Baby's First Groundbreaking

Since Freddie only goes to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he was able to be my date to today's groundbreaking ceremony on the new facility for my beloved South Carolina Children's Theatre.

He didn't understand the "groundbreaking" part, but he sure was excited to hear he got to wear his "Topham Hatt jacket" (navy blazer). Just after I dressed him, though, he felt like something was off.  "Topham Hatt has a white thing in his pocket," Freddie said. A problem quickly fixed, I pulled a handkerchief out of Jeremy's dresser drawer, ironed it, and folded it into Freddie's pocket. He proudly checked himself out in the reflection on the oven door and said, "Aha! THAT'S better!"

It was hot as blazes outside, but Freddie was, nonetheless, as good as gold. He sat quietly and still on my lap through the 25 minute ceremony and even got a compliment from Greenville mayor Knox White (on whose 1994 campaign, I volunteered!) for looking so dapper.

From there, Freddie and I headed north on Main Street. We visited toy store magnifique O.P. Taylor's, where I surprised Freddie by letting him pick out a new Thomas engine. He went with a Spencer train, so that his Spencer and Jones's Gordon could have races together (because he is the sweetest, most thoughtful child I have ever known). We then had lunch at Trio and headed home to pick up his best buddy from kindergarten (we didn't make it in time, because of hurricane refugees (understandably) clogging up the interstates, so Jeremy rushed out at the last minute to get him).

It was a great day - but, somehow, I need to figure out how to squeeze in this kind of alone time with Jonesie Bug, too!

(In this video, I saw Freddie picking me a flower in the front yard, as he often does, so I started recording to see what he did.)

Y'all. I have Diana Ross hair, and I do NOT mean
that in a good way.

This picture proves that I need eye cream
and eyelash extensions.

Freddie stood for this picture to show Jones
the digger in the background.

Find Freddie.

The bright smile you see on the end
there belongs to Katy Smith,
chair of the SCCT board.
She is AWESOME.

Birthday Buddies

This looks to me like something straight out of
"Charlie Brown."

Two of Jones's buddies from church just so happen to share his birth week. Ramsey Allen was born 10/16/13, and Reagan Moore was born 10/20/12. In fact, Reagan's mama and I did the math and discovered that we were actually in the same hospital AT THE SAME TIME welcoming babies who are now in the same Sunday School and Catechism classes.

How's that for a small world?

Anyway, because Ramsey and Reagan's mamas are two of my best friends here in Western North Carolina, we decided to make celebrating their birthdays together a thing, and so we did. For our first-ever Birthday Bash, we met at the Peace Center for a 9:45 showing of "How I Became a Pirate" and then had lunch - AND MILKSHAKES! - at the DELICIOUS Diner24 a couple of blocks up Main Street.

The kids all seemed to REALLY enjoy themselves - and, for my part, I couldn't get enough of the alone time with my big boy, who's increasingly become more and more of a joy to be around.

Happy birthday for sure!

his look; her grip on that purse

Father's Day Festivities

When it came to Father's Day, we made a weekend out of celebrating. 

Things got started in Greenville on Saturday morning. Daddy and Jeremy played golf Saturday morning, and on their way out to Furman, the boys, Mom, and I joined them at Stax Original. As we walked out, we met a very sweet Greenville County Sheriff's Deputy, who offered to introduced Jones and Freddie to his dog. Of course, they accepted his invitation. Not surprisingly, they LOVED Mac.

From there, Mom, the boys, and I went to Greenville's Saturday Market. It was awesome. I have really learned to love living in Western North Carolina, but spending time in downtown Greenville makes me wistful for the Upstate and all of the opportunities there. 

BIIIIIIIGGGGGG sigh. 

Some of the highlights of being downtown was landing up on candy at Mast's General Store and watching the demolition of the Greenville News building. They boys sat ENTRANCED for probably twenty minutes as this giant claw machine tore apart - literally chewed it up - the parking garage elevator shaft.                          

After naptime, we all played in Mom and Daddy's pool. Jones LOVES the way Pop throws him in the air, and Pop hit his exercise quota for the month doing it over and over and over again. Freddie preferred the safety of a "ship." He mostly floated all over the pool, as his fear of the water has gotten pretty bad. I'm not sure what's happened there.

We went home after dinner and repeated the process the next day. We gave Jeremy his presents - including some homemade surprises, courtesy of Clyde First Baptist Preschool! - went to church and then had a big dinner at the Pressleys' house, where the boys also played in their new big, giant bucket. 

It was a wonderful weekend with all of the wonderful fathers in our lives.