Our Neighborhood Children's Christmas Party

On Sunday, our neighborhood had a Christmas party for the children at the clubhouse. Santa was the main attraction, but there was also a balloon artist, and the children were able to make gingerbread houses. It was a lot of fun for all of the children and the adults!

Charlie and Coleman sitting in Santa's chair together
Coleman and Mommy making a gingerbread house

McGregor Christmas Program

Coleman had the Christmas program for each of his preschool classes last week. We heard him sing, "Go Tell It On the Mountain" for weeks! I was quite surprised when he was busy looking around and waving to us instead of singing during the program. It was so cute! We had a great first part of the year at McGregor. What a blessing!

Coleman's class singing...

Coleman, Evan and Abbey are playing together after the program

Happy 4th Birthday Callahan!

Callahan celebrated his 4th birthday at Monkey Business in Lexington. It was a very cool place because there were live monkeys and rides inside the building. We had a great time hanging out with Callahan and a lot of Coleman's friends from preschool.

Laney (Abbey's older sister) and Coleman on the ferris wheel

Callahan blowing out his candles

Happy 2nd Birthday Coleman!!!

On Saturday, November 1, we celebrated Coleman's second birthday at EdVenture. The theme was firetrucks and dalmations. Coleman gave his friends a dalmation cookie and a fireman's hat as a party favor. He really had a great time playing with his friends, at one of his favorite places to visit!

Coleman in the grocery store sporting his fireman's hat

Coleman preparing th blow out the candles on his cake

Trunk or Treat

On Wednesday night, we had Trunk or Treat at church. We began the night with a dinner in the family hall. After dinner, Coleman went from car to car in search of candy. After collecting each piece, he attempted to eat each piece. His favorite part was the bouncy house.

Coleman, aka THE PUPPY

Coleman eats a sucker while posing with Eli

Coleman's Birthday at Preschool

The week before Coleman's birthday, I took cookies decorated as cakes, white cheese puffs and Capri Suns for the children to eat. Our plate and napkin theme was Elmo, Coleman's favorite character.

Miss Beth's and Miss Kay's class on Tuesday

Miss Susan's and Miss Lynne's class on Wednesday

An Afternoon at Harmon's Tree Farm

We met Conner at Harmon's tree farm on a beautiful afternoon. The boys enjoyed looking at the animals as well as playing with the pumpkins. Coleman thought that each of the small pumpkins was a ball. We actually had to buy two because he had thrown one around so much!

Conner and Coleman posing with their pumpkins

Happy 2nd Birthday Ava and Carter!

We drove to Easley to go to Par Tee time, which is a bounce place, to celebrate Ava's and Carter's second birthday. We hate that we do not get to see them more often! Thanks for inviting us to your monkey themed party!

Ava and Coleman

Carter and Ava with Mommy and Grandma opening gifts

Happy 2nd Birthday Emily!

We went to My Gym to celebrate Emily's second birthday! We had a great time, and thought it was one of the coolest 2 year old birthday parties we had been to. Thanks for inviting us to celebrate your special day! It is so hard to believe that our birthdays are only 1 day apart!!!

Coleman and Emily

Go Gamecocks!!!

We took Coleman to his first USC game a few weeks ago. USC was playing Florida Atlantic. Coleman's biggest challenge was keeping still. We got there an hour early, and were able to stay for a total of about 2 hours. We took Coleman all around the stadium, including behind the student section. He was excited to see Cocky, but he was not quite ready to sit through a football game. Maybe next year!

Coleman and Daddy

Coleman and Mommy

Happy Birthday Abbey Dabby Do!

On Saturday, Coleman went to the first birthday party for one of his classmates at school. Little did we know, we had already met her parents at a new resident party for our neighborhood. Coleman (aka Noman by Abbey) was greeted at the car by Abbey (aka Abbey Dabby Do by Coleman), and he was so excited. Abbey does preschool early drop off just like Coleman. The teachers talk about the two of them being boyfriend and girlfriend because they play together the whole time. Abbey is also in Coleman's 3 day 2's class. Coleman is the youngest in both of his classes!

Abbey's party theme was Dora the Explorer, and her mom did the cutest job developing activities for the children. Everything was so creative! Thanks for inviting us to your birthday Abbey!

Abbey is helping Coleman with Pin the Tail on Swiper

Abbey is preparing to blow out the candle on the Dora cupcakes

Elmo's Green Thumb

Saturday morning, Courtney and I took Conner and Coleman to Elmo's Green Thumb. The boys had a wonderful time. After the show we went to DiPrato's for lunch.

Coleman and Elmo

A picture of the show...

Conner and Coleman sharing popcorn

Happy 2nd Birthday Samuel

On Saturday, we went to the Belfair pool to celebrate Samuel's 2nd birthday. The water was a little cold, but the kids had a great time. Coleman's favorite part was the chips! Thank you Samuel for letting us share your special day with you!

Samuel blowing out the candle

Samuel and Coelman eating chips

Coleman's First Day of School

Coleman's first day of Two Year Old Preschool at McGregor Presbyterian was August 31. Coleman will be going to Preschool five days a week from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. We are actually dropping him off early at 8 a.m., which is so convenient! His teachers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday are Ms. Lynne and Ms. Susan, and his teachers on Tuesday and Thursday are Ms. Beth and Ms. Kim (Ms. Suzanne is filling in until October 15). Ms. Suzanne goes to our church, so it will be nice to be able to get her feedback on Sunday morning.

Coleman did not shed a single tear on his first day of school. I was so shocked! I picked him up at 12 p.m., and we went to eat lunch at Moe's. At Moe's, we saw one of his friends from class, Baxley. He really likes Baxley!

After we ate lunch, I took Coleman to Ms. Megan's house. She will be watching him in the afternoon.

This is such a big step for Coleman and Mommy! We are so excited to be a part of preschool this year!

Coleman is eating breakfast before his big day at school

Coleman and Ms. Susan

Happy 2nd Birthday Zeke!

We joined last Saturday in order to celebrate his second birthday. It is so hard to believe that I remember him as a tiny baby, and I remeber still being pregnant with Coleman. We had a wonderful time with everyone, and we are so sad that they will be moving back to Atlanta. Thanks for sharing your special day with us!

Zeke with him Mommy (Jen)

Piper, Breelan and Coleman playing with Thomas the Tank

Happy 3rd Birthday Eleanor!

On Saturday, we joined Eleanor at Lake Murray Gymnastics to celebrate her 3rd birthday. We had fun playing with the parachute, in the foam pit and on the trampoline. The theme was dinosuars, which was very cute!

Eleanor blowing out the candle on her cake

Coleman and David in the foam pit

A Day With Thomas

We went with our neighbors to Bryson City, NC for the weekend to see Thomas the Tank. We drove up Friday night to spend the night in a cabin, which was super nice! On Saturday, we went downtown to take our train ride with Thomas pulling our car. Coleman was a little startled initially, but by the end of the day, he loved watching Thomas. We spent our day playing at the train tables, shopping for Thomas accessories and visting various exhibits that were set up.

On Sunday morning we went back to downtown Bryson City, to tell Thomas goodbye. Coleman kept repeating, "Bye, bye Thomas."

Thomas taking off from the station

Bradley, Riley and Coleman

Coleman, me, Riley, David, Bradley, Danny and Misty aboard our passenger car

Happy 2nd Birthday Conner!

Conner celebrated his 2nd birthday on July 15. We met them at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate. On the 18th was his actual birthday party at their house. The theme was farm animals, and the cake was super cute...it was a cow!

Conner, his mom and his cousin

Conner, Coleman and Andrew having fun at their new train table

Happy Birthday Conner! Thanks for including us in your special day!

The Fourth of July

We spent Friday night at the Echerer's house. We ate hotdogs, watched fireworks and hung out. My brother, Justin, joined us, and I think he had a good time too.

Kim, Coleman and I watching fireworks from afar

Kaitlyn, Zachary and their cousin watching fireworks

On Saturday, we went to my parent's house to eat barbeque and lots of other good food. While we were there, Coleman played with the kittens next door.

After leaving my parents, we went to the Davis' house to watch fireworks. Coleman was a bit scared because the fireworks were much closer than they had been the previous night.

Barbra, Eason and Coleman (Eason thought the fireworks were loud too!)

New York City - Days 4 & 5

We spent Saturday at the Bronx Zoo. We took the Subway to the zoo, and we had a wonderful day. Later that day, we went to FAO Schwarz and Coleman and I played on the large piano.

On Sunday, I flew to Chicago, and David and Coleman flew to Charlotte. We hated to leave our favorite city!

New York City - Day 3

We started our day at the Children's Museum of Manhattan, which was awesome. The museum had 2 whole floors dedicated to children under 3 years old. Coleman loved storytime, play dough time, and all of the cool exhibits.

Daddy is helping Coleman down the fireman's pole

After the museum we ate at Homer's World Favorite Malt Shop. After lunch, we walked around the Upper East & Upper West sides. We then visited Dylan's Candy Bar (Ralph Lauren's daughter's shop). We had a blast eating all of the candy!

Coleman shared an ice cream with mommy at Dylan's

After Dylan's we visited the FDNY (Fire Department New York) Fire Zone at Rockefellar Plaza. Coleman loved the firetruck, and we were able to buy cool t-shirts.

Mommy and Coleman "driving" the firetruck

We had pizza for dinner and visited Toys R Us. We finally called it a day!

New York City - Day 2

We started our morning by getting a little breakfast at the grocery next door to our hotel. We then headed straight for Central Park. The first thing we came to in Central Park was the carousel. Coleman loved the carousel because it moved faster than the other carousels that we have ridden in the past. After the carousel, we went to the Central Park Zoo. Coleman had the best time feeding the goats at the petting zoo.

After leaving the zoo, we went straight to the Boathouse to eat lunch. Coleman actually took a little nap in his stroller while we ate, so it worked out nicely. As soon as David and I took our last bites, Coleman woke up. We decided to get him a hotdog and fries from the Express Cafe, which was located on the back side of the Boathouse. After our lunch, we took a row boat ride.

After our boat ride, we explored Central Park some more. We then found a playground, and Coleman was very happy.

After our adventures in Central Park, we took the Subway down to the World Trade Center area, and did a little bit of shopping in Century 21. We then walked up to Chinatown and Little Italy. We ate dinner in Little Italy, and it was delicious! We then took the subway back up to Times Square and did our nightly visit of Toys R Us. We then left and went to bed...we were so tired!

New York City - Day 1

David, Coleman and I left out of Charlotte on Wednesday morning. David left around 10 a.m. and Coleman and I left at 11:40 a.m. We took different flights to keep costs low. As soon as we arrived in Queens, we took a bus and then the subway to Manhattan. We went straight to Times Square, where our hotel was located. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that our hotel was nice. We bid on it from Priceline. We ate dinner at the Barking Dog, and after dinner we went to Toys R Us in Times Square. At Toys R Us, we road the enourmous ferris wheel in a firetruck cart. Then, Coleman had his first encounter with Spider Man. Coleman now loves him!

Elmo was working the streets in Time Square

Coleman is preparing to give Spider Man knuckles

A Wedding in Jamaica

We spent last weekend in Jamaica celebrating David's cousin Matt's and Jenn's wedding. We flew out of Charlotte on a Friday and we returned the following Monday. We spent our first night celebrating at the rehearsal dinner. It was gorgeous because it was out on the beach with a steel drum band, a bondfire and a wonderful dinner.

We spent Saturday playing on the beach and swimming in the pool. We also took the pedal boat out, which put Coleman asleep. Saturday night was the wedding, which was on the lawn overlooking the ocean. Jenn was absolutely stunning, and the ceremony was beautiful. We then had dinner and dancing for the reception.

On Sunday we played at the beach and in the pool. David took a ride on the banana boat, which he really enjoyed. On Sunday night, we ate a a local flavor restaurant, Scotchie's, which served authentic Jamaican food. It was really good.

On Monday, we packed our bags and returned home. It was so hard to leave such a beautiful place! Congratulations Matt and Jen...we enjoyed sharing your special day with you.

Matt and Jenn

The authenic Jamaican restaurant

Coleman playing in the water/sand with his cousin Lauren

Mommy and Coleman at the pool