The royal wedding

So today was the Royal Wedding between Prince William & Kate Middleton ... in case you hadn't heard. If you hadn't then I want to know what rock you have been hiding under??

Anyway. We don't have cable so we rely on internet for pretty much any & all current shows, media, etc. After Mema's birthday dinner, we came home & the boys wanted to watch the coverage of the wedding with me. I was expecting to just get video snips, but I was elated that Yahoo had a video of the entire thing! The boys piled up in the bed with me (& zack too!) & we watched all of it from start to finish! (It was a whopping 1 hr & 45 minutes!)

I had to answer a LOT of questions about the Prince and the real life princess. And of course the Queen was a big hit! I think the boys were just fascinated because we kept using words like carriage, queen, (future) king, palace, and guard. Eli especially wanted to know if the guard were carrying swords!! Jackson was interested in seeing the palace but bless his heart, 3 minutes before they FINALLY arrived at the palace in their carriage, I looked over & found this:

Bless his heart- he made it until about 10 minutes to the end! Oh, well! There is plenty of media so I can show him tomorrow!

Kate Middleton could NOT have been any more beautiful, if you ask me!!

We hope you enjoyed Royal Wedding Day!

Not so everyday happenings...

Yesterday was an interesting day around here. When I got home from work / school pick up, I found this in my neighbors back yard (which I can see from my back window):

I had heard some commotion & discovered that Tim, our next door neighbor (Katie's dad) had gotten his truck stuck in the back of his yard. It had rained terribly yesterday & he drove his truck back there to drop some mulch. Apparently, the truck hit a slick area of wet red clay & slid sideways to the back of the yard. When I walked over to see what was going on, he was trying his best to get it out, but was really just digging a bigger hole around the tires. I told him that when Randy got home, maybe he could help pull him out. Tim assured me that he would have it out by then. So I just said, I would send him over when he got home if he wasn't out by then.

Sure enough, when Randy got home- Tim was still stuck.

Randy went over but couldn't pull him out because his own truck would have gotten stuck because of the hill & the wet conditions. But he did attempt to help. They ended up putting rock under the tires to get some traction. No go.

They ended up having to cut a tree down because the truck kept sliding down as he was trying to get out & he was wedged in between two trees. So once the tree came down, they kept working & then this happened: The trucks tail end slid backwards & the only thing that stopped it from sliding on down into the woods was a tree in the back end!

Marlene, which is Tim's wife was about to have a coronary, but Tim was positive the whole time! It was comical. We all got a laugh (later). Finally, Randy & Roger (our other neighbor) convinced him it was time to call a tow truck!

It was the entertainment of the month for our little ones!
And pretty much all of us!
We all watched as the tow truck backed into the Kegley's yard & then they had to send long chains down the hill to get the truck out....
At one point, the tow truck driver needed some help. Randy ran right over & hopped in the cab of the truck. He got to "hold his foot on the brake!" Look closely....
Tim's truck was in pretty bad shape when it emerged from the woods...
But he kept a smile on his face up to the end!!

Happy Birthday Mema!

Today is Mema's birthday & I have to share a little conversation she had with Eli yesterday:

Me: Eli, did you know that tomorrow is Mema's birthday?

Eli: It is??

Mema: Yes, it is! Can you guess how old I will be?

Eli: 27!!!!

Mema: Noooo, can you guess again?

Eli: 80!!!!

Mema (while she & I laugh uncontrollably!): Nope! I will be 64 years old! (And then Grandad chimes in that he was closer with his second guess!)

We love you Mema & you are such a blessing to all who know you! You have such a big heart & love endlessly! We hope your 64th will be as wonderful as you 27th was! :)

ps: Today is also the anniversary of mine & Randy's first date. It has been 11 years since that wonderful day!

Happy Easter!!

The boys woke up this morning to a basket full of goodies left by Peter Cottontail himself! A basketfull of tootsie rolls, airheads, jellybeans, & whoppers. And he threw in a little DVD and a micro-kite for each boy too. They were thrilled with their goodies.


After all the rummaging through the goodie baskets, I hurried the kids along to get dressed. We had only an hour from the alarm going off to getting in the car this morning. So I knew it was going to be a rush to get a few pictures in of the boys. But, oh my, did I ever get a few shots of my cuties....

Be. Still. My. Heart....
Who can resist this handsome fellow?

It took a little more encouraging out of Eli this morning. He didn't want to smile. But I am totally okay with the results. They are totally representative of Eli's personality!

I just can't help but chuckle at this sweet face. And I could just eat him up!

We actually headed to Wilmington for church this morning so we left super early to make it down there in time. {More on that later....} But after church, we did another round of picture taking at Peto's house... where I captured this adorable shot!

I LOVE this one... It is totally getting framed!
We had a fantastic day filled with plenty of fun (& surprising) activities. I will post more on that in the next few days. But we hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday & got to spend it with those that they love!

White Deer Park

Day 2 of Spring Break has looked a little better today! Well parts, anyhow! We were up bright & early for the boys' dentist appointments this morning. We will be going to see an orthodontist for Jackson in a little over a month... I can see dollar signs already!

After the dentist we met up with Jackie & Dwight at the park (who had Ethan & Kaleb). It was beautiful out & it gave me a chance to play around with my camera some more!! Here are some shots from the park...

Right off the bat, we saw a snake on our way to the restroom. I walked literally within 1 ft of this thing & didn't see it. Jackson said, "Mama! A snake!!!" I jumped about 10 ft & then told them to get back. I am sure that Randy would have been a bit more educational about the whole experience, but I am not a snake fan.... I did take a few pics though!!

(snake is on the far left....)

The boys played together so nicely & Ethan was especially happy to have the ability to roam free!

Jackson has begun to get silly with the camera. He is tired of me taking his picture so he keeps giving me either a scowl....

or a goofy pose....Eli on the other hand... has no problems giving me a sweet little smile!I think Kaleb is so used to the camera from his Daddy, that he just goes with the flow! If you can't beat 'em, you might as well join 'em!

This is one of the favorites that I captured of Kaleb & Jackson... They were just sitting & chatting off by themselves. There is no telling what they were conjuring up! lol!

Coastal Carolina Airshow

This past weekend we went to the Coastal Carolina Airshow with Grandaddy & Grandma Tee. We had been watching the weather because they were calling for rain & thunderstorms but because there were no rainchecks on the tickets that Grandaddy got for everyone, we decided we were going to brave the weather & take our chances on it getting rained out. There were plenty of other things to see before the show started so we thought if nothing else, we would get to see some fun planes & vehicles. And boy were we right! We saw this HUGE plane right off the bat & the kids literally started running towards it, they were so excited!
When we first arrived, the back hatch was closed so we just got some shots of the exterior. But once we were leaving, they had opened up the hatch & we could go inside!
That was so cool! It is unreal to me that something this big & heavy can fly in the air. How? Someone please explain this to me, because I really just can't wrap my brain around it!!

We moved on to smaller planes that were just the right size for the kids to stand next to!
Randy checked a few of these out himself!
And then the kids got to go inside the FedEx plane. Grandma Tee joked that this was her favorite plane! (because it delivered so many fun things from her shopping!!)After the Fed Ex plane, we moved onto something much cooler - an apache helicopter! The kids were in awe!!Eli especially wanted to check out where the "big bullets" go...The kids also got to check out a firetruck....

And there was a monster truck there too!Eli & the girls waited in line to jump on these huge trampolines. I was pretty surprised that Eli was the one to do this yet Jackson wouldn't. This was really backwards considering their personalities! But, Eli kept such a serious face the whole time. He would NOT smile! I did ask him afterward if it was fun & he said it was. But you would have never known from the look on his face - it was all business!!
After all the kids got to jump, we went on to wait for the airshow to start. The clouds were pretty ominous at this point & the wind was whipping around us like crazy. It was knocking over chairs that were set up, big speakers, etc, so we figured that it wasn't going to happen. But we went ahead & waited for the official word to be announced. We waited for about an hour or so....
The kids were pretty patient for the most part during the waiting process. We had some snacks & were able to see some planes take off on the runway. Eli liked that part! And he liked keeping up with all the helicopters that were giving people paid rides....After too long though, his demeanor started to wane & we saw a lot of this face:He has a bazillion expressions! We just love that!
They officially cancelled it after we waited for about an hour & a half. So we packed it up & headed back to Grandaddy & Grandma Tee's just in time to wait out the storms back home & the ones that came through Wilmington before heading back home. Thankfully we avoided all the tornadoes that ripped through NC that afternoon & we had no damage at our house. Unfortunately others can't say the same. There has been some real devastation in our area & I pray for those families. Some lost loved ones, some lost homes, & some lost both. It was terrible!

Thanks for the fun day out Grandaddy & Grandma Tee. And sorry the weather held up the process but we had fun despite that! Maybe next year??