Whirlwind August

Tripp and Grampy shopping!

Lucy McLean's Cantina!

Excited to be on her boat tour...for about 2 minutes, then she made it a miserable trip!

Tripp checking out NYC from the hotel room window

(all the other pics are on another computer...will download them later)

We have been busy this month. We went to NYC with my parents the first week of August. That consisted of a Mets Game, Ryan's 29th Birthday, Ryan going to the hospital (short story...he had an allergic reaction to something and is fine now...epipen in hand!), a Yankees Game, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Time Square, lots of shopping, Westside Story, visiting with our "yankee friends" on Long Island, central park zoo, and lots of other great NYC adventures. The kids did well, considering they are 2 and 5 months and were stuck in strollers for the majority of the week. They were happy to be back "home" which is now my parents house. We moved and are staying here until our house sells.

We came back and on Monday I drove to Asheville to take my last question of my comprehensive exams and scored a HIGH PASS...woohoo. I am now OFFICIALLY done with my 60 hour graduate school program!

I started my new job at the alma mater on Tuesday (the 10th) and it has been great so far. My days have been jam packed with schedule changes, meeting kids and parents, cheerleading practice, meetings, etc.

Ryan found out that he is going to be working at Henderson Independent School (also in Rowan County) as a math teacher. He is really excited about this. He started on Wednesday and is enjoying getting to know everyone.

Thursday (the 12th)we celebrated our anniversary and also got some sad news. Ryan's dear friend Seth (the guy who set us up) was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma on Thursday. We ask that you please pray hard for this family. Seth goes tomorrow to meet with an oncologist to (in his words) "figure out how he is going to beat this". We know (and they know) that the Lord is in control and he knew this day was coming long before now. Still yet, this is a scary time for the Denton family, as well as all of us who love them so dearly. Please pray for Seth, his wife Rebecca, and their two boys Luke (4) and Benjamin (3 months).

Last night (the 20th) was our first football game of the season. I am the cheerleading coach. It sure is a different perspective from the coaches seat! The girls did great. I was pretty proud.

Tons more info to go, but all in all we feel blessed to be where we are. We are missing our friends in Brevard, but know we are where the Lord wants us!

Picture Update

Fussy boy in one hand so add your own captions!

Mamaw Lucille

On Thursday afternoon, heaven received a beautiful soul. Ryan's grandmother, Mamaw Lucille, went to be with Jesus. As many of you know, Lucille holds a very special place in our hearts. So much so, that we named Lucy McLean after her. Ryan gave her eulogy today and it was perfect. This lady was amazing. Mamaw Lucille (or Loose as Mr. Shelton called her) was the spunkiest, funniest, most mischevious, loving, real woman. She taught Ryan how to nail, by nailing 2X4's in her living room floor. ON TO THE FLOOR...they got in trouble with Mr. Shelton for that one. She and Ryan figured out baseballs blow up in the microwave together. He rode in a car that hit 100 MPH for the first time, while being driven by Lucille. Ryan spent countless hours, as a child, beside loved ones and strangers alike that Lucille was with in their dying hours. She was a nurse and a caregiver. She was a lover of many and one of the kindest souls I have ever met. I feel blessed to have a daughter that is named after this precious woman and I pray that she will be half the woman that her namesake was. I know, as pastor Doug said today, that Mr. Shelton welcomed Lucille in to heaven on Thursday and said in his bigger than life voice "Lucille, where ya been?" She will be greatly missed by a family who adores her. We thank the Lord for the time that we had with her and are grateful that, although she suffered from alzheimers, that she didn't suffer any longer than she did. We are also grateful that Lucy McLean got to know her. I can only pray that she will have at least one memory of her. It breaks my heart to think that Tripp will not know his Mamaw and Papaw Shelton and the wonderful people that they were. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Lucy McLean and Mamaw Lucille.

Meeting her namesake

Looking at Mamaw for the first time
I love Lucille's expression in this picture

I know there are a lot from this same day...but they were all so captivating that I couldn't choose!

Lots Going On

So our little man turned 5 months old on Tuesday. That is so hard for me to believe. He is such a fun little guy. Here are a few facts about the big boy:

• He is getting more in to a routine and napping good.
• He is teething and loves to chew on just about anything.
• He likes to sleep with his cutie patootie bum in the air.
• He has woken up the last two mornings with a big ol' poopie diaper and laughing hysterically (what can I say...he is male).
• He likes to ride with the windows down
• He is pretty obsessed with his mama.
• Between 4-7 at night are not his "happy hour"
• He loves baths
• He is trying to scoot
• He sucks his middle finger & ring finger together (and signs "I love you") instead of sucking his thumb
• He likes to sleep with white noise
• He is about to grow out of the cradle his Grampy built for him and Lucy McLean
• He makes my heart melt when he grins
• He is hopefully smarter than his mama who took some cute pictures of the boy, downloaded them, and can't for the life of me find them on the computer to post them :(
• He is an amazing blessing and is growing up WAY too fast!

In other news...

• We are moving tomorrow. We will be back in Brevard, living out of our suitcases, for the next week. Then we are officially back in RowCo (my hometown).
• Lucy McLean manages to make us laugh, scream inside, want to cry, and want to eat her up all at the same time. She is hilarious, defiant, and very entertaining. After a very long night of defiance, we decided to take a walk last night. On our walk, she asked Ryan..."How ya doing Day-ad?" He told her "Good, how are you Lucy McLean?" She replied "Good" He asked her why she wasn't great and she replied "I'm two"...which pretty much sums it all up.

And because Lucy McLean will be 28 months old tomorrow, here are some fun facts about her right now...

• She loves her baby brother to death and tells him a few times a day
• She shows Tripp that she loves him in a very "forceful" way ;)
• She asks everyone "How ya doin?" and "Whatcha doin?"
• She slept walked for the first time the other night.
• She loves to dress herself and might be the tackiest thing alive!
• Since being in Sara's wedding, she thinks every bride is a "flower girl" and she dresses up as a flower girl every day.
• She loves to talk on the phone
• She loves Shrek, Elmo, and Nemo
• She could go through about 2 gallons of milk a day
• She doesn't meet a stranger and remembers the connections of people
• She can count 2-9
• She knows her colors
• She knows triangle, circle, heart & star
• She loves chilly willies
• She can pee and poop on the potty
• She loves to get silly bands as a reward for doing this
• She loves to swim
• She runs up and hugs her daddy and yells "Hey Daddy" when he gets home
• This melts my heart!
• She says she "needs" things instead of "wants" things
• She says "I not" and "I can't" WAY too much
• She makes other mothers (who don't have to raise her strong-willed little self) laugh hysterically at play group!
• She knows how to say her blessing and her night time prayer.
• She prays for her Papaw EVERY night.
• She is such a blessing and I thank the Lord for her every day!

Pictures to come soon when this tired mama can find them!

Ketchup

Megan called me while she was in Louisiana a few months ago to let me know that she found a perfect t-shirt for Lucy McLean. It read "I eat ketchup with my ketchup"! AND BOY DOES SHE! This girl LOVED her condiments. Today, on the way home from church, she asked to go to Zaxby's for lunch. I asked her what she wanted from Zaxby's and she replied "Ketchup". Does this count as a vegetable?

Independence Day

We celebrated the 4th with our two little firecrackers. We dressed in our patriotic attire and went downtown on the 3rd to celebrate at the festival.Tripp enjoyed people watching
And Lucy McLean enjoyed the slide

And then they expired

Then we went to Brevard College to see the fireworks
Then we went to church Sunday and celebrated our freedom to worship our Lord!

LM loves her mama a little ;)

Happy Birthday Grammy

Gampy & Grammy

Grammy meeting Baby Tripp
Proud Grammy with Lucy McLean (who in fact is a WHITE baby)

Today is a very special day. On this day just a few short years ago ;), my mom was born. She is an amazing woman. Just a few things about her (in no particular order)...

1. Her signature phrase is "Oh my Gosh"

2. She is MADLY in love with her grand kids.

3. She is very sarcastic.

4. She loves the Lord and is devoted to spending time with Him daily.

5. She raised me alone from the time I was three, until she married my dad when I was 14.

6. She is very athletic...I know I know...how am I her offspring?

7. She is EXTREMELY scared of snakes.

8. She is a little insane about dogs...LOVES 'EM!

9. We talk on the phone AT LEAST one time a day.

10. She talks to her best friend Martha EVERY morning by 8.

11. She snorts when she laughs.

12. She is a middle child.

13. She graduated from the same high school that I graduated from (and will be working in the Fall).

14. She broke her leg while playing airplane with her neighbors growing up.

15. Her first car was a mustang.

16. She loves shopping just a little!

17. She loves my dad.

18. She drives up to Brevard at the drop of a hat when she finds out one of the kids are sick.

19. She can make a mad poundcake. My dad calls her "Poundcake Pam"!

20. Her favorite color is green.

21. She can peel potatoes, something she never taught her daughter how to do ;)...inside joke!

22. She loves Coach bags.

23. She loves Chicos.

24. She loves to read.

25. She loves to watch HGTV.

26. She doesn't write in cursive...ever. Not even to sign her name.

27. She lights up when she sees Lucy McLean and/or Tripp.

28. I have only seen her cry a few times in my entire life.

29. She tans very easily.

30. She is a great mother-in-law...I promise. Ryan says so. "Favorite one he has ever had"

31. She hates flying.

32. She gets car sick VERY easily..especially if someone wears perfume, has aussie hair products in, or is chewing juicy fruit gum.

33. She has never had a ticket (to my knowledge)

34. She is real... 100% of the time.

35. She is willing to fight tooth and nail for what is best for someone.

36. Her favorite movie is the Wizard of Ozz.

37. The last time she picked out a movie with my dad was Waiting to Exhale...she has been banned from doing so since then!

38. She promised me when I was devastated about not getting the scholarship I wanted and not being able to go to Meredith, that UNCA would be perfect...and she was right.

39. 99% of the time... SHE IS RIGHT!

40. She is EXTREMELY ORGANIZED and never loses ANYTHING!

41. She has an impaccable way of telling people the truth (no matter how nasty it is) in a very tasteful way.

42. Most of my friends want her as a second mom!

43. She doesn't dance!

44. She used to wear horid clothes from that "Multiples" line of clothing...that did home shows. My dad still makes fun of her fish outfit. I think they might have been in style at the time...haha!

45. She has great taste in clothing now!

46. She sings about as well as her daughter!

47. She is really good at math and typing.

48. She eats way more healthy than her daughter!

49. She asked the secretary if she really needed to come to the school and if she had time to take a shower when I broke my arm in 5th grade. It was the first Memorial Day she had off, that I was in school and she had been gardening. My fingers were touching my elbow! She came on!!

50. She cries when she laughs.

51. She is one of the McLean girls...Tripp is the first born male in a long time!!!

52. SHE IS THE BEST GRAMMY AND MOM IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD AND WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE WOULD DO WITHOUT HER!!!

We love you Grammy!

:)-Erin, Ryan, Lucy McLean & Tripp