Highchair Happiness

Luke still finds it hard to sit up on his own (he's not quite 6 months old yet) but he really likes getting the chance to strengthen his abdominal muscles by practicing in his highchair. I've found that he likes pears but isn't too fond of rice or oatmeal. He's happy in his highchair, though. This picture proves it.

The Barbers

More friends! We love getting together with friends. Tonight, we visited with Scott and Leesa and their children, Elizabeth and Sydney. They are moving to St. Louis next week where he'll be starting seminary at Covenant (I've told them to seek you out, Kicklighters and Tuckers!). We love this family so much and will miss them after they leave. God has blessed us with many close relationships!

Lake Harding with the Patricks

Shea and John Mark Patrick (our friend and guy with three first names) were in our area visiting their family for the long weekend and invited us to their lake house to play (at Lake Harding). It was Andrew's first time on the water and he loved it! First, we relaxed while riding around in the pontoon boat and then we played on the SeaDoo. It was fun to jump in the lake and swim around to cool off 'cause it's humid and hot here! Shea and John Mark are awesome friends and were excellent hosts. Thank you for letting us spend Memorial Day with you on the lake!

Another visit with Laura

Laura came to visit us again this weekend. We love it when she's here. Not only is she super with my boys (although she's not here to babysit) she's a great friend whom I enjoy spending time with and talking to. We took the boys to the park this morning where we walked two miles before eating our sack lunch and playing on the playground. Here is a picture of Laura playing with the playdough on the floor with Andrew and Luke. If it were up to me, I would have Laura come visit everyday....I'm just glad Auburn University is only 45 minutes away!

HOT summer days

Boy, has it been hot these past few days. After waking from his nap the past three afternoons, Andrew has spent a few hours outside playing in his small pool and sprinkler. It's so hot that he didn't even want to wear his swimsuit.....so, I let him go naked. Why not? I mean, he was in the backyard where no one could see him! He had a blast.

My little Penguin

Andrew put his Pull-Up on all by himself today. He ended up with both legs in one leg hole. I tried to fix it but he wouldn't let me. So, he walked (waddled) around the house, strutting his "bad self".....he soon came to his senses and allowed me to make the proper adjustments.

Time with the boys

We are home.....the journey north this past weekend went smoothly but the drive-time home was hard. We thought that both of the boys would be extremely tired and would quickly fall asleep in the van on the way home; however, they were SO tired that it was too late and they cried almost the entire three hours home (we'll maybe not all three hours, but it felt like it - it was probably just an hour's worth of crying). We're glad to be in our own space, enjoying the familiarity.

The wedding reception was held at Chicopee Woods in Gainesville last night. It was absolutely beautiful! Today, before leaving the Atlanta metro area, we stopped at the Mall of Georgia to eat and play. Andrew loves riding the merry-go-round so Daddy snapped a picture of us enjoying the ride. Luke was strapped on Mitch's chest in the Snuggli so I grabbed the camera and took a picture. I love spending time with all my boys.

Reflections

We are in Gainesville, GA, this weekend for a wedding. We visited one of the parks that sits on beautiful Lake Lanier where I captured this moment between Dad and son. They were talking about the water and then started watching it ripple as they began throwing rocks.

My favorite

Hooked on 24 on Monday night.....who was the best on the show tonight? Agent Aaron Pierce. He rocked my face off when he addressed the "President" by his first name, Charles, after realizing the president was a traitor.

RoboCop is on 24...did you know that? He's playing the character of Chris Henderson. He's a much better actor at RoboCop than at being a traitor to his country.

The woman who plays the First Lady was one of the ladies on Designing Women. Cool.

Goodnight.

These past few days

These past few days have been rough on Andrew. I took him to the doctor Friday afternoon and it was confirmed that he had strep throat. I felt like a bad mother since three days had passed before I actually took him in. I just kept treating his fever with Ibuprofen and prayer. It was a good thing I took him to see the doctor (Mitch was gone to Presbytery so I was alone) as they are closed all weekend and I would have been stuck in the ER since I was told his fever would have gotten higher. Andrew slept so hard last night after the first dose of medication. He awoke feeling weak but seemed to be in a better mood. He took a three hour nap today and woke as a new person. The medicine was magic! The only bad thing about this whole thing is that he has to finish the pink berry medication over the next ten days....he's like his daddy was when he was little, running from me and kicking when I try to give him the stuff. Fortunately, he's not contagious at this point.

Luke is enjoying life. You can tell he loves the camera. He likes being naked, too. I'm gonna have a fantastic Mother's Day, I'm sure!

Solid food and not so solid food

Tonight, at five months of age, Luke had his first taste of solid food. He wasn't too impressed, as you can tell by these pictures. He still has a tongue reflex so most of the rice cereal ended up in the fold between his chin and neck. I'll try again tomorrow night. I'm sure he'll like peaches and pears better than the nasty bland cereal.

Andrew, however, found it hard to keep anything solid down. He upchucked three times before finally settling down for the night at 10:3o. He fell asleep at 8pm in my arms, which is rare. He didn't have a fever so I had no indication he wasn't feeling well until I heard him upchuck (via the monitor). I picked him up, stripped the bed sheets, put him in the bathtub, put clean sheets on the bed, and decided to lay down with him and sing him to sleep. It worked but I heard him upchuck again about ten minutes later. I only have two sets of sheets for his bed (yeah, I know you feel my pain, Amy) so after stripping the bed again and bathing him again, I made his bed with our bedsheets and a quilt. This time, however, I decided to rock him back to sleep. Guess what? He upchucked again but this time all over me. Back into the bathtub we BOTH went. He finally settled down and seemed to be in a better mood as he wanted to play and talk. Guess we'll see how late he sleeps in the morning.

Back Home

I can't believe that we were on vacation for five days and I didn't take any pictures! We had a great time visiting friends up in Birmingham. I was able to spend some time with Crissy, Maja, Anita, Angie, Tasha, Leslie, Nancy, and many others. I love you all!

I was also able to make some new friends.....Stokes and Connie Skellie, Adam Wright, and Rick Barnes. If you're looking for some new music to listen to and like the sounds of Caedmon's Call, Allen Levi, or anything by the RUF ministry, then check out some of their soundbites on their sites by clicking on their names. I sang along with Stokes and Adam on Sunday morning in church and, in the words of Eric Liddell from Chariots of Fire, "I [felt] God's pleasure".

I always get inspired with a new craft project when I spend time around Tasha. This time she showed me how simple it was to make a dress from a pillowcase. So, after getting her instructions, I went straight to Maja for her help in getting my "new" project started. Below is the final result.

Luke's first sink bath

We're on vacation this week so I was forced to find alternatives to bathing Luke since I didn't bring his safety bathtub with us (it's so bulky!). While staying at our friends' house, the Claytons, I just put him in the kitchen sink. It was hard to hold him up since he's not sitting on his own completely yet but it was a fun time. Daddy took a picture.

One sleeps & one plays

Andrew loves his new large backyard. One of his favorite things to do is to play with the water hose and get all wet as he is here in this picture. While Andrew plays, Luke does a lot of sleeping.

Just rambling.....

I watched the best show on television tonight....yeah, that's right.....24. Only four hours left of the 24 hour day. I'm hooked on Jack Bauer and am planted in my chair for the entire hour. It's cool how Jack never goes to the bathroom, can receive a great signal from land to the commercial airliner he's on, always has the right equipment on him to get the job done, and relies so heavily on his PDA. My question tonight is, after all that drama to get the recording back that implicates the president as the bad guy, why didn't Jack just download the digital recording to his PDA so Chloe could send it to CTU/Homeland Security? Don't tell me it an old-fashioned tape recording, cause I don't buy it.

Anyway, on a different note: We were up late last night cleaning the apartment since we had to be out by the first of the month. We called a babysitter at the last minute to basically sit and watch TV at our house for three hours while the boys slept so we could go back to the apartment and scrub toilets, mop and vacuum floors, and pack the last load. Now all the random piles of stuff are sitting in my dining room.

I would like to post a few pictures that I've taken these past few days but, since our computer is at Gateway headquarters getting "fixed", I can't just stick my Memory Stick into the hard-drive. That means I now need to find the USB cord in one of the many packed boxes so I can upload the pictures to Mitch's laptop that I've been using to post to my blog. Later!

Our new house

Tonight is our first official night in the "new" house. It's almost midnight and I'm staring at boxes of stuff sitting around me throughout the house. So much to do....glad that my mother is coming tomorrow for the weekend! Mitch and I had a neat time putting Andrew to bed tonight because, you see, it was not only his first night in his new bedroom but also his first night in the big bed with a bedrail as well as his first night sharing a room with his little brother. We feared it all might be too much transition at one time, but Andrew fared well. The monitor is on high so I can hear any little bit of movement before one wakes the other up. It's so nice to be in a house and out of an apartment where you can hear everything. My friend Amber is also moving out of an apartment into a house with her husband and two boys. Amber, isn't it wonderful? The only thing about moving that I hate is the cleaning up...especially scrubbing the refrigerator, floors, tubs, and sinks. Not to mention packing all the little items of things that don't really have a place anywhere....that would be related to my "random piles" post a few weeks back. Well, here's a picture of our cute little house with the HUGE fenced in backyard - Mitch almost came home with a Beagle puppy the other day since we now have a place for one. He knows that the kind of dog that I want. However, I don't think a dog is a good idea right now so I'm glad he decided against it. Email me if you need our new address!

Remember this?

I sometimes think about my childhood and the funny memories I have. I wonder what memories Andrew is making now. Will he look back and laugh like I do? Why do we have to grow up?

What about you.....got these same memories?

1. a banana seat bicycle with a plastic basket that had flowers on it?
2. Love's Baby Soft was the first "real" perfume you ever owned.
3. Holly Hobby sleeping bag, stationary, and wall hangings.
4. the electronic game, Simon.
5. homemade ribbon barrettes in every color imaginable.
6. you wanted your first kiss to take place in a roller rink
7. Strawberry Shortcake, Blueberry Muffin, & Huckleberry Pie.
8. metal lunchboxes
9. annual gathering around the TV for "The Wizard of Oz"
10. a magic eightball
11. Friendship pins on your shoelaces
12. Weekly Reader
13. Sit-n-Spin
14. Big Wheels
15. Shrinky Dinks
16. Judy Blume books
17. recording songs off the radio by holding up your tape recorder to the speaker
18. Little Debbie's Star Crunches
19. Cookie Crisp
20. LA Gear
21. Wax on, wax off
22. Star Search
23. Miami Vice, Magnum PI, Fantasy Island, Love Boat, Growing Pains, Family Ties, Facts of Life, Moonlighting, Knight Rider, Different Strokes, Benson.
24. Ferris Bueller's Day Off & The Breakfast Club
25. Atari
26. pegging the bottoms of your pants
27. wearing two different color socks to match your outfit.
28. Twisty-bead necklaces
29. leg warmers
30. banana clips, Wet-n-Wild makeup, scratch and sniff stickers
31. Pop Rocks with a Coke
32. Donkey Kong & Mario Brothers
33. snap bracelets and jelly shoes
34. Tiffany or Debbie Gibson
35. Member's Only and the Izod alligator

Festival & Friends

Angie & me

We spent all day Saturday playing. We enjoyed the Moon Walk at our church festival, spending time with extended family, and visiting with friends who were here from out-of-town. Now, we have a week left to get moved out of our apartment into the house so blogging might be light!

Time with Pop

My boys love spending time with Pop. He always makes them smile. Here he is having a conversation with Luke......and below is Pop giving two of his grandchildren, Andrew and Emma, a ride on his back. Thanks for loving our children, Pop!

They're already pinching them.....

...and I'm only four months old! I hope it's not like this forever. I mean, don't they know that I don't find this the least bit funny? Why are they laughing at me? Will someone please tell them to stop?!

Party til ya drop!

What seems like a weeklong birthday celebration is finally over. Don't get me wrong....I've enjoyed the planning, preparing, and celebrating, but I'm pooped! Andrew welcomed many friends and family to his 2nd birthday party this past weekend. They created flower pictures from their handprints, played on the playground, ate lots of sweets, and went on an egg hunt. Here are a few pictures that I promised.

Glorious Easter

What a beautiful day of enjoying God's unconditional love. The weather is warm, there's a breeze outside and we were surrounded by our church Body as we gathered to celebrate the resurrection. We sang hymns in church; such deep and profound words that rang loud and strong....

In Christ Alone! - Who took on flesh;
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died;
the wrath of God was satisfied.
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live....

...And as He stands in victory,
sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His, and He is mine;
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

A fun week

We've been having so much fun this week. At school, Andrew celebrated his birthday with his classmates during lunch by sharing cupcakes. Today he was able to go on an egg hunt at school and then, afterwards, we took him to see and hold some baby ducks. Birthday party is this weekend so there will certainly be more pics to come.

Went to the doctor

Today was Andrew's turn for a well-checkup at Dr. Oliver's office. Andrew loves visiting Dr. O but he hates the time with the nurses when they weigh him, check his height, and measure his head circumference. Today he did great....he didn't even cry when they pricked his finger for an iron/hemoglobin check. Andrew won't have to go back for another year, when he turns three. Luke, on the other hand, still has lots of shots to get since he's still a wee one. As usual, my camera goes with me everywhere......

Dr. Oliver with Andrew and Luke

"Well, well, well....how you doin'?"

Silly!

Just being silly.

The RIGHT hat & a cupcake

Finally....first it was the Red Sox hat, then the NY Yankee hat, and now the correct hat....the Braves! For Andrew's birthday, Mitch and I got him his own Atlanta Braves cap. To celebrate his special day, I made cupcakes. As you can tell, the cake and icing ended up all over Andrew's face. What a great picture! We'll celebrate with a party next Saturday so you can be sure to see more pictures of Andrew blowing out candles, playing and eating.

Also, Luke loves tummy-time. Here he enjoys a few minutes laying on his boppy pillow. He's growing so fast - already four months old!

Libby, Annie, & Riley!

My college roommate, Libby, and her two girls, Annie & Riley, visited with us this afternoon. We had a blast just watching the kids play, reminiscing about our college days, laughing at old pictures, and sharing "mom" stories. We put our kids on the couch to get a picture. Luke was starting to fall over so I snapped this one fast. Andrew isn't as fond of the camera as the girls obviously are...I mean, look at them! They're naturals.....could they be any cuter?

I love you, Lib-Dog! Glad you could use the dress. You're a beautiful pregnant woman! Come visit again soon....I can always use some "libby-time".

Spring Break means play time!

The week of spring break is no different in our household than any other week but we have done a few things these past few days that we've not done before. One thing Andrew has discovered how to do is to use keys....now, don't be scared. We don't let him get in the car with them nor have we shown him how to turn the ignition, but he does know how to open the storage room closet door on our porch. Here he is enjoying going though some of his toys that I had put away earlier last year. It's like Christmas for him when he finds toys he recognizes but hasn't seen in a while. It's cheaper and beats buying new stuff!

Andrew will be two on Saturday, April 8. He shares a birthday with his first cousin, Emily, but four years apart. Happy birthday Emily and Andrew!

Crissy, does this outfit look familiar?

Where's my third arm?

Things I can do with one hand and a baby in the other:

1. scramble eggs
2. load the dishwasher
3. load the washing machine
4. brush my teeth
5. type (very slowly)
6. sweep
7. pick up toys while stooping, being careful not to drop the baby
8. zip my toddler's jacket (I have to use my teeth when doing this)

Sox or Yankee?

Andrew can't make up his mind. Two of his best big buddies are Chad, the outrageous Boston Red Sox fan, and Seth, the Yankee fan from Pennsylvania. A few posts back I posted a picture of Andrew in Chad's Sox hat....last night it was Seth's turn to let Andrew wear his hat. Of course, when not in the company of Chad or Seth, Andrew is wearing his Braves hat!

At the Park

The spring weather is awesome! We went to the park this afternoon to enjoy the warmth and each other's company. Daddy and Andrew went on a tree climbing adventure.

Girl Talk

If you have time, please visit my favorite website:
http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/

What an amazing and encouraging place to spend your time at your computer. I love reading the insight this mother and her daughters have to give. It's full of information on various topics...so much that I still haven't managed to look through all the archives. Enjoy!

My two boys

Both Andrew and Luke took a nap this afternoon at the same time, although Luke didn't sleep as long as his older brother. Andrew loves playing with Luke and I managed to grab my camera in time to capture a moment of them together.

Children's Catechism 1, 2, 3

We've been repeating the first three Children's Catechism questions to Andrew for about five months now. He's spitting the answers back to us and using sign language to express himself.

Q1: "Andrew, who made you?"
A: "God!"

Q2: "What else did God make, Drew-Drew?"
A: "All tings!" (he makes a large swooshing circle with his arm when saying this)

Q3: "Tell me, why did he make you and all things?"
A: "For [His] gory!" (his hands are up in the air shaking, praising the Lord!)

Piles for miles

Last night wasn't the first night I've noticed the piles. Little piles of "TO DOs" all over the apartment. I'm getting claustrophobic. This space is squeezing in on me. I'm going crazy. It's affecting my outward-being. Am I making any sense? Look...see, there is my pile of wooden crafts to paint for the boy's room. Over there are my scrap fabrics that I need to sort through and organize. Oh, and on the side counter are various magazine pages I've ripped out to be placed in plastic sleeves for my craft notebook. There's that fine point Sharpie I've been looking for! My nightstand has a stack of books six high that are balanced just right. Yes, I'm reading them all at the same time, picking up where my bookmark left off (right now I'm reading Shepherding a Child's Heart for the second time). I won't even try to explain the mess my scrapbooking materials are in. No organization there and it's driving me insane when I try to find that certain embellishment or tool. The den bookcase has turned into a catch-all for such items. I'm going to a crop this Friday night and I'm going to have to block out an hour tonight just to find the pictures and materials that I need/want to take with me. AHHHH! Oh, and there's my constant TO DO list....the clean laundry has been sitting in the basket for two days now. I'm so happy to have a dishwasher so I can hide my filthy plates....

...Kind of like my sin....I want to hide it so others can't see it. I like to hide it so I don't have to see it or think about it. My two year old can recognize my sin....sure, he doesn't know it's called SIN, but he knows! Ever have those moments alone (usually, for me, that's only when in the shower and sometimes Andrew thinks I'm in danger so he pulls the curtain open constantly while I'm washing causing water to get all over the floor, his socks, etc) when you think back on your sin and you wince in disbelief and embarrassment? Why am I so consumed with ME and not with Christ? Am I wincing because of how my sin made me look or how I hurt the heart of God?

My goal and desire is to be organized for I love to sort things and put them in their proper place. I love sitting on the floor replacing batteries in Andrew's choo-choo for the fourth time in one week and I adore "chatting" with Luke, listening to his cooing.....but I'm tired. However, Christ is refreshing. He waters my soul, cleanses me of my filth, sees me as perfect, dances over me, disciplines me, and doesn't care that my house has random piles of random things in random places.

Finally...a smart blonde joke

Are you tired of the "dumb blonde" jokes"? I'm a blonde and, although I'm never offended by the often told jokes of my hair color, I loved reading the joke below which finally tells the truth and explains what we're really thinking.

A blonde walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. She says she's going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000. The bank officer says the bank will need some kind of security for the loan, so the blonde hands over the keys to a new Rolls Royce. The car is parked on the street in front of the bank, she has the title and everything checks out. The bank agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan.

The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the blonde for using a $250,000 Rolls as collateral against a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then proceeds to drive the Rolls into the bank's underground garage and parks it there. Two weeks later, the blonde returns, repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41. The loan officer says, "Miss, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely,but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi-millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?". The blonde replies....."Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?"

Finally, a smart blonde joke. AND THAT'S WHY SHE'S A MILLIONAIRE!

A Great Quote

I think sometimes we think church music should be sunny or majestic, but for me, that’s not where I live most of the time. I live more in longing and hope, in both joy and sorrow. I want to make music that people can find themselves in, not as they think they should be.
-Sandra McCracken

We all have our preferences of music style but we should be focused on glorifying God, not on what we are comfortable singing or listening to.

Why did I torture myself?

Mitch and I wanted to watch a movie tonight so we (or should I say, I?) decided to view Napoleon Dynamite for a second time. Yes, it was my decision...I was trying to be mature in thinking that my opinion of the movie might change if I were to watch it again. Ugh! Why did I put myself through that torture? It's got to be the dumbest movie ever made. I've heard that you either loved the movie or hated it. I am definitely a member of the "hated it" club. From what I hear, there are more "loved it" members. I just don't understand. Here are just a FEW reasons why I spent the entire movie rolling my eyes.

1. What Stupid-O bakes a cake and leaves it on the front doorstep in hopes that the girl who answers will accept it as an invitation to the high school dance?
2. Come on....a pet Llama?
3. Grow up and stop throwing action figures out the bus window to be dragged down the road on a string!
4. I'm all about taking my leftovers home for a later time but who puts tater tots in their knee-side zipper pant pocket?
5. The ONLY time my face broke into a grin was when Napoleon was sitting on the school steps waiting for his ride, drawing a liger. In case you didn't know, a liger is half lion / half tiger.
6. Napoleon's tone of voice and inflection is just weird.
7. Who calls home to have someone bring them their chapstick?
8. Who dances like that?
9. The Happy Hands Club? Come on!
10. I'm not even going to go into Kip and Rico's daily routine......what losers.
11. I'm am ashamed that I even remember the character's names.
12. The ONLY thing I liked about the movie was that it was free of any dirty-words. If there were any then I missed them....I was probably rolling my eyes.

Yes, I know that MTV's purpose in making this film was to show what losers these guys were but it didn't win me over. Maybe I am the stupid one...I never did these things nor knew anyone in high school who was as lame as Napoleon. Get a new last name.

From two to four in a matter of months

Mitch's side of the family has gained two new grandchildren in the past three months. Here is a picture of Emma, the oldest, Andrew (two years younger than Emma), Luke (age three months) and Ella (almost two weeks old now). I can't believe the difference in size of Luke to Ella. The girls belong to Mitch's sister, Valerie, and the boys are ours. At least the McGinnis name will live on!

Potty Time

Andrew will be two years old in just a few weeks but he's already started showing interest in using the big potty. We're just letting him do it himself at this point since it's still a little early to rush into the whole potty thing, but we're impressed with how interested he is in it.

Luke is making more noise each day. He is smiling almost every time someone talks to him and he loves being held. He's sleeping well (praise the Lord) and loves kisses.

That's about it for now....it's been a slow week. We're all sick with either runny noses or sore throats so we've stayed inside for the most part.

24

Well, there's been a tornado warning issued tonight smack dab in the middle of my favorite show, 24. Not just once did they have a newsbreak, but twice! Of course, a tornado notification is much more important than any television show but it's still frustrating. The city-wide sirens have gone off and the tower to the local FOX station went out with 20 minutes left in the show. I'm hoping that I can purchase the broadcast on iTunes so I can see what I missed. If not, someone tell me what happened after they confronted Chloe in the Situation Room.

Kudos

My thanks to businesses that have parking spots specifically for MOTHERS with CHILDREN. That's all I have to say.

Back Home

Wow, it's been a long and enjoyable week. I won't go into detail of what we did each day, since no one really cares to read every detail but those that participated, but I will say that I had fun and am dead tired. I was able to spend some "quality time" with my friend Suzie while sitting on the floor playing with our toddlers. I love talking with Suzie. She's real. She's honest, open, and we share a lot in common. I was also able to spend some more time with her that night when I visited our "home" church for the weekly fellowship dinner.

Thursday was spent with my granny. What a woman. I am really enjoying getting to know her better. As I've grown up I've learned to appreciate her more. That's not to say I never appreciated her but I think I'm growing to respect her more, despite the fact that she and I have very different opinions about essential issues. She's such a spry, clever, and funny old lady. I love describing her to my friends. Unlike some 80-year-old grandmothers, mine still gets down on her knees to garden, still drives a car like a champ, is still active in the local social clubs, and still plays bridge every Thursday with four women who are older than her! Her favorite place to eat is Wendy's so she treated us to lunch (we found no finger in our chili, by the way). Andrew thinks she's cool and loves spending time with his great-grandmother. Granny loves spoiling her great-grands so I wasn't surprised when she walked in with a basket for each of my boys, full of plastic Easter eggs.

Friday was special because I was able to spend it with my college roommate, Heather. It was the day of her 30th birthday and she chose to celebrate it with me. I decorated a cake for her (see picture of another cake I made). What did we do? We sat on the floor and played with our children; my two boys and her three children (one boy and two twin girls). I also got to eat lunch with her and her sweet husband, Drew, whom I think is the BOMB! I love that girl and wish we could see each other every day. Love you, Scooter! I'll keep the candle burning for you.....



I have spots of hair dye on my arms due to staying up til midnight coloring my niece's hair. I spent the regular hours this morning with my mother and sister making a cute flower bouquet from ballpoint pens (see picture). It was sad pulling out of Mom's driveway. Andrew cried for five minutes after leaving. He loves his Gami. It was a good weekend.

Well, thanks for reading about my week......no deep thoughts here.

Our New Niece

Mitch's sister, Valerie, had a baby this morning.

Here is the first pic of Ella Ruth!

I miss my husband

I miss Mitch. I don't like being without him. It's not that I'm clingy...I get my energy from time alone and savor moments of reflection and quiet. But how often does that come my way? Mitch is my home. It's with him that I sense Jesus. Yes, I know God is with me in all I do and everywhere I go but He gave me a best friend here on Earth and I always want to be with my sweet guy. I love you, Mitch, and only two more days til I can hug you, my buddy. Your boys miss you, too.

What's wrong?

Caught Luke crying. He hardly ever cries. What a good baby. He only cries when he's hungry, tired, or when someone gives him hard slobbery kisses at unexpected moments (like in this picture). He's three months old and already sleeping through the night (do you hear the angels rejoicing?).

Today is busy and I can't seem to stop perspiring. I know that's not a pretty mental picture but it seems that my brow is always wet....rush, rush, rush! I'm taking the boys to my mother's house for five days but Mitch can't go due to work and meetings. We sure are gonna miss him. So, today is full of Daddy time, not to mention all the laundry and packing I've got to do. This will be Luke's first trip to south Georgia so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures while I'm there (as if....).

A rainy Friday afternoon

It's 3:30 in the afternoon. Andrew has been sleeping for almost two hours. Luke has been awake for almost two hours. I wonder when I'll ever get them on the same nap schedule. I know.....don't rush it. Let it just happen and let Luke get a little older. I was excited that Luke slept five hours straight last night before waking to be fed. He then slept for another two before "starting his day". It's been raining all day so we've been stuck inside. I'm usually the one clicking away with the camera but Mitch caught a few moments of me with Luke.