Publix Trip

Stephanie and I are blessed to have really well behaved children. On Saturday night, we ate dinner at Robin's favorite local Japanese restaurant, and afterwards we took a trip to Publix to pick up a few groceries. Hailey and Will got to "drive" the cart, and it kept them completely entertained during the shopping trip. I captured some of the cuteness on camera!

Hailey loves her some Will!
Driving the buggy!

Aren't we cute together?

Can you tell who's in charge in this relationship?

Aunt Rah-Rah's House

My sister Robin went out of town over Memorial Day weekend so I volunteered to "house/dog sit" Cooper and Oliver, thinking it would make for a nice little weekend getaway. We invited Stephanie and Hailey to join us, and we all had a blast! We arrived late Friday night and came home Monday afternoon. It rained a lot over the weekend, but Will and Hailey played really well together and we all had a great time! Here are a few shots from our weekend at Aunt Robin's house. More pics to come from our beach outing!

Cooper and Oliver, doing what they do best!

Will and Hailey's first bath together!!

These kids love to sit on the counter

Will in his GQ pose

Robin's counter provided a lot of entertainment

She did it!!!


Will and Hailey loved to "jump on bed" as Will would say, jumping from the guest bed to the air mattress on the floor, in their diapers, no less! With all the rain, this was an easy source of entertainment!

Carolina Baseball

This is old news, but a few weeks ago Stephanie, her husband Joey, and I headed down to Carolina Stadium to watch our beloved Gamecocks beat Georgia during the regular season series. We ended up sweeping the series that weekend, which was huge since Georgia has a great team this year. Carolina Stadium is an awesome place to watch a ball game, and every time I'm there, I find myself dreaming about seeing Will play there one day! A mom can dream, can't she???

Sitting in the back of the Shuttle bus!

Our beautiful stadium!

Stephanie and Gayle - back in black!

I didn't remember to take a picture of the scoreboard until we were outside the gates, so this was as good as it got! UGA - 4, SC - 7

More Will...

Here are some more pictures I stole from Faith's website...apparently Will's fascination with the camera started last Thursday, and he put on quite the show as a tambourine playing Fireman! Girls...look out!

Will

I'm stealing this picture off of Faith's blog...apparently as soon as I dropped Will off on Friday morning he wanted Faith to take his picture and kept saying "Cheese!" so here he is, hamming it up. His hair is getting shaggy again, so I'm hoping that his daddy took him for a much needed hair cut this weekend!

Sweet boys

Yesterday when I got to Faith's house to pick up Will, I was showered with hugs and lots of love from Braedan. Will, not to be outdone by Braedan, was quick to climb up in my lap to share his affections, too. Faith grabbed her camera and snapped this picture of the boys being so sweet and loving. It made my day!!

Will updates

Will - Friday 5-8-09

Since this is Gayle AND Will's blog, I thought I better post updates on Will, too! We had a great Mother's Day weekend together. Friday night we met Stephanie, her family and Becky out for dinner at the Pontiac House of Pizza. Will discovered Tic Tacs in my purse before dinner, and has been obsessed with "Kit Kats" as he likes to call them, ever since. Here are a few pictures of him chasing his girlfriend (Stephanie's daughter Hailey) around after dinner on Friday night.

I told Will to go hug Aunt Becky and Hailey good bye...note the tic tacs in hand!

Hailey took off!

In the end, she couldn't resist his charm and fresh breath!!

On Saturday morning, Will and I ran some errands before meeting up with Alexa and Braedan at the McDonald's Playland. Will has no fear on the playground, but Braedan is a little more reserved. Both boys have recently started biting their fingernails, which is totally disgusting, especially in a public place like McDonald's, but hopefully it's just a phase and this, too, shall pass!

Will climbed up on Ronald's lap all by himself!

Braedan preferred to just chill next to Ronald

Braedan chewing those fingernails!

Best Buds - Braedan, Will and Ronald 5/9/09

Angels

I was catching up in my daily devotional last night and Sunday's devotional talked about Angels, which got me thinking about the angels in my life.

A week ago today I was sitting in court with my attorney and an angel that God blessed me with when I was 9 months pregnant. Her name is Becky, and she has become one of the best friends a girl could ever ask for in the last 2 1/2 years. God knew I would need her, in more ways than I ever could have imagined at the time, and I refer to her lovingly as my St. Becky.

Becky showed up in my office at Shakespeare when I was a month away from delivering Will. I had been telling Matt (my boss' boss) for several weeks that the timer was going to ding soon, and we had to find a temp to fill in for me during my maternity leave. Will's arrival corresponded with the kickoff of the new advertising year, and not just anyone would do. I was starting to panic. I had interviewed several prospects, and was starting to lose hope when Becky walked through the door. She sat down and we talked like old friends for over an hour. As soon as she left, I told Matt she was the one and we had to hire her immediately. I only had a few weeks to train her before the Christmas break and my maternity leave started, and during that time we became fast friends. When I returned to work in March, I couldn't believe how well Becky had handled everything while I was out. She had taken on an incredible amount of work and we never even skipped a beat. I insisted to Matt that we had to find a way to hire her on full time. Several weeks later, we did, and even though I have moved on from Shakespeare, Becky and I have remained the closest of friends. She has been there for me through my entire separation, and I don't know how I would have gotten through some days without her loving support. She's never too busy to listen and she has counseled me through many a day since my separation, so it was only fitting that she be by my side at the final hearing for my divorce.

Tuesday night, Mom came over to watch Braedan and Will at my house, and Becky and Stephanie (another angel and dear friend) came over to take me out to dinner. We went to Carraba's for dinner and then returned to my house to relieve Mom. We stayed out on my screen porch until way too late, talking and sharing and doing what girls do. I don't think either one of them wanted to leave me alone, or maybe its just that the three of us can do some serious TALKING when we get together, but it was midnight before we all said good night. It was so reassuring and comforting to have them there, though. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Stephanie, Becky and Gayle - 5/5/09

Pictures - 5/1/09

My digital camera went kaput in January, but I just bought a new one, so I will try to document everything with photos from here on out. In the mean time, here are a few recent pictures from the weekend of Mom's bday party (4/18/09). I'll put more pics up soon!

Braedan and Will in Will's big boy bed, drinking their milk before bedtime on Friday night!

Grandma Sue gave the boys popsicles before the party

Mom and Will at her 60th bday party

Gayle and Mom

My sisters, Andrea, Alexa and Robin, along with Will and Lilly. The party wore everyone out!