34-17. Deal With That!

November 28, 2009. GREAT FREAKING DAY! :)

I got up SUPER early (second day in a row...thought I was on vacation, but whatever) to get ready to meet Krystle and Mama Childers. Once we all made it and Krystle got her jeans dried, we were off to Williams-Brice for the last time this year.

Before I go any further with this amazing day, I should say that we have had a wonderful year of football at Williams-Brice. Victories in all games except Florida, and we played hard against them. Great tailgating, great times with friends. I will miss our Saturdays.

Back to this day...We made it to Columbia, grabbed breakfast at McDonald's, and headed to our parking lot. Krystle tried to get us killed blasting Patrick Davis's "Just a Big Ole Cock" at top volume while we sat in traffic. We parked, ate our breakfast, and headed over to the ETV building to hang out with Chris and Lee Ann and their ginormous tailgate. Pretty quickly it was time to head to the stadium.

We met Tracey's daughters, Nicole and Meredith, outside the gate to give them their tickets. I'm glad we were able to see the extras to them. They were fun to sit with! Then we made the climb to section 306 one last time.

The game, with the exception of the first 20 seconds and the (stupid) CJ Spiller kickoff return for a touchdown, was AWESOME. The Gamecocks wouldn't let the silly old Tigers do ANYTHING. Fumbles, interceptions...fabulous. The energy in the stadium was amazing. There were a few Tigers in our section trying to talk smack at the beginning of the game, but they got awfully quiet awfully fast. We screamed, we yelled, we jumped up and down, we cheered, we chanted, we were so loud we confused the Tiger offense a time or two.

And at the end of the game, the Gamecocks were victorious. Sweet, sweet victory. It was hard to leave the stadium. We stayed for awhile, celebrating. I was dancing like a crazy white girl. Here are some pictures:

Carolina Girls...BEST in the World!

Here they come!!!! C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A GOOOO COCKS!

Final Scoreboard. Isn't it beautiful??

Cocky. Midfield. Waving our flag proudly. Doesn't get better. :)

Of course, we've had to listen to the others' excuses this week...Spiller had a tummy ache. We were looking ahead to the ACC Title Game. We have to let you win every once in a while. The Gamecocks would have to win every game between now and 2037 to even the score. Whatever. On this day, in this stadium, in this year, it was the Gamecocks who took home the Hardee's Trophy and bragging rights for the year. And I wouldn't mind winning every game between now and 2037. Sounds like a perfect world to me...

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. It makes me super happy. :) Here's a recap:

Wednesday: I was sick. Fail. But not one to be kept down, I met Tracey for lunch and to deliver her son-in-law's birthday cake. We had a good time catching up on all the latest events! I spent the rest of the day cleaning and putting up my Christmas trees. :) Woot!

Thursday: Still sick. Mega Fail. I finished a few cleaning odds and ends, watched the Macy's Parade, and decorated my tree. After that, it was off to York. We had a great dinner and great night with family. I love it when we're all together. :) After dinner, Aunt Nelle, Damon, Marian, and Lucy came over for a visit. It was so great to see them!

Black Friday: Sick. I woke up at a ridiculous hour, only to find out that Mom and Mere were trapped in Target. Coulda slept another hour. Oh well. They came and picked Deborah and me up around and we were off for a long day of shopping. It was fun. :)

Friends

Around mid-November, the Packs came home for a visit. :) I was very lucky to get to see Chalica twice while they were in town.


On Monday the 9th, I was home, recovering from the plague. Having not eaten anything in 3 days, I was pretty hungry. I met Chalica for lunch at Tequila's. It was super nice to have that time together to catch up on all the things that have happened in the almost year since we've seen each other!

On Thursday the 12th, I went to Jason's parents' house to have dinner with the Packs, Kim, and Annabelle. Dat wasn't able to make it because of a toilet emergency. :( Chalica made a great Mexican dinner for us and we had a great time catching up and playing with the kids. Chalica even brought us cool prizes from Korea! :)

I don't have any pictures. :( I didn't take any and Chalica and Kim haven't posted any for me to steal. :) I did steal this one of me and Emma from Jason's sister, Michelle.

Way Behind...

I am a bad blogger. Good grief. I will try to catch up now.

Some Enchanted Evening (despite all efforts to the contrary)

Tuesday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day that ended in a wonderful event. :)

School was just stupid on Tuesday. No other word for it. 8-3, kids all day, no break, no time to do anything, teachers were early to drop off their kids, late to pick them up, all around ridiculous day. And to make matters worse, the remnants of Tropical Storn Ida took up residence in our area with all of her yucky wind and rain.

The only thing that got me through the craptastic day at school was the idea that if I could survive, Katie and I were going to see South Pacific. WOOT!

Katie sent me a text at about 3:15 to tell me she was leaving Anderson and should be at my house by 5. Super. I came home and got ready and was waiting on Katie, only to find out she had been delayed by bad drivers having stupid accidents just because it was raining. So we changed our plans a little. I went to grab us some food so that I could eat and Katie could eat on the road. When she made it to the house, we took off (in the pouring rain) for Pineville to hop on the light rail. Alas, foiled again. There was another stupid accident on Celanese and traffic was backed up and people were being jerks and not letting people over. UGH. We finally made it past that , got stuck behind an idiot that wouldn't drive more than 45 miles an hour, but eventually made it to the light rail station and hopped on the train. After a short ride that seemed incredibly long because we were running much later than planned, we made it to our stop. We walked the three blocks in the pouring rain and gusty wind. FAIL. But at least we made it in time.

There was an adorable older gentleman sitting in our box with his family. They were very friendly. He was a Navy veteran who had been in service when South Pacific was new. He was very excited to see it in person. He was so cute talking about all of the songs and scenes and sometimes singing along. :) It was a very neat experience to be able to share the show about seabees and nurses with someone who knew about it firsthand.

The show was AMAZING! I've loved this musical since I was a little girl and I was thrilled to see it live. :) Carmen Cusack was amazing as Nellie, just as she was an amazing Elphaba last spring. The music was phenomenal, the sets were very cool, and I think everybody left the theatre singing or humming.

After the show, it was another three blocks in the pouring rain and wind back to the train stop. We were cold and wet, but it was worth it. I love love love love love every trip I make to the Blumenthal. I can't wait for the next show! :)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween. Woo Hoo. I usually get a little more excited. But I'm tired.

Halloween fell on Saturday this year. Thank goodness!!! Stephanie does not enjoy being in an elementary school on Halloween!! This particular Saturday happened to be the first Saturday since August that I didn't have anything to do. No football game to go to, no cakes to make, no carnivals, no trips to take. Nothing. Just a day at home. Ahhhhhhhhhh. :)

I made a quick cake delivery and made my way to WalMart. I got Colin and Brenna's trick or treat goodie. I was also on a quest for pumpkins. But WM didn't have any. :( I went to the Farmer's Market. No pumpkins. I went to the other WM. No pumpkins. :( I finally found pumpkins at the church on Cherry Road. Hooray!

I came home and cleaned up my kitchen. Boring. I made a pot of chili so I wouldn't have to go out in the rain with the crazies for dinner.

Meredith and Corey came by with Dorothy and Boba Fett (AKA Brenna and Colin). They were so stinkin' cute. I love those kids. :)

When they left, I started working on my pumpkin. It took a lot longer than I thought. While I was carving, Mom and Dad came for dinner. I thought they could help me eat all of that chili. :) I carved for a little while longer. We ate and watched the stupid Gamecocks hand Tennessee 21 points. I finished the pumpkin. I think it's pretty cool, even if they did lose.

Mom and Dad left at halftime. I was not impressed with the rest of the game. Gamecock. Fail. They'd better get their act back together. For real.

I didn't have any trick or treaters. Perhaps because I didn't have my lights on. :) Oh well....more candy for me. :) Now that Halloween is over, it's time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas! Woot!! :) I love the holiday season!!

Northern Exposure :)

I had a northern adventure last weekend!!! :) WOOT!

On Wednesday night, Patti and I left for the Frozen North at midnight. Patti emailed me a couple of weeks ago and told me that she had to go to New York to see her brother and help out and asked if I would like to ride up there with her. I took a couple of days off and away we went! Like I said, we left at midnight. It was a very long, very dark, very rainy, very crappy drive. We had plenty of time for great conversation on the way up! I managed to stay awake (thanks to a very large can of something from Starbucks) until about 5:30am. Then I napped for about 45 minutes. We were slightly delayed on the way up by the weather and a road construction malfunction. At any rate, we arrived in Erie, Pennsylvania at around 10:30 on Thursday morning. It was very cold and raining, but Steve was waiting there for me!! :) WOOT! Patti and Steve met, we transferred my stuff to Steve's car, and then we went inside HealthSouth to meet Patti's brother, Bill. I am so glad he is doing better. It was very nice to meet him. After a brief visit with Bill, it was time for Steve and me to head for Dunkirk.

When we left HealthSouth, Steve had a couple of stops to make in Erie. We went to the mall to return a few things. Then we stopped for Steve to check on some coins. Then he took me to Chick-Fil-A (because I was STARVING!) and we were off to Dunkirk. I was glad Steve was the one to take me into New York state. :) When we got to Kelly and Mike's house, we got my stuff into the house, I met Duke the Wonder Dog (who is very LARGE, but mostly a very good dog), and then it was time to rest. Steve had to go to the funeral home for his great uncle :( so I stayed behind to take a much needed nap. I woke up when he came back and then I got to meet Kelly, who was home from work by then. After I said a quick hello, I took a shower and got cleaned up for the evening. I felt MUCH better after a shower! We visited with Kelly and Mike for a few minutes and then Steve took me to meet his grandma. She is so sweet! I'm glad I got to meet her! After that, Steve took me to one of the clubs he belongs to and I got to meet a couple of his friends. They made me feel very welcome! After the club, it was back to Kelly and Mike's for dinner. We had pizza and the best wings I have ever eaten. Ever. They were so good. Steve's parents came by Kelly and Mike's too, so I got to meet them as well. I was very excited (and nervous) to meet his parents! We called it a night kind of early because I was so very tired from the trip. (No pictures from this day. I was brain dead. Fail.)

On Friday, we went with Kelly and Mike to breakfast at Demetri's on the Lake. I had yummy cinnamon french toast and bacon. SO good! We spent most of the afternoon just hanging out. Steve had made dinner reservations for us at 4:30, so we got ready and took off for dinner. I don't know why I didn't take our picture. We looked pretty snappy. :) We had a lovely dinner at The Colony. I had chicken and broccoli alfredo, if you're curious. It was very good! After dinner, we went back to change and then Steve took me ice skating! I'm not gonna lie. I was terrified. It had been at least 9 years since I had been skating and I was surrounded by people from New York who seemed to be very comfortable on the ice. Steve promised me he wouldn't let me fall, and despite my best efforts, he kept his promise. :) I am a spaz. Seriously. It's a wonder I can even walk. But somehow, he was able to keep me upright. I held tightly to Steve and the wall for a while. Later on, I was able to let go of the wall and just hold onto Steve. :) Despite the fact that I was terrified of returning to SC in a full body cast, I had a wonderful time! :) Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this skating adventure. I could barely stand up...I certainly couldn't have managed a camera!!!

Saturday was a very big day! The weather was a little better (no rain, just clouds), so Steve took me to Niagara Falls! I was very excited!!

Here we are in the Hoop, about to leave:

We grabbed some lunch on the way out of town and took off. When we arrived at Niagara Falls, it was VERY cold! I am so glad that Kelly let me borrow one of her big coats and one of her hats! Otherwise, I might still be a popsicle! We walked around for a little bit, and then decided to go on the boat ride. It was cold and wet, but I'm glad we did! It was so beautiful to see the Falls that way!


Here are a few shots of the Falls from the Maid of the Mist:

Don't we look adorable in our giant blue Maid of the Mist ponchos?

After our cruise, we walked around the park. We were seriously jealous of Canada. Unfortunately, because terrorists don't know how to behave, you have to have a passport to go to Canada now. Fail. And it's just right there....taunting you with all of its bright lights, fun looking places, and even a ferris wheel! We getting our passports so we can go to Canada next time. I mean it. Look how fun it looks!!!

Here are some people on the Maid of the Mist, getting ready to set sail (and get wet!)

The Falls were beautiful. I took almost 90 pictures.

I was doing my typical hold the camera out and take our picture thing and a nice lady stopped to take one for us. :)

We walked and walked and walked and looked at the Falls, I think from every angle possible on the American side. And I took more pictures...

I had such an amazing time at the Falls with Steve! It was wonderful to get to spend the day together in such a beautiful place!! :)

We headed back to Dunkirk for dinner with Steve's family. Since it was Saturday and game day, I had to go get my spurs up (or my Gamecock colors on)! I got dressed and we went for dinner. Steve's mom made a wonderful dinner for us! We had chicken (that I don't know how to pronounce, much less spell), corn, mashed potatoes, a cucumber salad, and rolls and a delicious strawberry dessert! YUM! Everything was so good and I really enjoyed spending time with Steve's parents, Kelly and Mike, and of course, Steve! They are all such wonderful people! After dinner, Steve took me to meet his grandpa. Oh my goodness, he was so hilarious. So very cute. :) After that, Steve and I watched the ill-fated Carolina-Alabama game. Gamecock. Fail. Oh well. It was a wonderfully marvelous day anyway! :)

Oops! I almost forgot Zeek! Heehee. Fat cat. :)

All too quickly, Sunday arrived and it was time to go. I got ready, said goodbye to Kelly and Mike, and Steve and I headed for Erie to meet Patti. The drive to Erie was beautiful. The sun came out and the fall colors were so pretty. Steve and I had a late breakfast at Perkins (blueberry pancakes and bacon) and then it was time to go. I hate saying goodbye. :(

Patti and I had a long, but uneventful drive back to SC. I am so glad glad she let me ride up with her. I had such a wonderful time. It was great to catch up with Patti in the car, to get to meet Steve's family, see new places, and most of all, to spend time with Steve! :)

Birthday Weekend! :)

After my wonderful birthday surprise, I had a wonderful weekend. :) Here's a recap:

Thursday: Steve made me go to work. Fail. I wanted to stay home. UGH. Anyway, I went to work. Boring, boring, boring. After work I rushed home and baked a cake. Boring. Then we went to Chili's for dinner with Tracey. FUN! :)

Friday: Friday, I had a terrible migraine ;) so I stayed home from work. I worked on my cakes in the morning. We made a couple of runs to WalMart. We met Kathy and Hoppy to deliver a cake and to have lunch at Olive Garden. Yay! We went and got Steve a shirt to wear to the game on Saturday so he would look like a true Gamecock fan! I worked on cakes some more. I got a haircut! :) Friday night, we grabbed some dinner and stayed in watching movies. Fun times. :)

Saturday: GAME DAY! GAME DAY!!!! WOOOOOOOT! Steve got to go see the Gamecocks play!!! We met the Mizwas and Mama Childers at 12:30. We loaded up the truck and headed for Columbia! :) We tailgated for a little while. I love tailgating. :)

Then Steve and I walked to the Roberts's tailgate. Katie was there from Anderson and she really wanted to meet Steve! We hung out over there for a little while. I ran into Tracey's husband, Mike, who was thrilled to get a piece of Speppy Cake. :)

Then we walked to Chris and Lee Ann's tailgate to meet up with our peeps again. After visiting there for a few minutes, it was on to the stadium!! :)

The game was pretty good. The first half was a little sketchy, but the Gamecocks were wide awake for the second half! 38-14! Yay!!! We had such a wonderful day with friends and part of the family! :)

Sunday: Steve had to go home. :( Ten more hours in the car. But we had a wonderful visit while he was here!! I had the nursery with Meredith on Sunday morning, so it was off to church for me. After church, I went to Mom and Dad's for my birthday lunch! Chicken and dumplings, potato salad, green lima beans, broccoli casserole, and JELLO PIE!!! WOOOOT! I love Jello Pie!!! After lunch and some visiting, it was back home to get ready for the week ahead.

I had such a GREAT birthday weekend!!! :)

Happy Birthday to MEEEEEE! :)

Last Wednesday was my birthday. My 29th birthday. Um....when did I get this old??? Everyone knows I love my birthday. :) This is why I have a birthday month and a birthday week. Birthdays are fun. :)

So on Wednesday, September 30, I hit the big 2-9. The day was fairly ordinary. I got up, I got ready, I went to school. Whoopdeedoo. I stood in the hall, I did ELA, I taught my classes, I stood in the hall some more. Yippee. One should not have to work on one's birthday.


After school, I went to the post office to pick up the card that they would not leave at my house the day before. Steve had express mailed my card to make sure I got it in time. :) When I got home I had two boxes on my doorstep. WOOT! I love boxes!!! The first box was some stuff I had ordered from Garnet and Black Traditions. Hooray Gamecocks!!! The second box was a surprise!! From Korea!! KOREA!!!!!! Chalica sent me some fun elephant print shorts and a very cute elephant pillow! I loved my Korean box!! :) The day was looking up. :)

And then things got MUCH better. Steve sent me a text message. The conversation went something like this:

Steve: Are you home?

Me: Yep.

Steve: Ok. Got a bday text for you.

Me: Ok.

And then I received a picture message:

And I freaked out a little bit. :)

Me: When did you take that?

Steve: About 20 minutes ago.

Me: Are you messin' with me?

Steve: Would I do that?

Apparently he decided I was too slow at that point and called. "Come out on your porch," he said. And there he came. Down my street. All the way from New York. He drove to see me for my birthday. Ten hours in the car. For me. :) It was a WONDERFUL birthday surprise. :)

Steve and I went to meet friends at Tequila's for my birthday dinner. Jill, Chris, Michael, Krystle, Tara, Scott, Beezer, and Joel came out for my birthday dinner. Chris brought me this lovely cake. I found it hilarious that they misspelled "Speppy" and had to go back and squeeze the P in. Cake Wreck!!!

We had a lovely dinner with friends. :) I received so many birthday phone calls, cards, and messages! I am very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family! :) :) I think 29 is going to be a wonderful year!!

First Game of the Season!!!!

Saturday was the first home game of the season!!!! WAHHOOOOOO!!!!! Okay, so they played Florida Atlantic University. Wait, huh? Where? I didn't know either. It is apparently located in Boca Raton. I thought that's where the old people were. Oh well...

At any rate, I met Krystle and Mama Childers at the Mizwas' house at 1:30. After a short ride to Columbia, we set up the tailgating tent! WOOT! We put out our chairs and the cooler and sat down to relax. Thankfully, it was not raining, but unfortunately, it was SUPER humid which made it INCREDIBLY hot. Anyway, we had chicken and snacks and cake. Yum. :)

We walked over to where Chris and Lee Ann were tailgating to say hello. Then it was on to the stadium!!! Hooray! :)

Pretty Gamecock! Yay for being able to see the football field in person!!!!!!

They added some great signs in all four corners of the stadium to recognize notable Gamecocks. I like them. I think they're classy. :) The players (or their family members) were recognized during the game with framed replicas of the signs.

Pregame! WOOT!!! U-S-C GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need this hat. Seriously.

It's Magic Time!! There's Cocky!!!!!!! Best mascot in sports right there, folks. Take a good look.

So the game was pretty fun. The Gamecocks came out looking pretty strong. And then they forgot what they were doing, I think. The first half was a little rocky. All I can say about halftime......FAIL. The alumni band....should stick to donating to the alumni fund. And the band band.....Dave Matthews....for halftime???? Um....I hope that doesn't last long. The second half was much better, except for a few bogus calls from the officials. I'm pretty sure when you catch the ball and take two steps with it and then drop it that it is called a "fumble". The officials, however, called it an "incomplete pass". Um...how complete did it need to be??? Stupid. And the best of all....the "disconcerting signals" call. As if the officials got together and said "Hey y'all, watch this. We're gonna make the stadium go 'WHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTT????'" Stupid stupid call/rule/whatever. It's dumb.

Next game: Thursday night. I hope I get home from stupid parent conferences in time to see most of it!!! Come on, Gamecocks! Let's beat Mississippi. They have too many double consonants in their name. Just try not to be disconcerting. Thanks! :)

Best. Dog. Ever.

Sadie is the best dog. She is a Gamecock fan. Your dog is lame. :)

GO COCKS!!!

Carolina Football Season is here!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I was so excited all day!!! I wore all of my Gamecock gear to school. I think the kids thought I was a little crazy. Of course, the Gamecock kids thought I was cool. :)
I stopped off at the College Shoppe after school. It's become a tradition in the last few years. I go there on the first game day of the season and buy myself a present. :) Isn't this shirt cute?!?
I had to rush home and decorate cakes. I almost finished both of them before kickoff. I finished the second one during halftime.
The Gamecocks looked awesome at the beginning of the game. They kinda lost it a bit as the game went on. Our poor defense was tired since the offense couldn't seem to stay on the field for very long. But, a win is a win, and the Gamecocks defeated the Wolfpack 7-3.
Up next: Georgia. YUCK!

The First Weeks of School

Well, I've been back at work for 3 weeks. One week of "workdays" (technically one workday and one day of meetings and two days of sitting at a table at open house, wishing I could get some actual work done), and two weeks with children. The first week with the kids is always pretty boring. I talked about my rules and procedures 25 times and read The Music Teacher From The Black Lagoon 25 times. I like to read that book to scare them. :) Mwah hahahahaha! I was absolutely exhausted all week. And I had migraines. Fail. It didn't help that York Tech started last week too. We had a nearly 3 hour meeting there on Tuesday night and then my class started on Wednesday. I was SOOOOO tired.

Week Two at school was a lot different. I actually got to teach some music. :) Well, I got to teach music every day after I taught language arts on the second grade hall for two hours. Sigh. At least the second grade teachers have been helpful. :) My kids are a lot different than what I'm used to. They are polite and they listen and follow directions. YAY! :) :) :) I haven't raised my voice in two weeks. I'm excited about that. I've used my teacher voice a couple of times on a couple of kids, but nothing too serious. I really used it just to show them that I have it. I don't want them to get too comfortable. So far, I'm actually enjoying being in my classroom doing my thing this year. I hope that continues!!

Here are a few pictures of my new classroom. I like it in there. Except the goofy lack of air conditioning.

My front board area. Rules are above the board, my stereo is there, a calendar, and there's Mr. Monkey in the chair. :) The kids LOVE Mr. Monkey!!!

My schedule. Geezerie. I'm BUSY!!

My monkey behavior chart.

The back instrument/book corner.

Back To School

Summer vacation 2009 is officially kaput. Today was back to school day. Sadie was none too pleased to be awakened before the sun was all the way up. The morning officially started at 8am with the goofy district convocation meeting. Well, technically, the meeting started at 8:30, but for some reason we were required to sit there for half an hour. I hope this is not a sign of things to come...
At any rate, we had our "welcome back, school is cool" pep talk. It was weird to see all of my Park people but not be with them. Then it was off to LES to start my new life there. Or at least to sit in meetings. I am not a fan of the first days of school. I wish they would leave us alone and let us accomplish the things that actually need to be accomplished. But, alas, that is not the way of things. So in the meetings I shall continue to sit. :)
I got to spend a few minutes in my room and managed to get some instruments and books unpacked. Tomorrow will be a MAJOR workday. (When I'm not in meetings, of course...)
I am interested to see how this year will be. I already miss my friends from the Park, but I have friends at LES too. I am looking forward to meeting the children, but not looking forward to having to learn over 600 new names.
I am sure I will have plenty of new stories to share! Here we go again!

Buffalo Steve Was Here

Buffalo Steve made a visit to the sunny (and HOT!) South to see me this week. Here's a recap (I was kinda slack with the camera):

Tuesday: I picked Steve up at the airport. His flight was supposed to be in at 10:11 am, but his pilot was super awesome and got him here about 20 minutes early. Hooray, pilot! We headed to the Thrill to hang out for a bit before Chris's birthday events. We ended up watching Doc Hollywood. :) Then we went on a quest for the Rock Band Country Track Pack for Krystle. We finally found it at Game Stop. Yay! Then we headed to the Mizwas' to wait for Chris. We celebrated Chris's birthday at Chili's with the Mizwas and the Gombars. Fun times! :)

Wednesday: We met Jill, Chris, and Scott (well, Scott was a surprise..he just showed up where we were) for lunch at Hooper's. Then we went over to the Palmetto store at the fireworks store to get a sticker for Steve's sister. Wednesday evening, we met Mom and Colin for dinner at Zaxby's in York, then we went to children's choir, to Sonic for milkshakes, and then to Meredith and Corey's house for Wipeout.

Thursday: Lazy day. We hung around the house watching movies and playing with Sadie. Steve had seen a car on Wednesday night that he wanted to buy so he went to check it out. Thursday night we went out for dinner at Longhorn. Our poor waiter was clearly quite bored. He brought Steve mushrooms and onions for his steak. Steve does not eat mushrooms or onions. (Because they're gross.) Steve had gotten me a very sweet card that was sitting on the table beside me and, since it was 450 degrees out, I was wearing a sundress. Poor Mr. Waiter came over carrying ice cream, being all smooth, and said "I see a card and a nice dress, so I'm thinking birthday!" So smart aleck me said, "Nope, it's just Thursday!" Heehee. So, Happy Thursday, I had ice cream for dessert. :)

Friday: CAROWINDS! We went to ride roller coasters!! I love roller coasters!!!! Woot! It was HOT HOT HOT!!!!! Oy! We started at the Hurler. We tore up all the rides. It was superfun! Best part....Thunder Road. Steve underestimated the power of the coaster just a bit. Hilarious. :)

Saturday: I had to make cakes. Of course. But one of them was for Chris and Steve's party. Heehee to the Red House Furniture cake. After all the cake-ing was finished and the kitchen was clean, we headed to Krystle's Uncle Chris and Aunt LeeAnn's for the birthday party by the pool. Burgers, dogs, cake, swimming, corn hole, and friends. Great party!!

Krystle's parents gave Steve a Carolina hat for his birthday. I swiped it. (I gave it back, though.)

Very serious corn hole playing...

Sunday: I had to stay in the nursery at church. Always an adventure. Sunday evening we went to dinner at the City Tavern with Jill, Chris, Special Mike and Karen and Special Mike's daughter, and Kaddie. Then we went to Iesha and Tadd's for an impromptu party. Definitely not in the plans for the evening, but entertaining just the same. And there was "Ice cream and cake ice cream and cake!" Heehee. Funny.

Monday: Steve's last day in SC. I had to go to my cousin's funeral. Terribly sad day. :( And oy vey, it was hot at the cemetery!!! Clad in black! EEP! When I got back, it was time for saying goodbye and heading for the airport. FAIL. And then I went to buy school supplies because I start work at my new school in the morning. SUPERFAIL. Where did summer go?????

At any rate, I had tons of fun with Buffalo Steve and all of our friends this week. I hope we can visit again soon. Until then, the internet is a wonderful thing. :)

All Aboard the Boomerang Express!!! VBS 2009

Ok, so I'm a little slow, but I was tired last week!! Last week was VBS! We all got on board the Boomerang Express! I was in the music room with my buddy, Erin. :) I think we had a pretty good time. I hope the kids did too.

Sunday night, all of the kids learned the Boomerang Express theme. The first through fifth graders also learned Gonna Follow. The little kids sang a few songs like This Little Light of Mine, Father Abraham, and the B-I-B-L-E. At the end of the night, the whole group sang the Boomerang Express theme.

Monday night, we reviewed the songs from Sunday night and learned Workin' On My Serve. It was easier, so the little kids learned it too. At the end of the night, we all sang Gonna Follow together.

Traveling over the Amazing Land Down Under

Tuesday night, we reviewed the other songs and learned All Things. It was a little bit too hard for the little kids, so we went back to our easy songs for them. At the end of the night, we all sang Workin' On My Serve together.

Wednesday night, we opened with the Boomerang Express theme in the big group rally. Erin wasn't there yet, so Colin, Mikenna, and Elleigh helped me out.

We reviewed the other songs and then we learned Yes To VBS! I'm a big fan of that song. :) Brenna came in and danced for us. :)

Thursday night was family night. We did the Boomerang Express, Gonna Follow, and Yes to VBS for the parents. After that, it was dinner time.

Sunday morning, we did the same three songs for the whole church. I think Erin and I were a super fun team. VBS 2009 was a success! :)

NieceandNephewpalooza!! Part Two.

On Friday, we loaded up the gang and went to Discovery Place for some more learning stuff. Pete was pretty excited about the buildings in Charlotte. I guess he's not used to that because of the building restrictions in Charleston. I was pretty excited because we were close to my happy place--the Belk Theater--and I could see all the show posters. :) While we were waiting for Brenna to get in her stoller, I snapped a few pictures of us. :)

Helena said she looked squished, so I took one of just us. :)

We went into Discovery Place and fount out that there were only 5 seats for the IMAX and we needed six. Fail. So we just did the museum part. The big exhibit right now is about shipwrecks and pirates. It was pretty neat. They had a bunch of artifacts from shipwrecks, a movie about how they recover stuff from the ocean floor, and some neat interactive things for the kids to do. Mere and I were bored waiting for the movie.

Then we went upstairs to the third floor. That's where all the "discovery" things are. Science-y things. The kids wandered around doing different activities. I think they were having fun.

Helena took my camera again. "Make a funny face, Aunt Stephanie."

"Make a funny face with me, Helena."

After Discovery Place, we had lunch at McAlister's and then headed for home. When we got to my house, Helena stayed with me because we had some very important work to do. Her birthday cake! :) She wanted me to make a Candy Land cake for her birthday party. She helped me in the kitchen. She watched me make the icing and I talked to her about all the things I was doing. I really enjoyed spending that time with her! Here she is with the finished product.

When the cake was finished, we went back to Mom and Dad's. Mom, Dad, Pete, Colin, Helena, and I went to Courtney's Barbecue in Clover for dinner. Yum. After dinner, Meredith and Brenna met us back at the house so that we could all say goodbye to Pete and Helena.

It was so nice to have them here for a few days! I LOVE my nieces and nephews!!! :)