Birthday Hugs & Smoochie Kisses (& other fun stuff)

I know I'm late getting this blog updated. Sorry to say that I spent the first week of "39" sick, with a cold. I haven't felt like doing much of anything for several days. But now I feel better, and ready to get some things done....

I had a great birthday weekend. On Saturday, my best friend, Gina-hey girl!-babysat while Steve took me shopping in Spartanburg at the West Gate Mall. I didn't find anything there for me, but Steve found some jeans on sale for $9.99, so he got several. We left the mall and drove just a short way before I saw a Michael's. I found some interesting pirate themed paper there that our local store didn't have. Then we looked for the Hobby Lobby that someone had told us about. As we got close, I said, "There it is!" Steve said I'm like a hound dog when it comes to finding a scrapbook store! LOL :D There, I found a paper pack from Basic Grey that I had only found online before, for $18.99. Ouch. At the checkout, it turned out to be 50% off! YEY!! It was nice to be out, just the two of us--it seems like it was ages ago since we'd been on a "date." Thanks again, Gina, for babysitting--it was very much needed! =)

On Sunday, the boys ran me out of the house, told me to go outside and enjoy the cool weather. (0kay...) While I was outside, they helped Daddy decorate the living room with bright pink streamers and colorful birthday balloons. When I was allowed to come back inside, the boys jumped out from behind the furniture and yelled, "Surprise!" I was then showered with hugs and wet, smoochie kisses.......
After a couple of kisses, Josh had had enough. I guess he's getting "too old" for smoochin'.

But Ben, on the other hand, wouldn't stop. He'd come up for air, and then smooch some more. =) Gotta love those hugs, too.

Later in the day, I was once again showered with hugs and kisses. Gotta enjoy it now, before they're both "too old".....

A visit from Papa & Nana (7.26.09)

We were delighted to see Papa & Nana come over for a visit, especially Ben--they brought presents! ;) (As if he needed more--right?!) LOL Papa did the unveiling while Nana took pictures. First up, a cool Iron Man card that had a mask that Ben could wear.

Then, Papa took out some educational books, and some cool Color Wonder books, one Lightning McQueen and one Nemo, which Ben got to choose from. (The other would be for his brother.) Guess which one he chose.....

Lightning McQueen, of course!

Do you need help, Ben, opening the package? "No, no, no, I can do it myself." I don't know where he gets that from! hehehe ;)

We really did have a nice time with P & N. Thanks yous guys for chatting, and the advice. And a "Thank you" from Ben for his card and books. Also for the susan Bs. And BTW, almost all the pages in both of the Color Wonder books have been colored, and a few of them are on the 'fridge!

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Ben had a "Transformers" birthday. Cake and decorations. T-shirt and temporary tatoos, too. We even ate lunch at Burger King, where the boys got kids meals with Transformer toys in them. We went to the Fun Depot after lunch, our favorite place to have fun. As usual, we started off in the"soft-play-area," but it wasn't long before Ben was ready to move on to other things.

He tried skee/basketball. (?)

He didn't actually play this Nascar arcade game, but he enjoyed playing in it.

He had a lot of fun playing air hockey with Daddy.

Mommy even got in on the fun, we took turns trying to knock a few pins down.

Before we left, we all rode the indoor go-carts. That was a lot of fun. There are no pictures of that fun, of course, 'cause even Mom got to join in!

When we got home, we had pizza, that I made, while we watched one of Ben's favorite movies, Tarzan II. He didn't know it, but the movie was a "set up" for the presents to come.

That big box was just too irresistable!

It was a "Gorilla Mountain" playset, which turned out to be a big hit. (Thanks, Gina for helping pick it out!)

The cake was yummy, but it wasn't as good as the fun that was had playing with the Gorilla Mountain. We had to practically tear the boys away to have cake time!

As soon as their cake was eaten, they were back to playing.

Ben also got a couple of "add-on" pieces for his playset, as well as a new Transformer from the new movie. There were some cards, some with money--Thanks Great Nana, and "aunt" Irene.

Cool supplies

My best friend, Gina (Hey, Girl!) helps keep me stocked up on my scrapbook supplies. She found some cool stuff, really cheap at Tuesday Morning, including American Crafts paper stack and KIMemories Alphabet Soup letters, two of my most favorite companies. Then, while out for a "girls' day out," I found some neat "lace" papers from KIMemories, and two-sided papers from Cosmo Cricket at AC Moore Crafts store. I love that place. But with bargain prices, Tuesday Morning is also a favorite place to find supplies. Thanks, Gina.

Newest creations...

These have been months in the making, but lots of fun. Thanks for looking...

Fourth of July at the Blythe's

Dale and Martha Blythe are in our Sunday School class, and for the last two years, they've opened their home to our class for our July 4th get-together. They are a sweet couple, gracious and hospitable. They even roasted a pig for the class! We thank them for all that they did for all of us. There was an inflated "bounce house" that the boys were able to exert all their energy in.

They would run to the corners, and bounce off. At first, the other boy in the picture just stood there, baffled, then he joined in. I couldn't help but laugh....they were so silly! :)

Ben, waiting to eat...."I'm starving!"

Trying to get Josh to look at the almost-full moon.

My pictures of the fireworks don't do them justice at all. The Blythe's son, Aaron, did the fireworks, and he did a great job. If only I could figure out how to set the camera to get the best quality picture. The preset "FIREWORKS" setting is what I used, but I know that there are other ways to set the camera, I just haven't learned it yet.

This one is pretty....

This last photo is my favorite. God bless the USA, and God bless the Blythes for sharing their 4th with us.

Our Camping Vacation

We went to Davidson River again this year for our vacation. We really like it out there. And we had a really nice site this year.The boys loved riding their bikes around the loop. At first they only rode back and forth in front of our site, then they got up the courage to ride further until they made it all the way around. And Josh had a lot of bruises and scrapes--he's now riding without training wheels! Yay!
We went to the Cradle of Forestry on our second day. We started on the Biltmore Campus Trail, which takes you to the old buildings where Dr. Schenck and his students lived and worked. It was fun seeing them again, as I hadn't seen the sights since I was in high school!

The boys thought the pedestrian tunnel under hwy. 276 was cool...

but ringing the bell on the old locomotive was the best!

That night, we roasted marshmallows and enjoyed s'mores.

On Wednesday, we all went down to the swimmin' hole. That water is cold, but they got in anyway. They stayed close together, waded out to where the water got "dark" and then came back.

As always when we go camping, it seems like it's over all to soon. We stayed three nights, which is really long enough, but yet we hated to leave, leaving all that fun behind. We already look forward to next year.

Kindergarten Celebration

Ms. Case's class sings an alphabet song, "Alphardy." I recorded only a portion at the beginning, and a portion at the end due to CFcard space--wanted to make sure I had enough room for plenty of pictures! (If it's not obvious, and you need help finding Josh, he's in the middle, wearing a blue shirt and blue jeans.) ;)