Happy Birthday Noni

Oops Wrong Blog, but Holiday Savings BEGIN at SBT

I have to admit that I didn't like putting up the holiday decorations at Sandbox Threads before Thanksgiving. I really like our holiday logo, but I believe we should get through one holiday before we move on to the next. Tomorrow, though, I'm in charge of smoking two turkeys and a ham, plus there are several basketball and football games I want to watch, so I bit the bullet and decorated early.

As an extra bonus, our Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales has already begun with free shipping on all orders, but free shipping is only the beginning. Next week we are having a Cyber-Week sale with a different offer every day. Our Cyber-Week sale is only offered to those folks signed up to receive our newsletter, so if you don't already get it, be sure to sign up. You can do so from any page on Sandbox Threads including this one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm A Working Man

Ben continues to surprise us with the things that he knows. Yesterday, I looked down to see him "fixing" his tractor. As you can see, he really was trying to fix his tractor.

A Long Line of Cars

Without help or prodding, Ben lined up his car. Please notice that the line starts at the exit of the hospital garage.

Finally....

...I've been waiting on this video to load for days. Enjoy!

Aunt Jooley has Been Waiting for this Moment

Here you go!

After finally talking Ben into his lion outfit we managed to get him to sit down for a quick photo. BTW, Maya's skeleton onesie glows in the dark. So Ben did not want to go trick-or-treating at first. As he left the front steps of the first house after getting his candy, he was a bit weepy and whiny. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that he wanted to stay and play with the doggies (there were two dogs inside the house). Eventually, though, he got the hang of it: Grab the candy bag, walk to the door, ring the "ding dong" and get candy. Yeah! We (Elizabeth and Ben) wound up walking around the neighborhood for about an hour and a half. Ben was equally excited about the commotion of "scary people" and the candy. I think he will REALLY look forward to next year. I'm hoping he won't be as shy, though. Even though we practiced roaring (he was really good at this at home), he would not do it for anyone when trick-or-treating. There were a few times that he whispered a roar or let out a decent roar as we left a driveway, but for the most part he was a bit of a cowardly lion.

I'm a lion ... RRRAAAAHHHHRRRR!

Andy and I laughed all night every time we saw Ben from behind. We couldn't get over how much he resembled a rock star from an 80's hair band.

Ben meets another of his kind. The other lion is a little over a year old.

By this time of the night, Ben is really getting the hang of things. I think it is around 8:30 p.m. by now and he is enjoying his second sucker.

Daddy and Maya greet the trick-or-treaters.

Ben & Maya TV--October Highlights

Nightmare Experience = Cute Pictures

When the photographer told us the toughest kids to photograph are 2 year olds and babies that are a couple of months old, we should have known we were in trouble. We had both ages, and neither were really in the mood to play along. And while the end product turned out remarkably better than we could have imagined during the process, do not expect any more studio photos any time soon.

Ben had his first "two year old" moment while in public, and he and I got to have a come to Jesus sit down. Maya was barely awake and fell asleep while we were picking out the photos. Of the nearly 70 shots the photographer managed to take, these are the ONLY two that turned out at all.

Regardless, my wife sure does make cute babies.

Happy Birthday Mamaw

I'm a bad son, and I didn't get a card in the mail to you, BUT....I think this just might make it up to you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Ben's New Trick

Maya TV

Ben Had a Birthday

 

 

Ben turned 2 yesterday, and we had a great party for him. THANKS a bunch to everyone who helped out, traveled to NC, stopped by, and brought Ben some awesome presents.

Plenty more pictures in the photo album including pictures of Maya (who slept through the whole party and has doubled in size since she was born).

Silly Daddy = Smiling Maya

Plenty more in the Photo Album

Cheeks and Fruit Basket Arrive Out of Nowhere

I'm not sure if you remember this, but Elizabeth and I were amazed when Ben's cheeks arrived almost overnight, and it is apparent now that this runs in the family. Maya's cheeks arrived via delivery yesterday. Wait, no the Edibles basket arrived via delivery yesterday. We're not sure when the cheeks arrived. The basket is from the Anderson clan (I think "clan" is what they call family in Sweden, or is that Vikings and Norway, or hillbillies. I can never keep it straight). Regardless, Ben throughly enjoyed the basket and we're still enjoying the basket today. THANK YOU ANDERSON's!



And for those of you really wanting to look at some pictures. We've added a photo album. Just look right over there ( <----- follow the arrow) and click on Maya and Ben's Photo Album.

Construction Time

I posted this on Sandbox Threads' blog originally, but in case you didn't see it there, here you go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've been busy the last few days with tasks absolutely unrelated to Sandbox Threads. For a while now, we have had two large boxes sitting beside of our garage waiting to be emptied and assembled. Well, that assembly has now taken place. While building this beast of a swing set, I realized a couple of things, I thought I'd share:

1. The lengths to which we will go to make our children happy may very well be limitless. This is coming from me, a dad, and also from my dad who helped me build he swing. I think he was helping me, his son, as much as he was trying to make his grandson happy.

2. The shear genius behind the packaging, design, and assembly instructions just amazed me. There was no a wasted space in the packaged boxes, very few extra parts (this may be our fault that there was any leftover pieces), and while confusing at times, the building of the set was pretty straight forward if you "follow the directions."

I'm pretty proud of this beast o'swing, and my son nearly pees his pants every time he goes outside and see that the swingset is still there.

THANK YOU NONI!!!

Thank you for all your help with Ben, Maya, Sandbox Threads, cleaning, cooking, and taking caring of Elizabeth. We really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really appreciated you staying so long and helping so much.

Maya's Growing, Ben Meets Watwit, and...

...for the first time since Maya arrived, we're on our own with two kids. Pray for us. We've made it through 9 hours with no major issues.

Debut Episode of Maya TV

With a little Ben TV thrown in for good measure.

Cut From the Same Cloth?

While not exact duplicates, you can definitely see that Maya looks more like Ben than many of you probably remember since he's now a blonde-haired, blue-eyed toddler.

E & I continue to be amazed at how BIG Ben seems now. He hasn't grown all that much, but next to Maya he looks HUGE!

Maya Kristina Swaggerty

Maya Kristina Swaggerty arrived at 9:46pm on June 20th. She weighs in at a whooping 6lbs 5oz. And is 18 1/2 inches long. Mommy and Maya are both doing fine.




Big brother Ben has met Maya, but he's not sure what to make of her just yet. We will see in the days and weeks to come.



Plenty more pictures in Ben (and Maya's) Photo Album.

New Stroller Test Drive

In anticipation of strolls around the neighborhood, Aunt Jooley gave us a new stroller, a DOUBLE STROLLER, to accommodate the entire Swag clan. Ben has already been testing driving the stroller including sharing the stroller with the baby doll E got him for Christmas. He's ignored the doll six months, but has in the last few weeks starting showing it some attention. Interesting...no?

So Busy, We Had to Put Ben to Work

Thank goodness for spellcheck.