Crazy Eights!

I married my best friend ten years ago today. Kevin is truly my soul mate, as corny as that may sound. We are perfectly matched. We are blessed.

But, that's all the mush that you are going to get out of me today! Yep. This post is practically mush-free! I thought it would be WAY more fun to celebrate by pulling out all of our embarrassing pictures and show them to you! Because, even though TEN YEARS is a big deal, we actually have been a couple (Kevin and Stephanie sittin' in a tree...) since our Junior year of high school. FIFTEEN YEARS! So, you know there are some really bad pictures of us floating around!

So, without further ado, may I present...

Kevin and Stephanie:
Through the Years

Pretending to pin on Kevin's boutonniere (thank you very much, spell check) before our Senior Prom. Mom actually had to pin it on!


All of these pictures are in black and white except for this one. I thought you deserved to see my bling-bling dress in full color! I couldn't find a picture of us at the prom as Juniors in high school - that dress was even better! Just picture really short and lots of sequined fish. I thought I was so cute...


Eating seafood on our honeymoon. Just to warn you, all of the pictures from our honeymoon were taken at restaurants, so it looks like all we did was eat. But, really, the only people I would ask to take our picture were waiters!


At the Luau at Disney World in 2002.
One of very few pictures of the two of us after Drew was born.


Eating on our honeymoon again.


High School Graduation.
Did you know that my smarty-pants of a husband was our class Valedictorian? Awesome speech, honey!


Kevin's graduation from Clemson.
My hair was especially poofy and proud that day!


Kevin graduates with his MBA in 2006.
I promise I went to college and graduated, too!


Snuggling. This was our first Christmas as newlyweds.



On Choir Tour with church in 1994. I think this was in Maine or Rhode Island.
Kevin would know. He remembers everything! That's why I married him 4 years later.


Eating again on our honeymoon..



Hilton Head.
This trip was before we were married. I remember because Kevin's Mom and Dad let us tag along on their beach trip and my future Mother-in-Law got the pleasure of sharing a bed with her snoring, thrashing future daughter-in-law. She must not have warned Kevin (thank you, Jan!) because in 10 years of marriage he's never slept on the couch!


More eating on our honeymoon...


At my baby shower at Chandler Creek Elementary School.
Kevin had just flown in from New York when he was on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" Another fun fact about my husband (sorry, there are no fun facts about me - I married well!) is that he loves trivia and it paid off for him about a month before Drew was born. He won $64,000 and got to meet Regis!


Declarations of love in the sand. I love the beach!


Signing yearbooks in high school.
I just want to point out that Kevin is wearing a gold chain! Hehehe! And that the shirt that I am wearing came with shoulder pads.


Snuggling as newlyweds again.
We still snuggle but it embarrasses Drew so he won't agree to take our picture, so there are no recent snuggling photos.


Posing with Minnie Mouse.
Have I mentioned we like to go to Disney World?


Happy new parents.
In recovery after Drew was born. Boy, that kid was hard work!


We had only been parents for 2 months here. The bags under our eyes aren't too bad!


At my future brother-in-law's college graduation.
Kevin and I were freshmen in college and we were still skinny. Good times...


Me and Santa in 2000.


Disney again. This time in 2002.


Proud parents of our curly-headed boy.


At Davis' first birthday party in 2007.


Christmas 2005


With our boys.
2008

Love our family. Love my husband. Love my life. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times - We are blessed! Happy Anniversay, honey!

Still Learning...

I confessed earlier this year that I stink at scrapbooking. And, although it's hard to believe (Ha! Yeah, right!), I stink at home decor, decorating, interior design...whatever you want to call it, I really need help. I have a hard time "seeing" a room finished - I don't even know how to get started, much less have a vision of what a room will eventually look like.

So, you can imagine how stressed I am to have lots of empty rooms - blank canvases, really - and very few ideas on how to fill them. I have been reading a lot of decorating blogs lately and I added some to my blog list on the sidebar in case you would like to read along. There are a whole lot of really smart, creative and frugal women out there who like to decorate. And, they use really great photos - 'cause I'm a visual learner! And, I am copying them shamelessly...ahem, I mean... I am using their creativity and homes as inspiration for my own!

One of my favorite home decor blogs is The Nesting Place. "The Nester" is such a funny writer and she has great pictures and great ideas. One of her favorite sayings is "It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful". How great is that? Sometimes my perfectionism gets in the way of my attempts to make our house a home. I don't even try if I know it can't be perfect.

So, I've begun to try and embrace this attitude and I have created my first set of window treatments for the boys' playroom. How sad is that? I wait 10 years to try something besides blinds and I start with the playroom! But, I decided any mistakes wouldn't matter so much in the playroom! The Nester calls what I have done (and what she does) window "Mistreatments"! She uses beautiful fabrics, decorative trim, upholstery tacks, and lots of hot glue to create window coverings in her house. No sewing involved! And that is a good thing since I don't sew!

Here is my first attempt:


Not too bad, right? This was what I did:

I picked out cute vintage firetruck fabric after about an hour (or two) of looking through the fabric store - I was struggling with finding a print that wasn't too baby or too grown up since the boys share the playroom.

I bought denim panels at Wal-Mart and hot glued the fire truck fabric to the bottom. I covered the seam with some red ribbon. Yep, I glued it on too!

So, I am making some progress with my perfectionism problem, because I am actually happy with how they turned out. Now I just have a few hundred more decisions to make - thank goodness we'll be living here a while! It may take the next 20 years!

P.S. I also shamelessly borrowed the idea for using our old shelves from the entertainment center in the playroom as storage!

Two Years Ago Today...

...we welcomed a 9 pound 7 ounce baby boy (yep, you read that right) into our family. Our sweet Benjamin Davis arrived and we couldn't have been prouder.

Our first photo together

Our first kiss

We had known that July 28th would be his birthday for several months and I can still remember the strange feeling of walking into the hospital that day knowing that in a few hours I would meet my son. And what a wonderful first meeting! He was crying and puffy and, as mentioned before, ginormous! But, besides my first baby boy, Davis was the most beautiful child I had ever seen! I spent my days in the hospital napping and cuddling and watching movies. Kevin and I kept saying we had never had a better time in the hospital!

The first picture of "My Boys"

Davis is my joy. He is so full of personality and curiosity. He is strong-willed and determined. He loves his family and especially his big brother. Lately, he has become a little parrot, repeating everything that is said.

Brothers

It's hard to believe he is two today, but if I forgot, he would remind me - "It Dadis birfday!" and "Dadis twoooooo!" Silly Goose!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

We Have Flowers!

I am no gardener, but I plan to learn. Really. I will learn. But, for now I get to enjoy what was already planted...and pretend I had something to do with it! I love black-eyed susans and I was so excited to discover that I had some in my front yard (confession: I was not 100% sure of what they were until they started to bloom!).

I have always loved the pictures of children wearing white and posing so sweetly in front of the beautiful yellow and black flowers. In a perfect world, I would have dressed my children and taken their picture early in the morning when the light is perfect. But, you and I both know that sometimes you have to take what you can get! :) So, we snapped a few pictures at about 8:00 a few nights ago in our very best play clothes.

Drew did a great job posing for Mom - I have trained him well! But, Davis. Sweet Davis. Precious Davis. Davis of the "I Never Stop Moving Tribe". We did the best we could. Kevin finally caught him "sniffing" the flowers as we were on our way inside! I really do love those pictures - the candid ones - the best anyway, but really, couldn't he give his Mom a "Cheeeeeze" every once in a while like all the other 2 year olds?!

Happy Birthday Everyone!

Last Saturday was a birthday celebration at the Fleming house! We had such a wonderful time celebrating Mom, Melissa, Neil, and Davis. Well...there was a lot of Davis celebrating, actually. You'll see the evidence in the pictures. So, it's official - my child is rotten.

Davis had a blast in his new kiddie pool and he loved playing in the sand and water table with Hayden, Carleigh ("Yah-yee", in Davis-speak), Sadie, and Drew. Kevin grilled some awesome hamburgers and hot dogs, and I just had so much fun hanging out with everyone!

Davis' favorite part of the party was (no surprise here) the presents! I knew ahead of time what Melissa had gotten him and I was so excited! Melissa's favorite toy as a little girl was her "Cozy Coupe". She loved that thing! Some of my most vivid memories of Melissa when she was little involves that Cozy Coupe! So, it was perfect that she got Davis his very own car - actually, his is a little fancier than Melissa's model. Davis has a Cozy Coupe firetruck! He has been having so much fun with all of his new presents this week!

Here are some party highlights...

Our Birthday Boy!

Cousins in the Kiddie Pool

A boy and his firetruck.


Happy Birthday Everyone!
(Although Davis chose the cake - told you he was spoiled!)

Blowing out candles for everyone!

Nemo cake is delicious!

A boy and his scooter.
(Not as cool as a firetruck, apparently.)

So funny. He really loved "reading" his cards!

Hooray for Birthdays!

The firetruck was so popular that the kids got really resourceful and sneaky to get a turn! I actually got pictures of one attempt! We laughed so hard about how smart 2 year olds can be when they really want something!

"Hi! So...I've got this really cool tractor if you want to trade!"

"You're getting out?! You must want to trade! You are so generous!"

"I'll just put my arm right here to help you get out. Really. I'm just helping."

"Thanks so much for sharing!"

Tooth Fairy Time!

Drew FINALLY lost both of his front teeth! He lost one of his front teeth a couple of weeks ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to post any pictures because the other one was loose too and it was just hanging there! It really was pitiful looking - for 2 weeks!

Finally, I ordered Kevin to "Get that tooth out!" last night. He was successful and now Drew keeps saying that they feel SO WEIRD! He is adorable without those teeth, but it won't last long because I can already see the grown up teeth peeking through.

The tooth fairy did visit last night and we put both of the front teeth under Drew's pillow. He decided that she could take them both at the same time, although I don't think he would have waited if he had known he would have to wait two weeks!

I too, Davis!

We were sitting at dinner tonight and my little boy put his arms around my neck and said, "I too, Mommy!" Then, he said it again and again. It took me a few minutes, but I realized he was telling me that he loved me. Then, I started to cry. I know you moms and dads know exactly what moved me so. I know he loves me - I can see it in so many ways - but, today he told me that he loves me (unprompted, by the way). Davis also "toos" Daddy and his Drewy. He has told us all many times tonight. We feel loved.

We're Home!

We just got moved in this weekend! I love our new home - and so do the boys! Anytime Drew is asked how he likes his new house, his response is, "IT'S GREAT!" in his most enthusiastic voice! Davis wasn't sure at first, but yesterday when we went by the apartment to pick up a few things, he started crying and crying for his "how", which is Davis-speak for "house". He did NOT want to be there! I know how he feels.

We are still waiting on a few things - a dishwasher that needs fixing and Direct TV that needs to be installed. We also do not have enough furniture to fill up our rooms, so it looks a little empty now. But, I have to say, I feel very patient right now, which is very unusual for me. I guess I'm just glad to be home.

P.S. We have a guest room now! When can we expect you?!