The Mick's

Christmas!

2010-01-20T19:27:00.003-05:00

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas! My parents and brother drove up from Florida Christmas day and stayed until Monday. We changed our tradition up a little bit and it turned out fabulous! See, for the past few years, I've cooked Christmas dinner (usually a Honeybaked ham!) on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas day for dinner we order Chinese food! Yummy! Well, this year, my parents were coming Christmas day, so I wanted to cook dinner for all of us. On Christmas Eve we went to our Church's service uptown and it was FABULOUS!! It was at the Belk Theater!!

Christmas morning Tyler woke us up by pulling on Eric's shirt saying "Daddy! Daddy! Santa came and Caiden is opening all the presents!!" So, Eric and I woke up (at 7AM) and had our Christmas. 12 minutes later, the gifts were open and paper was everywhere! LOL! It wasn't that quick.. hehe

We all go very nice things, Caiden getting a camera (because he LOVES to cheese like his mommy!) and Tyler got his Nintendo DS!!!! And he was super happy!!! Those were Santa gifts ;)

After we opened gifts and ate some yummy cinnamon rolls, Kate and I started preparing our Christmas feast! It was the VERY FIRST TIME I cooked a turkey BY MYSELF (with Kate of course!) I got all our recipes for the dinner on healthyrecipes.com. We made a shallot and apple stuffed turkey, roasted sweet potatoes, parsley and garlic roasted squash, apple and cranberry stuffing, and we can't forget the mashed potatoes and mac and cheese (the mac and cheese was made traditionally with all the butter and cheese!!) It was delicious!! My parents made it just in time for dinner and came with a WHOLE trunk load of gifts!! It was santa time all over again!!

Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family!!!

Family Portraits

2010-01-13T18:59:00.003-05:00

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Columbia (Gilbert), SC, to my Nana's (GiGi's) house! We got to see everyone! Including my cousins Cody, Dalton and Mason who I haven't seen in a few years. It's always nice seeing family! Nana cooked a delicious dinner, along with the help of all our family members who brought something! We had fun talking, playing games, drinking wine, we even did I Chinese gift exchange! Eric and I came home with some wine glasses, wine opener, wine tags, (that was one gift) and we also got the Mad Gab game... which is super fun! BUT our NEW favorite game to play now is the Game of Things! We played it for hours! Man I love my family! Happy Thanksgiving!

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the mall.... not to shop, but to get our pictures taken! Her are a few shots ;)

November Recap

2010-01-10T12:30:00.003-05:00

November was a GREAT month! Eric had is BIG 20-10 (aka 30th) Birthday!!! I surprised him (along with many of his friends) with a Limo Wine Tour of the Yadkin Valley! It was AMAZING! The limo picked us up around 1030 on a Saturday morning and when we climbed in, the limo was filled with friends! We had a blast that day drinking champagne in the limo, laughing, singing, and tasting fabulous wines at 4 different wineries!!!! and for lunch, we had delicious gourment lunch boxes set up for us at one of the vineyards! We bought a bottle at each vineyard to take home. Our favorite one was Raylen Vineyards and Winery in Monksville, NC. Some others were Laural Grey and Ragapple Lassie. At Ragapple, we got to see how they made the wine which was a real treat!!

Overall, the birthday was a HUGE success! We wished EVERYONE could have joined us! We can't wait to go again one day!

Happy Birthday Babyface, I love you!

Here are some pictures from the wine tour!

Speed Camping

2010-01-02T14:10:00.003-05:00

For our 2nd camping trip we went went to a couple campgrounds... Hiddenite and Lake Norman State Park and had a BLAST! Lots of fun memories were made... stories we'll tell for years and years to come!

This picture collage is at Lake Norman State Park. We went for a hike on the trails around the lake. The dogs were the first to arrive to the water (go figure) and jumped right in.... along with 6 other kids!! They all had a blast swimming and splashing around in the water on this beautiful October day!

This picture collage is when we had to move our tents because we had set up on a handicapped lot.... we didn't want to take down our tents (again) so we all grabbed a corner and walked to our next site!

This collage is mostley pictures from Hiddenite Campground... NEVER go there... it's terrible. We had TONS of fun at night though.. hay rides, home made haunted house.... but as far as the area/bathrooms, etc... it's not good..... ugh... but we made the best of it that night and packed up Saturday morning to go to Lake Norman! So worth it!!

October recap

2009-12-28T18:14:00.003-05:00

The boys had a great time trick-or-treating in the Musso's neighborhood! Caiden and his friend Brayden would race to the door to ring the door bell.. it was the cutest thing!! I made Tyler's costume this year, he wanted to be a Zombie. Caiden was origiananlly going to be a race car driver, but the costume didn't fit and I couldn't return it so he enjoyed being Batman (Tyler's costume from a few years ago).

This year for my birthday my sister surprised me with a themed party! It was 100 of my favorite things.. from my favorite color (purple) to my favorite gum, wine, store, coffee, laundry scent, music, drink, food (salad with rotissouri chicken, BBQ, fresh fruit,..), my sister and mom even brought me chick-fil-a for lunch that day at work! ...etc, etc! It was a BLAST and all my friends participated!! My mom even surprised me by flying up! When I saw her standing in my kitchen at 10:30 at night, I fell to the floor and almost peed in my pants I was so excited!! Thank you everyone for making my birthday extra special!! I love you all!

Kate, Jen, Melanie and I drove to Columbia for my Aunt Robin and Uncle Jimmy's Anniversary/Halloween party! We had so much fun singing Karaoke!

Tyler lost another tooth..

2009-12-28T18:10:00.002-05:00

Tyler lost his first tooth eating an snow cone, his 2nd was at school while eating an apple... 3rd was at the house... and the 4th was at school again! He has his front 4 teeth missing at the same time!!

September Recap

2009-12-27T10:48:00.007-05:00

Def Leopard Concert.... Girls Night Out... Tammy visits...Grandpa Mick and Rachel visit... Greek Festival.. Matthews Alive carnival... camping... a whole month of FUN!

Greek Festival and playground fun in the dark with the kiddos!

My wonderful friend Tammy came up for a visit from Florida, so we gathered the girls and headed uptown for some fun!!

Def Leopard concert!

Grandpa Dave and Rachel came to visit for a long weekend! We took them to our church, Elevation, then went out to lunch afterwards!

Carowinds

2009-12-27T10:33:00.003-05:00

Jay came for a visit this summer for about a week. Tyler and Caiden LOVED having their Uncle Jay play with them. On one of his last days here, Dad bought us all tickets to Carowinds! We all went, along with Kate, Hunter, and Peyton! We spent most of our day cooling off at the water park! It was so much fun!

Night out with Dory, Marcus, Kate and Dustin

2009-12-27T10:30:00.002-05:00

Dory and Marcus took us out for a night of fun and Beantown!! We had a blast!!

Caiden's 2nd Birthday!

2009-12-27T10:09:00.004-05:00

Caiden's 2nd birthday party was a blast! We had it at a park near the house that the boys love to go to all the time. Lots of family and friends came.. we ate pizza.. cake... and the kids played until they were nice a sweaty!!

Caiden, you are growing up so fast! You are a handsome, fun loving, happy go lucky little kid and we love you SO MUCH!!

Some of my favorite things you say (pronounce) are:

peese "please" and you still do the sign for it eventhough you can say it.. and it's adorable!

c'meer "come here" as you gesture your hand in the "come here motion"

yeth "yes"... you sound like Pedro from Napoleon Dynomite

I'm sure there are plenty more, but those 3 are my favorite! You always make us smile!

You LOVE your big brother! You want to do everything he does.. you want everything he has... go everywhere he goes.. you are like his mini shadow. Luckily Tyler loves you just as much and lets you follow him ;)

Happy Birthday Caiden! We love you!

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!!

Weekend Getaway!

2008-10-24T22:55:00.006-04:00

Last weekend we went to Cincinnati to visit Eric's family and we had a wonderful time! It was also Eric's 10 year High School Reunion as well as my 26th Birthday! We left really really early Friday morning and arrived around 1PM that afternoon. Both the boys and Buck did very well in the car for such a long drive!! We were definitely impressed! Also on the trip Caiden finally decided to take more than 10 steps at a time.. we can now say he's walking.. and really mean it!! It's SO exciting to see his face when he does it.. he has this huge grin on his face as his arms stick out like Frankenstein.... I'll post a video so you can see for yourself!

Nana with the grandkids! I sure hope we don't go another year before we see her! Tyler cried on the way home because he misses her. He had such a wonderful visit with her and G-Pa Wayne!

Our lastest family photo! Kay took some REALLY good ones with her camera.. better quality.. I'll post some once she sends me a CD :)

On the way there we stopped a few times to let the dog out and for the boys to play some. A rest stop in West Virginia had some beautiful trees and fall colored leaves.. so so pretty

We LOVE the Cincinnati Skyline.. my favorite view is at night though

This is Caiden and me after running Saturday morning around the neighborhood. It was SO cold out, but beautiful at the same time!

Caiden is JUST adorable...

Ty man is as handsome as they come!

Camping in the Fall!

2008-10-14T18:33:00.005-04:00

We loved Morrow Mountain so much that we decided to go camping there again; Only this time the Sykes Family and Evonne joined us!! We got there Friday night (just us) and set up everything in the dark! The boys fell asleep in the car on the way there so once everything was ready, we put the boys in the tent and Eric and I relaxed and had some wine and played a good 'ol game of Dominoes (oh, and I WON!!). Saturday morning we went hiking for almost 3 hours! I couldn't believe how great Tyler did walking that long, but he did it! Speaking of WALKING.. we got a little clip of Caiden!! Once we got back to our site, we had lunch and waited for everyone else to join us! We grilled out by the fire and roasted some yummy s'mores! Sunday was another beautiful day, we hiked some more! It was hard leaving Sunday afternoon.. the weather had been perfect and we all knew we had to be back at work Monday :(

Another family photo.. Mo says I need to do something different with my hair.. I look the same.. LOL :)

We are looking forward to camping again in November!!

Mosaic of me!

2008-10-12T16:24:00.005-04:00

Thanks Jen and Erin! What a neat idea.. I just had to make one too!!

1. Erin-1146, 2. fruit salad, 3. Football-Clearwater, FL: PhotoID-143872, 4. Explosion, 5. IMG_3097, 6. Ice tea, 7. Tropical Sunset, 8. Chocolate Ice Cream, 9. Higher education, 10. The Finger Family, 11. don't worry be happy new year, 12. emick

The Rules: you answer the following 12 questions about yourself (my answers are in parentheses after each question):
01. What is your first name? (Erin)
02. What is your favorite food? (fruit salad)
03. What high school did you attend? (Countryside High School- CHS)
04. What is your favorite color? (purple)
05. Who is your celebrity crush? (Ashton Kusher)
06. Favorite drink? (sweet tea)
07. Dream vacation? (Hawaii)
08. Favorite dessert? ( ice cream)
09. What do you want to be when you grow up? (math teacher)
10. What do you love most in life? (the people in it)
11. One word to describe you? (happy)
12. Your Flickr name? (emick)

Want to play?: Type your answer to each of the above questions into Flikr's search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (3 columns, 4 rows)... Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Nana!

2008-10-08T20:59:00.005-04:00

Happy Birthday Nana!
On Saturday we drove to Columbia, SC to spend the day with my Nana (Gi-Gi) for her birthday! She's 70 years old and beautiful! My parents and brother drove up from Florida, along with my Aunt and Uncle and Kate came over from Alabama. We hung out and my Aunt Becky's house, went to lunch, did a little shopping. We even had time to visit with Papaw at his house before we went out to dinner. I think the restaurant was called Sumo.... where they cook the food in front of you. After dinner we sang a little kareoke then Eric drove us home so we could get up early Sunday morning to tailgate at the Panther's game! It was a short visit, but a wonderful one!

First HAIRCUT!!

2008-10-02T19:53:00.006-04:00

I decided that today was the day for Caiden to get his very first haircut. I took him to this cute little kiddie salon called "Pigtails and Crewcuts" in the Cotswold Shopping Center near the house and was very happy with it. The chairs the kids could choose to sit it were fire trucks, an airplane, and a race car. They even had a kids movie playing, along with games, candy, ribbons, nail polish.. it was just so gosh darn cute!! I just HAD to get his hair cut there... but for the record, it will be the last because never again will I pay $22 for a BABY hair cut!! But it sure was worth it for his first, plus the lady gave me a souvenir of some of his curls!

WILD HAIR!- BEFORE

Clean cut- AFTER

Caiden did SO great getting his hair cut for the first time. He didn't cry (or smile).. he just sat
there... making a funny face everytime the hairdresser squirted him with water (I think I would too!)
.

The finishing touch... what a handsome little MAN!!

Beautiful Saturday...

2008-09-21T10:38:00.002-04:00

This weekend was PERFECT camping weather (last weekend it was a little hot and humid!) but we decided to enjoys the outdoors right outsite our house! Tyler was outside practically the whole day, only coming in for water or food! He played with the kids down the street and later on in the afternoon we watched some of our friends kids so they could go out for their Anniversary! Caiden LOVES the outdoors too.. he gets really upset when it's time to come inside. Oh how I wish he could walk on his own!!

Popsicles are YUMMY!

2008-09-20T11:15:00.003-04:00

We've discovered that anything Tyler wants, Caiden wants and whatever Tyler's does, Caiden wants to do the same! I told Tyler if he has something and doesn't want to share with Caiden, DON'T EAT IT IN FRONT OF HIM or Caiden WILL go after it. Well, one of Caiden's favorite things to eat are Popsicles!! He LOVES them. I had to go out an get the sugar free ones so I don't feel as guilty with him eating a whole one (because he WILL!).
I've posted 2 videos, the first one was recorded the other day and the 2nd one was from a few months ago when he tried them for the very first time (watch he tongue go in and out like a lizard.. so cute!!)
All this talk about Popsicles, now I want one!!

C-A-M-P-I-N-G

2008-09-15T19:00:00.005-04:00

This past weekend we went camping at Morrow Mountain State Park in Albemarle, NC. It was our first time camping there and we were really pleased with it! It's a beautiful park with a lake to fish in or canoe, hiking trails, a swimming pool, horse back riding; you can even rent a log cabin there! We "tented it" and had a blast. Our good friends Adam and Ashley and 2 of their boys came along with us. We only went 1 day because earlier in the week it called for thunderstorms Friday night so we stayed in. We were a little disappointed when the weather was gorgeous and we didn't go! On Saturday the weather was a little hot and humid but it was still enjoyable. The boys enjoyed playing in the water and running around in the woods ("a redneck's babysitter_- as Adam would say- LOL!) Nothing's better then roasting marshmallows by the fire and playing the longest game of Phase 10 ever! (LOL). We also saw lots of Deer which was pretty cool! We are looking forward to going back in mid-October, hopefully by then it will have cooled off some!
Enjoy the pictures- there's quite a few

Doctor Doctor give me the news....

2008-09-10T16:35:00.003-04:00

The boys had their check-ups recently; Caiden needed his 12 month and Tyler needed one for Kindergarten. I took them separately because I knew they'd both be getting shots and I didn't want to deal with 2 crying children at the same time. Caiden went to his visit first and everything was great! Healthy as can be! His head is head is still in the 95th percentile, height- 30 in-50%, and weight is just under the 50th (but he's still gaining weight which is what matters!) He's weighing at about 22 pounds (into the "BIG" boy car seat). He also got 3 shots- cried for a second, then stopped once I held him :) He doesn't go again until he's 18 months old. However, we had to go back last week because he ran a fever and ended up having a mild ear infection! Poor fella- but he's all well now!!

Tyler's visit was a loooonnngg one. Good thing Caiden wasn't with us! They did just about everything that day: blood pressure, hearing test, eye test, a test for lazy eye(which was cool because he got to have these plugs put on his forehead and watch a screen change from black and white and different animals would pop up, height, weight check (both in the 50th %), AND he had 4 shots and his finger pricked (that was NOT fun at all). When the nurse went to give him his first shot in the arm he would NOT look away.. he literally starred at the huge needle go into his arm and screamed. Luckily he didn't jump around and stayed still. He was able to cool off and relax once she finished. For the most part he did well.... no one likes needles... We went to the gas station afterwards and got him an ICEE (his favorite) and he was happy! No more shots for a while!
This is Caiden's favorite spot!

Turtle at the park!

2008-09-07T19:09:00.000-04:00

2008-09-04T20:19:00.002-04:00

Have you ever seen/heard of the movie "Ella Enchanted" with Anne Hathaway? Well if you haven't, I recommend it! It's just the cutest movie, and Tyler likes it too! We all watched it last Friday night together and have been watching bits and pieces of it ever since on the DVR. It's about a girl, Ella, who is given the "gift" of obedience from a fairy. It forces her to obey ANY order she is told. Once someone figures out her "secret" she can get taken advantage of... I found my favorite scene on youtube tonight and had to post it! Ella is in Giantville with Prince Char and and Elf. The giants want the Elf to sing, but he doesn't know how so the Giant "tells" Ella to sing, and she has no choice but to sing... it's so funny.. especially her facial expressions... I don't know why I like it so much.. maybe because it's just a fun song to sing, or it reminds me of myself! Anyway, enjoy the clip!!

Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!

2008-09-03T18:59:00.007-04:00

On Monday, Labor Day, we went with some friends, Mike, Ashley and their daughter Kylie, to Tiger World! It's a small Zoo in Rockwell, NC near Salisbury. We didn't really know what to expect when we pulled up... especially after seeing this sign at the entrance --->

It was hard to realize that there were LIVE Tigers, Bears, Jaguars, living behind these wired gates!! We were literally 5 feet away from them all!! It was pretty cool

This Tiger jumped on the fence when Eric and Mike went to take pictures. The lady working there said that she has never done that before.... she actually when up to the fence and stuck her had in to pet her!

K is for Kindergarten!

2008-08-27T21:59:00.005-04:00

I know I already did a blog for the letter K, but I thought this letter deserved another one!!

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a KINDERGARTNER in the house!!! And yes, I did tear up when he got on the bus this morning and I'm tearing up again now! I didn't actually see him get on the bus this morning because he wanted Eric to walk him... when I saw the pictures Eric took and the HUGE smile on Tyler's face, that's when it hit me, and Eric too, that our son's really growing up....
Last night Tyler was so excited to get to bed so he could go to "big boy school" in the morning. He helped me make his lunch- turkey sandwich with lettuce (or "salad" as Tyler would say), carrots, grapes and some goldfish- all packed inside his Incredible Hulk lunch box, got out his outfit and had his book bag ready by the door (thanks Mimi and Papa for the Batman Book bag!)

The morning was really stress free. I got up at my regular time (4:57 AM- yes, those 3 minutes make a difference.. just ask Eric!) and Eric got Tyler up around 5:40 with no problem. He got dressed right away and went and sat in the living room to eat his bowl of cheese grits I made him. Every time I make them he asks me if they are "yummy grits" so I'm assuming he means the ones with cheese, or I hope anyway!

Tyler rushed me to take the picture and as soon as I finished he said "now let's go!"

After he was done and brushed his teeth and let me spike his hair, it was about time to head to the bus stop (just at the end of the street which is nice!) It was raining, and had been ALL night, so Eric walked him down with an umbrella (we offered Tyler to ride and sit in the truck and wait, but he really wanted to walk. I waited anxiously in the house trying to look down the street to see if I could see anything, but the trees where in my way. Eric took the camera so I could see Tyler get on the bus.

After Tyler left, Eric, Caiden and I headed to his school to meet him there to make sure he knew where to go, etc. We were originally going to take him, but he insisted that he rode the bus! When he saw us at the school already he comes up and says "Why did you guys come here?" I kinda brushed that comment aside and gave him a big hug and kiss and wished him a great day. We said our goodbyes and headed back to work.

Our Tyler is such a big boy and it becoming more independent everyday. We are so proud of you Tyler!!!!! Mommy and Daddy love you very very much!!!

A great day for the park!

2008-08-27T21:17:00.007-04:00

Sunday was such a gorgeous day we decided to take the boys and Buck to the park to play and have a picnic... LOL.. a day of "P's".. get it.. Play.. Park... Picnic.. I crack myself up sometimes!
Anyway, so we went to the park after Caiden woke up from his nap and stopped by Harris Teeter to get our free sub! (when you buy a sub there you get points, once you get 15 you can get a free one- just a little FYI)

After we ate our yummy lunch we found a trail that leads to the creek... we can always tell when we are close

because we hear a big "spash" when Buck jumps in!

As we walked across, Buck just liked jumping in and out of the water!

We made it all the way across the creek walking on this huge tree that had fallen across it!

I sure love my family!

Suite...Sweet!

2008-08-25T18:26:00.003-04:00

When Eric came home Friday he had 2 tickets to the Panther's game for Saturday! They weren't for just any seat....we got to sit in the Luxe Suite!! It was pretty awesome.. we had a great view of the game and plenty of food and drinks! I got to meet a lot of people Eric works with and they were all so great! That was definitely the
way to watch a game!!

Caiden and Tyler Collage!

2008-08-25T16:25:00.002-04:00

Caiden- Birth to 1 year

Tyler- Birth to about 4.5 years :)

**I LOVE making these collages on Picasa (a google app.) however, when you try and print them, it crops some of the pictures off...

Kenny Chesney!

2008-08-24T10:18:00.001-04:00

Another year, another concert with our FAVORITE performer of ALL TIME- KENNY CHESNEY!!! We look forward to this concert more than any other concert all summer long. We know EVERY song by heart and it's always a BLAST!!!! Can't wait until next year!

Kenny Chesney 2008

Kenny Chesney 2007

Kenny Chesney 2006

LOOK WHO'S ONE!!

2008-08-20T20:01:00.005-04:00

Happy 1st Birthday Caiden Joseph!

Dear Caiden,
I can't believe you are already 1! You are growing up too fast! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you. You fascinate us everyday with your new discoveries and abilities. We love you so much and are so happy we brought you into this world. You have an awesome big brother Tyler who can't wait for you to get a couple years older so you guys can wrestle, or in his works "fight"... but in a fun way :)
Caiden, I love everything about you. Your smile, your laugh, the way you call everything "Buh", yet I swear you know the difference, even when it all sounds the same... for instance:
Buck (our dog)- "Buh"
Brother- "Buh"
any dog- "Buh"
Bottle- this one is better because you say "bah-bah"
Ball- "buh"
Book- "booh"
I love it when you crawl over to Buck's water bowl with a huge grin on your face as I look at you and say "no-no" and giggle when you repeat me and say "nah-nah".. I know, I know.. he's not going to learn, but he's just too cute!

You absolutely LOVE bath time! You'd stay in there until you turned into a prune if I'd let you! You splash water everywhere.. especially on Mommy!

Caiden had a great first birthday party! We had a great turn out Saturday afternoon as we celebrated with a cookout and yummy cake. My parents came up from Florida , my sister and Dustin came from Alabama, Papaw, Aunt Becky and Nana came from SC, along with some of our friends here in Charlotte! Thank you everyone for coming and for the great gifts! Caiden loved all his toys; the cell phone, car keys, he especially loved his new car (thanks Mike, Ashley and Kylie!) and his push toy (thanks Mimi and Papa).. hopefully he'll be taking his first steps soon!
I love that you MUST eat your yogurt by yourself- licking the bowl and everything until it's ALL GONE and having your face covered in it!
I love how you are always in a good mood
Caiden, I just love you so very very much!

K is for Kids

2008-08-17T14:39:00.002-04:00

Eric and I have been blessed with 2 of the most wonderful, handsome, loving boys. They amaze us everyday and we couldn't be more proud! Tyler starts Kindergarten next week and Caiden turns 1 on Tuesday! Wow! How much they've grown! We love you Tyler and Caiden with all our hearts!

Great friends and birthdays!

2008-08-10T16:55:00.006-04:00

Last night we went out to Howl at the Moon for another birthday celebration (Happy Birthday Josh and Mike) and had an awesome time! "'Legend...wait for it.. and I hope you're not lactose intolerant- dary!' -quote from Barney on How I Met Your Mother"

We had lots of fun singing along to our favorite songs with some great friends... we love you all!

Summer Concerts...

2008-08-09T12:49:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday while Tammy and Evonne were still in town we went to the Journey, Heart, and Cheap Trick concert with John and Jenn and it was definitely one of our FAVORITES (next to Kenny Chesney of course!) We got there early to tailgate (like we always do) but we were a little worried because we saw some storm clouds forming and it was getting really windy...BUT it only rained for like 5 minutes and out came the sunshine and we were able to enjoy the concert rain free! When we first got tickets we weren't sure how many songs we knew...boy were we wrong! We knew TONS of songs and I decided that Kenny, Journey and Keith Urban are my all time favorite to see in concert! Kenny Chesney 2 week count down!!

GREAT SONG-

Full House

2008-08-08T19:29:00.003-04:00

It's been a crazy, fun couple of weeks with a lot going on so I haven't gotten the chance to post some pictures UNTIL NOW! Yep, I gotta a few minutes to spare on this lovely Friday night before the Summer Olympics come on!
About 2 weeks ago my sister decided to drive up (from Alabama-her new home) for a week! Her college friend/teammate, Erin, flew in also and we drove to Columbia to play in a grass volleyball tournament (The Columbia Crown) all day Saturday. We stayed at our Nana's house and she cooked us a delicious dinner! (Thanks Nana!) We played "AA" at the tournament and even though we only won 1 game, we had lots of fun and most of the games we did play, we played really well and the scores where really close! This was also Kate's first time playing volleyball since her accident and I must say, she's still got it!! She did awesome and it was so much fun! Kate, Tammy and I played in that same tournament about 8 years ago, and my Dad, Uncle Robbie and I played in it when I was 14, so it was really cool to get to go back and see some familiar faces.
Later that week I had a couple other friends from Florida come up to visit, Tammy and Evo. At one point the girls out numbered the boys in the house! We had lots of fun together going to concerts, hiking up Crowder's Mountain, going out on the town, playing sand volleyball, karaoke, Zumba, ... it was a BLAST! Evonne decided to move up here too and was able to find an apartment near us which is awesome!
I'm going to post a few pictures for you all to see! And a slide show later because we took TONS!

We all went out to Cantina Fifteen Eleven for Erin (Clark's) birthday and sang Kareoke afterwards

Me and Tammy before we head out on the town

J is for...

2008-07-19T15:50:00.004-04:00

ust because.....

When Eric came home work the other day he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I asked hime what they were for and he said "just because I love you...."

Eric, you are my everything!

2008-07-19T15:22:00.004-04:00

The weekend after we got back from Orlando, we went with some friends, Brandon and Carrie to Myrtle Beach! It was such a great time! The weather was wonderful too which made it even better! The days were spent reading the front porch in the morning, riding the golf carts to the pool and boogie boarding on the ocean waves. Eric even won an all-day pass to ride the "worlds largest inflatable slide" from placing 1st in a ping-pong tournament. Tyler had a blast sliding down it over and over and OVER again! AND I finished my new favorite book My Sister's Keeper (if you haven't read it I TOTALLY recommend it!)
Caiden sure loves the beach, as opposed to Tyler when he was Caiden's age! Tyler hated the sand on his feet (he still does, but he just deals with it a little better). We came back Sunday night a little sad that are summer vacations are now over for the year and happy for the exciting things that are up and coming. Such as, Caiden's 1st Birthday, Eric starts his new job with Bizjournals and Tyler starting Kindergarten!!
Thanks Brandon and Carrie for a wonderful weekend!

Is that a snake hole?

2008-07-19T14:03:00.000-04:00

Nope, it's a Cicada Killer Wasp burrow! I thought this was so fascinating I had to post some pictures about it!!

welcome

2008-07-15T15:17:00.002-04:00

Collin Gregg Sykes!

Congratulations Morgan, Justin and Peyton to your newest addition to the family!! We are very happy for you guys!

Collin was born last Monday, July 7, 2008 at 9:55 AM. He was a healthy 11 lbs. 1 oz and 20 inches long! They are all back home now and are doing wonderful! We love you guys!! (ps- I'm SO excited that I'm going to be Collins daycare teacher! How awesome is that!)

2008-07-15T15:06:00.004-04:00

glitter-graphics.com

We had a wonderful 4th of July!! We were still in Orlando, and they have really good fireworks there ALL the time! Eric and I took the boys to Downtown Disney for the afternoon to walk around and go into the shops, saw Lego Land, and enjoyed some ice cream. Their fireworks show didn't start until 1030, so we headed over to Celebration's show that started at 9. We were running late and ended up missing the begining BUT Eric turned down a side street and we got to park right next to a lake and had a perfect view of the fireworks!! We didn't have to deal with any traffic or crowds, which was nice! This was also Tylers 1st REAL fireworks show that he enjoyed because all the past years he's been afraid of the loud noise and last year we kinda "missed" them... Caiden loved it too. We were also too far away to hear the really loud booms!

2008-07-10T16:28:00.006-04:00

For vacation this summer we went to Orlando, Florida! Dave (Eric's dad) has a Timeshare there so we were able to stay in his condo at Summer Bay Resorts and booooyyy was it nice! (Thanks Dave!) We each had our own room and each building had it's own pool. There was also a "mini" kiddie water park there and a lake where you could rent jet skies, and jump on water trampolines! We were there for about a week and had a blast. We had a lot of family for both sides there also so we were able to spend time with everyone which was really nice. Eric, Caiden and I left Saturday morning (Tyler was already in Florida spending a week with Mimi and Papa) and drove to Jacksonville, Florida. We got there around 11 AM and checked in our hotel and then headed to the beach!! Caiden got to ride his very first Ferry across the water! (I can't believe it cost $5 for such a short trip!) This was also Caiden's "first" trip to the beach (I say "first" because it's actually his 2nd.. he went when he was about 8 weeks old but didn't really do much..)

YAY SAND! "I just want to pick it up in my hand and throw it so it gets ALL in my hair!)

Our beautiful niece, Bella. It was so wonderful to get to spend some more time with her! I just we could see each other more often. It's crazy to think that just next year her and Caiden will be running around playing together! Good 'Ol Samu at Sea World! We sat in the splash zone and did NOT get wet! I was kinda bumbed because it was SO hot that day!
We ran into Chris Richardson from season 6 of American Idol!!!
A little family shot at Sea World. (Tyler is M.I.A.- he went back to the pool with Grandpa!) Just before this we were at the Anheusar Busch building doing a "Beer Tasting!" We had never been to one before and it was actually pretty cool and we learned a lot- Budweiser is an acronym meaning Because U Deserve What Every Individual Should Enjoy Regularly I promised Kay I'd take a picture with all 3 grandchildren- this was the best I could do! I didn't think it would be so difficult to get them all together at one time! LOL- it's still cute though. This picture was taken at Aquatica- Sea World's water park. We spent the WHOLE day there beginning at 8 AM! Tyler LOVED the water slides and the rapids. Eric said he went so many times around he got a headache!
For the 4th of July we took the boys to Downtown Disney and Celebration to watch Fireworks. We went in the gift shop and tried on just about every Mickey hat they had!

The resort had these really cool trampolines on the lake that we could go on too!
Bella and Tish have birthdays' close together so we had a little celebration while we were there! Happy Birthday you guys!! Also, Kay's birthday falls around the same time too, so Happy Birthday to YOU!!! Love you!

Gotta love the fam...

2008-06-26T18:18:00.006-04:00

My parents drove into town last Friday for a long weekend. On their way in they stopped by Tyler's preschool to surprise him and bring him home... and boy was he surprised when they got there (or should I say after he woke up!.... yes, he was actually taking a N-A-P that day!) As mentioned in an earlier post, we went to Howl at the Moon Friday night and had a blast! On Saturday we went to the National White Water Center that's here in Charlotte. We were going to ride the rapids, but it's a little pricey on the weekends ($65 a person!) so Jay and his friend Hunter Kayaked and Tyler did some rock climbing.

Tyler, Hunter and Jay showing off their muscles
Hunter and Jay before they get into the water to Kayak
TY all geared up! What a handsome little guy
Ty man on his way up the rock! He was off to a great start, made it about 3 feet off the ground then he looked down and was a little scared and was ready to get down. For his first time he did GREAT and we were so proud of him. He didn't want to go again so Jay and Hunter got to climb for the rest of Tyler's time! 3 climbs for the price of one-what a deal!

Caiden tastes his first lemon..... not so yummy mom!

2 Years Ago Today....

2008-06-24T16:13:00.004-04:00

Eric and I said "I DO"

100 Reasons why I love my husband (in no particular order)
1. Because he is awesome
2. He's funny
3. He's smart
4. He love's me
5. He takes care of me
6. listen's to me
7. repeats what he said after I ask "what?"
8. he's HOT
9. he has gorgeous eyes (and I'm not the first to say that... ask John)
10. he can fix anything
11. he can figure anything out
12. he's determined
13. he's a hard worker
14. loves the outdoors
15. loves to go camping
16. can chop firewood
17. can start a fire
18. can lay down hard wood floors all by himself
19. can patch up a ceiling after put his foot threw it
20. give good massages (eventhough I laugh because it tickles my feet)
21. never argues
22. turns the light off in the bedroom even when I'm the last one to get into bed
23. he lays his cloths neatly over the chair when he gets home from work (hey, they could be in a pile on the floor)
24. he's sarastic
25. gets along with just about anyone
26. has a wonderful personality
27. he calls me baby
28. drives first on road trips because he knows the first thing I do as soon as we hit the highway... SLEEP
29. eats whatever I cook for dinner
30. never complains about dinner.. even when the chicken I grilled is dried he doesn't dip it in water... (LOL)
31. cooks dinner for me on special occasions
32. is a WONDERFUL Father
33. did I say he's a wonderful father? I'm saying it again!
34. likes to wrestle "fight" with Tyler on our bed
35. very protective
36. rocks the baby to sleep at night "sleeper hold"
37. loves concerts
38. loves to sing LOUD at concerts (not louder than me though!)
39. loves Kenny Chesney (our song is "Me and You")
40. our first concert was Kenny Chesney in Greenville 7 years ago...
41. he can add better than me (what? who's the Math major??)
42. he lets me buy his clothes (or else he WON'T)
43. he lets me have the remote...... ;)
44. doesn't compain (much) when I leave the cap off the toothpaste
45. he works long hours and still comes home in a good mood
46. loves his job (cross your fingers for the new one!!!)
47. lets me go shopping (oh yeah.... did I tell you how much I spent on those new shoes?... heheh
48. drinks wine
49. takes great care of our family
50. loves his mom
51. buys me flowers just because
52. buys me cards because he knows how much a card means to me :)
53. understands me
54. helps out with the kids
55. Takes Tyler to school in the morning so he can sleep in
56. does all the yard work
57. I love that he chose to go to Wofford College (that's where we met)
59. he loves dogs (we have our first dog, Buck)
60. loves to play games, cards, poker
61. organized
62. good with money
63. he's my best friend
64. we get along so well
65. he loves the beach
66. he's taking me back to Hawaii for our 5 year anniversary
67. I love his smile
68. He has what you call a "dentist's dream mouth" ... it's perfect and drives me crazy!
69. he has NO cavities
70. he has EVERY SINGLE tooth, including his wisdom teeth
71. and he has never had braces
72. no, I'm not jealous.. he's just that amazing
73. I love the way he looks at me
74. I love the way he holds me
75. gets along with my family really well
76. likes what I like
77. he'll sit and watch a chick flick with me... didnt you say how much you LOVED "The Notebook"
78. laughs at all my jokes
79. I laugh at all his jokes
80. makes me breakfast in bed for Mothers Day
81. takes Buck to the park to run around
82. taught Tyler how to ride his bike when he was 4
83. gave me two wonderful, beautiful boys
84. takes me out to dinner on our Anniversary (which is TODAY)
85. knows a lot about sports
86. played football in college
87. has nice calves
88. has a cute butt
89. likes my butt
90. always knows how to make me smile
91. has soft hands
92. has soft feet (eventhough they are always cold and sweaty!)
93. gives good hugs
94. cries at sad movies
95. strong
96. talented
97. selfless
98. never gives up
99. he's him
100. I love you Eric more than words can say! I could go on and on with this list, but my fingers are starting to hurt and I need to get ready for our date tonight!!
Happy Anniversary
101. I couldn't forget.. he's a great kisser too!

another year older...

2008-06-22T10:52:00.006-04:00

SURPRISE JENNIFER!!!! I (along with the help of our friends) decided to throw Jen a surprise party for her 30th birthday and boy was she SURPRISED!!! (I also did it 2 weeks before her bday...) It was the grand opening of Howl at the Moon Friday night here in Charlotte and Jen and I had planned on going since we first heard about it at Speedstreet about a month ago. She knew we were going that night, but what she didn't know was that it was for her birthday and that everyone else was going to already be there!!! We had a BLAST that night... it was the most fun I've had in a while and I can't wait to go back. If you've never been to a dueling piano bar, you oughta because they are AWESOME!

Enjoy the slide show!

Father's Day

2008-06-22T09:02:00.003-04:00

For Father's Day Tyler and I got up early and made Eric (Daddy) chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and sausage for breakfast after letting him sleep in! It was a beautiful day outside so for Eric's gift we cleaned out and washed both of the cars! We later went out to dinner at Beantown in Matthews and it was delicious!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful father's out there!

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree, The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea, The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night, The wisdom of the ages, The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity, The depth of a family need, Then God combined these qualities, When there was nothing more to add, He knew His masterpiece was complete, And so, He called it ... Dad
Author Unknown

For My Daddy, I love you

I is for ICECREAM

2008-06-22T08:58:00.000-04:00

more graduations!

2008-06-08T17:22:00.003-04:00

Tyler had a little graduation celebration at his preschool on Friday. Gosh, I remember when he first started there at just a year old and now he's already about to start kindergarten! He is very excited to go to his new school this fall and was happy to get his first diploma!

Tyler and his good friend Lillian

Tyler let Caiden taste some of his cupcake.. YUM

I love working at my children's preschool! I get to see them whenever I want... absolutely perfect!

Camping!! (LOTS of pictures!)

2008-06-08T07:51:00.005-04:00

our view from our tents

We have been wanting to go camping ALL year and we FINALLY got to go! It's been too cold at night for the baby so we had to wait until it got just a little bit warmer. The weather was just about perfect last weekend when we finally went. Talking about perfect.. our campground Eric found was awesome! We were literally right next to the lake (check out the pictures below!). It was our first time camping there at Andrew Jackson State Park. It was not only a nice campsite, but very close to our house too! We had to choose one close by because Morgan's baby shower was on Saturday afternoon and I could NOT miss that!! We left Friday after Eric got home from work and met the Musso's there. Once we got there and put our tents up we relaxed by the campfire! The kids and dogs had a blast by the lake. As soon as we let Buck off of his leash guess where he went? Yep, straight in the LAKE for a swim. He even tried to chase the ducks.. it was kinda funny... The kids mostly played on the edge of the water since we really weren't supposed to swim in it. They had fun... doing what kids to best.. getting dirty! Jen and I had to give them quite a few "baths" all weekend! It was well worth it because by the end of the second day there the kids where so exhausted and past out shortly after they got there pjs on!

This was also Caiden's very 1st camping trip and he did SO well especially finding out he had a DOUBLE ear infections earlier that day(poor baby....) Yes, I was so glad I took him to see the doctor BEFORE we left. He had been congested all week and I could hear a little wheezing i his chest. I remembered the doctor telling me at his 9 MONTH well-visit just a couple weeks ago that he had fluid in his ears but no infection and to watch out for cold symptoms. And sure enough, the cold symptoms came and so did the ear infections! I got his medicine right away and we were finally ready to go camping! The doc prescribed Omnicef since it doesn't have to be refridgereted sice we were going camping! So great!
Caiden really loves the outdoors (what child doesn't right?). I just wish his was a little more mobile because it's hard for him to "scoot" on the the dirt. We had a kiddie tent we set up with lots of toys inside for him to play it but he someone managed to get out of it EVERY time! He did so well though and we can't wait to go again! Right now it's a little TOO hot...

Caiden and me playing by the lake

taking the kids on a little hike through the trails right next to our site!
Eric working hard chopping wood for the fire!

oh so comfy in the hammick

Buck and Taz playing fetch in the lake!

Ty Musso and Tyler having TOO much fun! Guess who had to clean them? Good 'ol Moms!

John cooking some dinner by the campfire.... Yummy London Broil..

Some of our greatest of friends, The Mussos :)

Water never tasted and felt so good!!

back to the Alphabet posting... it's been a while!

2008-06-08T07:23:00.003-04:00

is for HOLIDAY weekend.. (Memorial Weekend to be exact.. it's just been a few weeks!)

Memorial Weekend was lots of fun for us because Eric's sister Tish and her husband Chris came down with there daughter (our neice!), Isabella! We went to Speedstreet Saturday afternoon and when we got there it seemed like EVERYONE and their mother was there too! (very crowded) It was fun trying to get free samples of everything from taco seasoning to bubble gum! I was even able to get a little massage in. We stayed up late each night hanging out on the patio since the weather was so wonderful outside while the kids played with Buck. Sunday we had a cookout and invited some more friends over for dinner. When it started to get dark we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows.. my FAVORITE (and the kid's too!)

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend and we are looking forward to seeing Tish, Chris, and Bella again in just a few weeks when we go to DISNEY WORLD!!

Enjoy the pictures!

Bella and Tyler get along so well. It's so sweet to watch them play together. Bella was like Tyler's little shadow...oh so precious. I think in this picture Tyler is "pretending" he's asleep!

Our beautiful neice, Isabella. She'll be 2 in just a few weeks!

Tyler, Bella, Liam, and Abby having fun outside!

Bella, Tish and Tyler outside by the campfire. (And that's little Jackson in the stroller, so cute!)

It was also Chris's birthday that weekend (Sunday) so we had a little celebration with some yummy cake (not as yummy as Erin Woodward's brownies she made tho!)

Spaghetti Face!

2008-05-18T12:42:00.003-04:00

I made spaghetti last night for dinner and Caiden LOVED it! He was trying so hard to pick up the noodles with his little fingers and even though the majority of it ended up in his lap and hair, some did manage to get into his mouth! it was so fun watching him eat; all three of us would clap and cheer when the food made it into his mouth... so funny..

Yummy noodles!

Gimmie that camera mommmy!

Kindergarten already??

2008-05-18T12:33:00.001-04:00

Tyler is starting kindergarten this fall and he is REALLY excited!! I took him last week to a kindergarten information session to see the school, meet the kindergarten team and talk about the upcoming school year. While I was listening to the different speakers, Tyler got to go with the other kids to meet the teachers and do fun activities with them! We were only there for a shore time and Tyler didn't want to leave when it was time to go. He found the playground and wanted to run out and play with the other kids! Eric took him back on Saturday so he can play. Tyler is not only excited to start at his new school, he also wants to ride the bus! Oh my baby is growing up!

2008-05-16T15:55:00.005-04:00

is for GRADUATION! This time last year I was walking across stage with a huge grin on my face having my friends and family cheer for me as my name was called to get my diploma. This year it's my big little sister Kate! I know, I know, you're probably saying wow, I thought she had a few more years after you?...no, no, it just took me about 6 years to get my undergrad (but I did it!) and she's right on time! I just had to make sure I finished before her for my ego... hehehe

Anyhow, Katelen graduated from the University of Tampa with a BA in Communications. She's planning to move to Alabama with her boyfriend Dustin to continue school at Auburn because she wants to be a Veterinarian. Katelen I am so proud of you. You are an amazing women, sister, and friend and I see nothing but success and happiness in yours and Dustin's future (yes, I am psychic ). I'm just so happy you're going to be 6 hours away instead of 11! Whoo-hooo!! I love you Kate!

2008-05-13T16:36:00.003-04:00

is for FLORIDA! When people ask me where I'm from I basically say Florida because that's where I spent most of time growing up. My dad was in the military (and no, I wasn't a "military brat".. I don't know why people really say that...) so we moved about every 4 years. When I was in 4th grade a wrote a paper called 4 Corners because we lived in the 4 corners of the US (roughly). I was born in Hawaii, I went to Kindergarten in Seatle,Washington, 1st-3rd grade in NYC, 4-5th in Charleston, SC, and Florida 6th-12th and my parents still live in the same house (since '93). So eventhough I lived in many different states, we lived in Florida the longest. I loved living in Florida, especially because of the warm weather and being so close to the beach. My friends and I would go about every weekend to play sand volleyball. I had one partner that we'd call ourselves "The Bandits" because we played with red bandanas with braided pic-tails. Oh those were the days..... I moved away from Florida to Charlotte in 2002 to start a new life with my husband and our now 2 boys! We try and get down there at LEAST once a year to visit (which is definatley not a lot) but so far in the past 5 months we've already been there 3 times! (not necesarrly on good terms, but it's always wonderful to see family weather it's for tears or laughter). After this last trip Eric and I decided that we MUST make ourselves leave REALLY early in the morning while the kids are asleep or else a 9 hour drive will take you 13.5 hours if driven in the middle of the day! Yes, that's how long it took us last weekend! Our next trip to Florida will be at the end of June to spend a week in Disney with Eric's Dad, Dave, Rachel and her family, Tish, Chris, Isabella, and my family is going to join us too! I'm SO glad that not only does MY family live in Florida, but Dave and Rachel do too. They just live on the West Coast near Fort Lauderdale!

There's no T in T-ball for Tyler!

2008-05-04T08:36:00.002-04:00

T-Y-L-E-R, Hit it, Hit it, Really FAR!

Over the past 3 games the kids get a chance to hit the ball from the coach's pitch and if they can't hit it after 3 tries, then they can use the T. Tyler has done really well and LOVES it when it's his turn to bat. Eric told him to "hit it to the fence," so each time Tyler comes up to bat he has this serious look on his face... I think it's adorable.

2008-05-03T14:10:00.002-04:00

is for Eric, my wonderful, loving husband. He means the world to me and I love him with all my heart. I couldn't ask for a better husband, friend, and father to our boys. I love you baby! Thank you for all you do...

Picture Post!

2008-04-29T17:42:00.001-04:00

2008-04-29T16:13:00.003-04:00

is for Dog. We've had our dog Buck for almost 6 months now (gosh has it only been that long?) and couldn't image our life without him. He is the perfect dog for us (even though we built a fence in the back yard he can jump over!). Tyler is SO great with him too! He feeds him everyday and as soon as we get home in the afternoon he takes Buck outside to play until the sun goes down. Buck really loves going to the park to play fetch with the Frisbee and run around in the creek. We usually take him to the park on the weekends when it's nice outside. He's also getting better about running next to me on the leash. About 2 weekends ago we dog-sat the Syke's dog Cooper and Buck LOVED that. He's very playful and it's always nice to see him and Cooper together. His other friend Taz is an older so doesn't like to play too too much, but they still enjoy each other too! We love you Buck

mmmmmm....

2008-04-27T14:10:00.002-04:00

Watch Caiden's tongue in this video.. it's like a lizard ..LOL

C is for Concrete Blocks

2008-04-27T14:09:00.004-04:00

Eric was talking to a co-worker the other day about how we wanted to build a concrete-stone wall in front of our house and she just so happened to have some that she was about to get rid of!! So, Friday after work Eric drove the truck to her house and picked up over 150 stones! Saturday was such a gorgeous day, so we spent most of it building (well, Eric and Tyler mostly.. I was hanging out with the baby). I did wash the cars though! Once the wall's built we can go pick out some beautiful flowers to plant. Neither of us really have a "green thumb" so Eric's mom said she'd help us out on what flowers would go best there since it's in FULL sun most of the day! I'm so excited.. it's going to look much better!

This is what the front looked like- BEFORE

Tyler ready to help.. he even has his own shovel!

Here comes the wall... AFTER
Stay tuned for the FINAL touches once we add the flowers, etc.

2008-04-23T16:23:00.005-04:00

is for BIKE! Not to long ago I was talking on the phone to my dad and he was asking about the boys and how Eric and I were, and so on, just like a wonderful daddy does (I love you). Well, I had briefly mentioned, in a laughing kind of way, how Buck LOVES to chew things... well, he decided Tyler's seat to his bike tasted good.. well when I told my dad that he said he couldn't have his Big T riding a bike with a chewed up seat so he told Tyler to go pick out a new bike! Tyler is really into learning how to spell and write so he sent Papa (my dad) and e-mail and this is what it said:

From Tyler:
papa, i found a cool bike. i love mimi. i miss you. you are a cool dude.
love,
tyler james mick

This is what Mimi and Papa said back (Tyler had us read it over and OVER again he was so excited):

Big T.....mimi and papa loved that transformer bike so much that we decided that since you've been such a great helper to your mom and dad and a really cool big brother that wanted to get it for you. It will be there soon. Your mom and dad said they'd pick it up as soon as it's ready. They have to build it first, so it will be there in About 10 days!!! Take a picture when you get it and call me before you ride it. We love you the mostest!!!!!! Mimi and Papa

Teeth and Table Food!

2008-04-23T16:22:00.002-04:00

Caiden is a growing machine! He turned 8 months on the 19th and weighs almost 19 pounds! He just got over a little sinus infection and is feeling like his normal, happy self again. It's amazing how much babies change in their first year of life. Just over the past month in a half he's gotten his 2 bottom teeth, says Mama and Dada (and other sounds too), waves his hands in the air like he's riding a motorcycle(varoom varoom), and CLAPS!! It's such the cutest thing! He's trying to get on his knees to crawl which I'm sure will happen soon! Right now he's about to cut his top tooth on the right side.... you wouldn't even know he's cutting teeth he does so well! We're also transitioning him to table food since he gets SO excited (does his motorcycle movement) when he sees us eat. So far he loves sweet potatoes, bananas, cheerios, bread and green beans! Tonight I'm going to cook some fresh squash. What a big boy you are Caiden!

Can you see those 2 little teeth?!

2008-04-20T15:16:00.007-04:00

I feel like getting into the blogging groove and what better way to start then the good'ol ABC's about me and my family! A friend of mine did this last year and I always thought it was such a great idea (thanks Jen, so the next 26 posts will be about a topic that starts with the given letter give or take some extras...so wish me luck!

is for Aunt Erin! Aunt Erin... that's sounds so cool! I've never been an Aunt before and it sounds kinda cool to be called something else besides just Erin or Mom.. I like it! As many of you may already know, Eric's sister Tish and her husband Chris adopted a beautiful little girl from China last summer. Her name is Isabella and she'll be 2 years old this June! We are hoping to see them all Memorial weekend but we'll definitely see them again when we go to Disney World in July! This Aunt role is new to me so I'm trying to get better at it. Tish has been so good with Birthday cards and holidays and I thank you for that and hopefully I can be just as good!

I also want to dedicate this post to all you other Aunts out there... I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Isabella- our niece

we're all Aunts! This picture was taken after my graduation. I was about 7 mos. pregnant!

Eric and his Aunt Rita in Hawaii when we were on our honeymoon!

Kids say the darndest things...

2008-04-13T17:14:00.003-04:00

We were in the store today and Tyler came running up to us with this big green ball in his hands (looked kinda like the picture) and said "Can I have this please?....I don't have any big hairy balls!" OMG I can't stop giggling.... LOL
Then I found this funny clip on youtube for some enjoyment..

Copper River Bridge 10k Run

2008-04-06T10:24:00.005-04:00

Well I decided to start the year of racing off with a big one! The Cooper River Bridge Run/Walk is one of the most popular races in the southeast with well over 35,000 people participating. I was SO excited to run it. We got to Charleston Friday morning and stayed with our dear friends of the family, The Wieblers. My Mom, Kate, and Jay came up from Florida too for the weekend so that just added on to the excitement! Friday we went downtown to pick up our packets, t-shirts, etc. to get ready for Saturday. I was a gorgeous day and Tyler had fun hanging out with his Uncle Jay! We went to bed early Friday night so we would be well rested for Saturday's race since we had to get up about 4:45 AM to catch the shuttle to get to the starting line before the race at 8 AM. Here's a couple pictures..... (results at bottom of post!)

This is a head-band we found at the Expo the day before the race. I was SO excited to wear it... Kate and Mom got one too... so cute!

Here I am after the race once Mom and Kate found me in massive crowd! I'm not sure what my exact time was for the 10k but according to my watch is was around 52 minutes :) I plan to run it every year and hopefully better my time!

When I finished the race Tyler said "wow Mommy did you win?" "were you dancing?" I couldn't help but say, "Yep, I won!" and we all cheered :)

RESULTS ARE IN!- I looked at the website (http://www.bridgerun.com/) today and my results were posted! I ran the 6.2 miles in 52:338. It was about 6 minutes slower than the last 10k I ran over Thanksgiving before I got pregnant... and I was running 6-8 miles about 4 times a week then... and there were no hills.. either way, I have room to improve and am excited about it!

Opening Ceremonies!

2008-03-30T13:01:00.004-04:00

Opening ceremonies for baseball were on Saturday and it definitely was an all day event! We had to be at the fields by 8:15 AM to get the team ready. After listening to the long speeches in the freezing cold we wandered over to the carnival. Jenn and I got our "Baseball Mom" t-shirts and the kids got wrist bands for all the rides. Our game wasn't until 12:30 so we went back to the house to warm up in the heat until game time! (the kids didn't mind the cold, they stayed outside and jumped on the Musso's trampoline!)

Tyler did so well for his first time ever playing. He was so excited to get his very own uniform, hat, and cleats. Eric stayed on the field with him to help out and take pictures while Caiden and I sat and cheered in the bleachers. In t-ball they don't keep score, but our team won by a mile! :)

Here's a video of Tyler's first time at bat! GOOOO TYLER!!!

2008-03-30T12:50:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, March 22 we got tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters at the Bobcats Arena. None of us have ever been before and we had a BLAST! Our seats where about 8 rows up and we also got to go by the locker rooms at half time to meet some of the players, get our picture taken, and get autographs too! We bought Tyler a basketball there for the players to sign... he had to have one :) The players were not only good basketball players, but good entertainers as well. Tyler especially liked "Globee" the mascot when he did the "Soldier boy" dance!

Look who's got a tooth!!

2008-03-26T19:52:00.004-04:00

That's right everyone, Caiden is cutting not 1, but 2 teeth. They are both coming through on the bottom, with one more noticeable than the other. It was about 2 weeks ago when we first started to see the white in the gums and now you can not only see, but feel the teeth as well! He's been a real trooper about it too. We bought him some "biter biscuits"... or should I say "super messy biscuits" and he absolutely loves them. I can hear him saying "mmmmmmm" right now!

if you zoom in you can see a little white tooth on the right side

Batter Up!

2008-03-20T20:20:00.003-04:00

Tyler had his first scrimmage lastTuesday night and I must say.. he's a natural athlete! Take a look at our star athlete!!!

Let's Play Ball!

2008-03-09T16:48:00.004-04:00

"Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd..." Baseball season has finally arrived! Tyler has been looking forward to play ever since he could say the word "ball." Last Saturday was his first practice and he had a blast. His good friend Tyler Musso is on the team with him which makes it even better! We got there early so we can get him warmed up, meet the coach, run the bases.. you know it, we did it! Our last 2 practices have gotten rained out so he's defiantly ready for Tuesday's practice. Opening ceremony's are on the 29th of this month and after that he'll have his first game! GOOOO REDS!

Tyler and his teammates warming up before practice

Stretching..

Nice catch!

Future pitcher!

"That's all folks!"

Half a year old!!

2008-02-23T09:56:00.003-05:00

Weight: 17 lbs 4 oz. - 50%
Height: 26 1/4" - 50%
Head Circumference- 45.5 cm - 90%

I know I say this every month, but it's SO true- Caiden sure is growing up fast! He can not only roll over now, but sit up too (for a short bit)! He's laughing, smiling, blabbling, and cooing all the time! We are so lucky to have another happy baby! I'm still nursing him, but we have started him on cereal and some vegetables like squash and carrots. He's not 100% into them, but he's trying. If one of us is holding Caiden while we're eating he'll try and grab the food off the plate. Maybe he just doesn't want baby food at all... who would...yuk? LOL! He's mostly sleeeping through the night now.. about an 8 hour stretch then wakes up to eat then falls back asleep until I have to wake him up to go to work. Caiden is such a joy and we are so blessed he's in our lives!

Check out Caiden sitting up!!

Funny Commercial....

2008-02-10T09:47:00.002-05:00

I thought this commercial was hilarious!

MoRe BiRtHdAy FuN

2008-02-10T08:27:00.000-05:00

We threw a dinosaur themed party for Tyler yesterday and it was a huge success! Eric made a dinosaur puzzle out of wood and we hid the pieces in the back yard for the kids to find.. they LOVED it, each wanted to hide the pieces over and over! We also set up an art table for everyone to make/color dinosaurs and played the good 'ol pin the horn on the Stegasaurus! After the games we enjoyed some yummy ice cream cake from Baskin Robins and opened presents. Tyler says "thank you friends for coming to my party and for the presents!" After all that was done the boys played outside in the beautiful weather! It sure was a lot warmer than last years party

Tyler found the first piece!

Tyler and Liam searching for more puzzle pieces..

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Carrots for Caiden!

2008-02-06T07:52:00.000-05:00

Caiden is almost 6 months old now so we decided to let him try some yummy carrots and boy were they YUMMY... we tried to record him making noises while he eats. He kept smiling, kicking, and waving his arms between bites and saying "mmmmmm" We think he likes it.... a lot different than "mommy's milk"

Here's a clip we took when we tried to get the noises he was making...

Tyler is 5!!

2008-02-04T21:41:00.000-05:00

Tyler is 5 years old already! He has been looking forward to this day for a while now because a lot of things happen when your 5. If you ask him he'll tell you that he is now old enough to play T-ball, Soccer, Football, AND he starts Kindergarden this year! On Friday (his actual birthday) he wanted to bring doughnuts to school for him and his friends so we stopped by good 'ol Krispy Kreme to get some hot glazed doughnuts. Tyler had them for like the first time last month in Florida and LOVED them.. he took a bite of one and his eyes opened real wide as he told me "WOW mom, these are GOOD!). His classmates enjoyed them as we sang Happy Birthday. After work/school we took Tyler to his favorite resturant, Showmars, where his favorite teacher Ms. Lao works and had a yummy dinner. The Musso's met us there then came back to our house to open up gifts from them and family. The kids enjoyed decorating their own cake! This Saturday we're going to celebrate his birthday with all his friends from school as well as his other friends :)

More Brotherly Love...

2008-01-20T09:06:00.000-05:00

Our boys are growing up fast! Caiden's already 5 months old and Tyler will be 5 YEARS old in just a few weeks! Tyler adores his little brother and wants to help out every chance he gets. Caiden has "found his tongue" and loves to stick it out all the time, blow bubbles, and make that spitting sound.. you know, when you stick your tongue out and blow... I'm not sure what that's called.. horse tongue? LOL

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

2008-01-18T13:12:00.000-05:00

A true miracle....

Here's all the updates/emails that went out the past week about my little sister (21 years old)who went into Cardiac Arrest last Wednesday while taking a spinning class at the gym. She young, active and perfectly healthy and we still don't know why this happened. It's a miracle she's here today and we are so blessed.

First email- January 10th
Hello all; Just wanted to inform and update on Katelen's status; I know all of you would want to know. For those of you that don't know, Katelen is in the CCU at Morton Plant Clearwater recovering from an apparent cardiac arrest that she suffered yesterday while taking a Spinning Class at the gym. No one knows why it happened. As you all know she's a fighter and, thanks to everyone that was there when it happened, we are all confident that she's going to be fine. As a preventative measure, she is currently receiving a special treatment called "Arctic Ice" - she is heavily sedated while she undergoes a lowering of her body temp for 24 hrs. According to the experts here, the cardiologist that we've spoken too, and all we've read about this treatment - this is the way to go. This treatment will continue through tonight before any diagnostics are performed. Basically, we will not know anything until the treatment is completed. Melody is hanging in there and doing as well as can be expected. We'll be at the hospital all day.

Next email- ThursdayRight now everything is the same, she still in the "artic ice" treatment until 7pm. She has developed a touch of pneumonia, which was expected.

10:00pm update-They continue to raise Katelen’s temperature from approximately 32 degrees C to 37 degree C, about one tenth of a degree every 25 – 30 minutes. She is currently at 33 degrees C. Raising her temperature will take 12 hours plus or minus a few hours. As the temperature is raised there is a greater risk of a cardiac event than when her body temperature was reduced.Increasing her body temperature is just the first step. Once the temperature has been raised the medication used to maintain the comatose state will be removed. There are a total of the 3 medications (Nimbex – paralytic; fentanyl – pain; diprivan – sedative). Nimbex is removed first, followed by fentanyl. The third medication will most likely remain at a reduced dose. This is to prevent her from rejecting the ventilator. It is conceivable that she will remain on the ventilator through the weekend. Once the medications are removed it can be anywhere from a few minutes to 10+ hours before Katelen fully begins to wake up. It is dependent upon how sensitive her body is to the medication and how much, if any damage was initially incurred. As medication is removed, movement of her eyes (fluttering) and/or hands twitching as she fights to wake-up may be observed. Essentially, it will be at least 24 hours or more before she truly begins to respond/wake-up.

12:15 AM We have made it to the 35 degree mark. Which puts us in the critical range (35-37) where there is a greater risk of a cardiac event. Good new, her pupils are responding to light stimulus.

7:15 AM-At approximately, 5:30 am when her temperature returned to normal she started becoming very responsive. She has been responding to yes and no questions, looking around and starting to mouth words. Has told her sister not to sing to her. The medical staff has indicated this will be a very critical day of recovery and has indicated it would be best to limit the number of visitors to the immediate family. They want to keep her calm to allow her body to continue to heal. She is confused, and does not understand/know why she is here. They have told her what happened, but due to the heavy sedation medications she forgets easily. Melody and Joe do not want to discourage anyone from coming down, but please realize you will not be able to see Katelen. It may be tomorrow or the next day before you are able to see her. We will continue to send updates throughout the day.

930 AM update- Well, Katelen the fighter is blowing everyone away. She much further than anyone expected. She is off all sedation medication and breathing on her own. The ventilator tube was just pulled and she is talking. Next is for her to take another nap. We will continue to send updates as the day progresses.

Katelen is continuing to improve. As a matter of fact she said "Thank you for coming and emailing". Only Katelen would think to thank all of us within a couple hours of waking up. We've been getting lots of requests for what can be done. After 2 days and several more to go hospital food is getting old. So we'd like to organize a sign-up for meals and snacks. Let's just do today (Friday), Saturday and Sunday to start. Also, there are several people who are either flying or driving in from out of town that need a place to stay.

3PM Update (Friday Jan. 11)-Katelen is doing very well. She is telling everyone “thanks for coming,” and so far does not seem to want to sleep. She has a chart next to her that gives her a time frame of the last couple of days. We have established an account at Merrill Lynch to help the Dixon Family cover the some of the cost. (Time off work, travel, food, cell bills etc). If you would like to contribute please make checks payable to:”Joe Dixon FBO Katelen Dixon.” Joe Dixon FBO Katelen Dixon C/o Merrill Lynch Greg Hicks 26301 US Hwy 19 NClearwater Fl 33761 If you have any questions related to donations please don’t hesitate to call my office on 727-799-5604. We have been working on food and accommodations for family members and quests, for which my sister is handling. (Karen Hicks 813-447-0527) At this point donations would be very much appreciated.

10 PM Update-Katelen is continuing to grow stronger. It will most likely be the first of the week before a timeline for her recovery, how long she will be in the hospital, when the AICD will be implanted. There is a long road ahead still. Melody and Joe would like to thank you for all your thoughts, prayers and support. They are reading your emails and are very touched by the out pour of support. Thanks to all of you who have volunteered to help with food, transportation and housing. We are covered for the weekend. As you know this is a long process of recovery.

Saturday morning update-I just spoke with Joe; Katelen had a great night’s sleep last night. She has been able to sit up and eat. She has some soreness in her shoulder and arm where she fell of the stationary bike on Wednesday for which they are able to now give her some pain medications.

Katelen had a very restful day and is doing great. She does have a little bit of short term memory loss, but that appears to be “normal.” For example she doe not remember some of the conversations from yesterday and saying “thanks for coming.” Mel is staying at the hospital tonight. Joe said he was going to eat dinner and smoke a cigar.

Just wanted to let you know that things continue to move in a very positive direction. She will have the "cardio-cath" in the morning (Mon) as the Dr.'s begin their quest for possible causes. The prognostications are flying freely around here ranging from nothing to a defibrillator. Though nothing may sound good, we are hoping for some answers. We are trying not to speculate further until the results of tomorrows morning's test. Thanks for all the prayers and support; I believe the support circle played a key factor in the recovery. All of our friends here really (really!!!) stepped up to the plate; and, they are doing more than we'd ever expect or imagined. I will let you know tomorrow as the results of the tests begin to come back. Just to let you know how Kate is feeling today: We are having to keep an eye on her to keep her from walking out of the hospital. They've disconnected everything except the IV and the last of the antibiotics. Best quote of the day from the infections specialist: "I wouldn't be surprised if she were home on her birthday (16th) and playing volleyball in no time".

January 16- Kate's Birthday

Hello friends and family (seems to be synonymous these days), Katelen says hello, and continues to extend her "thanks for coming" salutations to everyone. She looks absolutely wonderful and very at ease with everything. Looks like she's opened the new book and she is prepared to proceed to the first chapter. Everything has pretty much followed the plan laid out earlier in the week as for as the diagnostics; basically, we don't know anything????. The doctor said the surgery went extremely smooth. She got back to her room after 2 hours of surgery around 11:30 or so. She is, of course, her smiling self and on her way to full recovery. Doc says she should be released not later than mid week; hopefully, we'll be out of here a little sooner. Very hard to digest where we were a week ago. The litany of restrictions are beginning to accumulate. The Dr. said no driving for at least 4 months....Kate said, "no problem there; I hate to drive." Guess who she looked at next? :) Small birthday party later. She already got the big gift (aka LIFE) plus the special customized addition ($50,000 defib). Good thing she didn't exploit the situation...We'd gotten her anything she'd wanted. Your thoughts and prayers remain with us. Joe, Melody, Erin, and Jay

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face . You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must to the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Caiden + Cereal = YUM

2008-01-06T13:54:00.000-05:00

Caiden is growing by the second! His Doctor told us that it was okay to start solid foods if we wanted, so Eric went out this morning to get some rice cereal for the little man!
I just mixed about a teaspoon with my milk to make it kinda soupy and he ate most of it. We all got to feed him a little, even his big brother Tyler!

For my mom...

2008-01-05T14:24:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday
Mom/Mimi

We LOVE you!!

Mom you are amazing in every way; mother, Mimi, wife, friend.. You are beautiful inside and out, kind loving, caring to everyone around you whether it's a stranger in the grocery store to your own family, you're sensitive to your feelings and even to sad commercials, selfless- always thinking about others first, you have a funny laugh.. you know, that one we all(you me and Kate) do when we laugh so hard nothing comes out and our mouth is WIDE open! I'm so lucky to have you not only as a mother, but as a best friend too! I love you! XOXO