A visit to the grandparents

This week we got to spend some time with my parents. One last week's stay before school starts and we have to revert to only weekend get aways. Corby was gone to a golf camp all week, so me & the kids went to my parents. We had a lot of fun & while we were there, I started digging into my stuff that I had as a kid. Kensley had a blast playing with my old toys.
We found my cheer pom-poms
and they are about as big as her.

We also found my old paper dolls

and my old baby dolls

and my old Barbie dolls

PawPaw took the kids for a ride on the John Deere

and we took a trip to the park




It was a fun week for all!

New Blog Layout

I've been experimenting all night long (yes, it's way late... errr... more like early) trying to get my new blog look just precise. I'm doing it in honor of my birthday. However, trying to figure out how to replace my banner at the top is getting the best of me. I want it to go across the whole page, not just sit in the top middle. So if anyone has any clues to how I can do this (html code or whatever) I'm all ears. I've searched, googled, finagled, etc. trying to get it to work & nothing.

My friend Rebecca graciously showed me how to make my own backgrounds & upload them to my blog. I've got a lot more experimenting to do, but for now, I'll settle for this. It represents my fave color combination's & I was inspired from the banner that I made a few days ago. It matches, so whatever. I'm using my creativity & that's what I enjoy. So you can look forward to many more new blog looks in the coming months. I tend to be trendy to whatever is going on for the month.

Beach: Part 3

Places we went & stuff we did... (yup... sounds pretty southern to me)

Always a favorite spot...a trip to Krispy Kreme for some hot & now sinfulness!


Corby, Johnny & Mae went parasailing

We went to the Dixie Stampede... that was really fun!


Check out the look on Chandler's face when they put that chicken on his plate!

Played putt-putt.

Kensley got quite a few hole-in-ones... or "home runs" as she called them. She did a lot of putt the ball... run pick it up... and drop it in the hole. This is her doing her famous arm pump & "yesssss" move.

Went to Broadway at the Beach, ate supper & rode a few rides...
...check out this shot. I couldn't do that again if I tried.

Beach: Part 2

As always, we take family pictures. Here ya go.

A New Addition to our family

The boys have been begging for a dog for a while now. I'm stubborn & I just don't want anything else to take care of right now. So I happened to mention while we were at the beach last week that maybe they could get a hamster or a guinea pig & see how they do with that before we dive into getting a dog. (** mental note: don't ever mention anything like this to a kid unless you plan on doing it that day or either plan on hearing about it every hour until you make the purchase).

We got home from the beach on Saturday night & Sunday afternoon we were en route to PetSmart in Gastonia to purchase a guinea pig. I did my research & everything I read said that GP's make a better pet, esp. for smaller kids. Well they were out of them... none to be purchased. We had two very mad boys & Kensley even started crying. At this point all she had said all along was "the gee pigs are gonna fart" (... we saw the movie G-Force on Saturday). Yes, my sweet little girl said "fart".

You know how it is when you REALLY want something & you'll pretty much get anything second best just to satisfying that craving. They decided they wanted a hamster at this point... just wanting to buy something. We convinced them to wait until today & we would visit the local pet store in Shelby in hopes they had GP's. So today we purchased our very first family "pet".... her name is Sprinkles & she's 9weeks old. So far not a lot of activity... just a lot of staring & sitting in our lap. She's pretty cute regardless.

Beach: Part 1

Oh, well... we're back (sigh) from the beach. This is our 6th year that we have vacationed with the Stamey family. It was a great time away & very much needed break. We really adhered to the meaning of vacation this year & relaxed a lot. Everyone had a great time & the kids loved playing together. As usual I took plenty of pictures, so I'm going to post our vacation in several parts. Today I'll post our beach photos.

Kensley LOVED the ocean! Corby would hold her & go into where the waves would break & she just laughed. She wanted to go again & again. I, on the other hand, do not prefer to go into the ocean and this year since Corby saw several sand sharks right in the shallow end... I pretty much stayed out. (they were sand sharks, but still....) We built plenty of sand castles & I didn't take a single picture of one of them.... (gasp!) The boys rented beach bikes & took a ride down the beach with Kensley in tow behind Corby. They loved it & even commenced to having a track race. Her & Daddy would take walks in the beach every morning. She was usually the first up & I'm not willing to roll out of bed until at least 8am, so she would go to the person she knew would get up with her... Daddy. We have lots of... ummm, pretty....broken seashells. Corby caught a crab... came right up at his feet. Last year I caught a sea urchin... wonder what it will be next year?

Not sure what this was all about.



Kensley peeing in the ocean... who taught her this?! (smirk)