Rainy Day = Aquarium Fun!

I'm a Soccer Mom!

I could totally be driving a min van with all the soccer equipment and one of those little soccer ball gas covers...but I'm going to stick with black beauty, because she has served me well and let's face it, I love my Sequoia! An upgrade would be nice, but for now, let's just get her paid off!

Back to soccer. B has been doing it for right at a month now and seems to love it. 5 year old soccer is supposed to be a fun learning tool for the kids to start working on what it's like to be part of a team. Real tough for this momma, because I am a little competitive. We don't keep score...but I know how many goals my boy made! 1st game was a little tough for all. Somebody was overly sensitive and even ran off the field crying because he wasn't being cheered on. Trust me. He was! He whined the entire game and wanted to know why no one passed the ball to him. There was alot of DRAMA! This past weekend we had one game on Saturday and one on Sunday and he scored in both. YEAH BRAXTON!!!!!! He was so proud of himself. After he scored and everyone cheered, did a few high 5's, he came running over to me with the biggest smile of pure pride for a kiss. Yep...he wanted a kiss. Sunday Pancake Papa and Mimi and Pops were there to see him make his 2nd goal. YEAH again! Still a little whining through out, still a little drama, but I see improvements and well, isn't that the point of this. Now if only the practices could go smoother. I feel for Coach Erik and his patience required for seven 5 year old boys, who have the attention span of ZERO!

Go Team Frogs!!!

Chappelle enjoys hanging out with her friends during practice too. Who doesn't like a little girl time!?!?

More Island Fun

PICTURE POST..PICTURE POST

Yes, I am 6 weeks late on posting pictures from Chappelle's birthday and yes, I only have 5 from our celebration. I need a professional photography to follow us around. It's hard to entertain, watch kids and yet, capture all the cute moments. So at this point, I will take what I get.

How stinking cute is she though????

I LOVE FALL!!!!

There is no question about it. No denying it. I absolutely am in love with Fall. I woke up this morning and it was 60 degrees outside. One of the things that excites me about this weekend is the idea of a perfect cup of coffee, relaxing on the back porch in cool weather. Another thing that excites me about this weekend.....no real plans! We are known for our packed schedules and I am looking forward to chilling and I say "bring on the rain!" I loaded the crock pot with Chili before leaving for work this morning. Add some cheese, scallions and sour cream, along with cornbread and beer and that sounds like the perfect combo for a wonderful Friday night at home with the hubster and kido's. We may take a trip to the aquarium tomorrow. Try out a few new recipes: Banana bread, Saltine Cracker Toffee and a Orange Dreamsicle fruit dip to have to munch on. Will post pictures and comments on those next week.

If it weren't going to get back up in the mid 80's next week, you know I would be all over some pumpkins and mums!

Bittersweet!

I haven't had the courage yet to write on this subject, but this time next week, I will be the momma, very proud mommy at that, of a kindergartner!

I can not believe my little goose is old enough to be in school next week. This is a weird spot to be in, because I love that he is finding his own independence and is becoming such a smart, sweet, inquisitive, caring, not to mention very handsome little guy. I love this little boy more than he will ever know. There are times he drives me down right insane and I don't know what to do, but I wouldn't change any of it for the world. No one could have prepped or warned you for the ups and downs, the roller coaster ride of parenting. At this point in our lives, the 3 areas we are really working on is whining, ungratefulness and repeatedly asking the same things over and over and over again. Based on conversations with other moms, it's not just us, but good lord is it a test!

I digress! We have done alot for Braxton to get him ready and amped up for this transition. We decided to re-do his bedroom. The monkey/giraffe mural that Bryan painted - gone! The jungle themed room - outta here. For the big boy, that's going to big boy school, needed a big boy room for sure. PIRATES! I found a great comforter, we painted his room, one wall red, the other three walls super light blue. Ordered a skull/cross bones/ pirate ship decal. Still looking for a few things to finish it up, but we are super pleased! We got him a new big boy book bag loaded with supplies. Bryan and I went for our first parent/teacher orientation last night and met Ms Colenda and Ms Hess.

Let me just tell you - it's going to be one of the hardest days of my life. I tear up every time I think about it. Bryan and I are going to drop him off together. Bryan said he will need to scoop me up off the floor. ugh! I plan to work until 1:00 and then I am going to spy on him in his new surroundings. Then when school gets out (still sounds weird to say) he and I will spend the afternoon together in a mommy and me day discussing his very first day at school. I see fuzzy peach in our future and maybe a little bowling or something amazing! Just something he and I can do together to celebrate!

Braxton Everett "Goose" Carpenter - your mommy is super proud of you and loves you to pieces!!!!

Let there be ..... poop?!?

Chappelle pooped in the potty!!!! Waa Hoo! Totally think it was a fluke and if anyone is reading this, it may be TMI. But this is something we take serious in our house and we have poop! She "tries to potty" every night before her bath. Meaning she sits on the potty, says she pee pee's and fake flushes. She did this Monday night while I was getting jammies ready and I walked in to her sitting on the potty, leg up on the seat and then proceeds to stand up and said POOP! I walked over and sure enough my girl pooped. We clapped, we danced, we shrieked in excitement. I think she may have been a little scared at first, but boy did we make a huge deal about poop. It hasn't happened again. We aren't pushing it. It will come. But we know she can do it.....yeah Chappelle, we are so proud of poop!

Girl Time - Theraputic!

You know how much I love my girl time....and the Rascal Flatts concert was no exception. Les came in town Friday night so we were able to have some good one on one qt. We leisurely got ready Saturday, hung out with the kids while Bryan fished. Midday, Kelly picked us up, we scooped up my girl Kimmie and hit the road.
Conversations without having to interrupt come few and far between, so that in itself was great. We got to Raleigh, checked in, picked up some Scoobie snacks and let the festivities begin. We tailgated in 103 degree weather, got settled on the lawn and had a blast. Opening for RF was Sara Evans, who I am normally not a big fan of - but put on an amazing show, Easton Corbin, Justin Moore and then Rascal Flatts. It was so much fun!!! I have been trying to see them for years now and will tell you after that show, I will be back. A storm came in the last 30 minutes with the whole works, thunder, lightning and rain. It was amazing! Traffic completely sucked..but Waffle House at the end made up for it. Beside the heat the only downfall for the night was my license and money getting lost. I had it in Kel's back pocket and on one of the trips to the porta johns, it didn't come back with her.
By the grace of God, some kind, sweet man found both the money and license, tracked me down and sent it back to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thanks girls for yet another wonderful memory!!

Folly 2011

One of my absolute favorite weekends of the year - Folly Beach SC!

It's absolute mayhem with alot of adults, alot of kids and alot of alcohol all in one house! We have been doing this for at least 30 years. Started off with my granddaddy and his brothers and sisters and now 4 generations later....!

We have stayed in the same beach house for the last 5 years. When I say we have stayed in the same house, that's 19 people in one house. 11 adults and 8 kids, 7 of them 7 and under! Hence all the alcohol. We usually all get in and settled Saturday night and then Sunday is Funday. We hang out on the beach ALL DAY LONG. Literally 9-9! Any and everyone is more than welcome, the more the merrier. The only reason we go inside is to either put a kid down, make lunch or refill a cooler! It's always a good time and usually ends up with fantastic pictures. I normally get to see everyone in my immediate family this day. We started the Folly pub/bar crawl last year too and always filled with good memories and laughs! We have an amazing time getting the cousins together both old and young. I wish we could see each other more than once a year. Guess it gives us time to re-coup for the next gathering:)