Happy 30th Birthday, Jamie!!!

Jamie turns the big 3-0 today!! Happy birthday, girl! I think this calls for a look back to some ol' skool fotos!


Sportin' some bling-bling! What was this...11th grade? Heehee!


I can't be certain, but I think Jamie was saying something like, "Don't take my friggin' picture!"


Hanging out at Laura's as we did pretty often. Check out my gold chain. Oh my.


This was probably at a slumber party. Jamie looks like she's been slumberin'.


I like to refer to this picture as Jamie, the small child; Andrea, the stoned girl; and Carla, the 5th grade boy. We were either in the 10th or 11th grade here. Have mercy.


Waiting our turn for a go-kart ride. Laura, me, Karen, and Jamie. Yes, we could really rock some hair bows. And yes, those ARE DuckHead shorts that we are wearing. Don't be jealous.


Our lunch table crew...believe it or not, we ALL still keep in touch! Carol, Jenni, Karen, Jamie, me, Sarah, Laura, and Kellie...love you girls!


Someone either had a mad flash on their camera, or we got a hold of the wrong shade of powder. Dang! Happy graduation to us! Class o' '95!!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMIE!!!!! :)

:: Goodbye Marcio...Hello G-Vegas!

On March 3, we headed home for Scout's birthday. But before we left, we had to say goodbye to Marcio. He was leaving the next week and would be gone before we got back from Greenville. So we stopped by CFA on our way out to say farewell to our good friend.

In Marcio's short 3 month stay here, he "adopted" Scout as his little sister. I told him that couldn't happen because that would mean that Matt and I were his parents. I know I'm getting old, but I'm not old enough to have a 19 year old...nor have I traveled enough to have a 19 year old Brazilian. (I guess my traveling record doesn't have much to do with that, heh?)

Here's Marcio having some time with Scout and saying goodbye. Scout loves his nametag and plays with it everytime she sees him. So, Marcio gave Scout his nametag as a goodbye gift and told her that "Marcio" needs to be the first word that she learns to read. We'll work on that! :)










a family foto...


After we wiped away our tears, we got in the E and headed for home!.Whee! Scout is SUCH a good traveler. I guess she knows she has to be with her vagabond parents. Ha!

Kaylee was so happy to see her lil' cuz!


This was the first time Scout walked with someone holding her hands. She would never do this for us! I guess Kaylee was better since she was closer to the ground! Haha!


Scout meets Stephanie for the first time...




Kaylee could not get enough of Scout...so sweet!


Papa is running out of "lap" room with all these grandgirls! Before Scout was born, Dad asked Sunny where Scout was going to sit when she got here, and she patted the end table and said, "Right here, Papa!" Haha! Now, I guess Stephanie will be sitting on the lamp!


Happy Birthday, Amy!! We celebrated Amy's 27th birthday...hers is the day before Scout's! It was so great being with Amy and Russ! We miss them so much! We were glad we got to have a lil' birthday bash while we were home!


I told Amy she was getting so old that I had to buy 2 packs of candles! They had a pack of 24 and I just grabbed a pack of 12 to get 3 out of it. Little did I know that they were trick candles! REALLY! I didn't know! HAHAHA!




I was glad that I got them because it sure was a lot of fun! Kaylee's face says it all (above)...not to mention Amy's. I thought we were going to have to get her an oxygen mask. Ha!








The blue trick candle was relentless. I didn't count, but I bet Amy blew on it about 27 times. Then she passed out and Russ had to implement his paramedic skills. Okay, not true. Here's Amy getting some help from Scouter...


and here's the blue candle lighting itself up again...


Ahhhh...finally!


Scout was all pooped out from the birthday activities. She needed to get a good night's rest for her birthday activities coming up in two nights...

:: Brazillians in DC

Marcio and Antonio had been wanting to go to DC, so we took a Sunday and drove up there to do some sight-seeing. Little did we know what we would be running in to...





Yeeeeah. We weren't really prepared for this. We didn't even think to check the weather before we left. DC is about 2+ hrs north of here, but it doesn't seem that long...especially with 2 Brazilians and a 1 year old in the car, the trip seems to go by pretty quickly. As we headed out of Williamsburg on I-64, I started to notice a flake or 2. By the time we were an hour or so out of DC, it was, to my southern eyes, a full-fledged blizzard. Marcio and Antonio, and even Scout, could hardly keep their excitement in. When we stopped to get gas, the boys took time out for a frolic in the snow...


Once we arrived in DC, it was obvious that we wouldn't be getting out and sight-seeing as planned. We dropped the boys out at the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the White House so they could get a closer look. I was fine staying in the car as I had not packed my snow shoes. I actually wore the worse possible shoes for snow/rain. I think I would have been better off with some flip-flops.

See? I told you we weren't prepared!

Something neither Matt nor I ever realized about DC...the architecture on the housing is AMAZING! I don't know where exactly this was, but these houses were gorgeous.





More driving...more snow.


Even too miserable to get out and get some Caribou. Yes, it was THAT cold!


There was a clown on the other side of this person that I was trying to snag a picture of. You can see her big, red shoe and that's about it.


Somebody get that horse a coat!


A not-so-fine view of our nation's capitol.


I thought this building was so pretty. The Red Cross building. Duh.


I don't know if they were more happy about the snow, the monument, or getting out of the car!



As we circled around the block while we let the boys run around and get pictures of the White House, we saw this site several times. These 2 homeless men were huddled up on this steamdrain. You can't see it in the picture, but the steam was coming up all around them. It was pitiful. They lay there with their hands clutched around their bottle-shaped paper bags. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a scene that silently screamed "hopeless" more than this did. Ironically, this was less than a block from the White House.


Antonio pelted Marcio with a snowball just before this picture was taken. Marcio looks a little ticked and Antonio looks a little proud of himself. Ha!


I think they were glad to get back in the car.


Rice-a-roni, lalala...


"Yo mom. See my dimples?"


"Yo mom. Was it you that dressed me in these really bad snow shoes? These aren't working for me, today."


When it finally stopped snowing, we stopped to have some coffee and dinner at this really cool coffee shop that I have forgotten the name of. It was really good. We ordered SMORES which the boys had never had before. We explained that this was not a normal American menu item. They were very intrigued.

I love this picture. Marcio had no idea his marshmallow had caught on fire.


After the marshmallow bonfire.


Oh yeah! COSI! That was the name of the place. It was fantasmic!




I'm getting somewhat caught up...next up, "Bye-Bye, Marcio" and "Scout's 1st Birthday"! :)