breakfast with Mema

We are so very blessed to have my Mema around.  The kids love her and she is such a big help to me 🙂  Not many kiddos get to hang out with their great grandmas like my kids do.  Last week Nathan was gone and we were looking for something to eat for breakfast.  We thought about waffles, but were out of mix, then pancakes, but we were out of flour.  I was feeling impulsive, so I decided we would go to IHOP and have pancakes.  We called Mema and were headed out the door.  It was a good time and great breakfast.  And one of the best parts, no clean up for me 🙂  Thank you, Mema, for always being there and for being okay with last minute trips to walmart, ihop, etc… We love hanging with you.

their future’s so bright…..

funny

Eli went to the dentist this morning for a routine cleaning. *if you are looking for a good family dentist in central Arkansas, we recommend you check out Dr. Dan Heard at Central Arkansas Family Dentistry*  After his cleaning and counting of teeth he was rewarded with the prize of his choice in the prize drawer.  He picked out a small football helmet.  So, this evening we are looking for a toy that the helmet might fit on.  It is not going so well, but I was able to find a toy that it almost fit.  When I show Eli, he insist that the part that goes over your mouth/chin area is suppose to be where your eyes are, so Nathan thought he might be able to find an old picture of him wearing a helmet to show him how they fit perfect.  He finds  a picture, but unfortunately it’s one where the helmet is next to him instead of on his head, you know, a posed professional picture.  N says something like, “well, daddy wasn’t wearing his helmet in that picture, I guess we can look for another football player’s picture”  then Eli says “No, that wasn’t………..your hair…….your face…….no daddy, that wasn’t you”  N: “what do you mean? that was daddy”  E: “well daddy your face was like this (see picture below)

Here is the picture of Nathan from high school

We both laughed and Nathan replied “Oh, you mean my face was skinnier!”

www.taylorjamesdesign.com

Nathan’s brother is a photographer and so it’s always fun to have him snapping away at family functions.  He took some great pictures at Lucy’s birthday party, but there is one that I love.  So, I thought I would share it with you. Thanks Taylor!

Florida!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago we went on a much needed adult only getaway.  We have talked and talked about planning a trip our good friends Whit and Pete, but we finally put a date on it and went.  Her parents have a condo in San Marco that they are selling, but in the mean time we got to go stay in it.  It was way cute, if you are moving that way check it out 🙂  Anyway, we headed out Monday after lunch a drove till we were almost to Atlanta.  We stayed the night in a hotel and headed out the next morning.  We stratigically planned our stop so that we could hit up Trader Joe’s Tuesday morning.  Nathan and I had never been, but our friends had.  We hear about how wonderful it is all the time, so we made it a priority.  I’m glad we did.  It was fun and we walked away with good stuff!

These were taken outside our hotel before we headed out to Trader Joe’s.  (I took some pics off of Whit’s blog, so the sizes are off)

After loading up all our goodies, we headed to our destination of San Marco in Jacksonville, FL.  It is a very cute little area and we were walking distance to shops, coffee and several real good restaurants.  We walked to most places.  Our first night there we walked over to a great place called…………………..i’m blank, but it was real good!

Our first full day there Whit and I hit up the local shops.  We met up with the guys and had lunch at a nice deli.  Then that night we drove to a restaurant that again, I can’t remember the name of, but man it was yummy again!  Do you see a pattern, eat, shop, play, eat, sleep.  No snack time, potty breaks, or scheduled playground stops.  Don’t get me wrong, I am blessed to have my little munchkins around and love doing all of that, but sometimes I need to reconnect with my adult self, ya know?!

Thursday we headed to St. Augustine.  Very pretty!  We walked around and ate a little and walked some more.  There is lots of history in the area.  We walked around a huge fort like thing, but I never learned quite what it was.  You had to pay to go in and it was closing as we walked up.

In this picture, Nathan caught Whit and I swatting at the gnats!  You can’t see them in the picture, but there was a freggin cloud of them!!!  Yikes!

Notice we smiled with our lips together to avoid one of those little buggars getting in our mouth 🙂

From there we headed to the beach.  We just kinda walked and enjoyed.  We also collected a load of seashells to take to our kiddos.  It was very nice.

From the beach we went to a great seafood joint on the water.  Yummy!

So, as if this post isn’t long enough, I have just a few more pics before I end it 🙂  The last day there Nathan and I went on a pond shop tour.  He looked up several pond shops close by and we set off in search of a guitar for him.  I don’t think I posted about it, so I’ll tell you now.  In June Nathan helped out with VBS doing music.  While rehearing one night a cord caught stuck or something and when he went forward the neck of his guitar tried to stay put.  In other words, his guitar died that very moment.  It was a sad sad day for him.  Since then he has been wanting to find a replacement, but we aren’t in a position to buy new, so that is why we went pawn shop shopping.  He found one in the first one we went to, but we went to a few more to see what his options were.  He ended up purchasing a blue Dean guitar and he was so happy and relieved to have it in his possession.  It was a successful day 🙂  When we got home we hung out, played a game or two then headed out for some super yummy pizza at a local place then on to Marble Slab for dessert.  It was a good time, just like all the other days.

This is the end, I’m sad to say, of our trip 😦  We had a blast and have already started talking about how we need to plan another one in the near future!  Thanks for hanging in there with all the pictures!  Here is one last group shot that I forgot to include, so I’ll put it here.

Swing Set

As I mentioned in the birthday post, Lucy got a new swing set for her birthday.  Nathan and my brothers worked on it the morning of her party, but it wasn’t quite finished till the next morning.  The kids LOVE the swing set.  Thank you Gramma!  I have to say I have loved having one, too.  Now if some one would take all the mosquitoes away……….

lil lu turns 2

Our baby girl turned 2 a couple of weeks ago!  I know that means I’m way behind on the blog, but I just haven’t had the energy to do this the past couple of weeks.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.  So, to celebrate her being 2 we did a little morning play date kind of party.  Family and a few friends, water and fun.  We ate hot dogs, cheese dip and Cheetos.  (I know, super healthy, but it’s a kids party, so I aim to please)  It really was like a play date more than a party meaning there were no organized games or anything.  Anyway, a fun time was had by all.  Here are some pics to document the morning. (when I started putting pictures in this post they got all out of order and I don’t have the patience to do it over, so they are in no particular order!)  Also, I must say we missed having Big Daddy, Granpa, Aunt Tarah, Uncle Elliott, Aunt Kari, cousin Sydney, Great Gran, Uncle Brian and Aunt Jeanette. 😦  Lucy got many nice gifts including a slip n slide from Granpa and a swing set from Gramma.  Our backyard is good to go!  Thanks again.

When you ask Lucy how old she is she will hold up her thumb and pointer finger to say 2.

what an honor

About 9years ago I had a conversation with a girl in the lobby of the church I attend.  She was about 6 years younger than me and time for conversation was limited, so being the outgoing, not shy girl that she was and still is, she suggested we get together and talk some more.  I agreed.  I invited her to attend a small service that I was involved with for worship and a word and that was the beginning of such a beautiful and precious friendship.  Sunday nights became our regular thing and was for a few years.  She then graduated hs and went off to college.  We have kept in touch and talked here and there, but nothing like it was, but somehow we have one of those relationships that you can just pick right back up where you left off last as if no time has past.  I have felt so blessed to be a part of her life.  We have had some of the best conversations, very honest and up front and heart felt.  She has challenged me in my walk with Christ and encouraged me, too.  I say all this to lead up to last night.  I felt so privileged when I got an invitation to go to her bacholerette dinner.  She is getting married this weekend and her friends put together a little outing for her last night with the girls.  She’ll never know how much it meant to me that she thought to include me with all her young hip friends 🙂  They were all sweet and I enjoyed it very much.  Jessica, I love you and look forward to being there on your special day.  You are such a beautiful person inside and out.  May God bless and guide your new chapter in life with Nathan.

Baby Bruce is HERE!

My childhood friend had her 2nd baby boy this week.  We couldn’t be more excited.  He is beautiful and she looks great and her hubby is such a proud papa.  It’s crazy to think about how much we have gone through together.  I love her so much and feel so blessed to be around for all these chapters in her life and have her be a part of mine.  Here is a quick pic of the little family.  Sadly I got to the hospital after her other son had left, so I only have a picture of 3 of the 4 in their family.

it’s my berfday

Last Saturday was my birthday.  It just so happen that a very special young lady was getting married that day, too.  AND, I had the privilege to read scripture in the ceremony, so we had not only the wedding, but rehearsal and rehearsal dinner that weekend.  Because of that, Nathan decided to surprise me on Thursday and sent me to get a pedicure from my good friend and favorite nail tech (if that’s what you call her position) Krecia.  What a treat.  My poor piggies only get that treat like once a year.  When I got back home I was surprised again.  I arrived to dinner and my Mom, Aunt Pam and Mema were all here to celebrate.  We had a yummy meal, I got a few little presents and ended the night with brownies hot from the oven. Yummy! 🙂  Another surprise from my thoughtful husband: our bed frame was old and missing some pieces, so it made our bed cave in, sooo we had to put our mattresses on the floor.  They have been like that for a LONG TIME.  I have been looking around to find a simple metal frame, but no luck.  Well, he found one and while I was at the spa he put our bed back on a frame.  WHAT
A TREAT.  I never knew just how much I missed being off the ground.  Then Friday night at the rehearsal dinner, sweet Elyse, the bride, brought a candle and put it in my desert and had everyone sing to me.  THEN, on Saturday morning Nathan surprised me one last time and took me to see My Sister’s Keeper in the morning.  I read that book last winter and it was opening weekend for the movie.  Needless to say, by the end of the weekend I felt very loved and special.  Thank you to my friends and family for all the birthday wishes and gifts. Here are the few pics I have from the various celebrations.