Parting...

Two chapters are closing. It is a time of parting now. I would like to let everyone know that Grandma E did pass away. We got there to see her last Saturday morning and had quite a nice visit with her. She was chatty and giggled a few times. Jameson did take a while to warm up to her but he did talk to her a bit before we left. Toward the end of our visit we could tell that she was getting worn out from all the talking and modeling for pictures. Leaving we all knew it would most likely be the last time. Early Monday morning we all received calls to let us know that she had passed on during her sleep Sunday night. She was able to see all of her children and grandchildren (except the Fanello girls)...truly a God thing that she was able to hold on until we all came to visit. She was ready to let her body go, she said this a few times during our visit. She was here for 97 years and will be missed by many.

In other parting news, we're halfway into the last legacy retreat for Kelley & me. Things are going well. A few snafus occurred yesterday and I feel like God helping me to see the things I'm not going to miss about running a business like this one.

Heading out...

We're heading out tomorrow. Oh how we love our trips to Ohio. I'm excited to see family and feeling a bit bittersweet since I'm preparing for my last LALR weekend. Mr Vocabulary, Jameson has been keeping us entertained lately. He is at a great age to get excited about visiting our Ohio family and friends. He seems to remember the places we've mentioned and talks about what he is going to do when we get there. One thing we're going to be doing before we leave...making a trip to the local dump. Odd? Yes except that this evening I discovered that our chest freezer was completely defrosted. Not a good thing to discover the night before leaving for quite a few days. So in the morning before we finish packing the truck to head north I'll be filling a few trash bags and making a run to the dump. Now this would be a time that I'm totally thankful that we have to take our own trash and can do it 5 days a week. What would I do if I only had trash pick up once a week? It almost makes me sick to think about it. I just want it gone. The smell is gross. James even almost got sick when he came down to assess the situation. I am hoping to find a kind neighbor with an open bed truck to help me transport the yuck.


Now back to the fun topic of traveling. We're going to see Jameson's great-great grandmother as our first stop. Grandma E is 97 years young. Here is a picture of her with Jameson when he was almost 2 months old. Hoping to get lots of pictures of them together during our visit. Speaking of pictures...I received the best material mother's day gift today...a NEW Camera. I'm over the moon excited. Mostly because I hadn't really even asked for it and James just did it. This to me is like receiving a 100 carat diamond tennis bracelet or something like that. I just love my camera which give me the ability to stop time for just an instant. This new beauty is just awesome. I can't believe how fast the shutter is. Earlier today I used the old canon body (which is what I'll be referring to it as) to take some cute pictures of Jeb's baby brother. Here is a sneak peek!

Now I'm off to get some rest before I have to transport the yuck in the morning and then driving in the truck with my boys for over 7 hours. I honestly can't remember the last time the 3 of us drive north together. I'm looking forward to some family time!

Random...

So I have a variety of random items to write about so we're going to go with the bullet point style for this post.

• Last week we went to the Botanical Gardens with couple of friends from church. A local photographer for the Seneca newspaper took our picture. It didn't actually make it into the paper version but it was online. Take a look! And yes my son has started to choose his outfits and these boots seem to be the top pick at the moment.


• Yesterday we spent the day with my friend Sarah Hi (yes I have two Sarah H's so for reference one is Hi and one is Ha - sounds like a cute song). Back to my story...we were at their house yesterday for the boys to play and for me to help Sarah with her blog. She posted a picture of their lunch activity on her blog. They had so much fun!
• Congratulations to the senior pastor at Rivertree Christian Church. Greg & Julie brought home their new baby boy today!


• Packing for my last 'business' trip to Ohio. Our last LALR retreat is next weekend. We're selling some of the tools so if anyone is interested in taking a look at the list, let me know. We are having a garage sale on sunday.


• Tonight Jameson & I went to watch some youth baseball games. Carrie's two oldest boys were playing. So I took my camera along to catch some action shots...over 150 of them (and that was after I deleted quite a few). The coach (aka her hubby) shot was for Carrie she thinks he is really cute. I've included a few of my favs. The one of Jameson this is how he looks when he talks - so cute.

And yes Jameson was actually taking pictures in this picture that Carrie took of us. I so love that he has an interest in photography! Now to get some sleep to prepare for another day!!

Indians!

As many of you may know, we're not too into sports. However when it comes to attending baseball games, I'm totally in. I love the sounds, food and overall atmosphere of the game (I even made it to one of the Indians playoff games last year). We're going to be attending a few Braves games this year (we'll see if they are as enjoyable as the Indians as that is my home team). I'll keep you posted on that as the season rolls on. Today my mom, nephew & stepdad are famous Indian's fans. They braved the chilly weather! Take a look here.

Our weekend was great. Here are some pictures to recap...left is a pic of Charlie, Jameson & Ethan at Chick-fil-A; Lily celebrating her 3rd birthday; baby Caleb & Laci (played with some actions from PW) and then the 3 big kids (Lily, Jeb & Jameson) on the swings. James was such a good sport hanging with the kiddos!

84 today!

Today it felt like summer here in sunny SC. Last night I actually woke up and was warm from the humidity outside. Tonight we're getting a good old fashion summer storm. Heat lightning earlier followed by lots of ran. We spent some time this evening throwing rocks into the lake. It was great to see how much it has come up. We will take all the rain we can get! Before it started raining James mowed the lawn and Jameson was his helper. So cute how he wants to help out with things (I'll be reminding him of this in 10 years when he thinks he has better things to do).

Some other random bits to share. Lately in the morning when we come downstairs to let Deacon outside Jameson has been sitting on the back porch to wait for Deke. He sits in his folding chair and talks to the birds. Yesterday I heard him start saying "birdy, quiet please it is quiet time". Makes me smile at how similar he is to his father that he wants peace and quiet at times. Now fast forward to earlier today when he and I were having high pitched squealing contests in the car. From the backseat I heard "louder mommy". He is such a cool mixture of both me & James. Lets just hope more of the good then the bad, right?!

What a good laugh? Have you seen the new show called Eli Stone. Totally makes me laugh. Just a bit kooky yet attempting to be good. If you've missed the beginnings of it. You can catch up here.

Okay so I need some creative thinking help from my online friends. I'm working on a session for the summer workshop at adpi. We're doing a session on hats that will represent the various 'hats' of responsibility. What are some fun types of hats? We need about 8 different ones. I've already got floppy beach hat, baseball cap, dunce cap & hard hat. Thoughts on more?

Gorgeous weather!

Wow are we having gorgeous weather for April. It is nearly 80 degrees today and we've totally taken advantage of it to. We spent almost 3 hours at the school playground this morning! Before heading to the park I went to pick up a friend's 3 month old baby. Remember baby Trey's newborn pics from early January...he is growing! While we were at the park we also were joined by another family from church. Janine had 2 of her 3 sons and a couple of her neighbors kiddos. They were all playing so well we only left because it was time for lunch and we hadn't packed food for that. It was so nice to have the entire playground to ourselves.

Now we're home and both Jameson & Trey are taking a nap (so grateful it happened at the same time!). I'm updating you all on our happenings and attempting to get caught up with my adpi emails. Lots going on with that these days, almost can't seem to stay on top of it. Sometimes I wonder if I need to adjust my perspective (like maybe I don't need my inbox to be totally empty all the time) but then I figure maybe I just need to stay up later to get more done? Who needs sleep, right?!

I also need to change my clothes as some cute little one decided I looked like a good burp cloth. I'm going out to dinner with hubby tonight. We really need some adult only time. Treasure it!

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it has been almost a week since I posted last. Good times are being had but busy. James' birthday celebrations, last day of school for Jameson before spring break, I went to Atlanta over the weekend for an ADPi meeting, Jameson had his first sleepover with his cousins and I worked a bit on the final touches for my last LALR weekend. On top of the typical daily things: cooking, bible study, bike riding, laundry, swinging, etc. Today we're going to have a good old fashion lazy day at home. Followed by dinner with the family of the new connection pastor at church.

I wanted to post a link to this really cute video...maybe I can work with Jameson to sing something funny? Oh but wait that would mean I would probably have to demonstrate for him and well he screams when I sing so we don't do that much anymore.

Off to get some fun chores caught up...

Really??

Is it really April. Time is going at a speed I don't even know where it goes sometimes. Jameson is almost 3, we've lived in our current home for almost 3 years (the longest house since we got married) and my dear hunky hubby turns 32 today (4/2). Happy birthday James! I hope you have a great day. We love you and are so proud of you!!

I have a few pictures & stories to update everyone. On Friday the little man thought that he would try his hand at flying. Well as we adults realize, that doesn't usually work out all that well. His cheek took the fall... He was playing with the neighbor kids and their 6 year old jumped off the moving swing. So Jameson figured he could do it too. That didn't go too well. He has been doing pretty good not messing with it so hopefully it won't be long before it is all better. It actually is starting to look better already today. Earlier on Tuesday we went to the park and he was not at all afraid of the swing. So it didn't mentally scar him too bad. Silly boy.

Another fun project I made was picture dolls. These are so cute and pretty easy to create. I used digital paper from Sugarplum and then printed, cut them out and pass them onto Jameson. He was so funny making them kiss. More pictures can be found here.

Now I'm off to bed and take a break from the computer. I cut my finger earlier and it took almost 2 hours to completely stop the bleeding (actually had to put butterflies on it). Why is it that stuff like this happens to me when I have lots of typing/computer things to do???