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!!!!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Miracle #2
Sunday, January 04, 2009
NYE Party Like a Rock Star
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!
We play rockband real seriously, no joking around while on tour! And yes, Eric is wearing eyeliner.
Christmas 2008
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!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Charlie Brown Tree continued...
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
Sunday, December 14, 2008
GOOOOOOoooo PANTHERS!!
Our view from our seats!
Our little tail-gating crew before the game. (Jen, John, Josh, Stacy, Eric and me!)
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Thanksgiving in Florida
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!
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...
Can you believe it was hot enough to go to the beach!!!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Eric+John = AWESOMENESS!
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"
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
