My Little Pumpkin

Today is my birthday! Part of something I wanted to do for my birthday and for the Hallquist Oktoberfest was to go to a pumpkin patch and take some fun pictures of Stone and us with Stone. We took these pictures on Monday and they turned out great. Stone wasn't sure what to think of the pumpkins, but more interesting to him was the dirt in which the pumpkins rested. He tasted dirt for the first time and rather liked it, so we had to put an end to his early snack! At the pumpkin patch where we visited, there were also apple orchards you could go through to pick out your own apples, a corn maze (really, it was a "corn trail" as you couldn't get lost in it because there was only one trail through the "corn maze" with signs of apple facts posted along the way, just in case you did get lost in the corn trail, i mean maze), you could take a hay ride and there was an area where kids could play that included hay bales, and there were farm animals to look at (not pet or touch) such as pigs, a donkey, goats, cows, chickens, turkeys, a lama and peacocks. Okay, are peacocks and lamas really farm animals?? Whatever, they were there. We had a fun time and it was a good autumn day--overcast, cool but not too cool, and just kind of lazy. I love fall, partly because my birthday is in the fall, but also because of the changing leaves, the cooler weather, the crispness in the air, hayrides, bonfires, football games (in moderation) and the anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas, which usually mean quality family time spent together. I'm thankful to be able spend the Hallquist Oktoberfest with my husband and son.

This coming weekend, we plan to travel to WV to visit my family and celebrate Stone's 1st birthday again as well as ours. I look forward to visiting with my family and some dear friends and also look forward to even cooler weather. (sidebar: My mother-in-law thinks we've had cool weather here in SC, but she's also never lived farther north than SC before! She hails from Louisiana and Mississippi where they barely have a fall or spring and for that matter, a winter. I just smile at her when she says she's cold and then tell her that I'll inform her when it actually gets cold here!)

Here are the pictures of our pumpkin patch adventure!

Stone's 1st Birthday!

Hooray! Stone turned 1 yesterday and we had the 1st of 2 birthday parties for him. He wasn't sure what to think, but had a good time, despite teething and not feeling too good. I don't have any close ups of him eating his cake on my digital, so those pictures will have to be posted later. He wasn't sure of that either, but finally got into it and thought it was neat sticking his hands and fingers into yummy icing. He also wasn't too interested in opening presents, so he left that up to me. His grandma got him a laptop computer, since he likes ours so much. The picture of him with the red toy that looks like a laptop is what he played with most of the time. They also got him a cool red wagon, that he and his cousin Mercy climbed into. Later that day, their Aunt Meredith took them for a ride around the neighborhood in it and she said they had a ball. It was a fun time and we rejoice in celebrating one year with our little one. We also got him a yellow school bus pop-up tent that he seemed to enjoy too.

On other news, it's Kevin's birthday today. His biggest wish for his birthday is a full-time job. I wish I could produce that for him, but all I can do is pray. I did brighten up his evening by giving him the 6th season of the West Wing, which he enjoys watching the episodes over and over again (thanks to family, he already has seasons 1-5). He also enjoyed leftover cake from Stone's massive cake I made (I got a little ambitious!). I told him I'd make us a birthday cookie in a few days, once the rest of the cake is gone.

So, the pictures are below. I'll hopefully be able to post more, as I get some back from my non-digital camera soon. Oh, on Stone's shirt, it says "It's fun to be one!" in case you can't read it. It sure is a lot of fun being one, instead of 32! Oops, I just gave away my age.. well, at least I'll be 32 in a few days and not there yet! Ha! Happy Birthday Stone! We love you!

7 Days and Counting!

Yep.. just seven short days until our little one, Stone turns the big 1! Talk about time flying.. everyone who has kids has told me to enjoy and cherish every moment of Stone and being a mom because it flies by so fast. They weren't lying. Or exaggerating. This past year has been somewhat of an adventure for my little family. Actually, the past 2 years have been quite an adventure. Kevin and I married on 9/25/04. Four short months later, we discovered that we were going to have a baby.. not something we had planned for right after marriage. Our big plan was to be married at least a year before we "tried" to get pregnant. We were also going to try and pay off as much debt as possible too. Neither of those plans worked! Which is why it is much better to let God be in control of your plans, rather than make a complete mess of your life on your own.

So, here we are, almost a year after Stone's birth. I still remember that day and all that led up to it. I think I'll save that story for when I blog on his actual birthday. He was born on October 7. Kevin's birthday is on October 8 and mine is October 18. We now have what you call our own personal "Oktoberfest" celebrating all month long. And why not? Anyway, I quit my job as a children's minister to be home with Stone and also because we had planned to go to seminary for Kevin to pursue a degree. Our originial plan was to go to New Orleans Seminary; Kevin's dad was a professor there and his sister Gini and her husband and newborn Mercy were there as well. Besides the advantage of being with family, Kevin had always kind of had an interest in going to New Orleans Seminary anyway. So, it just made sense to go there. Then hurricane Katrina came and not only did that uproot Kevin's family, but it also drastically changed our plans as well. In thinking and praying about what to do (in the midst of wondering how we could help Kevin's family, even though I was only one month from being due) he thought that going to Beeson Divinity in Birmingham would be the next step. He went to the undergrad there, Samford, and thought that Beeson would be a unique place to study and learn. He was right; we moved to Birmingham at the end of December and Kevin enrolled and attended Beeson for the spring semester. It was indeed a very unique school--he especially enjoyed his professors and the experiences and wisdom they had to offer.

In the midst of this journey though, we both struggled if this was where we needed to be. Kevin struggled with ministry and was still figuring out what exactly God wanted him to do. I struggled with the fact that neither one of us had a full time job and financially, we were barely making it. We both worked part time and had the help of family, but it was still a huge strain. So, Kevin started looking for a full time job in mid-April. He specifically looked in Birmingham and also in Greenville, where his parents had moved at the first of the year. Even though he still didn't have a full time job, we moved to Greenville at the end of July and moved into his parent's new home (I must say that I feel quite spoiled living with them). (And for anyone out there who would cringe at the idea of living with their mother-in-law, all I have to say is that my MIL rocks!!) Kevin's parents have truly been a blessing in our journey to discover God's plan for us. Kevin is still interviewing for jobs and we pray that something will open up soon. In the meantime, he has temp. work and I will start a part-time job this week.

So, in the past year, we celebrated our first anniversary, 2 weeks later had a baby, 2 months later moved to Birmingham where Kevin went to school, 7 months later moved to Greenville, just celebrated our 2nd anniversary and will celebrate our son's 1st birthday soon. Yes, we live a crazy life! But our God is good. Praise be to His name forever and ever.

2 Years!

Today, 2 years ago, my husband and I got married! I actually still remember the day (can you believe that?) Somebody gave me the advice to make sure I enjoyed the day instead of stressing over every single detail, the ones that were right and the ones that weren't. I didn't stress and had the best day of my adult life. Anyway, today is our 2 year mark. We've had so many changes during the past 2 years, besides adjusting to married life. But, it has definitely made for an interesting journey. I'm thankful every day for Kevin and look forward to many more anniversaries to celebrate.

Do you hear crickets?

"Do you hear crickets?" This is what Kevin, my husband, asked me Friday night when we went out to celebrate our 2nd anniversary, which is actally on Monday, 9/25. We had taken advantage of a "Parent's Night Out" childcare opportunity at our church which was very inexpensive, but was on Friday night. Normally, we probaby would have asked Kevin's parents to watch Stone, but they had gone to Birmingham for most of the weekend.

Anyway, back to the crickets. Kevin took me to a rather fancy restaurant to celebrate. Even though we are struggling financially, we thought it would be okay to be "wined and dined" since we only do it once a year on our anniversary. Well, the restaurant he took me to was a bit more expensive than he thought and had planned for. You know, the kind of restaurant that serves only 6 shrimp for an appitizer and charges an outrageous amount but it comes with your own personal half of a lemon with a condom on it to keep the seeds from squirting out and from juice going everywhere?? (Okay, so it's not a real condom, but a "lemon cloth" or whatever it's called.) Yeah, that kind of restaurant. The food was good, but I thought it was over-priced even though they kept your glass full of water before you could get it half-empty. And I will say that they had the BEST cheese-bread (complimentary) that we had EVER had in our entire lives. Well, we are sitting there, waiting for our entrees, and our table is next to the emergency exit back door. This is where Kevin insists that he hears crickets. Mind you, this is over the noise of the restaurant, which is quite buzzing at this point. Not to mention that the door itself was quite thick and there weren't any windows nearby either. Not to mention that the table next to us had been quite loud all evening and there was constant movement (from the server keeping our glasses full of water and flombaying Bananas Foster to the people across from us). I, of course, did not hear crickets, but he insisted that they were there. We argued over this for quite some time and finally, when I got up to use the rest room, I walked over and stood by the door with my ear almost on it and still did not hear any crickets (even though I'm SURE all the other people in the restaurant were wondering what in the world I was doing.) I reminded him that he was currently having sinus troubles (a cough, congestion.. typical cold stuff) and therefore, his head must be stuffed up so that he confused something in the kitchen or the rest of the restaurant for being crickets. However, he still would not budge on the fact that he thought he heard them. Well, I wouldn't budge on the fact that I didn't hear them at all. So, when we finished, we left the restaurant and walked towards our car. He mentioned that he heard them again, and so did I at this point, but we were outside with hardly any background noise to deter the sound of crickets chirping. He then insisted that he wasn't crazy. (Whatever.)

I guess I write about this because it's funny to see how people insist that they are right. Here we were both insisting that we were right, even though it was about something silly. Mind you, we had a fun time with it and didn't take it seriously. Sometimes, when people try to prove that they are right, it turns into nonsense and fighting. Other times, like our date, it was simply a light-hearted, fun conversation. I guess I wish more people would agree to disagree and realize that it's not always important to be right. Sometimes, both people are right. And even if one person is right and the other is wrong, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. However, Later that night, due to his congestion, Kevin mistook me saying "fog" for "dog." I casually pointed out that that's why he thought he heard "crickets."

Climbing stairs, separation anxiety, and anti-sleep tactics

On my last post, I was describing how Stone was taking his first steps. Yesterday (Saturday, 9/23) Stone figured out how to climb stairs... on his own. It was quite fascinating watching him figure it out and accomplishing a new feat. He didn't get too far up and we were behind him the entire time, but it was fun. But the day before, was not so-much-fun.

And then there is the separation anxiety..I mentioned in my post about his first day at school and how he didn't even blink when I dropped him off. He never has cried when we left him with family, friends, or in the church nursery. However, Friday morning when I dropped him off at preschool, he cried and crawled after me, almost out the door. That was heart-breaking! Especially when the day before I dropped him off and he didn't even look at me to say good-bye. (I think he was mad at me because he hardly looked at me all morning long because I let him "cry-it-out" going to sleep). But still, on Thursday he was fine, and on Friday he cried for the first time. He then cried again that night when we left him for a few hours for a Date Night sponsored by the church. And then again this morning (Sunday) when we left him in the nursey to attend worship and Sunday School. For all those moms out there who have experienced this, it's horrible, right!? I guess he is experiencing his first bought of "separation anxiety." I was actually getting used to the fact that he didn't cry when we left him with others and used to say with confidence, "He doesn't cry when we leave. He's happy!" The good thing is that he doesn't cry long and gets over being away from me quickly. That's at least a small relief.

Sleep. Who needs sleep? I think that is what Stone thinks when it comes to going to sleep at night. He fights it with the tenacity of a marathon runner--he keeps going and going and going! It's exhausting just watching him fight it and sad at the same time because it's obvious how tired he is. We've been reading a book on techniques of how to help our child learn to "self-soothe" but it hasn't really worked for our child. He has trouble "relaxing" which I know he probably gets from me.. I'm a horrible sleeper myself. And instead of playing in his crib when we put him in there, he cries because he wants to be held, rocked, and sung to sleep. I guess that's because that's what we've done since he was born, right? So now we are expecting him to learn to put himself to sleep and it's killing me. We haven't given up though and my mother-in-law has been helping a lot. Kevin is the tough one--it doesn't bother him at all for Stone to cry it out! But I can hardly take it. I guess that this too shall pass....

First Steps

Stone took his first steps yesterday! (9/21) Shockingly, and to my misfortune, I did not have my camera nearby to capture it on film. However, I know there will be many more steps in the future. He walked with a toy walker, the kind you hold onto and stand behind and learn to walk with. I simply put him behind it and he took off across the floor and went pretty far before falling on his behind. Sadly, nobody else was home to see it either, so I guess I'm the blessed one to witness it! Just that morning, my mother-in-law was standing behind him, holding his hands and walking with him. She let go and took about 2 steps before losing his balance. That was fun to watch because the night before, he took maybe 5 steps with his toy walker. Then, a couple of steps on his own. Then, yesterday afternoon happened.. I was so excited that I forgot to follow closely behind him to catch him! Today, however (9/22) he has not ventured to walk. I'm not worried though, because soon I will be complaining that he's everywhere and I can't keep up! Pictures will be coming soon....

First Day of School

This was Stone's first day of school. Okay, not real school, but going to a program at our church called "Parent's Day Out." As usual, he didn't miss me after I dropped him off. He had a great time and actually wore his shoes the whole day. (He doesn't like shoes, which I can't figure out why, since he's related to me.)

40th Wedding Celebration

My parents recently celebrated their 40th wedding this past August. They pretty much celebrated all month long, but they also wanted to go to the beach for a week with our whole family. We went the week of Labor Day. The following pictures are memoires from the trip.

This is the beach house we rented. It was called "Bahama Breeze." It was a nice house; we each had our own living space and bathroom. There was also a private pool with a pool house (where Shannon, Danette, and Nate slept.) The only bad thing about the house was that the living room and kitchen were on the middle floor, which was kind of weird. Mom and dad's room was on the first floor and you had to go through their room to get to the pool in the back.


The next four pictures try to capture Stone's first reaction to being in sand. He wasn't sure about sand, and didn't like it when the ocean water ran up to tickle his toes. He later liked being out in the water, but never quite got the hang of playing in sand. Regardless, he seemed to have a good time.









Below is our much awaited family picture on the beach. I suggested to everyone that we have on similar clothes, so it would look better. I had it all planned out, except that I found out about 10 minutes before we went out to the beach that I was missing an intregal part to my tripod--the piece that keeps the camera on it! So, we were going to use a "make-shift" tripod out of a tv tray and trashcan. Luckily, there were some people on the beach, so I asked a nice lady named Beverly to take our picture. Good thing, cause I don't think the tv tray and trashcan would have worked too well!



Stone (left) and Nate on the beach with their matching beach shirts that their Aunt Kerri bought them. Aren't they handsome?? We took about 20 pictures of them, and couldn't get one out of the whole bunch where they were both looking at the camera and smiling.

My family picture.. me, Kevin and Stone.


In this picture of the boys, we were trying to get a "cute" picture of them in their shirts and hats. Stone hated his hat, and we never did get a good shot!


My handsome little man!

Candid Shots from the trip

Just a few fun shots from the trip...

More Family Shots

My sister wanted to have another family picture in front of the palm trees that were in front of the house. It was a great spot, however, I still didn't have the "missing piece" to my tripod. We tried a couple of different options, but finally, had to use what my sister renamed as the "redneck tripod." The picture that follows this one will explain it all.....


Hey, if it works......


Dad and mom with Stone and Nate.


We sent my mom and dad on a dinner cruise one night, so they got all dressed up. They looked good!


My close-up picture of them, capturing dad looking at mom and the ruby earrings and ring he gave her for their 40th anniversary.


Kerri and the boys with the matching shirts and hats that she bought them.


Kevin and Stone