Happy Birthday(s) Charlotte! (Parts 2-3)

Charlotte's birthday seemed to go on and on and on this year.  From Saturday with my parents until Tuesday, on her real birthday, she celebrated.  It got to the point that whenever she saw a gift of any kind anywhere, she would say, "Mine!  It's my birthday!"

Who could blame her, though....with this sitting up on the counter....

"Please, Daddy?  Please, Please, Please?"

(which sounds an awful lot like Deeeee Daddy, Deeee, Deeee, Deeee)

 Hannah helped her open the first gift from Kay Kay (and claimed it as her own)

 Charlotte opened the next for herself.  She is such a little mother. Love.

 Later on that day, Ms. Dana and Ms. Jan came over so Jan could see the house and give us an estimate for.....wait for it....CLEANING IT!  Yes, that's right...we are going to have her come in and clean the house while we are at the beach.  I can't tell you how excited I am, and how wonderful it will be to come home to a nice clean house!

Anyhow, Charlotte talked Dana into a story...and of course, Hannah had to get in on the action.

This picture just makes me giggle.

 Then, finally, on Tuesday, it was Charlotte's bithday.  Here's my 2 year old in one of her new dresses from Kay Kay.

 And the presents Daddy bought and wrapped (in reindeer paper...where he found it, I don't know!

 Opening presents!

 and giving kisses

 Then off to Dwarf House

 Where the favorite things were the balloons

 Char ate ice

 and ice cream (her "cake")

 And then home to play with the gifts.  The sand and water table is the best gift.  The girls just love it.

 And where was Josh during all of this?  Loving college, and doing things like hiking, studying, going to classes, and oh yeah, cliff diving.  I stole this off his facebook page....miss this boy!

Happy Birthday Charlotte!!!!    (Part 1)

Let the birthday festivities begin!  It's hard to believe that Charlotte is almost two.  Where did the time go?  In some ways, it feels like she's always been a part of our family, and in others, it seems like it was just yesterday!

Grandma and Grandpa came over to help her celebrate turning two.

She had seen the cupcakes all day long and begged and whined for one at every turn.

 And while all of us were in the living room,  she helped herself to a bit of frosting!

 Grandpa and Sarah played some Just Dance.

 We ate some pizza.  See allllll this yummy goodness???

 Yeah, this was my dinner...good stuff.  Ahhhhh the life of a weight watcher.

 Then it was time for cake.

 And presents!

 Her new riding toy...

 and her lego table

 and here you have Charlotte demonstrating how to sit on your riding toy and play duplos, thereby guaranteeing that no one else would play with either. ('cause they're miiiiiiiinnnnnnneeeee!)

 Other random pictures...

 More to come on Tuesdsay...her real birthday!!!!

Off to College

On Tuesday, we took Josh up to Toccoa Falls College to start his sophomore year.

We knew it was the right place for him, that Clayton State had been a mistake caused by our lack of faith.

Didn't make it any easier, though!

The morning of....before the girls went to school

(and I am just now realizing that we never finished painting...ach...embarrassing!)

An hour and a half later, we were there...

Forrest Hall, his dorm

Such a different experience moving him in than my experience moving in at Clemson

or even moving him into Clayton State

Relaxed.  People there to help us.  Uncrowded.

Praise music blaring from the stereo.

Scriptures on the wall.

Josh's Room

and his roommate, Christian

Maranda joined him...aren't they cute, dressed alike?!

After they disassembled one of th beds so they could make bunk beds

much more room for refrigerators, video gaming systems, and guitars

Josh, making fun of me because I wanted to take a picture of his ID

and his actual ID...

About to say good-bye...

So many emotions right now.

Sad for us, excited for him and his future, disbelief that I have a college age son,

lonesome for my boy, pride in all he has accomplished and the choices he's made.

(and disgust at this picture...when did my neck get so old?  And I lose 35 pounds...and still a double chin?  Not to mention my need for more...um...supportive undergarments.  ARGH)

Our week in pictures

OK, not really.  If I had to post pictures of our week, you'd see a picture of the SUV, my classroom, a HUGE pile of laundry, and some fast food wrappers.  It was just one of those weeks where Daryl worked a lot, I had meetings at school out the wazoo, and we seemed to be constantly on the go.

Sadly, I didn't see nearly as much of this as I would have liked.

 Hannah had fun with the dogs, though!

 Jumping for joy because it's FRIDAY!!!!

 Spending some quality time with big brother.  Love love love this picture.

 And lots of tending to this.

2:37 am     "Mom, Maddy hurt her foot.  We've sent a picture of it to Breonna's mom, because she's a nurse, to see if it needs stitches."
3:15 am     "Breonna's mom doesn't think it needs stitches.  Looks like it's all on the surface.  Yeah, she's OK."
4:30 am     "It's finally stopped bleeding." (Clue #1 that maybe we should have come and gotten her at 2:37)

Back to the doctor tomorrow.

Fun stuff...not!