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Friday, June 27, 2008

A Busy June!

"Spiderman" in his new room
Cory and Rafe trying to soak me on the bumper boats!
Rafe and Cory getting ready to take off.


Who's having more fun??!!

Rafe's "special" bag!


We have officially moved back to Greer!! It is hard to believe. The past two years in Charleston just flew by. So much has happened in the last 2 weeks. We are excited about our "rental" house and are already dreading the next move. Rafe keeps saying, "Are we going to live here forever?" Moving is not for him. However, he is really excited about his new bed. Poor thing, he was hanging out of his toddler bed but his room could not accommodate a bigger one. Rafe is also enjoying the hard wood floors. He puts socks on immediately each morning and slides all over the place.


Rafe (and myself for that matter) are not used to staying at home and it has been hard for him to sit in a house with five thousand boxes and NO television. So, we took a break from the action on Wednesday and went to Frankie's Fun Park. We all had a ball. Rafe and Cory SOAKED me on the bumper boats. I looked like I had been swimming. Then Rafe rode with Cory on the go-carts. They were going so fast one time all I could see was Rafe's head sticking out from behind the steering wheel. He had slid all the way under. Next Rafe and Cory rode the Drop Zone. It is still hard for me to believe he is old enough to ride such big rides. Now that he is able to ride Cory has decided he is too old!! It makes him sick :(.


Wednesday night the drama started. Cory's friend and his little girl Rafe's age came over to visit. Rafe wanted to put on his Batman pajama's and show Hannah. He came flying through the house and stepped on the end of Cory's hammer. He sliced his heel open. Just the sight of blood alone freaks Rafe out and the pain was awful. Poor thing, he tried to be so tough in front of her. We cleaned it up and put a Batman band-aid on it and he ate a popsicle at 9:30!! Out next obstacle was to get him in the bath tub last night. He whined and whined about not wanting to get it wet! We tied a Spiderman ziploc bag around it and assured him no water would get on it. It made Rafe feel better and he jumped into the tub. As soon as he got in the tub it of course filled up with water but he did not even notice because he had that "special" bag on it. It's funny how you can trick kids and they don't even know it. It made him feel better and that is all that matters!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Rafe and Caroline

A Trip Down Memory Lane!



Rafe and Caroline's first picture together.
Rafe was 23 months, Caroline 2 years 4 months.

Rafe, Caroline and Owen on Rafe's 2nd Birthday.

Rafe and Caroline at the park. Notice the shoes!

Trick-or-treating at the Aquarium.

This is one of my favorite pictures of them.


Tired after trick-or-treating.



Riding the carousel at the Festival of Lights.

Everyone piled on at the Mt. Pleasant Christmas Parade.

Their first date in his Gator!

Dancing the night away with the Mariachi Band.

Hanging out at the Mt. Pleasant park.

Easter Egg Hunt at our house.

Caroline's 3rd Birthday Party.

Rafe's 3rd Birthday.

Rafe's 3rd Birthday party.

Festival of Lights


Kissing his sweetheart on Valentine's Day!

Rafe and Susanna. I LOVE this picture.

Rafe making Susanna play dress-up.
She was NOT happy with him.


And now... Rafe 3 years, 8 months, Caroline 4 years, 2 months.




It is SO hard to believe that our two years in Charleston are coming to a close. So much has changed in the last two years. When we moved to Charleston Rafe was only 21 months old and didn't really know what a "friend" was. Boy did that change when he met Caroline Fortney. I thank God everyday that he brought the Fortney family into our lives. Not just for Rafe, but for me. We are so blessed to be a part of this wonderful family. We have seen Lauren, Caroline, and Susanna most everyday since we moved to Charleston. Every special occasion or activity we did was with them. For as happy as I am about moving back to Greer to be closer to our family, I am that sad to be moving away from our most special friends. It is hard to imagine going to Chick Fil-A or Moes without them. Here are some of the special memories I will always remember about Rafe and Caroline:
  • Rafe went to New Beginnings Community Church preschool with Caroline last year. This was good for both of us. Thank you Lauren for convincing me to send him to school. He learned to much from that experience.
  • I love the way he calls Caroline's name.
  • They have a brother/sister relationship AND a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. He will say to me, "But Mommy, I just LOVE her!"
  • We eat lunch together everyday (even though they did not go to the same school this year). Our favorite places are Chick Fil-A, Moes, and Groucho's. After we eat Rafe and Caroline either race each other on the sidewalks, pick berries out of the bushes, or jump off of the curb. What excitement!
  • Rafe learned to love TWO Fortney girls when precious Susanna was born last July. He cannot keep his hands off of her. He absolutely loves to baby-sit her and enjoys putting all of his costumes on her.
  • Rafe is VERY protective of Caroline. If anyone is messing with her, he quickly intervenes and put a "kung fu" move on them. I can only hope he will be that protective of her one day when they get married!!

  • Rafe and Caroline made the cutest couple at Halloween. He has never trick-or-treated without her. They would hold hands and walk up to each door together.
  • We had a tradition each year of going to see the Christmas lights at the James Island park. We will definitely be making a trip back this year for that. We roasted marshmallows, drank hot chocolate and rode the carousel.

  • We enjoyed eating at Senor Tequila's. Rafe and Caroline entertained everyone with their dancing to the Mariachi Band.

I could go on and on listing the things that I think about with the Fortney's, but there are just too many to list. I know we are moving next week, but I hope they keep their guest room open for us. We are coming back to Charleston often to visit.


John, Lauren, Caroline and Susanna, thank you so much for being such a special part of our lives. We love you dearly.

Summer Fun!


This was just before we were leaving.
Rafe said, "Mommy, you HAVE to take our picture!"

"Watch out, Caroline. Here I come!!"
Rafe enjoying his first slide of the year.

Relaxing on the float.

First jump of the diving board. He wanted
to do this all day!




Rafe has been enjoying this wave of summer heat! He has learned how to successfully slide down a "flip and flide" (as he calls it)! It was a lot more fun until Cory slid so hard he busted the end of it out! Rafe had his first encounter with a diving board and really enjoyed jumping off of it. Today we went to the water park with Caroline and Christopher. It was hard to get Rafe and Caroline to leave, but we convinced them with an Icee!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

A "Funny" Story


During Memorial weekend, Rafe, Cory and Pop went fishing and decided to walk around the pond and explore the nature trails. Rafe, of course, ran really fast ahead of them and decided to walk backwards. He tripped over a root and after a few seconds Cory playfully picked him up and they continued on their walk. As they were walking off Pop screamed, "Look at that snake!" They were all surprised to see a HUGE copperhead snake scampering off right where Rafe had fallen down. Needless to say it caught everyone by surprise and we are just SO thankful Rafe did not fall directly on the snake.


Luckily I had just gone home with my mom and missed the whole incident. Cory called to tell me that Rafe had a "funny" story to share when they got home. Rafe came running in the door screaming, "Mommy, I just got run over by a COBRAhead!" Sorry, but I don't classify that as a "funny" story.


Of course they tried to tell me how big the snake was and I had pictured in my mind something the size of an anaconda. Last weekend we went to the aquarium and ironically they had a copperhead that looked about the same size. It made me sick just thinking about what could have happened!