New Addition!!

Drew and I are going to be an aunt and uncle!!  Drew's stepsister, Sydney aka Syd-a-Roo is expecting!  How exciting!  While this will be my 14th (!) niece or nephew this will be Drew's first, let's hope he's a good influence just like ME! Ha Ha! :)

Syd had her first sonogram today at 9 weeks, she said it was an amazing experience for her, Brian, and Willie. We're so happy for them!

Here's Syd and Brian's little "nugget." 

Please keep them and their little one in your prayers for a safe and healthy delivery around March 6th.

I can't wait to have a new little person in our family!

A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. ~Carl Sandburg

Bud-a-Roo Update!!

Andrew is all registered for KINDERGARTEN!!  Holy Moly!  I can't believe he's starting school!  It seems like just yesterday his Daddy was calling from Baptist's delivery waiting room- 7 lbs. 3 ounces...where has the time gone?  

Today he went to take his kindergarten pictures "with his big K."

I asked him the other day if he had been going to the library in TN, we went to our library once or twice a week here.  He thought about it for a little bit "I don't think we have liberries here."  I assured him they did, then he wanted me to send his library card.  I told him I didn't think his card would work up there but I'm sure his mommy would take him to get a card if he asked her.  And she did!  She sent us a pic of him picking out his books.  He loves going to the library, I'm so excited this tradition made in across state lines.  It's so important, even for parents who don't enjoy reading, to nuture their children's love for reading.  Like I tell Andrew, we may not be able to travel everywhere or do everything but we can always read about it. 

"Yeah, I'm not a fish but I can read all about them so I can pretend to be one."  

His mind works in amazing ways! :)

He's also been swimming everyday, or almost everyday, and his courage is growing.  He's swimming with help only from his swimmies AND he's jumping off the ladder and the side of the pool!

"Wanna hear the sound I make jumping in the pool?!"

At first I wasn't sure what to say, I was a little worried that he might jump in with the phone.  But he set it down and then cannon balled in! :)

SPLASH!!

Andrew has two cats in TN- Fly & Swim

Recently and much to Drew's displeasure, we have had two kitten visitors at our house.

I sent Andrew a picture of them and told him to start thinking of two boy names.  And what did he come up with...Bird & Fish!  The kid has four cats:  Fly, Swim, Bird and Fish.  He is his father's child for sure- he's going to sail/fish the water and conquer the sky! :)  We are planning a trip in August and I can't wait to see his school and meet his teacher and of course love on our little man!!

I call him everyday, sometimes when I get through I only get to hear is little voice for 30 seconds or so but it makes my day none the less.  I vowed a long time ago that I would do whatever it takes to foster my relationship with Andrew.   I will always be persistent in this so that if no one else, I myself will know that I did indeed do my best as his step-mom.  Being 8 hours away is pretty tough for Drew and I, but this is how it is and we do what we can in hopes that Andrew will always know how proud, how much we love him, and that he is always our priority.

It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.  ~Johann Schiller

My Day, makes my world go round

 I love quotes and one liners said or written by all kinds of people.  But I have found that I have always loved his the most.

Miss you too, my boo Drew. :)

Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul.

 ~Linda Solegato

After breakfast this morning I called and checked on my Mom then headed out into the yard.  My worries seem to melt away in the dirt...I now understand why my Mama spends so much of her time there.  Peace.  My thoughts turn to natural things- water, soil, minerals, colors, and God. :) 

Pentas for the butterfiles

  Daylilies from my Mom's garden

Drew's Jalapeno plant

Pomegranate tree

Tapioca plant

 Hydrangeas...the color of the flower, pink or blue, depends on how much aluminum is in your soil.  Amazing.

 And I finally hung the humming bird feeder Andrew and I got.

Now it's time to cool off and figure out what Drew is in kitchen whipping up for lunch!

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.  ~Hanna Rion

All In the Family

Update on Mom:
My mom is in recovery and doing well.  Once the surgeon took a look at her knee he decided to replace the entire joint instead of just doing a partial, so she was a little bummed out about that but we knew it was a possibility.  The physical therapist had her up and walking this morning so she is definitely on the mend!  Please continue to keep her in your prayers. 

My sister, niece, and nephew-Paula, Emily, and Jacob- came to stay with us Thursday night on their way back to Oklahoma from a beach trip in Florida.  We had family dinner with the rest of our brothers and sisters- about 20 of us in all! I love having a BIG family!

Our Crew

Miss Molly after swimming all day :)

Jacob and Beau

Emily and I

(How's your sunburn doing, Em?) lol!

Current Events, Affairs, and Points of Interest

Now that Drew and I have grown semi-accustomed to life without our favorite little boy tagging along we are surprisingly still on the go, go, go.  We are picking up old hobbies, a few new ones, enjoying being back in our neighborhood with our friends, playing decorators, working out, and of course gearing up for 10/10/10.

One persons trash is another persons treasure.

This past weekend, while our men went to Drew Bob's camp in Bay St. Louis, my BF Brittany and I went yard sale shopping early Saturday morning.  She's pretty darn creative and she wants to do an empty frame wall in her house.  "What's that," you say?

I know, pretty neat right.  So we went on a unique frame hunt and what did we find... a few frames yes, but we also found some cool canisters for my kitchen, some 1960's Christmas ornaments, new never used before shaped cake pans for Erin (she just finished her "Ace of Cakes" classes, now if we can only get her to open a bakery!), some old, colorful books for my shelves, and I found Drew some old pneumatic tools.  When I sent him a picture of his sussies:

  

He was pretty impressed with me on a few points.  1.  That I even knew what a pneumatic tool was and 2.  That I knew what I was looking at when I saw them.  Pa-lease!  My Daddy didn't raise no fool!  If my Dad was in the shop I was right next to him, handing him tools, holding the flashlight, keeping scraps of wood to build sail boats or rolly-polly bug farms. :)  I didn't know if they still worked but they would look too cool on display in his office or in the Man Cave. 

Relax, just do it!

After we spent our $20 each we went to her in-law's to take a dip in their new pool.  Mmmm, I love some sunshine!  Ya'll did a great job Popsie and Mae-Mae!!

Artsy Fartsy

Monday, Drew was supposed to pick up our foyer light but of course it hadn't come in yet, they have back-ordered it on us twice...so Drew did a very Drew thing and cancel our order and bought a light off of the showroom floor.  I was a little worried about getting a foyer light I'd never seen.  I mean it's pretty important it's the first thing guests will see coming through the front door...so he tells me all this via text and adds "I know neither of us really like polka-dots...but it's polka-dotted."

He did so good!  I love it and it looks awesome with the sliver & blue groin vaulted ceiling.

The owner then asked him if we needed any art. Who doesn't need art?! So he sent me a few pictures of what he liked and this is what we ended up with.

This one is painted on a piece of aluminum then mounted on a black canvas.

The leaves are silk leaves painted silver and the flower box is aluminum also.  So cool!

To Infinity and Beyond!

Now that Drew is finished building our house...I love saying that, "The love of my life built our home."  At least once a week I walk through the door take a look around at how perfect it is and exclaim, "I LOVE OUR HOUSE!"  Back to my original thought, now that our house is finished Drew is back in the pilots seat working on getting his pilots license.  Tuesday he flew to Natchez, MS...ALONE!!  Tuesday before leaving for work, I woke him up to tell him that his life is Andrew's life and their lives are mine so he was flying for three and to be safe, smart, and amazing...and to call me as soon as the landing gear hit the ground!!  Then on my 37 minute commute to work I prayed.  Of course he did great and was totally stoked about his success...but I will admit I was second guessing this whole pilots license thing all morning!  But I know it will be so convenient to fly ourselves to Nashville to see Andrew as much as possible.  I'll feel much better when I'm in the plane right along side him. :)

Commit to be fit!

For the last two weeks I've been training with a friend of mine I met in our neighborhood a few years ago.  Since then she and her husband have moved into a bigger home with they're 3 boys and she's started her own personal training business! www.newphysiques.com  Anyway, I decided since my wedding dress is backless I needed to tone up my back muscles for the BIG DAY, so why not tone up all over just for kicks. HAHA!  It's been hard work and in 2 weeks I've lost 2.5 lbs, 2 inches from my waist, 2.5 inches around my chest, 1 inch in my hips, and 1.5 inches of my behind!  I was pumped!  Get it girl!  Thanks Danielle! :)

Honeymoonin'

After watching 4 older sisters plan weddings, by the time it was my turn simple and hands free were at the top of my priority list...truthfully I never really day dreamed about what my wedding would look like or where it would be so I didn't have any preconceived ideas to compete with or fulfill.  No showers, no wedding party, just the dress, me, my love, and the something blue shoes from Sex in the City!  Check, Check, and Check!  However, my future sister-in-law, Erin and two of my best friends,Emily and Brittany, talked me into a lingerie shower...I use the term "talked me into" loosely.  What girl doesn't want new nighties for her honey moon?!  I'm so excited.  Lushes with Brushes will be on location to help us each create our own masterpeice then the lingerie fun begins!  Thanks girls, I love you all so much!  Some areas have been blocked for privacy. ;)

Lessons from my Mama

My Mama's comment on my last post is a testament to the God fearing, wonderful, caring, selfless person she is and it amazes me how much more comforting this is to me the older I get.  My Dad has always been a teacher by his example, "I'm disappointed in you" was always enough to bring tears to my eyes...but my Mom, like she said has the gift of gab, so she was the "talker of problems" in our family.  She always had her own "parables" for different experiences in life.

She is having a partial knee replacement Friday (her bad knees are probably a result of always being in her flower beds- and everyone else's mine included!- and from all of the years she has spent on her knees praying for her kids- I guess when there's SEVEN kids to pray for, bad knees are definitely an occupational hazard for a Mom!) so please keep her in your prayers for a quick, pain free recovery!  My Dad had both of his knees replaced last year and is doing great, we are praying for the same outcome for my Mom.  She has many more praying and gardening left to do.  Besides, I'm pretty sure when Drew and I have kids I'm going to need my own prayer team! ;)

A few lessons/quotes from my Mom, some are old, some are new, and some you may have heard from your own mom, but I've always written them down:

-Nothing improves our prayer life faster than BIG trouble. 

-Manners are the foundation of class.

-If you're gonna buy diamonds...buy diamonds. (I think this one is originally Maw Maw Nita's)

-Time doesn't heal but it makes the hurt bearable.

-You can't hide sin.

-Men are more interested in a woman who is interested in him, than he is in the woman with beautiful legs.

-The father is the head of the house- The mother is the heart of the house.

-I wanted to give my children two things:  roots and wings.  (Mom you did well!)

-If you don't want the fruits of sin, stay out of the devil's orchard.

-Happiness doesn't mean there's never a conflict but having the ability to deal with it.

-Your smile is always more important than your outfit.

-Always know when to close your mouth before someone else wants to do it for you.

-Your problem is not the problem...it's your attitude about the problem.

-No one can make you feel little without your permission.

Today I called her and proclaimed, "Snails!!"  

She said, "What?!"  

I said, "Snails!  Snails are killing my agapanthus!"  

She laughed and said, "Oh...snails!"  The she proceeded to tell me to,"Bury a cup of beer until it's at ground level, snails like yeast so they'll crawl to the cup and fall in."  The woman is a wealth of knowledge! :) 

What do girls without Mama's do?!  I'm glad I don't have to figure that out.

One of my daylily blooms- I'm so proud!

The Last Day

For Andrew's last day I took half the day off work so he, his Daddy, and I could spend some extra quality time together.  Our first stop was BJ's for lunch.

Andrew is our designated "buzzer holder."

Next we went to Andrew's most favorite place on Earth...Chuck-E-Cheese!!

We played driving games

And Whack 'Em games

Add the "tongue concentration" move to the list of things Andrew does just like his Dad.  If it requires thought, skill, or muscle their tongues are apart of the process! :)

He's almost too big for the Bob the Builder dozer. :(

Water gun races, these are my favorite. 

We played the shoot 'em up games

Raging Ape! is Drew's favorite game

Andrew and I beat Daddy's score!!

Then we went to Baskin Robins for our favorite ice cream...Mint Chocolate Chip, hence the green tongues!!

Nap time...Yeah Right!

 

One more wrestling match :)

Dinner in our fort

Goofy Grin!

And finally cream soda floats!!  Y-UUUU-MM-Y!

We told Andrew he could stay up as late as he wanted to and you would have thought it was Christmas morning!  He was too funny...but as his eyes started getting droopy all he wanted was too be held.  It'll be a sad day when he's too big to hold but until then I'll take advantage of every chance I get. :)

Lifting the Trophy

After the Met's last t-ball game of the season Andrew was given his very first trophy!!  It may not have been the World Series...but to Andrew it was close enough.  He was so excited when Coach Sonny called his name! 

That's one proud Daddy Day-O!

He had to put his trophy down..."So that I don't get cupcake on it!" HAHA!

You have a be a pretty tough 5 year old to play summer league t-ball in south Louisiana, and Andrew stuck it out.  We had a blast watching, practicing, and cheering the boys on.  There were a few games when getting sweaty had Andrew very close to throwing in the towel...but "getting sweaty" doesn't have anything on a snowball!  I never knew how much persuasive power a snowball had. :)

We're Beachin'!

The last night of our beach weekend Willie took a few pictures of us on the beach, and I finally got them on CD.  So, here they are for your viewing pleasure! 

The Day Clan

Soon to be sistas!

Our little goat

Smiles, inside and out

Do-Dah and Bud

This one is definitely my favorite!  It's impossible not to love that little face. <3

Thanks Willie!