a Big Day for my Little Boys

It was a big day for the Pressley boys. 

There's a couple of reasons why:

A few weeks ago, Freddie told me he would like to wear neckties "like Daddy" instead of the bowties that have been the mainstay of their Sunday wardrobes for years. As much as I love bowties, it was a hard accommodation for me to make, but I did it, so long as both boys promised that they'd wear bowties without complaining whenever I insisted (say on Easter, for instance). 

They agreed. 

They were both so proud. When we dropped them off at Sunday school, Jones's red and white tie was tucked into his Carolina blue sweater vest, but by the time we picked him up, he'd untucked it. When I asked him why (already knowing what the answer would be), he said, "so everybody can see it."Of course. From church, we went to Outback for lunch. Jeremy and Freddie played their customary game of Tic Tac Toe. For the first time ever, FREDDIE WON! Talk about proud. As we were celebrating at the table, the manager walked by. She said that anybody who wins at Tic Tac Toe gets a free Blooming Onion for the table. Freddie was BESIDE himself. He kept asking, "Mama, you can't believe I won dat?"

Then, he gave me the coloring page with his winning game on it. "Mama, you can keep this paper, so you can always remember that I did that," he told me.

As if I could EVER forget ...

SCCT Character Breakfast

Today, the boys and I went to their second annual South Carolina Children's Theatre Character Breakfast. They enjoyed themselves - and especially loved meeting Pete the Cat, the Cat in the Hat, and Tigger - but what I enjoyed was their behavior. They were very, very, VERY good, and made me very, very, VERY proud. For the second year in a row, Daniel, Elaine, and Reagan Moore went with us. Maribeth, Olivia, Wren, and Jasper Scott met us there, as well. The event is so spectacularly done. As I sat there, I marveled at how far the Children's Theatre has come and think how proud I am of all that it's accomplished and how honored I am to be a part of its Board. The best part of the whole affair, though, may have been getting to crash at Mayme and Pop's lakehouse the night before. Mom and Daddy are gonna have to change the locks to keep me out of that place this Summer. Anyway, here are some pictures!

These are the guys from "A Year
with Frog & Toad." Jones really liked
"the Skinny One."

Mayme's Lake Cottage, Trip One

I can't even tell you how spectacularly awesome our first overnight stay at "Mayme's Lake Cottage" was.  We went down on Saturday for the North Carolina vs. Clemson game. Originally, we'd planned for Mom and Daddy to keep the boys, but they both said they wanted to go to the game, so they went with us.

First, though, Jones had to "bust Pop's rump" for playing around in Jones and Freddie's "laboratory." After that, Lila, who'd come over for the afternoon, took the boys on a treasure hunt through the house. Their loot was 26 cents each. Jones said he wanted to use his money to buy Skittles at the ballgame. Freddie, not surprisingly, said he wanted to use his to buy a "Clemson Tiger sport (Nike) shirt."

He ended up with both a shirt AND a camouflage trucker hat with a Tiger paw on it. He's been saying it wanted a camo hat ever since he saw AJ's. When he tried that one on at Alumni Hall on College Avenue after the ballgame, I could.not.say.no.to.it. It looks SO CUTE on him.

HOW CUTE IS THAT HAT?!?

I'm ahead of myself.

The game was fun. I love going to Littlejohn. It's just the right size, and I love the seats Daddy gets - not that there's a bad one in the house. Every time a Tiger would take a foul shot, Jones would copy the student section by holding his hands up in the air. It was so cute.

After the 'heels' win, we went to Alumni Hall for Freddie the Fashionista to spend his 26 cents on $55 worth of Clemson souvenirs (at some point, we'll discuss the actual value of money). Between that and eating Happy Meals at the kitchen counter when we got back to Hartwell, the boys didn't get to bed until 10:30. That didn't stop them, though, from being awake and whispering in their room by 6:45.

We spent the latter part of Sunday morning in the service at Oakwood Baptist Church, which will be our "lake church" when we're in Anderson. Not only was it an incredible service, but it was so fun to walk Jones around the hallway, pointing out which classrooms were my own. He was especially excited to see my Kindergarten classroom, where I was one of Mrs. Metcalf's "Eager Beavers."


After lunch at Logan's, the boys took looooooooooonnnngggg, very necessary naps, while Mom, Daddy, Jeremy, and I watched several episodes of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." I love that show. It's almost as awesome as rainy days on a comfy couch. Lucky me, I got to experience both things earlier today.

As we drove home, I asked Mom and Daddy if we can come back on Friday. They're going to have a very hard time getting me to stay away from their home on Hartwell.

Freddie decided to make THIS his
"Sleepy," like the little blue blankie
Jones sometimes sleeps with.

Freddie's HAD to have a "sport"
(Nike swoosh) on it. I don't know
where he got his obsession with Nike,
but it's a VERY real thing.

Freddie picked the marshmallows out of Fruit Loops
with marshmallows.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tonite, we had our third annual family Valentine's date at Ruth's Chris. This year, we were very excited for "Auntcy" to join us. The boys made us very proud with their behavior, and that chopped salad is one of my favorite things in all the world treat.

Speaking of "favorite things," here are some pictures of my very handsome little boys.

Oh, Happy Day!

As we usually do, we spent New Year's Day at the Pressleys' house, celebrating the New Year, Freddie's birthday, and, today, A WILDCAT IN OVER PENN STATE IN THE CITRUS BOWL. Only slightly more unbelievable to me than the fact that my BABY will wake up a five year old on January 2nd is the fact that UK WON THE CITRUS BOWL.

We had the traditional New Year's meal - ham, collards, cornbread, and, Freddie's favorite, "chocolate beans" (black eyed peas). That was followed up with birthday cake and explosion of Double Bubble from the Spider-Man piñata that Freddie'd requested for the occasion, having heard Jones talk so much about them since his "Christmas Around the World" unit at HCA.

Between opening presents and popping the piñata, the boys had a ball playing outside with Ellery and Evan. It was a great kick off to what I hope will be another great year for my blue eyed boy.

Freddie Bear's Pajama Day

For his last day of the semester, Freddie had Pajama / Polar Express Day!

As luck would have it, his new, red robe showed up in the mail last nite. He was VERY excited to pair it with his snowman jammies and even told me that he'd look more like Santa if he wore his black belt with the robe instead of the red one that came with it (he also wore the Santa hat that he bought with his own money at Dollar General; he was very generous and bought Jones one, as well, which made me so proud of his kindness).

I agreed, so off he went for what he tells me was a great day in Pre-K!