Obama's Clock

I got the following email the other day and I thought it was so funny. Enjoy!


A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him. He asked, 'What are all those clocks?' St. Peter answered, 'Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move. 'Oh,' said the man, 'whose clock is that? ''That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie.' 'Incredible,' said the man. 'And whose clock is that one?' St. Peter responded, 'That's Abraham Lincoln's=2 0clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life.'Where's Senator Obama's clock?' asked the man. 'Obama's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan.


Let me add that I think just about every politician out there has told more than his/her fair share of lies, but since this joke highlighted Obama I loved it!!!

We are the Pirates of ECU, hey!!

I love love love my Pirates. I am so freakin' proud of them tonight. Today they beat down the #8 team West Virginia at Dowdy Ficklen Stadium. It was an awesome game. The crowd filled with fellow ECU fans didn't stop cheering the entire game. The pirates totally dominated the Mountaineers. If you are at all interested in how good the Pirates played, visit any sports website, b/c I don't mean to brag, but we are the "talk of the town"!! Below are some pictures from the game.

One more thing before I end this post, we had a social at the house on Labor Day for the Elders Quorum group at our house. Below is a picture that the kids paused for 1 second to let me take.

Our 4 year old aspiring artist and The Trip to Charlotte

I had to post the latest adventure with my 4 year old little boy! Last Sunday I went like any other Sunday to pick Luke up from his Sunbeam class but this time it was a bit different. When I picked him up I instantly noticed that he didn't look the same as he did when I dropped him off. During his time in Sunbeams that day he had managed to color his face and arms and managed to completely miss his clothing (thank goodness). At first I was shocked and then mad and later when I got home I had to keep turning my head to laugh so that he couldn't see me. He never gave me a good reason as to why he wanted to color himself. I thought it was a boy thing but Camille in his class did it as well. But trust me, she didn't color half as much as Luke. Maybe he is an aspiring artist! Oh by the way, immediately following church that day was my Grandma Phoebe's 94th birthday party. So I had to bring him home and put him in the tub. The water turned blue once he got in.

This past weekend we travelled to Charlotte to see the ECU vs. Virginia Tech game in the Bank of America Stadium. We decided to bring Luke and Carman stayed with Joy for the weekend. We left Friday afternoon and as soon as we hit the road the fun began. The entire ride up to Charlotte we were joined by several Pirate fans flying their flags. That night we went to eat at TGIFriday's and noticed that Lowe's Motor Speedway was not even a mile from the restaurant. Since Luke is a huge racecar lover (thanks to the movie "Cars", trust me, we don't watch Nascar or anything), we decided to take him by the track. It was dark and we couldn't get in and we couldn't really see anything. He was disappointed but we promised him that if he behaved at the game that we would bring him back by the track. So we went to our hotel and after letting Luke swim in the pool we finally went to sleep. Since Luke stayed up way past his bedtime, we assumed that he would sleep in the following morning. WRONG. He was up at his normal 7:00. We got ready and left for the game. Once we parked our car, we saw nothing but Pirate and Hookie fans. It was great! The stadium was huge. The first half of the game I had to get past the heat. The second half, I didn't even think about it. The game was sooooo good. I am sure that you know by now that we won! Now, I cannot wait until this Saturday for the West Virginia game. I hope it doesn't get rained out. Go Pirates!!!

Notice Luke's face. He was not as excited as we were. Despite his tiredness and desire to go to the racetrack, he was really good.

So, after we witnessed the Pirate victory, we took Luke by the Lowe's Motor Speedway. Please notice the difference in his expression in this picture from the one above. He was in heaven at the racetrack.

I cannot leave out my precious Carman in this post. I constantly thought of her as we were away but knew she was in the best of hands. I don't know what we would do without Aunt Joy. Below is a picture of Carman helping Grandma Phoebe blow out her birthday candles.

Summer was way too short!

I cannot believe that summer is already over. This summer has gone by way too quickly. Tomorrow is my first day of class at ECU. Of course I will simply hand out the syllabus and do some introductions and let them go, but it still requires me to go into work. :( Since I have not posted in a while, I wanted to note a few of the things that we have been up to these days. First and foremost, we moved into our new home. Yippy! We are loving it and feel so blessed to have it. We are pretty much settled in. I don't think I will ever have everything completely done though. Luke loves his new bunk beds, the new Wii Fit and all the new hiding places. Carman transitioned nicely into her big girl bed. Whenever someone comes over she wants to show it to them. She loves her bed, my big tub, and also the new hiding places. I have to say my favorite things are the space, my big shower, the back yard, my kitchen, oh let me stop.... I love it all! Christian cannot get over having a sodded yard. He is in landscapers heaven! Other than adjusting to our new surroundings we have been going to the pool. Where Luke can now swim without his life jacket in the deep water. It was amazing how all it took for him to do it was to see Phoebe do it. Carman tries her best to keep up w/ the big kids in the pool. We also went to a Kinston Indians game and at the bottom of the 2nd inning Carman said "I go home now!". Oh well. We also went this past weekend to Morehead City b/c Uncle Mickey, Daniel and Lisa were in town. We all enjoyed going out on the boat on Saturday. My motto is "There is nothing better than being on a boat with the ones you love!!" Christian was just called as the Elders Quorom president at church so he has been rather busy these days plus travelling with work and he starts back w/ graduate school classes this week. But, he still finds time to play with his new toys: Macbook (I hate it, b/c I don't know how to work it), ITouch, etc. Boys and their toys!! Hopefully I will get better about posting more. Below are some recent pictures.

Can you say.. "Priss Pot!"

My boys!

I love the expression on Carman's face. I see it often. Whenever I ask her something, she loves to make the "what you talkin bout" face!

And Luke loves to make this face whenever I ask to take his picture. Silly boy!

I miss the beach already!!

We have been at the beach the past 3 weeks and I miss it! I would love to live there all summer! We spent a week at Emerald Isle at my mom's beach place and had a lot of fun. We built sand castles, went to the aquarium, played putt putt (or as Luke called it "duck duck", go figure), the water slide, we went tubing, man it was like paradise! Then following week was the 4th of July ( the holiday where the entire world celebrates my mother's birthday)! So we went back to the beach for the 4th. This trip involved my family, my mom, Joy's family, John's family, my aunts and Jill's family. It is always fun to get my kids together with their cousins. They love each other so much! My mom really enjoyed us being with her as well.

We close on our new house on July 25th. We are getting so excited. Below are alot of pictures of different stuff.

Luke and Carman buried in the sand with their friend from the beach.

Luke learned to swim without his jacket while we were on vacation.

Carman loved tubing. She cried when we took her off. Btw- those are not her feet, they are mine.

Christian and I went on a date night while Alan and Sharon watched the kids for us. This is us at the Beaufort waterfront.

Our family on Carrot Island after tubing. It was super windy that day!

This is a picture taken from my foyer looking into the family room.

One side of my kitchen. I love the window at the sink b/c I can look out into the backyard.

The sodded fenced in backyard helped to seal the deal for us.

That's enough for tonight. I will post more later.

3856 Forsyth Park Court

I have to get use to that new address...... b/c we are not homeless anymore!!!!!!!! Our offer was accepted on the house we wanted. I am so excited. We are on vacation right now but I was so excited about the house that I had to post. Below is a picture of the house. I will have more details later. For now, I need to enjoy my time at the beach.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Much like everyone, we have been extremely busy these days! First of all, we sold and moved out of our first home. It was a very bittersweet experience. We made so many good memories in 505 Huff Drive. We made lifelong friends with our neighbors: Dora, Gary, Don, Sue, Frank, Kathy, etc. We are now living at 4305 Wildwood with the best landlord: Pat Carman; aka Memaw. It has been great! Mom said "If you cook, I will do laundry." I was like "Heck yeah!" Poor thing, she hasn't eaten alot of my cooking. She might want to switch soon.

The weekend after we moved in with mom, we went to Tweetsie to see the "real" Thomas the Tank Engine. Alan and Sharon went with us and we had a great time. Luke did not understand why Thomas was pulling a green train and not Annie and Clarabell. They also saw Sir Topham Hat. Then the kids really enjoyed swimming in the pool at the hotel. I am not sure who enjoyed the trip more, the kids or the grandparents. Here are a few pictures of the trip.

Above, is a picture of Luke and Carman at the hotel.

Above is our family with a "Really Useful Engine"

Who is the happiest in this picture???

Above is our family with Sir Topham Hat!

Luke keeps asking to go back and see Thomas, the real Thomas. So I guess this will become an annual thing for us. Believe it or not... Carman loved it just as much as Luke!

I also had the privilege of being a bridesmaid in my girlfriend's wedding this past weekend. Ashley Gibson(now Cuesta) is one of my best friends since kindergarten. She was a beautiful bride and had a beautiful wedding. Her wedding was in Wilmington, NC and Alan and Sharon watched Luke and Carman for us so that we could attend. It was such a nice getaway for us. We stayed in the historic downtown area and it was absolutely my "cup of tea". I loved it! I didn't get many pictures, but here is one of us at the bridesmaids luncheon.

We ate so much good food this weekend, that I feel like I could go a week without food and be just fine. The best part was being able to catch up with my girls. Below is a picture of us at the spa where we got our hair done for the wedding.

I cannot forget to mention my husband, since this past weekend was Father's Day. We left Wilmington on Saturday night and travelled to Morhead for Father's Day on Sunday, plus we needed to pick up our kids. As fun as it was to get away, I cannot stay away from my kids too long. I get seperation anxiety. So we tried to let Christian know how much we love him. Because of the fact that I was blessed to have such a perfect daddy, I always knew that I would have high expectations for my husband to live up to. I am soooo very thankful that Christian is not only my husband and best friend but he is honestly the best father! That makes me love him even more. I love you babe!

Contract Pending

I have not posted for a while because we got a contract on our house last Monday. So I have been busy dealing with inspections, appraisals, packing, etc. I am glad that others are updating their blogs b/c on my breaks, I really enjoy reading them. We are suppose to close on May 28th and move the weekend before that on the 24th. So after all of this is over I will have a little more time to update. Hope everyone is well!

Strawberry Fields Forever!!!

This past Friday we joined the play group from church on a trip to the Strawberry Field. I was so excited because I inherited my Grandma Phoebe's love for the most fabulous fruit in the world.... strawberries. Heather Moss arranged the whole day and it was so much fun. Our group gathered and started with a tour of the animals. We saw chickens, goats (some w/ child), roosters, a peacock and bunnies (Luke's favorite). After that, we all got on a covered wagon and went for a ride around the cow pastures. We got within a few feet of the cows. After the ride, came the best part.... picking strawberries. Our picking went as follows: I was picking beautiful red strawberries and putting them in my basket, Luke was picking strawberries and putting them in his basket and then dumping them in my basket (he was a big helper) and Carman was picking strawberries and squeezing them in her hands and then trying to eat some of the mess in her hand. It was a lot of fun!

I also had to mention Luke's last soccer game. He did such a good job! He scored 4 out of the 6 goals that his team scored. He was on Fire!! (good thing, he plays for Team Fire)

This weekend was so busy because on Friday night, I had a much needed girl's night to the movies with Allison, Courtney, Jenny and Leah (we later saw Joy and Nikki). We went to see "Baby Mama". Very funny! Then on Saturday morning, we had Luke's soccer game. After that I rushed home to get food ready for Allison's baby shower. Then rushed to help set up for the shower. It went really well. The food was yummers! Kim Bloomfield did an AMAZING job on the cake. She put Your Perfect Cake to shame. I think Allison and Tommy got a lot of nice stuff for their twins that are on the way. I hate that I don't have any pictures to post but it was very nice!!! Then this weekend we have Ashley's wedding shower at Brook Valley. That should be fun too! Busy, busy, busy, but I wouldn't haven't any other way. Except maybe 1 weekend w/ nothing to do!

I almost forgot... the other day when Christian and I were cleaning the strawberries that we picked at the Strawberry field, Christian said "JoAnna, come and look at Carman". When I turned around I saw Carman talking to her baby and changing her diaper. It was such a sweet moment. She is such a mother wannabe! I love her to pieces!

Grandparents and Sunny Days!

Grandparents and Sunny Days are 2 of my favorite words!

Let me start with grandparents.... Luke and Carman are so lucky to have amazing grandparents in their lives. They have a sweet memaw, a kind grandma, a funny PopPop, a great-grandma Phoebe and a great-grandma MomMom. I envy them because as I was growing up, for the most part, I had just one grandma. Granted she had enough sweetness to make up the difference (that would be grandma Phoebe). My reason for all this talk on grandparents is because, not only do Luke and Carman have all these wonderful grandparents.... they have an adopted pair of grandparents. Our neighbors Dora and Gary are the absolute best to our kids. They treat them as if they were their own and our kids love them. They seriously would do anything for them. So I had to post these adorable picture of Luke and Carman with their "other" grandparents.

Next topic... Sunny Days. This past Friday in Eastern NC was absolutely beautiful. I decided to take full advantage of it and go outside with the kids. I put their bathing suits on them and filled the water table. Luke could not understand why our country club pool was not open yet, so he improvised and created his own. They took the legs off the water table and made that their pool. We had a really good time outside. We even washed Christian's car for him. In the process of washing cars, I let the kids hose down the car. Big mistake... Luke hosed me down instead. He couldn't stop laughing as he was squirting me w/ the hose and my squeals only egged him on. I think the whole neighborhood heard me. No pictures of that though. But here are some pictures from our fun sunny day!

10 Years Ago... This is going to be a stretch!!

I am so excited that I got tagged. Thanks Leah! Up until this week, I have never been tagged before. Granted, I enjoy reading others tags, but I am not so sure if I can remember 10 years ago. I have a hard time remembering yesterday. But here goes....


10 Years Ago:


It was April 1998. I was in my Senior year at ECU. I was about to complete my BSBA in Marketing that upcoming December. I lived on Moseley Drive with Ashley and Jody. We frequently ate at Bojangles by our duplex. (So how was I 20 lb.s lighter then???) I had very little, if no worries at this time. I think I was working at my mother's day care center. As I was approaching graduation, I had no clue what I wanted to do. My daddy suggested graduate school around this time. So I was preparing to take the GMAT. That's pretty much all I can remember right now!!


5 Things on my To-Do List today:


I love to-do lists, but rarely do I get to stick to them b/c something always comes up.


1) Finish some ECU work.


2) Clean the house. This is on my to-do list everyday!! Especially since our house is STILL on the market!


3) Take the kids to the park. The weather is suppose to be nice, so I better make some good use of it!


4) Finish writing Thank You notes for Carman. She is extremely smart, but cannot quite handle writing.


5) Spend some quality time with my husband. Man, I love him more and more these days! I think we are going to Nikki's play tonight.


Things that I would do if I was suddenly a billionaire:

• Build a beautiful house in Pitt County



• Build a beautiful house in Morehead City on the water!



• Pay off the mortgages of all my family.



• Donate to Idols Give Back



• Set up an Education Fund for my children and my nieces and nephews



• Set up an investment account for my children



• Go on a shopping spree!!!



• Donate some money to my church!



• Travel, travel, travel and travel some more!!



• I am sure that I could name some more!

3 Bad Habits:

1) Bite my nails

2) Bad Cook

3) Procrastinate

Places that I have lived:

• Ayden, NC



• Greenville, NC



• Orlando, FL



• Winterville, NC

Things that most people don't know about me:

• I inherited club thumbs from my grandma (I use to hate them and now I love them)



• I LOVE reality TV (Dancing w/ the stars, AI, Big Brother, etc.)



• My family use to pick on me when I was little for how tacky I dressed myself.



• I love to squeeze ( it is an impulse that I cannot control )



• I don't like cats (they scare me plus I am allergic)

Jobs that I have had:

• Worked at Burger King in Ayden (for 1 month)


• Worked at my mother's day care center


• Lifeguard at Walt DisneyWorld's Contempary Resort


• Worked on campus at ECU in Continuing Studies


• Worked w/ ECU Telefund


• Graduate Assistant for Marketing and Professional Programs


• Marketing Representative for Online Information Services


• Marketing Analyst for Overton's


• Real Estate Broker for Aldridge and Southerland


• Teaching Instructor at ECU


• Mommy (get the best kisses w/ this one)

I think that does it!! So now I get to tag someone... the only people that I know of that look at my blog are Leah(who tagged me), Regina and Alisha. So Regina and Alisha you are tagged!!!

Carman is 2!!

Yes, my children's birthdays are less than 1 week apart. So this past weekend, we celebrated my sweet little baby girl's birthday. Carman was born on April Fool's day and I definitely felt this year like the joke was on me (as far as her party is concerned). To start off, we planned a lovely party at the park in Ayden which would allow the kids to run, run, run! If you have forgotten the weather this past weekend.... let me remind you.....Rain, Rain, Rain!! So Friday night I called everyone to let them know it would be relocating to the day care center. Joy was very kind to let us use the "Joyful Beginnings" day care for Carman's party. Secondly, when we get to the party I was running late (surprise, surprise) and I had to scurry to get some decorations up as guests arrived. Third, I totally forgot the drinks and candle (so Christian had to run to the store and get some). Fourth, roughly 15 children and their parents were stuffed into a small space = noise and chaos. With all this in mind..... Carman had the time of her life. We had a karoke machine, which Carman made use of. Her song of choice was "Who let the dogs out". Her verse was "who, who, who, who". She also danced along to others singing on the karoke machine. So I must say, despite all the craziness Carman had a ball at her party and that is all that matters to me!!! One quick side note: next year Luke and Carman will have a combined party at a facility that allows me to simply show up and enjoy their party!!

I cannot close this post without noting how very very lucky I am to have Carman in my life. Before having Carman I was worried that I would not be able to love another baby as much as I did Luke. But it totally amazes me how I cannot only love Carman just as much but I cannot imagine my life without her. She is such a happy, beautiful, loving child. I cannot help but smile every time I look at her. I also love the fact that she is "momma's girl". Carman, I love you, I love you, I love you!!

Luke is 4!

This past week we celebrated Luke's 4th birthday. It is so hard for me to believe that my sweet little boy is now 4 years old. I must say the past four years have been priceless. For Luke's birthday, he told me as early as January that he wanted to have his party at Memaw's beach place. So we planned a small pool party at Emerald Isle. His actual birthday was on Wednesday, March 26th, but we celebrated it on Saturday, March 29th. Luke had his first soceer game that same Saturday morning. His team won 5 to 2 and Luke scored 2 goals for his team and assisted in another goal. He is my little David Beckham. After the game, Christian and Luke rushed down to Emerald Isle where Luke's party was set up. He wanted a Lightning McQueen cake which his daddy did a fabulous job on. I baked the cake and Christian decorated it. We had access to an indoor heated pool at mom's condo and the kids LOVED it. Luke invited his cousins; Jack, Allie, Josh, Phoebe and one of his friends Spencer to the party. Of course memaw, grandma and Poppop were there as well. We had a really good time! Around Luke's birthday, he loves for me to recount the days before having him, how he cried when he came out, how I use to snuggle w/ him when he was a baby, etc. As a walk down memory lane with him I cannot help but think about how much I truly love him and how thankful I am that Heavenly Father blessed me with such a sweet little boy. I love you Luke!

A Hoppy Easter

I must start out this post with saying..."How in the world do others have such elaborate and pretty blogs????" I am such a novice at this stuff! I seriously need tutoring on blogging! Ok.. now that I have vented... I can go on about our Easter! Easter 2008 was spent in Morehead City. We went down on Friday (Christian took the day off, yippy) after a very hectic packing and getting the house presentable for showings over the weekend while we were gone. On Saturday morning Sharon and Lisa helped Luke and Carman dye Easter eggs while I tried to get pictures. Then we took the kids to Shevon's Park. They love to go there and I must admit I do too. Then after naps, we had Ethan Guthrie over for an Easter Egg hunt. I was surprised how everyone was into the hunt and there were no big meltdowns b/c of someone feeling they had an inadequate supply of eggs! Overall that was a success. That night we ate a homemade soup that Sharon worked hard on all day. It was VERY yummy. As Carman would say "Yummy to Tummy". The next morning, Luke woke up first(no surprise there) and after finding Carman's basket (that is my tradition, where the Easter Bunny hides the baskets) he quickly found his. He was very excited about his basket full of surprises. After waking up Carman, we directed her towards her basket and she loved hers as well. Then we had to rush to get ready for church. But I must say.... they were some "purty youngins" on Sunday! Last week during our FHE, we tried to explain the reason that we celebrate Easter to Luke. He asked a lot of questions about why they put nails in Jesus' hands. Luke's reaction to that was "I am going to get those mean people so they cannot do that again". I liked that Luke was trying to defend Jesus. Overall, we had a fabulous Easter and enjoyed being together with family.

First 2008 Post

I have got to get better about posting blogs more frequently. So let me try to remember all that has happened since my last post. Christmas.... It was very enjoyable for us this year. Luke was VERY much into the season and presents and Carman just enjoyed playing with all the boxes. We spent the entire Christmas this year in Greenville. On Christmas Eve day we went to Jill's house for Christmas with mom's side of the family. On Christmas Eve night we went to Joy's for my immediate family's festivities. Then on Christmas Day, Alan and Sharon came to our house. It was a holiday filled with love and many memories. We rocked in the new year at mom's beach place. It was a very wild celebration. We barely stayed awake long enough to welcome in 2008. But it was very fun! Luke joined the Sunbeams class at church in January. It was an adjustment for him because there is more structure in Sunbeams. He was confused about why things weren't done like they were in nursery. He curiously raised his hand and asked "When do we eat snack?" Since then he has adjusted very well and gives the most thoughtful prayers. I enjoy listening to them. One Sunday his teacher told me that in his prayer he said "I am thankful for my new Duke shirt". He has his priorities right!! Carman enjoys singing these days. Her song of choice is "Rock a bye baby". She is too cute. She also got her first hair cut on February 16th. She was great. She just sat there and ate her sucker while her hair was trimmed. Luke and Carman's birthdays are quickly approaching. I cannot believe that my Luke will be 4 and Carman will be 2. Christian has been travelling quite a bit lately with work. Last week he was in Winston-Salem on Tuesday, Raleigh on Thursday and Winston-Salem on Friday. He continues to be a "star performer" at BB&T. I always joke with him about becoming the CEO one day. (which isn't too far fetched with how hard he works) Needless to say, I am proud of my sweetie! We have also put our house on the market. I know... what bad timing, but we have had a lot of traffic coming through, so we are hopeful. Maybe by my next post, we will have the house sold. I have started another semester at ECU. I am enjoying teaching alot more this semester. I also look forward to having the summer off. Hey... that means more time for blogging!!!