The weekend

Wow, what a weekend! We had a blast! I'm not sure that I wanna do it again real soon, at least not the driving part of it! (We drove over 1000 miles in 3 days, ick!) We always have fun when we're with Christy and Richard, though! :)
Let me fill you in a little bit on the weekend.
About a month ago, we made plans to go down to GA to visit Morgan and Nicholas for their Georgia Reception. We didn't realize at the time that Hurricane Ike was planning on making an appearance in the gulf. It was a good thing that I gassed up Thursday, because early Friday afternoon, we started hearing horror stories about the gas prices going up (and up and up and up) I started to get spooked... after all, our "Big Blue" (Expedition) LOVES to drink gasoline! I was not excited to hear that in some places the gas price was already over $5.oo/gallon, and places were running out of gas quickly. Come on, now... we've got a road trip this weekend! Cut us some slack here! Anyway, we'd already promised M and N that we'd be there, and Christy and Richard were waiting to ride down to GA with us, so off we went. The Expedition was cram packed again. We picked up Stuart, and headed down the road. (By the way, if you ever hear stories about teenage boys always being hungry... they're all true!)
We left town at around 6:30, and stopped in Greensboro for dinner at Bojangles. The chicken that they gave us was spicy, but pretty good, regardless. After dinner we got back on the road again, stopping a couple more times (when teenage boys eat as much as they do, they have to make "pit stops" a lot) and finally arrived at the Letanosky home sometime between 10:30 and 11:00. Christy had found a station that had gas at what we decided was a fairly good price ($3.79/gallon) so the two R's went to top off Big Blue. We sat around and chatted while watching the Weather Channel for a while (I'm working on getting Jim Cantore for you for your birthday, Christy!) before heading off to bed. (It always amazes us how quickly Richard can start snoring!!!) Kirby and Tanger (the Letanosky kitties) decided to come to visit a couple of times during the night, which thrilled me, but not so much Ricky. :) Meow Meow, kitties!
Saturday morning we got everyone up, loaded back into Big Blue, and headed down the road. We stopped for a delicious breakfast at a restaurant in Shelby NC called Ken and Mary's. It's obviously a local favorite, because both times we've been there, it's been packed! After breakfast, we resumed our journey. Christy, Richard and I had fun rolling up a bunch of one dollar bills and stuffing them into the holes of little plastic "practice golf balls" for part of a gift for the newlyweds. Christy tried to sweeten me up by showering me with miniature bit o'honey's. (we kept finding them all over the car all weekend!)
We finally made our way to GA, where we stopped at Walmart for new shoes (for Ricky) and birthday cards (for Charles), at Lowe's (so C could give her daddy a gift card as a joke for his bday) and at a bbq place (also for a gc for Charles), and finally at Krystal for a very late lunch. Since we had eaten early that morning, and hadn't had anything since then, and since Ricky, Stuart and I had never been to a Krystal, we all enjoyed our meal. We kept getting phone calls from Morgan and Nicholas wondering where we were... I think we got 10 calls before we finally showed up in the driveway. I guess they were anxious to see us!
We had some time to relax and visit with Morgan, Nicholas, Kim, Charles, and Christina before the reception started, which was held at the "Hart Bed and Breakfast" (my nickname for Kim and Charles' place) There were around 60 folks there to celebrate the marriage. :) M and N got a couple of nice gifts and bunches of cards with money/gc's in them. The food was terrific (typical cookout fare, as well as Charles' famous chicken salad) It was fun being around so many people that we recognized from the wedding and/or from being down there before.
After a while, the crowd started to thin out, so we went up to Morgan and Nick's apartment to get ready for bed. It had been a very long day!
Sunday morning, we got up and got ourselves ready for the day, then went over to the Big House for breakfast. I have to admit that Kim's biscuits are just as good as the ones that Charles makes! :) She makes really good sausage gravy, too. After breakfast, we had time to chat with everyone again for a while before it was time to head back up the road. I had thought it would be hard telling Morgan goodbye again, but fortunately for all of us, she left for church before we left to come home, so it was easier.
We finally left, to go on a gas hunt. There was very little gas to be found, but after striking out two times, we finally found gas for $3.99/gallon at a Shell station somewhere in Paulding county. We were able to fill up there, and again in SC ($3.89/gallon) and that was enough to get us home.
On the way back up to Christy and Richard's house, we kept seeing neat stuff. We saw a monkey in a porsche (I'm NOT kidding!) and lots of Hurricane relief/repair vehicles. We saw 3 trucks/trailers from the Southern Baptist Convention, 3 buses from FEMA, 6 truck loads of generators, several tree service trucks, and at least 25 Electric company trucks. It was amazing!
Once we got to SC, it was very breezy, so we turned off the A/C and rolled down the windows. Christy and I were having fun playing with the wind, but it wasn't much fun trying to get the tangles out of our hair later.
We arrived at Christy and Richard's house, relaxed for a few minutes, then went to dinner at an Irish pub in Charlotte called Murphy's. It was good, but loud in there! (the football game was on every tv in the place until we got them to put the race on in the room we were in) There was a sign with an Irish Blessing that said "As you slide down the bannisters of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction." I liked that one! Next time, I want the quesadillas, Christy! You're right... they're yummy!
After dinner, Christy and Richard headed home, and Ricky, Stuart and I continued on up the road toward home. We hadn't gone far when we hit some major traffic near Concord Mills. We ended up inching along for almost an hour only going 5 miles or so. After that, it was smooth sailing all the way home. We dropped Stuart off at his house at 9:30, and got to our house shortly after that.
Thank you, Heather, for picking up Jeremy and Carrie for me, and for the other stuff that you did over the weekend! Thank you, Christy and Richard for a great weekend, for helping with gas, and for dinner yesterday! Thank you Kim and Charles for letting us crash at your place again, and for all you do for Morgan! Thank you, Christina, for being Morgan's friend as well as her Sister-in-law! Thank you, Linda and Al, for kid-sitting this weekend, and getting them to their games, etc. Thank you, God for allowing it all to happen!

On the road again...

On the road again... just can't wait to get on the road again...
Well, that's not entirely true. I am glad that we're about to leave town again for a couple of days, because I like to travel. This weekend, Ricky, Stuart, and I are going down to GA for Morgan and Nick's wedding reception. We have stuff to take to them (things that Morgan left here because there was no room in the truck on the last trip, as well as a few other things that people are sending down to them), but our main objective is to just spend time with the newlyweds.
We'll be leaving home this afternoon, driving to Christy and Richard's house for the night, then leaving in the morning and making our way down to GA. That part will be fun. The part that will not be fun will be paying for food and the gas to get there and back. I heard from a very reliable source that gas prices have already risen around .35 cents a gallon because of the hurricane. Gee thanks, Ike. I guess I can't complain too much, though, because the folks down in Coastal Texas and Louisiana have a lot more to worry about with this hurricane on the way. I can't imagine having to evacuate like they are having to do. (I would think that their gas prices are much higher, too.) I just pray for the safety of the folks down there.
Anyway, I'm hoping for a good trip this weekend! It will be great spending time with C & R, and with Morgan and Nick! :)
Happy Weekend!
C:

Makin' waffles

I got a waffle maker for my birthday last year, but I have only used it a handful of times. I woke up this morning wanting waffles in the worst way, so I thought that JoAnn might enjoy making them instead of just pulling some out of the freezer. Yeah, call me crazy, but I have fun making stuff like this with kids! So, once the big kids headed off to school, JoAnn andI got busy in the kitchen.
Here are some pictures of our waffle making adventures! JoAnn really enjoyed making AND eating the waffles! (she got full quickly though... after only one waffle!)


mixing the waffle batter

uncooked batter

golden brown

cutting her waffle

first bite

"they're good!"

all smiles (notice the syrup is sugar free??? I'm not totally insane!)

I love my job!

I think that since I have to work, I have the best job in the world. I am a daycare provider in my home, and currently I care for 4 children. I have Tyler (age 10) and Shelby (age 6) (my nephew and niece) before and after school, Andrew (almost 2) part time (3 days one week, 2 days the next), and JoAnn (age 4) (full time, but she's at preschool 3 mornings a week). Throw into the mix my own kids Jeremy and Carrie, and there's never a dull moment around here! Honestly, though, they are all terrific kids! They keep me busy, that's for sure.


Today I took JoAnn swimming at my parents' pool. She is a little fish! Her daddy says that one day she's going to beat Michael Phelp's record for the olympics, and watching her in the pool, I believe him! Today JoAnn was doing flips around the pool noodle, jumping off the side of the pool and swimming to the steps, and swimming the width of the pool without her swimmies. She's amazing!
This is JoAnn... the pic was taken in June




Yesterday I had Andrew by himself for a while, since JoAnn was in preschool. He is a little love-bug, as long as it's what HE wants. Actually, everything is good, as long as it's what HE wants. LOL! We spent part of the morning just cuddling and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then, he decided that he was hungry, and boy, did he eat! He had his granola bar, a kid-size container of yogurt, half of a banana, a slice of bread, and a cup of juice! He ate more than I did!
Andrew is also beginning to say actual words, instead of baby babble. He'll try to repeat almost anything (again, as long as it's what He wants to do!) I was changing his stinky diaper and said "Ooh Yuck!" ... Andrew says "Ooh GUCK!" He calls for Ricky "Icky!" and the cats are both "Hattie!" He's such a cutie pie!
Here's Andrew, happy that he will soon be getting up from his nap.




Shelby is a miniature version of Carrie at that age. She's very smart and happy, and always has a smile on her face. She has very long blonde, curly hair and big blue eyes. She is in first grade now, and reads very well. She likes to play with JoAnn in the afternoons, which is fun for both of them. They like to play with Brats most of all, but they also enjoy playing with the toy animals, too.

Shelby on the first day of school

Tyler is like a little man. He just turned 10, and for as long as I've known him, he's always enjoyed the company of adults much more than that of kids. He will sit down and talk to me for hours, rather than going to play. It's amazing! He is really good at jigsaw puzzles and is playing football for the first time. He's the smallest guy on his team, but that doesn't seem to phase him. He's very strong-willed which comes in handy when he's with his brother and sisters!

Tyler, on the first day of school

Being with kids has always been one of my favorite things, even though they can try my patience from time to time. I guess that's normal, though!
So, thank you Robin, Valerie, and Tammy for loaning your kids to me during the day! They are truly gifts from God!

Trains

I don't know what it is about trains, but I love them. I started really enjoying them before Jeremy was even born, and to this day, I still like to sit and wait for one to come by. I call it "trainin."

This morning JoAnn, Heather and I had to go to the store for a few things. On the way back, we saw several trains. The first one was downtown at the Percival's Island crossing. That one was a CSX with 2 engines and mostly hopper cars. We got to the crossgates just as they were going down, so we were lucky enough to watch the whole thing.


After that one was gone, we went over to LU and sitting on the tracks there was a BNSF with at least 3 engines, maybe 4. I couldn't tell what all that train was pulling, but it looked like a bunch of mixed freight. I wish I'd had a camera with me, because BNSF is not generally seen around here much. I love to see trains from different places!


Last but not least, we went down beside the UPS place and one set of the lights down there were green. We decided that we had a little bit of time left to sit and wait for the train to come. While we were waiting, we got to play with a ladybug, watch a train working in the yard, watch a deer cross the tracks (he got across just in time!) and then the train came. It had 2 NS engines and a Conrail engine, and was mostly coal cars. It was a really good trainin' day! :)

Just The Two of Us

What a nice weekend! Ricky and I were able to spend some quality time together, just us... with no kids! Jeremy and Carrie had already planned on spending the weekend at their Grandma's house visiting company, and Heather had to work, so Ricky and I decided that we would spend Friday night and Saturday alone. Perfect timing, as we could "celebrate the 4th anniversary of our celebration."

See, when we got married in April of 2004, we had a tiny ceremony with only our parents (and a nephew, who happened to be with Grandmother and Papa) in attendance. The whole thing was a whirlwind thing... we decided Thursday afternoon that we wanted to go ahead and get married, so we got the marriage license on Thursday, and had the little ceremony on Friday night. Then we went out to Bulls (a tex-mex steakhouse) with my parents for dinner. The next day, Ricky went fishing with a buddy! Can you believe that? LOL... he'd had it planned for weeks, and I wasn't about to make him give that up.

We knew that people would want to be a part of our "wedding" so we planned a "Celebration" to renew our vows and have a big ole' party. We had our celebration on August 28, 2004. This time around we had the kids involved, lots of people came, we did the whole wedding cake thing, plus a very informal picnic-y dinner, and we had a blast. :) We went to The Outer Banks of North Carolina® afterward for a week for our honeymoon.

So, this weekend, Ricky and I decided that since we had some time to spend together, we would make the most of it. On Friday night, Ricky surprised me with dinner at Red Lobster which is a place that we both love, but can't afford to go to very often. After a delicious seafood dinner (the shrimp scampi and biscuits were our favorites!), we drove out to Mom and Dad's house in the country to spend the night. Well, we didn't stay the whole night, because well... let's just say that there were circumstances that were beyond our control. So, we ended up driving back home at 2:00 in the morning. That was ok with us, though.

After sleeping in for a while Saturday morning, Ricky and I decided to spend the day doing something that we don't get to do much anymore... just riding around. (We don't do it much anymore because it costs so much with gas prices the way they are, and our big ole' Expedition is a gas guzzler). So, after breakfast we just started driving around, with no destination in mind. We had the ipod going full blast, and went riding all over the countryside. Eventually we ended up on the Welcome to the Blue Ridge Parkway at the Peaks of Otter. The lake was a bit low, but higher than I was expecting it to be. After we left the Peaks, we drove on the parkway into Amherst County. It's so beautiful up there!

After our drive, we decided that we were hungry again, so we went for a late lunch/early dinner at Macado's, then we finally made our way back home, where we relaxed and played the Wii.

I am so glad that we were able to spend some time together! We had a great time!