28 things I know about me at 28...

1. I love the Lord.

2. I love my husband more every day.

3. I love my children, and I know they make me a better, stronger person everyday.

4. I enjoy reading and I feel a little sad whenever I finish a book.

5. I love to laugh, I love to make my husband laugh, and I love to make other people laugh.

6. I love to sing, although I'm not that great at it.

7. I don't like to be stared at and I get nervous when a lot of adults look at me. However, I can make an absolute fool of myself in front of kids and not even think twice about it.

8. I skip when I'm happy.

9. I love the beach and especially the sound of the waves.

10. I enjoy projects.

11. I like to help other people organize but hate organizing my own stuff.

12. I'm a night person.

13. I know I should eat healthier, but unhealthy food just tastes so good!

14. My parents are awesome.

15. I love to shop.

16. I like to travel.

17. I enjoy people watching, and I'm fascinated that everyone is so different.

18. I'm not good at small talk, and I always think of something better I could have said about 10 minutes too late.

19. I love easy recipes....I'm scared to cook anything with too many ingredients or steps.

20. I do not like folding laundry.

21. I love dogs and babies...not necessarily in that order....

22. I have lots of creative ideas that seldom come to be more than ideas.

23. I hate spiders, and actually cried one time after walking through a web in the dark.

24. I'm good with kids, and I love to hear their thoughts and stories...they say the cutest things!

25. I'm a teacher, though it's not my paid profession right now.

26. I still get excited over new school supplies.

27. I like to volunteer.

28. And last but NOT least..... My friends and family rock! And Jesus is the Lord of my life!!

Samantha's FIRST birthday!

Samantha's first birthday was a great day. We celebrated in Easley and all of our family and some friends were able to come celebrate with us. We had her party at the clubhouse in my mom's neighborhood. Mom did a wonderful job with the decorations!! It was a cupcake theme and too cute for words!!

The birthday princess

Is that just for me?
Yeah!
What? You wanted me to try to stay clean?
The cupcake cake...it was almost too cute to cut!

Thank you mom for all you did!!! The party was great and the decorations were absolutely adorable!!!

Samantha and Jael celebrate one year...

For those who have not heard the story of Samantha and Jael, I will share it with you. Heather (Jael's mom) and I walked together almost everyday while we were pregnant. Our firstborns, Moriah and James, are good friends, so we would walk at one of the local parks and then let the kids burn some energy on the playground. Our due dates were one day apart, and we would remark about how funny it would be to be in the hospital together. Well, as our due dates came and went, Heather was scheduled for an induction and I was told to keep waiting (ugh!). Heather was scheduled for her induction on Aug 22nd. Well, we walked our usual 3 miles on the 21st and remarked about the UNBELIEVABLY hot weather (we STILL cannot believe we were crazy enough to walk in it) and about how we now knew who would deliver first. I told her I guess I would be coming to visit her in the hospital and begging them to induce me while I was there! Well, very early in the morning of the 22nd I began to feel some twinges, and I thought, "I cannot really be going into labor". I woke-up Andy at about 5 AM, who thought I was joking with him at first. I shook him again and said, "no, I'm serious"...that got his attention. I told him to lay back down...the pain was not that bad or close together so I was going to walk the house and see what happened. I've never had false labor, but there's a first time for everything. At about 7 AM I texted Heather and said, "You won't believe this...I'm in labor" She texted back, "I don't believe it" At about 10 I called my Dr's office who said to lay still and see if the contractions progressed or the pain got worse...both happened. I called back at 11 and they said, "Come on in when you can...we'll have a bed waiting." Well, at around 3:21 pm little Jael was born, and at 8:19 pm Samantha was born. They were born on the same day, in the same hospital, and delivered by the same Doctor. Their births took place 2 rooms from each other...almost exactly 5 hours apart!

Fast forward a year later, and they are now little one year olds. We knew that they would be celebrating their actual birthdays in different places, so we just had to take them out together with a cake for them to celebrate! Here are the pics....Their "birthday story" is still unbelievable a year later!!

Samantha and Jael...Oooo, it's cake!

Cautiously touching the cake
"Mmmm"
Going for it!

James and Moriah

10 years...where does the time go?

Andy and I attended our 10 year reunion the second weekend of August. It was a lot of fun and we were able to see people we hadn't seen in, well...10 years! LOL. We did find out the people do not change much in 10 years. Most of them were still as they had always been!

Andy and I

Bill, John, and Andy

Natasha, Katie, and I

Dr. John Perry and his sweet wife Lindsay (He was our valedictorian, and as Andy says, "The smartest guy I know".)

Andy and Chris -His college roommate at Anderson

Me and Kasey

There were other friends of ours that didn't get to make it b/c of the high price (which was high) and we missed them, but maybe the next reunion the cost will be more reasonable so more can come!!

Samantha 11 months

Okay, so I goofed! I looked back at my blogs and realized that I posted nothing about Samantha at 11 months...so here are some snaps from 11 months and I'll catch you up on milestones with the one year post!

I love those crazy puffs!

Hi!

Look I can stand...and I'm starting to cruise the furniture

Um, was I not supposed to get into mommy's bag? (We were putting away groceries, and she decided to dig out my lists, receipts, and extra coupons...it was all neatly folded together)

Look how much mommy saved!

One more Veggietales video...

Okay...if you have NOT seen "Wizard of Ha's", you need to. It contains possibly the best silly song ever...and I promise it will get into your head and you can't stop singing it!!!

P.s...I promise this will be my last silly song for a while...

To the love of my life....

Because I love you with all of my heart
And there ain't nothin gonna tear us two apart!

I love you Andy!!!!