Happy Birthday, Ginny!

Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday Dear Ginny!
Happy Birthday Dear You!

Since we took a trip down memory lane for Shane, we have to be fair and do it for Ginny! :)







Hope you had a great birthday with Mickey! :) :) :)

How To Make Scrapbooking More Manly

I don't blog about it much but I really enjoy scrapbooking. I'm trying to catch up on about two years worth of photos and, as you may have noticed that I like to take pictures, so it's making my catch up job a little more difficult.

But, that's not the point of the post. I found this video online and it's a man's take on making cards. This guy nails it and somehow makes it look cool for men to scrapbook and make cards. He's obviously a scrapbooker or a very observant husband.

I really think that he's onto something.



I think that I've done every single thing that he's showing us here in my scrapbooking. I know Becky W. is giggling too.

Even if you don't scrapbook, I'm sure that everyone knows some man like this and I'm betting that you're giggling at that alone. LOL

SC Botantical Gardens

While in Anderson, I decided to take the boys to the SC Botantical Gardens in Clemson. Afterall, I am now addicted to botantical gardens and photographing all things nature. :)



But, the gardens were in a draught and there wasn't much to photograph.







It was cool that day (unusual in SC in August!) so we had an awesome picnic and then took a stroll through the woods.

The obligatory picture for the grandparents. :)



They also have gem and fossil museum at the gardens. When we first went in, I thought it was going to be lame. Afterall, the last one we went to was the National Museum of Natural History, but, it was really pretty cool and surprisingly they had a lot of artifacts on display.

The boys enjoyed doing the "treasurer hunt" and finding different things in the museum. Every third Saturday of the month, it's free to get into the museum. Well worth the time if you want to take the kids somewhere educational and fun.

I was surprised how much Shane knew and was able to answer on the quiz without hunting for it. I guess he did learn something from the Gemstone project that he did last year. :)

Silver Run Falls

As most of you know, I spent most of my summer in SC. Most of it was at Pawleys Island at the beach. As awesome as Pawleys is (and I loved photographing it), my true love is the mountains. And, where I grew up in Anderson, SC (about as far away from Pawleys as you can get and still be in SC) there is plenty of mountains within a short driving distance.

So, I decided to take the boys up to the mountains one day in search of some nature and some waterfalls.

If you're near Cashiers, NC, stop by Silver Run Falls and have a picnic. It's easy to get to and the hike to it is mere minutes. Once you're there though, it feels secluded.

I love this picture because it captures the college kids just hanging out and relaxing - like you should at a waterfall.



I hope that Shane loses this smile and soon. It's his current smile. :) They said the water was cold. Well...duh.





To get there, it's on Route 107 going towards Cashiers. It's about 10 minutes south of the 64/107 intersection in Cashiers. Look for the sign on the right hand side of the road and park at the gravel pull off and follow the gravel to the falls. (There's only room enough there for about 4-5 cars.) This is the sign that you're looking for.



It's well worth it to stop by there if you're in the area. Next time we're finding Sliding Rock though. It wasn't well marked and the last road that I turned down, there was a sign that said "drive real damn slow...this is private property." I took that as a sign that I should find it another day. :)

The Warning Slip

Owen's class has a punishment system. It's a four tier system and by the first day, Owen knew exactly what would happen if he got a warning.

White means you've been good.

A green slip is a warning that you're fast tracking to a yellow slip.

If you get a yellow slip, you lose ten minutes of recess and you have to run laps. (Shane had to run laps several times last year. For talking don't ya know?)

Man. If you get a red slip, it means serious business. SERIOUS business. Your PARENTS get called.

The first day of school, Owen came home talking about this one kid who had ALREADY gotten a green slip. Like he's never gotten a slip or 10 of them. LOL.

Anywho, apparently yestereday he got a green slip.

He failed to mention it to me. But, of course, I was busy talkiing to him about why he peed in his pants at school (he DIDN'T!), but I digress.

I overheard him talking about getting a green slip to Ken when he got home.

When Ken asked him why, Owen (in his most belligerent "Oweney" voice) yelled "God dad. I was just telling my friends how great my dad is. Is that so wrong?"

Pressed further, he "said" "FINE! I won't tell anyone else how great my dad is. God. She didn't even give me a chance. It's not my fault."

Right. I'm sure that's why he got a green slip. He's a funny little guy.

That teacher is so mean. I mean really. He was just "telling" his friends how great his dad was. What could possibly be wrong about that?

LOL

I guess I'm just surprised that he waited until week 2 to get a warning slip. And, no, I don't believe for a second that that is the reason that he got a warning slip. I DO, however, believe that he got one. :)