Christmas Daybed

I spent a good amount of the time we were in Florida working on Bethany and Kelly's Christmas present. For the full story behind this daybed, click here.

T-DAY TRIP: Robert is Here!

Our first fun adventure with Kelly and Bethany was a trip to ROBERT IS HERE. Read here for the story behind this deluxe fruit stand.

They had some pretty quirky animals in their petting zoo. This emu shot is for Stephen C.

Rock was most interested in the baby goats. Probably because they were interested in the baby humans.

The turkeys seemed kinda antsy. Perhaps they knew there were only 5 days left to Thanksgiving!

Addy did not do any petting.

The red socks were key to tying Rock's look together.

That's the donkey barn in the background.

But more than any animal, Rock was most interested in his favorite fruit. Bananas.

He was very intrigued by the baby ones sized just for him.

They brought out his toothy grin.

Can you guess which shake we picked to drink?

He actually cried when I took it away from him to get a few sips for myself.

Again, the bananas bring a grin.... or at least Rock's unique eyebrows-raised version of a grin.

With his belly full, it was time to burn some calories dancing with Grammy Cokie.

He also ran around this old Ford truck to burn off some steam.

T-DAY TRIP: Barnetts

Our final stop on the way to Miami was at the Barnetts. Oh wait, that's not a picture of them. I didn't get a picture of them! Oops! But we REALLY enjoyed our stay at their five star hotel. The beds were comfy, the entertainment was perfect (HGTV), the food was delicious and Ken even washed our car before we set out! Thanks a lot Ken and Carolyn!
We were so happy to finally be in FLORIDA!

T-DAY TRIP: Hudgens

Our second day of travel was only 1.5 hours long. We drove to Columbia to stay with the Hudgens.

Finally! A laptop that Rock was allowed to play with! He was so delighted and completely oblivious to the fact that it was princess-themed.

Not only were Jonathan and Elizabeth (not pictured above) and McCrary in attendance...

We also got to catch up with Greg, Lauren and Reese...

Frank (not pictured at all -- sorry Frank!) and Kristin introduced us to their new son Walker. AND...

Cinderella (Copeland) and an Indian (Jay) came to dinner!

The moms and their kids!

You know how your nose gets rubbed raw when you have a cold? Jay showed us an easy way to make it feel better quick.

The best picture I got of Rock and McCrary.

The second best picture of the two of them. Thanks again to the Hudgens for an evening of delights!

T-DAY TRIP: First Stop Reddicks

So my mom, Rock and I chose to drive down to Miami so we could stop in with friends along the way. The first stop was in Charlotte with our friends Lauren and Rob Reddick and their three kids. Lauren and I have been friends since 2nd grade (or earlier?). It was so fun to see her again and play with her adorable children.

The boys were really sweet to Rock... bringing him age appropriate toys and trying their best not to whack him in the head as they wrestled around.

The last time I saw Matthew (our Godson) he was about a year old.

Marshall put some green paint under his nose just for these pictures.

And Millie was just too cute for words! I think the flash startled her.

We were so thankful that the Reddicks put us up for the night and showed us around town.

Audrey and Nathan

Also before our trip, we visited Audrey and Nathan. Once again, I got no really good pictures of the two of them. But here's Rock relishing sitting in their dining room chair.

Laundry and Packing

It's getting harder and harder to put up laundry these days.

And packing for our Thanksgiving trip? It was close to impossible with Rock around!

Although this shepherd/boxer look sparked thoughts of the upcoming Christmas season.

Infection

So, right before we left for our trip to Florida for Thanksgiving, Fix got an infection in his leg. At first we thought it was a spider bite, but when it got so infected and gross that he couldn't stand on it, we went to the doctor's for some further testing. Turns out it was the MRSA strain of staph infection.

Three doctors appointments, two lancings (where his wife almost fainted), two hard-core antibiotics, one emergency room visit and dozens of pieces of gauze later, it is healing up nicely.

The silver lining was that while it was healing up, Fix was able to spend some quality time bonding with our couch. Oh and his son.

Who knew that a Google image search for "dogs" could produce such delight?

p.s. Fix had me take many pictures of his nasty leg but as an act of kindness to our blog readers, I refuse to post them here.

These Pictures are Old...

...but they show something that Rock and his dad love to do together...Relax and Read!
Fix is usually prepping for his sermons and Rock is prepping for learning how to read.

This is one thing I love about our townhouse -- how much sunlight streams in the dining/family room. It's so nice to sit or lay on the futon and soak it in. Especially now that it's getting colder.

Leaves

Rock and I recently took a walk around the neighborhood because he really likes to be outside. This was the first time he really appreciated the leaves and wanted to pick them up.

I tried to interest him in large, pretty leaves like the ones I found (pictured above). But Rock was more interested in finding ugly, broken leaves.

In fact, this one is the prettiest of all the leaves that he found. Every other one was crumbly and brown.
Regardless, I love celebrating Fall with Rock.

Happy Halloween!

Hey Chunky Monkey! Turn around!
It's Rock! The cutest monkey this side of the Mississippi (apparently his Cousin Caleb also was a monkey for Halloween so obviously, he's the cutest monkey on that side of the Mississippi)! It is fitting that this ended up being Rock's costume because he has been known to eat 4+ bananas in one day.
We went to my parents neighborhood to trick-or-treat because it was the last night that Cousin Addy, Aunt Bethany and Uncle Kelly were going to be in town.
The monkey hangs out with his cousin Addy. Hard to believe Rock was wearing that exact same outfit this time last year.
At this point, the monkey was done with taking pictures. Time to trick-or-treat!
This is his punk face. Also known as his CAN WE PLEASE GO TRICK OR TREATING AND STOP TAKING ALL THESE PICTURES face.

We set off with stroller knowing that an activity that starts that close to Rock's bedtime is going to leave him too tired to walk. Of course he wanted to push the stroller rather than ride in it.

Aunt Susanna came home from work just in time to join the fun. Rock did a good job making noises like a monkey or saying "Trch" when we asked him to say trick-or-treat, and he always signed "thank you" for his candy. Also, he quickly learned that it's smart to take more than one piece of candy out of a bowl. Good work son.