was blessed with this little bundle of joy. I can't believe- like most moms- how fast they grow! I miss this cute little baby even though he never slept but who could resist that sweet little face.

Griffin on his 1st birthday- not too interested in the cake. He actually cried when he got the icing on his fingers!

Now I have this cute "BIG" bundle of joy! I miss that he is not a baby any more but I don't wish for him to go back in time. I thoroughly enjoy who he is today. A big old lovable teenager! He may be grumpy at times and say an "occasional" bad word but I won't trade him for that cute baby he used to be. I am enjoying watching him grow in to the great guy I know he will become. He is going to hate this post but sometimes a mom just has to get all sappy and when it is your kids birthday I think I am entitled to a little mussy, lovely dialogue since I am the one who carried and birthed him (21 long hours of labor I might add)!

Griffin enjoying his cake a little more at 15!

Dutch Fork v. White Knoll

The Team

Playing Defense

Free Throws

Griffin had another game last night. They won by 20 so it wasn't much of a game. Griffin played well while he was in but he didn't get as much PT as usual because they had such a big lead for most of the game. I think he was a little bored so hopefully his next game will be a little more competitive.

Griffin's Birthday

Since Griffin has a basketball game across town on his actual birthday we went ahead and celebrated on Saturday. We had pizza and OREO ice cream pie and gave him most of his gifts- all from the DUKE store. Now his entire wardrobe is blue & white and has a DUKE logo on it somewhere!

LEGOS

Brett got "LEGO CITY" for Christmas so on New Year's day we set out to assemble some of the vehicles. I think there are about a million LEGOS in the set so it will probably take us a few days to get it all together since Brett still needs a little help with some of the directions. We did manage to get 2 of the trucks together so now we only have the city and 1 big truck to do!

DUKE Basketball

While we were at home having our New Year's Eve party, Kevin and Griffin were in Durham watching the Duke v. UPenn basketball game. Griffin loves Duke basketball and we try to get him up to NC to see at least one game a year. It was a blow out by the Devils so Griffin got to see all his favorite players score a lot of points.