John 3:16

This is a quick little story...but it's too cute not to share it. We've been trying to teach Ian John 3:16. So, Saturday, I was having him repeat after me...Me: "For God so loved the world"...Ian: "For God so loved the world"....Me: "that He gave"...Ian: "sumpin" (something). LOL I laughed so hard. So, he doesn't have it down completely...but he's getting there.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it".

He is so stinkin cute right now. He still has trouble with the TH sound...so he says birfday, free (three), sumpin or sumfing (something), fum (thumb), firty (thirty). Funny thing though, he can say the word THAT just fine.

Another thing we've been trying to teach him is our address. Well, tonight, out of nowhere, he comes flying into our bathroom and shouts out our address...number, street, city and all. I was so proud of him!

He is such a blessing. I am so THANKFUL for him!

What was I thinking?

OK, so I was NOT thinking...this is what Toys R Us looked like when Erin and I attempted to take advantage of the Black Friday midnight opening:

Um, NEVER again, will I attempt Black Friday! That was NOT fun! You could not stir the people with a stick. I am talking you could not move. If you're claustrophobic, you definitely do not need to participate in Black Friday.

The first part of the night was fun...Erin and I went and saw New Moon at 10PM. Yeah, I went and saw it again. Hey, my sister needed someone to go with...I was just helping her out! :)

Then, after the movie, we left and headed towards Toys R Us. It was UNBELIEVABLE. The line was all the way down to Hamricks and there was not a parking spot to be found. EXCEPT for the parking spot directly in front of the store. I couldn't believe we were about to get the front row spot on a night like tonight. Or so we thought...

So, Erin puts her blinker on and starts to pull into the spot. From the opposite end of the parking lot comes this other car. Erin backs up so that she can pull into the spot at a better angle and the car coming from the opposite direction pulls right into the spot, barely missing Erin's car. It was CRAZY! We just sat there in shock. I cannot believe how rude some people are...my goodness. So, Erin backed up again and we headed on down the row and found another spot.

As we were walking towards the store, I noticed a cop walking towards the car that totally cut us off...and the crowd starts cheering. I couldn't really hear what the cop was saying to the driver, but there were 3 ladies standing near the car and we could hear them saying "she totally just cut that other car off...it was their spot". I was like yeah, that was OUR spot. Anyways, it ends up the girl was driving with a suspended license.

We didn't hang around to see what happened, we just went ahead and got in line to get into the madness...I mean store.

Maybe I am naive, but my eyes were OPENED to black Friday for the first time tonight. NEVER again will I attempt that. I will just pay the extra money...to me...that was not worth it. I know some love it and look forward to the time together...and maybe if I didn't have to work in the morning, I might would have been willing to stay...but no, I think I am DONE with Black Friday. Good luck to those that are out there! I'm going to bed!

BEETLES

And no, I don't mean BEATLES. For the last few month, we have been invaded by these creatures:
One night, one flew from out of nowhere and hit the wall beside the chair I was sitting in. I looked at Jason, "What was that?" For those that don't know me well, I have a bug phobia. EXTREME bug phobia. In case you didn't get the point, I HATE BUGS! Anyway, to continue with the story, I asked Jason to find the mystery flying object. He picks a beetle up from behind our coffee table and sat it on top of the table. He said, "It's dead." I was like, "um, can you discard the dead beetle outside?" He said, "I will in minute."

About 15 minutes later, I look over at the table, and the "dead" beetle was no longer laying there. It was MIA. I yelled for Jason and told him that it was not there anymore and that "I KNEW it wasn't dead!!!!" We never found the beetle that night.

Then, Jason left to go out of town the next week for work. I, again, was sitting in my chair and kept hearing something...you know...the sound of a flying insect hitting this wall and then hitting that wall. Eeeek...gives me the hibbie jibbies just thinking about it. Well, it finally landed and I grabbed the closest object I could find to eliminate the beetle once and for all. I squashed it and felt pretty good that the "dead" beetle was now officially DEAD.

Then, over the next few weeks, the beetles multiplied. We were being invaded. Eventually they would just die off on their own and we would sweep/vacuum them up.

I thought we got them all until the other night when I saw Ian playing over in the corner of our den. I said, "What are you doing?" Ian said, "looking at this beetle." As I got closer, I noticed that there was a beetle stuck in a spider web. (yes, I admit, we have a few spider webs!) Ian said something about rescuing the beetle. So, we had to have the whole circle of life discussion. I thought he might get upset knowing that the spider eats the beetle, but he was like, "hmm, ok".

Anyways, so, I think the beetle invasion is over. Every now and then, we'll find a dead carcass somewhere when we're cleaning...but haven't seen any flying around lately...THANK GOODNESS!

ACC Division Champs!!

Yesterday, my family went to Clemson to see Clemson play Virginia! This game was a very important game for the Tigers as it was star tailback, CJ Spiller's, last home game as a Tiger and a chance for the Tigers to clinch the Coastal division title. UNC was to play Boston College at noon...and if UNC won (which they did), the Tigers were headed to Tampa regardless if they won or not. Thankfully, the Tigers beat Virginia anyway, 34-21!! So, December 5th, the Tigers will battle Georgia Tech for the ACC title!

We took Ian into the stadium with us again. He did pretty well for a 2 year old. He definitely was not still...really at any point during the game. Jason and I took turns holding him so that he could see or to keep him from getting all up in the grill of those around us. At half time, Jason went to get us popcorn, nachos, and drinks.

The band did a tribute to the military, which was awesome. They even honored the fallen soldiers with the boots, gun, helmets, and 21 gun salute. It was impressive. Two F16's also flew over before the game, which was AWESOME. Ian loved that!

Another neat thing was that the band played Happy Birthday to Dabo since his birthday was Friday (he turned 40)!!

Ian fell asleep with about 5 minutes left. You know you're tired if you can fall asleep in the midst of about 80,000 screaming fans. Then, Jason and I took turns carrying a sleeping child from the stadium to the truck, which was about a mile, uphill. We were exhausted from the fun, yet tiring day!

I managed to capture a little video (below) of the seniors running down the hill for the last time during the most exciting 25 secs in college football. Frank Howard started the tradition of rubbing the rock in 1967 when he told his then team "Give me 110 percent or keep your filthy hands off of my rock." The Tigers have been rubbing the rock ever since!!

Here are some pics that Erin got from our day:

New Moon - the movie

Last night, Amber and I went to the 12:10AM premier of New Moon!!

Amber picked me up at around 9:50pm. We decided that we were going to go by Barnes and Nobles and get some coffee to help us stay awake. We got there at 9:57pm and they would not let us in. :( boo

So, we decided to head on over the theatre because we had heard of so many of our other friends saying that they were already standing in line. When we got to the Spartan 16...it wasn't too bad. They actually had separate lines for each theatre. They didn't assign theatres last year...but they did this year. Our theatre was #2 and they wouldn't even let us in until 11:10...so we just sat down in the floor and waited.

My college roommate Alicia and her husband, Travis, came. Unfortunately, we didn't get to sit with them though because they were in theatre 5.

Finally, we got in and got seated!!! Amber went and got us some popcorn and drinks...and that helped to pass the time.

The movie was good! I think it stuck to the book very well. As with all movies that come from books, there were some things that were left out...but overall, I thought it was great! There were several parts that were just focused on Bella, where she was deep in thought/depressed/hurt that seemed to last FOREVER. I think they definitely needed those scenes...but there were a few times that I was like...come on...get on with it!

I LOVED the Volturi!! Dakota Fanning did a great job playing Jane! And the wolves...they were nice! ;) The action scenes in this one were definitely more intense and I found myself jumping a few times!

This year, there wasn't as much screaming from the audience...which was nice. Last year, every time Robert Patinson (Edward) came on the screen, girls would scream and go wild!

So much fun! Amber, plan on the midnight premier of Eclipse!!

Thanksgiving Feast at the Sunshine House 11-19-09

Yesterday, Ian's daycare, the Sunshine House, hosted a Thanksgiving Feast for the children and 2 guests. So, Jason and I signed up so that we could go and eat with Ian. I signed us up to bring green bean casserole. There was a ton of food! It was so much fun getting to go see Ian in the middle of the day!

I didn't get many pictures...just a couple I managed to get with my cell phone:

2008 Blog book has arrived!

Ok...remember this post from February 6th? It was about me turning my blog into a book. I had initially planned on using www.blurb.com. I downloaded their software and spent months tweaking the pages.

My co-worker, Dodi, wanted to turn her blog into a book recently too. So, I told her about that blurb software. She downloaded the software but ended up not wanting to spend the time tweaking (I can't blame her...it was taking me FOREVER). She looked around and found another website (Sharedbook) that offered the same service...http://blog2print.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/cutestblog/index.html. She went ahead and ordered her blog book from that site.

I decided to check it out and see what they had to offer. When I initially tried to turn my blog into a book on Sharedbook's website, I checked a box that I wanted comments included in my book. Well, it gave me an error. I contacted the support group for SharedBook. They said that they were experiencing technical difficulties with that feature but that everything else worked just fine. I thought about it and decided that I really wanted the comments included if I was going to go with the Sharedbook site. Another thing that was bugging me was that the pictures and text didn't quite match up on Sharedbook (they didn't match up with the blurb software either, which is why I spent so much time tweaking). So, since those things bugged me and since I had already spent so much time on the other blog book from blurb, I decided that I just needed to stick with blurb...and went back to it and started tweaking some more.

Dodi's book finally came and she brought it into work. It was really nice! So, I got to thinking about it some more. Would I really want to have to tweak this much EVERY year? Um, no! SO, I went back to the Sharedbook site and created my blog book again. Just for kicks and giggles, I checked the "include comments" box again. Walla! It worked this time. So, I decided to just go ahead and order the book! It was about $100, but I had a 20% off discount to use...a code that they had on the website if you ordered before 11/10. They were also offering free shipping!! So, it ended up costing me ~$80. That sounds like a bunch...but when you think about all the time and $$ that it would have took to scrap an entire year...I probably came out on the good end of the deal.

Another plus of the Sharedbook blog book is that they include a table of contents...which I LOVE! The blurb book didn't offer that...so had I wanted a table of contents, I would have had to make one myself. Um, no thanks!

There are still a few spots where the pictures and text don't quite match up...but it's not too bad.

Anyways, my blog book came today...and here is the final product:


I am VERY pleased and have spent awhile tonight just looking through it reminiscing! I will treasure this book for years to come!

Flashforward

Flashforward is a new show that airs on Thursdays from 8-9pm on abc. I kept seeing the previews a couple of weeks before the show started and was immediately interested. Jason was interested too. Here is the Promo for it:



So, we made plans to watch it the first night it came on and were instantly hooked. It's been on for about 2 months now and it is defnitely one of my favorite shows right now. I look forward to it every week.

What I didn't realize until a couple of weeks ago is that the show is based on a book:



My co-worker bought the book about a month before the show started. He read it and then has passed it on to the rest of us to read. I started it Monday night. It's about 320 pages and I am 3/4 the way through with it. It is VERY good. The show has definitely followed the book to a point...but they are also very different. Both very interesting!

I can't wait until 8PM tonight!! :)

Pretending

Ian cracks me up. I was wondering when the pretending stage would start...

We were sitting in the fort on his playground back in September (yes, I was up there with him) and he looks over at me and asks, "mommy, where do you want to go?"

"Um, I don't want to go anywhere...I'm having fun playing on the playground with you", I said.

Ian said, "Do you want to go to Mere's house?" (my mom and dad's house)

"Um, No, I'm pretty content sitting right here in the fort playing with you.", I said.

As if he didn't hear what I said, Ian simply walked right over to the steering wheel that Jason attached inside his fort, and said, "Let's go to Mere's house." He then pretends to start driving...turned the wheel a few times and yelled, "WE'RE HERE!"

FINALLY, I get it..."Oh Ok, WOW, that was fast...but thank you for driving me to Mere's."

"Where do you want to go now?", Ian asked.

I opened my mouth to tell him, and he said, "ok, let's go to church!" I guess he has started reading minds now as well?!

We "went" so many places that afternoon...Nana and Papa's house, the grocery store, gas station...you name it, we probably went there! The best part is we didn't even have to use any gas! It was so much fun!

Ian wants to be like POP

Ok...so anybody that knows my dad, knows how much he LOVES his headphones:

We even joke that we are going to bury him with his headphones one day. haha Ok, so maybe we shouldn't joke about that...but it's true!

Well, Ian found one set of his headphones laying on the table the other day and put them on. He said, "hey, I look like pop!" LOL

Union Fair 10-23-09

We usually go to the Union Fair each year so that Ian, Emma, and Morgan can ride with Anna. The Union Fair doesn't seem to be quite as crowded as the Spartanburg Fair either.

So, we headed down to Union Thursday, October 23rd, after work. Jason was in PA and missed out unfortunately...but we had a blast.

We started our night out with hotdogs and fries...and one of Ian's favorite things, FRUIT! I should have dressed Ian up as some kind of fruit for Halloween, because he literally eats so much that it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't turn into a peach or banana one day! lol

After we got through eating, it was off to ride some rides! Ian was actually tall enough to ride the kiddie rides this year! The first ride he got on was these spinning dinosaurs:

I wasn't sure how he was going to react. He climbed right on up into the dinosaur with Emma and Morgan. He was fine until they closed the little door. Then, he was not so sure and started freaking out. We tried to assure him and then the ride started. After one time around, we could see that he had calmed down and seemed to be enjoying it. After the third or fourth time, he was actually laughing. From that point on, he loved the rides and had alot of fun!

The following picture is dark and blurry, but I love Ian and Emma's facial expressions. They were having so much fun!

Me and my sweet boy!

All the cousins!

Giving "Sara Bef" a kiss!

Ian rode in the same bumper car as Anna and I laughed the entire time (as you can see with the jumpy video below). My favorite part is when Ian yells at Anna that she "NEEDS TO PUSH THE GAS PEDAL!!"

We had a great time!

New daycare

It's been awhile since I blogged...it's been a busy 2 weeks. Jason was out of town for a week to PA for work and Ian started a new daycare.

We moved Ian for several reasons...but one reason was because we wanted him to get to know kids that he would eventually be going to school with when he starts school. Most of the kids from First Baptist are from the east side and will be going to schools on that side of town. Plus, his new daycare is closer to our house, cheaper, and they provide a hot lunch everyday. I was having to send Ian's lunch everyday at FB and they wouldn't heat anything. So, if you wanted to send something hot, you had to warm it up in the morning and send it in a thermos. I can't tell you how nice it is to not have to pack a lunch everyday! We don't have to pack a bag or anything. We just have to take HIM! So nice!

First Baptist was really good to Ian and took good care of him. He stayed there 2 years and we'll miss several of the workers there. It's just what we felt like we needed to do at this time.

Ian seems to like his new daycare so far. We know several of the other children and their parents...and it's so nice to see familiar faces when we drop Ian off and pick him up. He's been at his new daycare for 2 weeks now...so we're hoping that after this week, it'll seem like the norm.