:: there was no "p" in "pool"...

...because scout had her first pair of "lil' swimmers" on! YAY!! HAHA! today was scout's first time in the swimming pool and she seemed to really enjoy herself!! she splashed and kicked and kicked and splashed! it was so funny! she wasn't scared at all, so she must be going to take after her mom AND dad! we were both lil' daredevils when it came to water, and well, pretty much anything during those childhood years...hahaha!

here's scout chillin' in her "cabana" waiting for her sunscreen to soak in and take affect...kaylee was entertaining her during her wait...haha!


still waiting...


me + scout...notice my lovely swimsuit..yeeeeeeah, not so lovely. i have had a pair of tankini shorts for 2 years now while i searched high and low for a top for them. i FINALLY found one on sunday, and what happens now? i can't find my shorts!!! UGH! i must've left them in st louey, because they are no where to be seen. :( so i opted for the sports "braw" and tank top, and some old bikini bottoms that belonged to a bikini that i wore EXCLUSIVELY in the tanning bed back when i used to do that sort of thing. now, i have a brain and opt out of the "make you look like a leather person when you're old and gray, oh and not to mention give you skin cancer" machine.


toweling off after the big swim!


post-swim relaxation time in her sweet robe that aunt ange got her...and she got her sweet swimsuit too!


so after the big swim event today, scout has cat napped all day, but has just looked so sleepy! she was only out in the sun and in the pool for no more than 10 min...i was all paranoid she'd turn into a little beet even with her SPF 900 on! haha! so, about 20 minutes ago, she finally crashed in my arms on the couch...she NEVER falls asleep while we're holding her...she won't relax long enough. i told matt it felt nice having her "cuddle", because she so rarely wants to do that...she's always afraid she's going to miss out on some excitement! HAHA!

so anyways, that was our mid-week adventure! what a fun day! oh! and i forgot to mention that mom and i went by the "open-air market" on the way home...be prepared if you ever go in there to shield your eyeballs. there's a lady who works there, who, well, let's just be blunt about it..."she ain't got no braw on" <---said in my best david allen coe voice. she has never worn one, and apparently, never will. so, i told mom that it dawned on me last night as i was talking to amy, just exactly why it is called the "open-air market". it's not because it is just a shack with no air conditioning....

...yeah...i'll let you figure that one out...

bwahahhahaha!

okay, enough of that talk...here are some pics from da "open-air" market...
i will title these pics, "only in da sowf"...(if you just glance really quick at that sign, it looks like it reads, "GOD FIRST SHELLED BEANS AND PEAS"...oh really? i never knew...

:: seahorse

sunday, we were over at mom and dad's for lunch and kaylee came over to scout and with all the sincerity in her heart said, "scout, you're just as pretty as a seahorse!"

now...go ahead...wipe that tear from your eye. is that not THE cutest thing you have ever heard?! HAHAHA!!

:: they fit!

scout finally fit into her 0-3 month old sized jeans! HAHA! she seems pretty happy about it! HAHA! :)

:: anybody for some tasty toast?

one morning last week, i "toasted" me some toast in the oven. i have a BAD habit of forgetting that the toast is even in there, so i've been pretty good about setting the timer...except this particular morning. the smoke alarm served as my "timer"...scout laughed. i'm not sure if she thought the smoke alarm sound was funny, or if i was funny running around the house fanning with a big ol' towel! haha!

:: up to speed...

sorry i've been away so long. since we got back from charlotte, things have been pretty busy! charlotte was nice...a breath of fresh air...but it was good to get back home, too.

grandmama and ange were happy to see scout! scout was glad to see them too, even though she was a little tired from the ride home...haha!




after getting back and getting all of our bags and rubbermaid tubs unpacked, i pulled out scout's "big girl" seat that mimi got her before she was even born(reclining high-chair of sorts)...it was time for that...it seemed she had grown a foot while we were gone. she seems to really like it...

doin' a little readin'...


"what a sweet toy from carey and jack! i'm mucho entertained!"


"this new seat just cracks me up!"



we spent last saturday evening downtown (greenville) with amy and russ. we had a blast, as always! but the night was filled with various bizarre/weird/random/funny experiences that i'll have to share in the next post, so stay tuned! but for now, here are a few pics..




happy father's day! scout couldn't wait to give daddy his first father's day gift! she picked out some new chacos (since his old ones were worn to a frazzle), and a "grill thing", which is a "thing" that goes on the end of a stick and then you stick weenies or marshmallows on it...whateva you in da mood fo! ha!


papa preached at church on sunday for ralph since it was father's day. he did a great job! this is a horrible picture, but it's the best i could do sitting on the back row and trying to be discreet...haha!


after church, we all headed to ralph and regina's (matt's mom and dad's) for lunch. it was sooo good! reginer is a wunnerful cook!! here's scout hangin' out with her great-papa...she loves laughing at him! haha!


and here's scout hangin' out with papa...even after all these years, ralph still can't kick the habit...bwahaha!


and here's scout with aunt ange. scout's a little blurry around the edges, but angela is lookin' real purty and bonafied.



after visiting grandmama and papa, it was off to mimi and pawpaw's for the rest of the evening. we took a picnic up to paris mountain, so that was a lot of fun!

scout hangin' with mimi before leaving for the picnic...


stephen opening up his father's day card...


and pawpaw opening up his father's day card...he's a bit more excited that stephen was, and i don't even think there was any money in there or anything...hahaha!


these are great "create a caption" pics...bwhaha!
"reckon if we get a runnin' start we can make it across to that there lawg??"


"dangiiiiit!! i forgot to shave my legs AGAIN!!"


so after the fun and festivities, it was father/daughter/pawpaw/grandgirls picture takin' time...(there was one of me, stephen, and dad, but since this is my blog, i can choose what pics to post and what pics NOT to post, and that picture of me was NOT going to be displayed for all the world to see...hahaha!!)

dad, sunny, scout, and kaylee


sunny, stephen, and kaylee


matt and scout


i think this picture is so funny! dad was just walking to the car with scout, but it looks like he's doing the happy dance or something...yeeehaw! HAHA!



when we were leaving paris mountain, matt called ben and tami to see if we could stop by and see them and olivia. olivia was born on may 17 and we STILL hadn't been by to see her!! so we popped in on them! it was so good to see them and olivia is just SO cute and SO sweet! it was hard to remember scout being that little even though it was just a few months ago!!
here are the proud parents and little olivia...


matt and olivia...



okay, so this was an ULTRA long post...i'll try to keep things more updated! have a great rest o' da weekend!! :)

:: somewhere in illinois...

...is this sign!!

is that not weird?? thank you, tricia and jacob, for thinking of us, and going through the trouble of pulling off the road and snapping this picture!

:: randomness...

i snapped this picture of scout today. she looks oh, so serious. haha!


i started a year-long project on her one-month birthday. i saw an ad in a baby magazine that gave me the idea to do it. so i'm taking her picture every month in just her diaper. so far, it's pretty interesting...you can click on the picture to make it bigger...

so it will be neat to see the progression after a year! ahhh, fun!

we ate at wolfgang puck express tonight. it was yummmy! i got bbq chicken salad...not salad, as in chicken and mayo that you put on a sandwich...salad, as in leafy green rabbit food. yummmm! matt got pepperoni pizza...it was goood too! scout had her usual...enfamil. here she is after she enjoyed her tasty beverage. live, love, eat...yeah, that fits her to a T! haha!


matt has taken up a new hobby...garnishing! haha! he picked up a book last night at border's on how to do it, and tonight we got some "fine cutlery" (haha), and some food to practice with. here he is...chef matteo!


and here's some of his fine work...the lime butterfly over on the right...aaaaaaand, i'm not sure what the others are...but they're purty! haha!

:: fun friend day!

yesterday, amy came up and hung with me and scout! we went to concord mills and did a little shoppin'. scout got some really sweet outfits. (thank you barbara and delmus!) she got 2 dresses, a onesie, and a t-shirt...haha! of course, i took my camera and forgot to use it...so there are no visuals of our shopping trip! :( but here's scout's sweet new t-shirt! haha!


last night, we met up with lindsay and her mom at The Cheesecake Factory. lindsay is up here for a writing conference, so it was good to get to see her and her mommer!

:: blood on an elevator...

...and on the buttons, and on the floor, and in the hallway, and on the...COOKIE JAR!!!

yeeeeeeeah...matt, scout, and i were heading out tonight to go get some coffee, and apparently someone cut themselves, or cut someone else. then they rode the elevator down to the hotel lobby, got a complimentary cookie, and left!! it was sooooo grody!! i had to come back to our room and get a tissue just so we could push the DOWN button...there were blood drops all in the elevator, in the hotel lobby, and on the knob on the cookie jar in the lobby!! bwahahahah!! matt said, "well, they couldn't have been dying, because they stopped to get a cookie on the way out!" bwhahahaha!

so we sang, "blood in an elevator! i'm bleeding everywhere and i'm going dooooownnnn!! cookies are good, but my blood's on the grooounnndd!" yeaah, it's not as funny if you can't hear it...okay, it's not really funny, you're right...you just...uhhhhh...had to be there...hahahaha!


on another, less funny note (or not so funny...depending on whether you thought that blood story was funny or not)...ugh...okay...
so most everyone knows of my battle with hives during my preggo time. if you don't...long story, short...i had hives, and they were BAD! they went away about a month before scout came, then 15 minutes after she popped out into the world, the hives came back...yeah, WEIRD! anyways, thanks to dr hammond, i am now 99.9% hive free...with an occasional hive the size of a dime on me maybe once or twice a week. so, back when the hives were bad (see picture...if you dare...haha) i posted my ordeal on babyfit.com to see if any other preggos out there had hives. there were a few out there, but none had any advice to help me out. haha! yesterday, i got an email from a girl that saw my post and, poor thing, she sounds like she is having such a time. she is pregnant, and has hives also. and she sounds like she is at her wits end. so she emailed me to see if i knew how to get rid of them. the only thing i could tell her was to just grin and bear it until the baby comes, expect another bad flare up, dry up her breast milk, take a bunch of drugs, and hopefully they will go away by the time your baby is 3 months old...haha! but honestly, please be praying for her...her name is kendal. if you've ever had hives, and had them bad, then you know how miserable they can make you feel. so please just keep her in your prayers. today, matt suggested i post my hive pics on my blog since i never did back when i had them. so, in memory of the hives, and as a celbration towards the fact that they're no longer around, here are the horrific pictures...oh my, i can't believe i'm posting these for the world to see...hahaha! enjoy??! haha!



in other news, fuzzybison.com is coming along. i've gotten the homepage designed, so i still have a long ways to go. george is working on getting it launched this week, so hopefully fuzzybison.com will be a bit more functional than it currently is. haha! here's what i have, so far...

so stay tuned...fuzzy will be up soon! :)

:: weekends are for fun...

we had such a great weekend! hope you did too! :)

friday morning, mom, holly, kaylee, sunny, scout, and i headed to concord mills to do some shopping! we had a great time! the girls are good shoppers...even scout! haha!

ready fo' da beach! kaylee and sunny got these swimsuits at osh gosh! how cute!


there was a carousel at the foodcourt, so of course, we couldn't pass by without taking a ride!

scout awaitin' the "excitement"! her first carousel ride!


she must've thought it was more boring than exciting...here she is sportin' a yawn! haha!


matt had been wanting to get scout some blue jean overalls. osh gosh was having a GREAT deal on all of their denim! these were regularly $26, and they were on sale for $5! so i couldn't pass them up! hopefully she'll be able to wear them by fall...that's about 3 inches of roll on the bottom...haha!


saturday...scout and i hung out for a little bit at starbuck's. she had some enfamil and i had my new favorite...iced caramel machiatto! yum!


we went to dinner at on the border that evening with jamie and danny. it was yummy as always!


sunday...we went out to statesville which is just an hour from here. matt lived there until they moved to greenville when he was in the 7th grade. we went to western avenue, which is the first church ralph pastored...he was there for 15 years before they moved to greenville. (i think i have that bit of history right...carters, correct me if i'm wrong...haha)

before church (we were EARLY, believe it or not! HAHA), we rode around for a bit. here's matt's elementary school...a trip down memory lane...haha!


and here's the ol' carter homestead!


after church, we went over to jonathan and britainy's house. they grew up with matt in statesville. we went to their wedding back in 2000 (i think that was when it was), and since then we've kept in touch. they are great friends and such fun to hang out with! jonathan is an UNBELIEVABLE woodworker, and britainy is a 9th great science teacher! jonathan quit his "real" job, also, back in january, and he's doing his own thing now. check out his website at www.148design.com.
they are both VERY talented and have remodeled their entire home...it is GORGEOUS! matt snapped some pictures of the handiwork...(jonathan, i hope you don't mind...just think of it as free advertising...although, unfortunately, i don't have a very large audience...haha!)




britainy, scout, and jonathan...


i forgot to take a picture of hazel, but she is their sweeeet yellow lab, who just fell in love with scout. she laid down at the foot of scout's hippo playmat, and started lickin' her foot! it was so cute! haha!

we also visited vickie, bill, and mr. bradford (vickie's dad). they are such sweet friends, and it was great to see them! vickie used to change matt's diapers...so, they've known them for a VERY long time! haha!



here's scout HOLDING her crab rattle! YAY! she just started really grasping things about 2 weeks ago, but hasn't really held on to things...so yay...go scout!! haha!


we also visited delmus and barbara, but we didn't take any pictures there...forgot to take the camera in! pooo!

so anyways, we had SUCH a great day!! it was fun visiting with everyone, and letting scout see the great town of statesville! she had a ball...haha!