I just got filled my first 2 cavities ever. I can no longer see 20/20 so I have to wear glasses to see distance (driving and computer work mostly). and on Sunday night Brandon took me bowling and I woke up Monday morning and could barely get out of bed because my hip was hurting so bad. My wrist is a mess and my hip STILL isn't right and it's Wednesday night!
We did have the best time though. He took me to On the Border one of my favorite restaurants and then took me bowling and we had such a great time! It was so great to go on a date together and be just us!
But back to my point...I will be one quarter of a century in 2008. I can't believe it!!!!
but I'm okay with it. It has taken some time to get used to all these adjustments and to realize that I am officially not as young as I feel. But oh well!
I have never really felt my age, whatever that means! :) society is the one who "makes the rules" as to how you're "supposed to be" at a certain age...so it isn't set in stone, and we don't have to follow the norms they set. Go against the masses. To 'act your age' is completely just a societal way to limit people's creativities, imagination, and joy! Just be you! Don't let your age limit you. Don't let it make you who you are. Physical/biological age has nothing to do with anything! See beyond how long (or short) people have been here on earth... we can learn from EVERYBODY we meet!
That's all that was on my mind tonight!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The best present I have ever received (twice!)
I can't even put into words how excited and shocked and touched and blown away I was when I came home from work and MY piano was in my townhome!!!! Mom had it moved from New Jersey to North Carolina for me!!!! This piano was the best present I have ever received... from grandma in 1992. And now it was the 2nd best present I have ever received.. from MomMom, today. I feel unworthy to have been given such a precious gift, twice.... more on this later.
my comment on Brandon's blog
this was my response to Brandon's first post..... just wanted to have it here, for my thoughts, don't wan to publish it
Randi :) said...
Forgiveness is sometimes so hard. But who am I not to forgive? I know you learned your lesson and I know you will ALWAYS be EXTRA careful from now on with our boy. I really don't think that God intended for this to happen.... but He can turn anything around for the good, so I'm glad you are able to find something good come out of all this. I wish it never happened. I wish that I could comfort Raymond better... but if it takes an accident like this to make it happen - I say NO thank you!! But since the beginning, you've always been the comforter. You are the one that's most peaceful and calm, I'm the one who handles the details. I am the one who gets things done and takes care of things. Maybe someday I can have a little girl that will be a calmer personality and will be comforted by her mommie. Raymond went through his independent stage soo early and doesdn't want to be mommy's little baby. He is bonded so well with you. Maybe if we ever have a 2nd baby, you can be good at the details too and not just the comforting. Parenting sure is the toughest job ever huh? At least when you do it right.....Love you and I'm proud of what a great father you are. I just wish we could all be together more as a family.
Forgiveness is sometimes so hard. But who am I not to forgive? I know you learned your lesson and I know you will ALWAYS be EXTRA careful from now on with our boy. I really don't think that God intended for this to happen.... but He can turn anything around for the good, so I'm glad you are able to find something good come out of all this. I wish it never happened. I wish that I could comfort Raymond better... but if it takes an accident like this to make it happen - I say NO thank you!! But since the beginning, you've always been the comforter. You are the one that's most peaceful and calm, I'm the one who handles the details. I am the one who gets things done and takes care of things. Maybe someday I can have a little girl that will be a calmer personality and will be comforted by her mommie. Raymond went through his independent stage soo early and doesdn't want to be mommy's little baby. He is bonded so well with you. Maybe if we ever have a 2nd baby, you can be good at the details too and not just the comforting. Parenting sure is the toughest job ever huh? At least when you do it right.....Love you and I'm proud of what a great father you are. I just wish we could all be together more as a family.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Some of my most famous wildlife fiascos haha
What is it with me and wild life anyway. I have the funniest things happen to me all the time!! And the things that happen really ONLY happen to me! Lots of people wouldn't even believe the stories I tell if they didn't see it! But they are true!! I think that God just loves to keep my life exciting and He knows I love to tell stories so He gives me things to laugh about all the time!!
Some of my most famous stories are as follows. And I will do the shortened versions. Reading them, they are not as funny as when I can do the impersonations... I enjoy telling stories in person!
# 1 Randi & The Lizard
In 2004 I believe it was, Brandon and I were doing something outside at the house at Solera. The house on Solera Drive was where Donna J and I were roommates during college (and we also had 2 Lisa's come through as roommates, a Jenny and an Amber over our years there). So anyway... Brandon and I were getting something out of the storage closet, and we have these little green lizards everywhere down here on the coast of North Carolina. It's funny - but I am not scared of them, we've had them in the house, in my own bedroom even and they don't scare me. Yet snakes petrify me.... I can't quite figure out why. Lizards are just like them except with legs and a lot smaller... so I guess that's why.. anything without legs like that is just...wrong. Snakes are just ... GROSS, devilish!! but I digress again....
All of a sudden this lizard runs up the pants of my jeans (the outside though)!! and I am just freaking out... I am shaking my behind around looking like Beyonce with too much caffeine and I keep yelling Brandon Brandon is it off!!? is it off!! and He keeps saying it's gone it's gone and he is just CRACKING UP!.... Now, it's one thing if a lizard touches me and jumps off...that's fine I would have shrieked and that's it.... but the feeling of having something ON ME that won't come off brings me to another level of hysteria. So I bend down to look where I thought it was (it was right on my behind but I couldn't see it when looking over my shoulder) .... and I see this tail thing hanging down from the back of my pants and I just am losing my mind. "AHHH It's still there, Brandon get it off please please please.. somebody help me" and finally I realize the man of my dreams isn't going to rescue me during this one, he's having too much fun... so I grab for the "tail" and it wasn't a tail after all!! It was actually just a huge string hanging from my jeans that had tears, rips and threads everywhere.....So Brandon was right..... the lizard jumped off of me when he felt that first booty shake 2 minutes ago hahaha. So I was in hysterics for over 2 minutes for nothing. So Brandon got to experience the first of the many times he would see me freak out... and months later he would still propose to me after all that!
# 2 Randi & "The Bugs"
I have so many stories about cockroaches & grasshoppers... I don't even know which to tell. Down here, in the South, they call cockroaches..."water bugs". These water bugs, they look exactly like the grasshoppers look too... but to me I just label them all cockroaches so I won't feel bad killing it. Actually I have come to label everything bigger than a fly... a "bug". The day of my wedding was a great foreshadowing of what my life would bring the first 2 years of marriage. We had taken pictures in the gardens outside of the reception hall and went in to be introduced... we had a slideshow, toasts, dancing and then towards the END of the night Brandon took off my garter..... when I lifted up my dress, I thought I caught a glimpse of something on my crinolin (how in the world do you spell that?).. the fluffy stuff to make your dress float around. I keep investigating as everybody is watching Brandon prepare to take off the garter... and I peel back one layer, 2 layers and on that 3rd layer is something that looks like a cockroach!! That's when the "bug" label started.. "AHHH A bug!!"... I flicked it off me, it landed on brandon's shoulder and then I flicked it off him. It landed near my mother in law and she stepped on it inconspicuously yet victoriously! Everything happened so fast that nobody even noticed except the 3 of us and the photographer who probably took 200 pictures in 10 seconds haha. All the snapping made his camera go haywire so we have no pictures of the sceneexcept these 2 (blogger isn't uploading pics right now):
But we did get it on video though!! Then on our honeymoon... we went to New Orleans, went on a cruise to Mexico, came back to New Orleans and stayed there for a night. and we played in this really kinda sketchy place... Brandon said that after I went asleep, he saw a cockroach the size of a mouse and didn't sleep at ALL. He didn't wake me because he knew I'd go to the airport and wait for our plane the next afternoon rather than stay there any longer.... smart guy. He didn't tell me about that bug until months later.
So anyway, for the next 1.5 years after our wedding, the bugs would become a pretty big part of my life. We lived in a house that Brandon rented during his bachelor college years. It was just that... a dirty, ole bachelor pad that I definitely (with MomMom's help) made into a home and we really liked it... but it was still just old, and needed some TLC. It was the home Raymond came home to, and we have so many great memories there. BUT it had a problem...many problems really... the biggest one being that the bathroom needed to be completely gutted.. and the landlord just wanted to sell the house, so was waiting until we found a place to buy so he could sell it and be done with it! So nothing was ever fixed....so the tub dripped, the pipes were all cracked and so the house had a pool of water under it ALL the time.. more like a lake! Hence.. the 'water bugs' that came up through the drains into the house. I always associated cockroaches with cleanliness but I cleaned ALL the time and did everything I could... these bugs were here to stay.
Soooo in that house, whenever I was having a REALLY bad day... without a doubt, every single time.. a bug made an appearance where it wasn't wanted. The first bug was the week I found out I was pregnant! I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was about 14 - 15 weeks along! and I was shocked! I was on the pill! So needless to say... I was going through some emotions... and I was tired and sick. One day, I was just a mess.. more than usual.... and I was screaming, if one more thing happens, that's it! I am done. I am about to burst! All I wanted to do was to be able to throw up in peace and all of a sudden laying with my head against my favorite accessory at the time.. the toilet... I feel like somebody's watching me.. I turn to the toilet paper next to me.. and there is a HUGE HUGE HUGE bug staring at me! So I did burst.. and ALL of my emotions, fears, anger, frustration, sickness was taken out on that thing.
The next 6 months would continue in that same pattern. When I was having a REALLY bad day, God would NEVER fail to give me a bug to be able to beat the living snot out of to get out my frustrations. Some days I would spend whole days playing games with these things trying to corner them, find them, and kill them. I would play the waiting game with them for minutes on end not moving until I saw it come out of the place I saw it go in.
God knew what He was doing... I would have rathered it be the little bugs instead of Brandon that I flipped out on. And now I appreciate this new home we have SOO much more! I mean.. it doesn't have bugs (INSIDE at least!)... it has grounded electricity.... and a washer and dryer INSIDE! hahaha I am so thankful for our first year of marriage. It taught me a lot of patience, taught me new ways to direct my emotions and it taught me to appreciate the little things!
# 3 Randi & The Frog
I have so many other "bug" stories.. but I'll skip those for now. Fast forward to about a month ago. Brandon, Raymond and I were spending the night down at the in laws house at Carolina Beach. Raymond woke in the middle of the night and it was FREEZING... the thermostat had broken or something but it was FREEZING and I didn't have any warmer clothes for him. I didn't feel like finding the thermostat or extra blankets and I didn't have any other options... so I just left at like 3 o clock in the morning and drove home so Raymond could sleep in his own crib haha. I knew that he'd need to sleep late after being up in the night.. and I knew that wouldn'e be possible because they would all be up early there... and I didn't want him to get woken up -- we know Raymond.. he loves and needs his sleep!
so I just left, and told Brandon I'd be back in the morning after Raymond had had enough sleep! As I'm driving down the road 3 am.... all of a sudden I feel this slimy hard thing on my right side of my NECK!... In the dark I grab it and fling it across the car. Trying to stay on the road, I turn on any lights I can to figure out what the heck it was! I assumed it was a 'bug'.... after all I had had a pretty bad day. When I turn on the light I see a brown FROG on the passenger door where I flung it. At this point, Raymond is looking at me like what in the WORLD is going ON!! You make me stay in this freezing place, then you wake me up and put me in the car, then you scream and swerve all over the place.... I don't get it!
I'm like okay okay I can do this... I just need to find a place to pull over. so I see the McD's up ahead and head that way. All of a sudden the frog jumps onto the passenger seat and is just staring at me..... and I was like "OH no you didn't frog... you listen to me! You are not going to jump back over here, you understand me".... and I used all the threatening language I could come up with..... well he listened! I will never forgot those eyes staring at me though -- just daring to jump over to me again.... so I FLY into the McD's parking lot. Fling open my door, grab the nearest stick and go to the passenger door. I somehow was able to maneuver him out and finally victory once again!! Randi wins vs. wildlife! I do a little victory dance in the parking lot.... meanwhile all the partiers with their McD's munchies and late night workers in McD's are wondering what I'm on... and so I just wave and get back in the car and go home.
I really do think that God gives me these wildlife adventures when I'm having a bad day or when I'm being negative, etc. to give me a laugh. To say, lighten up Randi... or to teach me a lesson.. like my fly post from last month. God is so cooler than I could ever explain
Life is fun! :) Go live it! :)
Some of my most famous stories are as follows. And I will do the shortened versions. Reading them, they are not as funny as when I can do the impersonations... I enjoy telling stories in person!
# 1 Randi & The Lizard
In 2004 I believe it was, Brandon and I were doing something outside at the house at Solera. The house on Solera Drive was where Donna J and I were roommates during college (and we also had 2 Lisa's come through as roommates, a Jenny and an Amber over our years there). So anyway... Brandon and I were getting something out of the storage closet, and we have these little green lizards everywhere down here on the coast of North Carolina. It's funny - but I am not scared of them, we've had them in the house, in my own bedroom even and they don't scare me. Yet snakes petrify me.... I can't quite figure out why. Lizards are just like them except with legs and a lot smaller... so I guess that's why.. anything without legs like that is just...wrong. Snakes are just ... GROSS, devilish!! but I digress again....
All of a sudden this lizard runs up the pants of my jeans (the outside though)!! and I am just freaking out... I am shaking my behind around looking like Beyonce with too much caffeine and I keep yelling Brandon Brandon is it off!!? is it off!! and He keeps saying it's gone it's gone and he is just CRACKING UP!.... Now, it's one thing if a lizard touches me and jumps off...that's fine I would have shrieked and that's it.... but the feeling of having something ON ME that won't come off brings me to another level of hysteria. So I bend down to look where I thought it was (it was right on my behind but I couldn't see it when looking over my shoulder) .... and I see this tail thing hanging down from the back of my pants and I just am losing my mind. "AHHH It's still there, Brandon get it off please please please.. somebody help me" and finally I realize the man of my dreams isn't going to rescue me during this one, he's having too much fun... so I grab for the "tail" and it wasn't a tail after all!! It was actually just a huge string hanging from my jeans that had tears, rips and threads everywhere.....So Brandon was right..... the lizard jumped off of me when he felt that first booty shake 2 minutes ago hahaha. So I was in hysterics for over 2 minutes for nothing. So Brandon got to experience the first of the many times he would see me freak out... and months later he would still propose to me after all that!
# 2 Randi & "The Bugs"
I have so many stories about cockroaches & grasshoppers... I don't even know which to tell. Down here, in the South, they call cockroaches..."water bugs". These water bugs, they look exactly like the grasshoppers look too... but to me I just label them all cockroaches so I won't feel bad killing it. Actually I have come to label everything bigger than a fly... a "bug". The day of my wedding was a great foreshadowing of what my life would bring the first 2 years of marriage. We had taken pictures in the gardens outside of the reception hall and went in to be introduced... we had a slideshow, toasts, dancing and then towards the END of the night Brandon took off my garter..... when I lifted up my dress, I thought I caught a glimpse of something on my crinolin (how in the world do you spell that?).. the fluffy stuff to make your dress float around. I keep investigating as everybody is watching Brandon prepare to take off the garter... and I peel back one layer, 2 layers and on that 3rd layer is something that looks like a cockroach!! That's when the "bug" label started.. "AHHH A bug!!"... I flicked it off me, it landed on brandon's shoulder and then I flicked it off him. It landed near my mother in law and she stepped on it inconspicuously yet victoriously! Everything happened so fast that nobody even noticed except the 3 of us and the photographer who probably took 200 pictures in 10 seconds haha. All the snapping made his camera go haywire so we have no pictures of the sceneexcept these 2 (blogger isn't uploading pics right now):
But we did get it on video though!! Then on our honeymoon... we went to New Orleans, went on a cruise to Mexico, came back to New Orleans and stayed there for a night. and we played in this really kinda sketchy place... Brandon said that after I went asleep, he saw a cockroach the size of a mouse and didn't sleep at ALL. He didn't wake me because he knew I'd go to the airport and wait for our plane the next afternoon rather than stay there any longer.... smart guy. He didn't tell me about that bug until months later.
So anyway, for the next 1.5 years after our wedding, the bugs would become a pretty big part of my life. We lived in a house that Brandon rented during his bachelor college years. It was just that... a dirty, ole bachelor pad that I definitely (with MomMom's help) made into a home and we really liked it... but it was still just old, and needed some TLC. It was the home Raymond came home to, and we have so many great memories there. BUT it had a problem...many problems really... the biggest one being that the bathroom needed to be completely gutted.. and the landlord just wanted to sell the house, so was waiting until we found a place to buy so he could sell it and be done with it! So nothing was ever fixed....so the tub dripped, the pipes were all cracked and so the house had a pool of water under it ALL the time.. more like a lake! Hence.. the 'water bugs' that came up through the drains into the house. I always associated cockroaches with cleanliness but I cleaned ALL the time and did everything I could... these bugs were here to stay.
Soooo in that house, whenever I was having a REALLY bad day... without a doubt, every single time.. a bug made an appearance where it wasn't wanted. The first bug was the week I found out I was pregnant! I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was about 14 - 15 weeks along! and I was shocked! I was on the pill! So needless to say... I was going through some emotions... and I was tired and sick. One day, I was just a mess.. more than usual.... and I was screaming, if one more thing happens, that's it! I am done. I am about to burst! All I wanted to do was to be able to throw up in peace and all of a sudden laying with my head against my favorite accessory at the time.. the toilet... I feel like somebody's watching me.. I turn to the toilet paper next to me.. and there is a HUGE HUGE HUGE bug staring at me! So I did burst.. and ALL of my emotions, fears, anger, frustration, sickness was taken out on that thing.
The next 6 months would continue in that same pattern. When I was having a REALLY bad day, God would NEVER fail to give me a bug to be able to beat the living snot out of to get out my frustrations. Some days I would spend whole days playing games with these things trying to corner them, find them, and kill them. I would play the waiting game with them for minutes on end not moving until I saw it come out of the place I saw it go in.
God knew what He was doing... I would have rathered it be the little bugs instead of Brandon that I flipped out on. And now I appreciate this new home we have SOO much more! I mean.. it doesn't have bugs (INSIDE at least!)... it has grounded electricity.... and a washer and dryer INSIDE! hahaha I am so thankful for our first year of marriage. It taught me a lot of patience, taught me new ways to direct my emotions and it taught me to appreciate the little things!
# 3 Randi & The Frog
I have so many other "bug" stories.. but I'll skip those for now. Fast forward to about a month ago. Brandon, Raymond and I were spending the night down at the in laws house at Carolina Beach. Raymond woke in the middle of the night and it was FREEZING... the thermostat had broken or something but it was FREEZING and I didn't have any warmer clothes for him. I didn't feel like finding the thermostat or extra blankets and I didn't have any other options... so I just left at like 3 o clock in the morning and drove home so Raymond could sleep in his own crib haha. I knew that he'd need to sleep late after being up in the night.. and I knew that wouldn'e be possible because they would all be up early there... and I didn't want him to get woken up -- we know Raymond.. he loves and needs his sleep!
so I just left, and told Brandon I'd be back in the morning after Raymond had had enough sleep! As I'm driving down the road 3 am.... all of a sudden I feel this slimy hard thing on my right side of my NECK!... In the dark I grab it and fling it across the car. Trying to stay on the road, I turn on any lights I can to figure out what the heck it was! I assumed it was a 'bug'.... after all I had had a pretty bad day. When I turn on the light I see a brown FROG on the passenger door where I flung it. At this point, Raymond is looking at me like what in the WORLD is going ON!! You make me stay in this freezing place, then you wake me up and put me in the car, then you scream and swerve all over the place.... I don't get it!
I'm like okay okay I can do this... I just need to find a place to pull over. so I see the McD's up ahead and head that way. All of a sudden the frog jumps onto the passenger seat and is just staring at me..... and I was like "OH no you didn't frog... you listen to me! You are not going to jump back over here, you understand me".... and I used all the threatening language I could come up with..... well he listened! I will never forgot those eyes staring at me though -- just daring to jump over to me again.... so I FLY into the McD's parking lot. Fling open my door, grab the nearest stick and go to the passenger door. I somehow was able to maneuver him out and finally victory once again!! Randi wins vs. wildlife! I do a little victory dance in the parking lot.... meanwhile all the partiers with their McD's munchies and late night workers in McD's are wondering what I'm on... and so I just wave and get back in the car and go home.
I really do think that God gives me these wildlife adventures when I'm having a bad day or when I'm being negative, etc. to give me a laugh. To say, lighten up Randi... or to teach me a lesson.. like my fly post from last month. God is so cooler than I could ever explain
Life is fun! :) Go live it! :)
Monday, October 8, 2007
Trip to Rocky Mount
Well right after Papa and MomMom left, we headed to Rocky Mount, one of Brandon's 'guys' came back home from Kansas City. He lives there with his girlfriend, but he was in Alaska fishing for 4 months so he came back to RM to see his parents and celebrate his birthday. The pictures from Alaska were GORGEOUS. I would NEVER live there -b ut I'd like to take an Alaskan cruise. He fished for 4 months... I can't believe how big these king crabs were that he caught for their food... they were HUGE HUGE HUGE... almost as tall as him from the end of one leg to end of another... GEESH!
Justin & Lindsey will by the next to be engaged is my prediction! JC & Allee got engaged last weekend, so that will be our next wedding we'll be going to, but not until next October. Finally, the weddings are slowing down... but I will miss all the festivities! What are we going to do when we're all married?! We have to throw parties to renew our vows or something - I want excuses to dress up real pretty again! It's not acceptable to me that I will only get to dress up like a princess once --- I will definitely renew my vows at 10 years and wear my wedding dress - hopefully it doesn't have to be altered too much by that point haha
But anyway, it was good to get around the 'ol rocky mount crowd. I like them a lot more as the guys (finally) mature and have calmed down a bit! They can even sometimes talk about things that are interesting and I can even chime in in some of the conversations hahaha. I had some good converstions STARTED with Ben, Butta and Cookie... but of course they are interrupted by people yapping about nothing and getting off subject hahaha oh well! It was still fun!
Raymond loved being around so many people. He stayed for quite a while and then went back with "Gamma" to go to bed. He was a little shy at first, but then opened right up and was just yelling and talking up a storm with everybody else. Whenever anybody laughed, he just assumed they were laughing at him and started to laugh too. I think his personality will be the kind that loves to be the center of attention and very confident! I don't know where he gets that from hehe
Eating bar-b-q with daddy!
Then on Sunday, we had cake and ice cream at Gamma's new house for Brianne's 1st birthday!
parker (5), Raymond (14 months of course), Ashton (7), Brianne (1), Shane (4), Taylor (2.5), Jasmine (8?) ..... that's all my nephews and nieces on Brandon's side
and of course here's one with Lennox in it - the official first grandSONdog... he and Ashton basically grew up together. He is like one of the grandkids haha I wish I could have gotten his whole face in there
Justin & Lindsey will by the next to be engaged is my prediction! JC & Allee got engaged last weekend, so that will be our next wedding we'll be going to, but not until next October. Finally, the weddings are slowing down... but I will miss all the festivities! What are we going to do when we're all married?! We have to throw parties to renew our vows or something - I want excuses to dress up real pretty again! It's not acceptable to me that I will only get to dress up like a princess once --- I will definitely renew my vows at 10 years and wear my wedding dress - hopefully it doesn't have to be altered too much by that point haha
But anyway, it was good to get around the 'ol rocky mount crowd. I like them a lot more as the guys (finally) mature and have calmed down a bit! They can even sometimes talk about things that are interesting and I can even chime in in some of the conversations hahaha. I had some good converstions STARTED with Ben, Butta and Cookie... but of course they are interrupted by people yapping about nothing and getting off subject hahaha oh well! It was still fun!
Raymond loved being around so many people. He stayed for quite a while and then went back with "Gamma" to go to bed. He was a little shy at first, but then opened right up and was just yelling and talking up a storm with everybody else. Whenever anybody laughed, he just assumed they were laughing at him and started to laugh too. I think his personality will be the kind that loves to be the center of attention and very confident! I don't know where he gets that from hehe
Eating bar-b-q with daddy!
Then on Sunday, we had cake and ice cream at Gamma's new house for Brianne's 1st birthday!
parker (5), Raymond (14 months of course), Ashton (7), Brianne (1), Shane (4), Taylor (2.5), Jasmine (8?) ..... that's all my nephews and nieces on Brandon's side
and of course here's one with Lennox in it - the official first grandSONdog... he and Ashton basically grew up together. He is like one of the grandkids haha I wish I could have gotten his whole face in there
Okay... so at least we TRIED to get a picture of all of them looking at the camera.. maybe SOMEDAY!!
Here's Raymond, with "Pop" who he is named after... Pop was petting him like he pets Lennox hahaha
at Gamma's new house, there's this HUGE swing out back... look at Ashton with Raymond and Shane underneath her....
It was a VERY fun weekend! :) The family just keeps growing!!!
Friday, October 5, 2007
MomMom and Papa Visit
We had such a great time! It is always sooo great to see MomMom and Papa. When they were here, we actually looked for places to buy for their 2nd home down here (for them to be able to spend 3 - 4 months out of the year with us) but then they had the great idea of just getting a house together instead. They will just just put in a little money so that B and I can get a bigger house than just Brandon and I could afford alone - so they will have a place to stay 2 - 4 months out of the year!! They are waiting to sell grandma's house that Ryan (brother) was renting (he moved to Chicago to be with his new girlfriend Katie this past Saturday! They met at a wedding in New Jersey)....then we could get a house, we're thinking we'll stay in our same development but get a house, about 1800 square ft plus FROG... so really it's probably about 1900 square feet. The FROG would have a bathroom which would be perfect for them to stay in! So we'll see! We are getting little steps closer to my dream of having Raymond be able to be around his MomMom and Papa more than just visits occassionaly and some holidays!!!
MomMOm came for 2 weeks, and Papa came for the 2nd week she was here only. I absolutely love watching Raymond and my parents interact. It's the best. Especially my tough old dad who absolutely just spoils his grandsons now and is such a mush! I always knew he was a softy, but it's great that he can finally admit it and show it to others!
We loved that MomMom and Papa were around even just to babysit for a few hours while I went to work. Look at how happy Raymond is with them. In that 2nd picture, he's just cracking himself up about being in that basket!! hahahaha
and of course Brandon is always looking for jobs up near Lake Shawnee just in case God wants to open a door there - we always keep our options open - to leave lots of room for God to bless us!
MomMOm came for 2 weeks, and Papa came for the 2nd week she was here only. I absolutely love watching Raymond and my parents interact. It's the best. Especially my tough old dad who absolutely just spoils his grandsons now and is such a mush! I always knew he was a softy, but it's great that he can finally admit it and show it to others!
With MomMom we just hung around and shopped and were silly at the house! We went to Fit For Fun one day so that was great for MomMom to see how CRAZY Raymond is haha. He's just so wild and FULL of energy! All the other kids and moms kind of avoid his path haha what can I say :)
We also showed MomMom downtown - it's changed so much since 2001 when we last took her down there. When Raymond's a bit older, we have to go on the battllship with MomMom and Papa and go on horse carriage history ride and a walking tour and go into the mansion tours, etc. etc. :) here's some pictures from the river walk
And of course we HAD to take MomMom to our favorite spot on the beach under the pier at Wrightsville:
When Papa came, we all stayed at St James plantation for the weekend so had a little mini vacation. The men got to golf and Raymond and the mommies just walked around St James and town near by called Southport which is just such a cute little town! It's where the Intracoastal Waterway, Atlantic Ocean and Cape Fear River connect - very cool! They are known for their 4th of July festivities but it was fun to walk around with out all the crowds! It's another town surrounding our home that is just full of history and has a unique story of its own! Cute little shops and little touches of history with historic plaques and data to read were everywhere - I loved it!
St James had it's own private beach front club - we loved it! 80's in late September - it was great! Had a pool and everything! :) and of course Raymond LOVED it the most! :)
We loved that MomMom and Papa were around even just to babysit for a few hours while I went to work. Look at how happy Raymond is with them. In that 2nd picture, he's just cracking himself up about being in that basket!! hahahaha
MomMom and Papa bought us bikes so we've been having the best time with them! We actually found a short cut to one of our favorite parks at the back of our develompent! So now I can go to the library, townhall to pay my waterbill and Raymond's favorite park in less than 5 minute bike ride! How neat!
Of course MomMom and Papa treated us to the Oceanic our fave restaurant on the ocean! And we of course took a walk on the beach afterward!
I am soo thankful Raymond was his healthy perky self while they were here and he didn't have any sicknesses for them! I hated to see MomMom and Papa leave again but knowing that they are taking steps to be able to be with us more gave me hope so it was an okay 'see you later'. :)
I know God has a great plan for us... I just need to work on my impatience and worry! Neither of those characteristics are what God wants of me! :)
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