Trick or Treat

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The little leprechaun had a LARGE time tonight. He hasn't had much candy, if any, in his short little life. But tonight he got a little taste of the "good stuff". He doesn't quite get the concept of trick or treating. You know....gather your candy, save it up, and eat it all through the week. He thinks the object of the game is to consume the candy as soon as you get your paws on it. And if that means chewing through the wrapper to get to the chocolate, then so be it! So needless to say, he was "jacked" by the time we arrived home at 7:30 and waaaaayyyy in need of some detox. He had a big ol' helping of broccoli and sweet potatoes and was in the bath and in the bed by 8:15. And this mama and daddy are tired! We just helped ourselves to a big ol' bowl of homemade chili and are on our way to bed shortly!

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The "Sculpting" of the Pumpkin

Brad takes great pride in carving our jack-o-lantern every year. We usually carve it earlier, but this week has been crazy busy and we just got a moment to do it today. He decided to call this one...

The King of the Castle

And our little prince was very curious about the slimy 'guts' of the pumpkin.

The master is contemplating his creation...

The Great Pumpkin

Tuesday night we let Henry stay up extra late to watch "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". We put his little chair right up in front of the tube with hopes that he would sit still for 30 minutes (yeah right) and really get into this classic. Well, he lasted about 10 minutes or so and then he was up on my lap, then down, then up on Daddy's lap, then down, then on top of Buster, then down. You get the picture. Maybe he's a bit too young to get it just yet. We'll try again at Christmas:)

Happy Birthday POPS!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS!

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH YOU THIS WEEKEND AND HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

We Love you,

Brad, Shelby and Henry

Mountain Weekend '08

Brad, Henry and I left for the mountains of western NC on Tuesday after work. We had such a great time and had lots of fun adventures (see below posts). We loved spending time together, but were very excited to have Mimi and Pops join us on Thursday night. On Friday evening Daniel and Keller arrived and our Mountain Weekend '08 officially began! We ate WAAAY too much, drank just a little (hee hee), and played a nasty game of Cranium. BTW, Brad and I are the champs 2 years running now! I seriously don't think I have ever laughed so hard as watching Frankie attempt to act out a mermaid. HI-Larious!

Saturday we all attended the Transylvania County Halloween Festival. We were really there to try and surpass Henry's 3rd place prize in last years costume contest. We entered him in the infant category again (last year we'll be able to do that) in hopes of taking home the gold. I had people coming up to us all day oooohhing and ahhhing over what a precious little red headed leprechaun I have. Heard MANY comments on how my little sprite would most DEFINITELY win the prize. I was a bit biased, I know, but he seriously was the cutest thing out there. Well, I'll have you know, my little baby didn't even PLACE. DIDN'T EVEN PLACE!!!! HOW in the world did that happen, you might be asking? I DO NOT KNOW! I was seriously heartbroken. Henry was not and didn't have a clue what was going on, but his mama is a bit on the competitive side and was kind of a sore loser. Now, the judges were these trashy little high school gals and voted a store bought bumble bee, a purple and pink octopus (also store bought), and a Dracula as the winners. Can you tell I'm bitter? But in my heart (and all those who love him) he is the winner and always will be.

I mean, look how adorable! He was running after his pot of gold (a slice of cheese pizza).
Pops constructed the buckles on his shoes with tin foil. How creative!

At dusk Keller and Daniel participated in the Flight of the Vampire run to benefit the Rotary Club of Brevard. This picture is of Keller running up the hill and D-dogg struggling up the hill!

We all got back up the mountain by 7:30 and got the worn out little leprechaun to bed. We enjoyed a delicious birthday dinner for Pops and were all in bed by 11:00.

This mountain/birthday weekend was the best one yet and we are all so lucky to have each other!

Big Spider, Looking Glass Falls, and Sliding Rock

On Thursday morning Henry and I woke up around 7:30 and were having a nice, peaceful breakfast. Brad was still sleeping upstairs until I was confronted with THIS HUGE SPIDER!!! I was pulling the trashcan out from under the sink when it came at me! As you can imagine, I screamed LOUDLY for Brad to get up and come take care of our little visitor. He thought I was being dramatic (which I usually am when it comes to arachnids), but quickly found out that I clearly was right this time. Ya'll, I mean this thing was the size of a small hampster! Well, my brave husband took his shoe and smashed it and it's guts squirted across the cabinet. SICK!!! We saved it so Mimi and Pops could see what we had been dealing with...hee hee!

After we recovered from our trauma, we headed up towards the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at Sliding Rock. We all got out and let Henry see the water and the big rocks. I used to go to Sliding Rock with youth group growing up and I can't wait for Henry to go when he's old enough. However, even in the dead of summer the water is FRIGID so this mama will not be venturing down that big rock again. That will be left up to the daddy:)



We also stopped along the way at Looking Glass Falls. This waterfall is 60 ft and beautiful! Brad put Henry in the backpack and we walked down the path to get up close. There was at least a 10 degree drop in the temperature with the wind coming off the water. Henry's little face was so red when we left.

The cold weather was nice for a while, but i'm sure glad to be back on the coast where it's 70 degrees today! We got back to the cabin at 2:00pm and all took a 2 hour nap. HEAVEN!

Mimi and Pops met us for dinner at a Ed Boudreaux's BBQ and Henry was soooo excited to see them. It was hard getting him to go to sleep that night!

Sky Top Orchard

On Wednesday morning Brad, Henry and I traveled to the Sky Top Orchard in Flat Rock, NC. It's about an hour away from the mountain house and well worth the trip. There were tons of pumpkins and row after row of apples to be picked. Henry loved running through the orchard and he and Brad thought it was real funny to kick the apples down the hill at me to make me trip. I was definitely more into the actual picking of the apples than my boys!

I attempted to get a height pic of Henry, but he was very quick. I hope we can go back every year to see how much he's grown.


The weather was beautiful...cool and crisp. The leaves were all bright orange and red and the apples were ripe for the pickin.

We paid a whole whoppin' $8 for a basket to collect our "peck" of apples. We also split 2 homemade apple donuts that were a $1 a piece. This is such a cheap and fun family activity! On Friday night we had the most delicious cinnamon stewed apples!

The orchard also had some sheep and billy goats.

I LOVE this picture of Henry!

After we left Flat Rock, we headed to Hendersonville for the afternoon and had lunch at an old fashioned apothocary and walked the streets of this cool little town. They have an awesome Mast General Store and we all loved browsing through there. Henry was one tired little boy and slept most of the way back!

Hanna's Fine Things!

Saturday Hanna, Jean, and I traveled to Greenville to shop for Hanna's china, silver, crystal, and all the other good stuff you get when you get married. Jean and I also got measured for our bridesmaids dresses and we had a great girlie lunch at the Lazy Goat. It was a beautiful day and Hanna has picked out so many cool things for her registry!

Three Sisters before Dinner at Devani's
The fam at Devani's

Thanks Daddy and Deb for such a great time!

New Friends and a Playdate

Henry and I have new friends!!! YAY!!! Christine and her two little cuties, Olivia (2) and Chase (10 weeks), are supercool and I can see many fun playdates in the future for all of us. Last week we at lunch at the Kickin' Chicken and then this Friday we had a picnic at West Ashley park. Christine is the daughter of one of Frankie's great friends and we really hit it off instantly. She is laid back, easy to talk to, and so much fun! And Henry adores "Bivi". He cried when we left the ice cream shop Friday, so I said give Olivia a hug and they squeezed each other so tight. It was the cutest thing ever!

We're planning on playing once a week after Olivia gets out of pre-school at Noon.
It was like a summer day Friday and these two had beet red faces and were pouring sweat! They played on the playground and then we let them run in the soccer fields. We noticed instantly the difference b/w boys and girls. Olivia would run a little and turn back to make sure we were still there, never going too far away. Henry kept running towards a dog that was there and never looked back. I ended up having to chase him and we "raced" back.

Pumpkin Patch O' Fun!

Last Wednesday I took Henry to the Pumpkin Patch and let him "pick out" a couple pumpkins for our front porch. He loved running through the sea of "punkins" and I had to literally put him in a wheelbarrow with the 2 pumpkins to get him to leave.

There was a lady there with a little boy who was 7 months old. We started talking and I told her that I brought Henry here last year at that same exact age. She was sitting him in the pumpkins trying to get good pics and I almost got teary thinking of my little baby at that age. It really made me think of just how fast these babies grow up.
I love this phot of the back of him walking through the "punkins".
Henry was trying sooo hard to pick up this rather LARGE pumpkin!

Little China Man

A few weeks back Uncle D and Keller jet-setted across the country to San Fran. While there, they visited Chinatown and thought it would be funny to get Henry an authentic little oriental outfit. Complete with a mandarin collar and little braided ponytail that hangs off the hat. Well, it is HILARIOUS and I almost wet my pants when they dressed him in it and had him walk out. I am soooo tempted to have this be his Halloween Costume, but I already have the Leprechaun outfit ready. (Stay tuned for pics of that!)

Thanks D-dogg and Keller for giving us all a good laugh!!!

19 Months

I completely let Henry's 19th month birthday pass without posting. So here's the update. This month has brought even more vocabulary explosions! He is really able to communicate his needs and wants to us and I think this has resulted in MUCH less frustration...on his part and mine. He has really 'calmed' down with the hitting and time-out is at a very minimum. He is so loving and cuddly right now and it makes my heart swell. My favorite thing right now is when I ask Henry "who loves you?" and he replies "my mommy!" I turn into a puddle on the ground. Seriously, who can ask for more than that?!?!
I know i'm gonna jinx this by writing it down, but Hen is sleeping in till 7:00 or 7:30 every morning. And when he does wake up, he sits in his crib and talks and laughs for a while. HEAVEN! This poses a bit of a problem for the days that I work, but I just pack his breakfast and send it with him to Mrs. Brenda's.
There HAS to be some innate TRUCK and TRACTOR gene in boys, b/c I find that most moms of boys report on this. He is obsessed with trucks of all kinds and points them ALL out to me as we drive down the road. He yells, "chunk truck" for dump truck and "BIG truck". So cute! He loves to stand outside when the trash men come with their big tractors and trucks and just stares in amazement.
Sometimes I still can't believe that I was chosen to be the mommy of this perfect little person. I am so thankful for every minute that I get to spend with him and can't imagine my life without him.

Wrestling a Bear!

Getting Henry in his pj's after bathtime is very similar to what I think would be like wrestling a bear. I get him out of the tub, dry him off the best I can and then he is OFF...like a rocket down the hall. "Necked" as a jaybird! Last night he was especially 'jacked up' due to drinking about a gallon of sweet tea (thanks Pops), so I handed over this duty to my husband. He was thrilled...let me tell ya.

He starts off on one end of the sofa and crawls to the other end while Brad chases him trying to put his pants on. He wiggles and wiggles away until....
Brad lures him in with baba and holds him down and yanks the pants on....
Got him...WHEW!!! Mission accomplished!

HAIR!!!

WE FINALLY HAVE SOME!

Henry's hair is really coming in now and getting pretty thick. Still red and looks like it may be wavy. It's even starting to form a little flippy curl in the back and on the side of his ears...which I LOVE!

FAUXHAWK Nov 2007
MOHAWK Oct 2008

Busy, Busy Weekend

Lunch with T.T. and Friends

TT invited Henry and I to have lunch with she and 2 friends at the Mustard Seed (my fave) on Friday. She was in town directing a wedding and we were so glad to get to see her even for a couple hours. She brought Henry the cutest pumpkin water bottle and halloween cookies!

Picnic with Papa

Papa got up at the crack o' dawn and drove to Chucktown to keep Henry for me while I worked on Saturday. He arrived at around 8:30 and Henry was sooo excited! After work I packed us a picnic and we went to Charles Towne Landing for the afternoon. We explored the animal kingdom and got to see the enormous buffalo up VERY CLOSE. Henry was mezmerized and kept saying "bye bye buffo". We also saw an alligator and he say's "bye bye chomp chomp". After that we came home and watched football all afternoon and waited for Brad to get home to grill out steaks. We had so much fun with Papa and Henry was very sad when he left. Thanks for coming down Daddy! We love you!

Tourists in Our Own Town

DJ Hanky Panky

Sunday we lazed around the house all morning. Henry watched cartoons and Brad and I just layed around being lazy parents. It was so nice. After Mimi and Pops got out of church we all went downtown and had lunch at Jim and Nicks BBQ, played at Marion Square, window shopped on King Street, and walked thru the Charleston Place. The above pic is in Brookstone. They have headphones where you can listen to the music and Henry was kinda stunned by it. Going downtown is like going to another city b/c we so rarely go down there just to walk around. The college is back in session and the city is all 'a buzz' with fall tourists and students. I love watching all the people and different fashions. Some I loved and some not so much!

"4 Things" Meme

MC tagged me for a "4 things" meme. What is a meme, you may ask? Well, Wikipedia's definition is this:

A meme (pronounced /miːm/) [1] consists of any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation.

So here goes!

4 Things I was doing 10 years ago:

• Trying to figure out how to raise enough money for a Thursday night kegger and a place to hold said kegger.
• Living on 3rd floor Clinton dorm with Rebecca, Marge, and Jennifer Kendall. All our beds in one room...CRAZY!
• Trying to figure out how to study enough to get by and go out.
• Probably getting ready for Homecoming!

4 Things on my to do list:

• Go to Lowe's to get mums and pumpkins for the front porch
• Go to bank
• Call lady about making Henry's Halloween costume :)
• Pick up clothes from dry cleaners

4 Things I love about my husband:

• He knows me better than I know myself and loves me despite my MANY imperfections.
• He loves our child more than I think he ever thought was possible.
• He is really funny and makes me laugh at least 10 times a day.
• He is such a 'hands on' father and most of the time does things for Henry and for me without being asked.

4 Jobs I've had:

• "Hostess with the Mostess" at Grand Lake Lodge, CO.
• Human Service Specialist - aka. arse wiper for the elderly at MUSC Psych Hospital
• Marketing and Admissions Direction for The Bridge Assisted Living
• Director of Sales for Hilton Hotels/Hampton Inn and Suites
• *MOMMY*

4 Movies I've watched more than once:

• Dirty Dancing
• Steel Magnolia's
• Father of the Bride
• Wedding Crashers

4 Places I've Lived:

• Powdersville, SC
• Clinton, SC
• Grand Lake, CO
• Charleston, SC

4 Place I've Been:

• San Francisco/Wine Country
• Cancun, Mexico
• Jamaica
• New York City

4 Places I want to visit:

• Martha's Vineyard
• Italy
• France
• Greece

4 Shows I Watch:

• Criminal Minds
• Grey's Anatomy
• The Wiggles (hating every minute of it, but my child loves it so I suffer through it)
• House

4 Things you may not know about me:

• I am a foodie. You probably do know this about me, b/c I blog about it so often. I love to cook, eat, dine out, dine in, WHATEVER!
• I recently suffered a miscarriage/partial molar pregnancy and have to wait 6 months to have another baby:(
• I almost lost my thumb due to a little "late night accident" my senior year of college at the Carolina/Clemson game in Cola.
• I have begun to bite my nails again after being "clean" for 6 years. I'm workin' on it!

4 People I tag:

• Sarah
• Jean
• Sandy
• Jennifer Jones