The Flurry Family

SURPRISE!!!

2011-08-12T22:57:00.000-05:00

Yep that's right; you guessed it...CAROLINE ELIZABETH FLURRY is here!!!!!! She's actually already 9 days old which means she was over 3 & 1/2 weeks early. All the people that said that I wasn't going to make it to 40 wks were right, the fortune cookies were right & deep down I knew I wasn't going to make it to my due date just like all my other friends that were due in Aug. I wasn't thinking she'd be here THIS early though. Of course now I can't imagine life without her...she's amazing!! Before I get into all of the details of little misses arrival, I wanted to share a link to my sweet SIL's blog so you can see a few pics she put up...click HERE.

Ok let's rewind back to Tues. Aug. 2nd where I had my 36 wk appt that afternoon which was the first time for her to check my cervix & see if I was already progressing any. I was 1.5cm & 75% effaced...I was 1 cm & 75% effaced with Carter at this point so no big deal. Supposedly sometimes when the Dr checks you it can trigger labor which is obviously what happened to me. My contractions or really pain didn't start until 6am the next morning but I never had this with Carter since I was induced so I wasn't sure if it was real labor or not. It progressively got worse but never to the point the Dr wanted "contractions 5 min apart for an hour"...I actually never felt contractions until we were headed to the hospital, just constant throbbing like the worst cramps ever! We finally called the Dr around 8:15 & she said just to come in & she would check me again. I was 3.5cm now & 80% effaced so she said "looks like we're going to have a baby today". I couldn't believe it...with Carter I had to get induced the day before my due date & Caroline was going to get here at 36 wks which is considered pre-term. Now if this was my first child, I would have been freaking out since she was early & we were so unprepared as far as being packed for the hospital, her room is nowhere near ready, etc. I guess that's what comes with already having 1 & knowing what to expect. I really wasn't nervous at all, I just couldn't believe she was going to be here that day. After I had my epidural by 10:30, water broken around 1pm, & only having to push for about 15 min. Caroline made her debut into the world @ 5:18pm on August 3rd weighing a whopping 7 lbs 8oz & 20.5 in. long...she was HUGE for being so early! Just think if I had gone to my due date with her...she would've been 9.5 or 10 lbs!!! Carter was 8 lbs 6oz so we already knew we make big babies...J was 10 lbs & I was 8 lbs 3oz.

Caroline has done fabulous since she entered the world...her APGAR scores were 7 & 9 & she never had any lung issues which is common with pre-term babies. She is a sleeper for sure & a wonderful nurser...I have to wake her up a lot of the time to eat within 3 hours. I just want to make sure she's gaining weight. She's completely opposite how Carter was...I mean night & day difference. Carter NEVER slept...he would wake up every hour & half to two hours at night to eat & would not nap during the day unless you were holding him. She only wakes once or twice a night & is just a little bundle of joy. I'm so in love with her!! Now I totally understand the people that decide to stay home & not go back to work...they had babies like Caroline. :) Now don't get me wrong, Carter was worth every sleepless night but it's just comforting to know not all babies are like that. We are over the moon with her...you forget how small & precious they are...I could just cuddle with her all day. More pics & updates to come!!

Lately...

2011-07-31T12:37:00.000-05:00

We are alive...I know you were real worried about us! :) It's been a few weeks & even though we have been very busy the blog hasn't been neglected just b/c of lack of time which is part of it but it is FULL again. I haven't had a bit of extra time to try to work on the new one much less try to clean out some duplicated pics from way back when I didn't realize that there was a picasa web album out there with all the pics I ever downloaded on here. I'm just as disappointed as you are to not have new pics up!

But as the blog continues to fall behind, we continue to get closer to Miss Caroline's arrival. :) I am 36 wks tomorrow & feeling as prego as ever!! I started swelling around my ankles a few weeks back but it would come & go. Now I've almost gotten to the point where I can't get rid of it unless I have my feet propped up all the time which who has time for that?!? I never really swelled with C but he was born in March & not the middle of the summer. It still is hard to be comfortable with your CANKLES feeling like they are about to exlode not to mention the extra water weight down there. But I'm making it.

As I type (with legs elevated), it sounds like a construction site above my head as I hear J working away on our demo/reconstruction upstairs. He began last w/e & it is really coming along. I have already been documenting the project thru pics which will hopefully appear on here at some point or probably the new blog. He has become quite the handyman & is doing a fantastic job!

Speaking of last w/e...some of my closest friends were so sweet to throw me a "sprinkle" to celebrate Caroline's pending arrival!!! We had a great time & she got some fun things! Sat. night, 3 of my pledge sisters & I stayed at Ross Bridge to celebrate all of us turning 30 this year...I'm not quite there yet...14 days & counting! :) The hotel was booked & the pool looked like a water park but we had a great time laying out, chowing down on some food & even went out downtown til later than I thought I would being 35 wks prego...it was great though & I had a blast hanging out with my girls that all live out of town!!

We head to the dr Tues to find out if I am measuring anything & that is when my weekly appts will start. No one thinks I'm going to make it to 40 wks like I did with C but we'll see...the dr says if you normally go that far with the 1st, you will with the 2nd. If that's the case then I will probably be getting induced again on my due date - 8/29. The funny thing is all the people I knew who were due in Aug, all had their babies this past Fri, well 3 of them...can you believe it?!? One was a planned c-section so we knew that one was happening but the other two were due 8/11 & 8/17 & just went into labor that day. The other one that was due 8/1 had her baby Mon. So I'm the only one left. :) One of the babies Daddy's birthday was Fri too so now they get to share a b'day. :)

Another funny thing...y'all probably don't remember this (devoted blog followers) but way back when I was 38 wks with C I posted THIS post. It was about how J & I went & had japanese & our fortune cookies talked about "doing something different this coming w/e" which ended up not being exactly right but we did get induced that Mon. Well C spent the night out last night with my mom (we were supposed to go to a wedding in Huntsville but with my swelling & J having his big project we decided against it) so we went out to Sumo for dinner last night. And here are our fortune cookies...I opened mine first & it said "You will soon get something special b/c of your charm" which could be anything but J's said "Next week at this time, something good is coming your way!". So once again if the fortunes are right we might be mtg sweet Caroline early this time around. I would almost be 37 wks so we hope that isn't the case but you never know. Oh & we finally decided on her middle name but I can't put it on here yet b/c we haven't told all the family. I'll do my best to post after my appt on Tues.

I'm off to finish sewing her bed skirt...happy HOT Sunday to all!!

I wear my sunglasses...

2011-07-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

...on top of my head like mommy & daddy!

Another random shot from when I was trying to do my 'homework' for my photography class...I realized this was a bad idea to try to get 3 different shots of a toddler in the same place with the same background. He looks so much like J to me in this pic! This precious boy has my heart!

Our 4th of July w/e

2011-07-07T10:29:00.000-05:00

We had a reasonably laid back w/e. Sat. morning we met Kerri & Daniel & fam at the McWane Center for a little play time with Carter & Callie. They had a great time on every floor & then we all went & had lunch at Newk's (my 1st time to eat there; can you believe it?! & it was delish!) before heading home for a nap.

C checking out the touch shark/stingray tank...

A couple of these pegs ended up taking a trip around with us...

They have a fun little maze & C only got stumped once. He loved it & I think would've totally gone thru it by himself...I could barely keep up with him!

D & J built some fun tunnels & forts...

Sat. night our neighborhood held it's annual event with a patriotic parade of unique cars led by a fire engine thru the neighborhood to the country club for BBQ, fireworks and fun. They had a moonwalk or "bouncy" according to C & he enjoyed getting in & out & lounging inside (see pic below) while the 'big' kids bounced him around. He is just like his Daddy & likes to just sit & observe. Sorry for the net & not so great pics...these were taken on my phone.

Finally getting a chance to bounce on his own when no one else was in it!

The firetruck stopped by the festivities for a visit...C's love!!

Daddy & C waiting on the fireworks to start...he's getting good at this smiling thing! :)

He 'stole' this huge glow stick from these little teenage girls sitting next to us talking about "how to get a guy to like you" & such...too bad they ran off b/c I was really enjoying eavesdropping on their entertaining convo. :)

My photography class has been going great & the teacher showed us how to take fireworks pics so I took my first stab at it...I think they turned out pretty well. You can basically hold open the shutter & catch as much or as little of the fireworks as you want. Some of them would have turned out better if I had a tripod...I guess I need to add that to my camera accessories wishlist.

Doing a little practice on C while he twirled the glow stick...

C loved them & could have cared less about the loud booms...some of them were pretty intense even though we were a good distance from the launch site. It amazes me the noises he doesn't really like (vacuums, the stand mixer, hair dryer, etc) but could care less about loud thunder, lightning, fireworks, etc.

My mom took C Sun morning to church which allowed us some time to get some things done around the house. I met them on Mon morning at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church which has a huge outdoor 4th of July celebration/carnival with games, cake walks, BBQ, music, raffles, etc. I didn't take one pic b/c it was either scorching hot or it rained for a bit but we hung in there & he really enjoyed pulling the floating ducks out of the baby pool for prizes (his prize of choice was bouncy balls which we now have 5 or 6) & going fishing for prizes, bean bag toss, putt putt, etc. After a good nap we contemplated either going to the Barons game (which ended up having a rain delay) to watch the fireworks after or going to see Thunder on the Mountain but both were so late @ 9pm or later that we decided against it. C has been sleeping much better...Hooray!...& hasn't woken up in the middle of the night since Fri. He talks about the "magic" gate anytime he sees it & wants to make sure it is closed, so it's working like a charm. :) Now if I could just get him to sleep in a little longer that would be great but I'll take what I can get.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable & relaxing 4th!!

The "magic" gate

2011-07-01T13:30:00.000-05:00

J got the gate installed at the top of the stairs yesterday & we told C that it was his "magic" gate that would help him sleep through the night & keep him safe (so he doesn't fall down the stairs in the middle of the night in the dark). So far it seems like it worked like a charm & it is now mommy's "miracle" gate. :) I never heard a peep out of him last night & as far as I can tell he wasn't up until 6:45. J did find him outside his door right at the gate but barely making a noise. All I can say is I hope it isn't just a one night deal & that this will get him back in his normal sleeping routine (fingers are crossed). I do feel so refreshed today...I'm really not one to normally complain but this mama hasn't been sleeping great anyway which is to be expected at 32 wks but with these frequent late night visits or crying multiple times a night, it has really been wearing me down. I hope everyone has a wonderful July 4th w/e!!

The name game

2011-06-30T10:47:00.006-05:00

We have FINALLY decided on a name for little miss...it's going to be...

Snow!!

HAAA wouldn't that be just downright AWFUL if we named her that...Snow Flurry! She would hate us for the rest of her life. Ok so all kidding aside our sweet little munchkin is going to be named....Caroline!!! She doesn't have a middle name yet but we are close on that too. I'm so thrilled & C is so cute when you ask him what his sister's name is...just the way he says it with a precious little smile on his face. Of course I'm not really sure how much he really comprehends that a little baby girl will be sharing his space, parents & everything else in just a few short months. He does love babies though & is completely drawn to them if we see them out anywhere. It'll be an adjustment but I'm sure he'll get used to it soon.

So back to the whole Caroline name thing. I remember telling J last football season that when we get prego again, if it's a girl I want to name her Caroline. At that point he shot it down, said it was too long, ppl won't know if it's Caroline or Carolyn (pronunciation wise), etc. But I just thought it was a good southern name, a good baby & adult name & most of all it sounds good with Carter...Carter & Caroline. And after much deliberation over what seemed like a gazillion other names, Caroline still stood out as the best fit.

I have a funny story about the whole issue with making sure it sounds good to say the siblings names together. I was in Once Upon a Time in Homewood a month or so ago & the very friendly sales lady was telling me about her daughter & how she already had a son named Sam & was having a girl & thinking about naming her Ella. She said once she realized if she was out somewhere & was calling for them...Sam & Ella, Sam & Ella, that it really wouldn't sound right. Salmonella, Salmonella.

On a complete other note, I am becoming very sleep deprived & it isn't b/c I am on the verge of 32 wks prego. That does have something to do with it but the biggest issue is Carter man is still waking up early & throughout the night. Last night was 2am & then up by 5:40am. The night before he was up at 12:15 & 2:30. This past w/e he was up on Sat morning @ 4:45am for the day...even after trying to get him to sleep in the bed with us, he was wide awake & not going back to sleep. He did finally fall asleep on the bed with me around 7:30 for an hr max. You would think he would have made up for it at nap, but no, he only took 1.5 hr nap. So this mama is exhausted & has had enough. J is going to install the top of the stairs gate that we bought forever & a day ago & hope that will keep him at least from coming downstairs in the middle of the night but hopefully in his bed sleeping!! We may have to resort to a nightlight on a timer set to turn on when it is time to wake up or one of those alarm clock things with the bunny that shows when it is ok to get up. He used to be such a good sleeper & sleep 10-12 hrs a night & I really wasn't expecting to be this tired until miss Caroline arrived. Here's to hoping the little non-sleeping monster will get back in his old routine & SLEEP!

Not much else has been going on. We did go to the zoo this w/e with the McFarland girls which was way fun since we went late on Sat & it was storming everywhere else but there so we basically had the whole to zoo to ourselves...it was wonderful. More updates & pics coming soon!

P.S. I forgot to mention that I finally got the sonogram video up on THIS post. Thanks to my computer genius bro who helped me convert it from whatever file it was to one that would work on YouTube. I did have to break it up into 5 separate videos (10 min long total) but in case you are interested/care to see little miss moving around then there it is for your viewing pleasure. :)

Tickled Pink!

2011-06-22T11:18:00.000-05:00

Sara & I worked on baby girl's bedding stuff again last night & got a bumper finished so I just had to share...

This is the outside of the bumper...

The inside...

And to show you up close the detail & the piping...

So now I've got to finish off the other 3 bumpers, do the bed skirt, make a throw pillow for her chair & sew in the 'hardware' for her roman balloon shade. HERE is a recap of all of her fabric samples. In case I haven't mentioned she only has a 'port hole' window in her room...her room is attic space that was finished off by a previous owner of our house & it has fun slanted ceilings & is just a small cutesy space that I thought would be a perfect nursery. I really didn't want to move C from his room since all of his furniture grows with him as his bed converts from crib to toddler to full but I also didn't want to get rid of our extra bedroom. I'm not sure if I've mentioned or not how J is hopefully about to start remodeling our upstairs. He is basically putting in a hallway for the 3 rooms on the opposite side of the house from C's room. The extra bedroom upstairs has a large laundry room off of it as well as a walk-in closet that takes you to the "hidden" room which is going to be little miss' bedroom. So instead of walking through a bedroom to get to each of these rooms, J is going to knock out some walls, have the intake vent for the HVAC professionally moved to the ceiling & put in sheetrock, flooring, new doors/door casings, etc. to make a hallway leading to all 3 of the rooms. It is going to make the layout of the upstairs so much better. I will of course post before, during & after pics. This will be interesting since it will be J's first real remodel project...I have faith that he can do it w/o making it cost twice as much as it would have it we hired someone professionally to do it. :) Wish us luck!!

Everybody goes to Milo's...

2011-06-21T11:12:00.000-05:00

Look what I figured out I can get on at work today...the BLOG!! :) I got here this morning & realized my whole computer had been updated, revamped, etc. Of course now everything that was personalized on it is gone as well as all my pictures...don't you think they could have warned someone ahead of time?!? Luckily I'm pretty sure any pics I had saved on here are saved at home too but still. We'll see how long this lasts but for now I will take full advantage of catching up since I really don't have a lot going on at work right now. I took my last flight to TX last week since I'm almost to the "no travelling" stage. I hit 30 wks yesterday...I can't believe it!! I'm already going every 2 wks to the dr now instead of 4. The in-laws came in town yesterday for the week & Sara & I started tackling little miss' bedding last night. Tonight is the last night we will have to work on it together so after that I'll be all on my own finishing up the bumpers, skirt, bubble shade & pillow for her room. I'm learning a lot & can't wait to see the finished product...hopefully I don't screw it up. :) There has been a lot going on these days especially this week, day & night. I'm starting a photography class tom. night that lasts 4 wks...I can't wait to really learn how to use my SLR camera to its full potential. Hopefully I'll have a little more "professional" looking pics on here in the future. J is in the process of training for a triathalon...I think I've mentioned how he has run a 5K & biked in a fundraiser race recently. The triathalon is in Guntersville on Aug. 13 so he recently joined the Hoover Rec to work on the swimming portion of that. C has been getting up about as early as J has (around 5:45am) every morning for the past week or so & coming downstairs on his own. His bowels have been all messed up from his top 2 molars coming in so I think that is what is causing the early morning wake-up calls. He'll lay in the bed & watch Blue's Clues for about 10 min but then he wants to get up & eat breakfast & play. His usual wake-up time is around 7:15am or so...mommy is really missing those days. Last night we had to change his sheets around 1:30am when his diaper didn't hold it all & by 3am he was back downstairs & ended up sleeping in our bed horizontally...he hasn't slept in our bed since he was an itty-bitty baby. He pretty much kicked J all night & had his head on my side & gave me about a foot of room to sleep which doesn't really work for a 30 wk prego. Let's just say I'm struggling a bit today. I guess that's enough about us for now. Here is the original post that I have had saved in draft on here for who knows how long...these pics are probably from Feb or maybe Mar. I still wanted them on here for the "scrapbook" effect of the blog.
I think these were from back when pics weren't cooperating with me on here..C's first time to eat Milo's & he loved it. I have a video of him dipping his fries in the sauce & licking it off (that'll be another day)...he does this with ketchup these days too.

Obsessed

2011-06-17T21:56:00.000-05:00

Obsessed doesn't even begin to describe C's love for lining things up especially his beloved cars...these pics are from awhile back (still trying to catch up & I know I've mentioned the need for this post for quite some time) & the lining up of anything has become a daily ritual so no need for pics anymore.

These are from back when he only had 10 or so cars...his collection is now ranging in the 40-50 range. The crazy thing is he knows the majority of them & has names for them...he will ask for specific cars & most of the time we know or can figure out which ones he is talking about.

My little Tom Cruise

2011-06-15T22:15:00.000-05:00

These pics were taken a month or so ago one random Sat morning (notice the PJ's) in Target. C has been needing some new sunglasses for awhile now & these were just too cute...reminded me of Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

Chopped

2011-06-12T16:48:00.000-05:00

I finally chopped it off...my hair that is!! I just couldn't take it anymore with this heat & I had 9 inches to donate...enough for Pantene's version of Locks of Love. This is probably my 4th or 5th time to donate it...it takes 6 pony-tails to make one wig for a cancer patient so I'm almost to one whole wig! :) I'm sure I'll do it again in the future. Here is my before pic...

And after...sooo much easier to manage!

And here is the lonely pony that I am drying out to send off soon...

A quick update on Luck...she is still missing. I did hear from a neighbor that they have a cat that went missing a few wks ago too which really makes me wonder. I'm still hopeful that she'll show up sometime...that someone has taken her in not knowing who she belongs to & she just needs to escape & come home!

M.I.A.

2011-06-07T22:25:00.000-05:00

That's right, our sweet Lucky Loo is MISSING!! We realized on Friday that we hadn't seen her since Wed night...she comes & goes as she pleases & we've gotten pretty lax on making sure she is in at night since she can come in the dog door whenever. We've searched the neighborhood with the dogs & I obviously made some signs that didn't even last 24 hrs before they were taken down...we have an extremely strict homeowner's association here in Riverchase. She had on a collar but it didn't have tags b/c I was having to replace her collar every month or so since she would lose it when the tags would get caught on brush/branches while she was out...that was the only way I could keep a collar on her. She is microchipped which I've already called to notify them so I am really just praying that she has just gone on a bit of a hiatus & will show up sometime soon. My biggest fear is that there have been a lot of workers a few houses up the past few weeks & that her nosey self has jumped in the back of one of their trucks if they left their door open & that they didn't realize it until they got back to wherever they live or work & kicked her out. I just don't see her not making it home if she was hurt somehow but we did have coyotes in our neighborhood a few years ago so you just never know. I'm trying to stay as positive as possible but she is like a child to me so each day that goes by makes it that much harder & miss her that much more.

A few recent shots I have taken of her...she has gotten pretty attached to C's booster seat.

I love this one...the chair is pretty much pushed all the way up but she has managed to squeeze into it.

Praying for a quick & safe return of my precious Luck!

Little Miss

2011-06-01T23:47:00.001-05:00

I haven't updated on the little munchkin in a while much less put up the 20 wk sonogram pics so here they are...

This is her profile with her right arm up on her forehead...oh the drama. :)

I originally thought the disk we got at the appt had these pics along with a few others but I was pleasantly surprised to figure out that it had the entire sonogram on video! Dr. T has switched practices since I had C so this was new to me & I thought it was pretty exciting. I will forewarn you that it is 10 min long & maybe a bit odd but I figured I would share for those that are interested in seeing all of her precious little body parts. The thermal paper runs out in the middle of it & she uses a lot of abbreviations like "bl" for bladder, "st" for stomach & "kids" for kidneys but it is still neat to watch her move around. Ok so I couldn't get the entire video to download in one clip (entirely too large) so it is broken out into 5 clips.

Little bit still doesn't have a name but I hope to have one finalized soon...she does have her bedding picked out though. :) A few w/e's ago we went to Mobile to visit my SIL & fam & Sara & I went around on Sat to a bunch of the awesome fabric stores they have down there. It is hard to really see the colors in the pic (they are light pink, a faint gray & a touch of chocolate brown) but this is what we picked out. The crib skirt will be the top owl fabric...I have a new fascination with owls & thought it ws super cute. Her bumper will be the damask (3rd one from the left) on the outside & the pink minky (2nd from the left) on the inside. The striped on the far left will be the piping & ties for the bumper. We plan to make a balloon shade with the damask material for the port hole window she has in her room & a lamp shade with the funky round dot silk on the far right. The current rocker/recliner we have in C's room is what we will use in hers but it is a soft mint green color so I had to incorporate that in. I am going to make a throw pillow with the quilted solid pink material & monogram her initials on it with the same green color as the chair. I can't wait to get it all made & set up in her room. Sara, Jay & the girls will be in town for nearly a week right around Father's Day & since she is very experienced with making all of this stuff (she made C's stuff for his room as well as the nursery set for her girls) she is going to be helping show me how to make it...thank goodness! I def. know I'm going to need help with the bumper & the shade. She is so talented with the sewing machine so I know she can show me quite a few pointers.

I am 27 weeks now (this pregnancy is flying by) & feeling great!! I had my gestational diabetes test at my last appt (24 wks) & I assume I passed b/c I haven't heard back from them & usually "no news, is good news". Everything is going great & we are just trucking along. I've started feeling her getting the hiccups (C got them all the time) which always makes me laugh & she really loves to see how much room she still has in there all the time. :)

Potty training update...

I wish I had really positive news to tell you about our 3-day training process but unfortunately I don't. I hate to say we failed but I just had high hopes for a successful w/e & it started out that way but then went down hill as the w/e went on. The first day went well with the usual and expected accidents but he was already understanding & asking to go potty by right after lunch. By the 2nd day he was holding it until that same time (around 1pm) & would give tons of false alarms where he would say he had to go, we'd rush to the potty & then he'd go "nevermind, I don't need to go anymore" when he really did. That would eventually end up being an accident & then we'd try to finish it on the potty but he would freak out & want off as quickly as possible (we are using a step stool that J built for him & a potty seat on the big potty so he is comfortable). The only problem is he has a fear of releasing into the toilet (this is supposedly very common) but loves to flush it & watch everything go down, to put cheerios in it to "aim" at, & even to pull the toilet paper off the roll & drop it in. By the 3rd day he had completely gone backwards in progress & was just in pain from holding it for so long. Then when he went down for a nap & of course he would go in the bed & would wake up all upset for going. Monday was a very tough day & there were a lot of tears shed by both of us...a mother can't stand to see their child upset & in pain. :( I also worry about him getting a UTI or some other infection from not going potty. So all & all it wasn't a total waste b/c he gets it, we just have to get him used to using the potty. The other thing I realized is his two year molars are coming in (I actually felt the top 2 breaking thru tonight) which the doctor said we might not even notice but he has been waking up crying in the middle of the night for the past few weeks & drooling like crazy (so bad we had to change his sheets in the middle of the night the other night from drool). So I think this may be affecting the whole process too...we are giving him some tylenol for the pain but he just hasn't been himself anyway. So maybe it's just bad timing...who knows. We are going to keep at it though b/c you read everywhere that consistency is best so we will see how it goes over the next few months. School is supposed to try to help as well but he won't be in the actual potty training classroom until he moves rooms in Aug. Today was his first day back (J stayed at home with him yesterday...I was just hoping we would have a breakthrough but instead he held his potty until 5:30 pm!!) & we put him in pull-ups but let him take underwear b/c he likes to wear them but isn't afraid to poop in them which is better than holding that! Boys are stubborn especially ours so he'll get there when he's ready. More potty updates to come down the road. :)

Our Memorial Day w/e will be spent...

2011-05-28T17:08:00.001-05:00

in the bathroom...that's right we are potty training this w/e!! I will be so thrilled to be done with diapers or at least take a break until little miss comes along in about 3 mos. We are doing a 3 day crash course/boot camp where you stay at home the whole time, close to the potty & only wear a t-shirt & underwear. It is all about them learning to tell you when they need to go to the potty instead of constantly asking them or just sitting on the potty "trying" all the time. We do have to constantly tell him "Let us know when you need to go" instead of "Do you need to go?". Today is our first day & so far so good. We've had about 9 or 10 accidents so far which is to be expected & is the only way he'll learn. He has already gone "tee-tee" on the potty for the 1st time by 1pm which was sooner than I expected so YEA!! We'll see how the rest of the w/e goes. So proud of my little man & just praying that this lady that we got the 40 pg 3-day program from really knows what she's talking about. :) Happy Memorial Day w/e to everyone!

Happy Birthday Daddy/Mother's Day

2011-05-23T00:09:00.000-05:00

I know it's been awhile...3 wks or so...we've been out of town a couple of w/e's, super busy & just enjoying some good old family time! I have so many posts to catch up on & I have to start somewhere...I am pretty sure I have made as much space as I can on this blog for more pics & I'm almost to the limit. I've already started a new one but we won't go there until we have to. Onto the updates...Mother's Day w/e we took a long family trip to the beach (Th-Mon). Sunday was Justin's 30th b'day too so we had lots to celebrate. It was so great to get away from everything & spend some quality time just the 3 of us. We rented a condo in Gulf Shores that had a fun zero entry pool which was perfect for C esp. since he loved the pool scene much more than the beach...one day he'll love it (I hope) & not want to leave!

The car ride down...C being silly with his blanket on his head.

Sara & our 2 nieces drove over Fri to spend the day with us...Hadley & C hanging out.

The little rugrats after a day at the beach/pool...gotta love the half dressed "rag-a-muffins". :)

We went to dinner at The Hangout & they had a DJ guy that was entertaining everyone with trivia games & such & he asked for anyone that was having a b'day...Sara & I nominated J not knowing he was going to have to stand on a table in front of everyone & dance to get down...of course that didn't happen but it was fun to watch him be the center of attention.

We tried to get a cousin pic after dinner...this was the best one I got...obviously C was worried about his sandal falling off.

C could have played this game all day...jumping off the stairs to Daddy.

I asked him to smile & got this...silly child.

On Sunday morning, we thought it'd be fun to ride the ferry round trip to Dauphin Island...

C kept himself entertained in the car some of the time...he loved being able to ride & not be in his car seat...he totally knew how to start the car (not actually but he tried).

Then he straddled the gear shifter & acted like he was riding a horse...so silly.

What's a birthday w/o strawberry cake from Edgar's...it was a fun surprise for J!

Our pictures on the beach were a total bust this year...C was not really having it.

Best fam pic we could get...I hate that the condos are in the background...I guess that's what you get for asking a random to take a few pics.

And since a few of you have asked for belly pics this is the best one I had that showed the bulge...

We went to eat at Tacky Jack's which we did last Sept too when we came down...see the comparison from last year below...they grow so fast!!

Tornado Disaster

2011-04-29T12:49:00.000-05:00

I'm sure everyone is well aware of the devastating tornadoes/storms that came through our area as well as all over the southeast on Wed. The President is in Tuscaloosa this morning to assess the damage which is just unbelievable. My brother is a pilot & volunteers for the CAP (Civil Air Patrol) which was called on yesterday to go take aerials of the damage in order to make a grid or one huge picture of the destruction. He said Pleasant Grove which is just north of B'ham was just completely destroyed/flattened & that you couldn't even see where the damage ended which says a lot when you're up in a plane & can see for miles & miles. We were so very thankful that the storms just dodged our house & we didn't have any damage...we were lucky to not even lose our power. Justin, Carter & I did our part last night to help by bagging up all the toiletries I have collected while out of town for work when I stay at hotels & any trips we go on. Our church always has a monthly collection for certain things to donate to the needy so I usually keep quite a stash of these under my sink for when they need it. Carter will probably be a little saddened that these are gone since he loves to pull them out & line them up on the counter like he does his cars. We also had tons of other stuff like toothbrushes/floss from all of our dentist appts, free samples of things that come in the mail, make-up that I haven't used from the gift bags Clinique gives out when you buy a certain amount of their products, etc. It was so humbling & rewarding to know that we are helping out so many others who have lost absolutely everything through these devastating storms. I just can't imagine what they are going through. I hope if you live in the area & are able to help that you will or you already have.

And just a side note, Casey (I know you read the blogs sometimes) my heart goes out to your SIL as well as her roommates family and friends. What a tragic loss that was & they are in my prayers. This is just a reminder about how precious life really is & how quickly in can be taken away. God has a plan though & we may not understand His reasons but it is not our duty to question or judge Him. We must use our faith to know He is in control and everything happens for a reason.

On a much happier note...we are headed to Mobile this afternoon to visit the fam & we are sooo excited!!! I have Easter pics to catch up on too...

Easter egg hunting @ the McBrayers

2011-04-21T21:58:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday afternoon we headed over to our friends David & Catharine's house to have a little get together with the kiddos & hunt for some Easter eggs. I'm pretty sure this was Carter's first time to hunt eggs since Easter was early last year & he wasn't even 1 yet. He quickly got the hang of it & had a great time! I think the parents enjoyed it as much as the kids...they were so cute!

Christian showing off his little belly...too funny!

This is how C's egg hunting started out...he couldn't decide b/w the mower or the basket...why not both?!?

I love little David's expression...

Wyatt & his precious powty face...

"Check out all my eggs!"

Of course the toys are always more fun!

I can't wait for Sunday so we can do even more Easter egg hunting. C's class is having a party tom. too where they will be hunting eggs as well. And Sat. I plan to let C die some eggs too...eggs, eggs, everywhere!!

We survived yet another...

2011-04-18T13:52:00.000-05:00

TAX SEASON!! Woohoo I love April 15th (Apr. 18th this yr) about as much as I love Christmas & birthdays. Justin was pretty much done on Friday so we had a great w/e relaxing & just being a family again. Here are a few pics I took a couple months ago of Carter trying to be like Daddy. I thought it was so cute anytime I "caught" him in Daddy's chair playing...this was the make-do office J set up in the living room so that he could work at home & still spend time with us until work started getting crazy busy.

I love this pic...it looks like he is looking at one of the screens & holding the mouse but it's really just one of his cars.

Carter's 2nd Birthday Party!!

2011-04-15T23:12:00.001-05:00

Look what I got to work tonight...PICTURES!!! I was in the progress of setting up a new blog & decided to try to upload some pics again just to be sure & voila, it worked! So for now we are good! YEA!!!

My work mom, Ann & I

Little David & his sweet mama Catharine

Callie, Walker, Carter & miss Olivia on the slide...

Hadley & Callie

I love this pic...check out Olivia with her shades on getting some air!

Who needs a bouncy house when you have a brand new "tire" truck?!?

Can we say finger in a socket?! :)

His b'day theme was Noah's ark...the animals came 2x2 & Carter was turning 2!! Mmmm Edgar's cake!

Opening presents at the house with the fam...

Hadley "talking" on the old school flip phone...

Again...silly girl.

Sweet Audrey

I think the only kiddos we missed getting pics of were Wyatt & Reagan...I guess that's what happens when I'm not in charge of the camera. Thank you to everyone who came & made it so very special for all of us. C had a blast & is really enjoying all his new toys! :)

It is confirmed...

2011-04-11T21:40:00.001-05:00

We are having a baby GIRL!!!!!! So good to finally know for sure so I can get to nursery planning, shopping, name choosing, etc. I actually already started splurging tonight when I ran over to the Kidz Klozet new clothing sale that is going on today & tom here in B'ham. This is the last year they are going to travel to do shows so I will have to head to Mobile to visit my SIL & fam in the future to get some good deals. I can't go tom since I'm actually flying to Detroit @ 6am (yes I should already be asleep) for work & won't be back til C's bed time tom night.

A quick update on us...J has been BUSY BUSY BUSY with work...7 days & counting. He did get to get away & compete in the Diamond Dash with me on Sat. We didn't win but we came in about the same place we did last year...top 10 or so which isn't so bad out of 350 couples. Supposedly 1700 ppl applied this year & only 700 were accepted. The winner had a score of 95, 2nd place 93 & 3rd place was 90...our score was 85...always so close, we're going to win one year! I highly recommend it to anyone whether you are already married or not. It is def. not all couples, there is a good mix of older married couples, all girl & all boy teams, etc. You can even do it when you're 20 wks prego like me! :)

Sun. C & I went to the zoo to waste away the day while J worked...I have a couple pics but I'll have to post them after I decide what I'm going to do about the blog now that it is picture full. Where does the time go?!?

I knew this day would come...

2011-04-04T23:23:00.000-05:00

when I have maxed out the blog...BOOOOOOOO!!! I was uploading C's b'day party pics & all of sudden a box pops up with "whoops! you've reached your max 1 GB photo upload...blah, blah, blah". So now I have to decide if I want to start a whole new blog or pay to increase the storage space which doesn't look expensive so I just might do that to save the trouble. Of course I've been a bit annoyed with the blog recently anyway...you may have noticed the fun font gone from my post titles (I can't seem to make it work again) & the whole thing has just been acting up, pics not posting right, etc. so it may be good to start on a clean slate. That will have to be decided another day. I am off to bed since I've got a full day of DC tomorrow. It was a beautiful site driving in from Baltimore tonight & seeing the Washington, Lincoln & Jefferson monuments/memorials all lit up. I hope to check out some sites tom before I head back home if I have time. I don't think I've been back here since I was 12, so I think I can appreciate it a little more now. Til then...

Sitting at the airport...

2011-04-04T17:19:00.000-05:00

waiting to fly to DC for work. Looks like we are going to beat the nasty weather out of Bham which is great but then again I'm flying SW so we may get a hole in our plane on the way over...awesome. I'm sure y'all have heard the news over the w/e about the cancelled flights due to a hole being ripped out of the roof of a plane which of course forced an emergency landing, if not go HERE. Let's keep our fingers crossed & say some prayers that I make it safely. I won't be flying back in until 9:30 tom night so I'm going to really miss seeing my little man for 2 whole days since he'll be snoozing by the time I get back...& the hubs too of course but I don't see much of him right now anyway. Only 14 days left of tax season, 7 days til we find out if what's growing in my belly is for sure a little miss & only 5 days til J & I compete in our 2nd annual Diamond Dash & I just can't wait for all of these things to happen!! :)

Check back later tonight for pics from Carter man's b'day party this w/e...the one good thing about being out of town for work is there is nothing else to do but blog. :)

Happy April Foil's Day!

2011-04-01T10:13:00.001-05:00

Hopefully this will post correctly on the blog...first time for me to use
this option to post by sending it to a certain email address. I just had
to share this...

This is what J found when he got to the office this am...pretty
clever...way to go WAKM folks!!!

Carter man turns TWO!!

2011-03-30T22:40:00.000-05:00

Quick side note: All I have to say is boooo-hissss to the annoying computer we use downstairs to store all our pics in one place where I do my blogging from or really I just upload the pics on that one thru Picasa & then run upstairs & get on my laptop & comfortably do my typing. Well it fouled up on me for sure last night. If any of you got on the blog today you got ugly white boxes with red x's instead of pics...according to that computer they were showing up....ANYWAY blah blah blah! All the more reason I don't blog near as much as I used to...hopefully we can get this resolved soon. J is actually working on a new system for me as ~~we speak~~ I type. Poor thing has worked 35 hours in the past 2 days...only 19 more days 'til tax season is OVER!! :) And I so digress...back to the much more important reason for this post.

Today we woke up & had yummy cinnamon rolls for b-fast...we ate shirtless so we didn't mess up our birthday shirt. Glad we did that...check out that messy face!

Then it was off to the Dr for his 2-yr check-up before heading to school with some cupcakes to celebrate...forgot to post a pic of the final product last night.

I'm happy to say that we had NO shots today...I was fairly certain he was going to have at least one but they said he was up-to-date & all we had to do was a finger prick. His stats were around the 75th percentile for both height (34.5") & weight (30.8 lbs)...I knew he had to be over 30 lbs by now. Everything looked great so we don't have to go back for another well visit 'til his 3! Hopefully we'll get a positive report from the dentist tomorrow am too.

We are having his b'day party on Sat so we just hung out tonight as a fam to celebrate his special day. We loved having Daddy home early too! :) And of course there were leftover cupcakes so we had those for dessert tonight...

Notice the line of cars...see a pattern here?! :)

"I don't care about blowing out that 'fire' just give me a cupcake!"

Happy Birthday to our sweet little buddy!! We love you more than you'll ever know!!

It's birthday time!

2011-03-29T22:15:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is my little buddy's 2nd birthday...TWO years have come & gone so very quickly!!! Tonight we whipped up some cupcakes for him to take to school tomorrow to celebrate the big day with his friends. This is the first time he has actually "helped" mom bake or do any cooking for that matter & he really wasn't very interested. Well he was at first until I turned the mixer on & then he wanted "no cake! no cake!".

Not real excited here...

He did really like helping me put the baking cups in the muffin pans...notice his cars all lined up perfectly. (I have a post I've been meaning to put up about this obsession.)

We are headed to the Dr in the am before we go to school for his 2 yr check-up...mean mommy is making him get shots on his b'day. :( Wed is the only day the Dr is in the well clinic & he has to have his blue form renewed on time for school. Hopefully he'll be tough as he usually is & only fuss for a sec. He has his first dentist appt on Th morning too...we're getting all these appts knocked out. :)

And so I don't forget b/c I need to start writing down his funny little sayings...this morning while we were getting dressed for school he sat down in my lap as he usually does to get his socks & shoes on & out pops "I see you toes" in the cutest little voice. Oh the silly things that come out of his mouth...I just love them.

Drum roll please...

2011-03-23T22:05:00.001-05:00

I'll let the pics speak for themselves...

The grandmothers cutting the cake together...my SIL is on speakerphone waiting to hear the news!

Yep that's right...we will be seeing lots of ruffles, bows, dresses & pigtails come the end of August & we are absolutely ecstatic!!!! Now Va College wasn't 100% sure but they were fairly certain that they couldn't see anything going on down there. :) Every person I've talked to said they were right with what they told them too so I am pretty comfortable with that...we'll know for certain at our regular 20 wk doctor appt on 4/11. I'm def. loving the pink though!! One thing that I know that wasn't right was the urine gender test I took for fun back at 10 wks that def. said BOY...it is supposedly 80-90% accurate but I know ppl that said it was wrong for them too. I had originally thought girl but then I was completely thrown with that test so I haven't been for sure since then but was still leaning towards girl...I felt girl for sure today going in though. :) I still don't think it has fully sunk in yet that Carter is going to have a little sister & that soon enough there will be dolls, barbies & frilly stuff everywhere at our house. It is going to be a complete change that we are looking so forward to & I am so very thankful to be able to have the best of both worlds!!! How very blessed we are!!!

P.S. The family enjoyed the different sort of reveal with the cake as much as I thought they would. I highly recommend it to anyone...I just thought it'd be more fun than a phone call, plus we were all together except Sara & fam who live in Mobile so everyone found out together. I did bake the cake...first time I've done a layered cake as far as I can remember...I'm usually a cupcake or poundcake type of gal. :) It turned out pretty well except the blue was being real stubborn...didn't need it anyway. :)

Voting is almost up!

2011-03-22T22:07:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is THE day...the day we find out what we are having!!!!! Well hopefully. Unless Va College can't figure it out/see what they need to see then we'll have to wait until 4/11 but let's really hope that isn't the case. Our appt is @ 12:30 & we are doing a special little reveal for the family at our house after work so a post on that will be later tom night as well as a blurb on Facebook of course. :) So don't forget to vote (it's over on the upper right side of the blog) on which one you think we are having...12:30 just can't get here soon enough!!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T07:55:00.000-05:00

what's new?

2011-03-10T22:38:00.000-06:00

not much really. It's 10:15pm on Th night...J isn't home yet from work & I'm sitting here procrastinating making a french toast casserole I have to make for a bridal brunch we are having at work tom...well it's only the start of it, the actual cooking part I will do in the am before I head to my dr appt @ 9am. Tonight we (C & I) went to eat dinner with my dad, stepmom, brother & g-friend at the country club. We stayed later than usual & I had to stop by Publix on the way home to grab a few things for the casserole so it's been a long night. Those that know me well know I'm quite the night owl anyway...that'll change once this little one gets here again I'm sure. Speaking of, we have our early 16 wk appt tom...Dr. T is out all next wk for spring break so we didn't want to get a week behind. I did finally get in touch with Va. College this week too about scheduling an appt to hopefully find out what we are having before our actual 20 wk appt. Originally I thought we would go on C's b'day 3/30 b/c they only do appts on Wed & that is when I will be 18 wks which is the earliest they will let you come in. The students are actually off for 2 wks starting that wk so they are letting me come in the Wed before 3/23...I can't wait!!!!! So in less than 2 wks we will hopefully know whether we are expecting another precious boy or a sweet angel girl. The suspense is killing me!!

So today C & I stayed home from work/school...C woke up with a fever & I had a horrible stomachache last night...I almost think I had food poisoning it was so bad. I have felt much better & C never acted like he felt bad but he def. stayed warm all day...I'm thinking he picked up a fever bug at school b/c J said there was a child getting his temp checked on Mon when he was dropping C off. It's been awhile since he's been sick so we've been rather blessed. Hopefully he'll be good to go tom.

I'm sure there's more to update on but that's all that's on my mind right now...guess I need to go whip up this casserole & head to bed. Nighty night!!

Hadley turns 3!!

2011-03-03T22:22:00.000-06:00

Well she technically does tomorrow but we celebrated last night with the fam with dinner & a cake at JNN (Jim 'n Nicks)...ha my old stomping ground! :) Here is my silly man sitting in a booster on the floor...

Check out this adorable little munchkin...Miss Audrey!

The sweet b'day girl & her cake...too bad it looks like she & everything else in this pic is glowing.

Ready to blow out her candles!

In other news...our friends Grant & Meagan welcomed their 2nd baby boy, Levi Kirby Weed, into the world yesterday afternoon! We went to visit them tonight at the hospital & I think he looks just like his big brother Walker. Of course in this pic, I think he looks just like his Daddy. Congrats Weed family...he is precious!!

We've got a busy w/e planned...we really really really wish we could head down south to help celebrate our sweet niece's birthday with her friends at the ice cream shop but with J's busy work load & we have 3 other parties this w/e it just wasn't feasible to drive 4 hrs down & back. We are so very thankful that we got to spend time with everyone last night to celebrate...we love you Miss Hadley!! We are planning a w/e once tax season is OVER to go down & really spend some quality cousin time & I'm looking so forward to that. The other gatherings we have this w/e which we can't make it to all of them is a surprise party Sat night...more details later on that since you never know who is reading this blog & a birthday party & baby shower both at 2 on Sun. I feel like it's just that time of the year for parties and festivities & the weather couldn't be more perfect for all of that. Happy Friday to all!

Some reading, a haircut & a fun cookout

2011-02-28T22:36:00.000-06:00

We had a fabulous w/e with the gorgeous weather & some fun festivities! Sat. my mom came over to go with C & me to Target to do a little shopping & they had Dr. Seuss reading from 9-11am to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. I wasn't sure how much C would enjoy this or really care since he doesn't like to read the Dr. Seuss books we have at home but he had a great time. They gave out little goody bags with treats so of course he was happy. :) He got involved when they asked if someone wanted to pick out the next book to read & even grabbed one to read himself.

He thought it was fun to sit next to the people that were reading out loud in the other bean bag chair...I'm thinking we may need to invest in one of those.

This little girl LOVED Carter...she wouldn't let him out of her sight!

J & C had haircut appts at noon. I didn't take any pics but I told Jaime to cut it pretty short since his hair has been growing so fast...it looks much better! Sun. C & I went to church by ourselves...J was working & then I had a baby shower to go to & then we went to our friends Kerri & Daniel's house to have a little cookout & see Miss Maci again who was born on V-day. Of course she slept most of the time & is such a little doll! They recently bought a big blow-up jumpy thing with a slide & ball pit & the kids loved it of course. C was in the ball pit majority of the time...

C & Callie (Maci's big sis)

C, Walker & Christian

He had a blast being pushed around in this car & of course playing with the trains that rode with him in the car.

Quick update on us...J has been busy with work but been able to work from home at night & on the w/e so he can still hang with us which we love. I've been feeling almost back to normal but had some pretty wicked headaches last week. I'm 14 wks & on the verge of having to get back into my maternity clothes...it's amazing how you start showing so much faster the 2nd time around. Hope everyone is having a great start to the week!

The real reason I've been slacking...

2011-02-16T23:10:00.000-06:00

Yep that's right we are PREGNANT!!! :) Oh it is so nice to finally let the cat out of the bag!! I'm sure some of you either knew or figured it out by now. I've been waiting for this day for weeks. We are over the moon thrilled & can't wait to meet this little blessing!! I am due 8/29 which means it'll be a hot summer but well worth it! :) I was 12 weeks on Mon but couldn't see the doc until today. Everything looked perfect at the appt. Heart rate was 167...it was 178 at the 8 wk appt. I go back in 4 wks for my 16 wk appt & then in early April we find out what we are having! :)

Sonogram pics from today...

Look at that sweet hand coming up to the face...

We made the big announcement to the family on Christmas...we found out 2 days before so I didn't have a lot of time to plan anything. I did find this ornament on Christmas Eve which was the last one (the display actually).

I already had a T-shirt (don't have a pic & I'm not sneaking into C's room tonight to get it :)) but it has a dog on the front & it reads "I have a secret..." & on the back it says "I'm going to be a big brother." Nothing fancy but I actually bought it when we were originally prego back at the end of the summer (July-Sept). Yep that's right, I had a miscarriage. Now I know some ppl would never speak of this especially if it has happened to them. I am one of those ppl though that believes things happen for a reason & it just wasn't meant to be & I'm completely ok with that. Sure it was devastating at first but I try to be as positive as possible & know that it is in God's hands & He has a plan, not me, as much as I want to try to control my life or do things the way I want. I never wrote on here about this even though I wanted to b/c I think it is only fair to show the good & the bad...life isn't perfect, no one's is. But I didn't want ppl to feel sorry for me or look at me differently/feel awkward around me so I didn't. Anyway, it's all over now & we are happy as can be! And the original reason I was telling you about the shirt is b/c on Christmas day after we ate & were going to open presents, I went & changed C into the shirt & waited to see how long it took for ppl to notice. That part was quite entertaining!

Oh & one more thing about the previous pregnancy...we came up with a fun way to tell the family...we sent them all a little package in the mail & when they opened it up they found 1 newborn diaper & a piece of paper that read....

"You May Be Experiencing Déjà vu
But Really, You Should Be Excited About Baby Flurry #2."

And it had this pic at the bottom.

Oh well, it was a fun idea. :) So that's that!! I'll be sure & keep you abreast to the updates, changes & any news of Baby Flurry #2!! :)

Some of the sweetest things...

2011-02-15T22:54:00.000-06:00

come from innocent & precious children. This w/e I was bathing C & got a little tickle in my nose & sneezed (seems like I've been sneezing a lot these days) & out of his mouth pops "bless you mama"...my heart literally melted!!!!!!!! It was the sweetest thing I have ever heard & I will never forget that moment. Now C isn't really saying sentences these days...he says LOTS of words, loves to talk & tell you what everything is but 3 words all together is not very common. I guess I made such a deal about it (J was actually standing right there when it first happened) that last night he did it again after I sneezed & then kept saying it over & over...I so should have videoed it.

The rest of our w/e was pretty low-key. We had a last minute invite on Fri night to go eat @ the Tavern with Scott & Jenn. My bro wanted to take C to dinner with him & Cassie & a group of his friends that have a son that is close in age to C...C hadn't seen Simon in awhile & they had a great time. Justin's mom took C to see his great-grandmother on Sat afternoon which allowed me time to finally tackle my sewing machine & work on one of many projects I have on my list. So this is literally the first time for me to use my machine all by myself...or any sewing machine for that matter...I was just so proud I could get that darn bobbin thing to work! I know I still have so much more to learn about it, I mean all I did was a straight stitch on these burpcloths but it was still a great learning experience & hopefully I will continue to improve & not have to keep watching You Tube videos to figure out what I'm doing. :) So here are my masterpieces...def. not perfect but I think they turned out pretty well. Those darn burpcloths aren't made perfectly anyway. :)

Miss Maci Elizabeth Davis made her debut into the world yesterday on Valentine's Day! We went by the hospital today at lunch to see them. She is absolutely precious & looks just like her big sis! Congrats to Kerri & Daniel on another beautiful daughter!

Nothing exciting here

2011-02-09T22:32:00.000-06:00

except the white stuff falling outside right now!! I could watch it fall for hours. Not sure if it will actually cause delays for tom but it sure would be nice so we could maybe play in it for a bit before it melts.

C had his 3rd haircut...2nd for me to see since I was out of town for the last one...so of course I had to get pics. This was like 3 wks ago & it already looks like he needs another one...I guess his hair is starting to grow faster now. Before...

After...

Here I come

2011-02-07T07:32:00.000-06:00

After 2 reschedules last week I am finally headed to Indiana this morning. Hopefully everything will go smoothly & I should be home tomorrow before 5. We had an eventful w/e with little ones birthday parties so lots to update on but that won't be til I get back. I hope everyone has a great start to the week!

So much for...

2011-02-03T21:56:00.000-06:00

flying to Indiana today! Due to the weather here (tiny bit of snow, sleet, ice and rain) & INSANE amount of traffic everywhere I could not catch my flight in time...I seriously think B'ham turned into NYC today. If you were out & about around 2-3ish you know what I am talking about...cars stopped & not moving...that was the theme for the day. It usually takes me 20 min to get to the airport but this time it took me an hour & 1/2 & since I didn't get to leave work right when I wanted to I got to the airport right when my plane was probably lifting its wheels off the runway. I have to admit that I have lived in this city pretty much my whole life & know a lot of back roads but the weather had me beat today. Every road that I tried to take that wasn't an interstate/hwy was closed. It was miserable. Oh well, I wasn't meant to go today. I switched my flight to Sun night & doing my inspection on Mon. Of course, a guy that I work with that wants to go with me now wants to go Mon & come back Tues b/c of the Super Bowl....really!! Do you think I care about the Super Bowl?!!? Sorry but I'm not much for the NFL...just seems so generic. College football is much more my style. :) Anyway, I guess I'm just annoyed for the fact that I have already rebooked this trip twice & don't want to deal with it anymore. Ready to get up there & be done with it! I guess I'll figure that all out tomorrow. We have a busy w/e with 2 b'day parties & a baby shower which the b'day party on Sun I'll have to miss if I do go Sun. Decisions, decisions...at least tomorrow is Friday!!

McWane Your Brain

2011-02-02T21:14:00.000-06:00

Do y'all remember that commercial or ad they had going?! That seems so long along & makes me wonder just how long this place has been open...probably much longer than I realize. Aaaanyway, we are thoroughly enjoying our family membership there & took C the other w/e since it's been cold (except last w/e) & we can't play outside. C LOVES it there & they have so much to offer for him to do.

Probably the reason the poor monkey on the front of his outfit lost his little plastic eyes...

I somehow got him to wear the apron this time in the water area...thank goodness or he would've been soaked!

He loves the water & especially the part where the blocks float down & fall off a mini waterfall...his face just lights up & is so sweet!

So we were playing with the little impression things you know putting our hands through it whatever & J goes "put his face in it". At first I thought he would freak out & wonder what on earth I was doing but boy was I wrong...he LOVED it! You can tell he is laughing & I mean cackling while I'm doing it with his mouth open. I wish I could have had it on tape...must remember to bring the video camera next time.

This was my fav...if I could mold this & keep it forever I would!!

I think a shopping cart & train set might be in our future.

We'll be back again soon I'm sure!

We had a fabulous w/e!

2011-01-31T22:31:00.000-06:00

The weather could not have been more perfect this w/e! I just wish it could stay that way all the time...70 & sunny. My w/e started out with a much needed mexican dinner with the girls on Fri night. I got home just in time for bath time, reading & snuggling before bed with my little man. Sat. C went with his Papaw & Lala to lunch in Gadsden to visit with Lala's mom & celebrate her b'day. He was actually a surprise for her & they had a great time. As soon as he got home, we headed over to the local park to play. He had only napped a little in the car but seemed energized & I didn't want to waste the precious day inside. Sun. was spent at church & then I helped hostess a "sprinkle" for my friend Meagan who is having her 2nd boy in early March.

The diaper wreath I made...she has a safari animal theme in Levi's room.

The mom-to-be & her adorable banner.

Megs & her hostesses

Now I know y'all don't really care about pics of me & what's a post w/o pics of C anyway?! :) This was taken right after we got home from church...J took these pics & couldn't get the camera in time but C completely crawled through the middle part of the coffee table under the glass from one side to the next. Now I've seen our 10 lb cat crawl through but not my 30 lb toddler...what a nut! He never ceases to amaze me!!

I was actually supposed to be in Indiana tonight for work but if you've been watching the news/weather you probably saw that a huge & I mean HUGE snow/ice storm is coming through the whole midwest starting tonight thru Wed. They've said they will probably have to measure the snowfall in feet not inches. Not to mention there are supposed to be winds of 25 mph & with the temps in the teens that just sounds brutal! So I'm very thankful that we could reschedule for Fri b/c I was not wanting to get stuck in Fort Wayne, IN for days on end! The high is only supposed to be 18 though...these 60 degree days are almost over here too unfortunately. :(

Where have we been?!?!

2011-01-25T21:23:00.000-06:00

You've missed us, right?!!? :) HA totally kidding but I feel like I haven't blogged or even read blogs in YEARS when it's only been 2 weeks...there really hasn't been much going on with us except that we are National Champions :)...that is the #1 blog post I need to catch up on that is holding me back b/c I know it's going to be a LONG one! :) I already told J the other day that we are going to have to move the desk & computer upstairs (we already moved one of the desks & his multiple computer screens up here for him to work at home & still be able to hang with us) b/c it is diminishing my blogging since that is where I download all of my pics & it is like a dungeon or that's what I like to call it. It's cold, no windows & no one to talk so who would want to hang out down there?! Tax season is in full swing...boooo...J is working early & late these days. I've been busy with work...out of town & such & the weather has kept us indoors mostly...we did go to McWane center this past w/e which Carter can't get enough of that place! Much more to update...so check back soon!!

Ahhh Arizona!

2011-01-08T11:45:00.000-06:00

This place is gorgeous...I forget just how beautiful the mountains look in the background & all the neat scenery. So we got here yesterday a little after lunch. The plane was filled with orange & blue...we had a few War Eagle's over the loud speaker...it was an early departure so I don't think everyone was feeling the spirit like other planes we heard about from our friends we met out here. Those had cheers going on every 20 min or so the entire way...way to go for them...of course that probably would've gotten on my nerves about halfway there even though I love my team & all. :) We are staying in some condos in Scottsdale...& we are sharing two minivans between the 3 condos...yep sporting the minis & loving it! We did get to eat some In 'N Out burger for lunch yesterday...heaven. I thought those were only in Cali so it was a pleasant surprise to see & eat that. We went & hung out near the Fashion Mall yesterday...a really nice upscale part of Scottsdale. They had a sort of fan fare called the Bud Light Fiesta party with a huge field, stage with numerous bands, all sorts of games, drinks, food, etc. Lots going on here & fun to see all the AU fans!! WDE!!!!

1 week from right now...

2011-01-03T21:51:00.002-06:00

We will be in Glendale, Arizona sitting in our seats at University of Phoenix stadium for the National Championship game watching our Auburn Tigers hopefully clobber those Oregon Ducks!! And we CAN'T WAIT!!!!! :) We actually fly out in less than 4 days...I can't believe it's already here! What I'm really looking forward to is the change in climate!!! The highs here will be the lows there & it is supposed to be in the high 60's for most of the trip....that balmy weather is to die for! We had a little taste of that here on new years eve...70 & I was LOVING it!!! We will seriously miss our little buddy though...I always hate to leave him but with this kind of trip it just wouldn't work with a toddler & no babysitter. :) He is already talking about Tishy & Shashe...he just eats up their spoilage! :) To all my AU fans...WAAAAAR EAGLE & we hope to see you out there!!!!!!!

A new year, a new table

2011-01-02T21:25:00.000-06:00

Today we finally got our new kitchen table...a very long overdue kitchen table. We had one before but it was a "2-top" (in restaurant lingo) and was a pub table at that. This worked well with C in his highchair but he has so outgrown that thing & the only really good use he gets out of it now is to get away from the pups while he's eating. I was wondering how he'd react with this new change but he completely surprised me & hopped right in it like it had been there all along even before it was dinner time. He has used his booster seat before so I guess he knew which seat should be his & pulled the chair out & tried to climb in. Once we got him in & pushed him to the table, he was banging on it like this was nothing new. He even pushed his chair back up to the table once he got out...absolutely precious & what manners! :)

McWane Center

2011-01-01T21:46:00.000-06:00

Warning: There are LOTS of pics in the post...this place is 4 stories of fun so there is tons to do!

We went yesterday morning with a group of friends & their kiddos to the McWane Center downtown. C loved it which we knew he would & we went ahead & bought a yr membership...I know we'll get our money's worth.

Sweet Walker loved this space shuttle & didn't want to leave.

Callie & Carter playing in the sand...

David & C were wearing matching pants.

He was not loving the booties you had to wear over your shoes to get in the snow area.

He decided to taste the snow...right after the lady told me that it was the same material they use to make diapers...gross! It felt cool though.

This little girl asked me to take her picture & then asked if I thought C & her could be friends...then she started doing introductions, asking our names, etc...very friendly girl to say the least. :)

J & C decided to go ice fishing...

...but C had a better idea...

...why not be the fish?!?

In the winter wonderland upstairs they had a huge slide going down the escalator...

You had to be 3' to go down it which I'm pretty sure C is but the red line they had was a bit high...I guess they didn't care b/c he rode quite a few times & would've kept going if we didn't make him go downstairs to find everyone else.

We had so much fun & can't wait to go back again soon!!!!

The past few nights...

2010-12-29T21:21:00.000-06:00

We unfortunately had to go back to work this week...the holidays always go by way too fast! Every night this week we've had something going on, so I'm excited about a free night tom night, being off Friday & catching up on some sleep this w/e. Monday was my SIL Sara's b'day & we all went out with the kiddos to eat Chinese. Here are a few pics of Hadley (since I didn't really get any on Christmas) & Carter man having a gay ole time! They play so well together & were being so sweet.

Last night I helped throw a "sprinkle" for my sweet friend Kerri who is having her 2nd baby girl, Maci, in February. We had a great turnout for a Tues night during the holidays & it was a lot of fun catching up with everyone! Too bad I never pulled the camera out to take any pics...oh well.

Tonight we went to dinner with some friends and to visit with Katie while she is in town from NYC for the holidays. Carter got to hang with Christian & they were so cute at the end of the table. Even though they are about a year apart I think they entertained each other very well.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

2010-12-26T22:13:00.001-06:00

But the fire is so delightful,

And since we've no place to go, Let is snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

There wasn't a ton of snow but enough for J to make a miniature snowman! We loved having a white Christmas but too bad it didn't stick until today. C wasn't gung-ho about the snow or maybe the fact that he had to wear all those layers...I just loved looking out the window & seeing it all come down.

A few decoration pics...these have been up since the end of Nov & you can't see it but my DIY wreath is so dried out now.

We got C his own little real tree for the landing...

I thought my first bow tree topper I've ever made turned out pretty well...

Christmas Eve....

We went to the first service at our church @ 3 which was slammed. Then my Dad & Stepmom (Nana & Papa) came over around 5 to do our Christmas together. Later that night I went to the candlelight service at my old church with my mom, brother & his g-friend Cassie. The music starts at 10pm, the service is at 10:30 & it doesn't end until just before midnight. I absolutely love the music there & the singing of Silent Night by candlelight. We have a tradition to drink eggnog afterwards which we did at our house & opened a few presents too. It was a late night but a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Opening presents with Nana & Papa...

He opened this gift & immediately put the pants around his neck...silly child.

We were pleasantly surprised to see Santa come down our street on the firetruck! We had heard he was coming around this year (first time I think) & thought he was just going down the main Riverchase Parkway & a few other streets. We had planned to go to the end of the road to see him but then we got absorbed in opening presents & spending time with the fam & once we heard him we thought we had missed it...C was in awe...I think we all enjoyed it!

After my Dad left, we hung out for a bit & C kept going to sit inb/w J & Jason...I guess he was trying to be one of the guys...it was precious.

Christmas morning...

Santa came to visit & brought a rollercoaster, a police car rocker, a ton of books & other fun things.

This is how he started out, just pushing it, but he got the hang of riding it after a little bit...now we can't stop him...he loves it! And we have to be a "brake" in the kitchen so he doesn't fly into the fridge!

Is anyone else's toddler doing this?!? We think he's got to be teething for those 2 yr molars...he chews on everything...his clothes, blankets, etc.

Sweet Audrey

I think they enjoyed opening each other's gifts more than their own.

I wish I had gotten a pic of the 3 cousins together...this is the best one I got...of their backs! :)

I guess Audrey loved the cow rocker we got her...I love her expression!

C got a fancy tricycle from Papaw & Lala!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas...we sure did!!

Our party filled w/e!

2010-12-23T10:11:00.001-06:00

This past w/e was typical for this time of year with lots of holiday parties & we also had a sweet little boy's first b'day party inb/w! First off was Friday night where we went to our 2nd tacky xmas party of the week. We all wore the same get up from the party on Wed. night...different ppl so no one would know but us right?! :) This was at our friends Emily & Jason's house...C found a nice cozy spot here...

And then I caught him with their remote...he just swiped it off the table next to the chair.

I mean is C a ham for the camera or what?!? He loved sitting with Scott & Jenn.

Me & my buddy

And now for the b'day party on Sat am...

To say my child was obsessed with this battery powered ride-on train is a complete understatement...if he didn't already have a bunch of Santa gifts I might have added this one to the list, but he'll have to wait 'til his b'day in March.

Wyatt, the birthday boy!

The party was held at their neighborhood clubhouse which had a pretty fun playground.

And the final party was held at our house on Sat. night for the "5th Quarter" tailgate crew! We had a blast...literally...someone...I'm not naming names, Jared...brought these fun Auburn confetti shooters...let's just say I'm still finding confetti in all sorts of places. Our incredibly talented friend Tom put together a video of AU highlights from this epic season & also a ton of pics of all of us tailgating, during the games, etc. The video is "to be continued" as the Nat'l Championship game highlights & pics from our escapades in Arizona will have to be added. Then we'll all get a copy to cherish forever. :) Thanks Tom again for all the precious hours you spent on that...it's awesome!! We also played a devilish game of Dirty Santa. I didn't take a ton of pics since I was the hostess with the mostess but here are some good posed pics by the tree.

Zoolight Safari

2010-12-22T21:41:00.000-06:00

I have to say our trip tonight was a bit of a bust. I originally thought tonight would be a great night b/c it wasn't supposed to rain & it was still supposed to be warmer...well the cold came thru with the chilly wind which didn't make for a fun trip to the zoo! Now I'm regretting not going last night when they talked about rain that didn't make it until the middle of the night...oh well, you can't really predict the weather. C just wasn't feeling it either which didn't help. We did get to ride the train & see a bunch of the lights. We hope to go back after Christmas when our nieces are in town & all the cousins can go together.

This is before the train was even moving...

Chick-fil-a even had their own light display...

Too bad this turned out blurry but they had a "real" Santa way out in the woods waving as you rode by on the train.

And our failure at getting a pic in front of the blowup scene.

Yummy treats!

2010-12-21T23:10:00.000-06:00

Last night was spent baking some goodies for Carters' wonderful teachers at school. I did this last year as well see HERE and changed it up a bit this year with oreo fudge instead of oreo balls & ooey-gooey cake instead of rice krispie treats. The other two are cinnamon bars & this fun stuff called Fool's toffee...I'm happy to share recipes if anyone is interested. I love baking more than cooking so this is a treat for me too!

Our Christmas card

2010-12-19T22:35:00.000-06:00

Well hopefully most everyone has received their card by now...see pic at the top of the blog. I think it turned out pretty well except when I showed it to J & he said it looked like C's head was floating...u can't see his neck so he said it looks like his face was photoshoped in....great. Just what I wanted to hear after I spent all that time & $ on them. All & all I liked it so hopefully you did too! Here are just a few outtakes from the 2nd & final photo shoot...I really wanted an outdoor pic but I guess there's always next year! :) The last one is my fav...that devious face while he is standing, & knows he shouldn't be, in the rocking chair.

Hammer time

2010-12-16T23:37:00.000-06:00

Last night we went to a little get together with some of Justin's work ppl that threw a "tacky Christmas" party. J & I already had sweaters from another party we went to last yr but I had to come up with something for C to wear. Now this was easier than I realized b/c I came across a few things in his closet that...bless her heart...my mom gave him to wear (obviously not together). The turtleneck isn't so bad but those hammer pants are hilarious & J about fell out when he first saw them...the thick elastic around the ankle is just screaming 80's. Well at least he got to wear them right?!? :)

He loved chasing the two dogs around...

Their couch was the best jumping/lounging couch EVER according to C.

Sweet Hannah was the only other little person there...she was the one he played golf with awhile back at this same house.

Well I am off work tom. to prepare for a Christmas party we are hosting at our house on Sat. night & to work on some more shopping hopefully. We have another tacky party to go to tom. night, all 3 of us had work/school parties today & we have a b'day party to go to on Sat. am so we are going to be partied out once this w/e is all over!! Happy last w/e before Christmas to everyone!

Geez I can't win for losing

2010-12-14T23:07:00.000-06:00

So I finally got the glass fixed on my car today (new windshield & front passenger door window) & then a guy rear ends me on the way home from work!!!! REALLY, I mean really!! Now it was only just a fender bender...no real damage on my bumper except a few scratches but still. That's 2 police reports in my possession within 5 days...of course neither were my fault, but oh what a pain. I'm going to get the estimate on the vandalism damage to the car tom. so hopefully it'll all be over soon. I've got too many other things to focus my efforts on than this junk! We have a really busy rest of the week & w/e...lots of fun posts ahead I'm sure!

In other news...C started opening my mom's presents early (there are way too many to open in one day :))...check out his new "Elton" shades!

This one's for Shannon...

2010-12-13T22:28:00.000-06:00

Look what I found on Farter oh I mean Carter's daily sheet today...ha!

In those jeans...

2010-12-12T23:11:00.000-06:00

Anybody remember that Ginuwine song from oh maybe 10 yrs ago...can't help my R&B roots...takes me back to Boyz II Men, 112 & Jagged Edge...ahhh but I digress. Carter got to sport his first pair of jeans this w/e with the winter weather & all...this was actually yesterday before the cold & snow flurries came in but I thought he looked cute...not sure why he hasn't owned a pair before but I decided it was about time!

Outtakes

2010-12-11T22:33:00.000-06:00

Here are some of my favs from the pics we first took of C for the Christmas card...obviously I didn't use any of these (don't want to spoil the actual card)...he had just come down with a cold that day & was just not his chipper self. We ended up getting some fun ones in his rocking chair by the tree this past week which I found a winner from...they're supposed to be here by Th if not earlier (shutterfly is normally really quick) so I hope to have them out ASAP! Hope everyone is having a wonderful w/e!!

Tis the Season...for stealing

2010-12-10T23:45:00.000-06:00

Yep that's my car...after my window was bashed in with a golfclub to get my GPS & radar detector...oh & my make-up!! I was parked at work (at the Galleria towers) on the top level of the parking deck. I had actually taken a really late lunch & got back to the office about 4:15 & this only happened maybe 30 min after that b/c a Hoover cop had pulled up there & parked around 5. One of my sweet co-workers called to break the news to me when he was going to his car & saw mine like this...mine was parked right by the stairs. They used a 9-iron...the head actually broke off in the car & cracked my windshield on the way. The cop took it hoping to possibly find fingerprints on it but he said it wasn't likely. To say glass was everywhere is an understatement...J just got finished shop-vacing it...probably the cleaniest the car has ever been! I'm sure shards will keep appearing for awhile though...it's virtually impossible to get it all. You can tell they just bashed, grab & ran b/c they completely missed the ipod sitting right below the radio...but of course they grabbed my precious make-up...I think I was more upset about that than anything! I'm sure they just saw a little pink zip-up bag & thought it could have some goodies in it...they were sorely mistaken. I've had the same make-up bag for years & loved it...not to mention how much I had accumulated & how expensive it all is...oh well that's what insurance is for right?! I grabbed a few necessities at the mall tonight & I'll figure the rest out later. Speaking of the mall, we had originally planned to take C to see Santa tonight but after this fiasco I thought maybe it wasn't a good night to do it. I realized I'm not going to let this mess ruin our night so we went & had a blast!

We started out with Santa (no line barely which was shocking) which didn't go as well as I had hoped...last year was perfect but he was only about 9 mos...this year not so much. He was fine until I plopped him in Old St. Nick's lap & all we could get was this...

My bro & his g-friend Cassie came to hang too...C loves his Uncle Jason!

Ready for Santa...or so we thought.

Now he loved riding in the car buggy thing...

Fascinated by the glass ceiling...

We rode the carousel...Cupid actually.

This year they have a new thing...the Choo Choo Express train. C kept going "choo choo"...he loved it!

Didn't I just mention...

2010-12-09T22:27:00.001-06:00

...about how we CAN'T WAIT until Coco is no longer a puppy so she'll quit chewing up & getting into stuff...prime example. So I guess when I locked her in her crate today I didn't latch both latches very well b/c when J got home at lunch he found this...

...yes that would be Christmas presents shredded to pieces all over the floor & not to mention what he found outside when he first got home. I get a call that goes...

J: "Did you really leave her out?!? "...in his angry, irritated voice
A: "what?!? What do you mean...no I know I locked her up."
J: "Well somehow she got out & there is stuff strewn all over the yard...stuff I've never seen before."
A: As I'm giggling..."She must have gotten into the presents"
J: "I haven't even been inside yet but I don't even want to know what it looks like."

So I have come to the conclusion that she hates when we leave her and she tries to mutilate anything she can find while we're gone, I guess to get back at us...it's great, let me tell you. And don't think that I have been diligent & already bought & wrapped gifts...no that is my dedicated mother that brought ALL of her Christmas presents over at Thanksgiving wrapped & ready to go under the tree. Sure makes my tree look great but I guess Coco sniffed out her presents & many others & decided to open them early. Her nose is incredible & she had to get through the baby gate to get to the tree which she mastered recently...lifting the handle with her nose...sneaky little dog. Shockingly there is only one present I need to replace...the others were either pet presents, a photo key chain for me that I can't even find, or presents that survived the terror & didn't quite get fully unwrapped. So I'll be double & probably triple checking her latches on her crate EVERY time I lock her up now!

When the cat's away...

2010-12-08T23:23:00.000-06:00

...the mice will play, right?!? So I get home from bible study...the one night J bathes C & I find this...

Ahhh funny Daddy...C has bath crayons that he loves to play with that wipe right off & HE supposedly wrote this according to Daddy...uhhh huh! :)

Surprise!!!

2010-12-07T23:30:00.000-06:00

Sunday our good friend Daniel turned the big 3-0 & his sweet wife Kerri threw him a surprise party at Michael's (a restaurant by the Galleria) to celebrate! My dear brother came over to babysit while we went to eat & visit with some of our friends we don't get to see that often. It was a great time...too bad I don't have many pics to show for it. Here is D with his cake...what a good sport wearing the hat!

Random side note...Coco (our crazy puppy) turned 1 on Sunday too...we can't wait til she is out of the puppy phase (I know we've probably got at least another yr before that)...she got a hold of J's hat & wallet last week...that wasn't a pretty sight. :)

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to one of my best friends mom, Debbie or Mama C!!!! We love you!!

SEC champs equals Nat'l Championship Game!!!

2010-12-06T23:45:00.000-06:00

WOOOHOOO...how about those Tigers!!! What a blow out...I can't believe we beat them as much as we did & who would've ever expected we'd have our 2nd string in by the 4th quarter!! I have to admit I kind of got bored during the game...I caught myself playing with my phone more than watching it! Ha! Don't get me wrong, I am super pumped that we won & proud of how well we did, I just prefer a closer game where it is a real competition b/w the two (like more of our games this year). We had a great time...and of course we CAN'T WAIT to head to Glendale for the national championship game!! I am so mesmerized with how great a season we have had...no one could have predicted this but we'll take it!! :)

I will admit that we booked our flights to Phoenix a while back...I was a little nervous that we were going to "jinx" them but did it anyway since flights were so cheap then & we knew we could just move them to wherever the bowl was that we were going to. We did buy tickets after the Iron Bowl but also knew we could sell those if we needed to. We are heading out there with a big group...all of our wonderful tailgating buddies. :) J & all the other guys are working on our sleeping arrangements right now...trying to decide between renting a huge house for everyone with fun stuff like a pool (you know it's going to be around the 70's while we are out there...sounds like heaven to me :)) or just renting some smaller condos next to each other & closer to the social scene. So we'll see how it all turns out!

Here are the pics from our w/e...

Jenn's sweet mom came to pick us up at her place & drove us back downtown to their hotel & then we all walked to the Cocina tailgate...we found this fun billboard on the way & had to get some pics!

Scott, Jenn, me & J

The group tailgating...

First time inside the GA dome.

The end of the game with the firework noises & streamers coming down.

SC only took up about a 1/4 of the stadium & they didn't last long, but the AU fans didn't leave even after the game was over.

I had to get a shot of the paparazzi chasing Cam all around the field...it was hilarious to watch!

The trophy ceremony...

I didn't get a good shot of it but this was on the jumbo screen right behind us...it was Cam doing snow angels in the confetti. :)

We met up with some of the crew after the game.

To all my dedicated AU fans...see you in Glendale!!! WAR EAGLE!!!!

On our way to see the tigers play!

2010-12-03T18:03:00.000-06:00

We are on the road headed to ATL for the SEC championship game!!! What a season we've had & we're only 4 quarters away from heading to the BCS national championship game in Glendale!! Let's just hope we can pull it through & beat SC again tom...oh how I love my AU Tigers!!

So a little update on our week...
Carter came down with a cold on Sun...the day I was hoping to get his xmas cards done. Poor thing had a terrible runny nose & watery eyes...we did get out & take some pics but my sweet, smiley C was just not feeling it...that's a whole nother post. Monday he was worse & had a fever so he stayed home with J...by Tues he was back at school & is much better now. He is headed to Shashe's (Justin's mom) house for the w/e for some good fun, spoiled grandmother time...we will miss him so very much though!!

The Christmas decorations are out & in full effect! We've added a few things this year including lights out on the front porch & C's own little real tree up on the landing...pics to come. Lucky of course had to inspect everything we got out & I found her here...

That's actually one of the bags that the ballpit balls came in...she'll get inside anything she can fit in.

The rest of the week I was busy collecting things for our Angel Tree child, Kamaurie...we had to turn it in yesterday. I should have taken a pic of his loot...oh well. Monday was girls night too & Jenny rode with me & we played a little dirty santa...I ended up with cash which you can't go wrong with. Jenny flew back to LA on Tues :( but she'll be back for xmas...yea! I finally got to go to my bible study on Wed night...it's been awhile b/c of work stuff, our anniversary, etc. Addy was induced today & I am just waiting to hear about little Jake's arrival...I'm actually hoping he is already here & she just hasn't been able to send out anything yet. I can't wait to see his sweet face & hopefully get up to Nashville to meet him soon!

Ok well that just about sums up our week! I hope everyone has a wonderful w/e & to those AU fans out there...WAR EAGLE!!!!!!!!

Mama C's surprise b'day party!

2010-11-29T23:15:00.000-06:00

Jenny came home from LA on Thanksgiving & in the midst of all the holiday festivities put together a wonderful surprise 60th b'day party for her sweet momma on Sat night! Carter came with me for the first part to play with Jenny's niece Josie (they are only a mo & 1/2 apart) & visit with Shannon's sweet boys, Parker & Hudson. He had a great time pushing Josie's buggy in circles around the house & chasing each other...they were super sweet.

Jenny & C

Parker & Hudson in the background...couldn't get any great shots.

C just making himself comfy on the hearth...

Me & my buddy

Jenny, me & Shannon

Mama C & Josie...about to blow out her candles.

The yummy cake & fun sparkler candles.

Shutterfly's 50 Free Christmas Cards!

2010-11-29T22:54:00.000-06:00

Shutterfly is running a promotion until 12/31/10 that if you have a blog & write about your experience with them, you'll get 50 free Christmas cards...who doesn't love a great deal & anything that is free!! I got an email about this & since I knew I would more than likely order my cards from there I figured, why not?! There are so many options on their site to choose from...check it out HERE...I don't know how I'm going to be able to narrow it down to 1!! Here is our Christmas card from 2008...Carter was in my belly. :)

And I can't tell you how many picture books I have made with Shutterfly...if you sign up for email notifications they send you all sorts of promotional codes, free photo books, cards, etc. They have promotions going on all the time & you can always find something you'll love on their site. Here is a photo calendar I made of Carter's first year for J to have at his office...if you want to see all of the photo calendars they offer go HERE.

They have other holiday cards, birthday cards, invitations...you name it, they've got it! Here is C's birth announcement...

I absolutely love Shutterfly...I think it is by far the best photo sharing site out there!! I can't wait to start working on my Christmas card for this year...depending on how many pics I put on it (I usually just use one) I have well over 500 cards to look through so I better get started. :)

All we do is win, win, win...

2010-11-28T23:42:00.000-06:00

no matter what!!! That is Auburn's pre-game "theme" song this year...has been all year & it fits perfectly if I do say so myself. :) So very proud of Auburn for their incredible season so far & for getting to 12-0 now after their miraculous win over Bama...I still can't believe we came back & won that game 28-27! It was a great game to watch...just as the Iron Bowl should be! We got together with some friends on Fri to watch the game...the girls...
Justin, me, Chris & Karlin

Karlin & I

Jenn, Karlin, me, Chris & Daniel

We had a great time & can't wait to go cheer on our AU Tigers in the SEC championship in ATL this w/e!! WAR EAGLE!!!!

Spending quality time with the cousins

2010-11-24T22:58:00.000-06:00

Tonight Justin's dad, stepmom, sister & fam came to hang out at our house for a little family get together. Tomorrow they will be spending the day with Jay's family & our moms & my brother will be coming to our house for Thanksgiving. We had a great time visiting & catching up as well as letting the kids play...the ball pit was a favorite.

If I could've only gotten to the camera fast enough you would've seen these two smashed together in the doorway being as silly as ever!

Look at that sweet face...our precious niece Audrey!

Hamming it up for the camera as usual...

Our first attempt at a cousin pic...

Always 2 looking & 1 not...

Sword fight with old wrapping paper rolls anyone?!?

Aren't they the cutest?!?

And another attempt at a cousin pic...

Close enough...I love Hadley with her arms around their shoulders...so sweet!

Birthdays galore...

2010-11-21T22:07:00.000-06:00

First off, Happy Birthday today to my good buddy Sara!! We are headed out with some friends tom. night for mexican & margaritas to celebrate. :) And tomorrow is another one of my good buddy Shannon's b'day...just a quick shout out to her...you farted!!!!!!! For those blog readers that are on the outside...don't even ask. You should see the card I sent her...Shannon it is WAY too much fun to find the "perfect" card for you! :)

The other b'day of the w/e was my wonderful brother's b'day that was Fri...Happy Birthday Bro! I love you! He had a busy w/e so we got to take him & his g-friend Cassie to lunch today after church. It was a gorgeous day so I snapped some shots of my mom & C for her xmas card too. I had hoped to take ours of C as well but he took a late, long nap so we ran out of daylight. It is still supposed to be nice this w/e so we'll hopefully get them done then...Christmas will be here before we know it! :)

Funny story of the w/e...
Last night we were playing with C in the living room aka his playroom & a ball to one of his toys rolled out across the foyer hardwood & up under the chest of drawers...& then a little chipmunk slowly crawled out on the side! We were obviously shocked to see him & have no idea when he got there...we do know who is guilty of bringing him in to play with...Lucky...but normally the dogs act really odd when there's an animal in the house. Oh well, we propped open the front door & scurried him out which he went out much easier than most thank goodness.

Happy Thanksgiving week to everyone!!

SEC West Champs...11-0!

2010-11-18T23:00:00.000-06:00

We started off the w/e at the opening game of the basketball season in the brand new arena.

These blow-up things were absolutely hilarious! They have funny names like Dennis Frogman, Shaquille O'Seal...check out the site HERE

Chick-fil-A did a promo where they dropped these parachutes from the rafters...I thought it was kind of neat...too bad I didn't get one.

Ahhh Gameday...

Jenn & I

Jeni & I

Emily & I

Jenn, Carolyn, me & Brooke

Most of the tailgating crew...

Student section had orange shakers this time & of course we went over & grabbed us some after the game. We have quite the collection of solid navy & solid orange now. :)

The bald eagle

Gotta love some Cam & Aubie!

Scott, Justin, Jay, Jared and Tom

Let the karaoke begin...

Tristan def. knew how to karaoke & dougie...

It was a fabulous w/e weather & all & even though we'll miss tailgating in our favorite town, we are ready to head to ATL to play SC for the SEC championship!! Oh & hopefully beat bama on the way...love you bammer friends & family! :)

3 years ago today...

2010-11-17T23:16:00.000-06:00

was one of the most perfect days of my life...I married the greatest friend a girl could ever ask for. I am so thankful to share this life with him & especially for our precious child. It is so easy to take things for granted but these are the special days to sit back & appreciate just how lucky we are. I can't wait to see what is in store for us next & for many, many more years to come! We had a wonderful date night tonight at Fox Valley for dinner...YUM!! & then we decided to stay in & watch a movie here since we have had the same Netflix for about 3 mos now..."P.S. I love you"...what a sweet, sweet movie...and of course J didn't make it thru...not much of a guy movie anyway. :)

And if the hubs wasn't already thoughtful enough...these were delivered to my office today...

The pics sooo don't give them justice...they were gorgeous & the iris' were the perfect purple...my fav color!! I loved them...thank you J for all that you do...I LOVE YOU!!

Rosey cheeks

2010-11-16T14:39:00.000-06:00

Last night we ran into Verizon to get new phones...J has been begging me to go for days & I've kept putting it off. I don't really need a new phone but he wanted something other than his bb (his work has changed what they will reimburse for) so he got a droid & my work only supports bb so I just upgraded my phone & I'm so glad I did. It's amazing how many new options/upgrades they can do to a phone in a year...plus it has 3G so a much faster processor. So now we've got the family plan...I'm sure Carter man will be added to that much sooner than we realize.

Here are a few silly pics of C goofing off in the store...yes that was my child running around like a mad man going "ahhhh"...as much as I tried to stop him. :) The sales lady kept calling him "rosey cheeks"...he loved this little step to "jump" off of.

And when I asked him to smile for me, I got this...

Teach me how to dougie

2010-11-11T22:44:00.000-06:00

Just a quick shout out to my tailgating buddies...the 5th quarter! This w/e will be the last home game for the season & I sure will miss it once it's over. We have such amazing food, fun & fellowship that it makes me sad to see it come to an end. Hopefully there will be more to come this season just in other locales such as ATL & possibly Glendale...only time will tell!! :) I'm looking forward to an exciting w/e & an absolutely gorgeous day down on the loveliest village on the plains...WAR EAGLE!!!

Happy 30th Ginger!

2010-11-10T14:50:00.000-06:00

Last Th night was G's 30th b'day & a couple of her friends put together a big bash at Superior Grill to celebrate the big day!! I still can't believe that we are already to this point in our lives...I'm just happy that it was her & not me...ha! My day is coming...t-minus 9 months & counting until I turn the big 3-0 but who really cares...you're only as young as you feel right?!? :) We had such a great time...I always do with these girls!

Addy's baby shower

2010-11-09T21:38:00.000-06:00

On Sunday morning, Jeni, Amy & I made the trek to Nashville to show our excitement for Addy & her upcoming arrival of little Jake Kelly Sullivan! We had a lot of fun putting together a little shower for her at her friend Alicia's house. The food table & clothes line...

My besties - Jeni, Addy & Amy

Addy's SIL Jodie, her mom, Addy & her other SIL Bridgett

His precious letters that perfectly match his bedding.

We played the "guess how big her belly is" by cutting your string to the length you think it is around her belly & see who gets the closest...

And her SIL won the game...go figure since she's only 2 wks apart from Addy in her pregnancy. :)

I realized we were wearing the same color scheme...

The wreath I made for the nursery.

I can't wait to get my hands on little Jake!! Congrats to Addy & her second baby boy!!!

A brisk day in God's country

2010-11-08T21:38:00.000-06:00

Justin really wasn't up for driving down to AU for the game this w/e...there was yardwork to catch up on & we've been out of town basically every w/e for the past 2 months. I still really wanted to go & take C even if it was going to be pretty chilly. My good friend Sara offered to go with me & we had a great time even if we froze part of the time!

C's "bed head" from riding in the car...

Heading into the game...

This is what kept him entertained...food!

He was not really feeling the group picture taking.

All & all he did pretty well & we stayed til about 5 min into the 3rd quarter. I was disappointed that we didn't get a pic with Aubie...we tried 2 times but he would run right by us every time. Maybe next year. C stood on my lap a lot of times & loved dancing as soon as heard the band start playing. Luckily there was a kid sitting right in front of us b/c C was having fun kicking his chair back (as much as I tried to stop him)...he does this in the car all the time. I'm happy to hear that the weather is going to be warmer this w/e...that wind was brutal at times. War Eagle!!

Do the ABC dance

2010-11-05T19:53:00.000-05:00

I have no idea where this came from...

Haircut time!

2010-11-04T14:20:00.000-05:00

I unfortunately couldn't be at Carter's 2nd haircut appt yesterday since I didn't fly in until 6:15 last night. It was the only late appt Jaime had until Nov. 17 or later so I took what we could get. He's been needing a haircut for awhile (I trim the back & bangs every now & then but it was really growing over his ears now) & the biggest driving force was the fact that my sweet baby BOY was called a girl "look how cute SHE is" numerous times at the pumpkin patch on Sun...I swore to J right then & there that I would get him in ASAP to see Jaime! I asked J to get some before & after pics for me (b/c that's what I would've done had I been here) & since he was so thrilled to do that for me...ha...I really wasn't thinking it was going to happen but lo & behold look what I found on the camera today...

Before...oh & I can't begin to tell you how much this pic looks EXACTLY like Justin did when he was this age...

And after...much better!

Our little virgin Carter

2010-11-03T16:16:00.000-05:00

Well I'm bored sitting here at the airport on my layover in Tampa...I'm actually a row away from where I sat a week ago today...actually at this exact same time...shall we say deja vu?!? Ready to be home except I'm not looking forward to the rainy, cold weather...I'm such a weenie when it comes to temperatures below say 60 degrees & I know the lows are going below freezing by Fri am...boooooo...but I digress. So below are a few pics of our cutie patootie being as silly as ever...HE put the blanket on his head & just left it there...and he looks so darn serious that it just cracks me up!

Trick-or-Treat!

2010-11-02T19:24:00.000-05:00

First off, I can't begin to tell you how much C LOVED trick-or-treating!!! He couldn't get enough of it!! We went out for about 30 min & as soon as we walked in the door he wanted back out for MORE, so of course we went...we had so much fun & he really got the hang of it quickly! He doesn't even really eat candy but he loved seeing all the neighbors & grabbing candy from their bowls. He tried to go in a few houses too...it was pretty funny!

Carter wasn't really up for getting his pic taken before we headed out...
I love this pic of him holding his hat out & Lucky stopping by for a visit.

This is at our next door neighbors house Paul & Pat...he literally walked right in the door as soon as he opened it...

This is the second house we went to...

He actually held onto his treat bag some of the time or really he would grab it & shake it up & down until candy came flying out!

We ran into our across the street neighbors & went house to house with them for a bit...Hanna is their daughter & she's 3...she was dressed up as cinderella.

Hanna getting excited!

The pumpkin patch

2010-11-01T23:10:00.000-05:00

Carter was thankfully better on Sunday so we headed out to the pumpkin patch right after lunch.

C ready to go get a "poppy" aka pumpkin...

He loved the pot-bellied pigs!

Petting the goats...

And the pony.

He wasn't too sure about the teepees.

The sunflower fields were gorgeous!

On our way to get a pumpkin in the covered wagon.

C couldn't keep his eyes off the tractors so I thought he might like to get on one...which he did.

And we rode the "twactor twain".

Our family shot...we had a great time!

P.S. I am flying to Ft. Lauderdale tom. for work (yes I am OVER traveling these days) but I hope to have Halloween night (trick-or-treating) up here ASAP. I can't believe it's already Nov!!!

Carter's latest trick

2010-10-31T10:25:00.000-05:00

Well he's been doing this for weeks but I keep forgetting to take the video camera with me when we head to the park...I remembered Th night though. Anytime any "big" kids are at the park C loves to watch them & try to mimic whatever they do...I think that's where he learned to do this...

Sorry it's getting dark...he's about to fly off it now...getting so big.

I love what he says going up the slide...so sweet! Then you get to hear his frustration once he gets to the top & has trouble with his feet. :)

Yesterday we were supposed to head to Mobile for our niece Audrey's 1st b'day party but unfortunately we didn't get to go b/c C caught some sort of stomach bug. We tried to get out of town twice but after throwing up in the car both times, going through two carseats & multiple clothes changes we decided it wasn't the best idea to try to drive 4 hours just for the day. We really hated to miss the party & are SO sad we couldn't make it!!!! You only turn 1 once but oh well what could we do. Thank goodness we didn't try to go b/c I can't tell you how many loads of laundry I did...I couldn't keep up with how fast he was going through things. Not to mention he started getting sick the other way & that was a whole nother ball game. Today we are better but we skipped church so not to get any other little ones sick & we are hopefully headed to the pumpkin patch this afternoon & of course trick-or-treating later. More fun halloween pics to come!

Boo at the Zoo

2010-10-29T23:05:00.001-05:00

Let me preface this post by saying that I took way too many pics tonight...over 100 actually so lots to document here.

So here is the beloved costume...a clown...a whimsical/mad hatterish kind of clown or at least it is to me. All & all he likes it except the hat which doesn't fit anyway...shocker even if it is a 3/4T size costume. The only thing that's missing are some big red dots on his cheeks...we'll save that for trick-or-treating.

Waiting on the train...

Not so sure about this train thing...

"Don't make me stand on this thing by myself"

On the hayride...

Being silly on the hayride...

And we lost our shoe...Daddy went back & got it though.

Waiting in line for the carousel...

He was extra silly in this line...

You wouldn't be able to tell but he LOVED it...he kept going "wee, wee"!

What he was originally supposed to dress up as...a lion.

We all had so much fun & can't wait for next year!!

Tonight at Publix

2010-10-28T22:50:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've put a pic up here of C in the racecar buggy at Publix yet...I know I've got a few on my phone. Tonight we went in after the park to grab a few things & some candy for school tomorrow b/c they are having a pizza party & trick-or-treating room to room. They get to wear their costumes too which should be fun. We have a very eventful & jam-packed w/e ahead of us so lots of fun pics to come. I also have 2 videos from tonight but I can't remember how to download them into windows movie maker...I have to change the file type somehow...and I've given up at this point...oh well that's what I get for waiting so long to put another one up! Happy Halloween w/e to all!

Where's Justin???

2010-10-25T22:58:00.000-05:00

So today on one of the "top stories" on espn.go.com for the BCS standings was a picture of Cam Newton after the game when he jumped up on the brick wall at the bottom of the stands & what do you know...there was Justin too! I'm actually behind him but since I'm so vertically challenged you can't really see me except a bit of my face & my shaker...Justin sticks out like a sore thumb though...his expression cracks me up! It's a bit of a "where's waldo?" but he is to the left of Cam in the middle of the pic with a navy blue shirt & hat on...go third row up from the bottom if you still can't find him. (Also I think if you click on the pic it will blow it up bigger depending on what kind of computer screen you have.) I thought it was kind of neat so I figured I would share it with you loyal blog readers. WDE!!!! :)

I am off to Tampa in the am to do some site inspections on 3 properties. Looking forward to visiting with my aunt, cousin & her family tomorrow night while I'm in town! I'll be back Wed night before C-man goes to bed but I still will miss my boys!!

LSWho?!?

2010-10-24T21:55:00.000-05:00

Ahhh another gorgeous day down on the plains & I am so very proud of our team & what they've accomplished!! 8-0 is pretty impressive & now ranked #1 in the BCS...let's just hope we can keep it up!

So one of my good friends Sara & her brother & SIL came to tailgate with us...we talked earlier in the week about what food we were bringing, times and our tailgate spot but we never thought to ask what the other was wearing...it was fun being twinkies! :)

Jeni & I

Ginger stopped by for a bit...Tom wanted his pic taken too.

We had to get a pic with these guys...

Group tailgate pic minus a few...

Our favorite QB didn't make it by the tailgate...I wasn't holding my breath & I'm sure he had better places to be celebrating his 8th victory in a row! Tristan did come by again & I made sure to get a pic with him this time...he is such a nice guy.

Girl pic with Tristan.

Nicholas & Justin

And last but not least...I'm already not really fond of adults wearing crocs (I know they are super comfy so not to offend anyone that has some) but this might be really pushing it...

It's great to be an Auburn tiger!

2010-10-18T21:06:00.000-05:00

As usual we had a fabulous time down on the plains this w/e watching Auburn defeat Arkansas! Ryan, Julia & her parents hung out at the tailgate with us which was fun...it was the perfect day for football. The game was madness but I'm starting to get used to these insane games...they really are so much better to watch than a one-sided victory!

The usual group shot didn't turn out as well as others...hopefully Jenn got a better one than I did.

Just one of many of ~~our heisman trophy winner~~ Cam Newton's touchdowns! :)

Supposedly he might make an appearance at our tailgate next week...I won't get my hopes up but Tristan Davis (he used to play for AU) did come to our tailgate (sorry didn't get a pic) & said he could probably get him there. We are always the last ones out tailgating in the "Tailgate Guys" area hence the tailgate name "The 5th quarter". Our tailgate did get a little air time on CBS this past w/e during a commercial clip about 15 min into the game talking about the SEC, its rivalries, tailgating, etc...Justin was on it but you wouldn't have known it was him unless you knew to look for him...it was a back & forth screaming match b/w some hog fans & us (staged of course)...still fun to say we were on TV. I know I owe y'all Kentucky pics...there are SO many but I hope to get those up in the next day or two. WAR EAGLE!!!

It's a no-go...

2010-10-14T22:10:00.000-05:00

on the lion costume. We tried it on 2 different nights this week & he just wasn't feeling it...I think he feels confined with the elastic on the wrists & he isn't loving the fur around the wrists or especially around the face...I didn't even get a pic of his breakdown as soon as you put the hood on. The first pics make him look like he might wear it...don't let that sweet smile fool you...it only lasts a few min & then he's ready to take it off...notice the last 2 pics...the agitation is just getting started. :)

So I'm not going to give away his new costume which is on its way to our house & is a bit different, but I will show the one I thought would've been adorable but J totally shot it down. I figure this is the last year I am going to be able to get away with costumes like this...

Final Beach Pics!

2010-10-11T10:59:00.000-05:00

Our family picture time on the beach took a turn for the worst in the beginning b/c our SLR camera got fogged up & wouldn't unfog even after sitting outside for a bit but we did get some shots on my little point & shoot. (Note to self to remember to put the cameras outside for awhile before picture taking. :) )Some of the first ones would have turned out so cute if it wasn't foggy (see below).

Prime example of one that could've been a framer...if anyone knows of a good place you can take pics to get them "fixed" let me know.

This was our last night there so I called my friend Lizzie who lives in Fairhope but works up 59 from Gulf Shores to meet us for dinner at Tacky Jack's.

While we were waiting for a table, I snapped a few shots of my 2 cuties walking around the boat docks...

Wasn't the moon gorgeous?!

Lizzie & I

Beach - Take Four

2010-10-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

On Wed night we went to dinner with my family that live in Gulf Shores...it was the first time for them to meet C & we had a great time! C actually did very well for a 2 hr plus dinner out too!! Most of these pics were stolen from my aunt's camera...she got much better shots than me.

we don't get enough fam pics taken...

Showing that one missing tooth...

This picture cracks me up...I mean straight up frowny face!

....much better.

First cousins only 4 mos apart!

Me, C & my aunt Charlotte Louise (C's great aunt)

By this point, he was past ready to go...

Beach - Take Three

2010-10-07T10:59:00.000-05:00

Still catching up on beach pics... C loved playing with toys on the edge of the pool most days.

...and a random beach shot.

We're off to the races!

2010-10-06T14:25:00.000-05:00

Tonight after work we will be heading north to Kentucky with a huge group of friends to go to the AU vs. Kentucky game on Sat night & have a little fun in Lexington along the way. Thursday we plan to go to one of the bourbon distillerys...at Makers Mark you can dip your own bottle in the wax which sounds pretty cool to me. On Friday we are headed to one of the horse races to do a little betting on some thoroughbreds and I think we are going to some horse farms/barns. I wasn't the party planner so I'm just along for the ride. :) We are looking very forward to it even though we aren't bringing little man with us & he will be missed SOOO much!! My sweet MIL will be hanging with him at our house for the w/e & hopefully taking him to the lake on Sat to see some of Justin's family on his Dad's side. They are doing a big family get together there which we would also love to be at but this KY trip has been in the books for awhile now! I will be MIA from the blog but my goal is to have some more beach pics scheduled to post every day for your viewing pleasure. :) There are so many I have yet to post. At the rate I am going with packing, cooking, etc. that might not happen but we will see. Hope everyone is having a great week so far!!! WDE!