While the Boy are Away!

Well my boys were away tonight going to the Carolina game so I had a girls night out. The night started with pedicures with Kelli and Savannah. This was the first time Savannah had gone with us and as you can see below it was great fun! I should have got some pictures of me and Kelli too but didn't think about it. As you can see she got cute little flowers painted on her toes!


After our pedicures we took Savannah home and headed to Greenville for some girl time! We ate at Atlanta Bread and then headed to shop! We had ventured to G'ville to find a store Kelli had seen advertise with some great deals but we didn't go in when we discovered it wasn't what we expected! However, we did some great deals at Kohl's and found a cute jewelry store that had some great deals! But we are not telling anyone the name because we are going to shop there for all our Christmas presents! I had just seen on What Not TO Wear that accessories make the outfit so we had some fun picking out some cute stuff! We decided one day we would like to be rich so we didn't have to look at the price tags! It was a great night and I ended it coming home and watching a chick flick! Good times!

Who is that kid in the TIGERS uniform?

I know what your thinking that can't be PD in a Tigers uniform! But yes unfortunately it is! As I said below we finished D5 fall ball on Tuesday night. Well, a friend of ours who Allen used to coach with has been calling for a while wanting PD to come play with a team his son is playing with. We have put it off and said no for a few months. But on Thursday he called again and said in their league they have 3 more weeks of fall ball and really need another player. We still weren't sure but we decided to go watch them play on Thursday and see what the coach was like and the atmosphere. Well.. when we pulled up the coach meet us and said can he play tonight? We were like well he has on shorts and tennis shoes not your normal baseball attire! But the coach and our friend said we can come up with a uniform. PD begged us to let him play so... some how they came up with a jersey, hat and pants for him to wear. We were extremely nervous because this team has beaten everyone in that league and they are very good. The first and second inning PD played in the outfield and really saw no action.In the second inning he batted and walked. After that they put him in to pitch ! Allen and I couldn't believe it and we were very nervous! But he was great and struck out all 3 batters! We were so excited. Then when he came up to bat he hit a home run! I could not believe that 1. We had NO camera! 2. No one was there but us to see it! Needless to say after the game the coach said I want him! We have decided to let him finish the fall ball season with this team and one tournament in October. This team is a travel ball team which means we would have to pay for him to join but it does have advantages. They have a pitching coach that normally works at a place that charges for lessons and we can use that facilities batting cages too. Plus the team gets matching bat bags and helmets. Not to mention they play great teams and it really would help to improve his game! On the way home he said it can be my Christmas present! So we are going to ride this out and see what happens. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing him in his uniform which by the way he had on today when I got home and said it was the best day of his life! Trust me Allen is thinking long and hard about whether we can allow him to wear this color! By the way notice the garnet sticking out of the sleeve that is his Gamecock shirt! So he is still garnet in his heart!

Last Fall Ball Game

PD had his last fall ball game on Tuesday night. His team played great and they won the game. Below are some pictures of the action.

Told you he had a lot of fans! Below is Grandparents, Amy, Heath and Allen

Playing First Base! He and the second baseman got a player out in a pickle right after this picture it was great !

On the mound again!

On third about to score!

I missed him sliding into home but snapped this picture as he came in

His pitching power!

I thought this was the end of our season but Thursday night we got a surprise! Read above!

Beautiful Saturday

It was a beautiful Saturday and it was a perfect day to go play outdoors with some friends.
Jennifer and I loaded up PD, Mattie and the Triplets for some outdoor fun. Katie stayed home to paint her basement and enjoy some quiet time. We had a blast playing on the playground and having a picnic. The kids were so good and they all played together so well. I think the best think about it was enjoying the simple things in life through their eyes. Every time they heard a train whistle everyone would stop, clap, jump for joy and yell "train!" then run to look for it. When we drove by a pasture the whole backseat cheered "cows, cows, moo, moo!" . Even the sound of hammers at a construction site near the playground got every one's attention. I guess 2 and 3 year olds really know how to take the time to stop and listen to things we normally don't even notice. I have to admit one of the sweetest thing is the sound of Bradley's voice saying "where Peyt-Peyt going?" whenever PD would get out of his site. Below are some of the pictures from today. I know it is a lot but those kids are so darn cute couldn't help myself!

PD enjoying climbing on the playground

Lunch

Playing in the sand

PD the photographer took this shot-first slide JP and Lizzie, second slide me, Mattie and Frances, third slide Bradley solo

This is a shot of everyone looking for PD-he was hiding and they some how named him "Chicken Monster" and would yell for him to come out.

Here is a shot of everyone excited about the train passing by

No Frances is not praying she is clapping with delight over the train!

Chasing down the train again

Had to take this pic of Bradley with his yogurt moustache! He seems to get one every time we are around! (see lake pics)

Here is PD and Bradley running across the field - I love this shot because of the way they are both swinging their arms as they run. Too cute! I don't think we could have planned a more perfect trip. Everyone had a blast and the weather was perfect. I know if we had not gone we would not have enjoyed this perfect weather as much and probably spent the day indoors! I just hope it is here to stay! PD had a great time practicing being a big brother. I think the only show downs we had were between him and Mattie. It was too funny(JP-guess we have some strong willed children :) )

China Update

For those of you wondering about our China adoption. We got an update from our agency today. They (meaning China-our agency has nothing to do with this end of things) have completed referrals through Feb. 9, 2006. We are August 15, 2006 so hard to say when it will be our turn. They have to go through 6 more months to get to us. It could take up to a month to complete 2 weeks (it has in the past)or they might speed up and do a month at a time (highly unlikely but we can hope) we just don't know. Our agency is hopeful that another providence in China is going to allow international adoption which will increase the amount of children available. This is part of the slow process we are dealing with. They are plenty of children who need homes but not all orphanages allow children to be adopted and go outside of China. If more orphanages allow people in the US to adopt then this would hopefully speed up our process. We will just keep waiting and praying! Yes we have now been waiting (not counting the time it took to gather our paper work) 2years and 1 month! Technically longer because we first went to our agency in January 2006 but didn't get our paperwork logged into China until August 2006.

Off the subject but cute quote today:
J: Mrs. Dunn, I am eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, do you know where jelly comes from?
Me: Yes, do you?
J: Yep, jellyfish-that just squirt it out of them!

Fun Times

We had a very busy but good week this week. I am proud to say we accomplished our goal and ate at home every night this week including Friday! I will admit there were some nights of grumbling and complaining but everyone survived! We went to meet the teacher on Monday and got to hear and see how PD is doing in fifth grade. He had great reports from both teacher and the only complaint was handwriting. Allen says maybe he is going to be a doctor because you can never read their handwriting! On Tuesday and Thursday we had double header baseball games. PD team seemed to be worn out on Thursday and not do as well but they still had a great time playing. On Friday Allen went to the game while PD and I stayed home. We were both tired out from a long week and were in bed by the time Allen got home. Saturday PD had ball practice, we went to the grocery store and then went to Amy and Heath's to watch the Carolina game. It was a disappointing game. The Gamecocks love to get your hopes up and then let it slip right through their hands. We had a good time hanging and watching the game together though. After the game we went to met my family for a belated birthday meal for my mom at Kanpai. We usually go there for PD birthday but this year since he had a party we didn't go so when we were there mom told them it was his b-day celebration so he got to wear a hat, get sung too and get wooden chopsticks. She said she didn't want all that attention and knew he loved it! It was nice because my parents,Mike, Scott, Jennifer, my Grammie, Amy, Heath had not all been together for a while. I forgot my camera but Heath snapped some picture with his iphone and sent them to me so I am going to attempt to post them.

My Grammie, Mom and Dad

PD digging in ! As you can see he loves the hat!

Mike and PD Scott and Jennifer Amy and Heath

As you can see there is no picture of Allen and me. Heath took one but it was way to close up and not a good angle so it didn't make the cut! Hey, it is my blog and get to make the decisions! :) After dinner we went back to Amy and Heath's where the boys watched another game and Amy and I channel hopped. We watched House Hunters and Wedding Singer (now that is some great television!) we had our fill of football watching Carolina! This morning I woke up with a terrible sinus headache and we didn't make it to church. The alarm went off everyone got up but me. I felt so terrible I took some medicine and went back to bed. I still do not feel great! I hope whatever is blooming goes away soon because it is killing me! We went to my parents to eat lunch and left PD there once again. He loves to stay with them and they love to have him so it works. It was another great week for us. I hope this week goes just as well. I am off to hopefully take a nap!

Out Of the Mouths of Kindergarteners!

I had two cute and funny comments I just had to share from my sweet class. I was drawing a character from a story to model for them what I wanted them to do in a workshop when one of my kids said, "Mrs. Dunn when you grow up and get to be 16, you should be an artist!"
The second was when we were reading "One, Two Buckle My Shoe" at the end it says "9, 10 Big fat hen!" Well, one of my kids said " Can we say thick instead of fat? Because my mom says fat is not a nice word but thick is ok!" Just some of the many cute things my kids say on a day to day basis! I had to write them down so I won't forget! Happy Hump day!

Weekend

Well not much went on around here this weekend. On Friday night, we went to see Amy's new classroom at her brand new school and I must say it is very nice! Everything there is beautiful. PD said he would like to go back to fourth grade and go to school there. We had two extra passengers with us Friday night, Savannah and Isabella were with us while Kelli and JB spent a romantic Friday night at the ER! JB had a kidney stone act up Friday afternoon so we took the girls with us and they were so sweet! After touring the school we went to eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We love their fries with vinegar! Yummy! Then we came and hung out at our house for a while before we took the girls home. It was a fun evening. Saturday, I got up and worked in the yard to try and save our front flower bed from weeds! It seems to be an impossible task because as soon as I get it where I want it the weeds attack again! Allen went to help a neighbor cut up a tree that had fallen in his yard and PD was a bum and stayed in to watch football.That afternoon Allen worked on tackling the bushes in our yard but was unable to finish due to some wasp nest in them! He was lucky and didn't get stung but they were swarming everywhere! PD came out and played football with the neighbors and I went to the grocery store! Our goal this week, is to not eat out during the week and just eat what we have here so I worked on buying things that everyone would like this week. Saturday night we went to a birthday party at Frankie's fun park for one of PD's friends from elementary school. He had a good time and we enjoyed catching up with some friends. The boys don't go to the same school now and we miss seeing them so it was nice to have some time to chat. Today was church this morning and lunch at my parent's house. PD stayed there for the afternoon to entertain them (haha) and I came home and took a nap while Allen watched (w/ his eyes closed) football. Tonight we went back to church and we are gearing up for a busy week! We have Open House at PD's school tomorrow night, a baseball double header (by the way Allen corrected me in my other post I said double hitter and it is double header!) on Tuesday, church Wednesday, another double header on Thursday and Byrnes game on Friday! Oh yeah, not to mention work, cooking, laundry and cleaning the house! I guess I better get to bed if I am gonna make it!

Batter Up!

PD had his first fall ball game on Tuesday night. He pitched the whole game and did an awesome job! I was so proud of him and his team. They had a double hitter and won both games! He is having a ball and would have played all night if they would let him.
Here are some pictures of him batting. He did a good job batting too. He was walked several times and I think we would rather be able to hit.




Here are some pictures of him pitching. I am amazed at his focus on the mound. I really like his coach this season. He is very positive with the boys and enjoys coaching them.




Below are some pictures of PD and two of his good friends. The first one is him and Caleb. They have been friends since they went to Ms. Linda's together when they were one. I have cute picture of them when they played YMCA tee-ball but couldn't get it on here. It is so amazing to see them so big now.
Below is triple trouble! PD, Caleb and Hudson. Don't let those innocent smiles fool you they are trouble!

This was a picture I took of the three of them sitting in the bleachers between games. We had no idea they had these numbers until they handed out jerseys. Pretty cool!

Surprise!

On Monday night we had a sweet prayer time and we had a surprise baby shower for Amanda in our group. It was such a fun time! Amanda had no idea that it was not a regular prayer time and we enjoyed showering her and baby Harrison with gifts. I feel so blessed to be a part of this group of praying ladies. When we get together we always have such a great time! Every time I leave prayer group I feel so revived and I know I will be prayed for until we get together again.
As you can see from the pictures below we always make it fun!

The Whole Gang

Amanda, Jennifer and Me-showing off Katie's great burp cloths!

The hostesses

Our True Colors

Weekend Recap

Well it was a great long weekend! After our adventures on Friday night we got up on Saturday morning and went to Gaffney Outlets to do some shopping! I really needed some fall shoes and khaki pants. So we headed to Clarks for some of my favorite shoes! I was so excited they were having a huge sale! I got 2 pair of causal shoes (one black, one brown) for $30 and 2 pair of dress shoes for $60! This was a great deal for Clarks! I also found khaki pants on sale at Eddie Bauer for $8.99! I was so excited. Allen got new sunglasses and PD finally finished all his b-day money by buying a new Wii game. It is an Olympic sports game that he has really enjoyed. Then we came home and cleaned our house from top to bottom and boy did it feel good to get that done! If only it would stay that way! On Saturday night we took my mom and dad wings since my dad is still recovering from knee surgery. We stayed and watched the Clemson game to half-time (so sad) then Allen and I came home and PD stayed the night with PopPop and Anne Mommy. Allen and I watched the rest of the game and cheered on the Tide! (SORRY!) It was a great game! :) On Sunday PD said he didn't feel well so he stayed at mom and dad's while Allen and I went to church and had lunch with our Sunday school class. When PD finally came home he only stayed a hour before he headed to his Grandmother's house to spend the night! Allen and I went to eat at On The Border (my favorite) and then to Barnes and Noble and the grocery store. On Monday we headed out to breakfast at Duncan Cafeteria and then we came home and spent the rest of the day being bums until I headed off to Prayer Group. It was a great weekend!