8 is Great!

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. We are so blessed to be married to our best friend.

We met at a meet and greet in the Lowder Business Building at Auburn University. We were meeting the teachers and students going on the British study abroad program we were both going on that summer. I walked into the room and saw a guy I went to high school with named Alan. I was happy to know someone that was going. He then introduced me to his roommate (and my future husband) who was also going. Fast forward a few months and we are on the plane heading to London. The plane tickets were purchased in alphabetical order. We rode all the way to London and all the back to the USA from Paris seated next to each other. We got to know each other pretty well that summer.

My original summer plans had fallen through. I had fully expected to go on a summer project with Campus Crusade with my friend Emily. We both applied early. Emily heard back quickly that she had been accepted to the Lake Tahoe project (our first choice). I never heard back. I waited and waited. Surly Crusade doesn't turn people down that want to serve, right? So I prayed about it and felt like I needed to sign up for the study abroad program. The day after I turned in my non-refundable deposit for the trip, Crusade called and told me my application had literally fallen between two file cabinets while they were moving around an office. They apologized over and over and offered me the Lake Tahoe project. My heart sank when I told them I had made other plans. A summer in Lake Tahoe with one of my best friends sounded so perfect. Little did I know, God had an even more perfect summer planned for me.

We started dating the fall after our trip. A few months later he took an internship in Atlanta and we were separated. Then I graduated and he had to finish his last semester of school so we were still separated. Finally he graduated. 7 months later he proposed. 9 months after that we were married. 4 years later we had our first baby. 2 years later we had our 2nd baby. That's our story in a small blog.

If you are reading this, you are part of our family or a good friend. Thank you to everyone for loving us, helping us, praying for us, and being a part of our lives. We love you all.

APRIL 27, 2002

Poor Daddy!

A few weeks ago, I took the girls to the park for the afternoon. Curly befriended a 6 year old little girl. This 6 year old told Curly that she was already in kindergarten and had a boyfriend. Curly responded by telling the girl that she may not be in kindergarten yet but she already had two boyfriends, one at preschool (we'll refer to him as "E") and one at church (we'll refer to him as "R"). The 6 year old's mouth fell opened as she said "Wow! I only have one". Then they ran off and continued playing.

Curly is not shy to tell people she has boyfriends. She has also decided that she will in fact marry one of these two boys. She changes her mind almost hourly as to which one she will marry.

Yesterday we took family pictures out at a park that had fields of wild buttercups. While we were getting some solo shots of The Bear, Curly went scampering off into one of the fields. A few minutes later a lady walking her dog strolled by us and mentioned that it was so sweet to see the lovely little girl picking flowers for her wedding bouquet. Say what! Yes Curly told this total stranger that she was making her wedding bouquet. Daddy just stood there shaking his head. We promised Curly that if she did well during the photo shoot that she would get a special treat after we were done. So when we finished up we headed to Curly's favorite eating establishment for lunch, Chick Fil A. While we were enjoying our lunch, in walks "R". Curly was very excited to see him; however, she is really shy around "R". So she asked me to walk over with her to say "Hi". On the ride home she told us that since she is shy around "R" she will marry "E" instead. Okay then. Today on the drive home from church Curly told us how she actually talked to "R" three times in Sunday school and since she can now talk to him she will marry "R" instead of "E". Poor Daddy just closed his eyes and shook his head.

I often remind Curly that Daddy and I were 21 when we met and 24 when we got married. I then ask Curly how old she is and she says "I'm 4". I tell her she has many many years to just enjoy being friends with people before she needs to consider marriage. Daddy always reminds her that he needs to meet any boy she is considering marrying and he must give his approval. She thinks about it for a few seconds and then just says something like "Well I am going to marry "E" or "R"". Poor Daddy.

Our little bride to be

Back To Normal

Last week was spring break for us. That meant no preschool, no swim lessons and no playgroup. That also meant Mommy needed to find something for her little girls to do so they didn't drive each other crazy. Daddy had to work and on Saturday he had committed to helping a friend move. Of course he would then be watching The Masters for the rest of the day. So after returning from Augusta the girls and I reloaded and headed down 85 to visit Grandma and Pap Pap. We had a great time playing their backyard, visiting them at work and going to the zoo.

Now we are home and life is back to it's routine. Curly is such a social creature, she LOVES preschool and all her friends. She really misses everybody when they are on break. I'm a bit worried about the summer but I'm making plans to keep us all busy (hopefully). Curly also started her new swim class last night. Before spring break she graduated from the Minnow class up to the Seals class. In the Minnows class she was one of the best swimmers. In this Seals class she clearly is not as good as the other kids. Seals is the highest level a child can go until they are 5 1/2 so she will be in the class for a while. I'm sure she will eventually be as good as the other kids. Her swim instructor, Miss Jillian, is awesome and we look forward to watching Curly learn from her.

This Saturday we will be taking family pictures. This is a MAJOR struggle for us. We just cannot ever seem to get a good picture. Hopefully we'll have some good ones to share with everyone.

Visiting Pap Pap at his office

Curly pushed The Bear around the zoo

The Haynes girls at the zoo

Sweet Sisters

Easter '10 Cont...

We spent Easter morning at our home church and then headed down to Augusta. We had a wonderful time with Daddy's family and spending time with GG who was in from Oklahoma. Daddy and I spent Monday at The Augusta National. It was beautiful except for the massive amounts of pollen dust clouds flying around. We met Daddy's good friend, Richie, and his father-in-law, Johnny, out there. Johnny had never been to The Master's. It was fun to walk around with him as he saw everything for the first time. We enjoyed seeing a lot of the players out, eating the yummy Master's food, and soaking up the beautiful scenery. The famous azaleas were not quite out yet, but I'm sure they will be in full bloom this weekend. Enjoy the pictures...

Curly on Easter

The Bear on Easter

Daddy's girls

The Master's

Magnolia Lane

The Clubhouse

Tiger Woods and Fred Couples

Richie with us

Easter Week '10

I'm going to do two Easter posts full of pictures. Everybody likes pictures right? This first one will show pictures from our Sunday School party last Saturday. It was held at McFarlane Nature Park. Beautiful sunny day, good friends and plenty of treat filled eggs for all the kiddos made for a fabulous time. I also had the privilege of helping with Curly's preschool spring party just this morning. She's got awesome teachers and great kids in her class. It was a blast. I'll do another post after Easter with more pictures from the weekend. After we celebrate Easter at our church on Sunday we are going to Augusta to see Daddy's side of the family. GG is coming in from Oklahoma. We are very excited to see her. Oh and we are attending a fairly small unknown golf tournament on Monday that also happens to take place in Augusta. Well I should clarify we are watching a practice round but in my opinion is more enjoyable because we can take pictures and the players are more interactive with their audience. I'm sure I'll do a separate post about that next week.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Easter.

John 3:16

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Daddy showing his girls that the bunny is not scary

Curly decided he was not scary at all

The Bear would not go within 10 feet of the scary bunny

Curly with her basket

All the kiddos

The girls

Curly and her sweet friend Emma

Curly with Claire and Ethan

Hunting eggs at her preschool party

Her Own Words

I've written about Curly's love of talking (and talking and talking and talking). She speaks very well and can pronounce any word you ask her too (within reason of course). However they are some things our little Curly likes to say in her own special way. So in case you are around her any time soon, here are a few Curlyism's:

The Dark Nap : When she sleeps during the day is just a nap, but when she goes to bed at night it's The Dark Nap.

Tanados : Nachos. She loves nachos. You can pretty much throw anything on a chip and she'll eat it. She's been told dozens of times that they are called nachos. She prefers to say tanados.

Dippin' : Ketchup, Ranch dressing, Zac's Sauce or any other condiments that you dip food in. "Mommy, for lunch I want chicken nuggets with dippin'".

Hard Pants : Jeans. Curly loves dresses and skirts. That's all she ever wants to wear. Some occasions call for pants. When she finally accepts life's cruelty and decides she will wear pants she always announces "No Hard Pants!". Daddy and I can also get Curly to behave by telling her she will have to wear hard pants if she doesn't obey. It's kinda fun to watch her completely melt down over jeans. All her jeans are elastic waste and loose!

Soft Pants : Any pants that are not jeans.

I'm sure she will invent more phrases and I'll write another post about it when she does. Today we are headed to our first Easter Egg Hunt of the season. Three more this week. I'll post those pictures later this week.

Rare picture of her in hard pants

Spring Swim Ballet!

Spring has arrived! Woo Hoo! We've been spending a lot of time outdoors. This past Friday and Saturday we had 75 degree weather with beautiful sunshine. This morning it snowed (it didn't stick). March is always a weird weather month.

We inherited a Trek Float bicycle for Curly from a friend. It's in awesome condition. Curly claims to be afraid of it and she will only ride it when she turns 5. So she scoots around on her pink scooter sporting her new and bigger Disney Princess helmet. The Bear has inherited Curly's old Princess bicycle and helmet. Bear likes to be pushed around on it with her feet on the pedals. If you try to suggest she do the pedals on her own, she gets highly offended. The girls also enjoy playing on their playground in the backyard. Curly has started her swim lessons again. She didn't show any fear of the water after being out of a pool all fall and winter. She even informed her instructor that she didn't want her to hold onto her when she jumped off the side.

Last Friday night Curly and I attended Ballet Magnificant! at our church. Curly was extremely excited about the ballet and getting to wear a fancy dress. We met a few of our good friends there for the show. Curly informed just about every person she met there that she was now 4 and was wearing the beautiful dress her Aunt Jenna gave her for her birthday. She was very proud. The ballet was beautiful. Curly got tired towards the end but overall enjoyed the whole event. She even got to meet some of the beautiful ballerinas after the performance. She stills talks about them.

This past Saturday was not only the first day of spring, but it was my 32nd birthday. I know, I know I don't look a day over 23 ;0). Thanks to Grandma and Pap Pap for coming up to watch the girls so that Daddy and I could go out and enjoy the day together. We did some much needed shopping and had a delicious dinner at Greenwoods on Green Street. Yum Yum!