Just showed up

We moved!

2012-01-23T14:59:00.000-06:00

Well the last four weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least. Christmas came and went, then new year's, then Eric and my 3 year anniversary and on January 5th we packed up all our stuff from our storage unit and everything from my mom's and moved to MEMPHIS, TN!! Phew! Crazy times, but so exciting!

Eric started his new job today. Memphis has great opportunities for nurses and when Eric got a couple of job offers up here we just couldn't refuse them.

This post is mainly for my sister--because she keeps bugging me to see pictures of my house. :) I was going to hold off until we got it a little more "together" around here, but let's be real...will it ever really be "together"...Probably not. So here's a little peak into our living room/family room...

We've moved into this great house that has all the charms of an older home. We keep saying it's the perfect home to rent. You get all the fun of living in an older house, but you don't have to pay for the upkeep! :)

This room is filled with so many flea market finds. I was able to find these chairs at eastbrook and recover them with some old fabric my mom had. I really love this little nook!

There's still SO much to do in this room. The big chair still needs to be recovered...there are empty picture frames EVERYWHERE! Drapes that still need to be hemmed, but for now we're feeling good about our progress and are just going to take it day by day.

I did experiment with annie sloan chalk paint. It was really fun to work with! Not as cheap as buying a quart of paint from home depot or lowes...the paint and waxes cost me close to $100, but the results are great!

Ok, that's all I got for now. As we make some more progress I promise to post some more pictures of the house, Lizzie. :)

I probably shouldn't finish this post with out mentioning that Eric's birthday is tomorrow!!!!! It's a big one, people. I'm excited to welcome him into the 30 club! His parents were here this past weekend to celebrate, and some of our very favorite friends in the whole wide world are heading over this coming weekend to celebrate!! Favorite friends---the guest room is ready and waiting..!!!!!!!! :))))))

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T15:15:00.000-06:00

November and 1/2 of December. WOAH.

2011-12-13T15:19:00.000-06:00

It's been a while. Part of me feels bad for neglecting the blog (since it's where I keep up with our family memories), but then part of me is glad we've been too busy having fun that I've completely forgotten about it! :) Well not completely, because every time I update this blog I'm reminded that I haven't posted here in over a month!! EEK!

So I'm gonna play a little catch up and try to remember what happened to the month of November! Does anyone else feel like that month just FLEW by! We did a lot of traveling. We were in Nashville twice and then we made the trek from Montgomery to Ohio. But let me start with the biggest news of all...

SISSY HAS A BOYFRIEND!!!!! :) He saw the add on my blog and I set the whole thing up! Totally kidding. Actually a good friend of my mom's set them up and she and "the judge" instantly hit it off! We're so excited for her!

Ok, moving on...
While we were in Nashville we had the Home Boutique. Thank you so much to everyone who came out and supported us! It was such a great event! We hope to make it an annual thing, so if you couldn't make it out this year, we'll be doing it again next year!

Thanksgiving seems like such a long time ago! We decided to drive up to Ohio for the holiday. It only took us about 10 hours to get there, but the way back was much much longer. The holiday traffic never ceases to amaze me. So many people on the roads. It probably took us about 15 hours to get back. Yuck. Laney did amazingly well. I mean...I'm not gonna lie she had her cranky moments of "get me outta this car seat NOW people!" But overall she did pretty great.

While we were in Ohio we got to stop and see these two...

Once we made it to Columbus we got to spend lots of time with Laney's adorable little cousin, Ellise! It was her birthday and she turned 3! I can't even believe how fast time flies!

And let me add...it's been a while..but there really is nothing better than an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. It was totally delish!

While we were there we also hit up the Columbus Zoo. Just in case you're not aware, Columbus has been voted the best zoo in the country for several years now. It's really terrific! And at Christmas time they light the place up! It's beautiful!

Ok so that was Thanksgiving. When we arrived back in Montgomery we were greeted by some friendly faces!

Campbell and Adeline are here for the month. And while it's a little crazy around here it's a lot of fun. I'm so thankful that our girls have this time together. Laney really loves her cousins.

I hope you are all having a wonderful season. It's been really special for me getting to spend so much time with my family. I hope you're all surrounded by your loved ones throughout the season!

Merry Christmas!

Addy turns 2

2011-11-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend we headed up to North Alabama to celebrate Adeline's second birthday. Adeline is a halloween baby, so we celebrated a few days early. We always have fun when we get the girls together. Laney is a super social kid and she generally just loves to be around other kids, especially these two girls.

Lizzie planned a really fun morning for Addy's party. We had it at this totally awesome park in Tuscumbia! It had a train, a carousel, and even a mini-roller coaster! It was so fun! The kids loved it! Adeline and Campbell have mostly guy friends. One of which Campbell claims as her "boyfriend"! Haha! Don't tell her Daddy. :) Bryson, Graham and Hudson were so cute! The kids all had a lot of fun together. And...I took WAAAAYYY too many pictures, so I'm just going to let them speak for themselves! :)

One last thing...Those adorable cupcake cookies were made by Elisabeth Epperson. She is a TERRIFIC cook! Not only are they adorable but they taste AMAZING!! If you live in the Montgomery area you HAVE to check her out!

Have a great Thursday everyone!

In case you haven't heard...

2011-11-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

You're invited!!...

My incredibly artistic and talented friends and I are hosting this fun event Friday, November 11 and Saturday, November 12th. We'll have TONS of fun gift items! Including the aprons below! If you're in the Nashville area you really don't want to miss this. Plan a girl's night out next Friday or Saturday and join us! I hope to see you there! :)

Guest Post

2011-10-31T12:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday & Halloween folks!!

Just popping in real quick to let you know that I'm sharing some of my "story" at Afterbelly for Monday's Mom. To read the story click here!

Have fun trick-or-treating tonight! :)

Reader.

2011-10-27T20:34:00.000-05:00

My sweet little mother-in-law often tells Eric and I that "children are made readers on the laps of their parents." I must say, if there's any truth to that, we will have a SUPER reader one day! This kid LOVES her books! In fact about the only time we can get her to sit still and sit with us in our laps is when we read to her. Once we finish one book, she goes back to her basket and brings us another.

What books are you reading to your kids? Any suggestions? (Honestly, mommy and daddy are getting a little tired of the same books and need some new ones!)

Fall fun

2011-10-20T21:10:00.000-05:00

Dear sweet bloggy-blog...I have not forgotten you. And you sweet little readers (friends :)) I haven't forgotten you either. I really have no excuse for my lack of posts. Fall has happened upon us and we've just been loving it: pumpkins, mums, football, runs through the neighborhood in this beautiful COOLER weather, long sleeves, boots, pumpkin spice EVERYTHING! We've just been loving the changing of seasons!

The past couple of weekends we've seen family and hit up the two big football towns of Alabama. A couple of weeks a go Sissy, Laney and I went to t-town for homecoming to see Jackie-poo. He was a great host and we had lots of fun strolling through campus and seeing all that homecoming at Alabama had to offer. I hadn't been there since high school (that's a LONG time ago!), so it was really fun to be back there. I even sported a slightly crimson shirt (I know...I know) ONLY because I love my little brother. Laney was too innocent to be wearing that color so she was neutral in her hot pink. :)

Then...last weekend we went to Auburn!! Walker and Emily had come down from Ohio. It was a short visit, but better than no visit! :) Sissy stayed for the game and Laney and I headed back to Montgomery to watch it from the comfort of home. Ps- Eric's had to work the past couple of weekends. I just fee like I needed to put that out there...I don't want you people thinking I've just been running off and leaving him every weekend! :) Not that he would mind having the house to himself to lay around and watch football all day! hehe.

Ok, so, in between weekends we've gotten to catch up with old friends! My friend, Elizabeth, was in town from Kentucky with her cute kiddos and we just had to get together with them! Selah, her oldest daughter, is one of the most loving little girls, she wanted to hold Laney's hand, but my little independent child wouldn't have it. I had to tell Selah, for what it's worth, it hurts my feelings too when Laney doesn't want to hold my hand. Erin and baby Hudson came over to play too! Look how big he is!! He weighs more than Laney does!! haha!!

I hope everyone is having a great fall! And for the record a VERY WAR EAGLE! (Can you tell I'm feeling guilty for wearing a crimson shirt!?!)

Her's my cousin!

2011-10-04T14:03:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend Eric and I went to New Orleans for a little get-away. It was so WONDERFUL!! It's the first time we've gone away, just the two of us, since Laney was born. It was the first nights I've ever spent away from my sweet baby, but she was in good hands. My wonderful Mommy offered to keep her for the weekend and my sister, Lizzie, and her two girls came down to Montgomery to help out (and to have fun being cousins).

Before I left I got to spend a little time with the girls and Campbell must be learning about family at school because she kept talking about Laney being her cousin and Addy being her sister. She wanted to know what Laney's mommy's name was...haha!!

At one point Laney kinda fell on top of Campbell and her response was..."Her hand is on me...and HER'S MY COUSIN!" It really is so fun having these girls be so close in age. I hope they grow up to be really great friends!

Thanks again to Sissy and Aunt Lizzie!! You guys are the best!

To see more pictures from our weekend in NOLA click here.

Fall...Fall..FALL!!!

2011-09-07T14:13:00.000-05:00

Now that Labor day has come and gone I AM SO READY FOR FALL!!! It's just my most favorite time of year, specifically the time between Oct. 30-Dec. 26. I feel like my pinning has reflected my longing for the new season. Here are some of my faves...

pumpkins source

pretzel kiss treats source

pumpkin pie cupcakes source

lasagna soup source

halloween costumes source

Some confessions...

2011-08-31T11:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, first confession...my lack of blogging= laziness!! I was talking to a friend at the Y this morning and we were both saying how we have such high hopes for nap time. And then once our babies go down, we just want to lay there and do NOTHING! Does anyone else feel like that? I've got to get motivated!!

Confession #2: I've been watching the old 80's TV show "thirty something" and I LOVE IT! Does anyone remember that show? It came out in the late 80's, when I was oh..about 6!! Anyway, it's the end of the summer, and there's nothing on TV at night. The shows don't start back for a couple of more weeks, so...instant Netflix is my friend! I've even talked Eric into watching an episode with me before we fall asleep a couple of nights.

Other than my confessions, I don't have much more to say. The photography blog should be updated soon! I've had several sessions that I haven't posted on yet (again...laziness). Please check it out!!

We're headed to Atlanta on Friday to visit with Eric's good friend Derek. He and his wife have just made their way back to the states. They've been in Korea for the past couple of years. I know Eric is really excited to see him!

I hope everyone's having a great week!

what we've been up to

2011-08-18T15:34:00.002-05:00

I think every time I've blogged this summer it's been about a trip we went on and I want to remember the day to day stuff we did this summer, so here it goes.

My husband doesn't like to wear shirts. Especially in Alabama. Most of these pictures he will be shirtless. I try to tell him to put his shirt back on, but he tells me that the worst feeling in the world for him is to be wearing a sweaty shirt (except while he's working out, he says that's ok).

Does anyone else's one year old LOVE to walk as much as mine does? Seriously, I can't get her to sit still, even to play with the coolest toy ever made, she won't stop. She may pick up a toy for a second, but then throw it down on the ground and keep walking. It's exhausting. Late in the afternoon, usually right before dinner, we go outside and I let her walk up and down the street (on the sidewalk, of course!) until she poops out. Note to self: she usually doesn't poop out. I often have to drag her back in the house because it's time to eat.

Eric and I have had a HUGE craving for Krispy Kreme. The first time we went and picked up a few "hot ones now." I told him about how, in college, we used to drive from Auburn at midnight just to get some hot ones. They are just SO GOOD. Last night we went and got one, and we brought Laney-baby back some donut holes for breakfast and a hat. She really liked the hat.

She REALLY liked tearing the hat apart. :)

~~We've~~ Eric also helped my mom do a little yard work. Laney likes to think she helped a little too.

We've also spent a lot of time laughing and playing with our cute Laney-boo.

That's all for now. My sister and her girls are coming down here tomorrow! We always love to visit with our cousins!

we went to atlanta

2011-08-15T22:52:00.001-05:00

Eric had a few days off in a row last week and we decided that we needed ANOTHER road trip. :) We've been wanting to go to atlanta all summer, but there just hadn't been a good time to go. 3 days off in a row= a good time to go!

We got there Sunday afternoon and planned to go see one of our good friends, John, at his church. They have Sunday night service and IT WAS INCREDIBLE!! Eric and I were both so blessed by our time there. They just started a series called "Taking the Plunge" and it was just so on point with what I needed to hear. God is just good like that, ya know?! Not only were we blessed by the service, but we were blessed by a couple of people we got to see while we were there. One being John, and the other being Biscuet. B lives in China and he does some really amazing work there. I feel so blessed to know both of these men, and to call them my good friends. And I'm sad I didn't get a picture with them, oh well.

Monday was family fun day! :) And we headed to the GA Aquarium to show Laney what real fish look like. If you don't like looking at pictures of fish, or my child, then skim on to the bottom of this post, because I took a lot of pictures of the fish.

Ok, does anyone know what is in the above picture? It's a Beluga. If you got it right, email me, I'll send you a special prize, like a reply congratulating you on your knowledge of marine biology. Ok, so, does anyone know the song about the Beluga?? "Baby beluga in the deep blue sea...you swim so high and you swim so free..." I started singing it while we were at the exhibit and Eric just looked at me and ~~made me feel stupid~~ laughed . He had never heard of it!!! Ok, so, if you've heard it, PLEASE leave me a comment telling me that I'm not crazy and it is a REAL song, so I can make my husband ~~feel dumb~~ see my song knowledge.

Ok, back to more fish pictures...

This one's for you, Kelly...Albino alligator.

After the aquarium Laney and I decided to play at the park while Daddy went and got the car. What a good hubs he is. :)

Later that night my dad took us to his favorite Mexican place. Eric and I eat Mexican at LEAST twice a week, so we were game! IT WAS SO GOOD!

ATL has so much to offer. Good friends. Good church. Good eats. SOLD! We had a great time! Thanks ATL!

Cincinnati

2011-08-03T15:57:00.001-05:00

We're back and we had a great time in Cincinnati! It was so good to see Walker and Emily and let them show us around their new city. If you're looking to do some shopping Cincinnati is your town! I think that's all we did the whole time we were there! Shopped...and ATE! Walker and Em took us to some really fun places to eat. They're always "in the know". :)

While we were there my mom had a birthday. She turned 25. :) She's also still on the market if you know any amazing Christian men who are around 25 too!

Walker and Emily are both really great uncles and aunts to their nieces. They love little Laney-boo and she sure does love them. Now that she's ~~running~~ walking, she's hard to keep up with, but Walk and Em gave this mommy a little break and chased her around for me a lot!

They live in a really fun area of town that has some of the yummiest ice cream EVER! Now because I'm married to an Ohi-an, I've had my share of Graeter's but that didn't stop me from getting some while we were in town.

The night we celebrated my mom's birthday Walker grilled and the ladies made a delicious low-cal white sangria. All it took was half a bottle of fresca, a bottle of chardonnay and drop it whatever fruit you like! YUMM-O!

Saturday night we drove over the river into Kentucky to Newport on the Levee. So fun! If you have kids and are in Cincinnati, this is a great place to hang out. There was so much to do and a lot to look at. Emily wanted to try out the "hamsters", but we lovingly talked her out of it and told her she was too old. :)

Thanks Walker and Emily for being such WONDERFUL hosts to us! We had a blast! Little Laney misses you already!

Oh! And a shout out to Bella for being the best pup around and an equally great host! :)

new shoes.

2011-07-29T22:17:00.000-05:00

Laney is walking, and has been since a couple days after her first birthday. She's really good at it and really fast (poor mommy :)). Since she started she pretty much hasn't stopped. If you drive down our street around 5pm each night we're out there walking up and down and up and down the street. I think she would walk miles and miles if we let her. She definitely inherited her father's energy.

Since she's walking I thought it was time for her to get some shoes (contrary to the "Montgomery way"). Side note-- I'm not sure if you're all aware of this, but Montgomery kids don't wear shoes. I honestly don't think I wore shoes until I was in the 8th grade. Even in December--bare feet. If my mom had it her way, Laney wouldn't own a pair of shoes until she turned 13. Ok, let's get back on track now. I bought her some shoes. She loves them. I think she has a shoe fetish, however it has taken her a while to learn to walk in them. She's getting better, but they slow her down (fine by me!).

I'm sure it won't take long before she learns to run in them. She's only had a few face plants into the cement. Some tears and a bloody lip later, she jumps right back up and keeps on-- a resilient little lamb, she is.

So, happy new shoes, Laney! Please slow down! love--mommy

blame it on the plane

2011-07-25T14:43:00.000-05:00

Get it?! Like the milli-vanilli song only I switched rain for plane? :)

Ok...so we're back from Ohio. In fact, we've been back for almost a week now. I'm gonna be honest here, not my most favorite trip to the O-H. We got there at 2am Friday night, err, Saturday morning. Saturday was a really fun day! If I felt like I did on Saturday every day we were there it would have been a GREAT trip! But..Duhn.duhn.duhn...I got strep throat. Yep. Sunday morning I woke up feeling pretty pathetic, but I was out of town, at my in-laws, and I thought "just push through it Lele, you had a couple late nights, you're probably just exhausted, drink some coffee and get over it." So I pushed through, and kept pushing it (whilst feeling terrible). Finally Tuesday morning I told Eric it might be good if we saw a doctor, especially since I was running a steady 101 degree fever. We went to the minute clinic at CVS, and I told her I thought I had an ear infection, she checked out my ear, and said "I think I'm gonna give you a strep test." It came back positive. Y'all it was the WORST.CASE.OF.STREP.EVER! I never thought I was going to get better. I felt HORRIBLE until Friday, and even Friday I still felt pretty weak. Ugh. That was not fun and my second bout with strep in 5 months! What's up with that!??!

I think Eric had fun, and I KNOW Laney had a blast, so that's what really matters here. I'm glad she was able to see her cousins and her aunts and grandparents and great-grandparents. She was read to a lot, played with, and fed well.

Here's a little recap of Saturday, since it's the only day I actually felt good. Columbus has this really cool part of town called "the short north." Every time we visit c'bus Eric and I always end up here. We just like it, cool shops, a fun market, lots to look at and we always have fun.

(sorry most of these pics are from my phone)

Eric and I went out on a double date with his best friend Jacob and his wife Emily. They are really fun. We went to Eric's favorite Italian restaurant, Marcella's. And after dinner we hit up Jeni's, which apparently has spread all over the place! It started out in Columbus several years ago, and they just opened up new locations in Nashville and ATL (and several other big cities, but those are the two that I'll actually visit). Our night finished with a trip the the piano bar.

Ok, so, Jacob has this habit of buying Eric funny t-shirts at thrift stores, and he brought his latest find to Eric Saturday night. Of course he HAD to wear it! :)

And sadly, that's about all I can remember from our trip. The rest of the time I spent curled up in bed. Whaaaa-whaaa.

Y'all are gonna think I'm crazy, but Laney and I are actually going BACK to Ohio on Thursday with my mom, only this time we're going to Cincinnati to visit Walk and Em!!! We're driving, not flying (thank goodness). Oh! the plane ride! OH THE PLANE RIDE!!!!!! AHHH!!!! So our flight there kept getting delayed and we flew out of Montgomery around 8:30pm, then we were delayed in ATL and didn't leave there until midnight!! Do you think Laney just laid her sweet little head on my shoulder and fell asleep, like a little lamb??? OR do you think she SCREAMED THE WHOLE FLIGHT FROM ATL TO COLUMBUS!?!? That little lamb did no sleeping of any sort! She was a crazy baby, which was to be expected, we had kept her out WAY past her bedtime and she was just too tired to do anything but be sad. I can't blame her, I felt about the same as she did at that point. The return flight was MUCH better, having lots of snacks helped (thanks, Claire), so did the videos I uploaded to my iphone. I think next time we fly, I'll make sure and pick a flight that leaves WAY earlier in the day--noted.

Alright, friends, I'm off to get ready for my hot date tonight! Eric and I are headed to dinner and a movie and I can't wait! OH! One more thing, I can't finish this post without giving a MAJOR shout out to my super smart and hard working hubs. He passed his boards this week! Which is a HUGE weight off of him, I've never seen him so anxious and nervous. But he did it! and I'm so proud and thankful!

Later, gators.

Playing catch up...AGAIN!

2011-07-14T21:00:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow we leave for Ohio. We're flying--MOMS--if you have any good flying tips PLEASE SHARE!! This will be Laney's first flight and I just want to be prepared. Thanks! I'm serious...this is me crying out for help.."HELP!" :)

So, before we go to OH, I need to catch up the ole blog because if I don't blog now I'll have SO SO much to catch up on once we get back. Blah. What's my problem? Why have I had such a hard time blogging this summer??? I've noticed a lot of my favorites have had trouble too, so it's good to know I'm not alone. But still, it's hard to play catch up all the time.

Ok, onto what we've been up to. Eric had a few days off for the 4th of July weekend, so we decided to head north up 65 and see all our Nashville friends. Thanks to Brian and Christine for putting us up Friday night, and to Ellen for letting us stay the rest of the weekend.

We had so much fun, and it was just so good for us to see our friends. Sunday night we hung out at the Hester's and Eli showed us his mad skills. I think he's going to follow in Jordan's footsteps. He was quite entertaining. Now, every time I hear the Billy Currington song "ba-ba-da-ba-ba-da" I will think of Eli. :) Laney is totally cool with being a groupie one day. So, Eli, start your band! You already have plenty of fans!

After we got back from Nashvegas Laney and I headed back up 65N with my Mom to see Lizzie and her girls. We stayed at the Marriot resort in Muscle Shoals. If you're looking for an easy get away with your kids, this place is AWESOME! The pool was GREAT! The babies had a blast and the adults had fun too. The restaurant downstairs was yummy, so we never even had to leave the hotel if we didn't want to!

But we did want to because Lizzie wanted to show us her new house! Campbell was especially excited to show us around. Chatty Cathy told me all about her new room, and addy's new room, and the kitchen, den, etc. I'm really excited for them.

We had so much fun with the girls we decided to bring one of them home with us! Addy-paddy has spent the week here at my mom's. Her and Laney have had so much fun hanging out. Addy goes home tomorrow and I know Laney will be really sad, she likes having a little playmate around.

Also, Scait came and stayed with us one night on their way to New Orleans for their 2nd honeymoon 7 day cruise! JEALOUS!!! We almost felt like we were back in Nash-nash again after getting to see them two weekends in a row.

We headed downtown to the Alley and ate at a new mexican restaurant there. I can't remember the name of it, but it was good. I had the shrimp quesadilla. So if you're in fungomery go try it.

Phew! Ok, enough for now. Please pray for us tomorrow night and Tuesday night as we fly with Laney. And I'm serious, if you have any good flying with kids tips...PLEASE SHARE!!!

A puppy, dairy, words and shoes.

2011-06-30T07:30:00.003-05:00

Jack, my baby brother, is home for a couple of days. I haven't seen him in MONTHS! And in the months that I haven't seen him, he added a new addition to his little family. Meet Brim.

Brim is a golden-doodle (half golden retriever, half poodle). He is one of the most chill puppies. Eric calls him a Muppet-dog, and I think he's right on. Doesn't he just look like a character from the Muppet show?!!? Anyway, when you compare Brim to our little yappie, trauma survivor he seems WAY calmer and quieter. He's really friendly, sometimes too friendly to Laney and she gives him the Heisman to get out of her face. Have I mentioned "dog" is one of the only words Laney says consistently? She says it ALL. THE. TIME. Maybe it's because she's surrounded by dogs a lot (there are 3 dogs at the house right now).

Ok, moving on...What do the items in this picture have in common???

Two things: 1- the are all dairy products. 2- My body has developed a severe intolerance to them. Honestly, I've always been slightly intolerant of dairy. Like the mac-n-cheese at j. alexander's (which is SOOO delish) usually makes me sick, but over all I've never been as sick as I have been over the last month. It's been bad. So, I've decided as much as I love things like ice cream and cheese, my life is a much better one with out them. Do any of you readers have lactose intolerance? Any good recipes you could throw my way? Or am I pretty much stuck with eating strictly meats, fruits and vegetables? Any help is welcomed.

Also, I've started a C25K. Lesley recommended this app and I'm LOVING it!! Tonight started day one of week 4 and it about KILLED me! But I did it! WOO HOO!!

Now, onto a more serious issue that's been plaguing me lately. This one is more on the emotional level. Lately, I've walked around with an attitude of "no body likes me, every body hates me, I guess I'll go eat worms." I'm not telling you this so you'll feel sorry for me, but I'm saying this because it's really bothered me that I've felt this way. I've tried tracking down exactly where this stems from and I finally figured it out a couple of nights ago.

You see, probably 5 or 6 years ago, I had this lady tell me something really mean. So mean, that it has stuck with me for this long and has caused me to be incredibly self-conscious. She probably has no idea that her words affected me so much, and to be honest, until lately I hadn't realized how much they had affected me either. Last night I was laying in bed praying that the Lord would help me take captive those words and speak truth into me so that I would stop walking around with such a dim outlook on myself. I don't feel like I can be an effective friend, wife, mother or even believer if I keep on this way. It's also caused me to realize how MY words (and tone-says my sweet husband :)) effect people. I know this is getting way lengthy so I'll close this out, but I just hope my words (and tone) will breathe life into people. (And I also hope I can believe the truth of what God says about me, instead of the words of others).

Now, to end on a more upbeat note. I bought some new shoes and I love them, so of course, I had to share. They're from shoe station and they come in LOTS of colors. They are so comfy! I like that they have a little heal to them, just enough to make my legs look longer when I'm wearing dresses & skirts. Eric put them on the other night because he had to run out to the car to grab something and they were sitting by the door (seriously, he doesn't normally wear women's shoes, I promise!!) He said...those things really are comfy! :)

And...on that note I'm out. Have a good Thursday, peeps! :)

Well, here we are.

2011-06-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

It's the end of June and I'm just now getting around to updating the poor, neglected blog. In efforts to attempt and catch up I think I'm just going to go for bullet points and pictures.

- First off, we've been in Montgomery for just over three weeks now. We're all adjusting well, especially Laney. She's so happy. Something about turning one has really brought out her personality.

- She's ONE. WHAT?!?!! My baby doll turned one. I really can't believe it. This past year flew by. Turning one has brought so many new things to her little life: Walking, Whole Milk, A LOT more sugar, and chatting, chatting, chatting. I wish you could have all heard her in the doctors office today. The nurses kept peaking their heads in to see what all the chatter was about! Her pediatrician said, "she's got a lot more words on the way, I can tell!" She makes us laugh so hard. I've never been around a baby that is so excitable. It's hilarious.

- I had a photography sessions with the Corbitt family. Katie, is one of my oldest friends, I think we've known each other since kindergarten! Crazy! It was so fun to meet her cute kiddos! To see more from the session check out my photog site.

- I taught VBS at First Baptist. It was SO fun! I got to help teach in one of the kindergarten classes. Those were some of the cutest 5 & 6 year olds! It was a great week and a great way to jump into church. We're really enjoying being at FBC. We joined a SS class last week and are hoping to make some new friends soon!

-Pool time. Some neighbors down the street asked us if we would help "take care of their pool" while they were away on vacation. Twist my arm...I said of course we'd help! Laney is loving the pool so far and it's a great way to take up a chunk of our day!

Ok, that really didn't seem like that was enough to make up for the blogging hiatus, but it'll have to do. We're headed to Nashville this weekend to celebrate the 4th! We can't wait to see our friends and Laney is excited to show off her new walking skills.

Alright.

2011-06-07T09:46:00.001-05:00

We're back! We're unpacked and feeling a little more settled here in our new city. Because I still don't think I can reflect back on our last couple of weeks in Nashville with out getting a little emotional, I thought I would recap our beach trip last week.

It was HEAVEN! We had so much fun! Laney had a blast hanging out with her cousins. We stayed in the cutest little house in Seagrove. It had it's own pool in the backyard, which really saved the day for us. Little Laney wasn't the biggest fan of the sand, unlike her two cousins who would lay down and bask in the grainy sand for hours. I can't blame her, I don't love the sand either, but she did learn to really like the ocean, so that made me happy.

We ate lots of yummy food. The first couple of nights we cooked at the house. Walker grilled some delish Mahi-Mahi one night and of course, we had a shrimp boil one night.

We decided Tuesday night would be "girls night out" at Cafe 30-A and it'll probably go down as one of the most hilarious nights of my life. To give you a little hint of why it might have been so funny, I'll quote my mom.."Y'all know wine make me crazy..." A-hem. That's all I'm gonna say about it.

We also hit up the Red Bar for an early dinner on Wednesday night. If you've ever experienced the Red Bar before, it's delicious food, but there is usually quite a wait. If you can get there by 5ish on a week night, it's not as bad. Considering we were toting 3 small children, we opted for the blue plate special. :)

Thursday night I even got to have a little date night with Eric in Seaside. We ate at the Great Southern. I had a pineapple mojito and it was SO GOOD! We split the shrimp and grits and then stopped in an ice cream shop for dessert.

Friday night Eric and I hosted a little party for Laney's 1st birthday (I'm gonna save those pictures for later). We had to go ahead and have her party because it's the last time our family will be together for a while. Walker and Emily are moving to Cincinnati on Friday. Boo Hoo! :(

And I'll leave you with a few more pictures that I took of Campbell and Adeline. We had a little photo shoot in Seaside and on the beach with them.

Ok, hopefully I'll be a little more consistent in my blogging now that we're feeling a little more settled. Happy Tuesday Y'all!

We're still alive!

2011-05-29T15:21:00.000-05:00

No, we have not forgotten about you dear bloggy blog. We moved to Montgomery, but we're at the beach for the next week relaxing.

We'll catch you later! :)

Happy (belated) Mother's Day!

2011-05-11T13:29:00.001-05:00

This is an excerpt from Tina Fey's new book. I thought it was only fitting (and hilarious), and I can't wait to read it (in it's entirety) while sitting on the beach in just a few short weeks!!! (Please excuse the profanity)--that was WAY too many () for one short paragraph. Sorry.

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, You#$!@it.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.”

-Tina Fey

I hope all the mother's out there know how loved and appreciated you are!

30, brady & the park

2011-05-05T10:27:00.001-05:00

First things first...I turned 30 yesterday! Eek!! My wonderful husband and friends threw me a surprise party Tuesday night. It was wonderful! We had a cookout in Josh & Emily's backyard. I'm sure she'll post some pics on her blog soon!

Since yesterday was the actual day of my birth, I took the afternoon off work and hung out with Eric. We went to Cantina Laredo for lunch and spent the afternoon just hanging out. It was really fun. I didn’t have my camera with me so here are a few pics from my phone.

Ok, now onto other things. Last weekend was the “Country Music Marathon and ½ Marathon” and my good friend Brady came up, like she does every year, to run it. PS- She just had twins in September!! Can you even believe it?!? She’s a fit little momma!

Brady has been one of my best friends since college. We met our freshman year at Auburn. She is hilarious! There’s probably no one on the planet that can make me laugh harder. She’s a constant encouragement in my life. Whenever she calls, before we hang up she always asks me how she can be praying for me. I need people like her in my life.

I remember the day she called to tell me she was pregnant with her twins. Her oldest boy, Sanders, wasn’t even a year old yet. I was pregnant with Laney, therefore probably a little extra hormonal, and when she told me the news I died out laughing and sobbing crying at the same time!! It was weird mix of emotions. I knew how hard it would be to have 3 kids under the age of two, but I also knew that if anyone could handle it she could! She’s doing such a great job with those boys and is also in the running for being Laney’s future MIL. :)

Last weekend we also met up with our friends at the park. Eli was quite the funny kid. Ryan said lately he answer’s every question with “what”? So I decided I needed to ask him a lot of questions, and every time his response was, “what?” For instance…”Hey Eli, how’s that chicken?” Eli: “what?” Me: “what’s the matter? You can’t hear me?” Eli: “what?” Me: “Does your mommy need to take you to the dr to get your ears checked?” Eli: “what?”

I also got to see this little chunky monkey! Look how cute baby Olive is!! Ryan thinks she might weigh more than Laney. :)

Alright, time to wrap it up. Happy Thursday!

Catching up...

2011-05-02T18:49:00.000-05:00

To say that we’ve been busy would be the understatement of the year. If I could explain it to you in terms of how my house looks right now you might understand better: overgrown grass, piles of laundry, dirty dishes, dirty kitchen, dirty every room in our house, ant infestation (gross!), and I could go on…

I hate using busyness as an excuse for anything, but the old blog has had to suffer because we’ve just had other things higher on the priority list lately.

FIRST: We went to Montgomery TWICE with 4 days in Nashville in between. Thank goodness the traveling paid off: Eric got TWO JOB OFFERS!! PTL! (more on that later)

We spent Easter in Montgomery. I was really disappointed to not get to spend Easter at Rolling Hills. I LOVE EASTER AT ROLLING HILLS!!! From the Good Friday service Friday night, “Eggstravaganza” (egg hunt) on Saturday morning and of course worship on Sunday morning…I was sad to miss it all! Especially considering it would be our last Easter at RH. :( But it was good to see everyone at First Baptist Montgomery and get to worship there for Easter.

Walker and Emily came to Montgomery for the weekend, as well as Jack and his new GF, Caroline! We were all really glad to get to ~~interrogate~~ meet Caroline. She was super sweet and we’re all really happy for Jack.

SECOND: The packing has begun and I’m starting to have anxiety attacks. It’s no wonder I can’t keep my house clean when I have boxes piling up ever where. I took everything down off our walls last night and I got really sad. I also watched “The Office” last week when Michael Scott said goodbye and sobbed through the whole thing. Eric said, “are you REALLY this upset about him leaving the office?!?!” The answer is no, probably not, but I am sad to be leaving Nashville and all our wonderful friends here.  Nashville has been good to me. It’s brought me a wonderful group of friends who love Jesus and love me. It’s where I met my sweet husband. It’s where we’ve made our first home together. It’s also where I had my first baby. We will really miss it here. I’m sure I’ll do a goodbye Nashville post soon. I’ve already started taking pictures of all my favorite places in town (you know, just in case I forget what they are ;)).

THIRD: Maxie dog got hit by a car last Thursday morning!!! We seriously thought it was the end. We always let him out the back door in the morning, and usually he tries to sneak out under the fence and walk around to the front of the house. Well, that’s what he did, and a car hit him. Eric went to the front door to let him in, and there he stood sad, wet, and in total shock. He was bleeding from his abdomen and his back leg. Eric scooped him up and brought him in the house. He went totally limp. We all stood there and cried. Eric called the vet and took Max in to see him.

I have to mention that Maxwell and I have a love/hate relationship. The dog is as sweet as he can be, but he drives me totally bonkers. With all the times he’s gotten on my nerves I NEVER wanted this to happen. I was, honestly, surprised at how upset I was at the thought of losing him.

Eric called me after a couple of hours to let me know Max was going to be fine. He just had some surface wounds and a fracture leg. We would get to bring him home that same night.
Needless to say, we have all been very kind to Maxie since he’s been home. We’re glad you’re still with us, Maxie-dog! :)

FOURTH: The Royal Wedding! Honestly, I had no idea how sucked in I would get. I didn’t wake up at 3am or anything crazy like that, but I did DVR it and watch it during Laney’s nap Friday morning. I couldn’t get enough. Cate looked BEAUTIFUL! I loved her dress, her veil, her make-up, her wave. She was stunning. My favorite part of the whole thing was the message from the Bishop of London. Here’s a brief excerpt (I don't want to bore you by posting the whole thing, you can read it in it's entirety here).

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” So said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.
Many are full of fear for the future of the prospects of our world but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its shores is the right one – this is a joyful day! It is good that people in every continent are able to share in these celebrations because this is, as every wedding day should be, a day of hope.

In a sense every wedding is a royal wedding with the bride and the groom as king and queen of creation, making a new life together so that life can flow through them into the future.”

Ok, that's all I got for today! :)

We got a lot going on...

2011-04-19T13:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s been a week since I last blogged and all I can say is that we’ve been busy, slightly stressed out and a little overwhelmed. Eric has started interviewing for jobs and, well, it looks like we’ll be MOVING! (See why I might be a little stressed/overwhelmed :))

We spent last weekend in Montgomery (that’s where his interview was) and we’re going back again this weekend for another interview. So, I’m sure you smarties have figured it out by now…we’re moving to Montgomery! Woah. Not to put down Montgomery, it’s where I grew up, it’s where my mom lives, and where some of my best friends still are, but we’re big city folks, so it’s gonna be an adjustment to say the least. :)

I quit my job yesterday. Another BIG WOAH. Not that yesterday was my last day, I’ll be working until May 24th, but that was a big deal for me. I was super nervous to tell the big boss man, but I work in a church, so of course he was SUPER encouraging and prayed with me. Now, what will I be doing once we move to Montgomery? I’m going to stay home with Laney :) and I’m also hoping to be doing a little of THIS!

I was lucky enough to do my first newborn shoot over the weekend. My best friend (since 2nd grade) had her first baby! Hudson wasn’t due for another 10 days, but it was his time, so he showed up on Tuesday April 12th! We did the shoot on Saturday; he was only 5 days old! You can check out more photos from the session here. It’s not every day that you get to do a photo shoot with your future son-in-law as a newborn! :) Hehe…but seriously, arranged marriages are ok with me. This is totally off subject, but do you ever wonder what our kids will think when they read our blogs someday in the distant future. Will Laney be like, “geez mom why’d you tell the whole world that I was a surprise?!?” “Then you went and promised me to Hudson Bradshaw?!” Haha.

Anyway, I'm very excited for my husband. He is going to be the best nurse. He is so patient, so caring and completely dedicated to his work. Any hospital would be lucky to have him! :)

Ok, that's enough big news for one blog post. I hope everyone's having a great week!

B'day Wish List

2011-04-11T14:48:00.000-05:00

When I say this is my birthday wish list...I really mean it! Like I'm doubting I could recieve any of these gifts this year. But a girl can dream, right?!!

1- monogrammed iphone 4 case 2- a trip to san fransisco 3- ray ban wayfarer 4- ipad 2 5- crumpler 5 million dollar camera bag 6- jcrew watch 7- letter necklace 8- anthro dress

Hope your weekend was better than mine! :) Happy Monday.

sick

2011-04-08T14:31:00.000-05:00

My poor baby girl has her first ear infection. It's interesting though, I've heard that with ear infections your kids don't sleep well, but Laney slept until 8:30 this morning and has been napping for the past hour and a half. I'm hoping we caught it a little early. She started running a fever yesterday and we had a scheduled well visit this morning. So the doctor checked out her ears and said, "well it looks like an ear infection, guys."

PS- Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our pediatrician and his office. They are SO nice, quick and easy. And it doesn't hurt that there's a sweet cece's right below their office.

Also, we got some REALLY exciting news today, that I can't share quite yet. I know, what a tease! I'll hopefully share with you soon!

Until then, I'm going to tend to my sick and cuddly baby girl.

Happy weekend!

Downtown Franklin

2011-04-06T10:51:00.001-05:00

I love downtown Franklin. I really just love it. It's probably one of the most adorable downtowns I've ever been too. Saturday was BEAUTIFUL here in Nashville and we just wanted to be outside, so I talked Eric into driving us down to Franklin to spend the afternoon.

We had lunch at Franklin Mercantile. Which was just soooo yummy. Then we decided to take Laney in the toy store. It was SO much fun! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, her or us!

I wanted to buy her everything in the store, but my budget conscience husband loving talked me out of it. This little Noah’s ark was super adorable, though. She loved it. It even has piano keys at the top of the ark. Her little hands reached out for every bright and colorful object in the entire store.

She's also loving being on her feet! She can crawl around like nobody's bussiness, but when she can pull up on something she does and she loves it! Lately I've been letting her pull up on the back of the couch and play with the blinds (see maybe I should buy her some toys).

Here she is eating paper. Also, another sign that we might need a few age appropriate toys.

Ok, back to dt Franklin. We stopped in a few more shops. There's this one place called "Hey Day" that is really cute. They have a little baby section in the back of the store that I loved walking through when I was pregnant. Now that Laney is here, we only get to walk through the front of the shop. You know how it is with strollers and little shops.

Anyway, that was our Saturday.

Thanks everyone for the comments on the post about my childhood! :) I'm working on another one for next week. Mommy, I need some more pictures of me in middle school, preferably with some of my friends. Can you get on that for me? Thanks! :)

Have a lovely hump day, folks!

The Final Countdown

2011-04-04T07:48:00.024-05:00

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Duhn...duhn...duhn. My birthday is rapidly approaching and as of today I am 30 days away from turning 30!! I'm honestly kind of excited about it? I feel like it's made me reminisce about the past 30 years. I might use this time on the good ‘ole blog to look back and see where I’ve really come from. So, if you get bored with old pictures and funny stories, then check back with me after May 4th (don't worry I'll have other posts sprinkled in). :) But until then…

Let’s start with the early years. I’m the first born of four kids, so for the first three years of my life I was an only child. I can only imagine I milked that for all it was worth. My siblings still complain that being the first child AND grandchild on both sides made me a tad bit bossy, selfish and have the need to, most often than not, be the center of attention. I would like to focus on the positive here and translate those things as meaning: I am an excellent delegator, self confident, and life of the party. :)

When I look back on pictures of me as a child I tend to always be hugging my brother, Walker. I can’t help but think that my love for people started at an early age. I couldn’t have been more excited to gain a little brother, but I had no idea how great of a brother I was really gaining (Side note- Walker’s birthday is Friday). He is a rock, a protector, selfless, loving, giving, an amazing husband to my SIL, a hard worker, a great friend and an even better brother.

It wasn’t but about 20 months later that I gained a sister, sweet little Lizzie! Since I said so many nice things about Walker, I guess I should share what I appreciate about my sis. She’s the type of mother I hope I can be to my kids. She is so patient, so calm, sweet to the core, loving, and a great cook! She has always had a quiet confidence in herself and is never too shy to speak up for what she believes is right. I love her and her babies. :)

So, it seemed as though our little family had fallen into place. My mommy had birthed two girls and a boy. All seemed right. Until….SURPRISE!! Baby Jack came along! I was nine when he was born. I remember helping a lot more with Jack than I did with my other siblings. I would like to hope that I was some relief to my mom. Jack was the cutest kid EVER! He was SO funny! I remember him telling jokes all the time. The other thing I remember about him is how much people loved him! They just loved being around him!

Ok, so let’s hit up some highlights of the first ten year of my life. Here are the things that I can remember…

• Swinging on the swing in my backyard.
• Riding my bike.
• Playing with friends like:
Pruitt Liles, Tyler Ely, Katie Hughes, Erin Mitchell, Katherine Bissell, Jimbo & Katharine Nation (yes, I used your maiden names for old times sake :))
• Taking ballet class
• Going to Camp Saddle Rock
• Starting school at Trinity
• Singing “the warrior is a child” in the talent show with Erin

Well, I’m feeling all nostalgic now! Gosh, I could cry! :)

Ok, well, before I go I have to share this. When I was googling images of a birthday cake for that top picture I ran across this...

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How hilarious/sad is that!?!

Ok, folks, happy Monday!

Unsettled

2011-03-30T11:33:00.001-05:00

I know I usually keep it pretty light and most of my posts are full of pictures, but today I just wanted to write. Honestly, when the blogs I read have a bunch of text and little pictures I tend to skim right over that post to the next one. So, I don't blame you if you've gotten used to the bright vivid pictures full of people and things and have grown tired of the black and white of the text. I feel the same way most days.

Here's the deal: I've been feeling extremely unsettled lately. Our life is just so in limbo right now that I just have to take a deep breath each morning, put my feet on the ground, and convince myself that I can make it just through today.

I try and read "Jesus Calling" everyday, but I've skipped the past week or so. This morning I decided would be a good day to grab it and get some quick words of truth because I was CRAVING some truth.

It was no coincidence that today says...

"I am taking care of you. Trust Me at all times. Trust Me in all circumstances. Trust Me with all your heart...

Before you arise from your bed in the morning, I have already arranged the events of your day. Every day provides many opportunities for you to learn My ways and grow closer to Me. Signs of My prescence brighten even the dullest day when you have eyes that really see. Search for Me as for hidden treasure. I will be found by you."

It was exactly what I needed to hear today.

Confession: Over the past year or so I feel as though I've been doing it all on my own. It makes a person tired and weary. I often times get in such a hurry and keep myself so busy that I rarely stop and listen. I rarely have "eyes that really see" because I'm too focused on what's next on our agenda: wake up, shower, feed laney, pack our lunches, get out the door, get to work (always at least 15 minutes late), feed laney breakfast, drop her off at school, work, pump, work, lunch, work, pump, pick up laney, snack time, drive home, start dinner, feed laney, bath time, nurse laney, bedtime, pump, go to sleep. Then it starts over again the next day.

I recently saw someone post something on facebook that said something to the effect of be thankful for the normal days. I am SO thankful for the normal days, and I'm definitely not complaining that my days are filled from start to finish, but what I am saying is that in the business and monotony of each day I'm finding it hard to find Him, to trust Him.

I know this is getting lengthy, and because of what I said at the beginning about getting tired of all the text, I'll wrap it up.

I guess I type all this out to just remind myself to stop and slow down. I am such a busy body, but I need to remember that it's ok to rest and trust and listen.

Wedding Weekend

2011-03-28T11:57:00.001-05:00

We had such an amazing weekend. Emily married Josh and it was a beautiful wedding. I don't have any pictures from Saturday, but check Mary's blog soon for a preview of her wedding pictures.

Ok, I have to start out by saying, that I could be the worst bridesmaid in the history of bridesmaids. I gave the bride PINK EYE! Oh my gosh...I felt horrible! Luckily her eye cleared up just in time for Saturday, but let's just say we said a lot of prayers over the course of the weekend and most of them centered around healing for Em's eye. Ugh. WORST.FRIEND.EVER. Despite the pink eye, she was one of the MOST STUNNING brides.

Emily is such a great friend. I don't think I could say that enough. She is loyal to the core, devoted, loving and extremely giving. I think the weekend was such an extension of people loving her and trying to even attempt at giving back what she has poured out for us over the years.

She had one adorable red-head as her flower girl, that's for sure. This is Sydney and she loves Mrs. Emily.

Baby Olive even made an appearance. She came to all the festivities and basically slept the whole time. She was a great baby! Look at those cheeks and lips! Ugh. Love them.

She gave her bridesmaids some fantastic gifts. That clutch is super cute. I wish I had been as into to etsy when I got married. What a great resource!

It was safe to say the hostesses liked their aprons. Phew. I'm glad I didn't drop the ball on that one, like I did with the pink eye thing.

Emily- I hope you don't read this until you get back from Mexico, but I'm so thankful to have been a part of your weekend! You are going to make the best wife! Josh is one lucky guy and I'm so glad you married a man who really knows how lucky he is.

Happy Friday & a Recipe.

2011-03-25T08:45:00.009-05:00

So I'm really busy with wedding stuff...but I just wanted to share a recipe from Emily's blog (this is a different Emily...I have A LOT of Emily's in my life).

This Emily is wife to Jacob, who is Eric's best friend. Eric and Jacob talk on the phone like women do. I mean they talk about all things sporty, like OSU, Bengals, ect. But it's still weird to me how often they talk and how giggly Eric gets when he's on the phone with Jacob. Anyway, Emily is a FABULOUS photographer and she recently shared this yummy recipe for "Rocky Road Rice Krispy Treats" on her blog. Check it out!

*Photographs courtesy of emilybphoto

Bag-a-li-cious & a Baby.

2011-03-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

Emily's wedding is this Saturday! Holy cow! So, to tote all her stuff around on Saturday I made her this bag in her wedding colors! I love it! I told her I liked it so much I might keep it for myself (I was feeling extra selfish that day). I know, I know, so I got over myself and I'm giving it to her today. Eric even liked it so much he told me I needed to make one just like it for myself. Isnt' he funny?! I love him for caring about my sewing and thinking things I make are cute. He's sweet like that. He even modeled the bag for me to show you, but I decided I'd spare him the humiliation this time and not post that picture. :)

I also finished up her last apron. Which, reminds me, I know I promised a tutorial, and it's coming soon, just not yet. Might have to wait until after the wedding for that one.

And because I still can't believe I have a thriving, crawling, pulling up, teeth bearing 9 month old, here's some pictures to prove it.

Whoop! Have a good Wednesday folks!

Spring has sprung.

2011-03-21T08:00:00.005-05:00

I always dread the months of January and February. They make me feel so in between...does that make sense? It's post holiday, which always makes me sad, and it's pre-spring. It's always so cold and dreary. And this year we got WAY too much snow.

Well today is March 21st, which means that my baby is 9 months old and Spring is officially here (as of yesterday). We set our clocks back last week, which means it's daylight longer and I'm loving that! The weather is warmer and I'm about to bust out the flip flops and spring dresses. I'm a happy girl!

Happy Monday, folks!

Last Weekend (recap).

2011-03-18T08:00:00.012-05:00

Ok, so it's already Friday!? This week has FLOWN BY! Maybe it's because I wasn't at work on Monday and Tuesday. Have I mentioned I have pink eye...IN BOTH EYES!?!? Yes. I have caught every sickness there is to be caught in the past 3 months. I couldn't go to work Tuesday because the doctor said I was "highly contagious" and needed to quarantine myself for the next 24 hours. Blah. Eighty dollars later (for eye drops!) I'm doing better.

So, last weekend...My family and Eric's family were here. We did miss baby Jack. I feel like no one knows I have another little brother because he's rarely in any of my pictures. It's not my fault he's too cool for school and stays in T-town all the time. He's the only roll-tider in our family and he loves it that way. Anyway, Walker, Emily, Sandy Patty and Campbell got here Saturday late afternoon. So us plus the heimer's had dinner at Taco Mamacita. The hour wait wasn't so bad since it's right next to my favorite baby shop!

After dinner we had everyone over to our house for cupcakes! I got about 7 different flavors from Cupcake Collection here in Nashville. They were all SO good! But my favorite was probably the sweet potato. I know cupcakes are all the rage, but I rarely like cake and especially don't like icing. It's usually all just a little too sweet for me, but the cupcakes from here are just right!

Sunday morning everyone joined us for church, which was so nice for me. I really just love having everyone all together. After church Eric had made reservations for us to eat lunch at Barbara's. It's this little hole in the wall house in Franklin and it is SO good! If you love Southern food, this is the place to get it.

After lunch we had Laney's dedication.

I know y'all probably get SO tired of hearing me talk about my family, but I just love them so much! I feel so proud to be a part of this clan. :) Yesterday my SIL, Emily, found out she got her first choice for her pediatric residency. She chose Children's in Cincinatti, which is one of the top 5 programs in the country! She's not one to brag, so I feel the need to do it for her :). I was so sad I couldn't be in Birmingham, but I was watching the live feed online. When she got up there to read her letter, my eyes welled up with tears and I was just SO proud of her! Not only is she my SIL, but she's one of my best friends (good pick, Walk). I have so much respect for her. She has more self discipline than anyone I know (I wish some of that would rub off on me! :)). I'm so proud of you, Em! Cincinatti better watch out cause the Fain's are something else!

Happy Friday everyone!

Saturday, In the Park.

2011-03-17T10:25:00.001-05:00

(sorry to those of you in google reader, I accidently hit the post button too soon!)

It was a BEAUTIFUL day Saturday! Since Eric's parents were here we decided to load up and have a picnic at the park!

There were SO many people out, of course! When you've been cooped up inside all winter all you need is the first sign of spring to get you outdoors.

I have a lot more to share about our weekend, but I gotta go because I'm anxiously awaiting to hear what Emily's match is!! AHH!!! The suspense is killing me!!!

Laney's dedication.

2011-03-16T13:40:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday was a really special one for our family. We had Laney's baby dedication and both of our families came in town to share in that time.

Our church does baby dedications a little differently. They have their own special service on a Sunday afternoon. Each baby was presented with their name's meanings and a life verse. After all the families were presented then we left the stage to join our families and friends for a special prayer time.

After the service there was a reception with BIG BALLOONS! :)

It was really wonderful to spend that time with our closest friends and family. We love each of you guys so much and are so blessed to have you to encourage us along this journey of parenthood.

And to my sweet baby girl,
"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:17-18

Slacker.

2011-03-11T21:52:00.000-06:00

Yep, it's been a whole week since I last blogged. What's up with that?! AND...I promised I would try and post the apron tutorial this week. Well, that didn't happen.

Eric's parents got to town today, and my family will be here tomorrow. Laney's baby dedication is Sunday and I'm really excited everyone's coming! I can be a tad bit idealistic, so I really just love any excuse for all of my family to be together. It was nice when me, my brother and my sister all got married with in 18 months of each other. It gave us many excuses to see each other. Now the babies are our excuses. Ok, moving on...

Guess what I got this week? We upgraded. I'm very excited. However, I am very sad to be parting with my old camera. Take good care of her, Claire. :)

Eric and I are watching "Morning Glory" and paid $4.99 to rent it. He keeps reminding me this was my idea and I'm not paying any attention to it, so I better go.

Happy weekend peeps!

Happy Friday!

2011-03-04T11:39:00.000-06:00

There's just something about having fresh flowers in your house that makes everything better! Plus that little critter in the background, she makes everything better too!:)

Speaking of that little critter she's 8 1/2 months old now! Where does the time go?! And she's starting to look more like her daddy (I think).

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! It's supposed to rain here, so I'm just hoping we stay mostly dry.

And the winner is...

2011-03-03T07:00:00.016-06:00

#15!!!!

True Random Number Generator
Result:
15
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

I love all the ADPi's showing up in the comments. It makes me want to start singing "faithful friend"! :)

1. Lauren
2. Scfain
3. The Corely's
4. Katie
5. The Henderson Family
6. Carrie
7. Emily
8. Ann
9. Kat
10. Rebecca Swift
11. Becca
12. The York Family
13. Barefoot Belle
14. Kristen Phillips
15. Anna Boney
16. Renee Ashworth
17. Sugar Belles
18. Katie- Follow
19. Kat- Follow
20. Rebecca Swift- Follow
21. Becca- Follow

Anna send me your contact info at justshowedupblog(at)gmail(dot)com!

Thanks to everyone who entered! And for those interested I'm working on the tutorial and hope to have it up sometime next week. These seriously are the easiest aprons I've made!

Thanks!

2011-03-02T12:01:00.003-06:00

Thanks everyone who entered to win the apron! I'll post the winner tomorrow.

In the meantime...Let me tell you how NOT together I have my act these days. Laney's baby dedication is next weekend and our church asked us to send in a picture of Laney along with a picture of our family (due yesterday). Do you know how many pictures I have of the three of us? Nada. Not one. Well...that's not totally true..I do have one that Emily took of us in the hospital the day Laney was born (but I don't count that one because I'm laying in a hosptial bed).

So, I rushed home from work yesterday to try and beat sundown. It was chaotic, let me tell you. I find myself much more comfortable behind a camera these days.

So here is the one ok shot I got (fist in mouth and all!). Eh. I guess it'll have to work?

I'm excited to announce the winner tomorrow! Giveaways are fun! :)

Here We Go: A Giveaway!

2011-02-28T21:41:00.000-06:00

(please excuse the manly figure sporting this feminine apron...I asked Eric to be my model and he begrudgingly obliged :))

So, I know I've never done a giveaway before, but my friend Emily had me make these SUPER cute aprons for her to give as hostess gifts for one of her showers and I just HAD TO make an extra one for one lucky winner!

Here's how it'll work...You have until Wednesday at noon to enter and I'll announce the winner Thursday. To enter just leave me a comment! To get two entries either subscribe or follow our blog and leave me a comment letting me know!

And don't worry if you don't win...a tutorial will be coming soon! :)

Monday, already?!

2011-02-28T14:29:00.000-06:00

Don't the weekends just FLY by! I used to get really sad on Sunday nights because that meant the weekend was over. I try not to get sad anymore, but Mondays are always here before I know it!

The weather here has been really nice and warm, which is so confusing for my wardrobe. Sunday morning it was 70 degrees and I couldn't figure out what to wear. I finally put on some sandals. I know, I know, it's still February, but I just couldn't take wearing boots in 70 degree weather.

We spent time at the park, went to a shower for Emily and had a little Oscar party at our house Sunday night.

Ok, I have some exciting things to share on the blog this week, so check back soon!

Happy Monday!

Phew

2011-02-22T13:35:00.000-06:00

What a crazy fun weekend!! I would have blogged about it yesterday, but I was still in recovery.

Baby Olive decided to make her arrival on Thursday morning. We are all so excited about the new addition to the Hester family. She's super adorable!

PS- Can we talk about how super adorable Ryan looks MOMENTS after giving birth?!!

Then Scait got married! We were all busy Friday/Saturday trying to create the perfect space for their wedding. It turned out beautifully, however, I have no pictures to show for it. I did get a few at the rehearsal dinner, though.

These are Caitlin's best friends from college. They were SO fun! I loved getting to know them a little better.

I have to say, Scott and Caitlin's cermony was probably the sweetest wedding ceremony I've ever witnessed. I've never seen two people so evidently committed to each other and to the Lord. Caitlin walked down the aisle to Chad singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness." I wish everyone could have seen her face after she reached the alter and he sang the last chorus. It was a beautiful thing to be a part of.

Sunday morning we drove down to North Alabama to have lunch with my family and to celebrate 3 years of Campbell!

Can you tell that Laney loves Campbell?? :) She was about to jump out of her seat just to play with her.

Emily- Somehow my camera did end up with a decent picture of all of us? I mean, I look like I could use a nap, but everyone else looks fabulous!

I do feel like all of those events totally deserved their own post, but in an effort to try and catch up I had to capture it all in one.

Happy Tuesday peeps!

Love.

2011-02-14T12:37:00.002-06:00

We had a lovely weekend. The weather was BEAUTIFUL here! Much like the rest of you, I'm sure, we just had to get out of the house and outside in the sunshine! We hit up the Dragon Park, because it's my favorite. It was Laney's first trip to the park and she loved it! Especially the swings.

Saturday night, thanks to our sweet friend Emily, Eric and I had a date night. It was much needed. We bought Laney a Valentine from one of our favorite baby shops Tweed. Then we ate dinner at a pizza place called Bella Napoli. We had so much fun.

I love my Valentines!

I hope you all feel very loved today!

"Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:2

Snow Day!

2011-02-10T11:24:00.002-06:00

I feel like by this point I could have MANY posts titled snow day. It's snowed a lot here this winter, and unfortunately TDOT is never quite ready to handle all the snow. The snow we got last night wasn't that bad, but we weren't prepared for it AT ALL. The roads are way slick because they didn't put down any salt. I'm not complaining though, it means I get to spend my day with my girl. Poor Eric had to get up and go to the hospital at 6am. He drove there verrrryyy slowly.

Ok, so, I never get to watch morning shows because I work, but Laney's asleep so I'm watching Kathie Lee & Hoda. When I was on maternity leave I watched them, and they got on my nerves, but somehow they've grown on me. They just showed a video clip of a boy who caught his dad dancing to Brittany Spear's "Toxic". It was hilarious. I think he was dancing with the Wii and some of the moves were SOOOOOO funny, especially when you see a grown man doing them.

Anyway, my boss asked me to make a strawberry cake for him to give his wife for valentines day. I use Paula Deen's recipe, and it's delicious, as are most things by Paula Deen. I think that's how I'll spend part of my snow day. Oh! Also Old Navy is having a big kids/baby sale. I ran out there yesterday and got a few things for Laney. She needed some clothes for school. The sale wasn't as great as I thought it would be, but I still managed to get a few things ($5 each).

I added a little something to the pink one just for fun.

Gosh, this has turned into such a random post. Ok, that's all I've got on this snow day.

owls and fireworks.

2011-02-09T19:31:00.002-06:00

Baby Olive is due to arrive any day now! Ryan has done a great job on her nursery. It is adorable! Ryan is a FANTASTIC artist, so she painted an owl to go over her crib, and I couldn't help but jump on the owl bandwagon and make her a pillow to go in the nursery.

I browsed the creative pages of etsy for some inspiration. There are some really cute owl pillows out there (if any of you are looking), but this one was my favorite.

In other news Daddy is working late at the hospital tonight, so Laney and I watch last night Glee's episode when we got home from work. Which...side note...took 30 MINUTES and I live 2 MILES AWAY FROM WHERE I WORK! Nashville is in complete gridlock because of this snow storm. Ok, back on track, we really liked last nights episode. Especially when Lea Michele busted out Katy Perry's "Firework." We definitely had a dance party. Laney loved it. She was hilarious.

I hope you all stay warm and cozy!

Phone pics

2011-02-07T09:13:00.002-06:00

Confession: I never delete the pictures off of my iphone. Therefore: I have A LOT of pictures on my phone.

Every once in a while (often), I scroll through them...It's like taking a walk down memory lane. I'll try not to bore you, but today you get to walk with me. I really could almost cry looking through these, so much has happened in the last two years.

This is us newly married and newly puppied. Max was probably only a few months old here. I'm sure he misses these days when we actually paid attention to him.

This is from our trip to Chicago (which I don't think I ever blogged about). This was about 2 months before I got pregnant with Laney. Oh the days when you could just skip off to Chicago for a few days.

A bald Campbell, who was just learning to walk. It's hard to remember her being that little (tear). Baby Jack's high school graduation.

Buddy running his marathon. He was so proud and so tired. That's a huge accomplishment, I could never and would never want to do that. :) He's so cute.

Laney's first picture. Look at that little peanut! Also, this is how we broke the news to Max. Tortured him by putting him in a shirt and said, "Congratulations, buddy! Your life is about to completely change!"

Awe...the day we found out we were having a girl. I was totally shocked and cried as I was laying on the ultrasound table.

The Nashville floods. Breaks my heart. I don't know how well you can see it in these pictures, but the highway that runs by our house was completely flooded. That wasn't even the worst of it, there were streams like rivers running down people's streets. Nashville is still in the process of recovering 9 months later.

Two completely unrelated things: 1- I just think this picture of Eric is funny. It's from our birthing class. 2- Emily got engaged! 3.26.11. Looking forward to the big day!

Ok, I feel really vulnerable sharing this picture with you all. This was the night before I went into labor with Laney. It was REALLY hot outside, and I was ready to have that baby! So Eric and I decided to go for a walk (like a power walking kind of walk) at the park. I couldn't find anything to wear (because I was SO HUGE!). So, I took this picture and sent it to my mom so she could tell me that I looked fine. She did because she's nice like that and she loves me. It's funny because the very next picture in my phone is this one...

Boom! There she is! The miracle of life. It's amazing, isn't it!? God is so good to allow us to experience this. I was just thinking about this yesterday at church. We were singing the David Crowder song, "How He Loves Us." Having Laney has completely changed my perspective when I sing that song. All I could picture was Laney's little smiling face and how much it delighted me, and how much more our Father loves us and delights in us. Ugh. Amazing.

The many faces of Laney-girl. She now dominates the photos on my phone. I love snapping pictures of that cute little face. She's growing so fast. I can hardly believe it (did you catch the shirtless daddy in there? He might kill me for that :)).

Well, happy Monday! I hope this has been as fun for you as it has for me. :)

Big Girl.

2011-02-01T14:37:00.002-06:00

My baby is turning into a big girl.

She sits up, has two teeth and drinks from a sippy cup (kinda). Although she would rather drink out of mommy's cup that doesn't have a lid.

Anyway, besides my baby growing up, we went to Montgomery last weekend to help throw a shower for one of my longest and best friends, Erin.

I've known Erin since I was five, but we didn't become besties until we were 7. I think we bonded when we decided to sing "the Warrior is a Child" (remember that one?! we're old school) in our school's talent show. I'm sure I was much more unsure of the whole thing than Erin. She's always had a knack for the theater. She even lived in NYC for a while pursuing her acting career.

She's preggo with her first baby. Hudson is due at the end of April and Laney is very excited to meet her future suitor. :) Have I ever mentioned I have no problems with arranged marriages? Especially when they are between my daughter and my best friends son? I'm ok with that (phew, glad that's out there).

The shower was a really great time to see some old friends...

...and their sweet babies...

I hope every one's having a great week. Can you believe it's February!?!

Camera.

2011-01-24T10:33:00.012-06:00

First off, I feel like I have to say thanks to all the readers who have been commenting on my blog lately. I love it, and each comment is like a little note of encouragement. I can't tell you how many great pictures, creative ideas, funny stories, inspiring truths I see everyday when I read blogs and I rarely comment. I feel like the people who are consistent commenters are the same kind of people who would drop you a note in the mail just because they're thinking about you. I like those kinds of people, and I want to be more like them. So thanks, folks, for being encouraging and inspiring. :)

Ok, back to what I'm really here to talk about. Lately I've gotten a lot of questions about my camera. I thought I'd write up a little post about it. I really like my camera and have been so happy with it. My husband complains about how expensive of a hobby it is, but he secretly loves it! :)

My camera body is a Canon Rebel XSi. I actually bought it used from here. I'm sure some people would be a little cautious about buying a used camera, but I had a really great experience and if I ever get an opportunity to upgrade my camera body, I'd probably buy used again.

Ok, so now for my lenses. I have 2 lenses that I use a lot. I also have a couple more that my mom is letting me use (a standard kit lens, and a zoom lens). The two I use the most are my Tamron lens that I got for Christmas and my Canon 50mm 1.8/f lens. I LOVE both of these lenses. Lately I've been using my Tamron lens a lot. But when Laney is being especially camera happy, I'll use the 50mm to get some good close ups.

Another new addition to my camera is a canon speedlite flash. It has been so helpful with all of these parties we've been having at night. Someone gave my brother the flash, and he and Emily so kindly have been letting me borrow it for a while. I really love it, and whenever they want it back I think I'm going to have to purchase one for myself.

I always edit my pictures. Right now I use picnik to edit. It's so simple and user friendly. I'm considering buying lightroom, but we'll see?

If you have any more specific questions I'd be more than happy to try and answer them! Just email me at justshowedupblog(at)gmail(dot)com.

Seriously.

2011-01-23T20:46:00.005-06:00

So, just as I was starting to recover from strep I got sick AGAIN! Stomach bug? Food poisoning? I'm not sure which one it was, but I was S.I.C.K. Throw-up city. Bleh. The funny thing is that even though I've been sick twice now in the past week Eric has yet to catch either! Lucky boy! Speaking of the lucky boy, tomorrow is his birthday! Happy 29 Lucky Boy! :)

Friday night we went to the Loveless with a bunch of our friends to celebrate (this is the night I got sick, but it didn't start until midnight). Laney had her first experience with table food and LOVED it!

Saturday night I managed to work up enough energy (you know, after my night of becoming BFF's with our commode) to make it to our "girls night out" at Chuy's for Caitlin's bachelorette party! There was also an after party at my house. In effort to keep my blog "G" rated (I kid) I'll just show you a couple of pics from the party! :)

This is what Caitlin's Mom got her!! Isn't it HILARIOUS!?

Also, I'm trying to escape the "winter blahs" and completed a couple of little projects last week!

I made a slip cover for this little stool I inherited from my Great Aunt. It was covered in this nasty green fabric and was in great need of some new life. I thought this Alexander Henry fabric was just what it needed.

And because I'm dreaming of summer days in flip flops on warm sandy beaches I made this open back reversible top for little Laney to wear this summer. It's funny, I meant to add some ric-rac or ruffles to it, but just got so focused on wanting to finish it that I forgot! Oops!

Ok, that's all I got for now. Hopefully I make it through this week without catching whatever sickness is going around Nashville!

lately.

2011-01-17T08:49:00.003-06:00

We've been feeling a lot like this...

I've been out for count lately. I started feeling really awful Wednesday night and thought it was just a bad cold. Thursday morning I got up, took my temp (fine) and got ready for work. By 9:30 I had a fever, so I took off and went to the doctor. Strep Throat. Yuck. I don't know if I've ever had strep before, but if I have it was so long ago I don't remember. I felt terrible Thursday and Friday, but am MUCH better now.

However, my little one started running a fever on Saturday and she hasn't been herself lately. :( We talked to her pediatrician and he didn't seem too worried. Her fever wasn't very high and it was gone about 24 hours later. But she still has been pretty pathetic/VERY fussy. I'm thinking her second tooth is coming in (anyone else have a similar experience with their kids cutting teeth??).

Anyway, I've been loving reading other people's posts about the national championship! WAR EAGLE! I've been living vicariously through you all. It feels good to be a champion! Amen?!?

Also, we got A LOT of snow here last week. So much so, that I'm good for the rest of the year. So, Mr. Weather, if you can hear me, I'd like no more snow until 2012. Thanks.

I think being cooped up inside plus being sick has taken it's toll on me and I'm beginning to suffer from the "winter blahs." I'm feeling pretty unmotivated lately. When I get home from work I just want to lay around and forget about the piles of laundry, cooking dinner, cleaning house, not to mention the extra stuff like sewing projects and jillian's 30 day shred (I honestly don't mind skipping out the shred :)).

I hope you aren't suffering from the "winter blahs" too! Have a happy Monday peeps!

A Shower for Emily & Josh.

2011-01-10T10:40:00.002-06:00

One of my closest friends in Nashville is Emily. We officially met very soon after I moved here because I was interning at a church that she had just finished interning at. Actually, we met years before that, but barely remember each other. She was working at First Baptist Nashville while I was working at First Montgomery and we did camp together. I think she probably remembers me as the spastic cheerleader and I remember her as the intimidating red head. Anyway, after I moved here she immediately befriended me and started inviting me to all of her stellar parties.

Emily is a party planner at heart (she planned my super cute baby shower). Which makes planning a party for her SUPER intimidating! But 12 of us girls took on the challenge. I hope we met her expectations. It was a lovely night.

We fed about 70 people a dinner of vermicelli chicken, salad, rolls and some super yummy desserts. It was a great way to celebrate Emily and Josh.

I feel especially excited about them getting married because I set them up (insert a little pat myself on the back here :))! Josh was having a going away party for our dear friends Ben and Erin. When we showed up he had ordered pizza from his favorite pizza place, had decorated his outdoor space a little and was so excited to host the party. I immediately thought this is a guy for Emily!

I asked Josh if he'd mind if I set him up with my pretty redheaded friend and he excitedly said YES! About a week later we all met at J. Alexanders for dinner and the rest is history!

I can't wait to stand beside you guys on your big day!

Keep'n it real.

2011-01-04T20:13:00.003-06:00

Ok, so my house is a total wreck. I even cleaned up Christmas and it still looks like poo.

Let me just show you...

Here is the pile that is sitting behind my back door. A bin full of kitchen stuff and a bag of maternity clothes, plus the ingredients for vermicelli chicken that I'm making for a shower this weekend.

Ok, moving on...Sitting behind our kitchen table is the twin brass bed frame that was in Laney's room. Yep, it's sitting in our kitchen! WHAT IN THE WORLD!?!

Just wait, it gets worse. Here is a pile of trash sitting in my bedroom from where I cleaned out our closet.

Also, here's a pile of stuff that I need to see if my sister wants. My foot grew when I was pregnant, and now these merrells don't fit. Sad day. (See Lizzie, do you like them? Or any of these scarves?)

Ok, last but not least: My little sewing nook. It's a disaster...

So here's the bright side of things, kinda. The reason we're cleaning out and have piles everywhere is because we're about to try and sell our house! Yep, in this terrible market, we want to sell! Haha. We're really trusting the Lord in this. We do have a backup plan if it doesn't sell, but we're really praying and trusting that it will sell soon (please pray with us).

Also, my favorite fabric store is having it's semi-annual SALE! 40% off the all the fabric in the store!!! It's one of the best months of the year for me! I will probably go in there at least twice a week during the month of January.

Also, did you notice the pretty lilies in my kitchen? They're from my sweet hubs. He got them for me on our anniversary Monday.

He's the cutest. We got to celebrate our anniversary while we were in Columbus over the weekend. He took me to dinner at Hyde Park and then we went to see "The King's Speech." To be honest, we fell asleep during the movie. What parts we did see made us very sad that we couldn't keep ourselves awake to watch it. I know it was a really good movie, but we were really tired.

(I promise, he wasn't trying to model. I think I yelled his name and this was the look he gave me. :))

Emily, Walker and Mommy: I promise I will do my best to have our house semi-organized before you get here on Friday!!

Ok, I gotta go try and clean up some of this mess. Later, folks.

2 years.

2011-01-03T07:00:00.004-06:00

Well ‘I do’ are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end

But to lose your life for another I’ve heard is a good place to begin
Cause the only way to find your life is to lay your own life down
And I believe it’s an easy price for the life that we have found

And we’re dancing in the minefields
We’re sailing in the storm

This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise is for
That’s what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I lose loves chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith
to the end of all my days
when I forget my name, remind me

Cause we bear the light of the son of man
So there’s nothing left to fear

So I’ll walk with you in the shadow lands
Till the shadows disappear
Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos baby
I can dance with you

Dancing in the Minefields, Andrew Peterson

Happy 2 year anniversary, to my favorite man in the world.

Shout out.

2010-12-31T00:21:00.004-06:00

So...I just discovered that my tutorial on the anthropologie fabric letters was recently featured on tip junkie. She did a whole post dedicated to anthropologie inspired DIY's. Really cute stuff. Check it out.

Christmas In Montgomery: Recap

2010-12-30T09:43:00.004-06:00

We had such a fantastic week in Montgomery! I was so sad to leave, but it is nice to sleep in our own bed again (esp. little Laney).

Santa showed up on Christmas Eve, but Laney was the only one who would go near him.

He was actually pretty good to Laney this year. He brought her a pottery barn chair, a cute little "5 little monkey's jumping in a bed" thing and some clothes.

Santa was really good to the rest of us as well! He (she) brought me some of my favorite things from Anthropologie and J.Crew, some jewelry, and a book. Santa must really like me :).

Campbell and Addy-Paddy both got some new riding toys. And Addy got a pottery barn chair too!!

We ate WAY too much yummy food! On Christmas eve we had beef tenderloin, nancy patterson's rice, salad and rolls. This is by far my most favorite meal I eat every year. Jack did a great job cooking the meat on Sissy's new grill. The salad was made by my sister. I know there's not much to a salad. You just dump a bunch of stuff in a bowl and mix it together, but this salad that she makes it OUT OF THIS WORLD GOOD (I'll make her write up a post of what's in it soon, bc I don't remember). Sissy made the rice from Nancy Patterson's and it's really some of the best something I've ever put it in my mouth. I should tell her to post that recipe on her blog too!

We always have such a fun night. It seems like every year we share the same funny stories and laugh just as hard each time we hear them. (Like the time I shoved my sister's face into a plate of spaghetti.) We decided that most of the embarrassing stories we share are always about either me, Lizzie or Jack, and it's about time someone share something embarrassing about Walker! So if you read my blog and know a good story about my brother please email me. (It did help that my SIL shared their 5th grade love notes :)).

Since there are so many of us siblings now, we draw names for Christmas gifts. This year Eric and I got Walker and Jack. I secretly hope to get the girls each year, they're just easier to buy for, but I think we did pretty good for the guys this year!

I made Campbell and Adeline matching outfits. They looked really cute. Cam's was a little too big, so I'll need to adjust that (or Sissy, since the top is still at your house, could you do that?):).

My sweet hubs got me the patagonia jacket that I wanted. He's so good to pick up on the hints. :)

Here are just a few more pictures from our week.

We're headed out to Ohio today to spend some time with Eric's parents.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T14:54:00.002-06:00

"All glory be to God on high and to the earth be peace. Good will henceforth from God to man begin and never cease."

Everyone's Here!

2010-12-22T20:44:00.003-06:00

There's really nothing I love more than being home with everyone for Christmas. Walker and Emily got here this afternoon. So now the gang's all here! :)

Look at my sister's cute new hair-do! Isn't she pretty?!

Sweet Laney-boo has been great so far. We love her.

Santa came to visit Sandy Patty early. He brought her this awesome new grill!

Mainly because her old one looks like this...

And here's just a few more pictures. (I have a feeling I'm going to take WAY too many pictures over the next several days)

Mom found this chalkboard table today at Eastbrook. Isn't it cute?? Campbell LOVES it!!

Just a few more days till Christmas!! I love this time of year! :)

We're here!

2010-12-22T10:29:00.002-06:00

Good Morning!

We got to Montgomery just a shade after midnight last night.

So when we woke up this morning we got to surprise these two with our arrival!!

Just so you know I wasn't lying...My sister REALLY didn't like Santa.

And because I think this is funny I'll show you another. In kindergarten I thought it'd be cool to cut my own bangs.

Yep. Real cool.

Also, just in case you don't follow my SIL's blog. You have GOT to check out her most recent post. It's HILARIOUS!

Happy Christmas week everyone!

Santa, Snow & Sweet Potatoes

2010-12-14T14:04:00.004-06:00

Last Thursday night we went to the Green Hills Mall for Laney's first encounter with Santa. Laney's a pretty chill baby, so we weren't really worried about her getting upset when he held her. But, how could anybody be upset when your Santa Clause looks like this guy!!

This was the most LEGIT Santa I've ever seen! His beard was REAL! He even talked like you would think Santa talks. He made me believe! :)

I'm honestly just glad Laney didn't have this reaction to Santa...:)

Ok, so enough with my dramatic antics about Santa, how about the C.O.L.D. OMG! It's been freezing here!! I'm talking single digits, people! We got about 3 inches of snow Sunday night, which meant SNOW DAY for me on Monday! It was wonderful! I didn't take one step out the door all day. I did manage to take a few pictures Sunday afternoon, while the snow was falling.

I think all the cold has really taken it's toll on poor Laney. She has the worst cold! She can't really breath through her nose right now, so she has her mouth open all the time. She's also discovered a love of sweet potatoes. Quite honestly I don't blame her. After all the green beans, peas and squash, I bet the sweet potatoes taste AMAZING!

One more thing. I'm so glad hobby lobby finally has some new fabric! I made a couple of aprons for my sister to give to her friends for Christmas. I think they turned out really cute!

Feliz Navidad.

2010-12-12T15:43:00.003-06:00

Here are some pictures from Scott and Caitlin's Mexican Fiesta on Friday!

Scott and Caitlin are both a lot of fun, so of course their shower was a blast!

Emily did a great job with the decoration, as always! :)

They got so many great gifts!

Ryan painted this really neat painting. Everyone who came to the shower left their fingerprint and signature on a branch. It was a really cool idea and something Scott and Caitlin can keep in their house!

It was a really fun night and we're so glad they're getting married February 19th!!

This is going to be random.

2010-12-09T14:23:00.002-06:00

Today is my Friday! Whoop! Whoop! So thankful for the 3 day weekend that's ahead of me! PTL! This week seems to have lasted FOREVER.

Santa came to visit me on Wednesday and brought me this...

I love it! Thanks Daddy-O! :)

So, then I decided that I needed to go out and buy this...

Yes. It's a donkey pinata. Caitlin is a tad obsessed with donkeys and we're throwing her and Scott a wedding shower tomorrow night. The theme for their shower is "feliz navidad" a mexican fiesta in honor of Scott and Caitlin, aka "Scait."

Today, I got to have lunch with this handsome guy...BY.OUR.SELVES.

And after lunch we got to stop in and say "hi" to this cutie..

I totally skipped on her 5 month post. So, just to update the blog world (and also for myself) we took her to the dr. for a weight check and she's almost 13 pounds! She's eagerly trying to sit up. I think she'll have it down by Christmas. She has also turned into such a happy and fun baby. I wish I had a video camera with me all the time so I could show you all the funny sounds and faces she makes. Right now she is eating vegetables twice a day, along with all of her normal nursing/bottle feedings. I promise I'm trying as hard as I can to fatten this kid up, but she's just bound and determined to be a skinny baby. Oh well. She's been sleeping great (so far this week)! Last night we put her down around 7pm and she didn't wake up until 7:30am!!! Do I feel refreshed, or what!?

Tonight, we're making our second attempt to see Santa at the mall. Every year my mom took us to see Santa and she still has the old poloroids in frames around the house at Christmas. I hope to carry on the same tradition.

I should probably scan in some of the old pictures of us. My sisters face is priceless in them, she was NOT a fan of Santa.

That's all for now. Happy weekend to me!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2010-12-08T10:57:00.002-06:00

...CHRISTMAS!!!!!

We decorated the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so our house has been all Christmasy for a couple of weeks now. I love it!

Before I moved to Nashville, I used to decorate my mom's house the day after Thanksgiving. I'm sure she was really sad once we started spending Thanksgiving in Ohio. My first year away she called and said, "you won't believe what I'm doing?! I'm decorating the house the day after Thanksgiving! You'd be so proud!" My mommy only blogs about once a year, but here is her yearly blog of all her pretty Christmas decor for 2010.

It's been snowing here in Nashville! It's just enough that you can see it falling from the sky, but not enough that it sticks around for very long. Sunday we're supposed to get more snow, but we'll see? A lot of times are weather guys are a lot of talk and very little action.

We didn't go see Santa last Friday night, because as soon as we got the mall my camera battery died! So sad! I think we're going to try again on Thursday night.

Ok, that's all for now. Santa came to see me early and I can't wait to show everyone what he brought!! :)

Oprah does it, so why can't I?!

2010-12-03T07:25:00.000-06:00

...However, I don't have the resources to be giving away any of my favorite things this year. So sorry.

Anyway here are a few of my favorite things (I know, I know, where's Julie Andrews when you need her?!). Some of these things I own and some are on my wish list (hint, hint..sweet husband, who still doesn't know what to get me :))

1- Frye Jane Boots- I LOVE these boots. I don't own a pair, mainly because of the $300 price tag. Yikes! They are so pretty and nice, VERY nice. They have the perfect height heal, at least for me.

2- HOBO International Rachel Wallet- I do have this wallet. It's wonderful. It's the perfect size to use as a clutch or throw in my bag. The little pouch at the front fits my iphone and my lip gloss.

3- OPI "Tickle Me Francy" nail polish- It's one of my favorite colors this year. It's nude enough, but yet it has just enough color that it doesn't look like your finger nails blend right in with your skin.

4- Anthropologie's Printer's Letter Stand- They're on sale right now. I just bought a "G" for our house. I have loved these for a while. When I used to work at anthro I should have bought one, but shoulda woulda coulda, now I have one!

5- Patagonia R2 Women's Fleece Jacket- I don't own this, but doesn't it just look so warm and cozy!?! It's on my wish list this year (hint, hint). I like the fog color, but the black is cool too.

6- Paul Robinette's Candles- These are something Eric introduced me to a while ago. They smell WONDERFUL! Paul Robinette has a little shop in the short north district of Columbus, OH. I wish I could link you to the store! But the only way to get one of these suckers is to drive to Columbus yourself. I have the Christmas tree scented one burning in my house these days!

7- Flowers in Her Hair Headband- Plan on seeing this headband in all of my pictures throughout the Christmas season! I just bought this last week at anthropologie (it's on sale!). I love love love it!

8- Amazing Cosmetics Concealer- If you're like me and you're not getting much sleep these days, then this is the BEST under eye concealer I've ever owned. It's a tiny little bottle, but it doesn't take much to do the trick. The bottle I have right now I bought the week before my wedding (almost TWO YEARS ago!). Yeah, it lasts a long time.

9- Brooke Fraser's "Flags" - This is Brooke Fraser's new album, and most of you probably own it already it because IT'S SO GOOD! I haven't stopped listening to it, and when we're not listening to it we're singing it around our house. Laney even loves it. Her favorite song is "Something in the Water." I think it's because of all the "ahhhs."

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a great weekend! We're going to see Santa tonight! I hope Laney likes him! :)

Splish Splash

2010-12-01T11:42:00.002-06:00

My girl loves her some bathtime. In fact some nights it's my "go-to" to keep her happy for a little while at night right before bedtime! :)

Happy Wednesday!

Last Week.

2010-11-29T11:08:00.002-06:00

We were all over the place! Atlanta, back to Nashville, to Ohio and back! We got to see all of our families except my Mommy and little brother Jack. :(

And here are some pics from our week!

Tutorial: Anthropologie Inspired Fabric Letters

2010-11-18T08:00:00.001-06:00

Here's what you'll need:

-The letters: I bought the cardboard letters from Joann's. I'm sure you could get them at hobby lobby too.

-A hot glue gun and LOTS of hot glue sticks

-Scotch Tape: in case your fingers get tired of being burned by the hot glue- opt for the tape. :)

-Fabric: I just used some scraps I had left over from past projects and I bought a couple of fat quarters from Joann's. You will need less than a quarter for each letter.

-Fiberfill

-Backing: Now, because Anthropologie uses corduroy on their letters, I was set on using that as well. My mom suggested using felt. If you want to save yourself some time and money, go for the felt. If you're like me and are committed to using the corduroy (for part of the letter that no one will ever see:)) then here's what you'll need: corduroy fabric (I used several different colors) and fusible interfacing.

Step 1:
Hot glue fiber fill to the front of your letter.

Step 2:
This is the most difficult part: Place your fabric on top of your letter and begin pulling it around towards the back. This will require some cutting around the corners. You'll see this is where I opted for the scotch tape to secure my fabric on the back.

Step 3:
You'll notice your fabric didn't quite cover up the sides. That's ok. You'll need to measure the length of the side, cut a strip of fabric 1/2 inch longer, iron each end under 1/4 inch.

Step 4:
You'll iron one side of the fabric under 1/4 inch. (Please excuse the look of my crusty old iron, it's the best and I just can't get rid of it).

Step 5:
Hot glue the sides you just made onto the letter, then glue it to the back.

Step 7: (If you opted for corduroy-if using felt skip to step 8)
Iron your fabric onto your fusible interfacing.

Step 8:
Trace your letter onto the felt or the interfacing.

Step 9:
Cut out your letter from felt/fabric.

Step 10:
Hot glue your felt/fabric letter onto the back of your cardboard letter (to cover up the mess).

All done!

OH.MY.YUM.

2010-11-17T07:30:00.001-06:00

So I was waiting on our lunch meat at the deli counter on Sunday, and I saw these...

I bought them and couldn't make it home before I reached in the backseat and grabbed the bag because I just HAD to try them. Believe me, they're good, REAL good.

I'm gonna warn you, they're rich, so you can't eat too many. But if you're like me and need just a little something sweet at the end of the day, then do yourself a favor and GO GET THESE!

*found near the deli section at Publix.

**I'm working on the tutorial. Hopefully it'll be up tomorrow.

Shower for Olive.

2010-11-15T09:22:00.002-06:00

Well I didn't take many pictures at Ryan's shower on Saturday, but my friend Emily did. I'm sure she'll have a mega picture loaded post up soon.

I did, however, take some pictures of my gifts for baby Olive.

With inspiration from anthro, I made these fabric letters. Which, I've decided, I'm going to post a tutorial on soon, because I searched and searched for one and NADA! So, if anyone out there has been searching for how to make these anthro fabric letters, I'll help you out. It was a lot of trial and error, but by the time I got to the "E" in Olive, I think I had it figured out! ha. We hung the letters from a tree branch on the mantel. I think it turned out cute!

I also made this peasant top and bloomer set for baby Olive. I really love the way it turned out so much I almost kept it for Laney! I kid.

(because some of you at the shower asked: if you're interested in purchasing a peasant top/bloomer set or commissioning some clothing just send me an email laneyscloset@gmail.com)

Oh! I also made a pacifier clip and matching burp cloth.

Ok, that's all for now.

Happy Monday!

Brrrrrr...

2010-11-08T15:12:00.004-06:00

It got COLD here this weekend!! I LOVED every second of it! The months of November and December are by FAR my favorite months of the year: cooler weather, scarves, pumpkins, college football, soups, Thanksgiving, family visits, Christmas, New Years Eve! I mean, come on! What's not to love!?

Anyway, our weekend was FANTASTIC! Besides it being really cold outside we got to hang out with some of our favorite people.

Saturday morning Caitlin came over to check out what I had been working on for Ryan's baby shower...and later that afternoon Emily, Molly, Laney and I met up with Caitlin to look at wedding dresses!! It was so fun! (side note- have I mentioned that two of my closest friends are getting married in 2011. Cait in Feb and Em in Mar- we are BUSY people round here).

Isn't she beautiful! That morning, while Caitlin was at our house, she said, "now I really need you to be honest with me when I'm trying on all these dresses." I said, "umm...I will...but just so you know every thing's going to look awesome on you!" And it totally did! (ps- this isn't her dress. That's why I feel like it's ok to show you pictures).

Saturday night we took dinner to our friends, Nathan and Larrisa. They just had a baby boy two weeks ago. His name is Lincoln and he is so cute!

photo courtesy of nathan westerfield.

After the Westerfields we met up with Caitlin and her fiance Scott for dinner. We really haven't hung out with them in a while and it was SO good for our souls, especially poor Eric. He's worn out on school- but that's a whole-nother blog post.

Sunday was church and then we lunched it up with Emily, Josh, Scott and Caitlin. Again, SO good for us. We love our friends, can you tell!?

Happy Monday.

holler ballers.

2010-11-05T07:35:00.001-05:00

It's Friday! And guess what we're up to this weekend...a whole bunch of NOTHING! I'm so excited! We've been super busy almost every weekend for the past few months. Either Laney and I are traveling out of town or someone's coming to visit us. Not that we don't LOVE every minute of our visits, but it's nice to have a relaxing weekend to rest and recoup.

Anyway...Here's a little sneak peak at some baby gifts I've been working on for little baby Olive (due to arrive in late February). We're having a shower for Ryan next weekend, so I've been busy and I'm so excited with the results!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Random

2010-11-04T15:32:00.002-05:00

This is going to be a really random post. Here we go...

First- I have a new blog title. I am not creative in that department. If I was ever asked to market something, I couldn't do it. Seriously. I can never come up with catchy phrases, EVER. My sister is good at it. Her blog "Boots and Barefeet". I mean, come on, how adorable AND completely describes their little family! So, I'm going to lean on a little Sara Groves to help me out here. "Just showed up." New blog title. Done.

Second- Laney doesn't have much hair. But what little she has I HAVE to brush after her bath each night or it does this...

She looks like a little alph alpha (sp?).

Thirdly- Nursing update: We're doing better. I still haven't figured out why she wouldn't nurse, but I know that now she will. PTL! Glad that's over. And thanks to all of you who offered your support. It was greatly appreciated!

Fourthly- It's November! What the heck!?! Where did October go?! Thanksgiving is 3 weeks from TODAY! Really!?

Fifthly- I've been sewing A LOT lately. First, on addy-paddy's bday gift and now for my friend Ryan's little baby girl on the way! I can't wait to show you!! Maybe I'll post a little teaser pic tomorrow.

Sixthly- TOMORROW IS FRIDAY!!!!

a party and a monkey

2010-11-01T11:21:00.002-05:00

This weekend we all got together to celebrate Adeline turning 1! I don't have much time to update today, but I thought I could at least show some pics.

Walker and Em's gift to Adeline (made by Claire) it's reversable!!

Hey Campbell...Show me your boots!!

Laney likes to stare at ceiling fans:

I made a few things for Addy-Paddy. It's four outfits! :) I ordered the "A" t-shirt from here.

And because our kid is only 4 months old, we didn't trick or treat. We just dressed her up for about 5 minutes, took a few pictures and then she went to bed. Ha!

Here's our little monkey!

Happy Birthday Addy Paddy!

2010-10-30T09:00:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is this sweet baby girls birthday and we're all headed to North Alabama to celebrate today!

She is the absolutely the sweetest baby I've ever been around. She has many nicknames: Presh, Presh-poo, Addy Paddy, An-nine, Precious, etc.

She has the most amazing blue eyes.

We all love her very much! Happy almost birthday sweet girl!

rice cereal.

2010-10-26T15:31:00.005-05:00

Laney has started rice cereal. And by started I mean, we shove in her mouth with a spoon and she slowly spits it back out and then gets in her hands and plays with it. Dr. Godfrey said with her weight maybe it was time to start, so here we go! (side note: I love our pediatrician, and not just him but the whole office! We've never had to wait more than about 3 minutes in the waiting room. Once they get us to our room the nurse sees us, about 2 seconds later we see Dr. Godfrey, then the nurse comes back in as soon as he's gone, and then we're outta there! Our doctors visits have never been longer than 30 min. start to finish. Isn't that amazing!? Green Hills pediatrics rules!)

I'm sure eventually she'll get the hang of it, but right now it's mainly just entertainment.

Sunday is Addy-Paddy's bday and all the fam is getting together this weekend to celebrate!! I can't wait to see everyone!

4 months.

2010-10-24T07:00:00.002-05:00

Laney-boo is 4 months!!! Time flies!

(she's waving hello)

Her stats this time are....
Height: 24 1/4 (50%)
Weight: 12lbs (20%)
Head: 15 3/4 (30%)

Her weight had me a bit freaked out. She's been on what we like to call a "nursing strike." It's been awful; for me and for her. Every time I nurse it usually ends with both of us in tears and Eric trying to console us. Finally, Friday afternoon I had enough. She wouldn't eat, and I would try to pump and couldn't get A THING! I was beyond worried. I thought maybe my milk supply was just gone, or maybe just maybe my pump was broken. I told Eric to take me to the Hospital so I could rent a pump.

We got to Baptist and I went up to the Lactation Boutique and told the lady I needed to rent a pump for 7 days. She said ok, but then preceded to ask me why (I have no idea how stressed I looked, but I know she could tell I was freaking out a bit). When I started to explain to her the situation I couldn't hold back my tears. I just started crying. The lady was SO NICE and understanding, but I was really just at my wits end and feeling so desperate. She told me it sounded like I was having trouble with my "let down" and being stressed about it wasn't going to help. She gave me so many great tips. And told me after I tried all of those things, if I still thought my pump was broken to call medela and they would ship a new out in 24 hours (did you know that!?!? thank you medela!). Anyway, after trying all her tips, we are doing much better. I really just felt so much more calm after just talking to her.

Nursing Laney is one of those things that is just really high on my priority list. I am not ready to give it up, and I'm glad I'm committed to it. I wish I knew what it took to be a lactation consultant, because after all the help they were to me, I would love to be able to help other desperate moms out there.

Laney is doing MUCH better with her nursing now, and I'm hoping when we go in for her weight check in a month Dr. Godfrey will be SO happy with our progress.

Ok, so other than our nursing issues, Laney is doing GREAT! When she does eat (haha) she's such a happy baby. She's VERY chatty, at home and at school. Right now she's very into squealing and laughing. She keeps us laughing too. She's rolling over both ways. Usually when I go to get her at school for a feeding she's asleep on her side and sometimes her tummy. But, at home at night she sleeps flat on her back with her arms sprawled out. She loves to watch football, especially the Auburn Tigers and the Buckeyes.

(also, if the shirt in the pictures looks familiar. I totally stole it from Claire. She made this same top for Charlotte.)

slack'n

2010-10-20T21:15:00.002-05:00

I was on such a roll for a while there. Sorry for the slacking in the blog posting. I haven't been getting much sleep lately.

Last weekend we went to Bham to visit these guys...

It was a rough weekend for the Lanester. She pretty much screamed and cried all day Saturday except for a couple of hours while we ate here...

It was SO good! Thank you, Bella, for the free queso. Apparently if you bring a framed pic of your dog you get a free appetizer. Spread the word. Also be on the look out for the many pictures of Bella that Chuy's will now have glued to their wall. Walker and Em LOVE queso. No doubt they will shamelessly continue to bring a framed picture until they're caught! :)

We have a Chuy's in Nashville, but we've never gone because it's always so packed. So this was Eric's first experience and my second (we ate there the last time I went down to bham to visit walk and em).

Poor Laney. I'm not sure what the issue was, but she had a rough weekend. Don't you wish infants could use words and just TELL you what's the matter?!!? Me too.

Here are a few shots of her when she was actually happy.

Thanks, Walker and Emily for being such wonderful hosts! And for letting us interrupt your good nights sleep with our fussy Laney-girl!

In other news....I've been working on a few crafty/sewing projects for a baby shower for Ryan's little baby girl on the way; AND the Lanester will be 4 months old tomorrow!! I can hardly believe it she's growing so fast! I'll hopefully have a couple of posts coming your way soon!

Oh! AND....WAR EAGLE!!!!

Cheekwood, Pumpkin Patch, and full tummys!

2010-10-11T09:25:00.003-05:00

This past weekend the Griesheimer's drove down from Ohio for a visit.

They got here late Friday afternoon and almost as soon as they made it we hopped in the car because we were HUNGRY!!

What better way to satisfy your hunger (no, don't eat a snickers bar) than to go to the Loveless cafe! I wish I had taken some pictures of this yummy goodness, but I was so busy eating that I forgot! If you don't live in Nashville and are planning to come visit, Loveless is a must! It's family style good southern cook'n!

After dinner we went to Cheekwood to see the Chihuly exhibit. We only made it a little while before Miss Laney turned into Miss Crankypants and we had to hightale outta there!

It was really beautiful! Eric and I might attempt to go see it again if Miss Crankypants doesn't show up. :)

It was also our first attempt at the babybjorn. We think she really liked it, until she got tired.

Saturday we picked up Nana and Grandpa Judge and had brunch at Franklin Mercantile in downtown Franklin. Again, no pictures of the food, I must have been really hungry! :)

Gentry's farm is the pumpkin patch in Franklin, so after brunch we drove down there to pick up a few pumpkins.

We all had a lot of fun, especially little Laney!

Thanks Grandpa Judge and Nana for a wonderful weekend! We'll see you guys in November!

A Daddy and his girl.

2010-10-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

There is nothing sweeter than watching Eric interact with Laney.

If she grows up and doesn't know she's beautiful, then she must not be listening to us. He tells her every moment he's with her how beautiful she is and how much he loves her.

He's funny with her too. He still has a hard time getting her dressed. When she starts to cry or whine he makes those same sounds right back at her. And he makes up ridiculous songs and sings them to her.

Ugh! Just look at those big lips! I love them!

And, while we were out taking pictures my neighbors were playing and wanted their picture taken too! They're too cute to not include...

We're looking forward to a fun weekend with the Griesheimer's. Nana and Grandpa Judge will be here Friday afternoon. We have lots of things planned for them, including the pumpkin patch! I can't wait!

Souper Fall.

2010-10-07T07:46:00.000-05:00

We've now entered my favorite season of the year, Fall! I love it! Everything about it: the orange and yellow colored leaves in TN, all things pumpkin spice, scarves, corduroys, boots, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and a warm and cozy bowl of soup.

Photo from Southernliving.com

I usually make soup once a week starting the first week of October. And by usually I mean that I just started doing this last year. :)

This week I made Darby's Southwest Chicken Soup. I made it several times last year and we LOVE it! I did make a couple of changes: I use a can of black beans and a can of pinto beans instead of navy, and I add a little extra broth.

Right now I'm in search of a new soup recipe to try out next week. I need something low-cal, low-fat (since I'm still trying to get off that extra 10 lbs of baby weight, PLUS the extra 10 lbs I gained post-wedding because we got preggo only 9 short months after exchanging our vows and I moved in with a boy who eats a significant amount especially when training for a marathon and as long as I ate less than him then I was on track-SIKE! Yes- those 10 lbs.) So I'm thinking about trying this recipe from Southern Living (sans the fried okra and grilled cheese). They have a whole article with LOTS of different soup/stew recipes if you want to check it out.

Anyway, I'm just curious if any of you have any favorite soups. If you do PLEASE help-a-sista-out and let me know!

And because I can't finish a blog with out a shout out to this cutie...Here you go!

Daddy Dressed Me.

2010-10-06T07:30:00.000-05:00

Please look at what Laney showed up to the church in last week.

Apparently she had a blow-out while Eric was home with her that morning, and he didn't think that putting a whole new outfit on her was important. SO, he grabbed the orange and white striped pants and put them on with her sweet baby pink top. I wish y'all could have seen the look on my face when I pulled the blanket off her bottom half as she was sitting in her car seat. I asked him if he was joking. He just laughed and said "no." Poor girl had to go to school all day with mismatched clothes and her belly hanging out!

Daddy's are funny, especially ours.

Our Weekend.

2010-10-04T09:39:00.002-05:00

...was FANTASTIC!

more to come...

Last minute.

2010-09-30T11:28:00.002-05:00

I'm usually a planner. All week I've been asking Eric if I can go to Montgomery this weekend because Lizzie, Campbell, Adeline, Walker and Emily will all be there. All week he's told me no, that he didn't really want me to go. So I told him that was fine and we made plans to do a couple of things this weekend. Last night right before we went to sleep he tells me that he thinks I should go! Ha! Men! I asked him why and he said he has 3 quizzes, 1 test and 1 project all due next week, as well as needing to mow 6 yards (his side job). He didn't think we would get to spend much time together, and he really needs to do well on his school stuff next week.

I didn't mind not planning this time! Of course I'm super excited to head to Montgomery! I got to work this morning and had to ask my boss if it was ok if I took off Friday. She's super nice and said yes! WOO HOO!! So little Laney and I are leaving today at 4:30 to go to Montgomery! We're so excited! Especially Laney, she just kept saying how happy she is to get to see Sissy again! haha.

Whaaaaa...

2010-09-27T08:45:00.003-05:00

It's Monday and I feel a little bit like this. I LOVE the weekends so much and am always so disappointed to see them end and Monday's sunrise.

We really didn't do anything super special over the weekend. We just spent time together and that was great!

Laney slept 12 hours each night over the weekend, but of course, woke up last night at 2am and again at 5am. Surely she'll catch on soon.

To end on a positive note...

Happy Monday.

Bham Trip.

2010-09-24T11:10:00.002-05:00

We love going to Birmingham for the weekend! It's less than 3 hours away from Nashville and we get to see everyone on the way.

Our stop at Chick-fil-a...

Hanging out on the back porch...

Sissy brought us some yummy snacks from Nancy Paterson's...

(mango chutney with homemade croutons)

(hottie, herself)

Sunday morning we went to church with Walker and Emily. They are members at Brookhills where David Platt preaches. It was so refreshing. He really is such an amazing teacher of the Word. AND! even though I had to step out of the service to nurse Laney, they have a nursing room right off the auditorium with speakers so you can continue to listen to the sermon. Talk about convenient!

We had such a great weekend! We can't wait to go back in a few weeks with Eric! It's his fall break, so we hope to get some good fam time in. Ever since he started school last year he rarely gets to go out of town with us. So I'm really thankful that he'll be with us next time. We sure did miss him!!

Mean girls.

2010-09-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Laney and I drove down to b'ham. On our way there we stopped in Athens, AL at Chick-fil-a to eat with Lizzie, Campbell and Addy. We had a great time visiting, but more on the weekend later, I have a story to tell.

Here's the deal. We were all done eating and Campbell wanted to play on the indoor playground. Lizzie got up and walked her over to the area to let her in to play. At the time there were two other little girls in there, they were probably a little older, they might have been 3 or 4. Sweet, precious Campbell walks up to them and pats one of the girls on the arm to say "hi." The little girl turns around, hardly gives Campbell a glance before she shoves her away!! Campbell sweetly took a few steps back, crossed her little arms in front of her body, and gave them a sweet little grin. IT. BROKE. MY. HEART. I wanted to walk in there and tell that little girl a thing or two! It hurt my feelings! The rest of the time the two little girls kept calling Campbell a baby, and even blamed their pee-pee accident on the steps on her! They kept saying, "that baby in the polka dot pants peed on the step!" It was awful. I finally looked at Lizzie and said, "we gotta get outta here." She agreed.

As I pulled away from Athens and drove for the next hour and half I just kept thinking about the situation. My insides were still fuming from those girls. The Lord gently spoke to my heart to try and calm me down. He is such the perfect Father. He sent His perfect Son to the earth and he was completely "rejected and despised." I can't imagine the way the Father's heart broke for His perfect Son, and yet I know His heart broke for His imperfect little Campbell. I am so thankful for a God who understands.

I'm sure Campbell hardly noticed the way those girls treated her. She's so resilient and just went about playing. I know there's many more mean girl days ahead of her, but I'm thankful that God understands.

Surprise!

2010-09-22T09:30:00.003-05:00

This is Emily. She is SUPER hard to surprise. She loves to be in control, ahem, plan things, so she's usually never surprised. Well, with the guidance of E.blue we got her!

This past weekend was Emily's 10 year high school reunion. That meant all of her friends would be in town. It was the PERFECT time for all of her bridesmaids to get together with her just to celebrate her recent engagement to Joshy-poo. Elizabeth planned the whole thing. She asked Emily if just the two of them could get together for dinner Thursday night. *Side note- E.blue lives in NYC and she's a comedian/cupcake maker/something else. She's SUPER DUPER funny. Watch out for her, she could be the next star of SNL. Also, she somehow managed to not be in a picture. :( Ok, back to the surprise. The rest of us gathered at Taco Mamacita and waited for their arrival. She seriously didn't see it coming. In fact she almost walked right by us as we were yelling "surprise."

We had a lot of fun. Laughed a lot.

We love you, Em! Can't wait for March 26th! Whoop! Whoop!

3 months

2010-09-21T19:28:00.000-05:00

Happy 3 months, Laney-boo!

You are growing so quickly it's hard to believe! A couple of weeks ago you rolled over for the first time and just over the weekend you started making all sorts of new noises! You've started squealing and I think it's hilarious. I usually laugh at you a lot and you think you're really funny. Your favorite position is sitting up. You love to see everything and everyone around you.

Daddy thinks your really cute and when I take you away for the weekend he tells me I'm mean because I've stolen his baby. You guys really like each other because you get to hang out every morning for a few hours while I go to work. It kind of makes me jealous, but I'm really happy you two have bonded so well. You love to watch the football games with him on Saturday. It's real cute. He wants you to like Ohio State, but we all know you're going to end up being an Auburn girl like your momma. :)

School is going ok for you. You don't like to sleep there, which makes it really hard when we get home in the afternoon and you're SUPER tired. They tell me you like to talk to your teachers and you smile a lot. You love to swing. You're the youngest in your class and I think you're going to learn all sorts of new tricks from your friends.

You just got your first cold. You had a really runny nose and it was hard for you to sleep at night. I'm hoping you end up with a really strong immune system.

We really like hanging out together. We usually dance and sing. You especially love it when I sing songs to you because I make funny faces and dance with you. We laugh a lot. You can't totally laugh yet, but you're trying really hard. You have the BEST smile and it melts my heart every time I see it. Every. Single. Time.

We love you a lot, Laney-boo! Happy 3 months!

You decide.

2010-09-20T19:22:00.002-05:00

I found this disc full of old pics that Emily (SIL) gave me after she put together the slide show for our rehearsal dinner. Strangers always say she looks like Eric. My family thinks she looks more like me. Now that I've found these old baby pictures of each of us I'll let you decide!

It's FRIDAY!!!!!

2010-09-17T08:44:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Angela.

2010-09-16T07:30:00.001-05:00

This is my friend Angela. She recently moved to Singapore with her husband, Nathan. Nathan does something important (code for I can't begin to explain or really quite remember what he does) for apple (you know ipads, iphones, etc. Yeah, that little company). They used to live in San Fran and recently moved to Singapore for Nathan's job. Angela is SUPER creative and very talented at many things. Which is why she just opened up her very own esty shop.

I love all the sketches! I've been wanting to buy one, but haven't because I can't decide which one I want!! I really love the windmill.

Anyway, she says she could do more specific things if contacted directly. So I just thought I'd put it out there. :)

I'm all about the advertisements lately. This for Angi-ho and this one for my mom...hehe (by the way...she's still available...contact me if interested lelefain@gmail.com)BA-HA! She's going to kill me again! :)

bumbo seat

2010-09-15T07:30:00.000-05:00

Just chill'n in my bumbo seat.

I'm sooooooo glad it's Wednesday!! The past two weeks have been short weeks for me (Monday's off), so this week seems to be lasting for FOREVER!! Weeks always go by slower when you're REALLY looking forward to something fun over the weekend.

Laney and I are headed to b'ham on Friday to stay with Walker and Emily! Sissy's coming up too! With a little pit stop at the Chick-fil-a in Athens to see these two crazies (and their mommy, of course).

We are SOOOOOOO excited we can hardly stand it!

(hehe...I must have said something really funny!!)

i miss her.

2010-09-14T07:30:00.000-05:00

I seriously sit at my desk and think about her all day long. I get to see her several times throughout the day, but I still miss getting to be with her at home all day.

(yes, she has started sucking her thumb...)

She's learning and growing so much everyday! Over the weekend she rolled over for the first time!!! I told her she needed to slow down! I caught it on video tape, but I've yet to figure out how to upload our videos on to our computer. The camera is pretty new (thanks to nana and grandpa judge) and catching her latest trick was the first time we've used it. Ha! As soon as I can figure the thing out I'll upload it, because I'm sure she's dying for you all to see her show off! :)

Daddy-buddy

2010-09-13T07:30:00.002-05:00

He's the best.

Martin's

2010-09-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

Last night we met up with Scott and Caitlin at Martin's BBQ Joint. They were recently featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so of course we had to check it out!

Eric was SO excited he could hardly stand it!

Hubby had the ribs. They were YUM-O! And I had the beef brisket sandwich. Also, YUMO!

I'm not sure how much you can tell from this picture, but this place was SMOKE-Y. We left smelling like a pig fresh out of the smoker.

Laney-boo just chilled. Have I mentioned how great she is? Seriously.

Ok. Time to finally go wash the smoke stank out of my hair.

Labor Day.

2010-09-10T21:56:00.002-05:00

Last weekend Sissy came up and spent some time with us. We had SO much fun! We spent some time in downtown Franklin.

(can we quickly talk about how cute my mom looks in this picture! and for the record she's on the market! If you know any Godly men in their 50s or 60s you might want to do them a favor and introduce them to my mom. :) -your welcome, mom. ha!)

Ok, back to the weekend. We had lunch at 55 South. If any of you saw the article in September's issue of Southern Living, they talked about this restaurant and two others that have the same owner in downtown Franklin. It was SOOOO good! We shared the fried green tomatoes with gulf shrimp remoulade and the NOLA BBQ shrimp over blue cheese grits. I wish I had taken a picture, but I don't think a picture would do justice to the deliciousness of these two items! YUM-MY!

Of course we had to hit up some sweet cece's. The one is dt Franklin is by FAR the cutest one. I wish I had taken some pictures of the inside (the women's bathroom has the CUTEST wallpaper!).

We did LOTS of shopping. We both ended up buying this from anthro. It's really adorable and super comfy! I got the purple and mom got the brown.

And we can't forget about this little bit.

She spent all 7 hours shopping with us, like a little trooper. She's awesome. Have I mentioned that before?

Mom brought her a little surprise. A pumpkin hat! Isn't it hilarious!? Our little pumpkin head!

Ok that's all for now. Happy Friday night. Eric and I are about to watch "Date Night" on our date night! :)

TGIF!

2010-09-03T14:26:00.002-05:00

This has been my first week back at work. I would have blogged about it sooner, but I don't know if I could have even written about it because I was so upset. Yeah, I basically sobbed myself to sleep Monday night. But, Tuesday came and we made it and I was ok. I'm really lucky that she's in the day care at the church I where I work. I go visit her a few times a day, and I'm nursing so I get to go get her at 10am, 1pm and 4pm for her feedings, which is really nice! Also, I've never been so happy to have 1/2 day Fridays! WOO HOO! It's really worked nice with Eric's school schedule that most days Laney stays home with him and he brings her up there at 10.

I'm a little late on Laney's two month post, considering she'll be 11 weeks on Monday, but here are her stats...
weight: 10.10 lbs (50th%)
height: 23 in (35%)
She's seriously the best baby. We're SUPER spoiled. I know all our kids won't be this easy. Her sleeping schedule has been AWESOME! At about 5 weeks she started sleeping from 10pm until 5am. Now she sleeps until about 7. She actually slept until 8am one morning before I started back to work. Thank you, Laney! I can tell now that she's wanting to go to bed sooner than 10, but I told Eric the other night, I'm going to be really sad when she starts sleeping 12 hours a night. He looked at me like I was crazy! But, I'm sure you working moms understand, we only get to see our babies awake for a couple hours a day!

Don't be jealous. You know you all wish your hair looked like that.

She doesn't love tummy time, but she will tolerate it.

In other news, after taking a little 3 month break, I'm sewing again. I've started a few projects (the bag below) and a couple of winter time outfits for laney.

I don't have an embroidery machine yet (maybe one day, eric says), but this will get monogrammed in the hot pink color of the ric rac and I'm still working on the ruffle pants to match.

Also, Sissy is coming up this weekend!! We can't wait to see her tomorrow! She's at my sister's right now and she's meeting me in downtown Franklin tomorrow to stay until Monday! Yay!

O-H

2010-09-02T11:30:00.002-05:00

I-O.

A few weeks ago we made the 6 hour trek to Ohio for Eric's sister, Katie's, wedding.

She was a beautiful bride!

We got to spend time with Laney's cousin, Elise...

We went to the park with Nana.

We had a really great weekend! It was Laney's first trip to Ohio, so she got to meets a lot of Eric's family. We can't wait to go back for another visit in November!

Bag it up.

2010-08-26T22:54:00.004-05:00

As much as I love Laney's diaper bag, I decided I needed something a little smaller to just throw a diaper/wipes and my wallet and phone in when I'm just running a quick errand.

So, I made this! I love it! And now I think I know what all my friends are getting for Christmas this year :).

In other news Laney-girl is now almost 2 1/2 months old. I need to write her 2 month post soon or I'll forget everything!