A little bit o everything

Guess who we ran into a Gymboree?!  Wells!  Wells is the star of his very own blog and a church nursery friend!  He is ever so smiley (all the time!) and so cute!  Here is mine and Kacy's best attempt to get them to sit together!

And then they decided they had had enough!

See ya

Speaking of Gymboree, look what John Michael can do now!

He lifts his little leg up and just starts kicking at the ball.  We think he got this from Gymboree.  It's so cute to see his little foot go up and then kick and then chase after it!  Perhaps we've got a future soccer player on our hands...hmmm?

John Michael can also pull out drawers now!

AND....look who's looking fabulous!

With his spiffy scarf and cute new haircut, he looks cute!  He's ready for Spring too!

Verse O' the Day:

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

Philippians 1:20

You Don't Know Jack!

We recently forgot to celebrate a very important family member's birthday....you guessed it, Jackson turned two on March 23rd!  We've enjoyed having a such a cute, fluffy dog and he is great with Jordan's allergies (the main reason we got him to begin with!)  We've had the best time with him over the last two years and he has ended up being a fantastic big brother to John Michael! 

I've always heard that bichons are great with kids, but I was just reminded so much of this today as John Michael crawled over to Jack and grabbed his big, fluffy head and then tried to head-butt him!  Jack just sat there, as always, and had a very patient look on his face.  I dug through the thousands of pictures that we have of Jack and posted a little "Jackson History" for everyone to enjoy!

Here is Jackson at the breeder's house, before we ever got to bring him home

Home at last with his new mom and dad who are just a little crazy about him.

Ah yes, Jackson's favorite activity at the old house, running down the hall with his ring.

One of my most favorite pictures of Jackson as a puppy.

This next picture just breaks my heart!  Poor puppy!  Jackson had a serious anaphalactic reaction to a routine vaccine and almost died right in front of me!  Scary!  No more Lepto vaccine for us.

Summertime grass.

First trip to a lake!

First trip to The Univeristy of Alabama campus!

Our little family before John Michael.

First haircut that traumatized me and sent me into a crying fit because they shaved my precious fluff. I'm being totally serious, ask my dad.

Looking cute beside the Charlie Brown pumpkin.

First Christmas with Jackson.

Jackson's first birthday "cake".  He got a quick little lick!

Happy 4th of July!

And here's Jack with his new best friend, he just didn't know it at the time!

 

Verse O' the Day:

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Do the Funky Bunco!

Luckily, Jessica reminded me that we had Ladies Night Out Bunco tonight at church!  We had a great time and there were SO many tables full of ladies.  I was surprised at how many came out tonight.   I should head to Vegas because I can roll my Bunco numbers most all of the time.  You know how us Southern Baptist church ladies like to get down and gamble!

Anyway, one more thing that I liked about Bunco tonight was that there were yummy snacks, drinks, and coffe PLUS there were bowls full of snacks at each table.  Oh yes, each time you got up and changed tables there was a new bowl full of M&Ms, popcorn, snack mix and sticky popcorn stuff with almonds in it. 

I got one Bunco and ended up winning a lovely Mary Kay door prize.  I never win anything, so I was pretty happy. 

Now, you may think my next set of pictures and the explanations that go with it are a bit odd, but stick with me.

Oh yes, it's Ladies Night!

When I got home and uploaded my pictures I noticed that all of them from tonight had these little white orbs in them.  Now, I'm not saying there were spirits at church BUT I will say that out of the thousands of pictures we have on our laptop I've never had any of my pictures with spots in them.  If you look closely there are tons of little white orbs in them.  It's probably just dust but it's so weird!  Just an interesting phenomenon to note!

Verse O' the Day:

Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9      What a comforting verse!!!

Mom and Me at Gymboree!

I thought that since it was April Fool's Day I (John Michael) would take over the blog for a day and tell you about our day at Gymboree!

Mom and I went to the open play at Gymboree and we had a blast!  For a while we were the only people there so we had the whole gym to ourselves.  We played on slides, worked on crawling, and "walked" allllll over!

Sort of crawling?  As of this picture I couldn't crawl.  I can now, though!  My mom will write more about that later.  It's a really big deal for some reason.

Look, there's a light at the end of this tunnel!

I like these grabby balls so much that my Gran bought one just for me.  It's red (of course) and I can grab it and kick it too!

I am a little unsure of this rocky rolly table thingy.

What do you mean we have to go?  We like going to music but we also like the open gym days they have at Gymboree. 

Mom said that she had to send Jackson off to a day of doggy daycare to "regain her sanity" and here is what he did when we picked him up:

Dogwatch: Mission Accomplished, a happy, very tired, and more well-behaved dog!

Verse O' the Day:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

Food, Family, and a Funeral

FInal farewells bid to a beloved family member

John Michael meeting Uncle John for the first time back in November!

Uncle John was a Fantastic fellow, husband, father, uncle, and Christian man.  Oh yeah, and Crimson Tide Fan!

With Furrowed brows we say our  farwells,

Full-well knowing it's not the "true" end, as we'll see each other in the forever.

But, with a fussy baby at funeral visitation,

Go figure, we did not fare so well!

Who me?! Fuss at a funeral?!

Fine family visits, some for the first time.

Fun family time with favorite uncles!

Southern family feeds your soul with first-class desserts after funerals.

Do we have enough dessert for everyone?

Finest fried Southern fare you've ever stuffed your face with!

Fantastic!

Five-star famous food from City Cafe; had to go to get my college-food fix!  All this under five dollars, not a lot to fork out!

And yes....

[caption id="attachment_720" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="I had to take two pictures because the food wouldn't fit in one picture."][/caption]

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Papaw and John Michael rocking.

[caption id="attachment_723" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Grandmother holding John Michael...and no, my child would not like a whole plate of ham!"][/caption]

Family is so important.  It shapes our lives and makes us who we are.  As we all get older we do start to think of all those good-byes that are in our futures.  The one fantastically great part about knowing Jesus Christ and being saved by HIM is that it's not so sad or scary anymore.  We are promised a beautiful forever.  A forever where we'll sit by Jesus everyday and there will be no more sorrow, pain, or hurt.  What a faithful promise that we have!  If that doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will.

P.S.  WOW, there's a lot of food in this post!