College move in day

Well it is done. My eldest son is all moved into his dorm room. We took the whole family and a suburban load of stuff to freshman move in day. It was nice to be out of our town to a place where it is much cooler. The dorm was nice and very clean. Important to a mom not to a teenage boy. The room was very small- but he will do fine. It was very hard for me to leave him there. I know we raise them and hope we do it well so they can fly on their own ready to face the world. But I honestly must say it was one of the hardest things I have ever done to drive away and him not be coming home with us. My heart has a huge piece broken off of it.

Everyone says it will get easier but I am not sure they are right. It is very lonely with him gone and I miss him terribly. Now, if I could just stop crying.

Beach 2009 Trip

Beach Time 2009

Well we are back and it was a nice vacation. But it is nice to be home. The kids had a blast and Jack and Sophie said they want to go back.

Here are some photos from the trip.

Here's the gang including grandma building a castle. She still loves to play in the sand and so does Daddy. The castle didn't get very big as well the attention span of the little ones went elsewhere. 

This is Jon and he was the boogie board demon on this trip. He went out so far to the delight and fear of his younger siblings. They kept worrying he was too far. He is also our big digger. He will sit in the sand digging a hole for hours.

This is Jack. He loved the water as long as it was at his level. He did not enjoy going out with his dad but preferred to hang near the edge. You will notice he likes to scream or make noise no matter what it is he is doing. Very loud child.

Here is Sophie with dad. She was not too afraid to try anything. She loved going out with dad and jumping waves and such.

Here is Aunt Trisha doing what she did most other than covering up with a blanket on the couch because she was sunburnt- she is looking for shells. And man did she find alot of awesome ones. 
 
The trip is over but we have lots of good memories and photos to remember it by. We will plan it again for next year..not sure if it will be on the 4th but it will be summer.
Glad to be back though - even to the kitchen from hell.

My Home Town

I thought of showing off our little town in North Carolina.

Now first off I apologize for some of the pictures. My car window shows up in some. I did these with the two little kids in tow and they were not up to getting out at every place to take pictures. They were great troopers driving around do what we did though so thanks you two.

Our town is a small town - pretty much a bedroom community to a bigger town north and south of here so not alot of modern things to do but we do have a great deal of old stuff.

We have 4 historic home districts and a historic downtown. It is small but we like it that way. We have all the modern conveniences not to far away with out all the congestion and traffic.

We'll start at our house. It is a foursquare and we have it all decked out for the 4th of July. I love to decorate for all holidays and being military anything patriotic is always fun.

Next is our neighbor- funny thing we bought this house in 2003 and did lots of renovations and cleaning up to it. But in 2007 with the addition of a 4th child we needed more room. We tried to get an addition built but none of the contractors wanted to deal with our historic board and their lengthy processes. So, when the green foursquare came up for sale we bought it and then sold this one. This one is a french eclectic with some Mediterranean influences. I loved the the house and its layouts.

This next house is on our street. It was owned by one lady till she was about 90 something. In 2003 she sold it and a company came in and did all the new work you see on it. They then sold it for quite a hefty profit and it now adds to the flair of the street.

This next bungalow is at the top of our street. It is owned by friends of ours. They bought it after the only owner walked from it 15 years prior. He locked the doors and walked away. Did not clean anything out- not furniture or food - yuckie. They bought it after it had been boarded up for 15 or so years. I have never seen so much trash go to the curb when they started working on it. It went a long way from where it began with them and is now a eye catcher to behold. They did an awesome job and we loved watching the transformation.

This bungalow is huge and very deceiving from the front - it goes on and on forever.

My military family friend lives here and she enjoys decorating and gardening too.

This house is around the block from us. It is done to the nines. It is a very formal house and nice to look at.

This house is one of the oldest we have in our district. It is the Poe House and a new military family bought it and is fixing it up. Can't wait to see what they do with it. I absolutely am in love with the little oval window at the top. And when the older lady lived there her gardens were to die for. I hope they bring them back to their glory.

This next house is a storybook and is owned by our friends. It is so darling it has the windy staircase inside and lots of little hidey places and built in window seats..very cute. She is in the process of bringing back the rose gardens that the original owner was known for.

This bungalow just went on the market and the lady that owned it did a great deal of work on it. It was another one that sat empty forever. She painted it and did tons of gardening. It should sell fast.

This is another military family of friends. They used to live over in our district but moved to another one into a smaller bungalow. It is a darling place.

This is the home of our previous HPC chairman. It is huge and he takes care of it as one should. He has redone all the woodwork and it is a beauty.

This the the home of one of my friends. It has all the cutest windows I have ever seen. They are to die for. She has the coolest wisteria vine growing across the front and it has a very big front porch. They are known for their Friday evening parties on the porch.

This house was the built to be a motel back when Northerners were going south to Florida. Our hometown was a good middle stopping point for the travelers. It has a Mediterranean feel and look at those original clay tiles on the roof..amazing.

This is another cute cottage in another district in our town. I love the quaint simplicity of it.

This house is up the road from us. I love the dark green paint of it. And of course, a porch is to die for.

This one is down the road too. It is a brick bungalow and I have never seen one like it. I love how immaculate it is at all times. The older man who lives here is a stickler on his yard and it shows.

This is the theater where you go to watch the play. The tin ceilings are AMAZING. The Temple Theater hit some rough times this year financially as so many small town theaters did..but we think it is on track to another great year.

Next is the elementary school. Well it used to be our neighborhood elementary but when towns across America deemed it was better to build huge schools outside of neighborhoods requiring children to ride buses instead of walking and biking it was sold and now is home to many townhouses. They are really cool with 20 foot ceilings and such. A great use to something instead of tearing it down.

 This is another neighborhood icon. The Fairview Dairy Bar- it is know for great lunches and my kids swear by its ice cream. And as you can see from the cars - it is busy all the time all day long.

This is one of my fave old churches in town. I love it's Gothic window and who doesn't love a bright red door?

This is Depot Park - the train kinda gives it away. Our downtown does not have a courthouse to anchor it all so years ago the powers that be decided to create a courthouse square effect without a courthouse. It all centers on depot park. It has the original train house - one engine on display that the kids climb on to their delight. It has the fountain that in the summer months is the largest sprinkler around. You will always see kids in bathing suits running through it. It has a stage at one end that holds movies in the spring and fall and also Function in the Junction in the summer- concerts on the lawn. The farmers market is held here and so are many other events including the 4th of July celebration.

Here is another shot of Depot Park.

Now lets head back to the housing areas. This is a most darling yellow cottage on a street that is adorable. All of the homeowners have such pride in their houses.

This house is on that same block..isn't it adorable. You know in the South a porch is almost a requirement along with an accent. Gotta love that red front door.

This next bungalow is around the block from me. I love this house but more so I love her ability to make anything grow. She has the ultimate green thumb- it amazes me.

This bungalow is our former HPC staff members house. It just went through a paint overhaul and I love the colors they chose. They just go with the house perfectly. I adore the upper windows and their porch is so nice. They also have a great big backyard but I didn't take a picture of that. I kind of think backyards are private to the families.. You need that at times.

Look at the small concrete driveway with grass in between - I love those - not so much concrete. Looks good and adds to the house I think.

This is another house up the street from us. I love her porch columns how they are short on top of brick pillars. Very neat and it is grey and I love grey.

This huge bungalow was bought by a family from California. They have done tons of work to it inside and out. They chose these new colors as previously it was shades of unattractive pink. Yuckie. I was so glad when they got rid of the pink. It is huge and has a full basement with a built in bar. Their wraparound porch is so big you could have a bed out there to sleep in the fall and still have room for porch furniture.

This little yellow cottage is on a main street as the wires let you know..but I love it. As most of these pictures show- underground wiring is not a thing of historic districts. I wish they would put it underground as it just interferes with the view.

Well we are back to my house so the tour must be over. I hope you enjoyed it.

As they say down south..y'all come back now y'hear. We can drink Sweet tea on the porch.

Father's Day

Well to all the dads out there- Happy Father's Day.

And to my hubby - thanks for being a great dad to our kids..

... doing what dad's do best. Assembling all the toys from parties. Thanks Dad.

My baby has graduated high school

Well he did it !!!

My little baby boy graduated high school.

And though I am so proud of him I still am a bit sad and wish for the days when he was 3 and wore elmo sandals and rode a tricycle and loved hugs and kisses from his mom.

I love the big man that little snuggle bug has grown into.

Good job Josh.

Arrgh too much to do not enough time :)

Well this weekend was a whirlwind of activity. I have decided that we were going to try different festivals in neighboring towns this year instead of the same old "our town" ones.

This weekend was the 41st Buggy Festival in Carthage. It advertised all free rides for kids so I figured it would be good for that alone.

As you can see the kids loved the "in the air" ride. They were jumping like pros. They have said they need to learn to do flips for next year. 

 Then it was on to the swing and the little train.

You gotta love kindergarten

The best Mother's Day gift

My terrific kid

Well today was my mom's day celebration at my kids kindergarten. It was an exceptionally important day as it was just as much about him as me. You see they do terrific kid in his class. You have to go every day getting a smiley face - which means you can't get in trouble for a whole week then the kids vote on all the eligible kids to see who gets to be "terrific kid" the next week.

Only kids who haven't been that get to be voted on unless no new ones are available. Well my lovely son has tried so hard all week but he manages to blow it either on thursday or friday.

So, he asked me last week what I wanted for mother's day and I said - for you to be terrific kid and get me the sticker for my car. So, that lovely kid worked very hard all this week and today when I showed up for the mom's celebration he ran up to me and said - I did it I was good all week so I get to be terrific kid next week. Let me tell you that will be the best mother's day gift I get this year. All the other kids have been it in his class - some twice so it was his turn. And dang it he worked so hard being good. I love that little man and am so proud of him.


He did seat me at the party and brought me a nice plate of strawberry shortcake and some pink lemonade and then gave me a very nicely decorated bucket with a marigold, a letter of why he loves me and a hand drawn picture of him and me. I loved them but I will be even happier come Monday afternoon when he can help me put the "terrific kid" sticker on the back of my car.
What a great day.