Finally!!!

I apologize in advance for the randomness and writing, but I'm going to do my best to share some of the joy since I know there are many of you that had the Day's in your thoughts and prayers all night...they are finally here!! (without giving too much away, I will be sure to save the best for dad to post =) Krissee was absolutely amazing, and as most of you know by now, was able to push those sweet angels out after a very LONG two days!

Here we are at about 1:00 pm Thursday afternoon. What a GREAT surprise it was to be able to hang out with Krissee while she was having contractions (for hours!) Even though there was some serious pain she endured, we shared lots of laughs. I will forever be grateful for the time we shared, thank you Krissee and Daniel for sharing the memories!

Uncle Chap arrived shortly after, 'dressed to impress'. He wore his suit and tie in honor of Smith and Addison. This was very touching for me because this is what my grandfather, (Sho Sho) did when his grandchildren came home from the hospital.

After about eight hours of contraction with little action, the excitement began to wear off...and exhaustion began to set in =)

While some slept, some were WAY to eager to meet Smith and Addison! After Krissee was wheeled into the OR (waving to the crowd as she left) at around 12:30 a.m. Keesha, Ame, Marilyn, and myself got busted for 'lurking' around the hospital. We tried every way possible to get a glimpse or clue of how the babies were doing!! No luck though...they had that place on lock down!

After several hours of MORE waiting, we were really strugglin'! We decided to find some wheel chairs to entertain ourselves...I didn't get a photo of our 'Days of Thunder' wheel chair race that me and Keesha re-enacted...but they were special =)

Finally, at around 2:45 a.m. Nurse Stephanie came out to inform us that the babies had arrived, and everyone was doing GREAT! Wow!! Relief, gratefulness, excitement, and exhaustion...just a few of the emotions everyone was feeling!

What an amazing moment when a VERY proud dad walked out with his beautiful children. It was straight out of the best baby movie I've EVER seen! (I'm trying not to show close up pics of Smith and Addison because I know daddy will be sharing those soon!!)

So, after an amazingly wonderful night, Chap and I hurried back to Rock Hill around 4:00 a.m. so that we could make it to work (yuck!)...with no sleep I am having to remind my self every minute to be patient with the twenty kids I have in my summer Challenger class today...I think I'm still floating on cloud nine though, so hopefully it will be smooth sailing! I already miss those babies so much though and I can't wait to watch Krissee and Daniel in action. They've already proved their love for these children, Smith and Addison are very lucky to have such amazing parents!!

The Babies Are Coming!

Krissee is at the hospital right now and they expect the twins to arrive either tonight or tomorrow! I am so excited, I can't wait to meet them. I know a lot of you are excited too so I wanted to remind you that Daniel is going to try and keep his blog updated with how things are progressing. I promise to post pictures as soon as I get the first chance. Please remember Krissee, Daniel, Smith, and Addison in your prayers! Yeaa...I LOVE baby time!!

Mama Mia! What a fun weekend...

Chap’s cousin, David was married this weekend in Rock Hill. Let me just tell you how nice it was to NOT have to travel for a wedding and to just show up without helping, buying a dress, or renting a tux (don’t’ get me wrong, love participating in weddings, but also enjoy just being a guest!!) Friday night we attended Amy and David’s rehearsal dinner at Winthrop Shack (really, not a shack but really nice house behind the Winthrop lake).

Saturday, Chap and his dad woke up (silly early) for their fishing tournament at Lake Wylie while Marilyn and I slept in, leisurely had breakfast and got ready for Foxy Roxy to arrive so we could begin our day of shopping, eating, and movies! It was really nice, and after visiting some local favorites (Monkey’s & Mermaids and Legacy’s Child) we had lunch at Olive Garden and then went to see Mama Mia! Such a cute, fun, and girlie movie (Chap and Larry both agreed they would have walked out on the first song…) anyway, it was such a great day to have both my moms in town to hang out! I truly believe they are kindred spirits, but they just call themselves ‘best friends’ till we get that spirit thing confirmed =) The boys finished 5th in the fishing tournament, I heard some grumbling about this and something about all the fish that got away, but you know how that goes.

The wedding was nice and the reception was at Kinard which is a building at Winthrop, where Chap and I graduated. It was neat to go back and visit…a little sickening though to see all the new additions they’ve made to the school. Really, they couldn’t have put that Olympic size pool and ginourmous work-out facility in while we were students?!! I seriously got a little nauseous upon seeing that basically every WU student now has their own treadmill and elliptical machine…not fair! And the pool is amazing, I remember when I used to go swimming at WU, it was in a tiny pool that was basically in a dungeon. Slightly creepy. I am sure they have Big Norm and Marilyn to thank for some of those additions =) End vent.

Anyway, the reception was nice but the highlight in entertainment for me and Chap was meeting Petrozza the runner up contestant from the show Hell’s Kitchen (for those of you who watch the show I HOPE you appreciate this b/c there were tons of folks there that thought we were slightly crazy for how star struck we were!!) Chap and I had joked all weekend about meeting Petrozza because we knew he had worked with the catering service at Winthrop before becoming a contestant on our favorite show. Well, as soon as soon as we spotted Petrozza you can imagine our excitement and while the DJ was trying to keep an orderly fashion for the guests going through the buffet line, Chap and I made a mad dash with our camera to get a picture with our pal Petrozza….dorks. Oh well, it was the highlight of our evening and here is our claim to fame.

Keesha, Mary Cline, & SethThe cousins!
Larry & Marilyn who actually won the prize for being the longest married couple at the reception! Way to go guys!
Me and some hot guy I picked up at the wedding =)

While the weekend was really great, I guess the only thing that could have made it better was if the babies decided to meet their Aunt Heather. Oh well, I know Krissee and Daniel really enjoyed their ‘baby moon’ and now I have something to look forward to for next week!

So You Think You Can Dance...or Cry?

Was anyone else devastated by last night's results show?? I mean, I know there are WAY bigger things going on in the world today to cry about...but today I still feel like crying about this. My favorite girl, Kherington was voted off last night and I found this shocking and devastating. For those of you that don't watch, another girl named 'Comfort' was given a second chance when Jessica was forced to drop out of the competition due to an injury. While I am a huge fan of Comfort, I truly believe they should have brought Thayne back to replace Jessica, simply because he rocks, but that would really mess up the couple situation I suppose. Anyway, Comfort (who is an amazing hip hopper…but that’s about it) managed to bring in more votes than Kherington, who is an extremely talented and diverse dancer that in my opinion did not need to go home yet! Then, to top off the bad news, Gev was also voted off. The sweetest boys who was originally a hip hop dancer, but managed to do learn and do great with every other style of dance he was given.

And what is this ‘IV Real’ business? Has anyone noticed this? While I appreciate the enthusiasm, I am slightly annoyed with how frequent this occurs. I developed my own theory last week and it has to do with the fact that the ‘IV Real’ folks include Comfort, Joshua, Twitch, and Will. Notice any similarities??

With all this said, I guess I have to find some new favorites. While I love Twitch and Josh’s personalities, I think Will is the best technical dancer for the guys. The girls, I don’t really have any favorites now that Kherington is gone. I have really liked all of Katie’s performances, but I think Courtney is my favorite personality (I also really liked her b/c I think her and Gev were in love =)

Ok, sorry for this long entry on a dance show. I’m not sure why I get so involved in this competition, I think it’s because you can really feel their passion and dedication for what they do!! I’m a huge fan! I know I’m not a great dancer or anything, but I swear that after watching this show I have some really fancy moves while brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed!

Update!

Evidently, my blog is in need of an update...but unfortuneatley I don't really have anything new and exciting to report so I will make this as breif and painless as possible:

Me: I am working a LOT this summer...all day every day from 7 am till 6 pm with children who's ages range from 5-10 years old...it's fabulous (sarcasm of course). I'm also still working on my master's class on-line, good news is after this class I will have completed 18 hours of credit so there will be an upgrade in the cha ching when the new school year starts (woo hoo!)

Chap: working working working. This is such a stinky (literally) time of year for him because it is just so hot here in SC. Working outside all day really takes a toll on you...and your fragrance =) However, we are very very grateful for the work he does have!! He just finished his summer class on Tuesday and has spent his evenings making me some yummy dinners (thanks babe!)

Brodey: Poor brown boy has a 'hot spot' on his back from the heat and boredom of the summer. It makes my heart hurt thinking about it...this is our first experience with the 'hot spot' and I really hope it goes away soon! I am working on getting him a 'playmate', till then though he is just going to have to chase the birds, squirrels, neighbors cats and quit eating a hole in his back!

Well, there's the update...told ya, nothing really new or exciting. In our spare time (which is very limited on the weekends) we do find some fun to have!

Of course, we've taken a couple trips to the lake with Todd and Tammy (this is Tammy and their sweet dog, Chase)

This is Justin on the slip and slide, for those that don't know and haven't experienced this greatness...Todd and Tammy have a gigantic slip and slide that is great fun and entertaining (especially when the adults slide)

This is Sawyer, Justin's adorable nephew, spraying Chap down with soapy water so that he could slide down the slip and slide. Chap didn't complain at ALL when the soap got in his eyes =)

Here's Chap giving Sawyer a boost down the slide (even though he swears he didn't need it!) Pull your bottoms up! =)

This is later, the same 4th of July evening, Colly and Chap re-enacting the SNL Census Bureau Skit, thanks guys!!

And of course, there have been several trips to visit the little man, Carter. He is getting big...and so are his BM's =)

Part Two...

Last Sunday we went to Hartsville to celebrate some more of my favorite people, including Rollings (our nephew) and Keesha’s (his mom) birthdays and Father's Day for Larry (better late than never!) We had an entertaining time with Rollings putting on concerts (my favorite performance was during dinner when he stood on his chair beside me to sing “duh, duh, duh…Another One Bites the Dust, hilarious!!)

I could hang out with Rollings all day, though I’m not sure my metabolism could keep up. =) He cracks me up! After a yummy dinner and TWO deserts (hooray deserts!!) we all got to examine Krissee’s fun pregnant belly (I’m not including pictures, she is pregnant with twins and though I think her belly is adorable, I’m not sure she would think my posting pics of this would be as adorable.) So while we were checking out Smith and Addison, Rollings was talking to Smith and Addison through Krissee’s belly button asking them if “they were going to fall out soon?” Ha! I guess he’s just as ready to play with those babies as we are!! We asked Rollings where the babies came from?? His answer was priceless…where all great things come from at his age “McDonald’s Happy Meals”. I assume they are the fun toys you get when ordering this delicious treat =)

Post performance, Keesha and Rollings blowing out their b-day candles.

Chap and I got Rollings a Transformer casting rod, this is Rollings learning how to cast with Uncle Chap...

This is the more complete scene, the boys fishing off the side of the boat that's parked in the driveway trying to cast the lures into a wheelbarrow filled with water (that Rollings was never quite content with...we had to keep moving it closer, and closer so he could make it.) Practice makes perfect!

I always enjoy visiting Chap’s family! Family time is always entertaining, especially with a big family that likes to love and laugh a lot! Happy Birthday Keesha and Rollings, Happy Father’s Day Larry, and happy Happy Meals to everyone!!

Birthday Bonanza (Part One…)

Lots of my favorite people had birthday celebrations this past weekend!! Two of these were Justin and Mike. Their birthday’s are close enough together that the wives (Shelly and Erica) get to plan a combo b-day bash. This year we went birthday bowling (my personal favorite type of b-day celebration) and then back to the Smith’s for a cook out. It was a great day with lots of laughs…as you can see from the pictures these guys just HATE to have fun! =)

Birthday boys opening their ‘surprise’ gifts.

Mike = smooth/cool, and really hot in his birthday bowling shirt and shades!! =)

Justin = confused/hilarious =) This might be the greatest picture ever! After opening the b-day piñata, Justin tried it on. Thank you for this memory Justin, we all enjoyed this one!!

Chap “serenading” Mike with a birthday melody! Ha!!

Happy birthday Justin & Mike!! We love you guys and can’t wait to celebrate another year of your awesomeness!

*B-Day Bonanza Part Two to follow (but not tonight b/c Chap is at the Dave Mathews concert and I'm a little jealous so I'm going to bed now).