Happy Father's Day

Dad cookin' up the slop
Uncle Phil, Great-Aunt Nita, Clayton, & our family friend Ann enjoying the Grillin's
Shannon & Sam dining together

Fulton trying to fill Boppa's shoes

Uncle Clayton and Uncle Bubba playing corn hole

Wally and Muzzy supervise the chaos

Nic fixin' his grub
Fu and his feast
Ring around the rosies....
We all fall down! Uh-oh Boppa!
Oh my!!!

We celebrated Father's Day just with my parents because Shannon's were at the beach. We ate a fabulous meal and enjoyed visiting with lots of family members. We played corn hole and mom set up the baby pool for the boys to splash in.
Shannon and Dad both had a great day.

A note to Shannon:
Father's day is so much more than just a sale at the local department store! You are loved and appreciated so much more than you will ever know! Thanks for being so patient and loving with the boys. I know that they truly appreciate the time you spend with them. I never would have dreamed that when I met you in SAT math class that we would share a life together and have 2 amazingly precious little boys. I am so fortunate to be sharing this journey with you. I couldn't have asked for more!

A note to Dad:
Dad you know you are the ultimate Super Hero! You never cease to amaze us with your ability to get up and go and take care of your family (and everyone else's too). Sam and Fulton think Boppa is just the greatest! You can always keep the peace in times of chaos and get the party going in times of celebration! You're awesome!!!! Thanks for EVERYTHING!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!

Lunch with an old friend

Shannon, Sam and Fulton with Darnell, Dean, and Lucas

Shannon and I were so blessed to get to have lunch with one of Shannon's old high school buddies. Darnell is in the military and was in town in between moves. Until recently he was stationed in Hawaii and is now living in Guam. We had the pleasure of finally meeting his two precious boys who are about the same ages as ours. We went to the most kid friendly place we could think of downtown, Sandy's!!! The boys ate their dogs and 50 pounds of ice cream.
It was so great to see Darnell. He is such a sweet person and we wish we could see him more frequently.
Best wishes to the Salley Family in Guam!!!

Law & Order: Forest Acres Crime Scene Unit

Drama...Drama...Drama! I went out to play with the boys this morning around 10:30. As I walked outside into the backyard, I was approached by a construction worker from the new development behind my house. If it had been the opening 30 seconds of Law & Order, it may have gone a little like this...Here's the script:

Constuction Worker: (shouting, walking toward my fence) Ma'am, Ma'am

Me: (shouting back) yes, what can I help you with?

Constuction Worker: I've been seeing you outside with your children...

Me: (thinking) great!

Construction worker: I wanted to let you know I found a GUN in your backyard

Me: (shouting) A WHAT????

Construction worker: A Gun----it looks really old but it could have been a murder weapon

Me: (thinking) yeah right...you probably put it there and I'm going to walk down there and look & you're going to use it to kill me in front of my children...I love the feeling of safety and security in today's world!

Me: (keeping a distance) Can you show me where?

Construction worker: I'm going to point my shovel handle at it

Me: Wow! It is a gun!

Construction Worker: I think you should call the PO-LICE!

Me: Absolutely! Thanks sir!

So I did just that and I called my neighbor, Lorri, too. I figured she and her daughter could stand a little action on a boring hot summer day.

So two of the FAPD show up for the investigation. I had to get them a shovel so they could move it. They older cop just stood there crackin' jokes and being a "you know what" while the poor little rookie cop was doin' all the work.

Well, they pulled the gun out and after closely examining it, they determined that it was just a toy...a very old toy! They let us keep the "murder weapon" which Sam thought was super cool. Our house/property is extremely old and there is no tellin' how many criminals have hidden in what used to be the "rain forest" behind my house. You never know! It could have been real. So it's better to be safe than sorry.

It made for an interesting story for our nosey neighbors and for Shannon when he got home. You'd think the cops would need to hurry back to fighting crime but NO they hung out in my backyard for an additional 30 minutes talking to me and Lorri and playing ball with Sam. Ain't nothin' like the FAPD.

Thanks!

Thanks to all my faithful blog readers. We are getting very close to 3000 visits! And thanks also for all your sweet comments on the posts.

I didn't realize how much we were missed until I was asked several times recently "What happened to your blog?" So I'm going to try to be a little more consistent.

More What's Bakin' news to come...

Have a great week!

XXXOOO
CTB

A Picnic w/ Daddy

June 8th

I took my Sweet Potatuh's to pick up Shannon at work and we went to the State House for a picnic lunch. We packed PB&J's (just a J for Fulton, he's allergic to the PB), fruit salad, Goldfish, water and juice and cookies. We sat under a nice shady tree and and had a great time. Sambo and Fu fed the pigeons and ran around in the grass. Shannon even tried to get them to take a snooze on the blanket like they were camping (no such luck).
Sam feeding the pigeonsFulton didn't quite understand the concept of throwing little pieces of bread...
He threw his whole sandwich!!!

Shannon trying to snuggle with the boys!

Blogamp

I figured out an easier way to add songs. Hopefully I'll be able to update it more frequently. If you have a special request...let me know! And turn your volume on :-)

Happy Birthday to Brooks!

June 6th
Once again we were out way too late with the Wheelers!!! We went out to dinner with a big fun group of people to celebrate Brooks' birthday. We always have the best time with them but as I mentioned earlier, the late nights take DAYS to recover from. BUUUUT it's worth it because they are such great friends. With this motley crew there is never a dull moment.

Happy Birthday Brooks!!!!

with lots of love from What's Bakin'!

Shannon, Brooks, Me, and April

Brooks with some strange shaggin' guy who thought she needed to dance on her birthday

Chris, David, Shannon, April, Ashley, Brooks, Me, David, and Shannon

Happy 8th Anniversary Shannon!!!!

June 5th, 1999

My how time has flown by! That super hot and fabulous day on June 5th, 1999 seems like just yesterday! It's so hard to believe it's been 8 years.

You are still my Knight in Shining Basketball Gear!!! And I'm still your #1 fan!!!

Thanks for providing me with security and all the love and support you have given me over the years and especially for my sweet and beautiful boys. I look forward to many more wonderful years together. I love you!!! You're the best!!!!

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!!!!

June 1st

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Mom, along with me and my brothers pulled off the best surprise EVER! We have been planning and lying to my Dad for over a year now. We've been sneaking around planning his big shindig.

We had a fabulous time with about 200 of our closest friends and family members. Dad was surrounded by so much love from his fellow musicians, business partners, family, tennis buddies and old classmates. The toasts were wonderful. Some super sweet and some pants-wetting hilarious. I opted out of a toast and conned my brothers and husband into dressing up and doing a skit.

I was too busy running my mouth to take any pictures so you will just have to check back for the photo updates later as we get pictures from other folks.

My Uncle Joe told dad he was taking him to a Steve Spurrier event at Tronco's for his birthday. When he walked in we all shouted surprise (of course). And he truly was surprised.

My Aunt Bankie took pictures for his birthday gift and will have them on her site soon. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Surprise!!!!

Dad greeting an old family friend

"Where's Spurrier?"

Meredith, Helen, and Me

Sorry, more pictures to come!!!

(If you were there and have any to email, please let me know!)

May 2007

May 12th

The Forest Acres Festival

We went to the neighborhood festival held at AC Flora. There were several area merchants and food vendors. We rode some fun rides, helped find a missing child, and even saw COCKY!!!

We topped off the evening with the Kelleys at their house. We cooked out and the kids played in the pool and on the slip-n-slide.

Mommy, Sam, and Spiderman rode on the spinning Strawberries

A very Cocky family!

Sam says "Cheese-burger"

Fulton stands his ground with Alec over the watermelon.

AHHHHH...the taste of Summer!

Anna and Jack enjoy a slice too.

May 15th

Sam and Fulton's last day of school. I can't believe another school year has passed. It went by so fast! Sam successfully completed the 3's and Fulton passed all his exams in the baby room.

Mrs. Cindy and Mrs. Eleanor say so-long to Fu

Mrs. Frannie is the BEST!!!!

Sam's class picnic.

May 18th

Save the Pigs Cook-off benefiting the Carolina Children's Home. Dad has been performing for this event for several years. We enjoy going and tasting all the good food samples for the cook-off. But the entertainment is the best by far!

Isabella stayed with Muzzy and Boppa for the weekend so she came with us and Sam and Fulton truly enjoyed her company.

Boppa singing with his band The Sensational Epics

Sam watching Boppa

Fu enjoying a hamburger and watching Boppa

Sam and Isabella playing

Sam and Fu dancing

May 19th

ST-4 Party

Shannon and I enjoyed a night out with lots of friends for the ST-4 party at the Coop. Bandkamp played and kept the party going until the wee hours. We went to the Wheelers' house for the after-the-party-wind-down.

Shannon and I recognized our cold-harsh reality.....we are no longer in college and 3 AM takes weeks to recover from!!!

Brooks, Summer, and Me

David, Shannon, Will, and Greg

May 26th

My niece, Madeline, celebrated her 2nd birthday at this really neat cabin in Lexington. It's very secluded and on a pretty pond. There was lots of room for the kids to run and play. She looked so sweet in her ladybug dress!

Madeline and Aunt "T".

Well Well Well...

Okay so we celebrated our 1 year blog anniversary and then...we fell off the map!

Here's a somewhat brief overview of the last 6 weeks:

My job sucked the life out of me with writing 10 billion IEP's for student enrolled in Speech Therapy, logging over 250 hours of Medicaid documentation, packing up my classroom and moving out of the land of Pelion and back into my home with my sweet babies. So now I can say that I did give Speech Therapy a second chance and decided once and for all that ALL THE RED TAPE IS NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTT WORTH IT. Being a public educator in some ways should be considered highway robbery on the government's part.

Any who...Here we go.

April 22nd

Happy Christening to Lillian Elise Kirkland daughter of Anna (Rock) and Kevin Kirkland! Lilly was Christened at St. John's and she was a perfect ANGEL! Anna asked me to be her Parish sponsor and I was delighted because she is Fulton's Parish sponsor. Following the ceremony we attended a luncheon held at Anna's house.

Kevin, Anna, The Rev. Fletcher Montgomery, and Lilly

Lilly-ba-dilly and FuFu pose in the grass. Seriously, are they not the cutest couple, EVER!!!

(Lilly and Fulton don't know that we have already arranged their marriage!)

April 26th

Edventure Edstravaganza Preview Party. Brooks and I served a Co-Chairs on this committee for the Edventure Children's Museum Discovery Council. We raced around frantically along with some amazingly brilliant women to prepare this super fun event. It was open to Museum Members only and we had a great time in the Carnival-like atmosphere. We did lots of fun crafts and played all over the Museum's outdoor attractions. This even was tied into the Columbia Festival of the Arts. Shannon brought the boys out while I helped hold down the fort for the event.

Sam and Charlie being silly, as usual

Sam making a souvenir T-shirt

Baby Brooks and Fu look less than thrilled to be strapped into their strollers

April 28th (?)
Sam completes soccer season with a bang! Coach Brandon literally picked him up from the sidelines, threw him over his shoulder and said "Sam, I need you buddy." Sam stood on the field for all of 30 seconds. We were so proud!!! The season concluded with the trophy ceremony and cookout at Hollywood Park.

Yeah! Sam!!!!!

The awards ceremony begins

Sam gets his trophy

Go on--- take the trophy and run...

(He really was proud...He is a man of few words and expressions.)

Go Big Red!!!!!!!!!!!

I made soccer cupcakes

Now that's a cookout!!!!

Sam and Coach Brandon

April 29th
My niece, Isabella turned two on the 17th of April and celebrated her birthday on the 29th. I was unable to go to Summerville because of my volunteer obligation with Edventure, so Shannon packed up the boys and headed out of town.

Happy 2nd birthday, Isabella!

And somewhere in the month we went to a fun cookout at some family friends' house. We had karaoke and fabulous Barbecue. The boys danced and played all evening.

Muzzy and Fu Dance to Boppa's singing

Me, Julia, and Cathy break out in song

Wrestling with Sam

Boppa and Muzzy pose for a picture

And that sums up April. Stay tuned for May.