New Sleeping Bags

We got these new sleeping bags for our trip to Aunt Amy's.  Princesses for Mary Ellen and Cars for Michael.  They've turned out to be great fun!  This was the day we got them and I wanted to try them out to make sure everything was in working order before we went for our visit.  They have a small air mattress on the bottom and it's like a sleeping bag on top.  They LOVED them!  They work for visits where sleeping arrangements are tight and they are fun to just play on while watching Bambi on a rainy afternoon....like in the picture.  Worth every penny!

Pumpkin Faces

No carving this year for the Thornes!  Don't get me wrong, I love the tradition of carving pumpkins.  Love the pumpkin seeds.  Love how they look lit up at night.  But Andrew has been TDY and I just didn't have the energy for the mess and work.  Because at 3 years old M&M wouldn't have been much help with the carving.  To tell the truth, they had a ball with the stick on faces we did instead and they did it almost completely themselves!

There were fives different faces to chose from and Michael chose this goofy smiley face.  Very fitting for his personality I think!

Mary Ellen chose the kitty-cat face, of course.  They loved them and has loved seeing them on our front porch!

Party on...we're 3!!

  Michael and Mary Ellen turned 3 and to celebrate we had a hoppin' good time at our house with friends and family.  Bunnies and Frogs galore!  Yes, a jumping theme along with pink bunnies and green frogs and a jump house out back.  Papa and Mama Jo, Dee, Aunt Amy and Uncle Jamie were all able to be there...of course with Ryals, Pryce and Brygs too!  We had about 8 friends ranging in age from 6 months to 12 years in attendance. 

I made the cakes myself.  Which was extremely nerve-wracking for me, but in the end they turned out great.  Pink bunnies and green frogs, just what they asked for.

All the decorations turned out cute and with a team effort including the grandparents (don't know how I'd have done it without y'all) we pulled it off beautifully!

Michael and Mary Ellen getting a first look at their cakes.

Bounce house fun!  Wish we had one of these permanently in the back yard.  They jumped until they were exhausted!

Michael blowing out his candles, with some help from his friends!

Cake! Now that's what we've been waiting for. Chocolate for Michael and Strawberry pink for Mary Ellen. If it's not pink...my little girl doesn't want anything to do with it!

What a fun and memorable day!  I have always loved planning events and entertaining.  But the reward when you see how much fun it brings to my two favorite little people...well, that's the best complement I've ever received!

Hard to imagine M&M are 3 already...where does the time go.  They are growing into such wonderful people.  I still feel blessed beyond measure to be their Mama!

Birthday Beach Pictures

In September we were all able to go back to my hometown in Florida.  It is rare, but Andrew was actually TDY there so we just came along with him at stayed at my Mother's house.  It is really the perfect time of year there.  Still hot but not as bad as summertime and the crowds of tourists are gone.  We didn't get to see Daddy much, he was really working...go figure!  But we were able to catch up with friends and spend some time at the beach.  Since M&M's birthday was the end of September we thought we'd take the opportunity to do beach portraits (photographs by us!) to commemorate.  They really turned out great but it is always an ordeal.  It took us two nights to time the sunset right and for each good picture there were at least 10 that were NOT.  But as you can see, it was worth the effort...

We Love Papa!

Papa and Mama Jo (Andrew's parents) came to babysit while we went to the Fort Jackson Military Appreciation concert on September 11th.  Kid Rock put on the concert for free and it was really AWESOME!  Not to mention it was nice to go out to dinner and have a fun evening with my hubby! 

M&M love Papa!  We took this picture before we went to church the next day.  They love to get their picture made with Papa!  Boy is it nice to have grandparents close.  Not only for the extra help, but mostly for the relationship M&M will get to have with Dee and Papa and Mama Jo!

Big John Deere

Yes, I definitely have country kids now.  When you know the name of most tractor attachments and you see as many horses as businesses on the way to town...that's what I call a country kid!  Of course, that comes from a decidedly city raised Mama.  Andrew thinks it's all oh-so normal!  So when we heard and spotted the big John Deere tractor, yes Michael knows the difference between a John Deere and any other, we got excited.  The land owners FINALLY came to mow the big field next to our house.  It had gotten to tall we couldn't walk through there anymore...it was about waist high to me in some places.  So they had this big John Deere with a bush-hog sent over to do the job.  Needless-to-say Michael and Mary Ellen were thrilled to watch this big tractor in action.  When he finished for the day we decided to go take a looksie!   

Michael wanted up first.  He loves to sit on our "tractor", that is our little riding lawn mower, so you can imagine how excited he was to sit on this one.

Mary Ellen got a turn too.  They loved to turn the steering wheel and even tried to do the gear shift.

Love this last shot of them in the front end loader with the sun setting.  You can see our house in the background.  We were sad when he finished his work the next day and the tractor left.

Swamp Fox Celebration

All the Swamp Foxes got together to celebrate on Labor Day this year.  Of course, this was really a celebration that everyone was back from the Iraq deployment safe and sound.  Deiter had a BBQ at his house on Lake Murray.  There was skiing and swimming and lots of great food.

This was Michael and Mary Ellen's first time swimming in a lake and they were a little apprehensive.  They've been to the beach in Florida and of course been to several different pools, but the lake water took some getting used to.  Mary Ellen kept saying, "The water is dirty Mama"!  And the bottom was squishy and a little slimy.

They really didn't love walking around in the shallow part so Andrew put them in this little boat and pulled them around.  They LOVED it! 

I think they ate their weight in BBQ, chips and cookies.  It was a fun day to be together as a family...the Thornes, and the Swamp Foxes!