My Funny Guy!

Here is little T walking around with his food instead of eating his lunch at the table like he was supposed to be doing. He had gone downstairs and got the "Dr." glasses while I was on the phone with mom and this is how I caught him.

Digital Scrapbooking

Though I need a new hobby like I need a hole in my head, I have embarked on a whole new way of scrapping. I find myself never taking pictures anymore because all I ever take is digital, I never print them out and I never have any pictures to use in paper scrapbooking. So here is my first attempt at digital scrapbooking...let me know what you think if anyone out there even sees this. Any suggestions for improvement would be great!

A Ribbon for Everyone!

For the July 4th, we went to my parent's lake house and every year the HOA puts on a big celebration with a cookout, kid games, races, fireworks and this year even an old car parade.

Laurel won a blue ribbon in the relay race with a team of girls she met there that morning. Zachary won a red ribbon for a sand box scavenger hunt, and Tyler won a red ribbon for a toddler ball toss. Laurel and I entered the parent/child wheelbarrow race and came in fourth...no ribbon for Mom :-(

May, 2007

Just came across this picture and thought I would post even though it was from several months ago. It was taken at Z's preschool program. He was so proud of his tie.

GrandBetty...this one's for you!!!

Year End Updates

As usual, I am very bad at keeping this blog up-to-date. So today as Laurel and Zachary are both back at school and Tyler is napping I thought I'd take a few minutes and update you on our end of the year activities. I've added pictures from October through middle of December. I don't have Christmas pictures uploaded to this computer, yet so I'll try to add them next week when everyone is at school again. I hope you enjoy a glimpse at our lives.

Skiing in Colorado

Four days after our return from Disney (a very long ride home as Tyler started with the stomache bug about three hours into the 13 hour trip), Chuck left for his ski trip with his Dad and a friend of his Dad. Uncle Scott and Aunt Christy moved to Colorado in November so Chuck got to see them and ski with them, too! I was very jealous! Not of the skiing...just because Chuck got to see my brother and sister-in-law!!!

Chuck, III and Chuck, Jr.

The Continental Divide

Chuck, Jr. and Chuck, III...I know Chuck told me what resort this was at and something significant about this mountain, but until I ask him again this description will have to do!
Chuck and my brother Scott

A Disney December

We had a VERY busy December!!!!!
Grandma and Grandpa took all 6 grandkids to Disney for Christmas. Fortunately all the parents got to go, too! So really it was like a little family reunion with Chuck's family. We all arrived seperately but we met up with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Mary Ann, Uncle Scott, Michaela, Faith, Uncle Michael, Aunt Tammy and Hannah. Add the five of us and I'm pretty sure all 14 of us had a great time!

The girls at Animal Kingdom

The boys ride the carousel at the Magic Kingdom

We had very busy days!
Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids in Epcot's Italy before our fancy Italian dinner. After dinner we went to the Candlelight Processional.

One of the highlights for our family was going to the "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party". Though it cost extra to get in, I would highly recommend it. We were given a tip to skip the first parade and go ride rides while everyone else waited for the parade. When we first arrived, people were already lined up waiting for a parade that didn't start for at least an hour and a half . There were no lines for rides. There were very few people at the character dance parties. We had a ball! Then when it was time for the second parade...very late at 10:45 pm for the little ones I might add, but with the complimentary cookies and hot chocolate, our kids were real troopers! Even Tyler stayed awake and really enjoyed the parade! And after the parade, we rode more!!! Again with NO waiting! The decorations at night were magical, too!

November Update

The big celebration in November was Zachary's 4th birthday. He had a "Thomas" party with several of his friends from preschool and church.

Another thing that happened in late October/early Novemeber is my embroidery business got a little jump start with Christmas orders. I had orders for at least 31 different totes/purses/stockings/aprons. Here are a few of the custom totes I did for Christmas orders. For more information on my business you can check out my "Under Construction" website at

www.hintonhousecreations.com

October Update

We celebrated Laurel's 7th birthday at the skating rink. She decided she wanted a roller skate cake to go along with the party so you can see our attempt at "edible skates" below. She had a great time and asks to go skating often. Her original party theme idea was Narnia so I was quite pleased when she changed her mind to skating! I couldn't really figure out what to do for a Narnia party!

For Halloween, Laurel was Queen Susan from Narnia, Zachary was a Storm Clone from Star Wars and Tyler was Thumper from Bambi. I can't find the good picture anywhere on the computer so here is one from when the were trying on their costumes

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted and lots has been going on. Nannie, Papa, and GeGe came to visit for Laurel's birthday. Nannie and Papa took cupcakes to school and had lunch with Laurel, then picked up Zachary from his school and took him out to lunch. GeGe stayed at homed and played with Tyler and Mommy.

Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Carl, Uncle Michael, Aunt Tammy and Hannah came over to watch Clemson play one day and Grandma gave Laurel a special gift for her birthday, a musicbox that GrandDad had given Nana (the kid's great-grandparents) as a present years ago.

Here is my most recent picture of all three kids. Laurel got a GameBoy for her birthday...can you tell she is excited?

A friend from church is a state police pilot and his wife invited us out to the hanger to see the plane and helicopter. We took our picnic lunch and played in the hanger for a couple hours with several other little boys from church. We had a great time and even got to sit in the plane and in the helicopter.

This picture doesn't really do the situation justice...Chuck and Zachary play football in the kitchen all the time and now Tyler has gotten into the game. He gets in front of whoever is playing "center" and puts his hand on the floor just like a defensive guy and then chases them around. It is a riot!!!

Chuck and Zachary met PawPaw and Grandma Colleen in Charlotte for a Panthers football game. They had a blast and Zachary has become quite the football fan!

Go Clemson

Zachary and Chuck and Chuck's friend Tom went to the clemson game at Death Valley this weekend. This was Zachary's first time at the Clemson Stadium. They had a great time and Clemson pounded UNC so that made the game even better for my boys! Sorry 'bout your Tarheels, Tom!! They had seats at the 50 yard line in the upper deck...Thank you PawPaw!!

While they were in clemson, Laurel, Tyler and I went to visit my grandparents, Granddaddy and GrandBetty Ausband in North Carolina. Becasue Chuck had the camera, I couldn't take any pictures, but we had a very nice time visiting! We went to see the house they lived in while I was growing up and the cottage that my Uncle Frank now owns overlooking the pond, and then we played at the park. Thanks for having us, GB and GD!!!

Laurel makes the news...

This summer the library had a reading program and in August they had a celebration for all the people who completed reading logs. We went to the party and a photographer from the little news flyer in our town was there. It was fun to see this picture in the paper of Laurel and two new friends we got to know from going to the library (and now also from church) this summer. Laurel is on the right.

School Update

Just wanted to update those of you that have been praying for Laurel and her school situation...She is doing MUCH better. Monday she had no school which was a big bonus for her, Tuesday I gave her a task to find out some interesting facts about one new classmate and her report to me at the end of the day was encouraging. She reported "only crying 10 minutes, Mom!" after telling me all about a new friend. On Wednesday the report of "I only cried 5 minutes, today!" Was even more encouraging. By Thurday we were down to 30 seconds, and Friday I am happy to report that she "only had 1 tear all day". Thank you for your prayers for her. It has been an encouragement to her to know that people have been praying and that your prayers are being answered! Please continue to pray for her because I'm sure that the start of a new week will once again bring challenges.

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

We recently celebrated Tyler's first birthday with family. I can't believe my baby is one already. This is our last little baby so I'm trying to really enjoy each of his milestones since I know we will never have a 1st birthday party in this house again! Kinda sad, but kinda exciting too! He has been taking some steps with help since we went to the beach, but on his birthday, he actually let go and chose walking as his mode of transportation.

He loved eating his cake made by...

Brother and Sister Decorating, Inc.

The finished product...those of you that know me well know that I love to decorate birthday cakes for my kids (someday maybe I'll post pictures of my favorite cakes...) anyway, this time I was having creative cake decorator's block so I think that my backup decorators did a better job than I could have ever done! What do you think?

ME DAY
Today is Me day. Chuck took the kids to visit Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Carl and to watch the Clemson game. I had asked a month or so ago if I could PLEASE have a break so he arranged this little trip as day gift for me. I have done nothing productive all day except visit my friend and her new baby in the hospital. I downloaded some pictures and thought I would post them and some others while I had a few more hours of uninerrupted time. Thank you Chuck for a little bit of time to do nothing! To hear no whining, to have no agenda, to have to fix no dinner, to change no diapers....

Amy, these pictures are for you in answer to your blog question about the best pet to have. These two new family members have been great pets! Very little work and entertaining when you want them to be. We got "Emma" (the larger of the two) first as we left the beach and decided once we got home that "she" needed a friend so we had mom get "Barnabas" (named by my cousin Kristen) as she was leaving the beach. I thought I killed Emma by giving her a bath in water that may have been a little too hot for her and mom thought she killed Barney when she left him in the hot car probably a little longer than she should have. But all is well they are both still living six weeks later and still entertaining us whenever we have time for them.

SOCCER MOM

As of this morning, I am officially a soccer mom. Chuck is coaching Laurel's team, the Shark's and today was the first game. That is Chuck in the orange hat (showing off his Clemson team spirit) and that is Laurel fixing her shorts and shin guards. She is walking in the background in the second picture. At this age they don't keep score, but according to Laurel, her team scored the most.

First Day Of School

Lots of firsts this past week! Laurel's first day of school was Monday. She is having a very hard time adjusting this year so pray for her if you would. She cries thinking about going to school and cries while she is at school because she wants to come home. Her two best friends are in another class and she says, "I just want to be home with you, Mom!" She does look so cute in her uniform, though!

Zachary's first day of preschool was Tuesday and he LOVES it. He cries because he can't go everyday and pouts around the house on the days he doesn't get to go.
This is exactly opposite of what I thought would happen...I thought my first grader would love school! She has been interested in learning since birth, started reading by age 4 and always wants to learn more! "Give me a math test, mom! Test me, Mom!" and Zachary has never shown too much interest until just recently. I thought for sure he would complain kicking and screaming all the way to school. Just when you think you have them figured out....

BEACH VACATION

We had a great time at the beach despite having to lug half our household items for life with Tyler. Here are a few of my favorite photos. I know that a blog is more for journaling, but I'd rather post pictures!

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For the 1st time in my 30 some years going to this beach, we found Starfish swimming in the water. Laurel was the first to find hers and boy was she excited!

Zachary spent most of his time digging up sand, filling it into his front end loader, then moving it from front end loader to dump truck, then dumping it out. He didn't care too much for the pool, but loved going down on the beach.

Tyler LOVED the sand and the ocean (and the pool, too!) He loved to sit in the sand and then crawl down to the edge of the water. He would go just to the edge and then as the water receded, he would crawl a little farther. After crawling what we knew was too far he would be surprised by a big splash. We were right there to rescue him of course, but it didn't stop him. No sooner had we moved him back out of harms way, he was heading back to the water. And yes, in this picture he is licking his sand covered snot!

This was Tyler's first time at the beach!

My three beach babes.

My Mom and my cousin, Kristen came down and joined us near the end of our stay. They stayed a few more days after we left and we had a great time with them.

Can't figure out how to turn this picture but this is a traditional photo stop on our beach trip.