I have been dealt a tall order: to create a pretty little lovable baby doll for two pretty little lovable girls, Katie Anne Jones and Addison Brown. And I am so excited!
On Thursday last week, I drove up to Cartersville and met up for my pre-doll consultation with the girls over tacos and burritos at Moe's. Lunch was DELISH! It was beyond great to catch up with these two busy girls and all their romping, walking, running, and playing around.
After lunch, we all scooted over to Hobby Lobby to check out the yarn selection. It was so much fun to watch each girl pick out her favorite colors for the baby doll clothes. I was also really surprised that each girl chose a skin color and hair color that matched her own--while Katie Anne insisted that her baby doll have porcelain skin tone and dark brown hair, Addison pointed out a more creamy skin tone and a caramel blonde yarn color for the baby doll's hair. How funny is that?
On Friday afternoon, my family took off for a vacation to North Carolina (see last blog post). While Kristen drove the whole 8 hours up and back, I was perfectly content to watch the cars drive past... or... KNIT! I started working on baby doll #1 on the trip, and since then, have started on baby doll #2. I am hoping to keep both baby dolls moving along at the same pace. Because right now, I could see these both being finished within a couple weeks of leisurely knitting in front of the tv at night after dinner!
*A little side note for both mommies: Keep in mind that the baby doll pattern I am working from calls for the doll's body to be knitted separately from her clothes, while her shoes are knitted directly in with the rest of her legs. While it's a great concept that the doll's clothes can be changed, customized, and coordinated with other accessories of the day, I was suddenly aware that the baby would be naked at some point. As a last-minute decision, and after a lengthy conversation weighing the pros and cons with my sister, I went with my gut feeling. Both dolls will come equipped with built-in undies, for top and bottom. In the end, I thought this was a good decision especially because of the stage Katie Anne is in, with potty training being such a success. Now she will have a baby doll who has big girl panties just like she does! Please, to both mommies: if you do not like this idea, if it seems too grown-up or if you're just not sure about it, let me know and I can take out the colored yarn (each doll's undies yarn matches her clothes) and replace it with the skin tone instead... it is just as simple as that. Maybe I am over analyzing it, but I just thought the dolls might want undies just like the big girls have. But that can definitely be changed without any trouble at all. Just let me know!
Okay, so now that you've read all the business of the baby dolls, here is what you've been waiting for... your first sneak peek!
To celebrate, my family planned a long weekend vacation to Holden Beach, North Carolina. Some friends of my parents own a house on the beach, and my parents have vacationed there a few times since last year. When they got the OK from the owners to stay for a long weekend this past weekend, plans for the birthday girl were under way: a lazy weekend in the sand accompanied by a couple crabcakes and cocktails, and an extravagant fine dining feast at... Medieval Times!
Because it was a long weekend (from Friday to Tuesday), Carlton didn't plan to take any vacation days from work and stayed home with Vespa. I think he was especially glad to be home with nothing to do for the weekend, since he had still just gotten back home from his 10-day business trip in Kansas City. Still, it was a fun weekend but I really missed him a lot!
The first day was really just driving up to the beach, eating dinner, putting linens on the beds, and calling it a night. All the other days, we woke up early, ate leisurely meals at the very delicious and very casual "back porch dining" restaurant Provision Company. Isn't Miss 21 so cute in her dress with pockets modeling the ever-so-classy restroom sign?
After shoveling in the delicious crabcakes, we would head back to the house for an afternoon of napping, snacking, and tanning on the sand. Kristen's boyfriend Scott drove in really-really-super late (3:30am!) on Friday night and spent the rest of the weekend with us there.
Beach afternoons were really nice, because the sun was warm and the winds were something fierce! They kept us cool for the most part as we soaked up our vitamin D for the day each day.
Monday morning we took the pups to the beach and they were absolutely loving it! Bella dug trenches in the sand while Charlie made best friends with anyone who walked by and Shiloh swam into the ocean like a crazy dog!
And finally, our grand finale to the birthday vacation was our great dinner at Medieval Times! It was really fun to cheer for our Blue Knight, and boo with the rest of the arena against the Green Knight who was cocky and rude to the King and the other Knights.
And Kristen ordered the largest margarita I had ever seen in person! What a souvenir to have from your 21st birthday, huh?!
Today at work a huge order came in. $1400 worth of fabrics that a lady was restocking in her sewing room. Can you imagine?!? I worked mostly as an assistant/apprentice, learning where all the fabrics and collections of fabrics are and what they're called. In between pulling fabrics from the wall and putting them back after the correct yardage was cut for the order, I kept myself busy by straightening up the fat quarters (a half-yard of fabric that is opened up to its full width and cut in half long-ways) at the ends of the aisles.
To the ordinary person, this whole stacking thing may not sound that great. After all, it is a totally mindless and completely dull task. But the final result is so beautiful! I actually skipped away from the shelf of hand-painted fat quarters to grab my camera out of my purse. I know, I know, but just look at the straight, rainbow-colorfulness here!
Looking at all these bits of fabric together really inspires me to sew together a large wall-hanging color wheel for my crafting room (that I will someday have, hopefully).
Also, I got my picture up on the shop's web site along with a couple other new girls (me, Dallas, and Rachel). Real cute, huh.
I recently received an email from my sister-in-law Katie, inviting me to a Pampered Chef get together at her house. (Yay!) In that email, she also gave me a bit of a forewarning that there would be a bit of a "shout-out" to me in one of her entries. Mystery topic! But a whole post? Just for me? Of course, I was both enticed and excited.
So, fast-forward a couple of days and this is what I find as I scroll through the [many] blogs I follow: A TKLJ Challenge!
Needless to say, I'm very excited about the challenge! Plus, not only is this a great request from Katie Anne, but after seeing the preciousness, Addison has requested one or two for herself. I can't blame her, I want a few for me!
I'm also a bit apprehensive--I haven't attempted anything like this before. It's going to be one more project to add to the list of "new things I've knitted this year" so I am ready for it. I've looked up a few options on Ravelry, a knitter's community where projects, progress on projects, and patterns are posted. It's a quirky place full of knitters who love their cute dogs. So of course I belong there!
Here are a couple options for the dolls. (And, I just couldn't hold back the animals!) Make your votes known!
First of all, I love these two friends. They're constructed from the same pattern for their bodies, and then they are customized with blonde, brown, red (pink, purple, green, rainbow!) hair. Clothes can either be separately knitted or sewn to fit them, and everything is interchangeable.
Cute little Sally Sue, with a flower in her hair:
How could you NOT love these sunflower girls and their little ladybug friend?
A Little Miss MooMoo, perhaps?
She looks like a Zoe for some reason:
Sweet little elephant in a sweater!
How about these two little girlfriends dressed to the 9's:
Every girl should have an all-American rag doll for herself:
Cheeky monkey!
I think this pretty little girl is my most favorite of all:
And then there is this little owl, with or without its little scarf, who I just could not resist:
Now, if you had something in mind that you don't really see here, just let me know and I can look into more specific patterns, or find a book with the patterns in it--this was just a quick search in Ravelry under the key term doll. So if there is something specific you're looking for, let me know. There is a LOT out there!
Also, I can knit any doll in any color combination you might want. Just keep in mind, you'll want the yarn to be made of a washable, touchable, durable fiber. I'd stick with something like a cotton or cotton/bamboo/silk combo, because it will wear well and be soft to cuddle up to. (I know the cotton yarns are coming in some great, bright, playful colors while the cotton/bamboo/silk fibers tend to have a more muted and mature colorway.) The great thing about these little dolls is, you can just toss them in the wash with clothes and hang them to dry by their sweet little hands, like they're on a roller coaster ride to Dolly McCleanville!
So. I'm planning on being in Cartersville on Thursday afternoon, hopefully by lunch time. First and foremost, I would like to enjoy Moe's for lunch. And then I would LOVE to stop in at Hobby Lobby and pick up the yarns in the colors you'd like. If you'd like to make a little afternoon outing from this, I welcome you! It might be fun for the little ones to pick out the colors they like, or it might help for you to visualize the final product if you can see the yarn colors I'm using. I'd like to go ahead and get the yarn on Thursday afternoon so that I can try to begin the dolls this weekend while I'm at the North Carolina beach for Kristen's 21st (!!!!!) birthday.
Let me know what you think, and I will make plans accordingly!
I've started a new job! It's a task I feel challenged by, qualified for, and excited about. Suzanne's Quilt Shop is perched just across the street from the courthouse on the square. It's a beautiful and classic downtown setting, and it's the perfect small town setting for the shop.
Suzanne's Quilt Shop does about 75% of its business online through quarterly group mailings (a follow-along project for members as far as Canada, France, and Italy!) and online shopping. She carries all the supplies any quilter might need to create her own one-of-a-kind timeless work of art... except for sewing machines. She told me "they're just too dramatic of an item to sell. All the parts, all the maintenance, all the drama!" She sends any customers asking for sewing machines to her favorite dealer based out of Florida for the "good machines."
Suzanne offers classes almost every single weekend of the month in addition to an annual conference which takes place in Norman Park, Georgia at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center. Every year, over 50 quilters show up with their fabrics, supplies, and sewing machines ready to sew, quilt, win prizes, eat, laugh, and compete in specific categories! Suzanne teaches the classes herself.
My job for Suzanne is going to be a really busy one! First and foremost, Suzanne has been applying to have her shop published in specialty quilters' magazines for years. After she made a quick move from Florida to Georgia just three years ago, her shelves of fabric, checkout counter, cutting tables, and display shelves were just sort of placed around the perimeter of the store with honest intentions of being organized and placed better once she settled in.
This is the view from the front entrance, straight into the shop. It's a lot to take in!
Here is one of my two favorite corners of the store. It's a wall of prints and colors that are true to the fabrics of the 1930's and 1940's. And here is my other most favorite corner in the shop. This is part of the color wall which is just absolutely captivating in person. All of these bolts of fabric are batiks, which means they are painted... by hand! They are just breathtaking up close.
Fast forward to now, and she's been settled in for a while. She's ready to have this shop published already! She wants more customers popping in on their drive through Moultrie on the way town or on the way from a Florida vacation every year. She wants traveling quilting girlfriends to come in to quilt, chat, and shop. The more her name is out there, the more quilters will know where she is! So, to entice the magazines to publish a story about her shop as well as beautiful pictures showcasing her extravagant selection of patterns, she's hired me to merchandise the entire place. I'm working from the shopfront windows for sidewalk shoppers, all the way back to the workroom where her sewing tables and 8-foot-long quilting machine are perched. (Just look at that huge quilting machine in the back of the picture posted below!) The checkout counter and cutting tables are being moved, shelves are being built for her books and patterns thanks to Suzanne's hardworking husband Ladd, and a total re-vamp of fabric layout and merchandising is coming into view of my designer's eye!
And, on top of all this, I am going to officially take over all of Suzanne's blogging and social networking business. Her website is great for making purchases, but she just hasn't had the time and know-how to maintain her blog and facebook profile to keep all of her loyal clients updated and informed! I'm sure they would all love to know about the revamp of the shop, what events and classes are coming up, and the quilting and sewing projects other customers have brought into the shop.
I am so very excited about getting up and running. The store being moved around for better merchandising and flow will be so great. And I think I will really enjoy being a professional blogger! Hopefully, someday in the not-too-distant future, I will be a published Interior Designer!
Because the Hub and I were so excited to be moving back to Georgia, there were a few great things I left out of my blog once Carlton got this job. I guess I got a little ahead of myself, so bare with me while I backtrack a little bit to share a couple "finishing experiences" from our life in Arizona.
One of Vespa's most favorite "go for a ride" destinations was getting to visit Naomi. Naomi was Vespa's groomer in Scottsdale, and I absolutely loved everything about her! Naomi worked at Groomingtails, a swanky yet competitively priced grooming service near our house. She was always so incredibly friendly, and I never saw her without a smile on her face. I could tell that she really loved her job. As a Christmas gift to all her puprents, Naomi always makes these adorable Christmas ornaments:
On festively bright green construction paper and outlined in a pop of red glitter squiggly-stripes, ours is still on the fridge! I could ask Vespa, "You wanna go see Naomi?" and she would totally freak out with excitement... more so than her usual tail wag for a car ride or a walk through the neighborhood. After picking Vespa up from her three-hour beauty routine every four weeks, I could NEVER resist taking a few pictures of the fresh cut and fluff of that silky coat. Naomi could leave Vespa's little toes cut just-so, so that they came to a tender little point in the middle. Her ears were always cut so short, and that made them super-cute when they would do those crazy-Vespa-ear-tricks. And I don't know if it's Vespa's natural coat, or if Naomi had a shine-enhancing Naomi brush infused with fairy dust, but Vespa was so silky and shiny when we got home from her appointments that it was really quite captivating! See? So shiny! And so totally cute pupicured paws!
Another beautiful experience I had while we lived in Arizona was working at the pottery shop called As You Wish Pottery Painting, or for short, AYW. Or, as we employees called it, FUN! Coming in to work every day was not always what we wanted to do. But lemme tell ya, once I got there, all I wanted to do was skip and hum to the music in the studio. The walls were painted so brightly. The underglaze paints were organized so rainbow-colorfully. Plus, with paint colors named What a Yolk (a yellow the color of... your guessed it!... a yolk) and Happy Go Lucky (a sort of apple-y green), what's not to love?
And the girls. Oh, the girls I worked with! It was a great mash-up of quirky personalities. We worked hard, but we worked efficiently and happily. It almost as good as Disney World. In this picture, Maci was explaining how the underglaze paints worked to a table of noobs. Maci was always such a laugh! She tried her darndest to immitate my southern accent, and would even speak to customers with the fakester accent like it was completely normal... leaving me rolling with laughter in the back glaze room where the confused customers couldn't see me.
I even got to celebrate a new life while working at the pottery studio: coworker Cynthia's baby arrived, and on top of a very fun baby shower in the studio, Cynthia brought the baby by pretty often, and she frequently styled the heck outta that knit blankey I made her!
While we complained and whined and moaned and groaned that we had no friends or family in Arizona, I'll admit now that it was just a tiny exaggeration. Obviously, I enjoyed the visits with Vespa's groomer. And work was a blast for me. And family? Okay, okay! I do have a cousin... wait, a second cousin there in Arizona. When I was a little girl, I was the flower girl for Kris, my mom's only girl cousin playmate from her childhood. Kris and her husband Dave have three kids: Melissa (the oldest), Michael (the only boy, and the middle kid), and Michelle (the yougest girl of the family). We got together three or four times over the course of the year we lived there in Arizona. We were always blown away by Michael's ability to eat more than Carlton and myself combined (he really is a growing boy)! We were always entertained by Michelle's outgoing personality and willingness to order from the menu for herself, thank you very much. And Melissa... oh, Melissa and her iPod earbud tucked underneath her hair and pecked inside one of her ears all throughout dinner. Her texting at the table and the rolling of her eyes at her dad's jokes, and at her siblings' boisterousness. She was my favorite, with her own quiet personality... when she did talk, she always had something witty and captivating to say. And listen closely, because she only said what she had to say once. The restaurant of choice was always the Olive Garden, and it was always good food with great company.
I got our hostess to snap this photo of us all together after our last dinner as a group in Arizona. Above, from left to right, back to front: Carlton, me, Kris, Dave, Michael, Michelle, and Melissa (Look! A cute smile!)
Of course we missed Georgia when we lived in Arizona! Of course we are happy to be back home! But let me tell ya, there are plenty of things about our experiences in Arizona that are very, incredibly miss-worthy.
This past Saturday was my best friend Chelsea's 24th birthday. Since I'm *ahem* within driving distance from her now (yay!), I packed up little Vespa and we headed up to Macon where Chelsea lives for the weekend.
Firstly, it was sooooooo great to just pop up and spend the weekend with her and Andrew! Because Carlton is in Kansas City on business (since Tuesday the 7th until Thursday the 16th), I've been very lonely here in the apartment by myself with little Puppa. So it was an absolute given that I celebrated Chelsea's birthday weekend with her!
On Friday around 11:30 I stopped at the Moultrie farmer's market to pick up some local peaches before heading out of town to Macon... Chelsea requested a peach cobbler as her birthday present. I was at Chelsea's house by 1:30, just in time for Vespa to meet Chelsea's now-40-pound pups before we grabbed a couple appetizers at Wild Wing to hold us over until dinner. After a little fender bender drama for Andrew on his way home from work (thankfully, everyone was a-okay), we met back up with him at their house before heading out to their favorite pizza place, Ingleside, for pizza and beer with their friends Larry and Morgan Carpenter. I didn't get any pictures of us at the pizza place because the company was so great, but let me tell you: if you're ever in Macon for the afternoon, shopping or visiting, this place is a MUST-EAT pizzaria!
On Saturday (Chelsea's actualy birthday), Chelsea and I were very, very, verrrrrrrrrrrrry lazy. Andrew left us to go fishing for a while. Then we decided to get our booties off the sofa and we headed to get some birthday manicures and pedicures! This was SUCH a great treat for me, because I haven't had a manicure--with all the pottery and glaze I had been around at work--since Greg and Jillian's wedding in October! I am embarrassed to admit this, but I hadn't had a pedicure since a couple days before I got married... that's almost 2 whole years ago! And, let me tell you, both my retail-walking feet and pottery-making hands really needed the extra love and care that day!
Chelsea's got her pants rolled up, her paint colors picked out, and now she's just waiting in anticipation for the best footrub this side of Macon. The massage chairs we sat in were great!
Here are our freshly-manicured hands atop Chelsea's literature of choice... gossip about that glittering vampire boy!
Chelsea's request for a "simple flower nail art design" turned into a Mardi Gras party on her big toes! Hahahahahaha!!!
After the manicures and pedicures, we headed back to Chelsea's house and played with Vespa for a couple hours before dinnertime. The night started off with an amazing dinner at the local Japanese steakhouse. I enjoyed a juicy filet and chicken with veggies and way too much fried rice. It was all delicious! After dinner, we all headed to Chelsea's next requested stop, The Tic Toc Room in downtown Macon. I ordered one of my most favorite mixed drinks, an amaretto sour. Chelsea and Morgan tried a couple different martinis each, and the boys stuck to beer or Crown Royal on the rocks. The drinks were really reasonably priced for such a swanky place. My ticket for two Disaronno Sours was only $10! And the $8 martinis for Chelsea and Morgan were served half-in-the-martini-glass and half-on-a-glass-of-ice to ensure your entire drink stayed ice cold from start to finish.
Here is the whole group! From left to right: Andrew (Chelsea's hub), Justin (a friend of ours going all the way back to grade school whose 7-months-pregnant wife was out of town on business), Larry and Morgan (Chelsea and Andrew's college friends), Chelsea (the birthday girl!), and me.
A closeup, thanks to Andrew, of the three girls: Morgan, Chelsea, and me.
After dinner and drinks, we all headed back over to Chelsea and Andrew's house. The boys stayed up really, really late (Andrew thinks it was about 4 or 5 am when he finally got to bed!) while the girls hung out mostly inside, away from the nasty nighttime spiders and noisy boy music. On our way back from drinks, we stopped by Morgan and Larry's house to pick up their little man Ramsey. He's just a couple pounds bigger than little 6 pound Vespa, so she wasn't afraid of him at all like she was of Chelsea's "big kids" playing tag team behind her back! Vespa and Ramsey hit it off instantly, and became boyfriend and girlfriend after just about 5 minutes of playing tag!
Chelsea couldn't resist taking this video of the playful pair of pups. This time around, Vespa was hiding while little Ramsey man bounced and chased her. So cute! Morgan was pretty much histerical with laughter, and I was happy to have our pups playing like civil little pups should. They were both very well behaved!
Here is Vespa begging sleepy little Ramsey man to jump off the sofa and play some more. "But Vespa, it's, like, 1 o'clooooooooooooooock."
The two really got going when Kitty-Bug came downstairs and joined in by swatting at them. Look at those fuzzy blurs of puppy fun!
After a little more pup romping around, Morgan and Larry called it a night and took Ramsey home for some sleep. Chelsea and I stayed up until about 2:00 or 2:30 am and then headed to bed while Andrew and Justin stayed up until the wee hours of the morning.
Sunday morning came and went. Vespa and I woke up at about 8:30am and walked around outside, and then hung out in bed playing "blanket monster" and watching tv. I heard Andrew get up at about 11:00, so Vespa and I went downstairs to hang out. After a couple more hours of good company in Macon, Vespa and I packed up and headed back home to Moultrie. What a great weekend! I'm so happy that I got to spend the time with Chelsea for her birthday, and visit with Morgan, Larry, and Justin. And, of course, Vespa was happy to meet Ramsey. Happy Birthday, Chelsea!
The following is a semi-edited version of the weekend's festivities... I say 'semi-edited' because it got pretty long. Enjoy!
The 4th of July has always been a special time for my family to get together, appreciate the country we live in and the freedoms we have, eat lots and lots of food, and celebrate with plenty of fireworks. This year's company, food, and fireworks seemed to top our past celebrations by far! Here is my most favorite homage to America... let the music fill your heart as I share our family's 4th of July celebration with you! (Ray Charles's version of the song has been my favorite since I heard it in one of the best childhood movies ever--The Sandlot... so much soul, and so much respect for the song!)
We started our holiday weekend on the 3rd by swimming at Carlton's parents' house. Plenty of leisurely sunning in the warm backyard pool. Dinner with Hub and Mom-in-Law over some great saxophone music in Acworth. Late to sleep, thanks to some good comedy on tv.
On the morning of the 4th, I headed to my parents' house. I met up with my mom and sister, and we started cooking our menu, desserts first. Kristen made her favorite--tea cookies, my mom chopped lots of fruit and prepared most of the dinner menu, and I tip-toed shyly into making my first cobbler... yay for Georgia peaches!!!
Our day went by quickly, with cleaning and pup-sitting for five rambunctious fuzzy pups, and we were all happy when friends and family started arriving around 5:00-5:30.
(From left to right, we have: Vespa (my pup, a Yorkie-Poo mix), Bella (my parents' pup, a dachshund/shih-tzu mix), Charlie (my parents' pup, a Maltese/Poodle mix), Shi(loh) (my sister's pup, and Vespa's sister, a Yorkie-Poo mix), and Luke (my sister's boyfriend Scott's new pup, a Springer Spaniel baby boy... look at that smile!).)
Sister pups Vespa and Shi enjoyed lots and lots of romping around the living room. Vespa wins again!!! Our menu was delicious, and I think it touched on everyone's favorites. Of course, there were grilled burgers and hotdogs, baked beans, grilled veggies, and grilled shrimp. And, because we have all been so inspired by our recent Greek cruise, this year's menu also included pork suvlaki, tzatziki sauce, fresh pita bread, a Greek salad, a tomato/mozzarella/basil dish, and an assortment of cheeses to taste. This year we also celebrated with ice cones, margaritas, sangria, and other mixed drinks. Everything was delish!
As many of you already know, Cartersville's beautiful Dellinger Park serves up some amazing fireworks just after dark every 4th of July. My parents' house is perched on a hill just across the street from the park, so every year they have a big party with lots of good food and entertainment while we wait to watch the park's fireworks in our own front lawn... I know, how nice! Well, it's become a sort of tradition for my dad to entertain the guests of the party with his own display of (il)legal fireworks. We all gather on the back deck while he ignites everything from below in the back yard. A few of the surrounding neighbors have made desperate attempts at competing with our display of Michael-Bay-esque explosions, but so far, all attempts have been futile. So. After about... oh, I don't remember, 30 minutes or an hour of setting these off...
...the park fireworks began. It was a colorful explosion of colors in the black sky, and everyone at the house enjoyed them while we ate our fair share of my mom's homemade apple pie and my surprisingly tasty peach cobbler over a beer or margarita.
Then came the great finale. We all migrated back out to the deck of the house and cheered my dad on as he lit one after another after another of GREAT fireworks! The show was intense and exciting, enough for me to end up with a painful bruise on my forhead (dangerous shrapnel!) and my sister to wet her pants (surprising screaming bottle rockets!)!!!
You don't believe me about these fireworks? Watch this for yourself! (Yes, that's my dad lighting the fuses with his handheld torch, and yes that is the yard sprinkler you hear in the background, just in case.)
My old high school principal, Jay Floyd, was one of the strong contenders trying to knock my dad from first place in the illegal fireworks display this year. He rolled in on his huge golf cart with his family, old-school boom box strapped to the top thumping "Sweet Home Alabama", toting a huge wagon filled with food, beer, and fireworks. Eventually, he realized he came to the show unable to bring the noise required to beat the Neighborhood Explosives Master (aka Dad). As he and his family rolled out, he promised us when we asked where he was going, "I gotta go somewheres I can win. I'll be back next year. I'm gonna bring the NOOOOOOISE! I'm gonna bring my A GAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!" We'll see, Jaybez, we'll see about that.
After a night of tossing and turning for me (I could NOT sleep well for some reason, no matter how exhausted I was from the entire day's preparations and festivities!), Carlton and I woke up and headed back over to his parents' house. Because it rained, we couldn't swim... but we did enjoy lots of yummy food and an afternoon of Rock Band!
Carlton, SJ Jr (dad), and SJ3 (Carlton's brother) were the main band. But there was always something missing with just the three of them. SJ3's toddler Katie Anne surprised us and agreed to teach her daddy a few lessons. The band sounded great after KA's expertise and her mom's singing talents rocked through the mic!!!
What a special holiday weekend! We are so glad we were back home in Georgia to share it with our families!
