An Office Party!

Last week our neighbors from Sunday, Jessica and Wayman, had a few of us over to watch the premiere of The Office.  We all brought a dessert and then watched the show.

Jordan thought it would be hilarious if we made a Jell-O mold of a calculator.  I guess you'd have to be a big fan of The Office to get that one.  It was more work that you would guess.  We looked around online for the best way to make it.  We made it the night before and spent a lot of time trying to get the calculator to submerge into the liquid.  We had to drill a bunch of holes in it to get it to sink!

It came out perfect!  We were so excited, maybe a little too excited...it's only Jell-o!

When we got there we realized we weren't the only ones who had the idea...

Robert and Lindsey had done a Jell-O mold with a stapler!  Ha!  Either way, JM and Braxton had a really good time playing around with all the trucks and all the adults had a good time talking!

We need to get JM his very own tiny chair!  He loved Braxton's!

I was going to post the recipe and pictures of the Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bars that I made...but they were very good and we (I) ate them all up!  I'll definitely make them again for something else.  It was a whole lotta cream cheese, but it was gooood!

Verse O' the Day:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6

Happy Birthday, Meme!

Today is my mom's birthday!  She is known as Meme and she was recently here for a visit.  After John Michael got over being sick for the first few days of her trip, he was really happy she was here!  He hasn't learned to say Meme or Papa or anything like that yet, but I know he will soon! 

I know both grandmothers are sooo mad that they didn't choose the name Nana, because John Michael CAN say Nana!  Ha!

Facts about my mom!

She's a retired home-economics teacher...yep, you guessed it, she teaches manners, etiquette, parenting and cooking.

She's the mom of a special needs child, which means she has a special heart!

She loooooves Southern stuff.  I mean she loves it all: china patterns, flatware patterns, manners, no chipped nail polish, never going out without lipstick or earrings, making fried okra and the best cornbread ever.

My two brothers and I turned out pretty darn good, so I'm thinking Mom (oh yeah and Dad!) had a little something to do with that!

Although we've had our fair share of health crises in our family, God has never left us or abandoned us, ever.  Even with all the medical problems and dilemmas, you know your Mama is the one who holds the family together. 

A special wedding picture of us.

These are my all-time favorite pictures of Mom.  I surprised her last year for her birthday while they were up here visiting and took her to get her picture taken with John Michael.  She was so surprised and I know she loves those pictures!  The pictures turned out to be some of the best she's ever taken!  She and JM looked so precious together!

Here's John Michael and Mom last Christmas.  I can't believe how much he will have changed by this coming Christmas...plus we'll have one more to add to the bunch!

This is one of the best family shots that we have taken in a long time.  It was Mother's Day of this past year and everyone was visiting us to celebrate John Michael's birthday and then baby dedication at church!

Here's Mom on her last trip to visit us.  She got a lot of one-on-one time with John Michael for the first time!  He would go into her bedroom in the mornings and roll all around her bed and then watch cartoons and drink his milk.

Swingin with my Meme!

I know Mom is super excited about Baby #2 and Lord knows, she's praying for a girl!  I joke, but she's excited about the prospect of the 50/50 possibility she might get to go buy a whole bunch of pink frilly stuff.  If it's a boy, she'll be equally as excited to celebrate new life with us! 

The holidays are around right around the corner and I know everyone in our family is just waiting to celebrate with a new little addition to the family.  Family is so important, so go hug yours today!

Happy, Happy Birthday Mom!  Sorry we can't be there to celebrate with you!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Here are a few of our favorite things, as of late!

We now have John Michael's pumpkin shirt for Halloween!  A girl from Sunday School does these, along with monogramming.  I love this shirt so much!  His name is just so cute with the candy corns.  We also have a pumpkin shirt that Meme bought him, so he's going to be ready for October!

Here's our most favoritest books!  I cannot tell you how many times a day we read "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish".  He loves it. He calls it "shhhhh" when he sees it; his word for fish!

 He also loves his "I love you daddy" book!  He picks up the book and says "Dadin, Dadin, Dadin!"...don't ask me why he calls Jordan Dadin, he just does!

I'm so glad he has let us read to him these past few months!

One of our favorite afterwork activities with Dada is reading books.  I let Jordan read them at night after work because I have already read them about 2 dozen times that day!

Another favorite that JM has recently discovered is this old print from the office.  He discovered it when we started taking everything off the walls to get the nursery ready.  If you can't tell, it's a Gene Stallings print that has football players on it.

John Michael loves to sit in front of it and point at the football players and then do his throw the ball motion.

He seriously loves it and wants to pick it up and take it with him to go play!

What a little mess.  I really do think he loves football already!

And this is one of my favorite things! When I saw this picture I knew I had to get it on canvas and get it framed.  I love it.  He reminds me of the Gerber baby and I just always want to remember him looking so precious. 

I got a steal on this ready-made frame at Hobby Lobby.  It was already half-off and I talked them down even further because it has a scratched place and the only other one had a gash in it!  I was so proud of myself.  I think the frame looks great with it.  It's hanging on our bare entryway wall.  I'll eventually get some sort of little table to go in the entryway!

Alabama won, so it's a happy weekend around here for us!  Roll Tide!

Daddy's Helper

"When it's nice and warm outside, I like to play in the grass in my bare feet!  I love to sit in my little red car and pretend to drive it.  I also love my big, yellow Tonka truck.

That truck is pretty handy when I help Dada bring in the tomatoes from the garden.  I am such a big helper!  I can haul the tomatoes all the way from the garden to the house.

Dada loads up my truck and then we bring all the tomatoes to the back porch.  Oh yeah, I also have my trusty sidekick, Jackson, to help me with the harvest!

My new favorite thing to do is try and climb up on any chair possible.  I love to rock...kinda like my Uncle Ray, I guess!

Then, Dada tries to teach me how to throw a football!  I think it is so funny and I laugh every single time!

I sure do love me some football.  Mama and Dada think it's hilarious, although Mama sometimes says she thinks she'll be outnumbered in the sports department if this next baby is a boy!

And of course, my Mama just had to get a picture of my curly curls.  She says I won't have them forever, and then Dada asks when we can cut it...Mama usually replies, "over my dead body!"

Our Weekend!

Last week we met two sweet friends from Sunday School and met up at a local park!  The weather has been especially nice, so we had a great time!

Jordan even got to come by and see us for a little bit during his lunch!  That's always a plus to get to see him during the day!

As usual, on Saturday we went downtown to the Farmer's Market.  We don't have too many Saturdays left until it's over, so we're taking advantage of the last few that we have left.  Good bye Summer, Hello Fall!

Here's JM watching a little band that was set up around the square.  He's always interested in music!

We had to tickle his legs to get him to smile for this picture!  He got mistaken for a girl THREE times that morning.  Eh!  That hasn't happened in a while!

We had to splurge and get him a balloon elephant since it was gameday!  It's a very cute elephant!

We came home with 1 eggplant, of which I made eggplant parmasean tonight.  Jordan liked it but I'm not sure I loved it.  I've never made it homemade before.  I don't think I've ever made anything that Jordan would turn down.  Maybe he's just being nice....

After the Farmer's Market we went to the hospital to visit some friends who had a baby on Friday.  They're big Alabama fans like us, so I got a cute pair of baby booties with blue elephants on them!  Unfortunately, their baby had some breathing problems so he was in the NICU and we couldn't see him.  We just dropped by to lend some support and say hi!  I'm glad to report that the baby is doing better and should be going home in a few days!

Here's JM by the nursery window.  He was one of those little babies wrapped like a burrito in a bassinet over a year ago and I just can't believe that in a few months he'll be looking through that window wearing his Big Brother t-shirt and staring at his new baby brother or sister. 

How exciting and weird, at the same time!

At the hospital, they have this fun, interactive wall for kids to play with.  We let JM play with it for a few minutes and he really liked it.  Hopefully he'll play with it and be entertained while he's there visiting me in a few months!

Sunday was our day to help out in the nursery and wow, we were tired afterwards!  It's a lot of work, but fun.  It's neat to see JM playing with things and checking out different surroundings. 

It was so weird to see him sitting at a big boy table eating snack.  He's always in his high chair, so I thought that it was just too cute that he could sit in a tiny chair and eat his little snack! 

And here he is, munching on a Little Einsteins character while he patiently waits for me to fix lunch!  What a weekend, but it sure was fun...as usual!

Verse O' the Day:

Be still, and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:10

Oh Yeah, Football Time!

We were so excited that Alabama football started this weekend!  Jordan and John Michael were all dressed up on Saturday and ready for the game!  JM got to wear his new UA outfit and he wore his UA hat for a good part of the day.

Roll Tide!  Ready for gameday!

JM and Jordan headed to the square while I got my hair cut.

I know they had some good daddy-son time together and I had some good alone time getting my hair did!

It gets hot out on the square!  JM needed some water!

During the game JM would watch a little, pretended to throw the football, and then go play for a little bit.  He also likes to clap when the crowd cheers!

On a random note; I finally got some flowers from my sweet husband.  I say finally because it only took a few months of hinting around.  I was so surprised when he came home from a halfday of work on Friday afternoon!  They're so pretty and I even put a few on my bedside table to brighten up our room!

This afternoon we took some family pictures in front of the fireplace after church.  John Michael wore his new Alabama outfit that Meme sent him and he looked so precious in it!  And yes, my hair is pretty darn short, but I kinda don't mind it.  With the way my pregnancy hormones are going, it will grow out in a few weeks.  Now, if only I can get it styled the way the hairdresser did.

And, because some of you back home asked, I took a sidways picture and I am being brave enough to post it!  Tomorrow starts 28 weeks and I am blown away by how fast it's going and by how HUGE I'm getting.  It's possible I may only have 10 weeks or so left.  I'm not ready!!!!!!

I'm thinking this baby is going to be b-i-g.  Mark my words.

And....check out our tomato harvest.  We have so many!  Tomorrow I'm making it my personal mission to find homes for all of these tomatoes!  They're so good and we didn't even have to fertilize them or use pesticides.  We're proud of our gardening effort.  Maybe next year we'll have more veggies!

Guess Who?!

Guess who came to eat lunch and play on Monday?!

Wells came over to play with John Michael and they had the best time!  They played and played! 

We've been meaning to get these two little guys together for forever!  John Michael shared his toys pretty decently and they just had a blast when they headed outside to the backyard after lunch!

They did all kinds of "little boy" stuff!  They pushed tractors, played with and fought over the little red car, and even played ball with Jackson!

The boys even enjoyed playing with Jackson and throwing his ball.  Bichons really are great with kids!

And Wells just loved throwing the football around!

Oh, what's that on the football?!  Why, it's an Alabama logo!  Roll TIde, Wells!  I seriously hope Mike doesn't kill me!  Football season most definitely is upon us!  Have a happy week, everyone!

Verse O' the Day:

I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only with justice—not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.

Jeremiah 10:23-24