Happy 1st Birthday, Caeden

Yesterday was Caeden's 1st birthday and this past Saturday, some family and friends celebrated with him at his house. We had BBQ for lunch and a yummy cake! Caeden did so good all day and enjoyed every bit of his celebration, especially having his very own cake :) Here are a few pictures from the party.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy :)

A mini-trip down memory lane

Last Sunday, my parents and I decided to take a drive up to McAdenville to see the lights. This used to be a yearly tradition when we were young but we haven't been in a LONG time. I went once when I lived in Charlotte but it's still be several years. So, since we were heading up that way, we decided to make a day of it and visit Winthrop and drive up to Charlotte. First stop, Winthrop to see how the campus has changed and visit all of the places we lived. I say "we" because my mom went to Winthrop, too, and married my dad before she graduated so they lived up there while mom finished her last year and dad taught. Here is where they lived....925 1/2 Ebenezer Ave.

Then, on to all of the places I lived while at Winthrop....well, most of them. My freshman year, good 'ole Margaret Nance

I didn't get a picture of the dorm from my sophmore year but they are all pretty much the same! This house was where I lived my junior year with two of my good friends and it was my favorite place that I lived. I loved this house! 327 Ebenezer Ave. It's looking a little run down :(

I didn't get a picture of where I lived my senior year but here is the apartment that I lived in my second senior year...lol! I went 4 1/2 years. I lived here in Yorkshire Apartments with another good friend, Lindsay. We were on the bottom floor and on that sliding glass door on the left is where Lindsay painted our pretty Christmas tree that stayed up until we moved out in May :)

and here is my very first apartment all by myself!! the last place I lived in Rock Hill before making the move up to Charlotte. I have to say, this apartment was my least favorite place that I lived.and then we got a picture of Bynes Auditorium on the way in.

And here are some pictures from McAdenville. It's changed so much since we went last and they have now built new houses!! Whoa!

Molly's worn out after a long day in the car. She's not spoiled at all!!

Charlotte Trip

I FINALLY made it up to Charlotte!!! It's been 2 years since my last trip up there and that wasn't even for fun. I was just on my way back from a work trip. So, I decided to use a vacation day to get up there and shop and visit with friends. It was so much fun and the weather was perfect for Christmas shopping. It just looked like it could have snowed at any minute and it was COLD! Jenny and I started the morning out shopping at a new shopping center that was awesome and then met friends (and former co-workers) for lunch at my favorite restaurant-THAI HOUSE. Oh, how I have missed that place :) Then, it was more shopping for the rest of the afternoon. But, before heading home, I stopped by Scott and Tiffany's house to meet their little girl who I haven't had a chance to meet yet. It was so nice to have time to catch up with them and play with their beautiful little girl! Can't wait to get back to Charlotte again soon!!!

The gang at Thai House: Scott, Jenny, me, Brian and Curtis

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was as crazy as ever this year but I wouldn't have it any other way! Thanksgiving day started out at 7:30am with the Electric City Gobbler 5k. This is my 2nd year participating and I brought along my dad this year. It's a great way to get in the spirit of the season since all of the money goes to feeding the hungry, but it's also a great way to work off some of those calories and make room for the Thanksgiving feast :) Now, most people who participate in this 5k are runners and we know that but my dad had a knee replaced two years ago right before Thanksgiving, so we decided just to walk it. Keep in mind, my dad's fast walk is my slow run, so I ran along beside him. It was so much fun! Here is my number and I need to get the picture of me and my dad off his his camera. After finishing the race and cleaning up, we headed over to my brother-in-law's parents house. They have invited us for the past few years and it's always a good time. We used to do our family Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night but my sister and her family were never hungry and we were starving after cooking the food all day, so we switched it to Friday night and now join the Mullikins at their house on Thursday for lunch. It works out well and we get to have 2 Thanksgivings.

The Mullikin extended family

The Mullikin Family

The Powell Family

Me, my sister and her sister-in-law

After the festivities were over, it was time to go back to the house and map out our black friday shopping trip. My dad and I go every year and have for the past 13 years or so? I'm not exactly sure but if I pulled out all of the snow globes from JCPenney that we get each year, I'm sure I could figure out how long we have been doing this. That is the only reason we get those snow globes!!! This year, we were out the door at 3:30am and off to JCPenney's. We grab the snow globes and hop back in the car to get to Sears. Unfortunately this year, a lot of stores decided to open at 4 so that makes it a little harder on us to get to each place. After Sears, we went to Wal-Mart, Sams, Kohls, Dick's Sporting Goods and then Lowes--all by 6am. At that point, we had to make a trip back to my house to drop off stuff or we wouldn't be able to fit anything else in the car. Then we went back to Target, Home Depot, Sears again, and Best Buy. I think we finished up earlier than we have in the past and were home napping by noon. That night, we decided it would be fun to go eat at the Beacon and then head up to the Gaffney outlets. As exhausted as I was, I was excited about going to the coach outlet and seeing what their Black Friday sales were like, especially since I had a coupon. It was a little overwhelming and at one point, I had 10 purses in my hands. I narrowed it down to 2 and so MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME! My first one! We finished up the weekend with our second Thanksgiving celebration at my parents house for lunch on Sunday. It was a GREAT weekend!

Meet "Gummy Bear" Mullikin :-)

Yes, Gummy Bear Mullikin!! We found out a 2 weeks ago that my sister is going to have another baby....YAY!! So, when she and my brother-in-law were at the doctors office, the doctor said the baby was about the size of a gummy bear. When they told my nephews that, the name stuck. Ben was "Sweet Pea", Mark was "Peanut" and now we have "Gummy Bear"! LOL! I'm guessing this baby will either hate sweets or love them. Ben loves his vegetables, Mark is alergic to peanuts so I wonder what this name will mean for baby #3. Needless to say, we are all SO excited and can't wait to see if the baby is a girl or a boy. I am rooting for a girl but of course will be happy with either!! They will find out sometime at the end of September/early October, I think. Unfortunately, my sister just sold almost ALL of the baby furniture, toys and clothing at a garage sale in April. And I mean, ALL! Since she has to get new stuff anyway, might as well be a girl, right???

The Finley Family

I got some heart-breaking news yesterday that a friend and former co-worker from college, lost her 15 month old little boy Tuesday, to a sudden brain aneurysm. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to meet this little fellow "Asher", but had kept up with him through pictures in emails and on facebook. I can't even imagine what this family is going through but I know that they will need lots of support and TONS of prayers!! Please pray for them....Shawn and Leah Finley.

www.robertasherfinley.com

**Just to warn you, this blog will tug at your heart strings a little**

Welcome Home!

Whew, it's been a while since I've posted a blog on here! So be prepared....this is a long one.

Well, as of today, my Dad is RETIRED!!! He will go into work briefly to say goodbye and they will pack up their closets (most of their belongings are already in the house in Anderson) and hit the road. For those of you who don't know, my Dad was the school Superintendent of the Ninety-Six school district, so my parents have been living in Greenwood, SC for the past 7 years. 3 years ago, they bought a house in Anderson for when they retire. I lived there for two years, which worked out perfect for both of us.....I was able to save money for a downpayment and in the meantime, I kept up the maintenance of the house. My parents decided last March to put their house up for sale, thinking it would take a while to sell with the way the market was. Boy were they wrong. It took 2 weeks. Needless to say, I was stressing since I was still living in their retirement house and wasn't sure where they were going to live. I knew I couldn't live with them and I hadn't even been looking at houses since I knew Dad wasn't retiring for another year. Turns out, I didn't need to worry. They found a garage apartment on the the lake, to rent for the next year. It was TINY! One bedroom, one bath, a small (and I mean SMALL) den and a tiny kitchen. There were also about 30 stairs to climb to get to this garage apartment. Ironic since Dad just had knee replacement surgery a year and a half ago. But, as of today, they are moving out of that garage apartment and heading over to start their relaxing life.

Ninety-Six has been a great place for my parents and Dad has loved working there and loved all of the people. They have been so good to all of us! This past Friday, they had their end-of-year luncheon for all of the teachers and staff. They honor teachers of the year and teachers who have been there for set numbers of years. And they honor the retirees. Well, since Dad was retiring, they had a special little something for him and asked my family to come celebrate. My dad knew that my mom, sister and nephews were going to be there but he didn't know that I took the day off to surprise him. As we arrived, the assistant superintendent arrived at the same time with red, puffy eyes. She said that it had been an emotional morning already at work. She even stated that they lady who does payroll in the office and who is also retiring, would not be attending the luncheon because she couldn't handle the it emotionally. So sweet! We all got our kleenex ready before Dad arrived. As a family, we had a special gift for him. I found a website that creates prints out of the special memories you provide them. You can go to www.yourmemorylane.com and check it out. We got our most favorite and special memories together, along with the logos from the districts that my Dad was superintendent at, and some of the past cars he had. Sounds funny but see the picture attached and you will see how it turned out. I wish I could explain all of the memories but here are a few:

1. When my sister and I were little, we LOVED to swing and see how high we could get before jumping out. One night we ran to the swings, dusted off the spider webs and started swinging. Before we swang too high, my sister went ahead and jumped out of the swing and ran off! What?? Well, what happened was as she was swinging, a spider got in her mouth and bit her on the tongue. Yep. She even recalls it being "furry". We had to rush her to the doctor to get a shot. Wasn't funny at the time but now it's a story we love to remember!

2. Again, when we were young, we used to have awesome snow storms! Much better than we have now, right? We would get inches and inches that would freeze over and make everything icy and perfect for sledding. Well, after a day on the sled, we were getting ready for bed and Dad went outside to put the sled away. He noticed how slick the driveway was and thought he would test it out. Keep in mind, he's in his PJ's, robe and slippers. Once on the sled, it took off down the driveway and he couldn't stop. He kept going farther and farther down the street and a high rate of speed and ended up at the deadend and the sled took off into the woods. LOL!! For a while, we couldn't figure out where he was! He had to walk back up the street from the woods in the freezing cold and in the icy and snow!

Those are just two of the funny family memories. So, back to the luncheon. Dad was presented with two awards....one by the two representatives of the House or Representatives and one by two Senators. He was truly surprised. He was really surprised by our gift and a few tears where shed when we gave it to him. I'm so proud of my Dad and even though this has been an emotional goodbye to Ninety-Six, he will always know how much they appreciated him and how much he loved that town and that district! Now for the first time in about 15 years, we will all live in the same town. It will be different, that's for sure, but it will be nice to have them so close! Welcome Home, Mom and Dad!!! (attached is a sign I made which will be put up at their house along with balloons today, to welcome them as they pull in their driveway!)