For my hubby...

Happy 29th Birthday Baby! I love you!

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"
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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!