Lately

Check 1, check 2, check check.  Is this thing on? I'm soooory it's been so long.  Several of you have kindly reminded me. I've had good intentions but the truth is that lately, we've been really busy!  And with my 9:00 bedtime, there hasn't been a lot of extra time for blogging.  But I vow to make it up to you this week, even if it means I have to cut out a nap.  (That's not true.  I give up naps for no one.  But I will try hard to blog this week.)

I couldn't really think of where to begin and what all I'd skipped in the last week or so, so I flipped through my iPhone pics to come up with yet another bullet list.  Here's what we've been up to lately:

• My parents went out of town for a long weekend so we got to dog-sit this guy.

• Henry is a wire-haired dachshund and looks like he's having a bad hair day everyday.  My favorite thing to do when he comes for a visit?  Cut off his long locks.  :)

• It usually drives my dad crazy, but the trim transforms Henry from an old man to the little boy that he really is.  And, even though I don't have an after shot to prove it, it totally takes 5 lbs. off his frame too.
•  One afternoon while Henry was still visiting I thought I'd take a quick nap in the chair instead of the bed so the dogs couldn't bother me.  My plan didn't work.

• With the help of my dad and husband, we cranked out 3 sets of patio furniture.  I spent one afternoon in the shop by myself cutting and sanding all of the pieces.  I was exhausted by the time I was done!

• One Friday night, a couple of our friends stopped by and invited us to join them at the Trolley Tour where they ended up treating us to a delicious dinner at a restaurant that we'd never been to, Rizzo's Diner.   I don't have a picture from the evening but it's worth mentioning because it was a really fun night.  Also probably the latest I've stayed up in a long time - past midnight!!
• The following Saturday morning I got to watch my 3-year old nephew, Parker, play soccer.  It was mostly a practice and then a bunch of running around (and some crying too!).  There was a parent for every child on the field during the game so it got crowded out there.  Parker scored 2 or 3 goals!

• We learned how to Skype!  I know most of you have probably been doing this for years by now, but we're slow learners when it comes to all things techy.  It's good to be able to see Doc's parents while talking to them!

• I, along with a few coworkers, volunteered a morning to create a garden at a local school.  I know the picture below doesn't look like much, but when we arrived, that area was more of a grassy mound.  We pulled all the grass and weeds, measured off the beds, and worked on leveling it off and digging trenches.

• We had a good doctor's appointment and hosted some friends and family for a gender revealment party.  That deserves a whole post of its own, so that's all I'll say for now.
•  Doc and I joined a couple of our friends for a picnic down in the park by our neighborhood.  We live so close to this great park with a view of the river and don't do this often enough!

• This weekend we got to see our 3-year-old niece, Bren, in her first dance recital.  She did great! I don't have pictures from the actual event, but here she is trying on her tap dance outfit...

• This is just her normal practice clothes for dance and has nothing to do with her recital, but I can't resist posting it.  Isn't she the cutest little ballerina?

That's all I've got for now.  Be back soon...promise!

90 Years Young

This post is long overdue; I've been meaning to write it for several weeks now.  A few weeks ago, on March 24 to be exact, Doc and I left early in the morning for a whirlwind trip to Indiana to visit his parents.  We were back at the airport heading home within 24 hours.  So why the quick trip?  To celebrate this handsome fella.

Doc's Granddaddy turned 90 and so we had to celebrate!

Granddaddy's lovely daughters, Patricia (my mother-in-law) and Cindy, hosted the affair.

The party was held at and catered by Harrison Lake Country Club.  But that didn't mean the daughters were off the hook!  They decorated the room with vases of the most vibrant yellow daffodils, all grown by Pat herself.

 

There were also water-filled vases with floating candles.  In the bottom of the vases were rocks collected from various beaches over the years.

The ladies were also in charge of bringing dessert.  Cindy made a beautiful coconut cake and lots of coconut cupcakes to go with it.

Pat turned Doc's famous birthday cake into cupcakes and they were oozing with chocolate glaze.  A raspberry and mint leaf garnish topped them off.

I played photographer throughout the party but before I got too busy, I made sure to get a picture of me with my husband.

As soon as we got there, we made a beeline to Granddaddy.  We were excited to wish him a happy birthday, but also we were finally able to share with him that his 7th great-grandchild was on the way.  Doc was thrilled to get to tell him in person.

Then it was time to mingle with all the friends and family that had come to celebrate Granddaddy's birthday, many of whom I had never met before.  Others I hadn't seen in over a year.

Doc, his dad, and his cousin Jonah.

This picture is of Granddaddy's 5 grandchildren: Doc and his sister Jill on the left, and their cousins Bronwyn, Jonah, and Kelzee on the right.  Cindy's three kids only had 2 cousins - Jill and Doc.  Since I'm part of a big family, that is such a foreign concept to me...only 2 cousins?!?

The invitations to the party asked that, in lieu of gifts, the guests bring memories to share with Granddaddy.  So after a delicious dinner of bacon-wrapped scallops, beef tenderloin, salmon rolls, shrimp cocktail, and other goodies, friends and family took turns telling stories about Granddaddy.  Seeing as how I'm probably the newest member of the family, I loved hearing stories from the past.  There were stories told by his brother, Uncle Mike, about when they were little boys.

There were also stories from cousins of Patricia and Cindy that shared stories from when Granddaddy's children were small.

 

And there were even stories from Doc and his generation about spending summer days with their Granddaddy and Gr'ma.

The stories shared brought out lots of laughter and fond memories.

 

 

It's not a birthday party without the birthday song and cake, is it?  Granddaddy blew out all of his candles!

As the party wound down, Granddaddy relocated to the "kids table."  With all five of his grandchildren present, he told stories from his war days, stories about their moms, and stories from when they were all little.

All in all, the party was a great success.  So many people were happy to be there to wish Granddaddy well and I'm sure he loved being surrounded by the people who love him most.

Happy belated birthday, Granddaddy!

Caption This

Have you seen all the baby memes floating around the interwebs these days?  They're the funny pics of kids that someone had added a caption to, making the picture even funnier.  Here are some examples I was able to find online.

Some are pretty funny, right?

So the whole point is that I have this picture of Ramer...

...that I think could definitely be a meme.  Only I can't think of something really funny so I need your help.  This is the best I've been able to come up with, and they're kinda lame.

Can you think of something better?  Hit me up in the comments.

iPhone Pics

We had the kids again this past weekend and I tried to snap the highlights of all of our doings with my phone.  Here they are!

• Saturday morning started early with a 5K hosted by our local Farmer's Market.  Wyatt and Doc both participated and between the two of them, Wyatt won.  He shaved 3 minutes off his previous best time and beat Doc by a whopping 7 seconds.  Here he is approaching the finish line.

And here's Doc who was right behind him.

• While the two of them ran, Anna and I wandered around the market and found a pen of puppies waiting for adoption.  We of course had to pick them up and love all over them.  They were a mix - maybe border collie and westie? 

They were the sweetest puppies and just wanted to snuggle with us!

• After doing a little bit of shopping at the market, Anna and I headed home.  The boys hung around to hear the awards from the race.  Wyatt's age group was 10-19 and he ended up placing third.  His prize was a $5 gift certificate to the market so he brought home some sausages.  Yes, sausages.  Probably not what I would've picked...

• One of my friends is hosting a shower next month and needed a table runner for the occasion.  I had found this really cute striped fabric on a remnant table that I thought would be perfect.  My mom kept telling me to bring the fabric to her house so she could help me, but I decided to figure it out on my own.  This is not my finest sewing job at all (I'm definitely still learning) but I think it still turned out cute.

• Doc bought a bunch of supplies at Home Depot so we could tackle the yard.  This is about Round 38 of Operation: Grow Grass in Side Yard.  We've tried seeding before (but only halway committed to the project) and we've tried sod too.  This time, we actually had our yard sprayed first to kill the weeds, raked everything really well, and then put down every kind of dirt/fertilizer/seed growing magic we could find.  We've been watering diligently so hopefully this round will stick.

• My dad has been itching to buy a fancy belt sander ever since a woodworker friend of his told him it's the only thing our shop is missing.  He finally ordered one and has been dying to use it.  This past weekend was finally the time.  After building an outdoor patio table, he got out his new tool (the table did not need sanding, mind you, but he just HAD to sand it anyway).  His friend had warned him that you have to be careful with a sander like this, it can eat through a piece of wood in no time.  My dad, being the daredevil that he is, threw caution to the wind and just went for it.  A few minutes later, my mom (who was inside the house) got a phone call from my dad (on his cell phone) insisting that she hurry out to the shop to help him.  To date, we've had no major injuries in the woodshop but my mom assumed that had finally changed.  She ran out expecting to find a bloody mess and instead, saw this:

That, my friends, is what happens when a fancy belt sander eats the tail of your shirt.  And then, if you try to turn it back on in hopes of releasing the tangled mess, it will only creep further up your shirt near your collar.  Or so I hear. 

As awesome is this story is, it gets even better.

He had to cut his shirt off his body to free himself.

We'll call that Fancy Belt Sander - 1; Dad - 0.

• There's really no way to top that last story and I'm out of pictures anway, so we'll call that a wrap!  Happy Thursday, friends!

Easter 2012

I know it's been over a week, but I'm finally here with an Easter update!  How was yours?  Was it good?  Ours was fantastic.  So good, that I'm ready to make this bold statement: Easter is my favorite holiday.  Yep, I said it.  Someone remind me of that the next time I have to fill out a get-to-know-you survey because I'm pretty sure I've always answered Thanksgiving in the past. But Easter is so much better than that.  It's awesome for the very reason we celebrate it: because Jesus was crucified and then rose from the dead.  He rose from the dead.  Something that is so far beyond comprehension it's hard to even believe it's true.  But at the same time, how can you not?  As our preacher reminded us that Sunday morning, Jesus's resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith.  A dead prophet makes for a nice story, but a Christ that lives within us and among us whose blood paid our entry fee into Heaven makes for a blockbuster on Oprah's Book Club that's the number 1 download on iTunes for a full year and would top even the Hunger Games at the box office.  Also?  My mom used to warn my brothers and me that we "better hope God has a sense of humor" after we'd beatbox and rap our prayers, and this holiday just proves that he does.  Easter is God's biggest joke, as he raised his Son to beyond our understanding, leaving Evil mocked in the empty tomb.  (Paraphrased from here.)

I also love Easter Sunday for the hymns.  There are old classics that always come out for the Easter service, hymns like He Lives, Up from the Grave He Arose, Christ the Lord is Risen Today.  All of which remind me of my Memaw.  I don't really remember us spending every Easter at her house, but we must've been there a fair amount because just hearing those songs takes me back to her pew on the right side of the sanctuary at First Christian Church.

There are other reasons I love Easter too.  It may not be an extended family gathering like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I still get to see my immediate family.  Mom always prepares a huge lunch of all my favorite things.  Dessert always include chocolate and jelly beans (stolen out of someone's Easter basket) and is followed with an Easter egg hunt.  I LOVE Easter egg hunts!  Seriously, why aren't those for adults?  And, call me vain, but I also really like seeing everybody dressed up in pretty Easter outfits.  If the weather is nice, it's just icing on the cake Cadbury egg.

Ok, I'll shut up now and get to the pictures.  That's what you're here for anyway, right?

As soon as we got to my parents' house, we found our seats on the front porch of the shop.  This has become Sunday ritual while we decided what's for lunch, and Easter Sunday was no different.

Of course, for this particular Sunday, we didn't have to decide what was for lunch.  Before Mom left for church (early so she could warm up her piano fingers), she lined the ovens with casseroles and a big ham, set it to the right tempature, and left my dad strict instructions to turn it on before he left for church.

Guess who forgot to turn on the oven before leaving for church?  Hint: he's on the left in the photo below.

So we had a little time to kill before lunch would be ready.  I used the opportunity to snap some Easter pics of the munchkins.  Ramer and Parker were up first.  I have about a hundred pics from this series, but it's really hard to get a 3-year-old and a baby to look at you at the same time! Here are some of my faves, though.  (My blog is cropping off Parker's head. Boo.)

Sometimes, photo shoots get really tiring and you just need to rest.

Jett and Bren were added to the pics - and I thought getting just the two boys was hard!

I got a few cute ones of Jett and Bren loving on each other.

Giggles!

This cutie-patootie decided his mama needed some pretty yellow tulips. (You may recognize them from the shower the night before.)

The rest of us may have had to wait for lunch to cook, but Ramer got to go ahead and start eating.  I got in a little practice feeding him.

Normally we hunt eggs after lunch, but the kids (and me!) were getting antsy so we got busy hiding eggs.

 

 

I decided Jett should have a special egg to hunt for, so I wrapped a big one in aluminum foil to make a golden silver egg.  I know it's out in the open but I figured he'd be focused on the ground and never look up to see it.

We hid a BUNCH of eggs!  Some were tucked under leaves or behind corners of the playset, others were out in the open grass.  Some were full of candy, stickers, erasers, and coins while others were left empty.

Parker was very picky with his eggs.  After giving each one a good shake, empty ones were placed back on the ground.  No empty eggs for him!

The Princess didn't find an egg that she didn't like.

Don'tcha know Jett found the silver egg right off the bat.  He was running across the yard and it must've been doing some shinin' up there because he spotted it right away.  Next year, it will be hidden much harder.

For any baskets left unattended, you know who had her nose all up in 'em!

Mimi and Poppy entertained Ramer during the hunt.  Maybe next year he'll get to put an egg or two in his basket.

Bren and Parker showed off all the eggs they collected.

 

Obligatory Easter pic of me and the hubs.  (And maybe we have jaundice?)

It wouldn't be an afternoon at Poppy's Playground without a shot of Bren on a swing.

Finally, after all of our churchin' and picture takin' and egg huntin' and playin', we were able to go inside and eat lunch.  It was well worth the wait!  Mom had every last one of my favorite casseroles (they're really the best vehicle to get vegetables in me) and I stuffed myself silly.  Since Erin's birthday had been just a few days earlier, we had a celebration after lunch.  I had intentionally made extra cake pops so we could have them for dessert on Easter too, but we used one of the cupcakes in a jar so Erin could blow out candles.  Just like every other birthday party, she had helpers.

The men left after dessert and headed to the golf course.  Maybe that's why Easter's their favorite holiday?  The rest of us still had some celebrating to do!  Since Mom and I had both bought cascarones, we had 2 dozen eggs to go through!

If you're a long time reader, you know this is our third year to have these at Easter (see past years here and here).  If you haven't jumped on the confetti-filled egg train yet, what are you waiting for?? These are definitely a highlight of our Easter afternoons.  If you could only hear all the squeals and giggles!

 

 

 

Jett made sure all of us grown-ups got confetti-ed too.  The picture below - Beth, me, my mom, Erin - was taken by him.

When it was all said and done, the picnic table looked a little something like this.  I think if anyone wandered into the backyard later that night, they'd agree that we had a really good Easter celebration.