A Wedding at The Grove Park

My cousin, Keyes, recently married his sweetheart, Carly, in Asheville, NC at the Grove Park Inn.  We were able to attend and celebrate this great occasion with them.  We spent a lot of our childhood with Keyes and his brother, Taylor.  We went to there house after school, we trick or treated with them at Halloween, we went to the pool with them.  We got lots of time to play because mom and her sister (their mom) spent countless hours with their feet propped on their knees, chit-chatting in the driveway.  Every once in a while they would say "time to go, come get in the car".  We did...until they got to talking again, then back to playing we went.

I've mentioned before that I don't have a great memory so this might not be totally accurate, but it's the way I remember it.  I don't remember a time when Keyes wasn't with Carly.  They must be elementary school sweethearts or something....at least middle school sweethearts!!  Anyway, they are wonderful together and we had a blast celebrating their wedding.

The Grove Park is a beautiful place and the outdoor ceremony with the mountains in the background was just gorgeous.  I don't even know who the officiant was, but he performed a great service and even got choked up at times, which I love.  I love when an officiant gets emotional.  Then you know they mean it.  Not that they don't mean it other times, but if it tugs at their heart, it's probably something to listen to and take to heart!

Shawn and I really enjoyed having an adult-only weekend away.  Thomas got to stay for the whole weekend at Papa & Oopsy's house, so he enjoyed himself as well!

Weddings are always so nice because you get to spend time with family.  There was much conversation to be had and catching up to be done.

Papa and Whitney


Gaga and Shawn  (BTW, I LOVE how much my man loves my Gaga!)


The sunset over the mountains.  What a great photo opportunity.


Wait! Did I have anything in my teeth??!!

OIB 2010

I'm getting caught up on some blog posts and wanted to include some pictures from our annual Memorial Day trip to Ocean Isle Beach, NC.  This was the 7th year (I think...) that we've gone on this trip with our friends.  This year there were 12 adults and 4 children!  Seemed amazing when we thought back to the first year when there were 7 adults (I think...) and no children.  Next year we will have at least 6 children, when you include the Langdale twins, who will be arriving later this year.  Woo hoo!!!

Our weekend included lots of fellowship, food, music, bird hunting and the beach!

The ladies of OIB :)


Can't forget the walk to The OIB Creamery


This bird and his little bird friends were out to get us the whole weekend. Many of us were dive-bombed. Some of us were spared.


Stan was on the hunt. (Notice the big scary butterfly net that was going to capture said birds.)


Group picture


The boys


A family picture (notice the mohawk??!!)

Swimmin with BB

Thomas finished 8 weeks of swim lessons the week before Memorial Day.  Thomas and I took the class with our friends Jennifer and her son, Benjamin, who Thomas lovingly refers to as "BB".  After the first couple of classes he warmed up and seemed to like swimming.  He just didn't want to be held back by the teaching.  He wanted to jump right in, literally.  Every Monday morning I would say, "Want to go swimming?" and his usual response, with a smile, was "Swimmin with BB!"

We did have a lot of fun going to the pool together and now we'll be able to use our new skills in the pool this summer!!

Marbles Museum

Thomas and I went to a kids museum in Downtown Raleigh called Marbles Museum.  We've been once before, for a birthday party, when he was much younger.  He was able to really enjoy the museum this time!  Here are some of the things Thomas enjoyed:

Thomas drove the big city bus...


...and the car (which he insisted was a firetruck)...


...played in the water and accidentally splashed some of the mommies...


...played hockey...


...painted a picture...


...built a mega-Lego tower...


...used a saw to cut wood in half (with Mama's help, of course)...


...and worked at a lemonade stand.


And that was all before lunch!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Thomas!

Thomas celebrated his 2nd birthday on Thursday, May 6 with a clean bill of health, a couple of shots and a supper out at Red Robin.

The doctor's appointment on his birthday is just cruel and I cannot seem to remember to NOT schedule it on his actual birthday.  He did get a sticker and a lollipop, so I'm sure he wasn't too scarred by the whole thing.  He was 37 inches tall (97th %) and 30.5 pounds (75th %).  He's still a big growing boy and Dr. Herriott said he's in great health and growing and acting just as a 2 year old should be.  I'm sure she tells all the parents the same thing, but she seemed to be impressed with our little guy.  He was very talkative and showed off his knowledge of colors and shapes without even being asked!  By the end of the appointment, he was ready to either sit on her lap or go see the next patient with her.  He made a friend.  This was the first well-check where he was weighed on a regular big-boy scale and measured height standing against the wall.  I was so proud of my big boy.  He got a couple of shots and was WELL aware of what was going on and did not like it one bit.  After a minute or two of crying, he got over it and moved on to the stickers and lollipops.  He did, however, talk about his boo-boo's for the rest of the day.

We took Thomas to Red Robin for supper on his birthday.  He was visited by Red Robin and the staff who sang Happy Birthday to him and he got his own ice cream sundae, which he kindly shared with Mama.

That Saturday, we celebrated with many of our friends and family at a cookout at Kids Together Park.  Thomas had a blast playing at the park with the other kids and we were glad to get to catch up with all the folks who mean so much to us.  We missed Papa sorely, but we made sure to get lots of pictures!  The party was themed after Thomas's favorite emergency vehicle, a fire truck.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!!

Beach Trip with Papa and Oopsy

We packed up and headed back down to the beach for a long weekend with Papa and Oopsy (my dad & step mom) and Aunt Whitney.  We stayed at The Avista in Cherry Grove, SC in a great 3 bedroom condo that was just perfect for our family!  Thomas is really getting used to the ocean and has a great time digging in the sand.

Thomas was also quick to make friends with one of the few people on the beach on four wheels.  The fascination with anything on wheels continues...

Thomas loves his Papa and they had fun playing in the waves together.

My Aunt Debbie & Uncle Jimmy live very close by in Little River so we got to visit with them quite a bit on this trip.  We don't get to see them as much as we would like, so it was a blessing to be able to hang out at their house and play on the beach.  My cousin Courtney and her daughter Camdyn were also with us for supper.  We missed Courtney on the beach but Debbie had fun playing with the kids!!

What a great trip.  Thanks Papa & Oopsy!!

For Sale

Well, it seems we're close to outgrowing our current house.  We are just fine and would continue to be just fine with our 1200 sq ft and 3 bedrooms, however, it sure would be nice to have a little more space and some room to play outside!  So, we've put our house on the market.  We'll see how it goes.  So far, it's been interesting with a two year old but it's going well.

We took a weekend, without Thomas (thanks Meme!), and got most of our house packed up.  All the extra toys are gone, all the extra clothes are gone, we are officially decluttered.  Mom has some extra storage space so we packed up a 14 foot UHaul truck and loaded it into mom's storage.  It is amazing to me how much STUFF we can acquire in such a relatively short amount of time.  The kicker is that most of the stuff belonged to one little boy, who shall remain nameless.

So, this...

...turned into this.

And, this.....

...turned into this.

And so on and so on throughout the rest of the house.  And now we're ready to do it all over again when we sell 2429 Appalachian and find our next home. :)