blog366

4 month recap

2010-12-20T10:13:00.001-08:00

This post is for you Linz! It will more than likely be the longest blog post in blogging history... so here goes!

In August, we had HES Skate Night. Austin put on a pair of skates for the first time in his life and it went better than I expected. Many falls, but no ER visits, so we will call it a success.

We played Fall Baseball and had a great season. Austin moved up to Farm league and did really well and learned a ton. We had an awesome coach!

During Spirit Week, he dressed up as the principal, complete with bald cap and all. On Friday, I took beads and hair paint so Mrs. Short's class could be decked out for Spirit Day!

Labor Day we went to visit my family in Mississippi. We had a great time, tons of relaxing and REALLY good food!

Austin was the September Good Citizen. We are so proud of him!

Austin's class took a field trip to the zoo.

In October, Kylie had a super fun party at Pump-it-Up! Austin loves that place. I think it smells a little funny.

We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

On October 23rd, we had our first annual Pumpkin Carving Party. All the kids (and adults) scooped out the pumpkin guts and carved some really great pumpkins then heard the Pumpkin Parable before dinner.

After carving the pumpkins and having dinner, we played a ton of games and Damon even volunteered for the pie toss victim. Then Austin wanted a go behind it too!

We went Trick-or-Treating at my grandmother's house again where we got 10 pounds of candy loot.

Then on Halloween night, we went to the First Baptist Fall Festival. It was a lot of fun too!

To kick off November, we had lunch at school with Austin for the Holiday lunch.

Then Alex had her Backyard Movie birthday party and we danced the night away on Just Dance for the wii.

We did celebrate Thanksgiving with my dad and step-mom's family, but apparently my camera didn't celebrate with us :(

Then in December, we had our family photos taken at Tannehill. We got there early so I could get some shots of Austin and 10 frames into the shoot, he lost his first tooth. Almost every photo taken after that, he has his tongue pushed through the new opening!

Then we had Christmas at Granny's house. We waited for the parade to come by to watch it, then we opened gifts!

Last Thursday, We had Austin's school party where he got to draw for a gift and he won Candyland. You would have thought he won an all expenses paid trip to Disney. He was so excited!

This weekend, Kayla was staying with is so we made a trip to the zoo for ZooLight Safari last night. It was bitter cold, especially riding the Pneumonia Express but we still had a great time. It is so awesome to still get to spend time with my Kayla-Bug!

Today, I'm blogging 4 months of photos... I'll skip those photos though. I'm still in my jammies!

The first day of first grade

2010-08-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the summer is over. I was having super anxiety about it but I guess we are both adjusting ok. I had a house full of kids all summer long and now I sit here, it's quiet and still and I have to look for things to do. I'm really excited though to get to working on a few projects I've been wanting to start though and my photography business is exploding for the Fall.

Austin woke up in such a good mood on Wednesday. We made it to school early and he walked right in ready to go. I on the other hand... ah, why do I have to cry about everything? I was doing ok until it was time for goodbye. I teared up, gave him a wave and I had to walk out before I was noticed boo-hooing in the hallway. Maybe by 7th grade I won't cry on the first day. I'm hoping anyway!

MS for the weekend

2010-08-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a last minute trip to visit my MS family. The kids were bugging PawPaw to take them for a ride in his "red car." It's a 1934 Chevy Master's Sedan and it super cool. He took them for a ride about 10:30 Friday night. Let me apologize to the neighbors now. It's super loud and even louder when my dad is doing a burn out in the drive way. We expected to see Highway Patrol after him at any minute. Saturday we swam and just hung out and enjoyed our day together. Gram's birthday was Saturday so we went to a restaurant called 107. It was really good! I had Filet and garlic roasted mashed potatoes. Poor Randi, she wanted cheese sticks, they were out. We asked for bread, they were out, then Randi wanted Cheesecake to go, and you guessed it, they were out. Anyway, after a freidnly race between PawPaw and Lindsey's car on the way home we made it in for birthday cake that Lindsey had made. We had to get up pretty early on Sunday to head home so we could make it for Meet the Teacher night but I'm so glad we were able to go, even if it was for a short trip. I have so many memories of going to MS in the summer to visit my grandparents and I am so glad Austin will have the same thing.

Poker Night

2010-08-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

We hosted Poker Night at our house. Damon laughed at me because I had prepared a feast of food and broke out the serving pieces so it was pretty. He was like, "Babe, it's just poker. Peanuts will do." Oh, I don't think so! I never pas up an opportunity to host a great party. Madison wanted to play with the adults so we figured what the heck. She's 10 and played pretty well. I was impressed. I was down twice and was all in with the blind and managed to come back for a win... kinda. At 2:00 a.m. I was so tired I offered my last opponent to split the pot to agree to quit. 7 hours of poker and I was tired! So, we split the pot and hear a crash in the living room. Our ceiling fan had a little wobble to it when it is on high and apparently the light kit wobbled right off and crashed onto the floor shattering the globes and bulbs. I was glad to see it go! I'm on a mission to remove everything brass I can from this house but I couldn't make myself spend $150.00 to replace a fan that worked perfectly fine. SO, now we have a shiny new brushed nickel fan that I love and all is well!

The next morning Austin was begging to teach him how to play so we tried. He just likes to bet and refuses to fold. He'd say "All in" with a 2 4 6 8 10 off suited. He's got a way to go I think!

Ty's Birthday

2010-08-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

Ty invited us to his birthday lunch at Sumo's a few weekends ago. We NEVER turn down Sumo. If you are having a party (or don't mind us crashing dinner) at Sumo, invite us. We'll be there. :) It's 10a.m. and I'm craving a Medium Rare Filet right now. We had a great chef that made it a ton of fun! Ty's grandmother bakes the best cakes and it was super yummy too!

Nana's Birthday

2010-08-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

We took my mom to Jim & Nick's for her birthday this year. That's her favorite place. I think our table of 7 wiped out 6 baskets of cheese biscuits. I got my mom a pair of Houndstooth Flip Flops for her birthday (and me a pair too!) but she would probably kill me if I posted her "Lazy River scraped my polish off" toes on my blog. Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

Day at the lake

2010-07-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

My mom had her Annual Quilt Retreat at my uncles home on Smith Lake this week so Austin and I took advantage of the opportunity to go have some fun!

Austin tried to do this kayak kind of thing that they had there. He did pretty good! I didn't even try. I could just see myself tumping over for everyone to laugh at.

We all went swimming to cool off. I love Smith Lake because it is so clear and the water is so cool. This mama doesn't get in yuck water!

Mom took the Pontoon out for a ride to feed the carp at Rock Creek while I was on the Sea-Doo. After we all got parked, we headed to the Marina to find the carp. These fish have been here forever! It's so crazy that they hang around and stay so close to the dock. I guess they know that they get their Saltines for good behavior. My mom put a cracker between her toes and the fish sucked her toes to get it off-- ewww! I tried it but as soon as they got close I let them go. I guess I thought they were going to suck me down like a Saltine. Irrational much?

We rode the Sea-Doo until my thumb felt like it was going to fly off. My uncle's Sea-Doo will go like 60mph and let me tell you, a Sea-DOo at 55 will make your eyes water and your hair turn into a birds nest! Hello conditioner when I got home!

Bowling on Wednesday

2010-07-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, I took all of yesterdays kids plus Mason to Bowl at Vestavia Bowl. Let me tell you, if I had longer hair and a long skirt on, I'm almost positive people could have mistaken me for Michelle Duggar. The kids were all so good though. I enjoyed our trip waaaaay more than the lady next to us, who looked like she missed her daily does of Prozac and couldn't have fun for yelling at her girls to quit touching the balls because they were filthy, Hello... You are at a bowling alley lady! I've gotten way off the topic of this post. Anyway, Austin and all the kids had so much fun. I won the first game (without bumpers I might add!) and Austin won the second game. I think we just might try bowling again next week. I really need to score over 100 to give up!

Marmaduke at the Movies

2010-07-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

I took Austin, Madison, Micah and Landon to lunch at Chick-fil-A and then to the movies on Tuesday to see Marmaduke. Let me tell you, Tuesdays are the day to do to the Carmike on Lorna Road, assuming you get there 30 minutes before show time. We tried to go the previous Tuesday and both kid movies were sold out. Tons of day cares were there. This past Tuesday we go there right in time though to get great seats. For $13 all 5 of us got in the movies and all the kids had a popcorn and a coke. The movie was really cute. In the I'm-crazy-and-would-hate -myself-later kind of way, I left there wanting a Great Dane!

Alabama Adventure

2010-07-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

I think we've gotten our money's worth this year!

My latest hobby

2010-07-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

We've started building furniture. If you remember a while back I built the Pottery Barn bookcase for Austin's room. We'll we started another one and never finished it because my mom had to repo her air compressor from my house. So, my friend Hollyn was on fire to build something so we loaded up our 1/2 finished shelf and headed to her cousin's house who offered his basement for us to build and beat the heat. We built the Pottery Barn Hyde Side table on Friday night, then finished the 2nd side table on Sunday night. Last night we decided to build more and so we went to Lowe's (My FAV place to shop!) and bought the materials to build the Pottery Barn Hyde Coffee Table. I got a few cuts in before it was Saws-Off time. We are trying not to overstay our welcome so we quit cutting at 9:15. After we build the coffee table, that I hope is complete in the next day or two, we are going to start on the matching media center and the console table from the same Pottery Barn collection, then a 32x80 dining table, then a King Farmhouse bed, then a ohhh, I don't know, but I hope to build it all. I absolutely LOVE building. I can't wait to get all the pieces complete so I can distress & stain them. It's killing me to have raw wood sitting there but I want to wait until I have all the pieces complete before finishing so I can have a uniform look to all of it. I have spent a total of $44 for 2 side tables that retail for $199.99 EACH and spent $32.00 on a coffee table that retails for $499.99.

If you have a few basic tools in your garage and want to give it a try, go to www.knockoffwood.com and search for a beginner plan. I promise it's a ton of fun to build something from a pile of wood!

Change in Plans

2010-07-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

We learned the hard way that Mondays aren't a good day to go to Alabama Adventure so we decided to spend the day swimming at Nana's house. The kids wanted me to take their picture as they jumped in the pool 1,057 times so while I thought I was going to sink a couple times, they still had fun, and I guess that's all that matters!

Olive Garden

2010-07-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

This summer I've been trying to do as many fun things with Austin as I can fit into the schedule since this is the first summer I've ever really gotten to spend with him not working 50-60 hours a week. So the other day, he & Madison (his friend that I keep during the summer) were chanting "Olive Garden" right after they finished breakfast so I obliged and took them. I was laughing on the inside because I was sitting there envisioning him on his first date, taking a cute little girl to the Olive Garden for dinner. That's the first place Damon and I went (I think) for dinner when we started dating. They played tic-tac-toe and fought over who got the croutons out of the bowl for the majority of the time. I have a feeling his first date will be very very different!

Lemonade Stand

2010-07-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we had the mother of all yard sales. Between the 4 contributors, we ended up selling close to $3,000! It was insane! In our efforts to keep the little ones busy, we set up a lemonade stand for them. Thanks to my new Cricut, we had some pretty cool signage for them! They ended up selling over $20.00 worth so they were super excited about that. Austin was flashing his dimples for tips. One lady gave him $3.00 for a glass of lemonade becasue she said he was too cute! That's my boy! I gave him Sales & Marketing 101 and he was working it!

Playing with the boys

2010-07-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

Austin wanted the McDonald boys to come over and play for a while the other day so I stopped at Dollar General and was planning to buy them a water sprinkler or something to keep them outside. Well, little did I know I left my wallet at home and all I had was $7.00 in my pocket. Luckily, I found them a sprinkler for $6.00. Crisis averted! We went home got it hooked up and they played for so long part of the yard turned to mud and THIS happened! Poor Noah, when I realized what they were doing, I had to run grab my camera and nobody wanted him to touch them. After a good hosing to get cleaned up, they were able to come inside and play for a while before they had to leave.

My birthday-week-o-fun!

2010-07-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

Well, my Week-O-Birthday Fun started out a little rocky. I had the greatest intentions Thursday to get things done so we would be ready for the weekend. So, Thursday morning I head out to Dollar General to pick up a few things. All is well as we pull out and then all hell breaks loose. You know the old saying, "I'll drive my car til the wheels fall off"? Well, I always say that and I finally did it. You see, even though my 4Runner has more miles than I think any car ever documented by man,

yes, that is 322,000 something, and this picture was taken some time ago. Now it has about 334,000, I still love my car. It's big enough but not too big. It's "worn" enough so I don't freak over the occasional spilled Happy Meal or the more common "wet butt" from Alabama Adventure. It's been a great car for me. Well, that was until Thursday when I was running errands. All of a sudden, my car takes a nose dive to the front passenger side and starts making this terrible screeching, scratching, grinding noise. Little did I know that was asphalt I was eating up!

As I get stopped, I let the person I was talking to go, call for help and I'm sitting there panicking and too scared to get out and look at the damages. Thankfully I had Austin in the back seat to give me the play by play. Our conversation goes something like this... "Mom, I can see our tire... right here... its flat on the ground... I'm serious... I'm not kidding!" I began to cry. I HATE car trouble more than anything else in the world. Thankfully Leslie came to my rescue in record timing. When I knew she was there to pick me off the ground when I saw the damages, I braved getting out to actually look and this is what I found...

Oh my goodness... I DID drive it until the wheel fell off. Let me just pause here to thank God that is didn't happen while we were on the interstate or traveling faster than 10 miles per hour or it could have been a really dangerous situation. I hate that it happened, but it could have been way worse so for that I'm thankful. Apparently the damages aren't as bad as they look and it's not going to be a huge deal getting it fixed.

Friday was a much better day! My dad, Kathy, Lindsey & Randi met us and Amanda, Alex and Kylie at Alabama Adventure. We had so much fun! We rode just about everything there. I guess you know you are having too much fun when you forget to take your camera most of the time. Everyone took turns taking pictures with my camera and this is about the best we got.

Randi

My little guy (This seems to be his favorite underwater pose these days!)

Alex

Lindsey & Kylie

Damon & I

After a loooooong, hot day, Austin decided to go to Amanda's to spend the night so Damon I double dated with the McDonalds. We went to a wonderful dinner at J. Alexanders. I had Rattlesnake Pasta and Damon had a New York Strip that was to die for! We had a great time! It's not very ofter, or ever actually, that we have been able to spend time with Jake & Leslie without kids. We enjoyed getting to spend time with them talking and laughing and having a great time.

The next morning, we got up to head to Amanda's house. She was having me a Bob the Builder party! LOL, not really, but that's what it felt like. My dad came here to build Alex and Kylie a swing set/fort/play thingy for her backyard, so we spent the day doing that. We got finished about 9:00that night and the kids loved it. So much that we will soon be constructing Austin a similar one at our house. I think we'll give Dad a little time to recoup from that one first though. Amanda grilled us a great lunch and then they surprised me with a yummy cake that all my sisters had made for me!

Bob the Builder Party

Someone call the fire department!

You have to have a priiiitty big cake to hold 30 candles!

Sunday, the 4th, we went to my mom's house to grill out and spend the day by the pool. It was a much needed day of relaxation from all the running we had been doing. I think if it weren't for me & my little family, mom would probably fill the pool in with dirt since we are the only ones who hardly ever use it. Thanks, Mom!

Cute little cupcakes

My guys

Austin & I

Then Austin had to do a few sparklers before we left for Thunder on the Mountain!

Then we headed to Thunder on the Mountain. It was cah-razy downtown! People everywhere! Damon finally found us a great lot in Downtown Homewood where we had a perfect view. While we waited, Damon told Austin why we celebrate the 4th of July. I'm so glad he did because I don't think I ever have and I want him to know how lucky we are to have the freedom, that isn't free, to do whatever we want. I hate when holidays get so commercialized that we forget why we are celebrating in the first place. We are so blessed to live in a free country and I think everyone should really remember that every now and then.

The Fam waiting for 9:00...

Damon & Austin still waiting...

So, my birthday is finally here! Damon asked what I wanted for my birthday and I told him I wanted the house magically cleaned! Well, that didn't happen but we did manage to get it cleaned during the day. We all three took a room or 2 and knocked it out in record timing. So, I guess in the end, I did get my wish... There had to be some kind of magic for Austin to be helping so much :)

Then we went to Hollyn's house for a party that Damon & Leslie had orchestrated for me. Leslie did so much to make sure that everything was perfect! Including not 1 but 2 Edgar's cakes!

The chocolate on chocolate was really good, and I don't even really like chocolate! It definitely got the cutest cake award!

And my favorite! You just can't beat a white on white Edgar's cake!

The kids had a ton of fun playing in the dirt and doing more sparklers

while the adults chatted about everything under the sun

and Monar even tried Pogo-ing with the kids

Damon & I

The hostess with the mostest & I

Thanks to Hollyn & Shawn for welcoming us in your home! And thanks to everyone who came and made my birthday party so special.

I'm so blessed to have so many special people in my life to help me celebrate my birthday! Thank you to everyone who did something special for me to make my birthday perfect!

So, what kind of loot did I come away with? All the best!

My mom got me a memory foam mattress topper. you know, I'm 30 now and with the backaches of being old and all it really helps :) It is wonderful!

Cash from my dad & grandmother!

Damon got me a Cricut Expression that I have been dying to have fo-eva!

A Visa gift card from Jane & Jim! So sweet of them!

A load of Bath & Body works stuff from Leslie & Hollyn

What respectable 30 year old doesn't need a good iron? Mine quit on me several YEARS ago and I just never bought another one, so now when I have that last minute "Oh crap, I can't wear this without it being ironed," I don't have to call someone and go elsewhere to iron!

A Target gift card! I never seem to have a problem spending money there!

And a shiny new (to me) car! No, not really... but hopefully it's coming this week!

Alabama Adventure with the family

2010-06-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

We went back to AA (Not the alcoholics place, I'm just too tired to type all that out, but now I just realized that I could have already typed all that out by now- ugh!) and the kids had a blast. Kylie has seemingly mastered the Granny Float. I remember as a kid Granny would float in the pool amongst dozens of grand kids chicken fighting and playing beauty shop and never move a muscle. Braden is fearless going down the slides head first. That kid is tough as nails. Kylie got to ride the log-ride this time. Apparently she wasn't 36" 2 weeks ago, but now she is, go figure! Alex and Austin rode the log ride with me so I didn't have to look like "that" girl, you know, the one you think is sorts kinda weird because she's riding rides alone? Nana left her keys in the restroom but luckily, some angel returned them to lost and found and didn't steal our ride home. Thank you to whoever you are!

Father's Day

2010-06-23T18:27:00.001-07:00

I can't even being to tell you how special my dad is to me. I love him more than life itself. Even though he's 300 miles away, I always know that I can call my dad anytime and just talk to him and I will usually feel better about whatever it is that's bothering me at the time. He always makes me feel like I can take on the world and it will be ok. He has confidence in me to do whatever I want to and even when I KNOW he thinks I've absolutely lost my mind, he still makes me feel like everything will be okay. I hate that we don't get to see him very often but that feeling when I get to give him a big ole hug when we are first together is the best. I hope that one day he lives close enough for us to spend a ton of time together, but in the mean time, Dad, I love you!

And Damon, the man who never wanted kids, and if the truth be known, didn't even like kids, he has become the best dad to Austin that I could have ever asked for. He loves him when we are having fun and he loves him even more when he's not so easy to deal with. Austin absolutely adores him and that's all that I need to know!

I have very strong convictions about how I feel about how I feel about parents and I have always felt like no matter the distance or circumstance, nobody would ever replace my mom or my dad. I could never call anyone else dad and could never feel like anyone ever replaced my dad. Not to say that I don't love my step-parents, because I do, its just not a replacement to me, it's an addition. So, this Father's Day, I struggled to not force anything on Austin and let him decide what he wanted to do to celebrate Father's Day. He told me he wanted to get Damon a new tackle box (Is this kid obsessed with fishing or what?) and make Damon breakfast in bed. When it came down to it, he was able to go spend time with his dad (Ahem, for the 1st time in 4 weeks) and when he came back home, he quickly told Damon "Happy Father's Day" and it made my heart smile. I'm so glad that Austin sees and recognizes Damon as a father figure in his life. I don't think Fatherhood is an obligation, it's a privilege and I'm so thankful that Damon chose to treat it that way too!

We went to my mom's house to cook out with her and Charlie and to spend the afternoon swimming. When we got home and Austin was able to write in his cards I had gotten for him to give, we gave them to Damon... all 4 of them. They all said something special and different and I just couldn't decide so I got them all. Austin decided that he needed to help him open them since he had so many.

Happy Father's Day!

Alabama Adventure with Austin's Buds

2010-06-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

Leslie & I braved going to the water park with 5 boys. Wow, talk about needing a nerve pill. It's hard enough keeping up with 1, try to keep up with 5! The kids had fun doing stunts for me to try to capture on my underwater camera. Most were unsuccessful but it was still fun trying! I can't believe that we got an underwater picture of all 5 of them in 1 frame on the very first try. God must have been looking over me then!

Mason's birthday party

2010-06-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

We are officially water-logged! We went to Logan-Martin Lake a few weeks ago for Mason's Birthday party. Austin swam and played on the water trampoline all day and then he got to ride on the wave runner with Stephen. He had a blast! He of course had a melt down after several hours when it was time to go. I on the other hand melted down hours prior since it was 400 degrees outside. Happy Birthday Mason! Thanks for inviting us!

Alabama Adventure

2010-06-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

We all got season passes to Alabama Adventure so we've been spending a ton of time there this summer. Austin loves going! We go every Wednesday with my mom and my sister and if it works out right, we go a day or 2 in between. I tell you what though, it's exhausting. After a day there, we are all pooped!

Fish Fry on the Lake

2010-06-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

Apparently, someone can catch fish on the lake because there were pan upon pan of fried fish covering a table! My mom's cousin has this fish fry every year and it is an event for sure. So many people having a great time. The kids went for a swim for a while, and you guessed it... Austin insisted on taking his rod and casting a few hundred lines and as you can imagine, he didn't catch a thing. My Uncle James came by boat and offered to take the kids for a ride. Austin, Alex and Kylie took turns driving and thought that was just the best thing ever. You seriously would have thought they were the Captain of the Titanic. It was about 9:00 when we decided to head home. Alex and Kylie were coming home with us and they were all 3 crashed out in the back seat within minutes. You know it's been a fun day when 3 kids are passed out in car within minutes.

My new toy

2010-06-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

I did research for Best Buy for 3 months and my compensation was a $400.00 gift card and a Tiffany bracelet. I couldn't care less about the bracelet but they gift card, ahhhh! Of course it was burning a hole in my wallet and I couldn't wait to buy a new toy for me. I was tossing around the idea of a video camera (Since I always have to borrow my moms for big events) and an underwater digital camera. I guess you can tell which one I went with. the good thing though is that the camera takes Hi-Def video too. Its so much fun. The kids have LOVED playing with it every chance that they get! If you didn't know, you look pretty funny underwater... especially with huge air bubbles coming out of your nose. there are about 80 frames from this night we were playing in the pool that will never see anything but the lonely folder they live in on my hard drive.

Fishing- Take Three

2010-06-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

Damon, Mr. I'm-not-giving-up-just-yet, decides that all the fish must be in this smaller sloo off the main water and there just so happens to be a paddle boat on the land. We soak it down with some 409 and they set sail. I in the mean time decide to go start dinner. Just a few short while later, I hear them coming back in. They apparently paddled all the way across the lake and Austin cast, got stuck, broke the line, insisted on using Damon's rod at that point and proceeded to get it stuck too! Talk about a waste of time and energy. They had fun though and I guess that's all that matters.

After dinner, we decide to give it another try and Austin is casting. We have given up on fishing at this point when Austin yells, I think I got something. He did! I reeled it in for him since I could totally foresee him letting the rod go and it sinking to the bottom of Smith Lake. He caught a 12.5" stripe. He was so excited and we were too! He finally caught something after 9,568,427 casts. That goes to show... Never give up! Damon asked Austin if he wanted to hold it and Austin says yes. Hold would be a relative term because he grasped it for about .000056 seconds before it fell to the pier. All was well though. We let him go and he survived!

Fishing- Take Two

2010-06-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

Day two we decide to give it another go. After casting 4,657,421 times, Damon caught the saddest little excuse for a brim I've ever seen. I've seen bait bigger than this thing! It was a victory no less. I was beginning to think that fish didn't exist in Smith Lake. Austin was so excited you would have thought he caught a 80 bass or something. He was happy so I'll take this one as a win!

Fishing- Take One

2010-06-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

They had everything ready and were finally ready to go. Unfortunately, thanks to Rude McJetSkier, the fish were probably so deep we couldn't have caught anything no matter what we did. This girl was seriously doing 360's (How do you spell the word that sounds like sloo?) right near our pier. Whatever... anyway... they cast about eleventy-billion times and didn't catch a thing. Frustrating much? Luckily, the only thing I cared about was that we were spending time together and not depending on those fish for survival.

Honeymoon- R&R, Fishing & More Fishing

2010-06-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

We woke up Sunday after our wedding night, go to relax and sit on the porch and I start to get ~~sad, no, upset, no emotional~~ to being a mom again, and I was missing my little guy. After a long discussion about should we or shouldn't we come back to Birmingham to get him, Damon decides that I'm not going to be content unless he's there with us. He had spent so much time with my mom the week leading up to the wedding because I was so busy I hadn't spent much time with him and when I did, it was running errands or rushing somewhere. I just felt like I needed him there with me to make our new family complete. So, we load up the car with as much stuff as we can, since it took us 5 car loads to get everything there, we knew it wasn't going to hurt to drop off a load while we were back home. We picked him up from Leslie after church and headed back to the lake. Damon had already gotten us fishing poles and bait (crickets- ewww!) and as soon as Austin walked in the door he was dying to go fishing. Yeah, we did a lot of that while we were there.

Our wedding

2010-06-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

Our wedding day was May 29, 2010. It was a ton of planning, preparation and organization to get ready since I was planning to do it all myself. Food, flowers, decorations, hair, make-up, set-up, cleanup, the whole shebang... I'm not sure what I was thinking when I thought I could do it all, but with the help of these lovelies

we were able to get it all done. We went to bed at around 4:30 on the day of the wedding and were back up and running and I use that term loosely to get everything ready. I can not thank them enough for all their hard work, even when I was whining about the chance of rain.

I rented this home on Smith Lake to host the event and it turned out perfectly.

The home has a great flat lot, that are hard to come by on Smith Lake. Any home that will accommodate at least 60 with plenty of space and parking is hard to come by!

Leslie did my hair and make-up exactly how I wanted. When she had to run to tend to other things, Kristy Williams took over and finished it up perfectly.

I think I was the most excited (other than to be marrying my best friend) about the candy buffet. I bought about 30 pounds of candy to fill an entire table. The kids and adults all loved it! We had chocolate covered strawberries and apples, M&M's, Jelly Bellies, Laffy Taffy and so much more all in our coordinating colors of pink and green.

I bought all of our flowers from Davis Wholesale. Not knowing what in the heck to buy or how much to buy, I recruited the wonderful Cindy Brown to come help me out. We ordered a ton of flowers including Stargazer Lilies, roses in pink and green, Gerbera Daisies, Spider Mums, Kermit Mums and a ton of other stuff that I have no idea their real names. It was insanely cheap... like $160 cheap. We later learned that florists don't charge a fortune for the flowers, it's their skill you are paying for. We started arranging flowers and making individual flowers at around 11:00 and by this point we were tired and just not feeling it. I started and got frustrated and couldn't make anything that didn't look like crap. Cue Hollyn Davis that missed her calling as a floral designer. She designed these beauties and I quickly began replicating her ideas.

We made 6 boutonnieres, 5 mothers bouquets, 5 table arrangements and a bridal bouquet. Want to talk about a mess? We had rose thorns, foliage and stems all over this poor living room!

I ordered our cake from A Piece of Cake in Alabaster.

It was white cake with a cream cheese filling and frosting. Damon picked it up for us and transported it to the lake on Friday for Leslie to assemble on Saturday. It was exactly what I had visioned when I placed the order and super yummy too! We added a simple P monogram to the top and it finished it off beautifully.

My handsome groom. Damon is the best thing that could have ever happened to Austin and I. We have been friends for years and after both of our situations changed, we gravitated to each other. As cheesy as it sounds, he really is my best friend, my right arm man right there beside me with everything I want to do.

Damon got Austin ready and went outside for his photos before the ceremony. We decided not to see each other before the ceremony so we had to dodge each other and get clearance before entering or exiting a room. Talk about hard to do in a home. Austin was looking out the window at him in this picture and I just love it.

I was so happy to see Austin in his suit ready to go. He looked so handsome and grown up. He came to me holding his shoes and asked if he was supposed to wear them. I say yes, get them on and he informs me that they are two different shoes. Yep, he was right. I had bought him a pair that were too small and then the replacement pair and apparently when I laid out everything for Damon to bring on Saturday, I laid out 2 different shoes. Thank God there were a left and a right. He toughed it out and wore them without complaining.

Austin ushered in my parents and grandparents and did a great job. I know he had to be hot in his suit, but he was so excited to be a special part I don't even think he noticed it was scorching hot!

It was time for me to walk and I don't know what came over me. I guess it was the first time that I had stopped in 3 days and my emotions got to me. I was so happy and excited I just had to let out a tear for a minute. Leslie told me I had to go right then so she stuffed my hand with tissue and I was out the door. As soon as I saw Austin waiting for me at the end of the stairs, all of our family and friends there with us and my best friend at the end of the isle, I was all better and pulled it together. Austin walked me down the isle and stood with us the entire ceremony. He was so good!

We had a beautiful service by Jake McDonald at the waters edge of the lake. His service was so special to us. He included my favorite scripture "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." Corinthians 13:4. We wrote our own vows that we decided to repeat after Jake, because I didn't think I could memorize that many lines. Actress, I am not! This is the text of them
"I take you to be my husband/wife, my best friend, and my partner. I will cherish you and love you more each day than the last. I will trust you and respect you. Laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully in times of joy and times of sorrow. Regardless of what lies in our future, I give you my hand and my heart and all I have to give, from this day forward as long as we both shall live.

After the ring ceremony, we had a sand ceremony. Damon, Austin and I each had a different color of sand that we poured together into a vase to symbolize the joining of our life together never to be separated and forever one.

You may kiss your bride.

Our new family. It was very important to me that Austin be included in everything we did (Even our honeymoon. More on that later!) He walked out with us and I love the picture of him holding my dress out of the grass.

We have so many great photos to remember our day. Everyone asked me how does a photographer choose a photographer. I didn't. I chose three. All of these photos are courtesy of Rachael Spencer, Kristy Williams and Ashley Hardin. I had the ~~task~~ pleasure of editing all 1500 pictures. I couldn't have asked for better. I am forever thankful to them for being there to capture all of the details of our wedding day.

The plunge. I still can't believe we did it. I had this idea to jump in the lake in our clothes after the ceremony. I was being encouraged by most and discouraged by a couple. I think my mom thought I was going to sink from the sheer weight of my gown and drown right then and there in front of God and everyone. The photographers went to the neighbors home to ask if they could use their pier to get a different angle on the photos and they brought down a houseful of people to witness. We had a crowd and couldn't turn back then. We got Austin's life jacket out because he really wanted to jump with us but he was so proud of his suit that he didn't want to get it wet and he decided not to jump. We got a running start and took the plunge. Ahhh, bliss. It was so hot that I don't think I have ever felt so refreshed. We got out, snapped a few more pictures then...

...rushed inside to change. Big props to Leslie and her makeup job. No smeared mascara at all. Just a touch up of powder and lip color and I was good to go again after a quick hair wash and dry. Well, almost. My undergarments that were needed for my cocktail dress didn't dry so quickly so I had to just go with it... or without them should I say? We did the traditional cutting of the cake and toasting.

Since we were staying at the lake for several more days, there really wasn't anywhere to go to be able to do the send off so everyone left when they were ready. After everyone had gone, we were both exhausted. We sat on the porch and talked about the days events and laughed about the funny things that had happened. I woke up the next morning to a note in the bed. Now that's a scary feeling. You wake up on the morning after your wedding to a note... and no husband in the bed. The note said "I've gone to fetch my wife breakfast and a few other things. Stay in bed and relax and I'll clean up the mess when I get back." So sweet.

I'll post more about the events of our honeymoon shortly.

I have to give more big thank you's here now.

Leslie, Hollyn, Casey and Shawn... You are life savers. I can never tell you how much I appreciate how much you did for us.

Rachael, Kristy and Ashley... Thank you so much for the wonderful photos. If anyone can appreciate having photos of something so special it's me and I'm so thankful to have had not only 1 but 3 great photographers to be there.

My mom and Mary... Thanks for delivering all the things we couldn't fit. You came to my rescue! Mom, the chicken salad was great too! Thank you!

My dad... Your pork tenderloin was perfect as always. Everyone loved it.. so much people were asking if there were more left-overs of it to take home!

And Damon... Thanks for tolerating my constant worry, planning, list-making, doubt of my abilities and frugaliciousness (a word we have coined in this house throughout this process). I love you.

Engagement Pictures

2010-06-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

Damon and I decided at the last minute... like very last minute to have engagement photos taken. We met the talented Lyndsey Cunningham on Morris Avenue for them. It is super hard for me to be on the other side of the camera. NOw I know why my clients are sometimes super awkward and grumpy. They could have had a hard time deciding what to wear or maybe their hair wasn't cooperating or maybe they got stuck by a train that couldn't decide if it was going to go forward or backward, not that I know anything about that or anything.

Thanks Lyndsey and Ale' for the great photos!

Program Video... Watch until the end!

2010-05-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

End of the year party!

2010-05-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

After the program, we came back to watch a DVD of their class, give awards and have snacks. Austin was so excited to get the reading centers award. He could stand a lesson or two on being humble. He jumped up and was doing a little "I'm so excited dance!"

After awards, we watched a DVD of their class and since it was a crowded house, Mrs. Ezell shared a seat with Austin. Damon and I giggled about him putting the moves o her since he's pretty quick to let you know he has a crush on Mrs. Ezell. I didn't take a picture of the before...but then it happened. He reached his arm back. I took a picture. Then he got a little closer. I was cracking up at this point. Snap again. Next thing I know he has his arm around her and he's rubbing on the tie to her dress. I swear it looked like Peter Brady going on a date for the first time. We all love Mrs. Ezell and are so glad that she chose to come to Hueytown. I couldn't have asked for a better kindy teacher.

Kindergarten Program

2010-05-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

This thing was all top secret. I knew they had been practicing songs for it and Austin would only sing me 3 of the 4. I kept asking about the secret song and even tried to trick him into singing it for me. I hate surprises when I know they are coming. He wouldn't budge. He told me he couldn't tell me but that I would cry, and I quote "tears of joy" when I heard it. Turns out, he was right! So, I get to the cafeteria and look at the program they handed out at the door first thing to see what the secret song was. It was "What a wonderful world." Austin and I sing that song all the time after he heard it on a movie. It was so sweet. They sang the first 3 songs and I held it together pretty good. Then the music comes on and they start signing the song... the whole entire song. I ~~tried really hard to blink through the tears~~ teared up about half way through. It was the sweetest thing. My baby is growing up. I can't believe he's starting 1st grade soon. Just a few months ago it seems (School years seemed to last eternities when I was in school and now it feels like it was just a few weeks ago!) he was starting school and barely knew his letters and their sounds and now he can read great, add, subtract and knows a whole world of stuff that amazes me everyday! I'm so proud of my little guy. He's the most awesome thing I've ever known!

The video is in the last post!

Summer Celebration at HES

2010-05-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

I went to the school this morning for their summer celebration before the K-5 program. They had snacks and inflatables and games set up for each grade. Austin was being a monkey in the bouncy thing, thus the weird photo. It's all I could get trying to keep my lens through the hole in the net. We shared a sno-cone and then they headed back to the class to prepare for the program at 1:00.

We survived another ball season!

2010-05-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

We had a rough start this year but managed to pull out a couple wins. We had a makeup game against the 1st place Red Sox and ~~never in a million years expected to beat~~ hoped to get past the 3rd inning. the boys came out looking like champs and somehow managed to win. They were visitors and down by 1 in the 5th inning, 2 outs and 2 strikes. The kid hits the ball to Austin on the 3rd pitch and the kid at 2nd (who didn't have to run) ran anyway and Austin tagged him out. WE WON! It was incredible. I don't think I have ever gotten so excited over a ball game in my life. Austin n was over the moon excited!

Austin was nominated for all-stars, but we have decided not to play. We were going to miss out on so many fun summer things that he didn't want to miss out on. I couldn't decide what was best, so I gave him the pros and cons of both and he said he didn't want to play. I was so stressed about the decision but I feel good about it now. I can't wait to spend time with our family and friends this summer and have a ton of fun!

Ball game + All-Star Nomination

2010-05-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

I don't think we are going to know what we will do with our time once ball season is over. We have our last game tomorrow night at 6:00 and we are playing one of the best teams. It's bittersweet. We've had a pretty rocky year having a first time coach but Austin has had a ton of fun and we've made some great new friends.

I was told last night that he's being nominated for the All-Star draft if I agree to it. I would love for him to play, but it's very expensive and a huge commitment. Austin is a good little ball player, don't get me wrong, but there is some incredible talent at GDHY. I was told that they will have practice 6 days a week for several weeks on top of traveling to games for several weeks. Is it terrible of me to not want him to play? I think it would be a great learning experience for him but he's been playing so hard and now its finally time that we can enjoy our summer and I feel like we'd be committing another month to non-stop baseball. I don't know... Even if I sign the permission form, he's not guaranteed to make the draft, but if he does, we are committed to it. I don't know what to do. I have to let them know by tomorrow night so we will see!

HES night at Sonic

2010-05-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday night, the HES teachers were working at Sonic for tips. Austin's teacher was working from 5-6 and he started asking me from the second I picked him up if we could go. He just didn't understand that it was 2 hours from the time I picked him up that she would be there. We had a ball game that night so we got there right at 5:00 to still make the game on time. We ate our dinner on the picnic tables and Austin thought it was the coolest thing that she & Mrs. Simpson were working there and brought us our food. I'm so glad that HEs has great teachers that are willing to go above and beyond to help their school!

Mother's Day at Alabama Adventure

2010-05-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

I wanted us to go to Alabama Adventure for Mother's Day. Between work and baseball, we spend so much time running around, on the phone and at the computer and all I wanted to do was spend some fun time with my boys. We woke up thinking it might be too cool outside but we went anyway. The Williams family went with us and Austin had so much fun having Ty to ride things with him. We got there around noon and it was almost empty. The kids got to ride rides several times without ever getting off! We spent the first few hours riding the rides and the boys loved it. Stephen and Damon rode Zoomerang and after they got off, I decided I wanted to ride, even though I had a dress on so Stephen rode with me again. That thing is crazy fun! If you notice the random oriental man in my pictures, he was crazy! He was on the Hurricane when Damon and Austin rode and they stopped the ride to let him off. Keep in mind that the Hurricane is what we called the Himalaya... so not a ride that would scare you off... So he followed us to the mini cars and rode those. I mean seriously! A grown man riding a kiddie ride all by himself. It's not like he had a child to ride with. He chose of his own free will to get on this little ride. It just made me laugh. Anyway, we finished up the rides and luckily it had warmed up enough for the kids to go to the water park. They played a couple hours while we relaxed in a lounge chair. We had a great day. I got some much needed sunshine and relaxed a whole bunch. We can't wait to spend a ton of time this summer at Alabama Adventure! We had such a great day. I'm a very lucky mom!

Issie's Birthday Party

2010-05-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

We had a full day planned for Saturday. We had Issie's party at 10, a ball game at 1 and dinner with my family at 4. Issie's party was our first stop. We really enjoyed the party. The kids played in their yard until it was time for cake and present opening. Austin was super glad Issie isn't into opening presents yet because he got to help. I got to meet some of Damon's family that I hadn't met before so that was nice. We had to leave a bit early to make his game on time but it was still great! If you are reading this Sam, you hosted a great party! The only thing my crazy sister and probably would have done differently would have been to have a costume clad oversized bumble bee come entertain. Totally kidding.... maybe!

Josie's Place Field Trip

2010-05-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

Friday I went with Austin's school to Josie's Place. The weather was so great to be outside. The kids learned about life in the old days. They went into an old schoolhouse, learned how to wash clothes on a washboard, they fed animals and even went on a hay ride. Then we had a picnic before the kids loaded up to head back to school. The kids had so much fun. We have had some really great field trips this year! Austin has had the best kindergarten experience ever. I hope he loves first grade just as much!

So close...

2010-05-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

We were so close to a win Monday against the Giants. They boys played great, but it just wasn't enough. There is some amazing talent in the GHDY Rookie league. Austin has no idea their record is 2-12 or something incredibly sad like that. He's having fun and hopefully learning something along the way. We only have 2 weeks to go and it's sad to say, but I'll be glad when this season is over. It's definitely been a struggle!

Damon's Surprise Party

2010-05-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well it was a surprise right up until he saw me cleaning the bathroom floor on my hands and knees. He knew something was up and someone was coming over. He just didn't know exactly who. When we got home from our game today, we had a house full. My mom & Charlie, my sister & the girls, Damon's sister and her family, my brother and Melly and her family were here. We had a great BBQ dinner and cake and ice cream with our family. I'm so glad everyone was able to make it. Monar-- sorry you missed it! Now I guess I'm nexted. I'll be 30 soon and I'm sure Damon will have a surprise or two up his sleeve.

Game Ball.... Finally

2010-05-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

Austin always has high hopes that he's going to get the game ball and today, he finally did! He played so well. He got 2 great hits and really defensively played smart. Amanda and the girls came to watch him play today too. Miss Kylie was wearing a fluffy pink leopard print skirt and sooooooo wanted to get on the field and play with the boys. She told me she wanted to come in there. I was working the dug out so I thought that she meant in the dugout with me. Once I picked her up over the fence, she said "No, in dere!" She wanted out on the field. I bet she could hang with the boys. She's pretty tough like me! :)

Popcorn & Movie Night

2010-04-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

I promised Austin we could have popcorn and a movie in bed on a school night if he got all his bubble gum words finished this week. What are bubble gum words you might ask? He has a 11 lists of words that he needed to know going into kindergarten. He got lists 1-9 done pretty quickly but we got lazy on 10 and 11. We have ball so much that I didn't make him practice them like I should have and it was taking longer than it needed to. So, this weekend, I made him practice those two lists with me 57 times until he knew them frontwards and backwards. He still kept getting confused on a few words every now and then. I told him that if he could test on them Monday and get them both correctly that we would have popcorn and a movie in bed last night and he did it! I was so proud of him. He also got his DIBELS scores yesterday. He made benchmark on all 3 categories and scored like 70 something on 2 categories that had a benchmark of like 25-30. I'm so proud of him. He's so smart and funny and sweet! We love you little man!

Mrs. Ezell came to watch Austin play

2010-04-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Austin was so excited that his teacher came to watch him play ball Friday night. The boys played great! I think they were trying to impress her! I hope Austin loves his first grade teacher as much as he loves her. She's going to be pretty hard to beat!

Farmer/Cowboy Day at school

2010-04-16T06:56:00.000-07:00

Children's author, Rhonda Friend is coming to Hueytown Elementary today to read the students one of her books so the kids got to dress up like cowboys, farmers or farm animals. My last minute idea was to get Austin a white T and pants and sharpie them to look like a cow. Don't laugh! That's all I could come up with last minute! I called Leslie to the rescue because her boys have been cowboys since way back when and I knew she could rescue Austin from the laughs. She assembled (and ironed!) this adorable get-up for me at 9:00 last night. Austin jumped up out of bed this morning (which never happens!) and quickly transformed into a cowboy! He wanted to ride his stick horse into school but I had to draw the line somewhere! He's just the cutest little thing I have ever seen!

McWane Center Field Trip

2010-04-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

I went to the McWane Center on the kindergarten field trip on Wednesday. Oh my, there are a lot of kindergarteners at that school not to mention there were 57 other schools in the Birmingham metro area there that day too! We had a great time. Austin petted a Chinchilla, a bearded dragon and a turtle but was too scared to put his hands in the Ray & Shark Touch Tank. Can't really say I blame him! Austin loved the water toys the most I think! I'm so blessed and thankful that I get to be able to go on all his field trips and school events with him!

No School Today

2010-04-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

I'm really not 100% sure why. I knew they were going to be out soon, but I forgot it was this week, so at 9:30 last night we realize that there is no school today. When we got up and going, we called to see if Ty could come over and play and he was so excited to. They played inside a while then decided they wanted to brave the coooooold sprinkler. They played outside for so long their fingers were shriveled like old man hands! Damon saved the day and brought us lunch and we have a makeshift picnic outside. We are loving this Spring weather and being outside so much!

Braves Win. Dinner with the Team. Barons Game.

2010-04-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had a game against the Pirates. We played a great game and it came down to the bottom of the 5th, score is tied 9-9, a runner on 3rd and Austin is at bat. He had 2 strike outs prior to this and I was a nervous wreck! Seriously, my blood pressure had to be 200/180. So, he gets 2 strikes on him and I had to turn my head... EEEEEK! He ended up hitting a line drive to the left field and the runner scored for the braves to win 10-9! YAY! After the game we had plans to go to dinner with the team and then to the Barons game. We had a great time.

Easter Bunny Treats

2010-04-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

When we got home from Granny's house, Austin finally got to see what the Easter Bunny brought him. He went through all his things (DSi game, Scooby Doo Movie, A Bearenstein Bears book, some addition and subtraction flash cards, a motorcycle, 2 matchbox cars, Rummy cards among a bunch of other junk) and then he started opening up his eggs to find his biggest prize... Alabama Adventure Season Passes for all of us! When I explained to him that we could go to Alabama Adventure as many times as we wanted, he fell over on the couch like he was fainting. Such a dramatic little guy he is! We can't wait to spend the summer there with our family and friends!

Easter Sunday

2010-04-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

Austin spent the night at Granny's house with Paw-Paw last night and we met him this morning for church. We went to church with Granny and had a great musical service this morning. God is good! He is risen! After church, I quickly took off my completely uncomfortable heels and we had a great lunch with the fam. Paw Paw put money in several eggs and Lindsey and I hid them, all 95 of them, for the kids. Austin found $16.00 worth. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon rocking on the porch just enjoying every ones company. We came home about 6:00 and took a short nap after Austin found his Easter basket because we were all beat!

Easter weekend Baseball Game

2010-04-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Austin had a huge cheering section for his game Saturday. Amanda, Kylie and Alex, PawPaw, Lindsey & Randi, and Melissa and Mia came to cheer him on with us! The Braves played a great game but ending up loosing it in the end 15-5. Austin played good. He got a few good hits this game too. Thanks everyone for coming out to cheer him on!

Egg Hunt at school

2010-04-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today the kids were able to have an egg hunt by the flagpole at school. All the kids had so much fun running around like crazy trying to get the most eggs. After they had collected all the eggs, they took them back inside and did a math lesson adding and subtracting eggs. I brought Easter cupcakes for all the kids but Mrs. Ezell decided that it was too close to lunch to have them so they got to have them as dessert. I will say after spending so much time with his class this week, that whatever teachers get paid... it isn't nearly enough. For the love, I'd have to become a wine-o and live in a bubble bath to deal with that 40 hours a week.

Easter with Nana

2010-04-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

Since we always spend Easter with my dad & stepmom's family, we celebrated Easter with my moms family last night at Amanda's house. We hid eggs with the kids and they had a ton of fun with that as usual.

Field Trip to Botanical Gardens

2010-04-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

We went to the Botanical Gardens on Thursday with the kindergarten classes. It was fun! I found a new spot to take portraits too so that was great! The "detectives" went looking for different kinds of bark and animal houses then came back to do a leaf shading and a nature walk. We met the other classes by the pond to have a picnic lunch and then the kids headed back to school. I got some much needed sun while we were there too!

The Transplant

2010-03-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon, we decided it was time to transplant our seedlings into pots to take them outside. We got them all in and I'm praying that they survive. I'm so sad that some of our squash broke at the top and I'm not sure if they will survive. Out of all the stuff we planted, squash was the only thing I really eat but we'll see!

Our first Game 12-2

2010-03-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

We played our first game on Saturday and had an upsetting loss to the Red Socks. Austin struck out his first time to bat, then got 2 singles. We played a really good team! I am hoping we do better and improve as a team and come out with a few wins this year.

Thanks to Mom & Charlie & Melissa and Mia for coming out to support Austin! I know he loves having a cheering section.

Opening Day

2010-03-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

After a long night getting our float ready, the kids were so excited for it to finally be time to ride in the parade! Damon and I were able to ride and enjoy it with him. The kids were being little stinkers trying to hit people with the candy. We didn't win the float prize but a great team did. We are so proud of our little Braves. We had opening day right after the parade and Austin and Ty both won door prizes, so that was excited for them. We just got up from a nap and are getting ready for our first game. It's against one of the best teams so I'm not expecting much but I hope the boys have fun and learn something from it. be ready to only see ball on the blog for the next 2 months since that seems that is all we do these days! :)

Austin's first sleepover

2010-03-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Austin has never had a friend stay the night with us before (Other than cousins) so when he asked if Ty could spend the night, I told him yes! We were all here working on our parade float on Friday night and the kids, all 11,000 of them it seemed, were inside running WILD. Our house looks like Hurricane Braves came through. After everyone left Austin and Ty were still wired for sound. They were just so excited. After a few tearful goodbyes to his parents, we finally got settled down and the two little monkeys fell asleep watching Scooby Doo. They were so cute this morning sleeping so peacefully and quiet-- not something you see from these two very often! We got up and got dressed in a hurry to grab some breakfast before the parade started. They were so sad to have to separate this afternoon but I'm sure this will be the first of many sleepovers for these too!

Our trip to Oak Mountian

2010-03-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

Since the weather was so pretty, we decided to go to Oak Mountain on our last day of Spring Break. We all had a ton of fun. We had a buffet style picnic, played at the petting zoo, Alex learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, Austin attempted riding without training wheels and we played a whole lot of ball! We left there at 5:30 and had practice from 7-9 so I'm far too tired to upload my pictures right now, but I had to share this little preview of Kylie's Oscar winning performance in her movie called "Donkey Run." She was fearless going up to all the animals in the petting zoo, running up to them, petting them, pulling their horns and all. She approached this donkey standing out by himself, petted him turned away, petted him again, called him a cow, and he apparently didn't like that too well and he let out a "huff" and it scared her to death. She took of like a firecracker! I always thought Kylie would be a star of a Hollywood comedy but as it turns out, she'd make a really good action/adventure suspense actress too!

Jump Rope for Heart

2010-03-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

Testing our my video uploading skills! Don't ask where Austin got his mad dancing skills. He didn't learn those moves from me!

Our seeds are growing!

2010-03-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have ever seen Austin so excited about anything in my life! He runs in the kitchen to inspect them every few minutes and insists that they have grown. I hope that they continue to grow and we can actually plant them outdoors after Easter. We have 1 tray of veggies and herbs and 1 tray of flowers and the flowers are winning the race by landslide. The veggies hardly have any visible growth at all. I hope that's normal. He isn't giving up hope.

Pump it Up

2010-03-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to Pump it Up yesterday. Since this is Spring Break, you would think the weather would cooperate a little and be a little more "Spring" like, but not so much. I don't think the kids cared though. They had a ton of fun. Austin left there with soaking wet hair from sweating so much. It was so cute and kind of gross at the same time. Since the weather is supposed to be better tomorrow I think we are going to take them to "Old Mountain" as they like to call it to go play and hike and whatever else we find to get into there.

Becoming farmers

2010-03-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

Austin must have learned about healthy foods at school because he came home on a kick to grow carrots. When we got to the garden center, something completely different happened. We bought 20 something different kinds of seeds and some little makeshift greenhouses. We've had them for a week or so and just had the time to plant them today. I'm so impatient that I'm already looking at them thinking something is going to have spouted. Not so much. Mot of them say 10-14 days but I'm hoping for sooner. I'm such an instant gratification girl. Anyway, we planted 72 pods of herbs and veggies and 72 pods of Spring flowers. I hope that they, at least some of them, make it to the transplant! We planted carrots, peas, jalapenos, onions, watermelons, cucumber, basil, thyme, dill and cilantro. We also grew several kinds of zinnias, cosmos, snapdragons and several other things I can't pronouce or spell. I hope in 60 days I have a photo of a beautiful flower arrangement fresh out of the garden.

Wanna win $100.00

2010-03-09T13:57:00.001-08:00

Head on over to one of the blogs I read and leave a comment for a chance to win 100 smackeroos! If you've never checked it out, look at Suz' family blog too! I cannot imagine the life of a mom & dad with quads!

http://reviewsbysuz.blogspot.com/2010/02/kiss-those-stains-good-bye.html

For all my couponing buddies...

2010-02-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

I found a link today to get free samples of a ton of everyday products! This my be old news but its new to me. Here is the link. http://instoresnow.walmart.com/In-Stores-Now-Free-Samples-And-Tools.aspx Make sure you do the tide sample because it will take you to a link the P&G for even more free samples!

More from Tannehill

2010-02-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

Picasa gets on my nerves. It will only post 4 collages and I just realized it left this one off. Did you notice the cute picture of me? HA! The picture of me making the goofy face is what I do when Austin starts thinking he's going to take my paparazzi gig. He took about 10 pictures of me and I finally had to resort to goofy faces to make him stop! He did pretty good though. He took the picture of Damon and I. I asked him if he could see all of us and he said yes... I guess technically he could see all of our faces! I kinda like the negative space in the picture though. Maybe he's a little budding photographer. He seems to have composition and focus down!

Tannehill Fun

2010-02-22T07:26:00.000-08:00

I think we have some big time Spring fever going on here. The gorgeous weather this weekend was a little teaser of whats to come and I can't wait! We decided to head out to Tannehill this weekend to soak up some of the sun. We drove up to the little chapel on top of the hill and walked around a bit when we found several really old headstones of people who were buried there. The oldest one, the guy was born in the 1700's... like before the Revolutionary War... before the USA was the USA. That's insane! Then we went down to the Grist Mill and practiced skipping rocks. It's no surprise to me that Damon can do it and I can't. Anyway, after that we went to the Sweet Shop to get a drink, and oh my heavens, they have som good lookin' stuff in there. I actually came home and made cake balls to see if I could replicate what they were selling, and I did! We walked all over the place and then ended up in a field playing baseball. It was so much fun just to hang out and relax. I don't do that nearly enough. A family of 4 could go for under $10.00. take a picnic lunch and as cheesy as it sounds, go enjoy your family for a day without phones, work, computers, etc.

Snow Day!

2010-02-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

First, I must say, I am giving myself a pat on the back for having posted pictures of an event in less than 24 hours. I'll wait while you congratulate me too! Ok, so I am so thankful that we finally got a decent snow. Austin and I both were going to need therapy if the snow was predicted one more time only to get 7 flurries. We decided to stay at my moms because she has a 4WD in case it got ugly and she stockpiles enough food to feed the army for at least a few years. Seemed pretty safe to me! We played in the snow until my fingertips were completely numb. After we warmed up a bit, Damon finally was able to leave work and come help us build our snowman. After we got done with that, I was trying to play snowman chiropractor and straighten him up a bit and I busted his head in half so we have to give him a little nip tuck and fix him back. I think after a couple hours we had enough and went in to warm up by the fire my mom built for us. Gotta love a wood burning fireplace in the winter! Once all the kids were situated, my mom and Damon taught me how to play Texas Hold'em and I apparently caught on pretty quickly, or I bluff really well. I won all their chips 3 times! We had a great day, and don't get me wrong, I definitely love the snow, but I can totally see why people who live in the North are sick of it!

Another recent project

2010-02-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

I found the most awesome blog ever! The blog is www.knockoffwood.blogspot.com. The blog owner, Ana, creates the plans for furniture "knocked off" by Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Land of Nod, etc. and gives you step by step instructions, down to the cut list you need, to make these pieces. I will say I am fairly crafty, but I have NEVER made anything like this in my life. Other than cutting a few baseboards and hardwood floors, I had never used a compound miter saw before. I did have Lowe's (my most favorite retail store!) do the big cuts for me, only because I didn't have a table saw to work with at the time. I brought that home, started my smaller cuts on the miter saw. I goofed a few cuts. Don't laugh! I told you I wasn't so sure of it. Luckily, Damon got home from work and came to my rescue. I totally could have done it myself but I was just frustrated with myself. You really shouldn't try to read a tape measure upside down-- Not that I know from expirience or anything :) Anyway, we probably had this thing together and stained (Antique Walnut) in 3 hours. If you are interested, this is the Pottery Barn Cameron Book case knock off. If you need some extra storage, try it! And definately check out her site. It RAWKS!

Project Kitchen | The Reveal

2010-02-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

Doesn't it look fab? I still have a ton of small projects to finish it up but its perfect to me. Leaps and bounds better than before. I love the new pulls. I think I am going to use the same drawer pulls on the cabinets as well. The base molding isn't complete yet, but that is just a small detail. We have a new black fridge downstairs (Thanks Dad!) that will match the other appliances. I may still try to attempt to use the appliance paint on the stove top. That scares me just a little bit though. We took down ALL the scrolly crap the people had up before and that made a huge difference. The overhang of those things really divided the room and made it feel smaller and more closed in. I will try to remember to take a picture after dinner of the wide angle just so you can see a side by side comparision. Now, I'm going to relax for at least a month to recoup from this project. I have literally worked the skin off my fingers.

I have to give a HUGE thank you to my mom and Damon. They worked just as hard (or harder) than I did, listened to me whine and complain an still kept on working to get this done. So, thanks a ton! I love my new kitchen!

Project Kitchen | Countertop Makeover

2010-02-04T15:58:00.000-08:00

I would love to have stained concrete or granite or Corian or insert any other high end counter top finish but it just wasn't in the budget. So, I was browsing my favorite retail store, Lowe's, when I see that Rustoleum makes a counter top paint just for ugly outdated laminate counters. Sold. It was only $20.00 so we figured we might as well give it a shot. I mean, whats the worse that could happen right? We could have ugly yellow counters or worse case, we could have ugly counters that actually matched the space. So, after watching a You Tube video or 200, we go for it. The directions are simple. Ventilate your area-- Yeah, don't skip this part. This paint is oil based and has some wicked fumes. Tape off the areas you don't want to paint. Sand down the surface lightly to remove any stuff that isn't supposed to be there, like tons of wall paint because I'm the worst painter in the world. Clean them with a damp lint free cloth then roll it on with a foam roller. Flat parts first, then vertical surfaces. I let my brush get too dry and it pulled the foam off onto the surface. I was kicking myself that I screwed it up. So, we let it dry a bit and I sanded the rough spots off and put a new coat on top. It totally fixed the problem. They look great! Pictures in the reveal coming up next. Ok, I feel like Ryan Seacrest teasing you about the reveal.

Project Kitchen | Flooring

2010-02-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

We knew all along that the floor was going to be an issue. The kitchen isn't part of the original house so it has a bit of a slope to it causing the floors not to be level. So, after some research, I found that that sell self-leveling cement that you can use to fix this type of problem. Lo and behold... it works. So, we leveled the floor to get it ready for the tilers. Oh, that's us too! We laid the tile, grouted it and got it looking good. I can see the light. Stay tuned for the reveal.

Project Kitchen | When things go bad

2010-02-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I called my ever so handy mom for help. She came to the rescue, or so I thought. She came to help us get the light hung and thirty minutes later, I didn't have a ceiling. OMG, heart palpitations. I was about to cry... no I take that back, I did cry. So she tells me that we have electrical issues that need to be addressed stat and the drywall in the ceiling had to come down. I thought we had done so good and the next thing I know I have way more of a mess than I started with, have no idea how much this is going to cost to fix and I have a timeline of 16 days because I had a Pampered Chef party scheduled on the 18th. So within a day, we hardly had any ceiling or walls intact. We were working day and night to get this fixed. Mom rewired all the lights and outlets in 2 days. Cue the drywall installers. Oh yeah, that would be us too. My mom and I somehow gathered Hercules kind of strength and got the drywall back up on the ceiling. That stuff is no joke. Heavy as all get out! We finally get it up and then comes the fun part. Mudding drywall screw holes-- not a problem at all. Mudding seams over 50 year old rafters that are uneven-- not so much. It was a huge pain in the rear! But, I will say that Damon and I did almost all of the mudding ourselves and I'm quite proud of us. There is only 1 place that you can even see the joints. Things are starting to look up from here.

Project Kitchen | Progress

2010-02-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

What's my solution? A fresh coat of paint, some new hardware and a new light fixture. We decided to paint the cabinets a Glossy Ultra White, replace the hardware with Satin Nickel hinges and pulls and install a flush mount track light with 4 bulbs. We Damon and I painted our tails off for 2 days. We labeled the cabinets, took them off, filled the previous pull holes with wood filler, cleaned, sanded, cleaned, sanded and cleaned again. We finally started painting. We painted the ceiling, the walls (Wicker Basket by Valspar) and the cabinets Ultra White. After we took back the wrong hinges we bought and got the right ones, the cabinets were finally ready to be re-hung. Things were looking good. So, we pulled the power to the house and were about ready to install the new light fixture. I tried until my arms were dead and I couldn't get the mounting plate to work. Damon did the same thing and we still couldn't get it to work. So what do I do when I can't make something work? Call 1-800-CALL-MAMA! What happens next... stay tuned.

Project Kitchen | The Before

2010-02-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, why do I feel like I am standing here naked? I guess because this is so horrible! My kitchen was completely brown almost. And while the counter tops were a lovely shade of yellow from 1957, at least they broke up the sea of poop brown. Let's see... why did this kitchen not work? There was no lighting hardly at all. One single light fixture that held one 60 watt bulb was it. That just won't cut it. Then there is the terrible color. Doesn't really inspire you to make a creative dish for dinner does it? As much as I could clean this space, it still looked dirty... just because it was dark and brown. Then we have the cabinet pulls. I can see using pulls on cabinets, sure. But why in the Sam Heck would you put them in the center of the cabinet doors? And the flooring? Well I bought ceramic tile moons ago but the floor wasn't level so we were stuck in a place where we had pulled up the existing floor (that was yucky brown too!) and were stuck with the hardwood sub floor-- FOR A YEAR! Yuck! There was wasted space above the pantry that was just boxed in for no good reason too. I could go on and on why this kitchen was so yuck but I think the pictures speak for themselves. I'll just give you a minute to come back from puking... Ok, sorry about that. See the progress in the nest post.

So, whats my excuse for not bloggin for 2 months?

2010-02-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well... what had happened was! LOL I just love saying that. But really, it all started with a dream. I wanted a new kitchen. A kitchen that resembles something that my idol Candice Olsen would create. I can close my eyes and see it. Buuuuut, the reality of the situation was that I didn't have $50,000 or even $10,000 to invest. So, what do I do? Decide that while I can't have a Candice Olsen kitchen, I can however do a few things with my realistic budget to make it better. So, stay tuned for the progression...

The Circus

2010-02-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

We decided last minute to go to the circus this year. I'm so glad we did. I love the circus. Ok, so when did they start putting 5 motorcycles in the cage? My heart was stopped. I'm sure they can do it blindfolded, but thats just a little too much for a mama to watch. We really enjoyed our day out. We have been going non-stop for months now so it was nice to have a day just having fun and spending time together!

Austin's inpromptu 6 year session

2010-02-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

As soon as we get a pretty day, I have a great idea for his 6 year old portraits but until then, these will have to do. I had a friend coming over for me to take some photos of her daughter and I was testing my settings and lighting on Austin. Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

All the kidlets at the party

2010-02-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

Captain Jack was such a trooper!

The fam after the party

2010-02-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

Captain Jack workin overtime!

2010-02-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

More Party Pics

2010-02-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

Captain Jack Sparrow Entertains

2010-02-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

Austin had no idea I had hired a pirate to come entertain at his party. Everyone got here and started eating and in walks Captain Jack Sparrow... He can be found, along with a ton of other characters at www.haveball.com. He was great but not nearly as cute as Johnny Depp. I don't think Austin knew what to think. He made balloon animals and swords for the kids & parents too! He painted faces and gave them tattoos too! He was a hit. I figured some of the kids might be a little bit scared of him but everyone just loved him! Thanks to everyone that helped me get the party ready! Thanks for all the great gifts too!

Austin's Cupcake Cake

2010-02-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

I saw this idea on a blog I frequent (www.imperfectlybeautifulms.blogspot.com) and thought it was too cute! With Amanda's help, ok so she assembled most of it, we wrapped up boxes (A 19" Flat panel TV box, 2 board games and a Chia pet box) and stacked them up. Wrapped them with ribbon and bring on the cupcakes. We bought 5 dozen and it took a ton of them! We topped it off with another little project Amanda and I worked on one day and a pirate hat and I think it turned out super cute! Don't you?

01.26.10 Austin is 6

2010-02-04T14:17:00.000-08:00

Austin woke up on his 6th birthday and said "Mama, I feel like an old man!" Spare me! He's so silly! I sent cupcakes to school for him on his birthday. It was actually the 100th day of school too so the kids got to have fun all day! He asked me to check him out so I did around lunch time and took him to one of his favorite places to eat. Habaneros! Damon surprised him and met us for lunch too! We had a great lunch and came home and hung out until it was time to go party some more. We met my mom and Amanda and the girls at Jim N' Nicks (Austin's other favorite place, he loves Cheese Biscuits!) for dinner. We tried so hard to make it to Edgar's to get a cake but they closed too early and we had to settle for a cake from Publix. Turns out it was frozen on the inside but that was ok too! Austin shared his cake with the cute little server he crushes on every time we go there. After that, we went to Walmart with my mom so she could get him a new DSi game. I think he picked another Mario game... I'm not really sure. We snuggled in bed after a long day of partying and I told him about the day he was born. It was really sweet! Happy Birthday buddy!

Monster Jam 2010

2010-02-04T14:16:00.000-08:00

Damon got us awesome tickets to Monster Jam. We were on the 5th row. Austin didn't know that on the way so he packed his binoculars he got for Christmas. He looked so silly. We bought a $10.00 sno-cone (Talk about highway robbery!) and then bought a $10.00 bag of cotton candy with a goofy Grave Digger hat on the top. Well, it turns out that Austin dropped a piece of ice from his sno-cone in the cotton candy and it turned that spot to a crunchy sugary mess so he didn't want to eat it anymore. Oh well... Anyway, Monster Jam is always a favorite of ours. Damon hadn't been in 15 years or so, so I'm glad he got to finally see why we love it so much.

Snow Day

2010-02-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

Right after the kids went back to school from Christmas break, they got a snow day! There were like 7 flurries in Alabama but they still let them out. I'm sure every grocery store was out of milk and bread too, but I digress. Anyway, we bundled up every time it would start falling for a minute and go outside. Austin was trying to catch a snowflake on his tongue. I'm not really sure where he got that from. It was fun though. We got to hang out for a day just havin' some fun!

Merry Christmas... Cue 911

2010-02-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

Austin was so funny. He can be a bit of a drama king sometimes, ok, mostly all the time. He walked into the den and saw his stuff and fell out in the floor. He said he "vainted" from all the stuff. Yes, that would be the picture where his feet are sticking up in the air. He's so dang silly! Anyway, I think it was sensory overload. He was just in awe of all his surprises. We got him a hamster from us. Austin quickly named him Runny. I quickly named him "If you try to bite my finger again you are going back to the pet store."

Santa has landed!!!

2010-02-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

It didn't take us long to set Santa's stuff out this year. Can you hear the sarcasm? By the time we got it all down from the attic, set out, arranged, rearranged, rearranged again, and again and again, it was about 2:00 before we went to bed I think.

Christmas Eve Continued...

2010-02-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

We left cookies and egg nog for Santa too. Can I just say that I love egg nog and they really should consider selling it all year long? Then we decided to try to get a family picture in our jammies... Insert gagging smiley here! I had to set up boxes on top of the coffee table, set the timer and run back and forth no less than 457 times to get a picture where either Austin wasn't being a doofus or the dog wasn't half way in half way out or the picture being completely OOF (That's out of focus for all the non-geek-photographers out there!) We finally got it, well as close as it was coming before I gave up. Then we read "Twas the night before Christmas" and Austin sacked out. Cue the OCD everything has to be arranged perfectly under the tree psycho mom.

Christmas Eve

2010-02-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

We found the recipe for Reindeer Food online so Austin had to make some for Rudolph. It was 1 cup of oatmeal (We substituted with Honey Bunches of Oats because it turns out we were out of oatmeal. The reindeer ate it anyway!), 2 tablespoons of sugar and a couple dashes of red sprinkles. We left them a few carrots too just in case they were dieting. We left the plate outside and Christmas morning, they had made a HUGE mess. Turns out, ants like this sugary concoction too because we have a few of them trying to eat the leftovers!

School Party

2010-02-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

One of the MANY reason's I'm so happy to be able to stay at home (even if it isn't forever) is that I get to go to all of Austin's school parties and things. His Christmas party was chaos, as it should be with 22 kids running crazy hyped up on cupcakes and cookies. They made cute little ornaments and exchanged gifts with the class and sang Christmas songs to the parents too!

Christmas with my mom's family

2010-02-04T14:04:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas at James' and Jan's house this year. We had great food and good times. Jack & Austin put Braden's airplane thingy together and it stole the show. Not sure that their hardwood will ever be the same but the kids had fun playing on it.

Christmas with Melly & the fam

2010-02-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

Melissa and her family came over for dinner and gift exchanging the Sunday before Christmas. I, with a ton of help from Damon and my mom, started a HUGE dining room makeover about 2 weeks before the dinner so the pressure was on to get it back in one piece. More to come on that little project a little later. We always have so much fun with them. Melly is like my sister from another mister, for real. I love you , Chicka!

Christmas with the Kelley's

2010-02-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

Christmas at Granny's was fun as usual. Austin got a Spike the Dinosaur, that has since caused our dog and I to need medication, well not really but it couldn't hurt. He got a R/C car too that he loves, err loved... We can't keep the dang thing charged. I don't know if its the car or what but we haven't had much luck with it in a minute.

Austin's First School Dance

2010-02-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

Austin had his first Sock Hop a while back benefiting the PTO. OMG, so many kids in the gym is enough to drive you to drinkin'. I was a nervous wreck because I couldn't keep my eyes on him. He had fun though. He and his 2 best buds from school ran around like crazy. For a minute they actually stopped to dance. Notice in one of the pictures he was upside down. I'm not really sure where he picked up that move. Surely not in this house!

Melly's Birthday

2010-02-04T13:59:00.000-08:00

Sumo has to be my all time favorite place to eat. Filet (medium rare of course!) & chicken... mmmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Of course we would have went if they asked us to meet them at Wendy's, but being it was at Sumo, we were so there! Her birthday is just a few days after Christmas so Japanese was perfect after all the ham and dressing we had consumed in the last week! Austin loved the presentation of course! He didn't fare too well though with the shrimp catching. I hope you had a Happy Birthday Melly-- even though it was over a month ago and I'm just now bloggin' about it.

Mortimer is silly!

2009-12-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

Austin came home from school talking about our little visitor and hoped that he had done some magic when we came back. Well, I didn't think that far ahead so no action yesterday during school but he came to life last night. Austin dictated a letter for Madison to write for him last night. It's so cute. This morning Mortimer was hanging from the ceiling fan covered in Silly Bandz! Austin asked why he didn't write back to him so thinking on my feet, I asked him if he left a pen for him. He said that if he can get on the ceiling fan, he should have been able to get a pen off my desk. Too funny! I don't know what we are going to do with this little guy.

Mortimer P. Jingledoodle is here!

2009-12-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

This is the letter he had for Austin this morning!

Our elf came last night. His name is Mortimer and we can't wait to see what he has in store for us this year.

Whew! That's it, I think!

2009-12-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

I just made 16 posts in 2 hours. Someone better make a comment!