The Mick's

Summer recap

2009-08-23T18:52:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I slacked some this summer on my postings... I guess we've been super busy... or I'm just addicted to facebook! LOL! Even if both are true, I need to update this blog now!

Since my last blog post, we have done MANY things. I figured I'd briefly list some of the things we've done, then get into more details in later blogs until I'm completely up to date!

Here we go:

1. We finished our wonderful vacation at Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. It was a blast and we thank you mom and dad for EVERYTHING!! The condo was amazing, the location, etc., etc.!

. Eric and I celebrated our 3 year Anniversary on June 24th!!

3. My parents celebrated their 29th Anniversary on July 1st.

4. Eric's dad Dave and his wife Rachel celebrated their 2nd Anniversary!! They had a beautiful wedding in Jupitor Florida... I was 8 months pregnant!

5. Our neice Isabella turned 3

6. Kay, Tish and Jenn had a birthday in July

7. Dave, Dad, and Papaw had a birthday in August

8. as well as Caiden who turned 2 on the 19th!!!

9. Tyler lost another tooth on the bottom while vacationing in Florida in June.

10. Jay came to visit with us for 2 weeks and had a blast! We took him to Carowinds! (Thanks mom and dad!)

11. Mom, Kate, Aunt Robin, Robin Weibler and I had a girls weekend in Charleston and it was a blast!!

12. We tailgated at a couple more concerts and went in to see Def Leopard, Poison and Cheap Trick

13. I started a new job at a 5 Star Preschool and am SUPER excited about it!

14. Dustin and Kate got an apartment next to the town houses Eric, Tyler and I FIRST moved into!

15.We had some super fun parties at friends houses, Alive After 5, Live music at the Whitewater center, out on the town...

16. We helped some great friends move into houses, Eric even helped move people he hardly knows

17. We started going to Church every Sunday! Elevation- it's awesome. I volunteer their now in the baby room (go figure!)

18. Tyler met his new 1st grade teacher- and her husband works with ERIC!

19. Matt and Mery took us out on their boat for the day and Tyler got to go tubing for the first time! It was also Caiden's first time on a boat and he LOVED it! Except for the life jacket...

20. We got to meet and fall in love with Dustins wonderful sister Chelsea who took care of our boys while we worked!! Thank you again for your wonderfulness ;)

3 years ago....

2009-06-29T09:45:00.005-04:00

on June 24, 2006 I married the man of my dreams.... my best friend! I love you babyface, more and more everyday!

Happy Anniversary!!

Vacation!!

2009-06-28T17:12:00.006-04:00

DAY 1: Depart from Charlotte, NC; Arrive in Clearwater, FL

This summer my parents rented a condo on Indian Rocks Beach near Clearwater, Florida for the week of July 4th! We drove in on Friday night and are staying until the 5th of July!! We have been looking forward to this ALL YEAR (thanks Mom and Dad).

We loaded up my Explorer with me, Eric, Ty, Caiden, Kate, and our dogs Buck and Ellie Mae! We are all able to fit and only pack 2 suitcases!!! The ride was long, took about 11 hours, but the kids and dogs did great!! We stopped twice at rest stops for the dogs to run around and had a lot of fun.

When we got home, my mom had baked some yummy lasagna for us to eat for dinner!! We stayed up and chatted, had a couple glasses of wine, then hit the sack so we can start our vacation on Saturday!!!

DAY 2: Clearwater Beach, check in condo at Indian Rocks Beach
Kate's friend from college was playing in a beach volleyball tournament Saturday at Clearwater Beach so Kate and I went over there that morning to watch her play a match before we headed to the condo!! It was nice seeing the beach where I grew up at!! Love it!

We got to our condo around 4 (beautiful!!!) and then went straight to the beach! Caiden and Tyler loved the ocean. We finished the day with a dip in the pool then went to eat some fish at Crabby Bills!

1st grader in the house!

2009-06-09T19:09:00.003-04:00

Tyler you did it! You made it through Kindergarden with flying colors! We are so proud of you!

Tyler accomplished many things this year; he reads independently now, can count to 100 (I first told him a little trick I knew " one, two, skip a few, 99, 100!" but he told me "that's not right mommy! LOL ! He can write sentences and he loves to draw pictures. He's also pretty good at Math (like his mommy!)

After the ceremony in the cafeteria where he got his diploma, we went back to his classroom where his teacher handed out individual awards. Tyler got 2: "Accelerrated Reader Award" and "Most Well-Rounded!" It brought tears to my eyes!! It's amazing how fast he is growing and maturing. He facinates us everyday. We are so pround of him not only as a son, and student, but he's a pretty awesome big brother too!! We love you Ty-man!

2009-06-07T08:05:00.000-04:00

Has it been THAT long?

2009-06-07T06:58:00.004-04:00

I promise to update this at least once a week. I apoligize for waiting a month since my last post. We still don't have a camera (sent both in to get fixed!). Here's a small list of things that have happend since Tyler lost his tooth....

1. Katelen and Dustin's sister, Chelsie, have moved to Charlotte! They are currently living with us until they find jobs and a house! We are SO happy to have them stay with us! Kate and I are finally together again!

2. Since Kate's here we obviously had to make a room for her, so we decided to bunk the boys together in Tyler's room!! Eric found an nice wooden one on craigslist! The boys LOVE it. Now we just have to find some matching bedding. We also learned that "nap time" for Caiden in a big boy bed was harder than we thought....

3. Country summer concerts have begun. We've been to 2 already- George Strait and Brad Paisley!

4. Tyler is finishing his last few days of Kindergarten. Last week Tyler had a Feild Day at school where Caiden and I went to help out/watch and it was tons of fun! He has his graduation on MONDAY!

5. We completed our flower garden out front and the leaves had started to sprout up! Hopefully we'll get to see some flowers soon

6. Kay (Nana), Wayne (G-Pa), and their dog Duke came to Charlotte for Memorial weekend! We had a blast together.. eventhough it rained most of the time! Buck and Duke had lots of fun together.. such wonderful dogs!

**Kay took some pictures since I didn't have one :( We saw something really facinating while they were here too... the inside of a golf ball... pretty sweet!

7. Kate, Morgan, Falyn, and I went to Sunset beach for Morgan's birthday!

8. We went camping for the first time this season at Kings Mtn. Since it was in SC during that huge forest fire, we weren't aloud to have a camp fire! What's camping without a camp fire!!? We still had fun though!

Anyone loose a tooth??

2009-04-28T21:32:00.003-04:00

TYLER DID!!! That's right, on Friday evening Tyler was playing outside and eating a snowcone and when he bit into in, his botton tooth fell out!! We were on our way camping so we left the tooth under his pillow at home for the toothfairy to visit on Sunday night when we got back.

Cooper River Bridge 10K

2009-04-11T15:22:00.006-04:00

Last weekend we loaded up the truck and headed to Charleston for the weekend, along with my mom, dad and Jay! We stayed at some good friends of the family's (Robin and Howie) house again and had a wonderful visit! It's my 2nd time running this race and I'm so excited to keep it a tradition! I liked it better this year because not only did I beat my time by almost 5 minutes from last year, but I had my family and friends waiting for me at the finish line!! I ran the 10K in 48:23! With a pace of 7:48.. I was pretty surprised and happy with myself! It must have been the neon yellow shirt my dad bought me!! Thanks Dad! Next year tho, Dad, Jay, and Eric agreed to run it with me! Woot Woot!

After the race we headed to Folly Beach for the day. We played a couple games of half rubber, some pattle ball and a game of volleyball! Tyler had fun playing with his Uncle Jay and Caiden was playing in the sand. I was a little windy that day, but I was still able to get some sun! By the time we headed home, grabbed dinner at Bessingers BBQ and showered, we were ready to call it a night! We all put our pj's on and watched some basketball (Go Heels!)... we also enjoyed some wine! We left Sunday early so we could get home at a decent hour. What a wonderful weekend!

It's been a while...

2009-04-11T15:11:00.003-04:00

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything in a while... I'll go ahead and admit it.. I'm addicted to Facebook! LOL! I've been so busy updating it with pictures, etc. that I forget to write on the blog. And NOW my camera is broken, so I'll be pictureless for a while! I would go buy a camera to use while it's getting fixed, but I tried that last time and ended up keeping it, then that one broke and that's where I'm at today! Anyway, I was able to use my camera phone for some pictures, as well as my friends, and my mom's when we were in Charleston last weekend.

I took the boys to the park the other day and they had so much fun! It's a lot easier now that Caiden can walk/run and is able to play with Tyler more. It's so cute to see him say "come on" and motion his hand!

Here's some pictures from my camera phone (not the best quality..

Grandpa and Snow- HOORAY!

2009-03-07T12:29:00.003-05:00

We were having a lazy Sunday, not doing much of anything. It had been raining all day, the boys played inside, I was on the computer, Eric played a little XBOX. We all went to the grocery store together just so we could DO something... THEN all of a sudden we get a phone call from Eric's dad and he says "hey guys! I'm heading back to NY and my flight got canceled in Charlotte so I'm staying here tonight!" YAY! So we headed out to his hotel and joined him for dinner! When we were finishing up our meal we looked out the windown and it was no longer raining.. it was SNOWING! Man was it beautiful! It was snowing so hard and within the next hour it was already piling up on the grounds! The boys played in is some, but then we had to head home before the roads got bad. I know it always sucks when your plane get's canceled! But how great is it when it gets stuck in the same city you have family in! AWESOME!! It was so nice seeing you Dave (Grandpa)- Caiden kept picking up your picture in the house and says "gam-pa" and he's working on "ray ray"- he calls her baby! So sweet! Love you!!

Tyler got an Award!

2009-02-13T05:35:00.002-05:00

Tyler is doing SO well in Kindergarten. He amazes us everyday. On Wednesday the Kindergartners had a little awards ceremony and Tyler got one for "Always Turning In His Homework" We are soooo proud of him!He's quite the artist too, last quarter his art work was framed and hung in the Kindergarten hallway for a few months. Keep up the great work Tyler! XOXO

70 degrees in February?

2009-02-09T19:59:00.007-05:00

To me that means many things- open all the windows and enjoy the fresh air, let the kiddos play outside, and go for a RUN (my favorite thing to do!)! I LOVE these days! On Sunday I had the pleasure in watching my good friends Adam and Ashley's boys for the day.. all 3 of them! They (of course) played outside and once the little ones woke from their nap we took everyone, and Buck, to the park! They had a blast, and were so well behaved! I took LOTS of pictures so instead of writing a bunch, I'm just gonna post the pictures!

Saturday pics....

This picture (below) is soooo funny to me because while I was outside taking pictures of the kids, Eric picks me up and starts spinning me while I had the camera in my hand! I was able to take a quick photo of me in full spin speed. LOL!

Jenn and me once we figured out the right spot to take the picture without the sun glaring in our eyes.

Ty Musso climbed about 15-20 ft up this tree!

Sunday pics...

jackson wouldn't let me take his picture!! too cute!!

Buck broke yet another frisbee... it's Caiden's hat now..

Caiden and Sammy playing catch! Nice form boys!

We attempted to make a human pyramid

...and they all came tumbling down...

our car.. fully loaded, dog and all!

6 years ago...

2009-02-09T19:32:00.003-05:00

Tyler James Mick was born on February 1st, 2003.

Dear Tyler,

We are so proud of you Tyler. You are a wonderful , energetic, full of life, sweet, loving boy! Your father and I adore you, and Caiden too. We can't believe how fast you are growing up. You're almost done with Kindergarten already! You do so will with your sight words and writing sentences, you help take care of your little brother(even when he takes your crayons), you help mommy and daddy around the house. You do so much and again, we are so proud of you!!

We love you Tyler,

Mommy and Daddy

Tyler's birthday weekend was a fabulous one!! Eric's Dad, Dave, and his wife Rachel flew in from Jupiter, Florida, to spend the weekend with us for Tyler's birthday. On Saturday we took Tyler and his friends to Monkey Joes to play for a couple hours and then came back to the house for pizza, cup cakes and ice cream! After the party, Tyler spent the night with Dave and Rachel at their hotel and went swimming in the indoor pool! We met them for breakfast the next morning at the hotel and enjoyed some Delicious omelets! yummo! Afterwards, Dave and Rachel to Tyler to the Circus!!!! It was Tyler's (and Dave's) first time going and Tyler had so much fun he talked about it for days! Dave got suckered into buying Tyler a $12 thing of cotton candy and a $9 icee.... hey, that's what Grandpas are for, right! :) Thank you SO much for coming up that weekend, and Happy Birthday Tyler and Rachel (Feb. 5th

)

Alabama Trip!

2009-02-01T12:17:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Katelen!!!!
For Kate's Birthday weekend we drove over to Auburn to visit her and Dustin. We got there last Friday night and had a blast all weekend. We stayed up late playing games, took the boys and Ellie Mae to the park and Dustin made some awesome guacamole dip and black bean and corn salad! Their apartment is so cute and it's in great location: right of the interstate, right near Auburn, the mall, Kate and Dustin's work.. just perfect! I just wish they were right next door to US instead of 5 hours... but it's better then 12 hours away! We love you Kate and Dustin and can't wait to see you again soon!!!

Corrupt Computer

2009-02-01T12:03:00.002-05:00

I know its been a few weeks since our last blog but there's a legitimate reason.... our computer crashed... TWICE! Yes, Eric fixed it, we lost everything (except for the stuff he put on the external hard drive).. sadly though I lost all my itunes and any pictures taken in the last 6 months (luckily I have pictures on this blog and facebook albums, etc. so I didn't loose too much!) Then a week later it crashed again. Anyway, we just have Eric's work computer for now so hopefully I can use it to make some blogs to catch up over that last few weeks!

Miracle #2

2009-01-11T09:34:00.003-05:00

January 9 is a day of miracles for my family! Remember last year on this day? My sister went into cardiac arrest and survived! We are so lucky and blessed that she is still here with us today, healthy as can be! I love you Kate, my sister, my best friend.

There's another amazing story about January 9th- last Sunday my Papaw (my mom's dad) drove himself to the hospital for some stomach pains. The doctors found that his gallbladder was infected and needed to be removed. When they prepped him for surgery they noticed something with his heart. They postponed the surgery so they could run some heart tests. The doctors found that the major artery to his heart was 99.9% blocked and his right coronary artery was 80% blocked and that he'd need a double bypass open heart surgery. Guess what day it was scheduled? January 9th!
They drained the infection from the gallbladder first (because they can't removed it until after they fix his heart) and once that was cleared he went into surgery. While operating they noticed 2 more artery's that were blocked making him have a quadruple bypass! They took a vein from his chest and 3 from his leg to graph (I think) around his heart. Many hours later the surgery was a HUGE success. His heart is PERFECT and he is now in recovery. Kate and I took a cute picture with him, but it's on my mom's camera so I'll have to post it later!
That gallbladder infection literally SAVED his LIFE. We love you Papaw!!!!

NYE Party Like a Rock Star

2009-01-04T10:57:00.004-05:00

For New Years this year, we decided to host a party with a Rockband and Beer Tasting theme and it was pretty awesome! We had everyone come dressed like a rock star and had a beer tasting table set up with about 6 different beers to pair along with yummy cheeses. We had about 10 people come and it turned out to be a BLAST (I'm a little bias of course, but I did here good things about the party!) I was able to download a couple pictures from the party!

Our "beer tasting" table set up. Pretty impressive I thought (good job Eric!) My favorite beers of the night were Shiner Bock, and Carolina Strawberry Ale!

I figured out how to do this on photobucket.com. I was pretty excited about it!

We play rockband real seriously, no joking around while on tour! And yes, Eric is wearing eyeliner.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-04T10:35:00.004-05:00

We had a wonderful time off this past week in a half, the boys and I. It felt so good to be able to stay home with them during the day. It was easier to get the house clean, run errands, go to to the gym, and it felt good to sleep in past 4:45 AM! I think I got a little spoiled because I have start back into my routine tomorrow. I am a little excited though. I like routine and I do miss my babies at work (I'm a daycare teacher). Eric has also been off a few days so he even got up with the boys a couple days. I thought it was funny the first morning Eric got up because Tyler says to him, "Daddy, why did you get up first today?" I wonder who usually gets up with the kids??? hmmm.. hehehehe.
Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas here in Charlotte. The boys got up around 715AM and Tyler was soo excited to see what Santa brought him. When he opened his remote control car from Santa the first thing he said was "WOW! I saw this at Costco!" He's a smart cookie. Luckily he didn't ask any questions, because I'm not sure what I would have said except that maybe Santa can't make all the toys, he has to buy some of them (got that tip from a friend ;) ... The boys got lots of great toys: Transformers, games, art supplies, bath toys, etc.. (Thank you everyone!!) Another cool thing we enjoyed Christmas day was talking with my family on the web cam. We literally spent the whole day together. We just left the computer and camera on all day and talked to each other off an on. Eric and my brother also have XBOX, so we played some games LIVE together too which was cool. Even though we weren't together for Christmas, we were still "together." We agreed to go on it everyday, but now our computer is broken, so I'm using Eric's work computer which is pretty spiffy. (I also won't have pictures on the computer unless I download them to his computer).
My family came to Charlotte that Saturday after Christmas, along with my sister and Dustin from Alabama. When they came it's like Santa came to our house again. I think their were more gifts under the tree from them then what we had there Christmas morning! Craziness! My dad made a Carolina Panthers Cornhole game for us which turned out AWESOME!! We can't wait to play it the next time we tailgate! I'll be sure to post a picture of that when I can!
I feel like I'm rambling, so I'm just gonna finish this post with a final note. We had a wonderful Christmas and thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts, cards, yummy treats and warm wishes. We love you all. Merry Christmas!

Tyler standing next to his car from Santa (the one he saw at Costco!)

I got Eric Madden '09 for his Xbox, the same game he had gotten from John the day before (hence the "surprised" look on his face! LOL)

This is the cornhole game my dad made!!!

I was really excited about Katelen's gift this year! She had mentioned a while back that she wanted red high heels. SO for Christmas, I got her some from Victoria's Secret! She had NO idea what I was getting her. I even gave her a hint: Pickle. Yep, pickle. A couple days before Christmas she calls me and says, "Erin, I'm sorry, but I guessed what you got me from Christmas- Pickle= Picoltt (Jodi Picoltt- Author), "you got me another book by her!" heheheh... NOPE!! Pickle= Pickler= Kelly Pickler= Red High Heels!! lol! Once she opened the shoes and I told her "Pickler" she said Of course!!!! Yay we were so excited!

Charlie Brown Tree continued...

2008-12-21T16:37:00.003-05:00

Does anyone know where we can find a GOOD Christmas tree? Or maybe we just need someone to tag along with us to help us pick one out because it's either Lowes fault, or ours. I'd rather say Lowes because no one really wants to blame themselves! LOL! If you look at my post from last Christmas, you can see the comparison. We picked out our tree from Lowes (again) this year and it seamed okay when we opened it up and shook it a little, but when we brought it hope, to much surprise (not really) it was tiny with falling branches... BUT Tyler did decorate it all by himself (just about) and loves it, which makes us happy. Merry Christmas!

This is Eric holding tree at Lowes.. so far, so good..

We bring the tree home.. it's skinny, but looks like it may still be "full"

Eric took this picture at a angle to make it look better..

This is a section of the tree decorated

GOOOOOOoooo PANTHERS!!

2008-12-14T10:19:00.003-05:00

Monday Night+ Football = PANTHERS WIN!! We were able to get tickets to the Panther vs. Bucs game on December the 8th through some great friends of ours! We sat 7 rows up from the field.... now THOSE are some AWESOME seats! It was a cold night that night so we were all bundled up in our long-johns, gloves, scarves, everything we could wear to stay nice and toasty! It did help that we played a great game so we were constantly jumping up and down and hi-fiving just about anyone in our reach!! Hopefully next seasone we can bring Tyler to a game!

Stacy, Me, Jen in our cute little beanies!

Our view from our seats!

Our little tail-gating crew before the game. (Jen, John, Josh, Stacy, Eric and me!)

Thanksgiving in Florida

2008-12-10T20:23:00.006-05:00

We flew down to Jupiter, Florida this year for Thanksgiving to visit Eric's dad and Rachel as well as my parents who came over from Tampa! We had a wonderful time! It was like a mini vacation... 5 hot sunny days in Florida.. can't get any better then that!

On Saturday we climbed the lighthouse (for our second time), yet this time Tyler got to climb it with us!! He just just a couple inches shy of the exact height, but they let him go anyway! He was really excited and did really well up the stairs.. he literally RAN all the way to the top we were the first ones up there! I was a little concered about how he'd feel once we made it to the top, but I think he was more comfortable with heights then I was!

Caiden and Tyler walking on the beach with Grandpa!

Caiden getting into EVERYTHING!

Papa on Tyler's shoulders.. wow Tyler, you sure are strong!

Mimi with Caiden and Tyler

Tyler sure loves his Uncle Jay. When they left he came to me with eyes feeled of tears and said "I miss Jay" - he even colored him a picture and Grandpa helped him mail it to him :) So sweet...

On Wednesday we took the boys to an Animal Sanctuary

Can you believe it was hot enough to go to the beach!!!

For my hubby...

2008-11-19T20:18:00.002-05:00

Happy 29th Birthday Baby! I love you!

Eric+John = AWESOMENESS!

2008-11-13T14:10:00.009-05:00

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.
Last Thursday night after we had finished dinner, giving the kids a bath, settling down for the day, Eric hands me this white envelope.
Our conversation:
me: "What is it baby?" (lol we call each other baby isn't that cute)
Eric: "I got you something special because I love you so much and you are such an amazing person, mother, wife. You do so much everyday and I want you do know that I appreciate all you do and I also thank you for letting me and my friends to the beach a while ago."
me: "ohh babbbbyyy what is it?"
Eric: "Open it and you'll see" (duh is what he's thinking)
I begin opening the envelope and to my surprise I see a wad of money next to folded paper!
me: "Oh my gosh what's all that money for?"
Eric: "you were supposed to open the paper first"
we laugh
I opened the paper and on the top sheet it said "Things to do in Greenville SC"
me: "who's going to Greenville? What is this? For you and me?"
Eric: John and I planned a girls weekend for you and Jen. We already have your hotel reserved for tomorrow(Friday) and Sunday. You have to whole weekend without kids and money to go shopping, get your nails done, go out to dinner, etc.
me(as she is LEAPING) for joy: "Oh Eric, Eric, Eric I love you!!!" "Can I call Jen, does she know?" and of course, at the same time this was happening to me, John was telling Jen the same thing, except when she asked "Who am I going with" John said "You'll be getting a phone call in about 20 seconds!" and sure enough, I called her!!!!!!! We were both SO surprised to be going somewhere without our husbands and children, but happy at the same time!! They had everything planned, and even made up an itinerary for things we could do throughout the weekend from parks, movies, spa, live music, restaurants, etc! It was perfect!!!

We left Friday right when I got off work. I was able to leave Caiden there, and Eric would pick up both of the boys. Jen actually beat me to my house! I finished packing really quick (of course I had to bring lots of clothes and shoes because we were going for a whole weekend!!!) and we left by 340. The drive was relaxing, not once did I hear "are we there yet?" unless it was from my mouth! We arrived at our hotel (The Westin Poinsette) and it was GORGEOUS!! Our room was second from the top overlooking downtown Greenville and Reedy Creek Park. We felt like children we we opened the door to our room and ran straight for the bed and jumped on it!- man it sure was comfortable!!!
Jen and I had a blast that weekend. Not having to worry about the kids, husbands, the house being clean, rushing home to get dinner started... we were only responsible for ourselves! Of course we kept saying "man Eric and John would LOVE it here... "wow the kids sure would love this park" BUT we managed to have LOTS of fun!
Our night started out with Sushi! I've been on a Sushi crave and Jen likes it too. We found this cute restaurant called "Takosushi" . We decided to branch out and ordered the raw raw stuff ( I think it's called Sushimi"- it was raw tuna, snapper, white fish and salmon- no rice!. I didn't mind it, but Jen made the yuk face! I preferred the rolls. I think it was the Hawaiian roll and the good 'ol California roll. After dinner we decided to go see a movie and eat some popcorn!

Saturday was a wonderful day! We had a bagel and coffee and headed to Falls Park in the Reedy (or Reedy Falls Park). It was a beautiful park with a suspension bridge that went across the falls. The trees were gorgeous fall colors, the grass was green and can been, flowers everywhere.. my eyes were in Heaven it was so gorgeous!

After walking around for 3 hours we decided to head to the mall to shop, have lunch and get our nails done. We were at the mall for a loonngg time, then came back to our hotel to get ready for dinner and our night on the town! We decided to get Mexican food (had been craving some chips and salsa and a beer). We ate at this place called Cantinaflas. We were there for a while just chatting away, then decided to get a glass of wine at the cute wine bar we had passed on the way in. It was called Stellars. Man, after we got in and saw how nice it was we had wished we'd eaten there instead! We saw tables that had cheese and chocolate fondue! Yummo! Since we were full from dinner we just sat at this cute table by the window that overlooked the town. I can't remember the names or the wine I drank. I wrote them down somewhere..... but they were yummy!! The second glass was so smooth I could of drank it without sipping it!

When we finished there we tried to find a place that played some live music. Our hubbys had written some down for us but, of course, we left it in the room! We ended up at the Irish Pub called Connolly's right across the street from our hotel. It was perfect, they had live music! The guy sang some of his stuff, as well as some Jason Mraz, etc. Later we went to the Blue Martini and that was our night!! It was a blast! We came home Sunday afternoon and watched the Panthers WIN!!!

Thank you so much Eric (and John) for planning this weekend for Jen and me!!! It was perfect!! I love you baby.

The view of our hotel

My blues name is.. shoot I can't see

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T12:52:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was Halloween and the boys (well, Tyler) were SO excited to get into costume and go trick-or-treating. Tyler decided he wanted to be a skeleton this year, so I made him one with glow-in-the-dark paint! I was very impressed with the turn out. I didn't know I was such a good skeleton drawing artist; Especially the rib cage! I was really looking forward to painting his face, but he did NOT was ANY paint on his face... so I bought a cool mask, and it just happened to glow too. Caiden dressed up as a Knight in shining armour! Oh so handsome he was! He wasn't too happy with the costume, but he sure looked good! He almost looked like a "robber" wearing his all black with a black hoodie on too though!!

The Skeleton and Knight about to head out on their quest for candy!

We left the house right at sun down and my good friend Evo came over to join us. Caiden made it to a few house until it got too dark out and really cold. After I took him in, Eric, Tyler and some other kids in the neighborhood continued on the quest for candy for another hour or so. Our neighborhood is pretty big and not a lot of houses had candy so it was a LOT of walking. I however got lucky with taking Caiden home so Evo and I could enjoy a glass a wine and finish watching Grey's Anatomy until the boys got home! It was nice evening.. we started to watch one of the Nightmare on Elm street movies on TV... talk about corny! Oh my.. we were practically laughing... especially when, for some reason, I remember the words to the song... 1,2, he's coming for you... 3, 4 better lock the door.... whew I'm getting goose bumps... :)
Happy Halloween!!!

Here's my scary skeleton!

and my handsome Knight!

We brought the wagon to push the boys in, but Caiden wanted to push the wagon instead! LOL!

At work we had the kids dress up like Pumpkins... so so cute!

This is one of my babies, Hannah, at work.. she was a Duck and I was "Pippy"... BTW- I never thought I be old enough to have kids that DON'T know who she is! I went to pick up Tyler from school and they were all like "who's Pippy Longstockings?!" I was SHOCKED!! Oh my I AM getting older! LOL

Tonight we are going to a party at the Brizenhicks house for Halloween! Eric's a Doctor and I'm Nurse Ophelia Payne! .. original

Pumpkin Patch!

2008-10-31T16:54:00.004-04:00

Tyler had his first field trip for Kindergarden last week to the Pumpkin Patch! I got to volunteer and had a wonderful time! Caiden tagged along because I wanted him to pick out a pumpkin as well at Tyler! Tyler's class had the most parent volunteers so we each had a small group of kids to look after and Tyler, of course, was in my group and we decided to give us a name. They each shouted out a name and we finally agreed on the Yankee-Tigers! LOL.. funny, but it sure worked! All I had to say was "Where are my Yankees?" and they all came running too me in excitement! They kept asking everyone else what their group was called, but I think we were the only ones with a name :)

We went to this farm here in Charlotte and rode on a hay-ride, fed the goats and lambs, and even watched them milk a cow. The children also listened to one of the farmers about corn and how much of it is used in the different foods we eat. One thing I learned that was interesting was the difference between brown eggs and white eggs in that there IS NO difference. The color of the egg is determined by the color if the inside of the chicken's ear... white gives white eggs and brown-brown eggs! Cool!!

After the tour/ride we got to pick out a pumpkin in the field, then heading over to the picnic tables for lunch. We had a wonderful day, beautiful weather and can't wait to go back in the Spring to pick some strawberries!!