Merely me...

What's for dinner?

2009-03-18T21:48:00.005-04:00

Tonight I asked Helen what we should cook for dinner. I got to the pantry door and said, "Helen, How about spaghetti? I think we should have spaghetti." As I'm reaching for the door knob she says, "No, I want Cap'n Crunch."

Kids.

Not since '93...

2009-03-09T20:20:00.006-04:00

...have I been a part of a snow like this. I mean, sure, when I went to Montana I saw some serious snow, but not in the SOUTH! Whoa...what's all that about. Our little city got about 6 inches...how about you?

It was a Sunday, and just about the time church let out it started coming down. The sidewalks had already iced over, but the roads had yet to be covered. We thought it would stop there and all would be well. We were wrong. As you can tell from the picture below it just kept coming, and in sheets!

This is a tree across the street. The "blur" yous see is the snow falling.

Here's a picture of my favorite tree in the back yard. You can tell the "sheets" of snow are really thick in this one. As for the tree, it's always like that. I'm sure I've blogged about it before, but if you don't know, this tree grows like this. I suppose at some point it fell over, but it's beautiful when it blooms in the spring. The only part of it that doesn' still sprout leaves is the bottom limbs.

About six o'clock that evening, the power went out. It might've been a little earlier, but it was out just before dark. My mom was at my house helping me as I was recovering from my car accident **will have more on that later** and she and Helen had fun making paper snowflakes! They are still hanging on the fridge. Helen couldn't get enough of looking at the snow. Like most kids, she wanted to be out in it. Of course it was too late and too cold to get her out in it. We promised her that we'd go out the next morning.

We played Yatzee with Helen that night. She loved it. We let her shake the dice in the little cup. Oh she was so happy--you would have thought we'd just let her run wild on a shopping spree through ToysRus!

Just about 9:25 (we let her stay up late b/c she had a REALLY late nap) I told Brian we should bring the futon matress into the family room, by the fire, and we'd all have a campout. So we got the futon matress for me (brian was a party pooper), Grammie slept on the sofa, and Helen's matress we put next to mine. Here we are laying together watching the fire. It was 9:35 when the power came on....**hmph**

Helen didn't sleep there. She HAD to lay in "Helen's bed" so we moved all her stuff back into her crib and she went right to sleep. I guess it's a good thing the power came back on...or else it would have been a long fight.

The next morning, after a good breakfast, we bundled Helen and Grammie in all the warmest clothes and sent them to venture out into the icy tundra...hehe.

Isn't she cute?

Off they go to the top of the yard, by the street. It's a perfect slope for a nice smooth drop towards the house. Katie, our 3yr old neighbor and her mom were outside. We invited them over to play in our yard. I think they liked our slope better.
Since Brian was having a hard time getting down the road, even in his rent-A-F150, he came back home and played in the show with Helen and Katie. That little red inflattable thing Helen is on is actually Katie's SLIP-N-SLIDE "board."
She fell over a couple of times, but as with most toddlers, she just laughed, got up, and kept going! She's such a trooper!
Here is Katie, in full SCREAM, as Brian gives her a little push. As soon as she put her booty on the card board she started screaming! Girls...

I have to mention Katie and her being a super fashionista even in the snow. Please notice that not only does she have great taste in her pink faux-leopard skin coat with fleece lining, but she's got two different boots and two different gloves. Gotta love it. I am CERTAIN that it was not that she couldn't find the matches but because she absolutely wanted it that way. She's a DIVA!

Here's the two sweeties holding hands and they walk back up the "hill." Ohwe!

I also need to mention how Helen has socks on her hands. They are the waterproof socks Brian wore in Montana...she had fun! Anyway, after 30 minutes or so of play time, helen didn't want to come back in. This is just before she got VERY upset when she found out she was finished. Notice the snot dripping...nuf said.

It was a fun snow day. The next day the road were clear, for the most part. The day after that nearly all the snow was gone, and by Thursday, it was like 70 degrees outside! What's up with that!?

I end this blog with a couple of super cute pics for the g-parents. This is Tomboy Helen in her Mickey hat. She put it on this way and wore it for a while. She put it on to take Jannie (her Cabbage Patch Doll) in her stroller, to the "store." Of course, she never left the house, but circled the family room several times before ditching Jannie for her computer.

Stupid door

2009-02-04T11:55:00.002-05:00

There's always some point in our lives as parents when we do things to our children that hurt them and we beat ourselves up for it. Some let their infants roll off the bed, some look away for a second and that toddler puts his little hand on the hot oven door, maybe we even watch in slow motion as they fall down bust their lip open on a toy you should have picked up an hour ago. When Helen was a baby I looked away for a second and she rolled off the couch, and I felt HORRBILE about that, but I found away to get over it.

Today, however, I did another Mommy Booboo and closed Helen's fingers in the door. I didn't realize she was holding onto the threshold near the henge and the door shut all the way before she let out a scream. Bless her heart. She cried....but you knew that. I cried...you probably knew that too. She told me in her pitiful little sobbing cry, "I hold MOMMY! Mommy my fingers! Kiss it mommy! I want my bandaid! I want my Lambie! Mommy, fingers in the door it hurts!"

My heart ached. I did my initial exam and put a bandaid and ointment on the fingernail of her right ring finger. I squished it pretty good....

Knowing Helen and how she normally reacts to pain, she seemed to be in more pain than just a squished finger. I didn't think it could be broken, but it did seem like something else was wrong.

I took her to her doctor and our sweet Dr. Huff said she needed to do Xrays because if the growth plates were damaged, we needed to get her seen by a specialist. The first Xray went GREAT because they didn't have to manipulate the fingers at all. Just put them flat on the film. The second however took me and another nurse to hold her down to get a good shot. They had to see the side angle of the finger.

We waited as they developed and sure enough....the tip of her finger was broken. Thank the Lord God in Heaven that I didn't damage the growth plates. Dr. Huff said she'd be fine in a few weeks, but until then we had to keep them taped up and a bandaid over the finger nail until it heals.

I told Helen as she screamed during the second Xray that if she would hold still, I would buy her some ice cream. So I lived up to my end of the deal and took her to Sonic and bought her a strawberry smoothie. When we went to the drug store to get some tape I got her a new cup too! She had to put her smoothie in it too!

All in all, here's our little patient with her sticker from the doctor, her new cup, and her war wounds.

A treat...

2009-02-03T09:46:00.003-05:00

Don't they look good? MMMM! Tollhouse cookies.....they cooked up so nicely. We made them for Santa, Helen and I did. She helped me put in the ingredients and then after she went to bed they came out of the oven to cool. Oh, I was CRAVING these by the time they were cool enough to taste. That first bite was finally mine and it was AWFUL. I realized after that first nasty bite that we put in one TABLEspoon of salt instead of one TEAspoon. Yeah, it was a cookie, but it was a terrible cookie. It looked good, but man it was bad. Poor Santa, all he got was milk.

For Nathan

2009-02-03T09:29:00.004-05:00

All of you who know us outside of the blogosphere know that Brian's sister and family lived out here near us for about a year. During that time, Helen and Nathan (Leslie's son) became nearly as close as brother and sister. They were partners in crime and I dare predict that they will continue to do so the remainder of their lives.

The last few time we had the opportunity spend time with them, and we had our camera out, I made sure to capture it. Here are a few things in memory of the time spent with our sweet Nathan.

This was fun time with the sidewalk chalk. This is a drawing depicting Nathan's tractor and wagon. Helen always rides in the wagon and Nathan always drives.

Running around the church fellowship room.

When Helen got her new tricycle, Nathan got a BIG WHEEL! He was so precious riding that thing. He didn't want to pedal it, he wanted to push it. He'll get it soon. If not already...

We miss you Nathan. Helen asked about you this week when we went to church. She wanted to know if you'd be at church. Of course we said no, but that's her way to let us know she misses you.

Trike and Jannie

2009-02-03T08:58:00.003-05:00

I know Christmas is all kinda gone, but I wanted to take a moment to note a few things just so I'll have it archieved.

This year we spent Christmas at home, without traveling, but the weekend before, we went to visit the Pendley side of Brian's family. We had Christmas twice that weekend. Once at Eric and Haley's house and once at Deedee's house. The "everybody" get-together was at Deedee's. The more personal, immediate family christmas was at Eric's.

Brian's parents and siblings met early that morning to exchange gifts together and to let the kids open all of their loot. It was really fun because we had a YUMMY brunch and then had presents. Helen got her very first Cabbage Patch doll, according to the birth certificate the doll's name is Bobye Jannie. I thought it was the dumbest name. It just doesn't FLOW at all plus it just really sounds completely back-hills redneck to me. (And I'm from those back hills so I can say that. hehe.)

Here's Jannie. Her aunt Leslie bought it for her and I was thrilled. I loved cabbage patch dolls as a child and I am so glad Helen got one. This was the best shot I could get with her and the doll. She was ALL over the place and wouldn't open one more gift until that doll was out of the box. So Dad got to work on that....

The next gift was a few outfits, both of which she wore that weekend because they were SO cute. Then came the trike. Mimi and PawPaw bought her a Radio Flyer tricycle. It came pre-assembled so she was ready to ride immediately.

I loved this shot. She and Brian were trying it outide on the concrete. She didn't quite understand how to make her feet work to make the pedals go. She's still working on that actually. When it gets warmer, we'll be all over the street working on it. So in this picture, she's just got her feet on the pedals as they rotate....sort of.

Me and you, and you and me...

2009-01-06T23:57:00.004-05:00

...no matter how they toss the dice, it has to be.
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together!

We celebrated six years this week!

(see next post about Helen)

A mini birthday

2008-12-23T23:18:00.002-05:00

Having a birthday on December 23rd, Helen will never have a birthday party that is not surrounded by red and green, santa claus, jingle bells, and regrets to her RSVPs. This year her big party is mid-January because there was no weekend in December to have her party (because of christmas events), and the preceding two weekends were for traveling.

So in order to celebrate, with her two BFFs (me and her daddy), we had a small party on her actual birthday with just the three of us. She got a balloon and a small mickey and we had little mickey cupcakes! She'd just gotten up from her nap when we had the surprise but she did seem to enjoy it. She did really well blowing out the candles...without spitting on them like some do. :)

I still can't believe that she's already two.

Beth update:

2008-12-10T21:33:00.002-05:00

Here's Loran Beth! Isn't she pretty!?!? My very first niece.

Little American Girl

2008-12-07T20:55:00.005-05:00

This is Helen's new coat I told you about in the previous posts, thanks Grandmom!

Catch up

2008-12-06T00:37:00.007-05:00

OK. I've just gotten a moment to take a breather from this week. I truly think I've been more stressed this week than I was while working two jobs and going to school full time during college. I thought that was pretty stressful, but MAN, this week has just kicked my tail.

We went to visit my family this past weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday and I loved every second of it. I always miss my family because visits to see my grandparents are few. My grandparents played such an important role in my life and short visits are just such a tease to my heart. From the time I was born until I started high school I remember seeing one or both of my grandmothers every week. During my early years it was nearly once a day! All that being said, I love them and they hold a very special place in my heart, as do most grandparents to their grandchildren. Seeing them all this weekend made me wish we could live closer so Helen can know them the way I know them and cherish them. She had a blast while we were there, so I suppose short visits will have to do! :)

We ate lots of good food and saw an awesome football game! Roll Tide Roll! We even had an early Christmas at my grandmom's house! She got Helen a BEAUTIFUL coat! It's black wool with black fuzzy hem and on the cuff and instead of buttons there are red velvet rose buds! It's even got a cute little hat to match! Go Grandmom! Sunday I'll get a picture of her in it and post it!

This weekend I got to visit my first niece. She's just four weeks old and so tiny. See my next post to read a little more about her. I'm still without more pics but they will come soon.

Helen started saying the cutest phrase this week. When someone says, "See you later alligator" the response should be "After while crocodile!" Well, she says, "After Croc-o-dye-dle!" and in her cute little baby voice she makes my heart happy! Brian tries to correct her, but I love it so much I don't want her to say it right! She'll learn it soon enough...

Something new and fabulous is that Brian and I have started a new business venture. I would go into detail, but it's very difficult to explain in blog format, but I'd like to invite my readers to contact me should you be open-minded and interested in working with us in a fabulous e-commerce industry! It's something we're doing to supplement our income during this very unstable time, neither my job nor Brian's is secure right now and when we found this organization and we saw our potential, it really made good sense to jump on board! We are now able to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is called retirement...yep, I said retirement. I'm on facebook (Kristy Gray - Athens GA network) and myspace (www.myspace.com/bkg1403) or you can email me at bkg1403@yahoo.com. We've even got a website: http://www.grayglobalnetworking.com/ if you'd like to check it out. Come visit us! We've got some great products on our site (for those of you looking for some fun and unique gifts).

I guess that's about it for us for the past two weeks. I know there's more I've forgotten to mention, but it's late. I hope you all have a fabulous week! Be sure to pull for UofA in the SEC Championship this weekend! It's gonna be a goodie!

Attention Christmas Shoppers: Check out Teale!

2008-12-04T23:39:00.005-05:00

Hi all! Just wanted to send a shout out to the fabulous Teale who has graciously given me a free Holiday Header. I won the drawing in her HO HO Holiday Giveaway! Thanks Teale! Everyone please visit her website and check out her gallery! She does amazing work! She also has gift certificates available....GREAT STOCKING STUFFERS AND SECRET SISTER GIFTS!!

By the way, I know the header is a little off center but that doesn't have anything to do with Teale or her beautiful designs. She's actually going to help me make it look right.

I'm a little bit busy this week, but I'll have a "catch up" blog soon! Love you all!

Steph and Beth

2008-11-29T15:10:00.005-05:00

This is my sister and her newborn baby girl Loren Elizabeth. Aren't they beautiful!? I got to meet this precious child this weekend for the first time. She weighed 8lb 11oz at birth, but she's so tiny, it's hard to believe she did. She might have lost a little from birth weight, but she's just perfect. She's four weeks old, has red hair and blue eyes, and has the cutest little toes and a button of a nose! I know this picture doesn't really do much to show her off, but I'll get some up soon; silly me forgot the camera in GA. I'm just so proud of my little sister I couldn't wait to show them both off!

A promise

2008-11-20T09:55:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday the Lord blessed us to see a most magnificent creation:

I know that a rainbow is not a "miracle" but because they are so rare to see, when I do see one, I smile. Not just because it's beautiful, but because I know why it's there. God made a promise to Noah and that reminder has lasted thousands of years! (Gen 9:11-17) Can you imagine what Noah thought about seeing a rainbow? He'd just gotten used to the idea of rain and then THIS--a promise by our Creator that what he'd just suffered would never happen again. Ah....what relief that must have been every time he saw one.

The rainbow is a promise that the Earth would not be destroyed by water again, but it reminds me of another promise God has made to us. He gave us Jesus and promised us that through the blood of Christ we are saved from our sins. Through baptism we come into contact with that blood and are given remission of sins. And as long as we are obedient to His Word and live faithful lives, we will not be destroyed when Christ comes again!

Heb 10:1-25; Mark 16:15-16; Rev 2:10

What a promise! What a God! What a blessing!

****Be sure to see the next post****

Cousins

2008-11-20T09:41:00.005-05:00

Since Ty and Leslie moved out here last July (2007), these two have become as close as brother and sister. This was at a church function a few weeks ago (just getting the time to post it). Aren't they adorable!

We're going to miss them when they move back to Alabama!

If I did scrapbooking like I want to...

2008-11-07T20:12:00.000-05:00

...I'd have at least a whole book devoted to just this one event. I don't know how folks can downsize a trip they take to 5-10 photographs and believe they have fully archived all of the memories... (I do have a horrible memory though, so that could be why I have to take all these pics) To all of you out there that scrapbook, forgive me, but I MUST have tons of pictures for each moment, it will be obvious in this post.

A few weeks back, the Monroe church of Christ sponsored a youth retreat to Camp Inagehi (just outside of ATL). It was hosted by the Monroe young adults, but it was planned for the youth. I am certain that the young adults got as much, if not more, out of this retreat as the youth did.

There were a total of 8 youth, and 13 adults...hmmm. Granted, it did start out with a much grander scale in mind...being planned with hopes that several area congregations would bring their groups, however, the invitations came back with no reply. Maybe they can all come next year. Ty and Korey worked hard in the planning and I know they are glad it went well.

I don't know if I mentioned it in my post about going to camp in June, but I LOVE CAMP. I love everything about camp (ok, except the shower house) I love the dirt, I love the cabins, I love the adventure, I love the memories made, I love the bible study, the sermons, and the especially the singing. There's nothing better than waking up in the morning and having to do relatively nothing except learning about and worshiping God and helping young souls find their path (or maintain their path) to God. How special is that! There is no other place on this earth that is as carefree as I would expect Heaven to be. The next closest place would be one's local church; three days a week is just not enough...

So you get the idea that I am fond of camp...

Brian and I originally thought that we would have a car full of youth, but it turned out that everyone had a ride except one...Miss Caidy Miller! Oh yes...she's fantastic! I was so glad she came with us. She made the ride to camp more fun! [Funny side note: Back in the summer, a friend of a girl that goes to church with us came to Six Flags with our group. Somehow, Brian got to going on about something or giving someone a hard time -- as usual -- and the girl called him "creepy." Of all the adjectives I can think of to describe my husband, that isn't even close to one I would use.] I mention that story because Caidy thought that was the FUNNIEST thing in the world and at every opportunity calls Brian creepy. It's actually pretty funny hearing them banter. Despite the fact that Caidy calls him creepy and did so on the car ride down, I never thought Brian was creepy until I saw he and Ty do this nearly first thing after we arrived:

Yeah...that's a little creepy Caidy. Maybe there is some truth in there somewhere. What you are seeing balls attached to strings attached to clothes pins for the purpose of playing a very interesting game later. But no where in the game did I see these contraptions attached to anyone else in THIS way... Good going babe, very attractive.

As for me, the first thing I did was head for the coffee pot. By 7:00 I started getting a little tired, and when we arrived a little after 8:00, I knew the only way I would make it to midnight was a lot of caffiene and a good dose of the giggles. And I got both.

Here is Leslie enjoying her cup of joe. We downed the pot of coffee quick! Well, between four of us anyway.

The first game that was planned was a balloon pop game. There were several balloons and within each balloon was part of the theme verse of the weekend. They kids were to pop the balloons and get the pieces and put it in order.

This was one of my first pics and it's a little out of focus because my shutter was too slow for how fast these kids were moving around the room trying to get the balloons to pop. Wes and Sarah did good to stand still for me (unknowingly) for a whole two seconds...

I kinda thought that the verses would be bigger...you know, big print. Maybe I'm going BLIND in my old age, but for heaven's sake people...16 pt font is just too small for me on a game like this....hehe

Are you grasping how small these are? It must have been luck that none of these bits of confetti got lost in the shuffle of balloon popping!

I guess it worked for the yungins...they got it right. I guess it is just me getting old. They seemed to see it just fine. The verse was Romans 12:2. Take a look at it! The whole book is great, but first few verses of chapter 12 are pretty powerful! Our theme for the retreat was "Transformers." I thought that was pretty clever. Good one Ty!

A quick break in between games allowed for a very awesome photo in an impromptu photo shoot! Don't they look great for having been up for....well...who knows how long we were all up by this point. All I know is that I was delirious (hence why I wasn't in many pictures that night)

That Hannah...such a sweetie pie. Couldn't you just eat her up!?

The next game we did was called Amoeba. For those of you out there that can't bring your brains back to 9th grade science class [like I couldn't and had to be reminded], an amoeba (uh-me-buh), is a sort of organism that has no definite shape and moves around in a very random fashion. It has a flexible outer shell/membrane that is filled with goo (yeah, there's a scientific name for it somewhere) and has several nuclei so it contracts and expands in all kinds of formations trying to get from one place to another. Whoever thought up the name for this game must have been a smarty pants because that is exactly what happened in the game.

The kids were put into a group, tied together only on the outer edge with rope, and asked to move from one side of the room to another going through several obstacles. The object of the game was to move as a unit. It was a shaky start, but they made it back, all of them relatively unharmed. I don't have any pictures of this because I was busy keeping them from running over one another.

Then it was the adult's turn. It was our goal to beat the time the kids had, but to also be one unit...not killing one another like a stampede of hippos. Thanks to Emily manning my camera, we have more proof that Brian could actually be creepy, AND why an amoeba might have a good reason for having no form or direction....notice NO ONE is looking in the same direction. Maybe an real amoeba have too many nuclei like this one.

Here we are all be squished into a space about two feet wide...hmmm. Yeah, little me, see my head poking out in the back. Yep, I was the one getting squished into the pile of lunchroom tables. But, it was fun.

The last game was a relay. You can't really see it in this picture, but they have those clothes pins with the strings and balls on it attached to backs of their shirts. The goal was the squat down and sink the ball into the cup on the floor without knocking over the cup. Does it sound easy? IT WASN'T. The team that had all of their members complete the task first, won. Sarah and Jacob were the first to attempt this. I was the last...seeing it done doesn't make it any easier. LOL!

After the games, we had a short devo and then had about an hour to play and have fun before lights out. I'd forgotten how hilarious Emily was when she creaped up to us in her Tupac dew rag. What? Was she even BORN before Tupac died? She cracked me up all weekend.

The next day was way better than the first. Saturday was an awesome day. There was a bit of a nip on the air, but nothing a good pullover couldn't fix. We started the day with a great breakfast and had a lesson by Sean. He did a great job too! After that we had game time. Here, Jillian is trying her arm at "Who can throw a softball the farthest"-game.

I don't know that there was any real purpose to this game other than to give Butch something to do. He was the "outfielder" and such a good sport.

Brian did an OK job at the softball throw, but his form was a little to be desired. Uh, he looked like he was trying to throw the shot in a shot put competition. GOOOOOO Brian!

I was trying to stretch out my arm before I threw. I was making a silly face at Emily and it was captured. One might not put something this hideous about oneself on a blog for the world to see, but I figure...had it NOT been me, I'd be all about putting it up! So, to be fair...here I am. Nice right?

I think Caidy had the most fun playing with Sarge. They are both cute, but Caidy is beautiful...don't you think so? Since this pic, she's gotten her hair cut SOOO super cute. I'll have to get a new one up of her for everyone to see it.

Our fearless leader with a rake and a shovel. I think they were getting ready for the bonfire...making a big pit.

Here's Emily just before we had to go in for lunch, practicing her fast-pitch. She was a teeny bit rusty, but with a few more throws and an actual batter, she would have been whirling them in to the zone! Her hair flinging out made me laugh. Didn't notice it unti I caught it still-frame.

After lunch there was time devoted to singing. I took just this one picture. I love singing time.

Once singing time was done, the four-square madness was on. It was like Lay's potato chips, after one, you can't stop. Well once you started it was inevitable that you played again and again and again. Here's Jillian in her best four-square defense stance. She's a serious player too!

Nicholas was pretty intense too! It was unfortunate that there was no four-square ball. All they could find was a volley ball. Ah well...whatever works.

Caidy and I stayed away from the four-square madness, having a little fun with the camera.

Emily in her dew rag again. This time she decided to be ninja! AH HAHAHA! Well, maybe not a ninja. It guess it was more like Karate Kid.

Here's our newly weds! This was their first adventure after the honeymoon. They got married the weekend before camp. Aren't they adorable?

Ty and Korey plotted out a course for an activity for the kids called "Faith Walk." I'd not been involved in one of these before so it was awesome to see. Each of the kids were blind folded and were given an adult partner. The adult was to help their blind partner thru the path and the obstacles (which weren't easy). The course was planned in a way that you would go back thru the same obstacles coming back as well. Here are some pictures of the path and most of the kids:

This is before we started...Emily being a nut.

Caidy had the funniest blindfold...a wound up t-shirt because all the bandanas were taken! LOL! She looks pitiful!

Nicholas did well. I was to surprised to see im walking with his hands in his pockets. I would be feeling around trying to find something to touch...or at least trying to keep my balance. He did a pretty good job.

Here's my sweet blind boy, Wesley! He did so good, and was so cute doing it! He was the youngest of all the youth there and I was proud of him on this course! He's about to step onto a bridge here. We weren't allowed to physically touch the kids with the purpose that they find their own way. But just before this picture was shot, I had to save Wesley from taking a plunge into the creek. Two or three more steps and Sheila (his mom) would have had me for lunch!

All the kids made it out of the obstacle course unharmed, except for Emily. Apparently she blindly found a yellow jacket hive and one of them decided to attack. She was a big sport and kept on going thru the course. That's a beast for ya! She's a strong girl!

Later that day I found Sarge playing at the lake's edge. He wanted nothing more than to swim out to the middle of it! He would inch out and then come back. Then sniff around and find a bug to jump around to catch. After the bug left, or he caught it, he'd come back and play at the water again.

Wouldn't life be grand as a dog...no worries.

One of the last activities before dinner was skipping rocks. The boys had fun. Of course, it wasn't a planned activity, but it made me smile to see them doing it. I guess it goes to show you that video games and television aren't the only things that kids can do these days to have fun. At camp we learn about God, but we sure do have a way of learning about ourselves and each other. Life goes by way to fast.

Across the lake

Of all the things we did and shared at camp, I think I'll remember our breakout session the most. That was when all the girls got together in a group and the guys got together in a group and we discussed what it meant to "conform" to the world. We had so much discussion and laughs in the class! I couldn't help but be moved and encouraged each girl there. Even Kayleigh, who toughed out the class, even with a migraine. Poor girl...it lasted almost all day.

I'm thankful that the Lord allowed me to be involved that weekend! May there be many more opportunities to spend a weekend this way!

I'll end with one last creepy thought...

Some exercise

2008-11-03T23:26:00.003-05:00

Brian took Helen out for a nice walk this evening. I love when they spend Daddy-time together. His main purpose was to burn some energy, perhaps some calories, but Helen insisted on walking the entire time. Three of her steps made for one of his....so all he did was take a walk, but it was a walk with is daughter. I'd say time well spent! WAY TO GO DAD!

****Check out the next post****

A little crow, a big Mickey, too much Dynamite

2008-11-03T15:07:00.012-05:00

During the summer, one day while Helen was swimming in her little pool outside, she and Grammy (my mom) heard the call of a crow. Helen stopped what she was doing and asked what the noise was. Grammy said, "It's a caw-caw bird." Since then, she's been fascinated by the sound and the sight of a crow.

So it was only fitting (an irony) that this year's halloween costume be a scarecrow. Moma and Tom made her a small crow to sit on her shoulder (and in the following pictures it's on her hat). She loved that little crow too! We put it on her shoulder after she shed her hat. Then the bird had to go altogether because it became so cold she had to wear a sweater.

We started at Beth and Duke's house again this year, but instead of spending the evening going door to door with tons of kids, they threw a party for all of the kids and the families. As is usual with the Allens, it was a blast of a party. We had pizza and several people brought games or activities for the kids to do to win prizes or whatever.

Helen found the pumpkins on the front porch very fascinating. She liked ALL the pumpkins she saw, in fact.

Here she is with Nathan. He came as a cowboy! Isn't he adorable. He had real boots and a real hat and all he needed was a holster, some guns, and some spurs to make him a full fledged cowboy! I guess for a three-year-old, what he had on was plenty! :)

(Never missing an opportunity to rock)

Stopped mid-sentence to point and say "LOOK MOMMY, PUMPKIN!" Then she got down and ran over to it!
It didn't take long for her to shed her hat. It was a little small for her anyway. She wanted it on her head, but it just didn't want to stay...especially at full throttle speed all night.

"Daddy hold it?"

Through all the kids, you will notice a very wonderfully crafted bean-bag toss game made by Ty. I don't know if he had any help, but it sure was fun for those kids. Every single child (and adult too) had a go at this thing. Helen saw it and you know what she said, "IT'S MICKEY!" Yeah, she thought it looked like a Mickey Mouse head. Brian told me later that she walked over to it and said "Hey Pal!" Just like Mickey says to Pluto! Isn't that the sweetest! She spent a good portion of her time here.

Such determination!

This was my "booth." I decided to bring the stuff one needs to paint miniature pumpkins. It was SO fun to see all the kids painting and doing. I'll have more about this little venture soon.

This is me....mixed with dynamite. Napolean Dynamite that is. LOL! I look like a ten-year-old. Duke and Beth's daughter, Savannah, came dressed as Napolean. By the end of the night, she had shed the wig and glasses. So I decided to try it out...

This is Savannah after the Napolean. One of the booths was for face painting so she got a nice camo handprint on her face. This pic doesn't show the colors very well, but it looked really neat.

Last but not least, my sweet little angel got to put it on too! HAHAHAH!

I don't think this could be much cuter!

Maybe next year I can get her a red dress and a shaggy dog and she could be little orphan Annie! :)

Smurfs taste good

2008-10-31T00:33:00.003-04:00

Helen got into a bag of acrylic craft paints I had ready for our Halloween party Friday. I wish I hadn't been so mad when I first found her because it would have been a great picture. It wasn't until I got her into the tub, the potatoes boiling over on the stove off the eye, keeping Brian from stepping in the blue puddle on the floor as he came in the door (unaware of the madness), and trying to determine whether or not to call poison control (all happening in three minutes), that I realized how hilarious this whole situation was! So you get the muted version.

Way to go Helen...it looks like you murdered Papa Smurf.

Flippin and Flowin

2008-10-21T22:59:00.005-04:00

Just a fun pic of Helen and Daddy flipping. Helen climbs up, then she holds herself upside down for a few seconds and then flips over, landing on her feet. They have such fun! She loves to flip and ride our backs...or shoulders.

Something funny that happened today:

Brian called the house to chat for a second about this and that. I let Helen talk to him for a few seconds. She put the phone up to her head and because her mouth was so close to it, Brian couldn't understand. He said, "Helen, I can't understand you baby, hold your mouth away from the phone a little bit." Well, she gives me the phone and proceeds to physically HOLD her mouth with her hand. She grabbed her bottom jaw and walked away! LOL! HAHAH! Bless her sweet innocence.

Something funny that happened last week while I was keeping Nathan:

We are in the process of potty training. Helen has a small potty in her bathroom, but sometimes she likes to use the big potty. This particular time, she wanted to use the big potty when I took her to the bathroom. Of course, Nathan was in tow. As I was pulling down Helen's pants to put her up there, Nathan tells me that he has to peepee too! Since Helen was on the big potty, I told Nathan to wait just a second for Helen to finish or to use the little potty. Well, he wanted to do NEITHER. He HAD to peepee right then and in the big potty. So Helen had just gotten settled on the potty when Nathan immediately drops his drawers and proceeds to walk up to the same toilet to pee. Note he is just barely too short that he is unable to position "his parts" correctly to ring it. So as I finish saying, "wait just a second or use the little potty," he has a steady stream a flowin'. So whilest I am keeping Helen from being peed on and from falling INTO the toilet, I am deflecting pee (with the not-so-free hand) from getting all over the floor, the bathtub, and Nathan. All this going on at once...you can imagine how it turned out. Yep: Pee on the tub, pee on the floor, pee on Helen, a little bit IN the toilet, and A LOT OF IT ON ME! That potty break took quite a bit longer than the norm. All I could think of during this entire encounter was Brian and Leslie's childhood story I like to call "Just Scoot Up." HAHA! What a day.

Guess it could be worse.

Two words: Daddy time.

2008-10-07T22:07:00.004-04:00

See next post also!

Nathan, Emily, and Helen....a Saturday full of blessings.

2008-10-07T21:49:00.009-04:00

It happens some weeks when Ty and Leslie have to work Saturday shifts at their jobs. With their industries, sometimes it calls for working a Saturday. However, when they work the same Saturday, we get to spend time with Nathan. Helen loves it for sure. She has a little buddy to hang with.

This Saturday was one of those days. I have attached a few photos that I took of them. There weren't many good ones because they wouldn't hold still long enough to get one. However, these are some of the better shots:

After the first hour of bringing out the first half of Helen's toys...all in the living room...they got a little hungry and stopped to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and eat a snack. Notice the glass has been removed from our coffee table (permenantly). Helen loves to sit inside the recesses and so does Nathan. It was actually his idea (a year ago) while they were living with us. He loved to be in the table to watch his toons. Guess he still does. (That cute green chair never gets any lovin.)

For some reason, everything had to be on his head. And if it was something that he thought he could put on his head, but wasn't able to get it on his head, he would bring it to me and ask me to put it on his head. LOL! I don't know what that means, but it sure was funny. He made all kinds of things into hats.

The calm before the second storm...the rest of the toys came out fast after the snack. Grapes and Multi-grain Cherrios....MM!

Nathan was only with us for three hours, then I loaded him up to take him back to Leslie. I went to get my "hair did" and came back come with another visitor: EMILY! She's a friend from church whom I tutor on occasion in math. She's such a bright student, but sometimes gets a little fumbled. Maybe her teacher goes too fast, but once she gets it, she's got it.

We had lunch, came home, studied for a few hours, and before her ride arrived, we played around with the camera.

So photogenic! Isn't she so gorgeous!

She tries to make silly faces.....

...but not matter what she does...she's still pretty.

Helen came in and wanted to have some fun with us too. She LOVES Emily because she's so energetic and her personality is magnetic! She actually babysits Helen when we have the need. They played around on the kitchen floors for several minutes. I kept trying to get a good shot of Helen. Then Emily wanted me to try to get a shot of her head and Helen too. Um....well, it worked...but something just isn't right about it. Helen sure is cute.

A visit to Grandmom's and four band-aids later.

2008-09-18T09:44:00.011-04:00

I went to visit my grandmother in Birmingham his past Friday. I stayed with her and then had plans to go to my ONLY sister's first child's baby shower on Saturday. Friday was an enjoyable day with my grandmother and her husband, my mom and step-dad, my uncle, a friend, and, of course, Helen! We played and laughed with Helen for hours. We even went shopping for a new pair of shoes for Helen to wear to the shower. I was SOOOO excited, having planned to go for weeks.

Unfortunatley, after dinner on Friday night, I began to feel a little tightness in my tummy. I thought it was indigestion. I decided to go to bed and didn't sleep a wink. Tightness became ache, and ache became pressure, and pressure became pain. By midnight, I'd had enough. I called my mom and we decided it was best that we go to the ER.

At the ER, they took blood, but determined that everything was fine...except for my obvious pain. They wouldn't do an ultrasound due to that it was a Saturday and there was no immediate need or emergency. One would think a doctor would want to know for sure what was causing my pain, but not this one. So he gave me pain meds, saying it was "probably" my gall bladder, and sent me on my way. He told me to see my family doctor when I got back home. (How he thought I could physically drive home....I'll never know)

We got back to grandmom's about 6am to rest, but I couldn't, as the pain meds hadn't started working. Moma went home to rest. Little did I know that she would call an hour or so later, to tell me that she would be driving me back to GA. WOW. What a mom!!

She got Helen up, fed her some breakfast, and got her dressed. Then, she packed up and loaded all of mine and Helen's things into my van. Keeping in mind she's still had only a few hours of sleep, she gets all of us in the van and off we ride to GA....a four hour trip barring there are no stops. (Of course, with Helen potty training, we stopped several times)

The trip went well! The Lord kept us safe and without delays all the way home.

I was able to get an appointment with my doctor first thing Monday morning. By then, the pain had subsided (without pain meds), but as soon as the Doc pushed on my abdomen, she pretty much confirmed the ER's hypothesis that it was a gall bladder attack. She immediately called the lab and got me an appointment for an ultrasound. They confirmed that there was in fact a stone and infection (why the blood work in the ER didn't show infection, i don't know). So off to the surgeon's office for formality's sake.

Surgery to remove the gall bladder was scheduled for Wednesday (yesterday). It's long name is called laparoscopic "cholecystectomy" *co-lee-sist-ECK-toe-mee*. I don't remember anything after I left Brian, other than the nurse was nice and gave me a warm blanket...yeah...right out of the toaster! I woke up with cotton mouth, four band-aids on my tummy, and feeling as if I'd done 10,000 sit-ups while sleeping! Pretty good, huh? I felt way better than I did in the ER 4 days prior!

Gotta love American technological advancements! After they removed the organ, they found that the stone was actually blocking the exit to my pancreas and that the actual gall bladder was only filled with infection. I'm so thankful that I got rid of that thing before the stone made it's way into my pancreas. I think we all know what a detriment that could have been!

They say I'll feel better in 48-72 hours! And I believe it! Even without the narcotics I feel pretty good! Thank the good Lord for a successful surgery! Thank you to the seven wonderful people who came to visit me before they took me to surgery: Larry, Essie Mae, Harry, Mary Alice, Richard, Pat, and Tommy. It means so much that they came! Thank you also to my wonderful husband for being with me through this whole thing and for making me feel comfortable and cherished. Thanks to my mom too for the unending list of helps and for being at home taking care of my sweet Helen when I couldn't. (I'm sure it was hard work being with her grandbaby for days...lol)

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts!

I can't leave you without a picture, so see it below. (second post for the day...see next) Have a great weekend everyone!

Two people I miss so much....Lori and Kim.

They always make me smile!

RAH RAH REE.....GOOOOOO TEALE!

2008-09-18T09:44:00.005-04:00

Yall. Check out this new blog layout! That Teale has done it again! I asked her to make a layout suitable for that picture of Helen, and she got it perfectly! Wow. She's the best! If any of you need help with designing a fabulous blog layout.... see Teale. She'll work with you to make it perfect for your personality. It's awesome that she just "knows" what you want just by asking a few questions. Could she be design-psychic?

Nah...she's just GOOD! (And, she just had a beautiful baby girl!!)

P.s. I have a new post below about the beach trip

Beach Trip 2008

2008-09-16T05:05:00.017-04:00

Orange Beach, Alabama...aaah. Nice! I love the beautiful beaches there and the laid back atmosphere. We usually go in late summer or early fall after all the nutty kids have gone back to school! This year's beach trip was so beautiful. The beaches were so clean, and the water was so clear. Even the jellyfish stayed away so that Helen could get in the ocean. (as a side note from a previous post, Helen called her swimming pool "Daddy's water") When we went to the gulf, I wanted her to know the difference, so we called the ocean "God's water" and she seemed to understand that.

The trip had two legs. The first leg was to Notasulga to drop off Nathan to PawPaw and Mimi's house and spend the night to start our second leg the next day to the beaches. On the way down, the kiddies got a little restless! We sang songs and at the last few miles, all we could think of to do was to make silly faces and "bobbing heads" to the music on the radio. Here are the pics of all of us sticking our tongues out, then of the head banging. (because head bobbing is a motion, none of us really look like we are doing anything! LOL)

That night for bath time the kids wanted bubbles....well I gave them bubbles! There was more bubbles than water! LOL They had a blast. But Nathan REEEEEALLY liked it! Here's the funniest shot!

We went with Brian's brother Eric and his wife Haley - two super, wonderful, sweet people! We all came in on Friday, but Saturday was our first day to play. Most of the morning, Haley and I played with Helen at the beach and in the ocean. I'm not sure if Helen ever really understood why the water wouldn't stay still. She knew that the waves would come in but didn't undestand why they didn't stop. She stood at the water's edge for a while just kinda looking at it while she sunk further into the sand. She didn't like that at all, but she didn't care until she realized she couldn't get her feet out! LOL! Of course I was standing with her, but it was funny to see her trying to pull herself out. She played a while in the sand with the sand castle stuff, but she mostly spent her time trying to put as much of the beach sand back into the ocean as she could. She'd run and throw as much goopy sand that she could hold with as much force as her arms could thrust into the ocean. She probably did that for twenty minutes without stopping!

The pools at the condo were fun too! Helen enjoyed the "walk-in" pool. Helen played in this most of the time. There was also a kiddie pool for the little ones, only a foot and a half deep all over, with a giant mushroom waterfall at one end. Helen liked the pool, but didn't care much for the shroom. Something about the water falling on her head she didn't like. We tried it with her several times to show her that it wouldn't hurt her, but she fussed, so we just let her swim.

She couldn't quite understand the innertube, but she left it on long enough to get a picture.

This was a fun fountain pond thingy for the kids to play in. The fountains would come up and go down. Helen bent down to look where the water went and when it came back on it hit her in the face! HAHAHA! (I mean, poor girl!)

We ate lots of seafood, but mostly at The Original Oyster House. Man, that place is good! This is a picture where Helen was looking at a big boat coming in or a bird...or something. Doesn't she look just like her daddy!!! That face is all Brian!

I think the best seafood we had was actually homemade at Haley's mom's house. Helen calls her Ms. Angel. They had a big shrimp broil with corn cobs and potatoes and sausage! OH...it was "slap yo' mama good!" Everything was wonderful! They had a little pond out back where some ducks had taken up residence. Helen loved to watch the ducks. She says "cack cack cack!" She's not quite gotten the "Quah" sound!

Sadly, we only spend a couple of days in Orange Beach because Gustav chased us away. But maybe later in the year we can go back before it gets too cool. Although, once a year is about all that I can get Brian to go to the beach. He's not much for it. He'd rather be at the lake. For me it's the atmosphere. I love everything about it, from the sand and the smell of the ocean, to the people and the fun little shops, from the fresh seafood to the endless starry skies. Ah.. It makes me relax just thinking about it! :)

I hope you all have had a fabulous summer. I hope you enjoy the pictures...more below.

Turbo...? Not so much

2008-08-28T05:58:00.004-04:00

When I ordered this little beauty (Bissell Turbo Sweep) at walmart.com, I was impressed by the number of great reviews that it had. I wanted a quite little electric sweeper to pick up Cheerios and whatever else Helen drops so I didn't have to drag out the big vacuum. I got this for my office, actually. Well, it DOESN'T WORK. Contrary to the reviews, (of course there were some that do agree with me) it doesn't "suck" like it's supposed to. I tried to vacuums up some thyme I spilled in the floor (you know the herb that weighs NOTHING) and it took like forty passes to get it cleaned up. What kind of vacuum has so little suction that it won't pick up HERBS!

Ok, I'm done ranting.

The good thing is, that this little vacuum is the best thing for HELEN! I let her go around and play use it. She loves to push (and pull) it around and clean like mommy. Toy vacuums are fun, but this one beats them all. Even though this "real" one doesn't work very well, it is somewhat functional AND it's a kid pleaser! Who knew?

But here's the question, do I give it a good grade for being a good toy or a bad grade for being a rotten sweeper?

PS. I HAVE A NEW HELEN POST. SEE NEXT.

Our Lake Trip 2008

2008-08-19T20:59:00.021-04:00

We all went to Mimi and Pawpaw's house last weekend to go to the lake. That is, Lake Martin. Since we've moved away to GA, that is something that happens ever so rarely. Helen loves to swim and loves her Mimi and Pawpaw, so we left her home with a babysitter....JK. She was thrilled to see them and to go to "PawPaw's Lake!"

We all loaded up and headed out mid-morning Saturday even though the forecast said there was a 40% chance of rain. The kids were ready to go and couldn't wait to get on the boat. I don't think Helen was quite prepared for the boat ride at the speed we were going. It took her a minute to acclimate herself to the wind blowing in her face. She didn't cry, but she seemed uncomfortable. I guess we all have to learn sometime! She eventually figured it out.

We ended up in the middle of the lake, "floating" as we always do. I must admit that it's my favorite thing to do, as long as it's really really deep water. That first jump in the water was a little bit shocking. Since the sun wasn't directly shining down, the water was a little cool. But it was fun and the kids liked it. The sun peeked out an hour or so, and it was nice, but then we started to sweat! I guess it all evened out.

I'm not sure why she wanted to touch her toes, but it was funny.

Ty rode the inter tube and the knee board; Brian road the inter tube and skied.

While Brian was on his first ski run, Helen's hat flew off. Brian, the heroic daddy he is, squatted down (keeping his balance no less) and reached down for the floating hat. Had he been about a 1/4 second faster, he would have grabbed it! What a sweet daddy! He let go of the rope to go fetch it for her. When he got back into the boat after his second ski run, I explained to him that he didn't have to go get it, it was just a hat. He said, "But it was a cute hat!" Wow.

Helen and Nathan played the hardest. They nearly wore out PawPaw and Brian. Those kids played and jumped and swam with all the energy they could muster and had just a blast!

Those are Brian's legs underneath Helen. What Nathan is doing....I don't remember.

Leslie and Brian made me laugh the most, however. They started playing around on the inter tube! I've never seen two people try so hard to get on an inter tube. I think they were trying to get on at the same time, but once Leslie was on, then she helped Brian on. You can't tell from the angle, but they are all laughing hysterically. If it weren't so funny, I don't think it would have taken them so long to get on! LOL.

Once they both finally made it, they played like they were five and on a see-saw, rocking it up and down. And then......they flipped. So much for the hard work. I laughed and laughed!

It started to thunder and lightening later in the afternoon, while Ty was knee-boarding. We pulled him in and headed to the car. It was a good thing too because the kids were tired and so were we!!

Believe it or not, that Helen of mine, fought it tooth and nail to go to sleep. I'm not sure why, but she was wired. After naps, the kids took their traditional ride with Pawpaw on his tractor. It wouldn't be a visit without getting on the big tractor.

Sunday morning came fast and we went to the Opelika church for services. I forgot Helen's dress at home Friday night, but I happened to pack her a sundress for the boat trip. It looked good on her, but it was no Sunday dress. She worked it though...! LOL! She got so many compliments about her hair that I doubt anyone even looked at her dress! (Those red-heads get all the attention!)

After services we had lunch and went back to Mimi's house to pack up and visit with Mimi's parents.

Pawpaw had ice cream and Helen helped him enjoy it.

This is our Lake Trip 2008 and I am so thankful that it was a good one.

Que?

2008-08-19T20:53:00.002-04:00

Sitting inside a storage ottoman "reading" a spanish picture book. Go figure.

Just a boat ride

2008-08-07T22:56:00.003-04:00

Helen getting a little sleepy.

Showing Papa the flag. She just loves flags.

Papa and Grammy's house from the boat. That lower level porch is Helen's favorite place to play. All of her toys were out there!! She likes to watch the boats go by!!

Picking Blueberries with Grammy

2008-08-07T22:52:00.001-04:00

If you want to get a fish, you gotta hold your hat right

2008-08-06T15:33:00.008-04:00

Helen spent the week with my mom a few weeks ago and while she was there, they went fishin'. They spent hours on the lake with Helen and even bought her her very own fishin' pole. It's a pink Barbie pole....must ride and FISH in style. Here is the stylish toddler in her pimptastic mode:

Isn't this the funniest thing!!

They wanted to try out the new pole and after only 15 minutes (fishing with crickets) she got a tug. Moma took the pole and reeled it in (with Helen's hand sitting on hers as she reeled). This little fella was on the hook:

After she got this guy (about a three-pounder) she went on to beat her own personal best with the next fella....a little smaller:

Her first question (out loud) was "BITE?" LOL!! Her face says it all. This one was smaller, about a pound and a half.

She had more adventures with Papa and Grammy, but more will follow. I'm still catching up from the summer.

Quick Update

2008-08-01T23:29:00.003-04:00

I'm in Birmingham this weekend with Helen visiting my grandparents. While our trip was intended just for them, I made some pitstops on the way. Not only did we get to see my grandparents (on my dads side), we also got to to see my mom and stepdad for an hour or so, as well as, my GREAT WONDERFUL FANTASTIC friend Kim. She met me half way for a quick visit at the Summit. I love spontaneity....especially when it turns out to be a blast! Helen didn't want to leave her Grammy and Papa, but I know it made their day to get to see her for just a few minutes. The same for me and Kim. I didn't want to go so soon, but she's coming out to visit us this month, so I guess it was enough to tie us over until then!

On a different note....I have a universal question for any parent reading:

Did you ever say to yourself and/or your spouse prior to children,
"I'll never do/get/buy/have __________ when we have children! That's just ridiculous!" and months or years down the road, find yourself doing that very thing?!

Well my friends, I have and it happened this week....we got a DVD system in the car! Of course, this isn't the only "I'll never" statement that I've retracted, but this is a big one for me. I vividly remember telling someone (dont remember who and on several occasions) how insane I thought it was to put a TV in a car to keep a child occupied. But now I see the genius in it and while I tuck my tail and bow my head in shame, I perk up knowing that on long trips, my child is happy and entertained and Atlanta traffic doesn't seem quite as stressful anymore!

Please share your "I'll never"-s with me!

Time with Daddy

2008-07-26T22:08:00.003-04:00

Just some pictures I wanted to share. It's hard to get pics of Daddy and Helen some days because they get to spend so little time together. They usually have "Daddy Time" between 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening, but since the summer "paint" season began they get even less time than that. But that is more than some daddy's get with their kids. Helen has a great Daddy, don't you think?!

(See next post, this is the second for today)

2008-07-26T21:56:00.003-04:00

I put Helen in a "Little Swimmer" diaper to go out to the pool today. Before we could go outside, I took a second to straighten up the living room and gather her toys to take with us. I walked over to the table and there stood this nut, who decided that she needed another diaper on:
I know it's a little blurry, but you get the idea. Kids....

Daddy's water

2008-07-22T21:51:00.007-04:00

We finally broke out the swimming pool Monday night and filled it up for Helen. We should have done it long before now, but we've been so busy, there's really been no time. Well, she totally knows what a pool is, but didn't call it a pool, instead called it "water."

"That's right baby, this IS water. It's your swimming pool. Whose pool is this?"

"Daddy's water?" she said sort of puzzled

"No baby, this is Helen's water. It's a POOL, for you to swim in."

"POO, WIM IN POO!!!!" Yep....that's right, she wims in poo.

Some cute pics to follow. Enjoy!

I tried to teach her the motions of paddling and kicking. She sort of got it. Since the pool sits on a grade, there is a really shallow end and a less shallow end. She actually ended up pushing herself across the pool. I was surprised that she let her legs float while her arms pushed. She crawled around most of the time! :)

She was so thrilled that I put some of her bath toys in the water with her! She really enjoyed being able to splash and dump water all over the place. Her favorite thing to do was to dump the water out of the pool. She also figured out that if you push the sides of the pool down into the water it makes for a fun time....GRR. I had to threaten to pop her if she kept doing it to get her to stop. She was determined that all of the water should be on the grass.

I call this shot "mini - Heisman."

Every single time she'd fall she'd land like this. She would sit in the same place she fell and cackle and giggle like she was being tickled.

Last but not least, a twisted mouth close up. I'm not sure what she was about to say, but it sure made her mouth wonky.

Bedtime note:

I was putting Helen to bed tonight, as I do every night. We have our routine: Milk, lambie, read books, say our prayers, and lay in bed. I went through our routine and began to tell her good night. I told her I loved her and was about to put her into her bed, when she said "God?" What does that mean, right? (normally she starts the tears at this point) Nope, it didn't take me long to realize that she meant that she wanted us to "talk to God," as I often refer to prayer time. How sweet and innocent that this little one remembered her Lord. She couldn't say the prayer, but she knew I could and reminded Mommy to do it. What a girl, what a soul. It's no wonder Jesus asks us to be as little children...

Esther and the VBS spokeswoman

2008-07-21T22:22:00.005-04:00

VBS. Ah, the joys and headaches planning it brings. For four days of bible school, there sure is a lot of prep work. There were so many people helping, in so many different ways, and yet, a 2 months in advance is barely enough time to get it all done.

I was (as I was last year) the "Story Room" Coordinator. Instead of doing a skit in front of the entire congregation, or puppets, or something to that effect, we have a story room where we do skits for each individual class. One night this week we did the story of Esther and I think it was the favorite of all the skits. I took some pictures of Emily (as Esther) and Helen when the toddler class came in to see the skits. Here they are:

Notice the microphone... Helen was given the microphone to play with after the skit was finished. *I didn't do it* She then became the story room spokesperson. She would talk into the microphone (all she would say is "AAAH") and then see if the other kids wanted to say something. It was HILARIOUS! She would put her entire mouth over the microphone...ew.

It was all I could do to get the thing away from her to get the class out of the room to get ready for the next class. .....that silly Helen

(See the other two posts below I made last night...I'm trying to catch up)

Our visitor (Rated PG--for sensitive viewers)

2008-07-21T20:44:00.003-04:00

Brian and Helen were looking outside one evening before bedtime and Helen saw this little fella had come for a visit.

"Nake" she said.

"Yes that is a snake baby. Good job! ...KRISTY!! Come over here and hold her and watch where it goes. I'm gonna have to kill it" (This coming from someone who HATES with deep passion, any kind of snake)

This is the up close and personal shot I got as it wandered into our flowerbed next to the door. As I snatched up the curtain near the flowerbed so Helen and I could watch it, he stopped, dead halt, staring at us. I think he knew we couldn't get to him because he didn't jump at us, but he wouldn't take a chance at releasing is gaze.

Ugly fella....

This is what came around the corner at him. His gaze was fixed as well. LOL! Pretty intense for a guy who hates snakes. One wack of that shovel and it was over. That snake didn't have a chance. Helen didn't see her Daddy kill the snake, but I did. It wasn't pretty, but he wasn't taking any chances with missing it.

After he came back inside we got on the internet and found that it was a copperhead. They are pretty common in GA and only lethal to very small children if the snake is full grown. Thank the Lord Helen saw it through the window and not face to face.

(this is my second post for today, check out the next one too)

Quick post

2008-07-21T17:49:00.003-04:00

Ok, VBS was this past week, and while I've not posted anything for you all I have a quick VBS post to tie you over until I get back to the computer later.

Every year Mrs. Nancy takes pictures of each child that comes to VBS and mounts it so cute in some neat way. Well, I have last year's and this year's side by side. Get ready because she doesn't even look like the same baby---only one year later.

.....K

2008-07-09T22:10:00.002-04:00

Helen's newest affirmative answer to everything is "K" as opposed to "Yes" or "All Right." She loves saying that and I'm not sure where she picked it up. I mention this because Helen and I have stepped into the crazy unknown of POTTY TRAINING......ew. (And every time I ask, "Helen, do you need to go pee pee in the potty." The answer is ".....K.") Sometimes I wonder if her answer really means OK. But usually she beats me to the bathroom, so I guess it does?

One might say....WHAT? How old is she.......18 months? Well, yes. If she hadn't instigated the whole thing, I wouldn't have started her until closer to 24 months. Maybe it was curiosity that made her say "pee pee potty" a week ago or maybe she really needed to go. Either way, it can't hurt to give it a shot. So, here we are with a munchkin learning to pee pee in the potty. :)

She's doing well thus far; better than I thought she'd do by day two. She has actually tinkled in the potty (3x today), but not without a little coaching. She's learning to feel and use the muscles she needs to to make these connections on her own which at day two is truly amazing to me.

I found these cool items at Potty Training Solutions called PODS that are basically a maxi pad for potty training and are "supposed" to give an easy transition between diaper and being fully potty trained. I'll get back to you about them as we progress. They seem to work, but then again, its DAY TWO! :) A peeve I have with these so far is that they are made to go in "big girl" underwear and well......they don't make underwear for children her size. She's got a tiny waist so with the POD and a tiny waist (and practically no booty) she walks around looking like a plumber all day long. (no offense Rotto Rooter) I've started pinning the sides up so they don't sag, but by three or so hours in the same pair they are stretched out! Poor thing. If anyone can help me find panties smaller than 2T (that don't cost $5 a pair), PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

I haven't gotten frustrated with the frequency of visits to the bathroom like I thought I would. I pray everyday that I'll have the patience I need to get through this stage of development, but I am certain to crack before too long. I try to stay positive, for her sake as well as my own. One of the things I find encourage me the most is reading up on the Quads out in the blogosphere. I know I've mentioned them before, but if you all have not had the pleasure of seeing these wonderful and strong women being moms, read up on them. These are are a few I like to visit to gain strength. Imagine potty training FOUR AT ONCE! (These women make me a believer the in the power of God and the strength of a mother):

Steece's Pieces

Quadville

Burkett Quad Squad

The Murray Crew

Other than this new venture, we are all still doing well and in good health, thank the good Lord for that. VBS is next week, so I am working with that effort. I have enlisted some wonderful people to help me and they have not let me down. Please keep me in your prayers that I don't get too stressed.......I have a tendency to do that.

XOXOXO to all of you!

Helen and the 4th

2008-07-07T13:28:00.005-04:00

Helen went to stay with my mom while we were at camp a few weeks ago. When we went to pick her up and she saw me she acted like she was being shy. After a few minutes with her she adjoined herself to my side and wouldn't leave. She gave me hugs and love and was very upset if I left her to go do anything. Helen has never been a huggie kind of person. She never really liked being held down long enough to give a hug, especially if I asked for one. Well, since that first minute we picked her up she's been a mommy's girl. I am so thankful for that. I think God knows I need a huggie/lovey little one. I have felt that I'd done something wrong for her not to want to love on me. I guess it just took a her a little while to realize the reason one would want to give a hug.

There has been very few people who could tear her away from me without taking her against her will and her wanting me back immediately. That person....yes....it's MIMI! Not daddy, not pawpaw, not uncle Ty like I thought it would be. It was Mimi! Isn't that so sweet! I have attached a picture of the Gray family that was taken this weekend in Carrollton (Helen is with Mimi). There are 4 generations of Gray represented here and it's so wonderful to see all of them. There are two families not represented that couldn't make it to the reunion and that is Eric (Brian's brother and his wife Haley) and Todd (Brian's first cousin and his wife and two children). That's 6 people we would have crammed into this picture. Thank the good Lord for family! The Grays are a great group and I love them so much. I'm glad I got the opportunity to be a part of them!

Camp

2008-07-02T21:36:00.010-04:00

We did so much in such a short amount of time at camp two weeks ago I can barely recount it all in one day, let alone in one blog. I am still catching up on my sleep from it, actually. We went to Palmetto Bible Camp in Marietta, South Carolina for an entire week, yep seven days. We met some awesome people, made some awesome friends, and had some great Christian fun. It never ceases to amaze me how Christians have such bonds. I'd only met one or two people at this camp before the week began and I walked away with so many fun memories. I think that if there is a heaven on earth it's at camp. The singing is great, the fellowship is great, and fun is great, and God is always there. Who wouldn't love that.

I've attached several pictures for you all to see. I hope you will enjoy.

Oh, btw, there are so many pictures that were not taken by me. Most of these are from a girl named Kierra. She was one of the campers in cabin five with me. She's totally awesome. I totally bummed them from her facebook, with her permission of course!

Brittni, Hannibal, and Emily - some of the greatest counselors at camp

Jasmine (her friends call her Jazz) - one of the sweetest and coolest teenagers I had the opportunity to meet

Wes trying is hand at song leading. He did pretty well.

Jillian after being "banana-creme-pied"

Brian hiking up to the waterfall and then to the "sliding rock." (God-made water slide)

The base of the water fall

Team 5 (our team) playing human battleship

Pancake the dog taking an afternoon snooze

Our masquerade masks at the banquet

Water Slide (and the geese)

The Ark

The Miniature Golf Course

Canoeing on the lake

Our "helicopter" for our Coast Guard Skit

Our Boat for the skit

The driver

And the best shot of the weekend....on the way home, the boys slept...just like this.

I am alive and spiritually recharged.

2008-06-26T07:56:00.003-04:00

This is the way I felt most days at Bible camp. We were busy all day long and running on pure adrenaline becuase sleep was very hard to come by.....

The theme of the week was "Christianity: Uniform or Costume" and it was VERY well executed by the directors and staff! We had at least three lessons per day and all of them were fantastic and so sound! All the staff and counsellors wore matching camo T-shirts each day...a different color for each day as well. That was fun too! I liked the camo!

I made lots of friends, but one really stood out. I'll tell you more about her later. I got to spend much time with my good buddy TRUDY, as well as a few days with her sisters, Heidi and Lavenia.

I want to spend the next hour telling you about my week, but I will save more for later. I will get into details then too!

I also have some pictures coming from the Saturday I left for camp. Brian and I took Nathan to the park along with Helen and my mom and stepdad. There was a festival. SO MUCH FUN! I'll have more about that soon, but here is one pic of my sweet nephew giving me some love....

Birdies and pawpaw

2008-06-10T11:00:00.004-04:00

Well, up in the corner of our front porch, a bird made a mess and a nest. Yesterday I noticed it wasn't just a nest anymore...there were BABY BIRDS! AWW!!

This picture is zoomed in quite a bit to see them. They are actually very very tiny. The nest can't be more than six inches in diameter. And there are at least two other birds in there. These are the only ones I could get on camera. I just love to look at these guys! So does Helen. I wish I could articuate the way she says the word "bird." It's as cute as the birds are!

This picture is for PawPaw and Mimi. It's of Helen sitting at the dining room table (any time Helen sits for an extended period of time---longer than 20 seconds---is an accompishment) She just wanted to sit and look at PawPaw's picture. He's the third person from the left. I thought it was just so sweet! OH, and this picture was not staged....believe it or not, it's a candid.

Love

2008-06-08T22:11:00.004-04:00

I was watching a re-run of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition tonight about the Stockdale family and their four children all of which have a rare (extremely long and hard to pronounce) disease that is incurable. The parents, Ryan and Karia, cannot be any older than Brian and me and they have so much courage and love--not just for their children, but for one another as well. Their story was heartbreaking, but inspiring at the same time. While watching this show, I thought about the tag (which I've fulfilled below) that I received from several of you. It is so hard to sum up one's life in six simple words, but I think I've come up with something that is appropriate for my past and present, but mostly my future. Hopefully we can live and love everyday to its fullest in the same way that the Stockdale family does. May the Lord continue to bless you all!

The Six Word Memoir

This idea came from the book by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure . The book is a compilation that is based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his entire life in just six words. His words? For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Here are the rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir.

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.

4. Tag five more blogs with links.

5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

My six words, not very original, but potent just the same:

The greatest of these is love

I don't stop and take a moment to breathe in the beauty and simplicity of life. God made it easy, we make it hard. I hope I can remember the greatest and most fundamental gift He has given and pay it forward to all those whom I love the most.

Thank you Kelly, Kim, and Katie for tagging me.

I now tag:

Tasha - As Our Alyssa Grows

Trudy - Dan and Trudy

Carol Leah - Word From the Motherbug

Haley - The Gray Family

Liz - The Johnston Five

Eric's Graduation

2008-06-07T09:34:00.003-04:00

Normally when a loved one graduates from college, a picture of the actual graduate is posted and celebrated.....

Well, we are so happy for Eric and his Summa Cum Laude decorations and being given the "Christian Service" award....the only student in his class.

At this time, however, I pause to share something else with you as well.....

It's called CHEEEEESE! And lots of it! HAHAHA!

While we were waiting for Eric's ceremony to begin, Helen and Nathan wanted to sit together. Leslie wanted to catch it on camera. She got more than she bargained for when she asked them to smile. All Helen could muster was a squint, but Nathan made up for all the smiles Helen was lacking! I love these kids so much!!

Leslie, thanks again for catching the best shots!

Thursday...seemed like a Monday all day long

2008-06-05T23:23:00.005-04:00

I've been up since 5:45AM and we're pushing midnight by now. I'm sure by the end of this post, it'll be well into Friday morning. I hope you all are sleeping well.

I've prayed a lot today. I'm not saying that in a prideful way, but today my patience has been worn very thin and it was the only way I know to make it through these kind of days.

Not that there has been any horrible or tragic things going on today...just a day when one's body and mind is pushed harder than normal. God is good. I'm alive, my family is well and safe, and He continues to give me strength to make it until the next sunrise. I hope you all can say the same...

Here are some fun pics from tonight:

After her bath she wanted to play with my old jewelry box I put in her room for her treasures. She has bows and barettes in there for now. She is so excited about her box. She let me, or made me, put all the bows and clips in her hair. Then I showed her how to look at herself in the mirror of the lid on the jewery box.... what small things make a child smile! ISN'T SHE CUTE!

(She'd look in the mirror and say "BOO!" and then cackle up a storm!)

Last, but not least, and after I brushed her teeth....

DADDY GAVE HER AN OREO!

Holy Dog Leash Batman - Part Deux

2008-06-04T07:25:00.003-04:00

....Brian speaks to the animal control officer and comes back in moments later explaining to me that we have to go to court. He grabs is ID and heads back out.

We were issued 3 citations....yep three....for violations to animal control laws. The neighbor claimed the Brodie came onto her property, unprovoked, and barked at her (and her dog) showing his teeth with the hair on his neck raised! The AC officer said that on first offences they normally just issue a warning, but that the neighbor insisted on pressing charges. She wanted him to issue a "vicious dog" citation, but he didn't becuase that would have meant harsher penalty. If he'd issued that citation he would have had to take Brodie away. Thank you for not doing that. He isn't vicious in any way.

Side note: Our property line is only seperated from her driveway by about 20-30 feet. The line is a good distance from our house, but the line is very close to hers.

She said that Brodie has been on her property on at least two other occasions and that this was the only time he "attacked."

I decided before the county came that I was going to suck it up and give her the benefit of the doubt that she was genuinely scared of Brodie. I had decided to write her a nice note and take even take her some fun baked goodies to help smooth it all over in hopes that we could actually be cordial neighbors.

After the county came, however, and said that Brian could possibly be given PROBATION because of Brodie, I rethought my decision. I didn't want to give her any reason to accuse us of something we didn't do. I didn't want to jeopardize Brian's legal status at all.

We were both very upset about this. We are Christians and don't want to do anything to endanger or hurt any of our neighbors. Especially not with our sweet dog. He's a good dog--A little high spirited, but a really good dog.

We had to wait until June 3rd to go to court. (Some counties let you just pay the citations and go on about your life....not so in our county) We consulted lawyers and friends we have in other county animal control offices to prepare ourselves for what could happen in court.

The day of court arrives. I have arranged babysitting for Helen so I can go with Brian to court. I walk into this room and I am expecting Judge Judy's courtroom. You know, a judge's bench with two podiums for the plantiff and defendant and a bailiff, and of course, some bench seating for the people foregoing cases. HA! Double HA! There were a few tables set up, a bigger desk for the judge (there was a bailiff), one podium, and only about 15 chairs for the people who are in queue. Not to mention that the room is about the size of a small office area! I am informed that unless I am on the citations, then I need to leave because there isn't enough room for me in the "courtroom."

I'm thrilled not to have to wait. So I head out and go pick up Helen.

Five hours later, Brian calls me to say that his "trial" is over and he's on his way to work. Apparently, after I left, not only did the 15 chairs in the room fill up, the hallway outside the room filled up with people waiting on their case to be called as well. Did they set up chairs for them, you ask? NOPE. They are all sitting in the floor! I would hate to know how long those people had to wait. Brian waited until 2:00PM. Did their cases even get heard?

Brian said that when his case was called he got up as did the lady sitting next to him the whole day. How hilarious is it that our neighbor, whom we've never seen up close, sat next to him all day long and he didn't even know it was her! Brian pleaded "no contest," so she sat there all day too and didn't even get to say a word. He paid the fine and off he went. The fine was so small that it cost him more to sit there than it did to pay it. He wasn't thrilled, but I'm glad it's over.

We're going over to talk to her this week. We want to get to know her and let her and her family know that we are not here to harm or hurt her in anyway....That if something we are doing is unacceptable, a simple phone call or knock on the door would be sufficient. We are friends with all of our surrounding neighbors, except her. Christians can forgive wrong-doing and we hope that she can forgive us for this simple little issue, especially if she really was scared.

So our little convict was saved from the mean ole dog pound by the gentle nature of our county AC officer! We are glad that Brian didn't have to go to jail too, nor be placed on probation! Can you believe that is even an option for somone who's dog barks at another person!? What is this world coming to!?

BTW, Brian told me that there was this one case who's pit bull got into someone's house and killed their cat and distroyed some of their things. Now THAT is something to complain about!

Thanks for reading....I know it was long

Holy Dog Leash Batman!

2008-06-04T06:42:00.002-04:00

To continue with our story....

For my birthday last year, I begged Brian to get Brodie the Invisible Fence collars so that we could let him out and he wouldn't be all over the neighborhood. He's always been a very affectionate dog (the dachsund in him) but he's also been very territorial (the russell in him) so it doesn't take a whole lot to get him to bark or to run after a little kid on a bicycle. He doesn't bark because he wants to bite the kid, he barks and chases them because he's playful and they passed through his line of sight!

So bless his bones when we got the shock collar last year. He hates it, but it does the trick. Now he gets to bark, but he knows better than to go after something too far away from the house because he'll get a good jolt.

The collar is battery operated and last month the battery died and instead of running out to the local pet store and buy another one, we took our time because he's so good for us without it.

Well, about a month ago, he and Helen and I were out on the driveway playing when Brian came home from work. Helen ran up to greet him so I ran after her to keep her from getting in front of the car. Brodie was excited Brian was home, as usual, but I didn't worry about him because he knows the car would squish him dead. I kept my eye on Helen until Brian was in the garage.

All of a sudden, Brian's engine still running in my ear and the wind just blowing full, I hear a voice from up the hill:

This is our neighbor's house. She was standing at the top of this hill just off of her driveway yelling at the top of her lungs, "YOU NEED TO PUT A LEASH ON THAT DOG!"

I look up and see Brodie trotting back to our house and I thought I heard something else. I grab hold of Brodie and put my hand to my hear and say "What, I'm sorry I didn't hear that, what did you say?"

She exclaims, again yelling, "YOUR DOG CAME OVER TO MY PROPERTY, ON MY DRIVEWAY, AND ATTACKED ME AND MY DOG."

So here I am, in a sort of shock, with a head cold, Brian's engine still in my ear, and she she's yelling at me from over 50 yards away and I still think I hear her speaking to me. So again, I put my hand to my ear and say, "I'm sorry, what was that last thing, I'm having a hard time hearing you."

She says, "YOU KNOW WHAT, I CAN'T HEAR YOU EITHER!!!!!! YOU JUST PUT A LEASH ON THAT DOG!" And she storms off.

Since he didn't have his collar on, he made it up to her house and "attacked" her. I'm floored and flustered, to say the least. I go inside and cool my emotions down and about 30 minutes later, we look outside and there in her driveway is the county Animal Control!!!!

WHA?!?!?!

Ok, Brian and I are country folk. On our side of the world, we usually just go complain to the neighbor that has a pesky animal or we just deal with it. Why? Because animals are just that....animals.

Well, apparently, she aint kuntry folk.

After her 30 minute complaint to the county, he drives into our driveway and Brian goes out to speak with him....

To be continued later today....

Our little convict

2008-06-03T08:10:00.002-04:00

This is our dog Brodie. He is a Jack Russell/Miniature Dachsund mix. Isn't he adorable? He's wearing his invisible-fence collar sitting reluctantly so that I could take this picture. We'll call it his mugshot because today, we go to court today about this "vicious" little dog. More to come....stay tuned!

Big feet, little mouth, new toys

2008-05-20T22:03:00.005-04:00

There's not much new in our world, but some fun new pictures that I got this past week.

New things Helen eats...

Dirt...
Lipstick...
Mashed Potatoes

Helen got this Train Tent over the weekend at Academy Sports. It folds up into this tiny little bag we can carry to work with us. She loves to play in it. I'd say, for ten dollars, it's a pretty great investment.

How cute. Those are Brian's shoes. This was taken today. If you look closely at her fingers, she's got white goo all over them. She got into my french manicure nail polish this morning while I was in the shower. Thank the Lord she made that mess on the linoleum and not the carpet. This picture was taken after she had been cleaned up with nail polish remover....her legs and fingers were COVERED in polish. HAPPY WEDNESDAY

ELECTRIFYING!

2008-05-17T21:17:00.004-04:00

So after two or three slides down Helen's Little Tykes slide, their hair stood up on end! As soon as they stopped touching the slide, their hair would fall flat, but if one body part put touched taht red slide....BAM, straight back up! That's not the wind blowing! The static electricity going through their bodies was intense! I made the mistake of touching Helen at the bottom of the slide and she shocked the stew out of me! Youch!

(P.s. This is my second blog today, read the next one too)

s

Roll Tide

2008-05-17T20:59:00.005-04:00

Here's to all the future Alabama fans out there.

Helen's daddy bought this little dress for her while we were visiting Carrollton a few weeks ago. I loved it and was glad he decided to get it! I didn't even beg! Helen wore it to church a couple of weeks ago and while we were getting ready she wanted to wear Daddy's "At" (Translation: Hat). It was SO cute! Mimi....couldn't you just eat her up?!

Roomie Reunion at Zoo Atlanta

2008-05-13T15:07:00.010-04:00

Last Saturday we went to the Atlanta zoo and met Tommy, Carol Leah, and Thomas, and Dan and Trudy for a quick Roomies reunion. I don't think we've all been together since CL's wedding. To say the least, it's been far too long. The time passed too quickly and while our trip was short it was so much fun! The zoo alone was great, but the company so much better! Enjoy the pictures!

Thomas: Are you kidding me? This girl will NOT shut up! Mom, get me out of here!

Deep in the Outback, waiting for his prey. Grr.

At the Little People tables, Mommy needs a break.

Waiting for the train to go. Helen didn't want to sit still. Little T, however, was just glad he was getting to ride.

Helen riding the carousel. She was on the panda bear. She held on to the pole like she knew exactly what to do. She didn't make a fuss over it, but the expression on her face made it seem like she was blissful.

Helen petting a goat. Half hesitation, half fascination.

Helen very ineterested in the kangaroos.

I don't remember ever being this close to a kangaroo. The look so strange up close. Nothing like Kanga and Roo on Winnie the Pooh.

Contimplating the things of her world.

So this fella, I don't remember the type of monkey it was, had it's habitat in the middle of the entry to the Outback area. There was a part of the path roped off so that no one could pass under one certain tree where these fellas were sitting (in case one wanted to jump down on ya). We met the Hatfields just a few feet from their main area, but far enough away to be separated from the siteseers. Well, Helen was getting a little hungry and I pulled out some grapes for her and put them on her tray. I heard a squeal and thought nothing of it considering the fact we were in a ZOO! Not a second after I heard the screech, a zoo employee says, "Oh, the monkeys see some food! They love grapes and are making known they see it!" At that point I was glad there was a roped off portion of the pathway. Otherwise we may have been bombarded with monkeys after Helen's snack!

Trudy and Kristy, the best meerkats in the zoo.

Carol Leah and little T, the cutest meerkats at the zoo!

Where did Carol Leah go?

Helen: "Uh sat?" (What's that?) She was looking at the giraffe.

A goodbye kiss..... Helen still only interested in the giraffe.

The Roomies...Don't we look slim next to that elephant?

A weekend with Grammy and Papa Tom

2008-05-12T21:28:00.011-04:00

My mom and stepdad came to visit Thursday and Friday. Of course there was much picture-taking! I've uploaded some pics for your enjoyment.

"You talkin' to me....?"

"Hiya! Pow! Karate CHOP!"

She looks a little punch drunk. All that dancin' Elvis had her doing I guess. (j/k she's mid-blink)

Just wanted everyone to see how the camera caught Helen looking just like Brian!

Look out Tyra!

So you've seen the last post with the flip flops pic, this time she's got shoes on and wearing Daddy's flops! She looks like she's on skis!

We were playing "Where did Helen go?"

A beautiful pic of Papa Tom and Helen

Moma wouldn't let her stand up on the chair like she wanted to so she pushed her down (playfully) to make a game out of not standing in the chair. Well, Helen thought this was the FUNNIEST thing. Everytime she'd stand up, Grammy would push her down and she'd giggle and laugh! I'll bet she peed laughing so hard!

Just thought this one was cute

Helen teaching Mommy her ABCs.

This is Helen doing her tantrum thing and it was caught on camera. She just started this stamping-her-foot thing and on occasion this preceeds it. Brian saw this picture and immediately saw Mary Catherine Gallagher. (That Brian...so silly)

Helen and her crackers...Brodie eyeing them for the first sign of dropping to the floor!

And last and NOT least

My fave of the day! Grammy and Helen giving "Eskimos" to each other but making the SAME face. I don't know if one subconsciously copied the other's expression, but one thing is for sure....IT'S HILARIOUS!

Where to begin....

2008-05-07T16:46:00.016-04:00

OK, here we go.

Starting with the last "real" posting. I got sick, Helen and Brian got sick, and we all got over our crud and are doing better. Thanks for the prayers.

Most of the pics I've pulled out are from the last two - three weeks. I'm certain that some things occured for which I have no pictures, but I hope the following will bring much joy.

Here are some things Helen loves to eat:

Here she's eating one of who-knows-how-many strawberries. A nice mother of one of the girls I was tutoring brought me a big gallon bucket of freshly picked strawberries from a local strawberry patch as a gesture of thanks. I was super excited to get them as strawberries are one of my favorite things to eat. They were nice and ripe and perfect to just take a BIG OLE juicy bite, and that is exactly what we both did. I pulled the stems out for Helen and she ate them practically whole! And the juice, as you can see, was all over her. I put her in her high chair to finish her berries because the juice was so intense. I think she ate 8-10 by herself. After the "snack," Helen, her clothes, and her high chair had to have a bath. I think she got the better end of the deal!

She got a little bored on one of our trips and decided that the best place for her toe was in her mouth, as opposed to in her sock and shoe. The girl, typical toddler, can't keep her shoes on for five minutes if she does not have her feet on the ground. If she's sitting, she's trying to get them off and especially so while in her car seat. Toys will not suffice.

Now she eats the bubbles. I think this could have been a part of previous blog, but I'm not sure. Even so, this is too funny to let it go. She loves bubbles and loves the bath, but now she loves bubbles in her mouth while she taking a bath. She has realized the hard way not to inhale....nuff said.

My mother, "Grammy" to Helen, taught her how to listen to the "Snap, Crackle, and Pop" of the Rice Krispies. She's also learning to eat with a spoon. Well, she decided to stop eating, spoon still in-hand, to listen to the cereal "talk." She hasn't quite figured out that she hears through her ears. She thinks she can hear through her eyes. So she puts the cereal as close to her face as possible to "hear." How sweet is that!

So, I've been doing a lot of research on homeschooling and finding a pre-K program that is right for Helen. I found a free curriculum website, Brightly Beaming, that starts fundamental concepts as early as the first month of life. Of course, I am not starting that early, but I am interested in teaching her by 18 months. I've looked thru the extensive lessons and they are fantastic. They actually start teaching 13 month old children foreign languages. While that sounds far fetched, it's really only a few words here and there. There are 48 lessons per year, each one week long. If any of you out there want to look into homeschooling, give BB a look-see. It's free and really easy to use. I've not researched past the 2-3 year old courses, but if you want to see if your up to the task (and if your kids will respond to you) try them out for a few lessons. It can't hurt! (I promise I was not paid to make this advertisement.)

Anyway, I say all of that to say that its going pretty well. We are learning to hold our crayons and scribble on the page. We are learning about leaves and trees and bark and dirt. We explored the unknown when we turned on the hose pipe and water came out. You would have though gold was coming out! Helen just LOVED it. She's learning new words everyday, her newest words are Tractor, Doctor, Cook, and Turtle. She says "daddy," "Ty," "PawPaw," "Papa," and "Uh sat?" (translation "What's that?") with more frequency than any other words. I've been working on her to start saying words together to help her into sentences. The closest formation to a sentence was "Daddy Work." (which means, Daddy is at work.) I'm so proud she's learning. Not only I, but Brian and Leslie and Ty are helping with the learning. Whether they know it or not, they are helping her learn so much.

Now, onto another subject. The slide:

My boss, Bill, had this slide at his house/my office for his little girl when she little. I say "had" because he brought it to my house for Helen. His little girl is too big for it and Helen saw it and loved it. I was THRILLED to have it because I've been looking for a Little Tykes playset for her. This one is still in great condition and while it's been loved, it has a lot more life still in it for Helen. She's in love with her "sigh." It site on our back deck and everytime she sees it through the window she wants to go "uh sigh .... SIGH" (outside to slide). The second picture is of her letting her sticks slide down. She loves to put other things down it and watch them go. She's put all kinds of things down it by now. Her favorite, though, are the sticks. She lets them go, then she goes, then she gets the sticks again and they go together. What fun it is to watch that innocence and joy!

Playtime, inside:

One Saturday morning, Daddy and Helen (mostly daddy) were playing "kick the ball into Brodie (the dog)" and while it was a little funny to see Brodie dodging the little plastic ball, I thought it would be more fun to get Helen involved a little more than just a bystander. Brian and I decided to kick the ball to her. Well, she didn't really understand the point of kicking (to get it back to the other person), so after a while we decided to kick the ball WITH Helen. We used her as our hockey stick and slung her all over the place and she couldn't have had more fun in her life! From the picture above it looks like she is in pain, but I swear on my life that she's laughing. She knew NOT to pick up her feet and just squeeled with delight evertime she "kicked" the ball. I played with her for a while and then Brian played with her. Both of us got tired pretty quick after that. A 21 pound hockey stick gets heavy after while. I wish I could have had this on video! Brodie, by the way, hid until the ball was put away. No animals were harmed in the making of this photograph, before or after. :)

Nap time...NO WAY!

I went to get Helen up because se was obviously NOT going to nap at this particular time of the this day. She wanted to play, and PLAY she did. I walked into her room and THIS is what I saw. She was wearing that shirt the correct way when I laid her down, and apparently wanted to make a new fashion statement about how pajamas should be worn in Helen's World. Of course, one this small wouldn't understand the rules of modesty. She'll soon learn how a young girl should dress, but for now, this is too funny not to share! She could have gone the rest of the day like this, but Mommy pooped on her parade and fixed it.

I'm a big kid now:

She loves my flip flops and never misses an opportunity to put them on if she sees them laying in the floor. She's always liked to put on the any big shoes she sees in the floor, but for some reason, THESE shoes are her faves. Nancy...can you blame her? Flip flops rock, right?

A weekend away:

Brian and I went with the youth to Palmetto Bible Camp this past weekend for their Spring Youth Rally. It's basically a weekend version of camp. It's a fun filled Friday night and Saturday where all one has to worry about is who's the cutest and where's my Bible. I love camp and everything about it. I've never been to PBC but after the Youth Rally, all of our kids and I, want to go back. The lessons were great, the grounds were beautiful, the kids were always with something to do, and the best part, there's a waterfall! The camp is amidst the Apalachian foothills and sits along side a small lake/pond. I'll have more from PBC on my next posting, so be ready.

While we were away, Helen stayed with Ty, Leslie, and Nathan. Here are a few pics taken by master photographer Leslie. She gets the best shots EVER!

This is my FAVE and I've saved it for last. Apparently, the kids were playing and Leslie smelled "something." I think she said something along the lines of, "Uh oh, I smell a stinky." And Nathan says, "It's Heh-Nee" (Helen) and proceeds to pull open the back of her diaper to check. The look on Helen's face is priceless. This one is going in the All-the-boys-you-date-must-see these-pictures Book.

The past few weeks haven't been all that eventful, but have been interesting. I found out yesterday that Helen has another ear infection, but this time in BOTH ears. Please keep that little one in your prayers. We have an eventful May so I hope to have many more stories to share.

Where's Waldo

2008-05-02T14:08:00.003-04:00

Several of my frequent readers have emailed and commented to me asking where I am. I am here and doing OK, but have been a little busy and have been fighting my blogging addiction to get other things done. I've got some stories to talk about but it'll be Sunday before I can post anything! Thanks for checking on us!

Help for mommy, new teeth, and.......Elvis?

2008-04-19T16:29:00.011-04:00

We were supposed to go and visit my grandmother this weekend, but because I was sick (I found out it was a sinus infection and the beginning stages of bronchitus, by the way) we didn't go. My wonderful mother and step-father came to visit to watch Helen so I could rest and recover. They live 3 hours away, so that's saying something! Thursday night and Friday was restful. I missed my monthly Bunko night, but I think everyone there was glad I stayed home because I was contagious!

Thank the Lord for good parents...and antibiotics.

This picture proves how bad I felt. I'm smiling, but only on the outside.

Grammy kisses tickle....

Hey mommy, I'm doing OK. Go back to bed.

Papa Tom builds them, and I knock them down. I love this arrangement!

She's cutting both incisors. Those two little white specs are actually teeth cutting through, not the glare of the flash. She wouldn't let me take a picture, so we had to flip her upside down.

No, she's not trying to fill up her diaper. She is actually excited because she was finally able to get the top on that plastic bowl! She'd been working on it for a few minutes.

She was playing with her princess bag and put it over her head. I hope DFCS doesn't take her away from me. I only left it on her head long enough to get the picture (20 seconds, max). I know it's a suffocation hazard, but it was hilarious that she was peeking out of the clear part and walking around like that!

Here's Elvis! Until my parents arrived in Georgia, Elvis belonged to Papa Tom. You press his hand and he sings "I'm All Shook Up" and dances. Well, Helen fell in love with it so he now belongs to her. Spoiling at its best!

Daddy and Helen dancing to Elvis the bear.

Pure enjoyment....the joys of childhood. She still loves it and she's played that song at least 50 times. It's actually not annoying....

(BTW, this is my second post for today. Check out the next one too)

As promised...only a week late.

2008-04-17T20:35:00.004-04:00

Here are some pics from the Saturday Nathan was with us...(see April 11th post)

I'm not sure why he likes to cover up the car with the blankets. He did the same thing last week. Pretty cute fella.

This is Nathan's helicopter that his Nana got him. You push the button on the top and the propeller spins and lights up. Helen loves it as much as Nathan does. (Just don't let the one see the other with it!)

They were crawling onto the couch and there was body parts flailing all over the place! This was just before she got mad at him.

What the living room looked like until nap time.....Peek-A-Blocks and books were everywhere!

I've been a little busy blowing by dose

2008-04-17T12:45:00.003-04:00

Does anyone know where I can buy one of these?!!!!!

I'm sorry to all of my frequent readers, I've been sick these past few days. I have intended to get on here to post some pics since last weekend, but alas, the schnoz has prevailed. I've gone to bed early every night. Sorry folks. My wonderful mom is in town tonight, so maybe I can get something posted that has a little more gusto! Yall take care! If there are any of you out there that have the same thing going on...I'm praying for you.

2008-04-11T22:18:00.002-04:00

Last week was Brian's Bday and this week it's Leslie's Bday. So, we've swapped babysitting duties for Friday night! Ty and Leslie went out on a date and we kept Nathan overnight! He's been a pleasure! We took he and Helen to Mickey D's for dinner and then to the park for a bit of playtime. We told them they could play in the "Play Place" but when we went to go in, a sign said it was closed for repairs. (bummer) It took some convincing to get them into the car and to go to the park! They played and played and ran and climbed! I think Helen's favorite part was the slides! Nathan got a kick out of the wiggling bridge. (a swinging bridge) He may have been on one before, but he acted like it was a new thing! I told him to jump on it and he thought that was great too! He liked that it wiggled after he jumped! He also liked the climbing obstacles. Some of the things he was climbing on looked a little too much for such a small boy, but he tackled them like he had disjointed body parts! He's grown so much since they moved here! It's amazing how time flies and how fast they grow. I've been so caught up in Helen and keeping her on a daily basis I've missed out on getting to see Nathan like I used to.

After the park, we came home, had baths (with bubbles of course) and they splashed and washed and played! They were both in there at the same time, but some how there was enough room for all of Helen's bath toys and them too! They didn't seem to mind.

Helen was ready for bed by nine and Nathan could have gone for much longer. By the time I got Helen in bed I was gearing up for getting him settled too! We read his books and I gave him his milk. He is now sleeping soundly on "Nathan's bed" in our sitting room off of our master. I think he likes that bed. (It's a futon that is actually comfortable.) Hopefully the rain and all the energy expelled will allow them both to sleep well into the morning.

Tomorrow will be a fun day. Maybe the rain will have passed by the morning and we can do some things outside. Rainy days are no fun on a Saturday! Rain or no, I'll have some pics for you on the next post!

Brian's Birthday and a few other pics

2008-04-05T20:26:00.009-04:00

Brian jumped the big 30 hurdle this weekend. He ages well, still looking not a day older than 29! ;) Leslie and Ty babysat Helen over night Friday so that we could go out for dinner and a movie and still get to sleep in on Saturday!! (How cool are they?!) We had Longhorn's Flo's Filet (the best steak in existence) and saw 21, a movie about some MIT students who go to Vegas and count cards. It's a very good flick. Pretty clean, rated P-13. It's like Ocean's Eleven meets Rainman. Interesting combo huh...

Anyway, it was a fun night. He also was given a fabulous gift: the entire Seinfeld series on DVD.

Saturday was great. We got up around 8:00 and had pancakes for breakfast. Brian went outside and worked in his shed and I worked feverishly to clean the house. Most of what I did was clean baseboards and scrap white paint flecks off my hardwood floors at the baseboards. (Side note: we moved into our house a year and a half ago, and I've yet to get to this. Either beacause of keeping up with Helen or sheer lack of interest....) I had to scrape them all up with my fingernails. Yeah... But it's all clean and fleckfree and I feel GREAT! After that I mopped the hardwood and then Brian used our orbital and buffed it to a beautiful shine! (Thanks ORECK!)

After cleaning, we got ready and went to Ty and Leslie's for dinner and cookie cake! MMM!! Here are some pictures of the kids playing while we were there.

I know it's a little out of focus, but he's still got the cutest dimples! His mommy has them too!

Helen being a goofball.

She turned the gliding ottoman over and was pushing it with mad fury but with a huge smile! I wish I had a video instead of a still shot because this was hilarious! See Brian in the back laughing at her! She was going as fast as her little arms would let her!

Partners in crime, Leah and Rudy. Mimi's puppies!

This is from Friday night when she stayed over with Leslie. She always gets the best pictures of Helen. I love this one!

Helen on Nathan's trike. She can't reach the pedals, but she still knows how to make it go! LOL!

They had a blast playing the floor with Nathan's Shrek blanket! They put it over each other's heads and walked around, then they started wiggling all over the floor on it! Too fun.

Mommy shot! Good picture Leslie! You can't even tell she took it! Isn't she pretty!?!?!

These last shots are for Mimi. She bought these kitty pajamas for Helen. I tought her what "the kitty says" and she went around saying "Eeeooow." She was on fire that night and would NOT hold still for me to get a shot. These are some of the best ones. Enjoy!

I love this one!

She looks like she's dancing the jig!

What a fantastic day!!

2008-04-01T22:08:00.008-04:00

My day started off with a shot when I woke up late and had to leave relatively early. I needed to be up and out with Helen and all of our stuff by 8:00AM because today I was meeting Trudy in Commerce for a girls day! Carol Leah wanted to meet us, but the drive and length of day was a little too long. (Can you blame her?) If you're reading this, we missed you...truly we did.

Commerce, for those of you not familiar, is a town about 40 miles north of Atlanta on I-85. If you've travelled that way, you may remember it as the "place with all the Tanger Outlets." Yeah....now you know. Well, Commerce is about half-way for Trudy and I to meet periodically for a girls day. Sometimes these visits are for an hour or two, other times they are for several hours (all day).

Trudy, Carol Leah, and I met at Faulkner in 2000. I could go on for some several hours about random events involving the three of us, but to sum up our relationship: we just enjoyed laughing together. Separately, we are very different people with relatively different interests, families, backgrounds, and lives. But together, we really complement each other's personalities. (I think so anyway) I believe that's what makes our friendship so great and why we clicked so well from the very beginning.

That being said, we've tried several times to get together since we all moved away, but for one reason or the other could never get the trio together. CL lives in AL, I live in GA, and Trudy lives in SC. That doesn't make for an easy trip especially when Atlanta is basically the center. (To me, Atlanta isn't the easiest city for a quick, one-day visit.) Today, only Trudy and I were able to come together in Commerce. It wasn't as fun as if we had been able to get CL there too. No offense to Trudy because she feels the same way. CL is muy fabulosa!! Not to mention little Thomas would have been there to play with Helen. What a fun thing that would have been!

So we met at 1:30 for lunch at Sonny's BBQ and it was good. Helen hasn't seen Trudy since she was very small (only a few months old) but she took to Trudy as if she were flesh and blood! They had loads of fun from the start. Here's a pic at Sonny's with Helen trying on Trudy's very stylish specacles...

so professional!

From Sonny's we started at Tanger. We went to several different stores most of which I had to fight the intense urge to buy for Helen. Most places I resisted, but Old Navy had socks on sale for $0.49 a pair, so I got 8 pairs in different colors! What a deal!!!! I think I did pretty good. Trudy got Helen a really cute dress at Carter's with little green shamrocks and polka dots! I LOVED IT! (she totally surprised me and she bought it while I was in the store...duh) Here's a picture of the BEAUTIFUL Trudy and Helen in the dress.

click to enlarge :)

Why, you say, would Kristy put Helen in the dress she just received from Trudy? Why not wait for another day, say Sunday or a nice spring day to wear such a cute dress? Well, let us keep going with our story....

We spent most of the day burning up because we both expected it to be cool and rainy. (sunny and warm) I guess most of the stores did as well because every one of them had no AC on except KB Toys whici was a nice break. Around mid-afternoon we were parched, so we bought two Mr. Pibbs to quench our thirst. I knew Helen would probably be feeling the same way so I gave her some grapes and some water and we strolled on through the stores. She got grape juice all over herself, the stroller, her clothes and shoes! (yeah...) I had an extra outfit in her bag, so I changed her out of the stickiness, wiped her down from head to toe with wipes, as Trudy tackled the stroller with GermX wipes, and re-dressed her in the spare.

It's a good thing you had the extra, you say? Yeah, I thought so too, thanks! I thought I might be moving up the mommy ladder thinking in advance like that. Keep reading...

So we finished our shopping and decided to grab dinner at Applebee's! Mostly we were just going to get dessert and call it a day. Well, we got there and decided that those appetizer's looked pretty.....appetizing! :) We ordered a sampler and Helen, Mac and Cheese and brocolli. Before our meals arrived, Helen had fun with her cup of water. She only wanted to drink it this way(notice where her straw is...or rather isn't):

And when I took it away from her because it was getting her all wet, she screamed and cried in a way that made me think I'd mortally wounded her. (She never reacts that way) I thought, "well maybe she's really thirsty." So I gave it back to her with the straw and she continued to take the straw out and drink the water away in the above manner. More on her than in her.

Now, as I was ordering for her, in the back of my head I knew she would never eat mac and cheese AND brocolli, but she likes them both so I would just take them home, right? Little did I know! She ate nearly every bite of that mac and cheese and a good bit of brocolli! I was SHOCKED!! She never eats that well. She usually picks at food. Well, she fed herself the macaroni with lightening speed and by the time the meal was done, not only was she coated from head to toe in noodle goo, she was completely soaked in water. Cue in the third outfit of the day--but wait, you didn't bring a second change of clothes Kristy, you only brought the one! Yep, and it's a good thing Trudy bought her the cute little dress earlier today. So I go out to the car, grab the wipes, a diaper, and the dress and more socks (just happened to have a pair of Nathan's I meant to give to Leslie Sunday night) and I headed back into the restaurant. For the second time today, I'm stripping my wiggly and wired 15 month old daughter in the bathroom, wiping her from head to toe with wipes and fighting with as much energy as I can muster to put more clean clothes on her.

When we got back, the chocolate Tripleplay (AKA CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH ICE CREAM) was waiting on us. We ate it and headed to the car. All of us where tired. We had a quick self-photo shoot in the parking lot and loaded up and went home. Trudy to the north, Kristy and Helen to the south. Bye-bye Trudy...Helen was even disappointed.

All in all it was a great day. The Lord blessed us with a safe and fun-filled day that I really needed. Here are some of the last shots of the day. Enjoy:

Helen wouldn't be still for anything.

Awwwwwwwww

It's been far too long.

2008-03-30T20:29:00.016-04:00

This week has been a long week. I made a post on Tuesday and everything after that was just a blur until today. I started getting a little cold/allergy "thing" about that time so we'll blame my lack of post on that! :)

Helen is learning her body parts and is able to point to some of them now! She definately knows her eyes, nose, hair, ears, and belly button (which we refer to as a "boley holey.") I know it's a normal developmental process of a child to eventually learn body parts, but to see it in action makes me glad God knows what he's doing and allows little me to be a part of it.

She's also learned how to climb just about everything in our house. This week, I think it was Thursday, I got Helen up and got her ready so we could go to work. I put her down so she could go play in the living room while I was fixing her breakfast and getting our bags ready. Next thing I know, there's no noise in the house, except the noise I was making.......UH OH. Never a good sign. I come around the corner in the living room, and don't see Helen. (Ok...) I checked my bedroom, and she's not in there. Well, I come back into the living room foyer and what do I see....

Yep, a second attempt at the octopus painting. I put it up on top of the table in the dining room where she "couldn't reach or see it...." Well, we live and learn. I knew it wouldn't be long until she started getting up there. It was so cute seeing her standing up there just working all by herself. Just a big (little) girl. I hated to make her leave it, but we had to go to work.

I have decided that climbing and exploring are her two favorite things. She doesn't care for TV, she doesn't make a fuss for any toys, she likes to flip through books and look at all the pictures, but other than that, she'd rather be outside. I saw this in a One Step Ahead catalog this week and I'm hoping we can get one. I don't know if we'll really get it because it's a little pricey, but I really like it. It's for 1-3 year-olds. And two can be on it at the same time. She can climb and swing and I don't have to worry about her falling to her death. What do yall think?

Friday we came home and about the time I got home and was about to put dinner on, we got a call from Korey and Amanda asking us out to dinner!!! YEA!! It was a welcomed escape from the blah dinner I had planned. We went out to Sonia's Mexican Restaurant here in Winder and YUMMY! It hit the spot! I love that place. We came home, put Helen to bed, and then I went to bed. I know, in bed that early shouldn't be allowed, but I was beat.

Saturday Brian and I got to babysit Nathan our nephew. Here he is all vogue with his beautiful parents...

We decided to take he and Helen to Conyers to the 27th Cherry Blossom Festival. We had heard on the news that it was going to rain in the afternoon and be a little cool. So we dressed accordingly. (Stupid weather) It was warm and sunny and we didn't bring a drop of sunscreen! We started shedding clothes long before the first hour was passed. We had the kids in the strollers and they had a blast. Unfortuately I didn't bring my camera, I know, very stupid. I completely forgot it. But I got a few pics on my phone, so I hope I can get them off of it and post them for everyone to see a few shots.

They had a whole section set up just for kids. They had 10 BIG moon-walk jumping things. They were all in different shapes and sizes, some were slides and some were obstacle courses and some were just to jump. I thought Nathan would be all about those, but Helen liked them so much more. He only wanted to do one of them, and the rest of the time he just wanted to ride the little train. We couldn't stay very long because unless you are a bigger kid, jumping and sliding gets old after about the second or third one. And if you are a parent that goes in with the little kid, you get tired after the first! (I'm so getting old. I can't believe I just admitted to that)

The festival was mostly for grown ups, but the coordinators of the Cherry Blossom Festival really worked hard making it suitable for kids. Most of the stuff was just booths set up for shopping and food and knick-knacks. I could have bought up the entire place of funnel cakes, but I restrained. I didn't even eat one.

Lastly, before I close this post, I wanted to share with you a gross and yet, hilarous picture of my nutty daughter eating a slice of bread. She was enjoying it so much (or maybe just starving) that she started shoving huge pieces in her mouth. She didn't choke or anything, but she was hilarous. Kind of like Noah and his muffins, Jenny. Anyway, here you go. It's not very lady-like, but seeing the stuff in between her teeth is just funny....

Photo opp-OUT for Noah

2008-03-25T21:45:00.007-04:00

Since we visited Prattville this weekend, I was hoping to get a cute picture of Helen with Noah, Jenny's youngest son. He and Helen are only about 5 weeks apart in age and Jenny got him the cutest little outfit for Easter. It just so happens that Helen's dress coordinated with Noah's duds.

After services were over, I walked over to Brandon and asked if I could get Noah's picture and he hesitated for maybe half a second and said "SURE!" Well, I have hesitated that way before. A parent hesitates that way when he/she wants to say yes, when they know (out of intuition or just plain common sense) that it's never gonna happen with "this kid." Then, you agree to the request, but before your brain can process all of this, there forms that hesitation. If you are a parent, I hope you know what I'm saying. It means no disrespect to Brandon, it just made me chuckle because I felt his angst.

Brandon gave Noah to Jenny and we stood side by side with the kids. Helen did "ok" but she was her wiggly self, not to mention tired. Noah, was really tired too, and maybe it was because the Easter Bunny got him up early that morning, so he didn't want to put on a smile for us. He may have even been a little bashful. But honestly, what two toddlers do you know that can actually hold still at the same time to get a photo. It's rare.

First shot.....not so good....

Second shot....it'll have to do. LOL! No more shots for Noah. It's time for a nappy. (Isn't that a cute little outfit)

Thanks for trying Jenny, Noah, and Brandon...maybe we'll get a better one next time. Maybe BEFORE we all sit through services. Parents fighting their kids to be still and kids fighting their parents to do what they want to do...that'll make anyone tired.

For Leslie...a little bathtime fun pics

2008-03-25T21:12:00.006-04:00

Easter Weekend 2008

2008-03-23T20:54:00.012-04:00

We went to Prattville this weekend to visit PawPaw and DeeDee Pendley, Brian's mother's parents. The easter bunny came to visit Helen while we were there, but it was very anti-climactic. She really just didn't care who the stuff came from and hardly cared that she had a present.

Helen got to visit with Mimi and PawPaw (Brian's Parents) when we went to Montgomery for dinner on Saturday night. Helen was so excited to see Mimi and to visit with her. She just loved on her and played with her. It was just dinner, but I know Helen had fun.

Sunday they came to Prattville to church with us. Again, Helen enjoyed Mimi. She can't say the word Mimi yet, but she knows who Mimi is and smiles with glee when she sees her or hears her name.

I believe she's even becoming very attached to Mimi's mom who we call DeeDee. We stayed with them this weekend and on multiple occasions when she would look at DeeDee she would smile, wave, and say "HEY." Helen also discovered a new favorite thing while visiting with Deedee...a swing. Here's a picture of she and DeeDee on the swing. She doesn't swing long, but she loves it.

She's trying to get on it without help. She might have made it up on her own, but I didn't let her try it just yet. (BTW, she's 15 months old today)

Sunday came and Helen got to wear her new dress. She stole the heart of her Daddy...again. They did a little self-photography while I was getting ready. Then, of course, she and I had to have a photo too...

Helen's uncle Eric (youth minister for the Prattville church) and aunt Haley (his fabulous wife) came home several hours early from the Lads to Leaders convention to see Helen this morning. They woke up earlier than normal humans should on Sunday morning to drive back to Prattville from Atlanta. That meant to much to me. They didn't get to spend much quality time with her between church, lunch, and nap time, but I had to put a shout out for them on here because it was such a wonderful thing for them to think of her and make such an effort to spend time with her. Thanks Ricket.

Helen learned how to do two new things this weekend too. Well, I noticed them for the first time this weekend anyway...

-----She learned to whistle. She didn't mean to do it, but when she did it we made a big deal out of it so she knows it was something cool that she did. She only does one sound, she's no Andy Griffeth or anything, but she's totally got that one noise down. If I had had my camera, you'd be looking at a picture. I'll get it....don't fret.

-----She learned to say "Bible." It wasn't prompted, she just pointed to a bible a lady was holding and said Buy-Bouw. To me, that it such a sweet word to come from the mouth of such a young child. Those are the kinds of words I hope she learns first. Way to go Essie Mae! (Her regular Bible class teacher)

Go Paint

2008-03-19T16:25:00.005-04:00

The Easter Bunny came to visit Helen a little early this year (via UPS). We got this in the mail yeseterday afternoon. It's a really cool invention by Elmer's brand called Go Paint. It's a lot like those Aquadoodle things.

Helen had a fun time playing with the paint brushes; she didn't really undestand the whole painting thing, especially when it took a few seconds to show up.

She really liked to put the paint brushes in her mouth and it took several loud stern "NO"s before she understood that I meant it!

Yes, Helen, I really did say no....

By this point, she'd taken all the tops off the brushes, painted with most of them, threw them all over the place and was finished. If she had had the words, this would have been where she would have said "I'm spent..."

The finished octopus painting, by Helen Gray.

After napping, photo shoot

2008-03-18T20:02:00.005-04:00

Helen woke from her nap this afternoon and she was playing peek-a-boo in between the smallest slats of her crib and rested her little lip on the ledge. I thought it was THE cutest little pose. This was actually the second time she did it....I had to make her do it again because I didn't have the camera the first time....

This one just made me laugh out loud when I saw it. It's as if I had just told her she was about to get chocolate for lunch....

Daddy and Helen

2008-03-17T21:31:00.005-04:00

Today was a pretty decent day. I don't think I "stressed" at all today. That in itself makes for a fabulous day. After work, I went to the store and then shopping for a secret sister gift before returning home for the evening. Brian came home and went straight to the yard to begin mowing our extreeeeeeemely tall and weed-infested backyard (formerly a cow pasture). It's practically the first time he's had to mow in months. Well, after all the rain we've had and the tornado-like weather yesterday, it was time for a trim. Helen was so glad to see him when he arrived but nearly had a conniption when he went outside without her (even though she'd played outside for at least 30 minutes before he got home). Being the sweet daddy that he is, he took her outside and mowed the grass with her in his lap. It was the cutest and sweetest thing to see her looking at him and pointing for him to look at what she was seeing. It probably took him 30 minutes longer to mow because he had to go slower with her on his lap, but he didn't seem to mind. I think the daddy/daughter mowing time made his heart happy. I hope they'll have the same fun tomorrow night; that is set aside for the front yard. (FYI, we have a two acre lot and it cannot be mowed in one evening before dark...) Here's a picture of the two of them. Brian was trying to get her to look at me, but she just wanted to watch him wave at me. Isn't that the sweetest and purest little expression....

WOWZERS!

2008-03-14T13:07:00.004-04:00

Didn't Teale do a great job you guys? Oh my....kudos to TEALE! YAAAAY!

Teale and her creative genius

2008-03-12T21:16:00.004-04:00

My blog is about to get some botox. Teale has designed a new blog layout for me and it is PERFECT! All I did was pick a couple of colors and she made it work better than I could have imagined. It should be up and going within the next few days and I cannot wait! Come back soon and check it out! If you want to spice up your blog to suit your unique personality, take a look at what she's got.

Also, please keep me in your prayers the next few days. I think I've gotten a stomach bug...hopefully not the flu.

XOXOX

I'm going to be an AUNT!

2008-03-10T22:02:00.003-04:00

This is my beautiful sister, Stephanie, and she is now with child!!! YAAAY! I couldn't be more happy! She has yet to visit the doctor, but has taken more than two home preggie tests so it's pretty much official. She thinks the baby is at about 9 weeks so maybe at her appointment next week she will have a sonagram and verify a true date. They hope it's a girl and name her Loren Elizabeth after her materal grandfather and grandmother! How pretty is that name!!!?

Please keep Stephanie, James (the hubby), and little nugget in your prayers.

We're Home...finally

2008-03-08T22:14:00.007-05:00

We made it back to the house around 2:00AM Friday morning after a long, long day of travel. We only had one connecting flight,but we lost two hours coming home through time zones. Luckily I had my trusty iPod and sudoku book handy.

Our first flight from Missoula to Minneapolis went on without a hitch, no turbulence, no delays, no annoying children screaming and kicking seats (like on the way to MT)...

Our second flight from Minneapolis into Atlanta was a lot different. Actually, nothing was the same except the part about the children.

Things not so wonderful:

1. The check-in people in Missoula told us that we would all be sitting in the back of the plane on the way from Minneapolis to Atlanta, but she said that the flight wasn't full so we could probably get some better seats once we got to the gate in Minneapolis. The first thing we do straight from the arrival gate was go to our departure gate. This is what we got, " I'm sorry but the flight is booked, they must have filled the flight before you arrived." Ok, there must be a lot of people in Minnesota that need to get to atlanta to fill a flight in 2 hours. Needless to say, we sat in the very last row. For those of you out there that have never flown, try to get seats as close to the front as possible. The noise coming from the engines in the rear of the plane is TREMENDOUS. I had never been in the back before this trip, but it was so loud that even with my iPod volume all the way up I had a hard time hearing the music. OH, and forget about understanding what the flight attendants say over the speaker...ha. I think it would be wise to purchase some of those Bose sound cancelling headphones. I understand those things are "the" thing to have when you fly....anyone know?

2. They began boarding the flight 30 minutes before departure time and it's a good thing because it probably took 35-45 to get everyone seated. When I say the plane was full, there were NO seats available, not even a flight attendant's seat. Some of the people who had carry on luggage had to put their stuff in the overhead bins two or three rows back from their seats.

3. Once everyone was on board, they closed the hatch and off we went...yep about 50 feet from the gate and stopped. Who knows what's wrong...no one tells us. We sit there for another 20 minutes or more after the mandated safty procedure review was finished. Whatever was wrong was fixed or completed and off to the runway.

4. What a take off! It was so loud (again with the engine noise, I know that's redundant, but I'm still so shocked) that I thought the plane was about to explode and my life was over. It was jiggling and popping and rumbling and noise. Again, no more back seats.

5. We must have had some good tailwinds because we landed in Atlanta only 20 minutes or so late. I was thrilled that we were making such good time. I remember thinking that we would make it back home by midnight if the shuttle was there...

We taxied to the gate as the captain comes over the speaker and gives his customary lines about the time and temperature, ending with, "...and welcome to Atanta." I'm so glad we're about to get off this plane, I don't care where we are. And then we stop. Dead HALT. What's going on? Again...who knows, no one tells us, but 10 minutes after we stop the main jets turn off that means no more AC. (my thought: WHAT?! TURN IT BACK ON! TURN IT BACK ON! ARE YOU CRAZY! WE'RE DRESSED FOR MONTANA NOT ATLANTA! I'M BURNING UP.) After a few minutes of stuffy, hot, non-circulated air they turned the generator on, or something, and there it comes. (Ahhh...Thank you!)

6. After the drama of no AC, we sit another few minutes and the captain comes over the speaker and he says that, apparently, two Northwest flights came in at the same time and since the late hour, the airline is short staffed for two planes at once. Therefore, no one can bring the jetway over for another few minutes. He's says he's sorry for the delay and ends his spill of not so great news with, "Thank you for your patience; Welcome to Atlanta." Um....why the tagline? Just curious...didn't he already say that? I'm sure he's as aggrevated as we are, but is that something has MUST say, like "Roger...over and out?" :)

7. They bring the jetway, we wait until everyone exits to get off the plane (obviously because we are in the back row) and walk on into the airport. We go to the restroom and then to baggage claim. We find our carousel and wait. And wait. And wait. By midnight we get our luggage and hightail it out to the shuttle parking. He walked around the corner to the crosswalk right in front of our shuttle pulling out of the parking area. He was nice enough to wait and let us board, but he didn't have to do that. It's actually not allowed, but I suppose he did it because there wasn't as much traffic as regular hours. (Whew...!) We would have been able to catch the next one, but who knows how long we would have had to wait for it.

We got to the park and ride place by 12:15AM, said our goodbyes to Brian's parents and hit the road. We got home in record time because it was so early in the morning. I told Brian when we got in the car that I wasn't unpacking until the next day, but I did anyway. It only took about 15 mintes to unload it all and sort all the laundry. I know I could have waited, but it was one less thing to do Friday night when I could be playing with Helen instead!

Speaking of Helen, she grew and got cuter in a week. I was at work on Friday, so Moma, Tom, and Brian brought her over to see me. I couldn't wait until the evening to see her. When she saw me, she walked into my arms and held me and rested her sweet little head on my shoulder. Without her saying a word, I knew she loved me and remembered me. I didn't cry but I really really enjoyed that hug. They took me to lunch and then took me back to work. Brian told me later that as they were pulling away from the office, Helen cried. I'm glad I didn't know that.

She was clingy all night, especially at bedtime. I put her to bed as I usually do, but she cried and cried for me to come back in to get her. She normally goes right down without a problem, but I think it was because she missed me and didn't want me to leave again. I assured her I wasn't leaving....but that didn't work. I was there when she woke this morning and got the biggest smile. :D

We may have had a long and rocky trip home, but the welcome was great. I missed Helen more than I thought I did and I'm glad to be home. I'm glad to be in MY home, with MY pillow, and MY bed, and MY dog to keep me warm as I sleep. Thank the Lord for allowing us to arrive safely, despite the inconvenience. Thank you all for sending up prayers on our behalf.

I'll be catching up on my blog reading this week. I will get around to reading your blogs soon. I enjoy them all so much!

Montana...Day five

2008-03-05T02:03:00.006-05:00

From the land of big skies and small snowmen:

This is the snowman pic I promised...kinda puny, but isn't he cute? The snow was a little too powdery for a big guy.

I suppose I've gotten caught up with my blogs now. It's the end of the fifth day here in Montana and that means tomorrow is our last full day here. The seventh day, like the first, will be mostly a travel day. Don't you just hate it when the vacation ends? I can breathe a sigh of relief on days one through five because I don't have to think that I'm leaving soon, but on day six I realize that "tomorrow" is our last day and that makes me sad. I will admit that I will be glad to be home to see my little girl and to have things back to normal (even though I was glad to get away). Vacation is great, but only for so long. I think all of you can relate to that.

Tuesday

Today was a lazy day for me. We got up early and went over to Papa's and ate a great breakfast: homemade french toast from homemade potato bread, pure maple syrup, and bacon! Yummy! Unfortunately for me, however, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I suppose I had bad dreams, or maybe it was all the snoring coming from my congested husband. I couldn't even think straight because I was so tired. So, instead of going on another trek across Montana, this time to the west, I opted to stay in the condo and rest. Boy was it well needed!! I didn't realize how tired I was until I slept for nearly 4 additional hours! I woke up about an hour and a half before the crew came back. (Perfect timing)

What the rest of the rest of them did:

First of all, circling back to day one, we rented a car when we arrived. We asked for a car that could seat eight but when the men got there to rent the car, the biggest one they had was a Jeep Commander. There was plenty of room for eight if three of us were smaller than 90 pounds. The very back row of seats must have been planned for children. The seats were comfortable, but the floor was so close to the bottoms of the seats that our knees, when seated, were level with our shoulders. That meant that the short folks got to sit in the back most of the time. (Which was fine unless we had eight) Most of the time there were only six (two in front, three in middle, two in back) But when Papa and Deedee were in the car, we'd be very cramped and it wouldn't be ideal for a trek...

SOOOOO, all that to say, today we got a new car. It was a Ford Expedition. Now this sucker is HUGE. It fit eight full grown adults with much comfort! If any of you out there are looking for a nice vehicle with plenty of space....there you go. When the back row was set up for seating, there was only a little room in the rear for storage, but it was OK because we just needed traveling space.

After they got the new car, they took me back to the condo and headed west. They took a route towards the Continental Divide. They made it practically all the way there, but there came a huge snow storm so they thought it wise to retreat before it became too much to safely get back to the valley. The picture below is of a hotel they saw on the other side of the mountains...I thought it was pretty clever.

After everyone had a chance to get changed up and rested for about an hour or so, we went to Norma Weeks' home. It was beautiful and had it not been too dark, I would have made some photos of her house. Norma invited the group for dinner tonight when we came to services on Sunday morning. When we arrived she had nearly everything ready to eat so we basically said hello and sat down to eat. She had some of the best food I've ever eaten, but what was the most fun was her company. She is just a sweet lady. She lost her husband about a year ago and we were one of the few people whom she had opened her home up to since his death. That made Papa and Deedee feel very special that she had invited her family. I think it made us all feel honored to be there. The picture below is of Mrs. Norma and of Deedee Gray. Doesn't Norma have just a beautiful smile...

This is a picture that was hanging in Norma's hallway. She had several more pictures, but I had to make a picture of the next photograph because something in her face made me smile. I had to take this memory back with me. This is her senior picture...isn't she gorgeous!?

Another thing in her home was a small bear that was stuffed. I am sure this will be the closest I will get to a real bear...live or dead. I think this was purchased, not killed, by her family at some point.

This was in an enormous family room with many other formerly living animals. There were birds, an owl, an elk head, a fox, a squirrel, and a lynx. These were all part of a outdoorsy theme going on in the room. There were guns upon guns upon guns displayed on the walls, hunting and fishing paraphernalia, framed prints with beautiful Montana landscapes, it was great! Oh, and don't forget the pool table. (The ping-pong table was in a another room, for those ping-pong lovers out there) I mean, this house was enormous! While we were eating dinner, there were even several deer creeping up to the house to see what was going on in there. Apparently, Mrs. Norma feeds them. :)

This is Norma's cat, Samantha. She was so cuddly and sweet. I couldn't get enough of her. I love cats, but Brian is VERY allergic. He merely touched Samantha for a few seconds and his eyes started watering and getting itchy. Maybe one day he'll get rid of that allergy, until then we are a dog-only household.

I sit tonight thinking about what we are going to do tomorrow. It's late, but I'm up blogging anyway. I had some regular coffee at Norma's tonight so I'm not tired just yet. I think we are going to go try to find the Moose. We are all interested in seeing one, except for Carol. She doesn't seem to care if se sees one at all. She says she'd feel safer seeing one in pictures! LOL! As for my list, it is still incomplete, but I'm quickly checking it off. We aren't able to go to Yellowstone because of the distance, nor Glacier Park because of the season, so that portion of my list will not be completed this vacation. Maybe when we come back... (crossing fingers)

I hope you all are well and happy. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel home on Thursday. We'll arrive back home around midnight, Friday morning.

Love from "The Big Sky"

~K~

Montana...Days three and four

2008-03-04T09:24:00.007-05:00

Here's a slideshow for you all! Hope you enjoy until I get to the next post.

I took way more pictures that this slideshow includes, but I posted some of the best shots. Most of the pictures we have are mostly of landscapes.

Sunday we went to services at the Hamilton church. There are about 50 members and it sure was a great group of Christians. One of my favorite people was the former preacher's wife (he passed away last year), Sarah Bagley. She is a gem of a woman. I am going to try to get a picture of her on Wednesday night. (tomorrow) We had services at 10:00 and 11:00 then we had a FABULOUS pot luck, then had a singing service at 2:00. After services we went to the Ravalli County Museum in Hamilton. There is a wealth of history there about everything from Lewis and Clark to the local indian tribes to the random farming tools used...etc. After that we hung out at Papa and Deedee's home.

Monday, yesterday, we had a FULL breakfast at Papa's and then went to Darby, a small city outside of Hamilton. This is where we did a little antique shopping and sight seeing. Most of the sight-seeing we did was outside of Darby. It was where we saw all the animals in the slideshow. I loved those horses, they came right up to us. (I wish I would have had an apple or something to give them...)

We at lunch at a little cafe there and I ate a BUFFALO burger. (I didn't tell the big buffalo that, though) It was sooooooo good. I am certain that it is my favorite form of ground meat now. I had it with mushrooms and onions also, so it made it even more succulent. YUMMY. I would recommend Buffalo meat to anyone who visits. It is NOT gamey tasting. It's very close to beef, but has a less fatty taste. Plus, it was prepared well! After lunch we went back to town and did a little more shop-seeing until everything closed. For dinner we went back to Deedee's and had some tasty vittles and then played Chicken Foot dominoes until after 10:00.

All in all it's been a fun trip, I'm already sad to see the week fly by. I've yet to make a snow angel, but I did make a snowman (miniature version) yesterday. Uncle Mike has it on his camera so I'll have to get it on here next time.

Much love you you all.

~K~

Montana...Days one and two

2008-03-01T22:04:00.004-05:00

Greetings from Hamilton, Montana!

Friday

We made it!!! We finally made it into Missoula (miz-ZOO-lah) Montana at 1:15 local time (3:15PM eastern). Compared to most airports, especially Hartsfield-Jackson in ATL, the Missoula airport is teeeeeeny tiny. It has one, count 'em, one landing strip and it is heated 24/7 to insure that all planes can come in and out throughout all seasons. People who have lived in Montana say that there are only two seasons here---Winter and July. (LOL) Papa and Deedee were at the airport when we landed and took us all (the four of us from the plane and the two of them) in their Cadillac, and all of our luggage, site-seeing. Can you imagine how cramped the car was? I'm sure we were low-riding.

I didn't find out until we were at least 45 minutes down the road that we weren't going straight to the condo, but were going on a mini-trek thru the Lolo Pass. It wasn't that I didn't want to go, it was that I was exhausted from the flights and being up since 3:00 that morning. I didn't want to be in one more place with tight seating arrangements. Anyway, after Lolo, we went back to the airport to pick up Brian's Aunt Cathy and Uncle Mike who flew in at 4:30. They got the rental car and then we went to dinner. THEN we went back to the condo and crashed. We all were out like lights.

Saturday

This morning we got up early for our skiing excursion. It was fantastic! We went to the Lost Trail Skiing Area. It was interesting to find out that 1/3 of the slopes at the resort were in Idaho and the rest were in Montana. So technically I skied in TWO states today! I actually did ski on both sides of the mountain. On the trail guide you'll see that on the left side of the mountain (on the green pathways) is "Drifter" and "Meadow Trail." And on the center of the mountain is "North Bowl" and "Lower Oreo." These are where I skied. The picture below is from the lodge looking up the second highest peak at the resort (7200 feet).

In all honesty, I actually I did happen to accidentally make my way onto the "Hideout" passage.(It's on the map a little left of center) If you'll notice it's a blue pathway. Um....that is for the people who actually know what they are doing. ( Kristy was supposed to stay on green, but somehow, she missed the green signs and went straight to onto a blue one when she was coming down from the lift.) I was lucky that I made it down because I ran into some way more serious slopes and "jumps" than I wanted. OH, and I went AROUND the jumps. At one very steep point of that trail, I actually got off the main drag and got stuck in the snow. So after trying for several minutes (unsuccessfully) to stand, I decided to take off my skis, pick them up, and walk down the mountain. It wasn't far. No more than a few hundred feet, but it was far enough to where I could get past some bad spots. I put my skis back on and went on my way. LOL! I laughed at myself the whole way down the mountain. I finally made it back onto the green slopes after I made it through Hideout. But it wasn't easy...

I am certain I will be sore tomorrow. I am also certain the Brian and his dad will be sore tomorrow. But was it fun, you ask? YOU BET IT WAS. Even though I had to give myself pep talks every few hundred feet and ate more snow than one human should and fell down over 25 times and was out-skied by 5-year-olds---It was fun! If you have never skied on a slope outside of the southeast, you must. It's unlike any snow you'll find in NC, GA, TN, or maybe even KY. It's God's country up here. There's no manufactured snow on these mountains. It's just perfect!

In Hamilton, it's not quite the same as up in the mountains. We are in a valley surrounded by mountains, but it's not as snowy and not as white as up above 5000 feet. So as we were driving up the mountain, we gradually start seeing the snow and the beautiful scenery. About halfway up we saw this beautiful stream that flows into the Bitterroot River. So we stopped and took some pictures. It was lovely... That old dead tree on the right is SO gorgeous, but the picture does it no justice. While this may look like just another muddy ole stream, when do you get it with blue skies, snowy banks, and a mountain range in the background? Wow...

There are more pictures to see, of course, but these three will have to do you until tomorrow or Monday. I hope you all are doing well and that the Lord has blessed you this weekend. We are attending the Hamilton church of Christ tomorrow for services where Brian will be speaking. The church is small here, but has much potential. If any of you happen to come to Missoula or Hamilton, please stop by and visit. Until then, please keep the church and Brian's family in your prayers as they do some mission work here.

New Pics...just wanted to dote

2008-02-27T15:57:00.011-05:00

I don't know if she was hiding or posing...either way she's adorable. :D

I had some other pics to put on here, but the upload thing isn't working right. More later...sorry.

A River Runs Through It...

2008-02-25T20:02:00.003-05:00

Brad Pitt sure did make a great Paulie in that film, didn't he? I had such a crush on that character, imperfections and all. :) For so long--not just because of Brad Pitt--that movie was my all time favorite movie. I just loved the entire plotline of the movie, the setting, the flow, everything.

It was because of that movie that I have always wanted to go visit Montana and learn how to be a fly fisherman. The scenery in the movie was so romantic and serene that it just made my heart happy. Well, this Friday I will have my chance: I'M GOING TO MONTANA!

It's going to be colder than I've ever experienced cold in my lifetime, but it's going to be so great and I'm extremely excited and thankful! Instead of fly fishing, (due to the sub-freezing temperatures), we'll likley be going downhill skiing instead. Brian's grandparents are in Hamilton, Montana doing some missionary work for a local congregation, filling in as a full-time minister. We are going to visit them and take our "big" vacation this year. Brian and I are going with Brian's mom and dad. We'll be leaving ATL on Friday and will be coming back on Thursday evening the next week. Helen won't be going with us, but will be with my mom the entire week. Please pray for our safety in transit. Flying is not, in any way, something that I enjoy doing. Pray that I don't have a nervous breakdown too.

The top three things on the group's list to do while we are there are: (1) Visit Papa and Deedee, (2) Visit Yellowstone, and (3) Go skiing (and not kill ourselves doing it).

Here is a list of things I, personally, would like to do while we are there: (not in any order)
1. Dog sledding -- is that weird that I want to do that?
2. See a real live moose, elk, and bison -- and live to tell about it (I hear none of these are friendly).
3. Build a snowman -- never done it. Nope, never.
4. Make snow angels with Brian
5. Go on a Lewis and Clark trek, where they went, what they saw, etc.
6. Hike a new trail everyday
7. Shop
8. Go ice skating on a real frozen pond/lake/body of water (not an indoor rink)
9. And of course, visiting g-parents, yellowstone, and skiing. (that goes without saying)

Anyway, I may not be blogging until we return. I am unsure if we will have internet access while we are there. But if we do, you can bet your britches I'll be uploading some serious pictures for you all to see. Check back Saturday evening to know for sure. Much love to you all! Thanks, in advance, for the prayers.

2008-02-23T12:11:00.008-05:00

This is how my little girl sleeps. She's slept in this postion since she could pull her legs underneath her body. You'd think she'd lose feeling of her legs (or her arms) being this way all night long. I've tried turning her over and she doesn't like that at all. She'll sleep on her side for a while, but never on her back, and eventually she'll make it all the way back over to laying on her head. Some nights I've checked on her and her head will be buried in the corner of her crib with that little bootie sticking up. That bootie...how cute can you get.
On this particular day, I went to wake her up so we could go to the store and she didn't move when I walked into the room. So I went to get the camera and as soon as I snapped the above picture, the sound "clicked" and woke her up. She looked up at me like, "Mommy, c'mon, what are you doing? I'm trying to sleep here!"

When she realized I had a camera pointed at her, she decided to make her "big stretch." Cheese...such a cheese. She did that for like 10 seconds (with that little grin) and then decided she'd get up to see me.

This is what I got when she stood up. Yeah, even more cheese.

This is just before I picked her up out of her crib, she was about to get fiesty. She was tired of the crib, tired of the camera, and tired of me avoiding picking her up. She's not very tolerant of and patient with the camera unless she's got it in her hand (once she's finished posing, of course).

I've come to the conclusion that my daughter is a diva. She's constantly got a necklace around her neck. She has two sets of beads that she wears. I don't have a picture of it (figures) but this picture will work. This is Emily's purse (her babysitter). She decided that she wanted it and that she wanted to wear it...like a necklace. You can't really see it in this picture, but her purse is SUPER trendy. It's got little multi-colored hearts on it with a little "belt" closure and it's "Roxy" brand. Helen knows it's just her style already. I'm going to have one bling-ified little rascal running around here.

I can't deny that I love her beng divalicious; I think it's adorable that she likes to be girly. I like being girly too, I just don't have the money or the taste to do it. When I'm a millionaire, I'll get a personal stylist to dress me. Until then, I'll live vicariously through Helen and hopefully I won't encourage any bad habits.

I'm a LOSTie

2008-02-19T21:59:00.005-05:00

DISCLAIMER: If you aren't familiar with the TV show LOST, the following may bore you and could quite possibly cause drowsiness. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this blog.

I am a dedicated groupie for the television show LOST. Thanks to Brian's cousin, Jason, I've been hooked since season three. (We rented the first two seasons before we watched season three) I frequent blogs and discussion groups hosted by Jason and friends of mine to get other opinions and insights to each episode.

This season is much better than last season and it's because the show really makes you think and be observant to what is going on in the show. I went surfing tonight to find some information I had forgotten. I don't retain information very well, but there is so much to remember about the episodes that I truly forget tidbits.

I found a site called "Lostpedia." (I lie not...) I found what I was looking for and more. I began to read and thirty minutes later I realized I was in the middle of NONSENSE!

Granted, I have been known to get a little too deep in LOST and it's intricately created plotline, but good grief people! There are some out there that have WAY too much time on their hands. Either that, or there are people with an insane ability to retain random pointless information about....well....everything.

If I have any fellow LOSTies out there that enjoy a good in-depth theory of the series' mysteries, please visit Lostpedia. You won't be disappointed.

Emmy (Emily to the rest of the world)

2008-02-18T14:44:00.005-05:00

Helen has a new babysitter, a real bonified babysitter, the kind that actually get's paid. Her name is Emily and she's completely adorable and wonderful to Helen. She took some pictures of herself and Helen Thursday night when she came over. (When Brian and I went to see Boortz).

They had a blast, but I'm not sure who was more tired afterwards, Emily or Helen! Emily is a great singer and she has taught herself how to play the guitar. I heard her sing one night at a church get-together when we had karaoke. She sang that Sara Evans song...oh man, what's that song. (The one about "she left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line")
Ok, so I don't know my songs, but Emily sure can sing it!!! WOW! She'll be the next Carrie Underwood. This isn't a picture that does her beauty justice, but she's adorable.

2008-02-17T22:30:00.003-05:00

Helen decided to take on a pew last week during worship services....and lost. She has a little bruise in the middle of her forehead and it has clearned up a little by the time this picture was taken. I just thought this was a cute picture of her in her pajamas on her big fluffy princess chair. She loves to show me and her daddy that she can climb, sit, and lay in her big girl chair. OH, she's such a diva.

This was fun -- I was tagged

2008-02-17T22:00:00.009-05:00

Directions:
1) Answer each question.
2) Take each answer and type it into Photobucket (www.photobucket.com)
3) Take any picture from the first page of results and post. (click on the picture and copy the HTML code) Don't explain, it's funnier that way!

How old will you be on your next birthday?

A place you would like to travel:

Your favorite place:

Favorite thing to do:

Favorite food/candy:

FOOD:

CANDY:

Favorite animal:

Favorite color:

The town in which you were born:

The town in which you live:

The name of a past pet:

The name of your current or past boyfriend/girlfriend:

Your nickname/screen name:

Your middle name:

A bad habit:

First job:

Your grandmother's name:

Favorite song:

I tag all who are reading this!

Who wouldn't smile at this...

2008-02-14T22:14:00.003-05:00

This is a picture taken during Christmas time by Helen's Aunt Leslie (Brian's Sister). She and Nathan were playing and she was certainly having a good time when Leslie snapped this shot! I loved it so much, I just had to share!

Boortzy

2008-02-14T13:12:00.008-05:00

Politics and government are new passions for me. I had not realized just how behind and uninformed I was until I began listening to talk radio. Neal Boortz is one of my favorites. Despite his tendancy to be rude and opinionated, he really makes me think and makes me analyze what is going on around me.

Tonight, at the Avenue West Cobb Barnes and Noble, I will be standing in line to see Neal and get his second Fair Tax book " Fair Tax: The Truth: Answering the Critics" signed. I CANNOT wait. My loving husband is going to take me and we'll be going to dinner and all beforehand. He's so wonderful to me. He knows how much I want to meet Neal and how much I adore his show.

If any of you would like to do something great for your children and your grandchildren, you can do two things: Get involved with this country and the politics going on, and SUPPORT THE FAIR TAX. Other than fighting Islamic radicalism, it is probably the most important thing that could happen to our country. I am so passionate I can barely stand it. Check out the links. Even if you HATE Neal Boortz, take a moment to look into it. It wasn't his idea, it was the idea of a team of independant thinkers and businessmen, and merely made public by Neal and Congressman John Linder

Enjoy your read. I hope you all have a fabulous Valentine's day! XOXOXO