Take a hill pill

Thanks Giving

2011-11-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

So, I've come to the conclusion that sometimes

life can knock the breath right out of you,

and sometimes it can take your breath away.

Life around here isn't perfect.

In fact, it's far from it,

but in the midst of it all,

I'm more than thankful for

my husband who is a great father to our sons,

my Huett who is smart, caring, careful, and considerate,

my Sam who is hilarious, spiritied, and full of wit,

my Charlie who is my absolute heart.

My parents and my in-laws without whom lives around here would come to a screeching halt!

My brother and sister, who are the coolest, most awesome siblings in the world.

(You should all be very jealous)

Three of the most beautiful nieces that exist, and the absolute coolest nephew on Earth (that's not an exaggeration)

An amazing new church and church family when we absolutely needed it most.

I've never felt more at home and at peace than I do now.

Thank God for the people he has put at Highpoint Community Church

and for allowing us to stumble upon it in a way that only God himself could've orchestrated.

A summer full of great vacations and birthday parties

A chance to visit family in their part of the country instead of them visiting us in ours!

I'm grateful for all of you who I see still visit my blog on a regular basis waiting for an update, despite the fact that I've only updated about 4 times in the last year.

I resolve to do better for you guys, but really selfishly, for me.

This blog helps me keep up with "us" for years to come!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Blessings to you all.

Posts coming soon:

Christmas decorations 2011

Christmas cards 2011

Family Pictures

2011-09-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

Pin It

My baby is TWO!!

2011-09-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

My sweet angel baby is two!! I don't have a lot of time to write, but I didn't want to leave everyone that has been imploring me to blog completely out in the cold! So, here is a post about Charlie's second birthday bash! I need to "back-blog" a post about Sam's 4th birthday party in which we successfully crammed around 90 people into our house. It was insanity, but one of the funnest to date for the kids. Maybe I'll eventually get back around to that...Now, back to Charlie!

My mom strikes again with the adorable birthday themed outfits!

~Adorbs~

Of course, I had to make my signature road signs! Huett and Sam were so amazed that I actually drew them. Did I use the word drew correctly?? Is that past tense for draw because it definitely doesn't sound right. Drawed? Drewn? Whatever...

Anyway, I routinely put these at the turns in our neighborhood to light the way to the par-tay!

For some reason, my pictures get out of order here. This was the "grand entrance" as the kids were calling it. It should be after all the road signs, but clearly that didn't pan out for me. I'm not going to start over, so just work with me, people!

This is the view when you pull into the party!

Yay for big shiny balloons!!

You made it to Charlie's party once you've seen this sign! I know, I know, we need to paint the mailbox. We tried, we really did! The spray paint Mikey bought as a quick fix because we literally thought about needing to paint it the day of the party wouldn't take. It was weird. Maybe none of you would've noticed that if I hadn't pointed it out.

"X" marks the spot to the birthday party!

Spoils of War!!

These cupcakes are DIVINE and they come from good ol' Wal-Mart! The whipped icing is to. Die. FOR.

I made these myself. Easy, tasty, and a hit with the kiddos!

Balloon Arch, baby!

Second time's a charm.

I made a balloon arch the day before the party and had Mikey help me put it up early Saturday morning.

By noon, half the balloons had popped for some reason. It was about 80 degrees outside, so not too hot, but the heat is the only reason I can think of for all of the premature poppage. Thank Heavens my sister was there to replenish the arch just in time for the party, or else my grand entrance would've just been an...entrance.

The pirate ship!! This was a slide/bouncer combo! Slide for the big kids, jumpin' for the toddlers!

And plenty of surfaces for adults that choose to plank!

Charlie actually helped me open his presents this year instead of drinking a bottle during the present opening like he did last year!

I just like the colors in this picture.

Olexa's at her best...as usual. This decoration matches Charlie's invitation perfectly!! It was absolutely delish!

Charlie's party gifts! Cute!

Charlie doesn't understand how to blow out the candles, so he got a little help from his brothers and cousin, Ava Claire!

He didn't know what to think about the "Happy Birthday" song!

This is the only "family picture" we got. As usual, it was so hectic, I forgot to make time just for that.

:-(

Charlie was attached to me almost the entire time, and didn't want anything to do with anyone else, but when he saw Ashton, he immediately got down out of my arms and ran over to him, gave him a hug, and came straight back to me! He loves Ashton! And Ashton loves him right back!

I thought this was a good picture to close with! My kids, and all my nieces and nephews...oh, and my parents!

The party was a raging success, as they usually are, but by the end, I was exhausted! Mikey was exhausted, and the kids, well, they were all asleep by 9:00 that night. Huett even fell asleep in Mikey's arms watching TV and he hasn't done that in a few years. He's 6, now, y'all!!! Can you believe that?!? Anyway, I will try to not be so absent!

We've got some exciting things going on in our lives right now, and I will try to keep everyone up to date on those!

Until next time, if you are lucky enough to have a happy, healthy family, don't take it for granted. Enjoy every minute, and love one another! These things are a gift from God!

Have a happy fall y'all!

sam g fotografie

2010-12-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

Brother will you

play catch

shoot hoops

tell me stories in the dark

always be my friend?

Holiday Randomness!

2010-12-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

First off, I just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

I've been off work for 8 days, and on the day I was supposed to go back, they put me on call. No complaints on my end, though. Hmm...seems like maybe they are as ready to get rid of me as I am to leave. Totally kidding! I really am going to miss all my work friends.

Anyway, in other news, I've been home with all three boys all day. My mother-in-law stayed the night last night because she was going to keep the boys all day today, but when I found out I didn't have to work, we just decided to clean! We got it all done (expect the bathrooms, which is Mikey's area of expertise, I figure, he wanted three sons, so he can clean up after said sons). Anyway, we are hosting my dad's entire family the day after Christmas which is pretty huge (think one nana, four brothers, all their wives, 11 grand kids including significant others, and 10 great grand kids), and also Mikey's family on Christmas Eve so I'm trying to clean EVERY bathroom instead of just the downstairs one because I'm sure that at some point, they will all be in use (hopefully just for some thorough hand washing, lol). Anyway, we vacuumed all the floors, mopped, dusted, put up laundry, cleaned counter tops...and cleaned soot off the fireplace and stockings...don't ask.

It's looking really good! Turns out I needed this day off just to get things done because the rest of our week is packed full!

On to more excitement. Isn't our Christmas card to die for? And please don't think I'm bragging. Seriously, I made the card on Shutterfly, all I did was drag and click. And while I did take the picture, I stole that idea from someone else's blog, too. But still, isn't it cute? I could look at it all day! I love rear view pictures.

While I type, Charlie is glued to Dino Dan...anyone seen that yet? It's a nice departure from the regular cartoon mediocrity that we are used to around here. He's been watching it for like an hour now. Huett and Sam never watched TV at that age. I know, I know...TV before age two is looked down upon, but if that's what it takes to get a moment's peace around here, then so be it. I may be worst mother of the year to some, but I am mother of the year to him ;-) Meanwhile Huett and Sam are playing some sort of pretend and I just heard Huett tell Sam that he was going to take him to Stix for lunch. That's my boy. Also, pretty sure Charlie needs a diaper change...

ponder that while I take a diaper break.

Okay, I'm back.

In Santa news. Huett and Sam have been asking for costumes from Santa for quite some time now, and lucky for them, Santa has obliged. Under our tree (on Christmas Eve b/c I have to work on Christmas day) will be a Dash (from the Incredibles) and a Batman costume, complete with superhero gloves, and boots. Granted the boots cost more than the costumes themselves, but it is those boots that will put my boys over the edge. They may stroke out when they see them, and I am confident that they will be wearing these costumes until they go back to school January 4th.
.

Well, I guess that about wraps it up. As soon as I give out our Christmas gifts, I will post the proofs of our first professional photo session ( I have to wait 'til then because the pictures are the gifts, duh). We didn't necessarily knock it out of the park with a whole family picture ( what do you expect, it was fuh-reezing, and there were 3 small boys which doesn't really bode well for nice photogenic pictures. We got several good ones, but there was just a little something wrong in each one and I'm too much of a perfectionist for my own good), but their individual pictures, and the pic of them together are b-e-a-utiful! My boys know how to work the camera, what can I say?!? We just got a taste because the photographer is backed up b/c she's so busy, but she rushed me a great one of each boy, and then one awesome one of them all together. Of course I'll include the ones of us all together too b/c they are still really good, but i know everyone will love the other the most!

I told the photographer that our next session would definitely be in the summer or fall. I think that will be even better!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope that our blessings (and yours) will continue!

Thank you lord for a happy family, our health, and our home!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

There seems to be a recurring theme of me apologizing for the blogging absence at the start of every post these days...Sorry! Such is the life of a mom of three little boys (four if you count Mikey...and just between you and me, you should definitely count him, but that should just be our little secret).

Anyway, I devised a plan to force myself into getting my Christmas decorations up first thing this holiday season by throwing our first-annual Christmas Kick-off Party the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I knew that if I was expecting company, I'd get it done. Nothing gets me moving like a deadline. Anyway, I started decorating about a week and a half before Thanksgiving (if you are one of those people who think that cheats Thanksgiving, get over it). Anyway, like I said a million times, if it takes me two weeks to get everything done (because I am still constantly having to tend to the children in the midst of decorating) then if I wait 'til after Thanksgiving, I'll only have it all up for about two weeks total and that just isn't worth it. I need to be able to enjoy it fully for at least an entire month, so that is my motivation behind starting the decorating so early.

This is THE HOUSE that you've all heard so much about! And, don't worry, we didn't put the lights up outside the house until after Thanksgiving.

These pictures make me so happy!!

I do get a little carried away with the Christmas decorating, but I just love it so much!
I even went so far as to wrap the faux candles on our dining room candelabra. It was super easy, cheap, and is beyond cute. Well, at least I think so.

Here is my dining room table. I threw this together about 1 hour before the party started Saturday night, and funny enough, it turned out to be one of my favorite things in the entire house!

This new house is full of stairs (much to the dismay of my mother-in-law, right Regina, lol). Anyway, they may be tedious from time to time (although they don't really bother me because the houses I grew up in all had staircases in them so carrying laundry, etc., up and down the stairs "ain't no thang") but they are so beautiful! Especially when adorned with Christmas garland and lights. The wrapping of the staircases prompted several people at our party to ask me how long I'd been decorating for Christmas. Of course I told them I threw it all together the day after Thanksgiving because I'm awesome like that...yeah right.

It was my party, I can lie if I want to.

The party was awesome, too, so it will definitely be a tradition that will be kept up every Saturday after Thanksgiving, hopefully. So, if you missed it this year, make plans to attend next year!

Moving on...this is my homemade (by my mom) tree topper! I love it! I am searching out a few more things to stick out of it, but I still like it as is.

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care... and yes, I know Charlie's name isn't on his yet. We are still not sure how we are going to fit his whole name on the top of his stocking. My mom hand-crocheted these stockings and my mom, dad, brother and sister had our own for as long as I can remember growing up. I just had to continue the tradition, as it is one of the most important ones from my own personal childhood.

Moving on outside, you'll notice our Auburn flag is still flying high! And it will be until the Tigers win the National Championship in January, so no Christmas flag for me this year.

This wreath is one of my fave decorations. I just love the square shape! I won it in dirty Santa a few years back and it is definitely the best dirty Santa gift I've ever been lucky enough to capture. Thanks, Aunt Camie.

Another wrapped staircase. Wrapping the garland around the banisters was very time consuming, but well worth it, I think!

Here is the house all lit up at night! We are business on the outside (white lights), party on the inside(colored lights). I hope that maybe next year we'll add some lights to the eaves and porch roof.

I did this post to

1. show off my Christmas decorations,
2. satisfy those few who are demanding that I post again

and

3. to document our first Christmas in our new house.

So, I think I've accomplished that.

Onto other business...

We had our first ever family pictures made by a "for real", legit photographer. I am expecting them back any day and am really excited.

Check out her website here.

Also, I have been working feverishly to get my Christmas cards out. I'm pretty pumped about them. Trust me, they will NOT disappoint.

I haven't mentioned it on here, but I am a huge Garth Brooks fan. I went to a Garth Brooks concert when I was in the fifth grade with my best friend Amy and her mom Gina, and despite that fact that I was probably ten years old, I still remember that concert vividly. I've been to lots and lots of different concerts, and to this day, that one is still the best, bar none!

Garth like NEVER tours anymore so I'd all but given up on Mikey and I getting to see him in concert until we were old. Then came the great Nashville flood of 2010!

Because he is so awesome, Garth and his wife...a little lady you might have heard of, TRISHA YEARWOOD...are putting on an eight show charity concert and Mikey and I have tickets! We are on the third row of the lower level, like right by the stage. We are counting down the days! We are treating ourselves to this because it will apparently be a once in a lifetime opportunity, but not only that. It will have a tri-fold purpose. It will be our Christmas gift to each other, it will be his 29th birthday present which is January 31st, and it will serve as our 6 year anniversary trip which is January 29th! Talk about getting our money's worth!!

Well, that about covers it for now.

Oh, the boys are doing great, too.

Huett, Ava Claire, and Sam are playing in Sumiton Christian's basketball league and they are doing awesome.

Charlie is walking around now and says a few words like night night, bye bye, da da, ma ma, and Trisha.

The boys are doing well in school, and I'm still moving to the operating room in January!

Hopefully I'll post again before the new year, but no promises!

Happy Christmas everyone!!

Something to warm you!

2010-11-09T04:18:00.000-08:00

I've been holding on to these beach pictures for no good reason but today, for your viewing pleasure on these cool fall days, pictures of our warm fun in the sun!

We did a lot of burying in the sand.

My dad's a bigger kid than the kids themselves.

Now we can see where those blue eyes come from.

Mikey and ham-bone! Isn't my husband delicious?

Huett's time in the sand is always a little more subdued.

CCCCHHHHAAARRRLLLIIIEEE!!

MY BABY!

Geronimo!!!

Sam stayed true to his goggles almost the whole trip, despite the fact that they pushed down on his eyes like this all day.

I love the colors in these pictures!

One of the few times that I actually grace my own blog, and in a bathing suit no less. Blech!

Nap time for Archer Blaine. Look at his pout. So kissable! Oh, and Gran Gran, too!

Charlie was not a fan of this too much. He just likes the plain old pool right now. I'm sure if he could walk, it would be different.

Pretty girl! She ran the show on this trip...in fact, she IS a trip!

Diarrhea of the Blog

2010-10-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

So, once again, I apologize for the blogging hiatus.

Work has been insanely busy (and I'm about to change jobs, more on that later). Home life has been busy, of course. There are so many things I want to do, successfully blogging on things more substantive than my kids or my own life being one of them, but there just isn't enough time in the day. I told Trisha just the other day that if I could have a second career, it would be in journalism. I've read Newsweek since I was a kid (nerds unite!!) and still do, and I have a lot of original thoughts and ideas on all things political, educational, entertaining, polarizing, that I would L-O-V-E to get paid for writing about, but that isn't in the cards, now is it?!? So maybe one day when some more time presents itself I will make that happen (well, not the getting paid part). I'm not holding my breath.

.
We are in our house and it is wonderful!!

We haven't ran the air conditioner or heat in over three weeks which is awesome! For some reason, when you open all the windows, a great breeze blows through there. My dad says it is like that because the house is so tall. It is a basement with two "livable" stories on top of it, but it is really more like the height of a three story house because the basement really isn't dug into the ground. I mean one back corner of it is completely underground, but the rest of it stands tall and even has windows. Anyway, something about the height gives us nice winds and on top of the lower power bill that will surely result, we have the openness and refreshed feeling of cool, crisp, fall air all the time! I love the start of a new season.

It always feels like a new start, a rebirth of sorts
.

(even if my entire family comes down with an awful cold/sore throat every time the seasons change...what's up with that?!?).

Kidsmarket just came through and this year, for the first time ever, I decided to work the sale with my friend Lisa, and because we worked it, we got to shop really early, before the stuff had gotten picked over. To say we racked up would be an understatement! I bought 99 items and spent $430 so that's about $4 an item. And, I'm not lying when I tell you that EVERYTHING I bought was brand name. I wasn't there for "play clothes", I was there for the stuff I want to dress them in, but could never really afford. Read: Ralph Lauren, GAP, etc. Anyway, of course I enjoyed the shopping, but I really did enjoy working it, too. There were some really fun girls there, and while the work was incredibly boring, the talking was amusing and entertaining. Definitely going to be doing that from now on!

While I was at Kidsmarket, I saw a woman that I knew I recognized, but I couldn't place her. Then I remembered, she blogs too, and I've been reading her blog for quite sometime. I think what really caught my attention was her minimalistic blogging style, awesome photography, and also the fact that her two sons are named Charlie and Sam (in that order). She is pregnant with her third, and somehow I doubt she'll name him Huett (that's if its a boy, of course) but anyway, I just thought that was cool. So, on other blogs, I've read awkward stories of how complete strangers have approached them saying that they follow their blogs, and silent, awkward pauses ensue so I just let that be that, and thought I would post a comment on her blog saying that I'd seen her at Kidsmarket. Well, a few minutes later, as fate would have it, she came to my line where I was removing her tags. So, not one to hold my tongue, I said," Not to be stalker-ish, but I'm pretty sure I follow your blog". There were no crickets, no awkward silence. She seemed genuinely pleased and not at all freaked at the prospect that a complete stranger would know her sons by name, and the recent goings on in her little family. Anyway it was a little surreal because in my head, the peoples' blogs that I follow are kinda like my own personal version of celebrity, so that was pretty cool.
.

You can visit her Sam and Charlie by clicking here!

Mikey has two more classes and then he'll (or we'll) be through with his associates degree in elementary education. I've been his tutor, I guess you could say.

I have decided to take a job in the Main Operating Room where my sister works. There are a number of reasons for the change, the main one being that it will allow for me to have a schedule that will be more family-friendly. Much fewer weekends, a small fraction of the holidays that I currently have to work, and more options as far as what shifts I can work. Also, I've been doing babies for six long years, and I need a change.

Anyway, I was supposed to be starting there on next Monday, and the powers that be just told me that my transfer (along with some of my coworkers) will be stalled until the New Year.

The only feeling that I can liken this to is when I was younger and in gymnastics. Sometimes you would prep to do a back-handspring or some other tumbling pass, and your mind would be cocked and ready, you'd run or prepare to spring, and for some reason your body just wouldn't follow through. It gives you this dizzying "I'm seeing stars" kind of feeling. Like my adrenaline was all pumping and then I had had to unexpectedly slam on the brakes.

I am disappointed, but also happy to spend one last holiday season with the girls that I have grown to love as family here on the Mother-Baby unit, before I will surely miss them to within an inch of their lives :-)! They'll keep my blog blowing up, I'm sure. I'll have to do a better job of updating for you girls...especially you Brittany, even if I am just a sort of blogging hub for you!

Anyway, how's that for a giant run-on post that covers a wide variety of topics? It took me all of twenty minutes to write this. Man, maybe I really should pursue this journalism thing. You know, it's in my blood. My mom did write the Bagley/Corner section for the Community News back before it folded in the late nineties. I mean with that type of family experience, I should be writing speeches for the president.

my heart

2010-10-02T04:30:00.000-07:00

I love this kid. Who knew?!?

I could eat him with a spoon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

No sharing!

lazy morning at the beach!!

2010-09-30T04:16:00.000-07:00

We woke up pretty early, every morning at the beach, thanks to Archer. One morning, everyone left but us, so we relaxed for a little while (or tried to).

You can see Charlie licking his gums here. He had a tooth that was just about to pop through.

Yes, he was 12 and a half months old before he cut his first tooth! So was Huett. Sam was almost 10 months old before he had any. It always freaks me out when I see a six month old with a mouth full of teeth because I've never had a child with teeth when they were little babies! Everyone tells me that it's good to teethe late, so I hope they're right!

L-A-Z-Y

Lazy, too!

This picture was taken after a long morning at the beach!
Paw Paw, Sam, and most importantly, Baby (Sam's stuffed elephant lovey).

Charlie was trying to wake Mikey up.

There wasn't much relaxation to be found on our beach trip, but we tried to get it where we could!

I know one day we'll probably have to beg the kids to take a trip to the beach with us, so we just enjoy it while we can!

pretty beach pics

2010-09-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

On our annual beach trip, we took some photos at dusk (with the help of my mother)!

Some turned out great, some notsomuch. I posted my faves on here for your viewing pleasure!

None of these were going too well...

Charlie was not a fan of the sand, just like his biggest brother.

The pictures I took unplanned seemed to turn out the best.

I adore this picture of Mikey and Archer!

Ava looks like a vampire who just stepped out into the sun (for all your Twilight fans, you know what I'm talking about).

She had a fine layer of sand covering her!

I love Archer Blaine so much!

He is going to be such a big (handsome, laid-back, lovable) boy one day!

Can I just tell you Sam has all the girls in his class excited about him, which has me a little worried!

His teacher said she is going to have to split him up from her daughter because they won't stop talking, and another little girl told her grandmother that when she grows up she wants to be a cheerleader, and she's going to cheer for Sam!

I am in love with this picture! He is such a beautiful child (even if I am a little partial).

It's easy for me to take such pretty pictures when I'm given such easy subjects!

I love this one and the next one!

My boys!

And me!

Yay!

Charlie's first birthday!

2010-09-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we threw our baby boy his first birthday party!

It was at our new house, so we had to make signs to tell all of our friends and family how to get there!

Mikey was my assistant while hanging the signs!

The big boys thought that was really cool!

Party prep was really hectic because the painters finished about 24 hours before the party was going to start .

We pulled it together, though, just in time! Sweet Taiden came! Could she be any more roly poly?!?

I love it!

Briley makes another appearance at one of the Hill boy's birthday parties!

Taiden...again...I just couldn't resist!

Our theme was obviously Auburn football, so what is more appropriate than a tiger bounce house!

I climbed in it with Charlie so he could try it out. He wasn't really sure about it because there were lots of his brothers' friends jumping in there, but he managed to crawl himself out!

Love him!! He is so handsome!

Get me Maw Maw!

Sweet pic! Notice how Charlie's sucking his top lip in.

He keeps making that funny face lately. It cracks me up!

;-)

Cousins at play!

Dee-wicious birthday cake (as Huett and Sam would say)

Once again, Olexa's in Mountain Brook!

Mikey and my dad had a top priority the day of the party...buy Mikey a new big screen so all the guys could watch the game during the party! Success!

Don't worry, they didn't stay all holed up in there the entire party.

Just when Auburn went into overtime, but came out with a WIN!!

It's cake time!

Let the fun begin!

Singing Happy Birthday!

Hmmm...interesting!

Mommy want a taste?

His brothers were there to help him out!

And he wanted to feed them, too.

Slowly but surely, until...

Mikey gave him his first drink of Dr. Pepper. Obviously he is just like his daddy and brothers. He loved it and screamed everytime Mikey took it away from him. That was pretty much the end of the cake.

Five minutes later, it was time for presents, and all Charlie wanted was a bottle, so his bro's helped him open his presents.

His favorite present was a Toy Story riding thing that he can sit on and be pushed around, and his fat belly looked so cute on it!I mean, who knew a baby's belly could get so big ?!?

So sweet!

He had a great party, even if it was two weeks late!!

Happy first birthday Charlie!

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy

2010-09-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

Trisha, that title was for you!

Can I just say that some newly imposed internet censorship at work has really put a cramp in my blogging style. I am hoping that it is just a glitch in the system, but I'm not so sure that it isn't a permanent change (insert frowny face here).

And just to keep it real, I cannot wrap my head around squeezing one more second out of my packed full days at home to sit down and organize a well-written, witty, thoughtful, entertaining post. What with three young sons, preschool, both Mikey and I working full time jobs ( with MUCH recent overtime for the both of us...insert stressed out face here), Mikey in school online full-time, a new house, new bills, blah blah blah, I guess this blog is the one thing that gives, unfortunately.

That's not to say that I'm done blogging, but without being able to do it during my downtime at work (which there hasn't been much of recently anyway due to UAB housing it's very own baby-boom) I am just struggling to feel inspired to write.

Anyway, I just wanted you all to know what was up.

I am constantly trying to keep up with everything. Charlie turned one Saturday and I haven't even planned a party for him yet (well I started on the invitations today), but that is so not like me.

Honestly, there just aren't enough minutes in the day and I beat myself up about it enough without anyone else reminding me of my shortcomings.

I really don't think people can understand all the things I have on my plate. I feel...no, I know so much is riding on me that sometimes I just want to climb into bed and forget about it all. Well, not the kids, but the other things, you know. I'm not complaining or asking for sympathy, I just needed to put this out there. I feel like people expect so much out of me, and sometimes that pressure is just too much. Whether I have forgotten some of their school stuff (Huett turned in an assignment a day late), failed to schedule doctors visits (Charlie is one and still hasn't had his 9 month or 12 month checkup..good thing he's not in daycare), felt over tired at work, or don't have our new house in perfect order like I want it just yet, it just wears on you. Such is life. I try to schedule things, but in the last month, I just honestly have not had one. single. day. where I've sat at home. Granted the catalyst for this started with the purchase of our new house, and the all-encompassing move. On top of that, add Mikey and I both working more overtime in the last month that either of us has in years, and it makes for some overwhelming circumstances.

I told Mikey last night that life goes in cycles and right now we are just on a down-swing. Our upswing is coming, Thank GOD we get along because marriage troubles would probably send me right over the edge. It's nice to have a partner in all this! We should all pray for the people who have to go it alone. They are, no doubt, stronger than I will hopefully ever have to be

(read: Trisha)

Anyway, this time next month, life should be back to normal. Apparently the transition from one house to the next is always overwhelming and more expensive than one had planned. Live and learn, I guess. Also, mandatory overtime ends next week (I am working 12 hour shifts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week lord, help me) and this weekend we are going to the beach (on our good looks and the good will of my parents, I guess) so that will no doubt lift my spirits as the boys excitement is at maximum capacity.

Oh, I feel better getting these thoughts out and into the blogosphere.

Just disregard everything you just read as that was more for me than for any of you reading this. Sometimes I just need to vent, and justify my feelings by writing them out.

We are still blessed beyond our wildest imaginations with three fantastic, interesting, funny, entertaining (and unimaginably handsome)sons, our dream house (which we got a dream deal on), good jobs, a great marriage, fabulous FALL weather knocking down our door, football, and fun in our forecast!

Now if I can just get good ol' UAB to rethink their internet restrictions, I could get back in the blogging ballgame for real, ha!

Charlie Lane

2010-09-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

Charlie Lane Hill is one year old today! The weather is perfection, it's cool outside, it's sunny, and it's the first day of college football. This is a day deserving of his birthday!

We love you, Charlie!

I will write you an official birthday post, but right now, you are standing at my knees and looking at me with those big blue and tan eyes, so I think I will live in the moment and spent EVERY second savoring this day with you!

I love you more than life!

Happy birthday sweet angel!

APCO softball Tournament 2010

2010-08-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've been gone a while!

To say that things have been busy around here would be the understatement of the decade!

But back before things got so busy, we took an impromptu weekend trip to Oxford, Alabama to watch Mikey play in Alabama Power's annual softball tournament!

We knew we were going (without Charlie b/c it was 96 degrees that day) all day Saturday, but late in the evening Friday, we decided to head on down and spend the night! Mikey's first game was at 8:30 the next morning which meant we would've had to have been on the road at 4:30 AM which we were not looking forward to, so this solved that problem!

The boys (and their parents) were so excited! There is just something about spending the night in a hotel room that we LOVE!

So, the next morning, the games were delayed two hours due to rain so we got to sleep in and take the boys swimming at the hotel pool before we checked out and headed to the games!

Aren't they truly their father's sons?? I sent Mikey to Hibbett's on his way home from work that week to pick up Sam a new pair of "basketball shoes" (that's what Sam was requesting) because his shoes were too little, and he comes home with all new outfits for him and the boys so they could have matching Jordan shorts, shirts, and he even bought Huett another new pair of shoes. Let me just say that I learned a valuable lesson the day he came home with all of that (expensive) merchandise. Don't send him to a sporting goods store alone, especially when it comes to shopping for the boys. The man has no restraint. He would've bought something for Charlie but he said he just couldn't find anything in his size.

So here they are at the park, bright and early! Aren't they handsome?? I can't wait until Charlie can walk so that I can take them all with me! We don't do very many activities by ourselves ( we travel with some part of our families for almost everything we do) and this is one thing I love to take my boys to! Can't wait 'til it's all three ( or four) of them!

Aren't they all handsome! And grown-looking! Sam's shoes are Under Armor but if you ask him, he says they are Under Arm shoes! That's funny! I laugh every time!

Mikey's on third, about to score!

He played first base all day and he was really good at it. I guess being 6 foot 4 inches helps him stretch out and catch those wild balls! There was a monster of a guy playing short stop, and when he would throw that ball at Mikey like a rocket, his life flashed before my very eyes. Seriously, the speed at which he was throwing the ball, it would KILL someone if it hit them in the head! Luckily, Mikey caught it most of the time!

Pop-up!!

Throughout the course of the day, he hit four home runs, like over the fence home runs!! That was exciting for me and the boys!

Glazer was the coach of the team, and he is so funny. We all went to eat lunch at The Olive Garden between games and Glazer and the Perkins Brothers and another set of twin brothers that were playing kept me laughing the entire time! And yes, I was the only girl there, which is just fine with me! I could totally call myself their "Team Mom" because I spent a good part of the day getting them bottles of water, but I guess it's the least I could do!

In between games, Mikey would take the boys out to play and run the bases! They loved that, of course!

They still don't quite get the concept of how the game is played, but they are getting better at it. They continually ask to play, but after Mikey coached them in ragball last year, we promised ourselves that we wouldn't let them play again until they were old enough to go out onto the field by themselves and bat as well as field the ball without crying to come off the field to sit with us. It was so stressful, for us and them. Also, the 5, 6, 7 year old teams where we live practice FIVE nights a week and have games on the weekend. That is insanity to me! Can you say BURNOUT?? I mean seriously, how many professional baseball players do you think started playing baseball at five years old six days a week? Anyway, we'll let them play, maybe when they're seven, or six if they really beg. I don't think it will be Huett begging, anyway. So that gives us another year to wait for Sam to play.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't want them to play. Not at all. I just don't want to push them into playing. Some of my fondest memories are of spending all day at the ballpark when my brother played every summer when we were growing up. He probably started playing around seven years old and he was pretty good so maybe my boys will follow in his footsteps (except the part where he hurt his back playing his senior year and still has back trouble today)

wimp

I love baseball y'all! I am super competitive and I just don't get it when people say that baseball is a slow sport. I mean every pitch is exciting to me! Oh I hope one of my boys (or Archer) plays! My whole family would be obsessed, I think

This field looks like wet red dirt, but it is really crushed brick. It left Mikey with a pretty significant strawberry (that's the giant skinned place on his shin that looks like someone filleted his outer layer off).

It was filled with dirt and when he went to the trainer's tent, they rinsed it with normal saline and proceeded to scrub it clean, and I have not seen Mikey in that much pain since he got his last name tattooed on his upper back when we were dating in '04.

If you notice, the ground outside the fence is wet. It came a fast and furious Alabama thunderstorm, there one minute with lightning and thunder, gone the next leaving sunshine and cloudless skies. For some reason, Huett was terrified of the storm. We were outside under a shelter, but it was raining sideways so there really was no escaping the rain. He calmed down eventually but he was near hysterics for the majority of that storm. Thankfully it came and went pretty quickly.

This picture gives you a pretty good look at his strawberry. He got that on his very first trip around the bases. And just to be honest, he would've been safe without sliding, but that's just between me and you.

Here he is, putting his 78 inches to good use.

At the APCO tournament, they had a moonwalk (or bounce house, whatever you call it in your neck of the woods) and a giant slide. They also had a train that went around the ball fields.

Riding the trains provided us with a nice breeze in between ballgames. The boys were enamored with the train, and I think I busted their bubble when I told them that it was just a lawnmower with a train-painted box sitting on top. I can only imagine their disappointment when they find out Santa Clause isn't real.

Here they come, down the slide!

Sam looks a little apprehensive. That isn't an expression that crosses his face very often.

There was a playground just down from one of the ball fields. The boys had a great time running back and forth and telling me what they were doing "all by themselves" at the playground. I don't think they realized I was watching them the entire time! You can see the playground fenced in behind the bounce house and the only exit was that gate you can see. So it was pretty perfect!

They are so competitive with one another. It's becoming an issue lately, but I guess a little healthy competition can't hurt?

I caught myself at the pool yesterday telling them that they couldn't be brothers anymore if they couldn't stop arguing with each other. Oh, the things we say when we're frustrated and tired. I'm sure I'll come to regret saying that when they start telling me they don't want to be brothers anymore. Can you say backfire?!?

When they started deflating the slide, the boys were mesmerized. They could not wrap their little heads around the fact that those things could fold up so small. It's funny to watch them mull things over in their heads. It's like you can almost see the wheels turning.

Now, back to the game. Mikey hit two... count 'em, TWO grand slams during the game!! I've watched him play a lot of softball in our seven years together and he was playing better on this day than I think I've ever seen. This was the first time he's played in over a year so I was pretty impressed!

I kept meaning to catch one of the big hits on video camera, but I never did :-(

It was very exciting, though!

Celebratory gathering at home plate!!

Obligatory man-hug!

For a 28 year old with a wife and three kids (which would be enough stress to age most men) I think he is working it pretty nicely, don't you agree?

This man has the most seniority over all the guys in the whole Birmingham Division. He's been with the Power company forty something years. He plays travel softball and his wife was there with him. She was so cool and she liked talking to the boys a lot. I can just picture Mikey and I in our sixties, still going to softball games. At least I hope we're still kickin' it by then.

This is the monster rain cloud that ended all the fun. We watched it slowly creep towards us from MILES away as everyone kept getting phone calls about how bad it was (not tornadic, just super-rainy). We all ran to our cars (which freaked Huett out all over again) and then it hit. We waited for about thirty minutes, hoping it would pass. All the coaches met to decide whether to postpone it until the morning or cancel it all together.

Ultimately they decided to cancel it all together because the majority of the teams (which came from all over Alabama and parts of Georgia) weren't prepared to stay another night, including us! We had to get back home to our Charlie, after all! It was quite the bummer, because we were all tortured with the fact that we abandoned that tournament with no clear winner and there was an entire table FULL of trophies that no one received. Also I'm pretty sure that they were going to go on to win the whole thing, but that is neither here nor there.

No worries, The Cutters (that's their team name. It is some kind of lingo for hard workers in the power company...) will return next year, with a vengeance!

We are officially moving this weekend, so wish us luck on that and feel free to show up and help if you so desire (I'm kidding, no really).

Also, to Mikey's sweet relatives in Florida, whom I've never had the priveledge of meeting, I know this is belated, but I wanted to say thank you so much for the card and gift you sent us last month. It came on the day of Huett's fifth birthday party, so while I'm not sure that is what you intended us to spend it on, you can be glad to know that your gift went directly toward furnishing his party. We'll just pretend that we didn't use some of it to buy the balloons that Sam let go before the party even started ;-)

I've been meaning to send you a thank you card in the mail, but somewhere in the packing of our house, I've misplaced the envelope. Not the card, just the envelope, go figure. Anyway, we really do appreciate it.

We are tentatively planning a trip to Disney World for next Summer/Fall and I'm sure we'll be making a detour to Lakeland as Mikey and I both have relatives there (go figure) so we would be delighted to plan a visit so we can meet. I know you guys would be proud to see the man Mikey has grown into. I wish his Paw Paw were still around because he would still be beaming with pride. Also, you must meet our boys! They are Mikey's sons, no doubt about that!

So, thanks again!

House pictures soon, everyone else, I promise!

The rest...

2010-08-11T14:23:00.001-07:00

So, I left you all with the tale of the selling of our first home, our starter home, if you will. Now if you'll just give me a few minutes of your time, I'll regale you with the story of how we came too acquire our new home as well!

So, it all started back in March when a friend of mine (who will one day be the guest of honor at our house warming) called me and asked me if Mikey and I were still looking for a house in the Bagley area. I told her we weren't really actively looking because we hadn't actually even put our house up for sale yet. She told me that she knew of a house that was about to be put up on the market that would be available for short sale(which is when a buyer offers less than the original owner owes, and the bank has to agree to take a loss to prevent the house from going into foreclosure). I knew which house she was talking about, and I loved that house! So, I sprung into action! I called my old pal Susie from my days at the bank because I knew she would know how I could get in touch with the girl who owned it.

In a brazen move that paid off tremendously, I called her up. I told her that she didn't know me, but that I heard that she was trying to sell her house, and that Mikey and I would love to come look at it. She obliged and we met her that afternoon and looked around! When she was showing us around one thing led to another and I asked her about how much she was going to be asking for the house. She told me she just wanted enough to pay it off, and she told me the approximate amount, and I, of course, made a mental note of it. Well, then her realtor showed up, and told me they were listing it for sixty thousand more than the owner had told me she wanted, and I knew that was out of our price range, so we left, and that was that...or so I thought.

The next day, my brother called (he's my real estate agent) and I told him about the night before, with a loaded sigh, basically telling him to forget about it. I told him about the conversations we'd had with the owner, and the agent and he said, "Well, let's just make them an offer, and if nothing happens, then oh well." So, we did. A month or so passed with no news. I was persistent, and at my urging, so was Chad. He called every few weeks just to ask the status of the sell, and time after time we were told that our offer still stood.

April, May, and June came and went with not much news. honestly, by this time, I was over it, and had pretty much given up. It was also in this month that we found out that we had basically sold our house right out from under ourselves, so...that was a little unnerving.

Well, early in July, the realtor told us that the bank had accepted our offer, but that we were waiting on the PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) company to accept it, but that she felt certain they would!! Yay Us!! That's what we'd been waiting for four months to hear.

Shortly thereafter, she told Chad to proceed with the appraisal for our loan, and off we went!

We closed on the house we'd been fighting five months to get just six days after we sold our house! Talk about perfect timing!

So, here we are, owners of a new home, one I never truly thought we'd get, and I could NOT be more excited about it. This house is perfect for us! And I'll tell you why:

It has plenty of parking and driveway for our friends and family, it has a big yard, but not too big for Mikey(and eventually the boys) to cut and weed eat in a few hours.

All four of the bedrooms are upstairs, which is ideal for us now because the boys would be afraid to have us all the way downstairs at bedtime, and perfect in the future, so that we can keep a closer eye on them and ensure that they aren't trying to sneak out. Who am I kidding? They are perfect angels and would never even think of doing something like that.

It has two different dens which is handy when the boys want to watch cartoons and we don't. It is on the end of a cul de sac so the boys can ride their bikes in the street (while I watch them from the porch, of course). It has a full basement so Mikey can finally orchestrate his (small) tool collection just like he likes it. It also has a "Man Cave" that can be finished in the future, and for which Mikey has big plans.

It also has a fenced in backyard, so if and when we decide to get a dog, we have a backyard ready and waiting!

When we were looking at the house, we were always rushed through, and there were lots of cool details that I never noticed. It has crown molding in almost every room, it has a water filtration system that has a specific spout on the sink (too cool!), it has a central vacuum system (for those of you who don't know, that's where you have an outlet where you just plug the hose into the wall, and the dirt, etc., actually goes to a canister in the basement). We had one of those at the house I grew up in and it was pretty cool. And my favorite feature of all, on the staircase, there are actual vent lights along the walls to light up the stairwell. Fancy Pants, no?!? There are outlets and cable hook-ups everywhere (six different cable hookups in the one den, which is ultra-convenient and will allow for multiple different furniture arrangements, which were severely limited in our old house.

So, we had the carpet shampooed Monday, and the painters (who are painting every single room, and touching up all the trim) started today. They are, no doubt, the most vital part of restoring this house to it's previous condition, as it SEVERELY needs to be painted. Anyway, we should be moved in towards the end of this month, and that is right on schedule!

I will be taking before and after pictures because the transformation will be magical, well to me atleast. Mikey and I were physically sore from working so hard this weekend: me cleaning, him doing yardwork.

Busy month for busy parents with busy jobs. But fun stuff!!

SO much to tell!!

2010-08-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

I guess I'll do one post on the selling of our house and then another post on the buying of our new house...so for those of you who didn't already know, you understood that correctly!! We've already sold our house and bought another. I was just scared to jinx anything by mentioning it on here until all contracts were signed, and there was no going back!!

No pictures, though, yet. Only because we closed on our new house yesterday (details to come) and I had to work today, which sucks because everyone is over there working and I'm stuck here :-(

Anyway, back to the selling of our house. As you all remember, I wrote a long detailed post about our old house, which was very near and dear to my heart. We knew (or at least I did) that when we bought that house for our first, that it would only be temporary, and we would be moving before Huett started kindergarten.

So, it was time to face the music, and get the ball rolling. And in this market, I just knew it was going to take months or even years (trust me I know people who've been trying to sell their house for YEARS, right April T.)! Anyway, we kinda put the word out...Mikey and I are pretty much open books, not embarrassed to discuss finances or money, which I know is bad etiquette, but whatever. Just doesn't bother us! Anyway, it's a good thing we did.

Our friends Cody and Whitney told us about another friend that was wanting to buy her first house, and they thought ours would be perfect.

Shortly thereafter I wrote the post on here with photos and a house description, but by this time, she had already seen the house. We showed it to one other couple, and before too long, she was back a second time, and this time she brought reinforcements with her! I took that as a good sign, and I was right!!

A week or so later, she called and wanted to buy it!

I was so happy because I do think our house is more than perfect for a first home, and great for kids! I know it will make her as happy as it's made us!

So we scheduled our closing, and the plot thickens...

Well, not really, but that sounded exciting, didn't it??

We went to our scheduled closing after thinking we had crossed all of our T's and dotted all of our I's.

Upon arrival we were shocked and surprised to find out that part of our wood inspection didn't pass. No one bothered to call and tell us that in the four days since the inspection, so we called the guy who did it, and he said it wasn't really anything, but due to the condensation from the air conditioning ducts, there was a potential for mold.

Hello, it was the END OF JULY! He came at 4:00 in the afternoon, and I'm pretty sure it was 100+ degrees outside! Of course the air conditioning ducts were sweating. That's what they do.

Anyway, he gave us no real solution for this except to put new wrap around the ducts, or have HIS COMPANY put some vents in, which I am sure they would've gotten paid a pretty penny to do!

So, long story short, the lawyer at our closing deemed that inspector uncooperative, and we were allowed to hire another inspector to come out and do the inspection.

It passed with flying colors, and after all was said and done, I talked to him (we made no mention prior to his inspection about what the previous inspection said until he had completed his) and he said he saw no sign of any issue AT ALL, and that unfortunately, some companies do that at closings because they get you caught between a rock and a hard place, and know that you will be desperate (which we were) and willing to pay THEM for whatever repairs are needed. So we rescheduled the closing for the next day, and luckily for us and her, everything closed fine!

To say that I was stressed out about this situation that was seemingly completely out of our control is an incredible understatement! Selling a house is beyond stressful!

Not to mention the fact that we, along with the people that owned the house before us, had paid yearly for an inspection that obviously was useless. I mean how can you say something didn't pass inspection when it was YOUR JOB to be inspecting it every year for the last 30 years in the first place! Don't even get me started! It passed, that's all that matters. I digress...

Anyway, the happy new homeowner is so gracious to let us remain in our house (as renters) until we get moved into our new house, which we are attempting to do at a feverish pace! Well, feverish for the last 24 hours because that's how long we've had the keys!

I'll follow up soon with a post about the unbelievable story of how the selling of this house and the buying of our new house (which was a long shot in the first place) fell together better than if I'd been able to plan it myself.

Until then, we'll be taking volunteers (ha!) and working diligently to move into our new casa!

And the boys are simply beside themselves with excitement~

I still don't think they are as excited as mommy, though!!

broken glass

2010-08-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

These two

are too funny!

They play pretty well together, but occasionally they will fight over a toy. If Charlie sees Archer coming after something he's playing with, he starts shaking it in an attempt to keep Arch from snatching it away from him. They are so funny!

Sometimes Charlie will be sitting down, and Archer will come and sit right down on top of him.

Yesterday, I was holding Archer, and Charlie crawled over and pulled up to stand. He had his hand on my leg. Archer shoved Charlie's hand off of my leg. Well, when that didn't scare Charlie away, Archer shoved Charlie in the face and made him fall. (He got a little spanking for that) But the kid's got some attitude.

So imagine our reaction when we were prepping for Huett's birthday party, and we heard a loud crash from the dining room.

Arch-Man had struck again.

Mom was bummed, but on the bright side, the picture might just look better without the glass because now it doesn't have that bright glare.

I'm surprised, because out of seven SMALL grandchildren, that is the worst thing I can ever remember being broken.

Not too bad, huh?!?

hay ride

2010-07-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

The finale of the party was the hayride. Remember this was a camping themed party.

Mikey's step-dad Gary brought the trailer, and the big strong truck, and we were off!

We had that thing packed to the brim. About 1/5 of the way into the trip, we picked up Ava Claire's new-found stray, Chocolate Puddintain (Yes, that's what she named him), and he rode all the way home sitting in Regina's lap. It was hilarious!

An awesome to end the party!
Who said Hayrides are reserved for Ho-downs and Halloween?

presents

2010-07-29T02:19:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of Huett's party presents!

He got a ton, as usual. Many of which are still being dispersed to this day.

His Maw Maw, Gary, and his Aunt Shell bought him a Mustang Convertible. He asked for it months ago, and knew it was coming for his birthday. I guess he forgot b/c when he opened his eyes and saw it, he was so excited that he got embarassed. He came and laid his head down on me, and I told him he needed to go hug them, because they are the ones that bought it for him.

He immediatly got in the driver's seat, and we piled the other boys in.

He just kept wanting to kiss all of us. It was so funny! That's not the reaction I was expecting. When he got down out of my lap, he went up to Sam and did the same thing he is doing to Charlie in this picture.

It's like he was excited for all of them, not just himself.

Such a good big brother!

Charlie was loving the sweet ride!

Isn't that a sweet ride?

Yet another pinnacle moment of this five year old's birthday!

water balloons

2010-07-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a few days since I've posted, and I have good reason. Trust me, when what I've got going on right now settles down, I'll tell you all the details. Right now, though, I'm stressed, and it sucks!

Onto happier times. At Huett's party, we had one awesome water balloon fight.

I don't know where he ever heard of water balloons, but he'd been asking for them for several weeks prior to his party. So, imagine his surprise when he was introduced to an entire garbage can completely full of little water balloons!!

I absolutely love men with little girls (it doesn't take much for this sentence to head in the wrong direction, but don't let it, you perverts!) Anyway, I just love the way they are looking down at her like they are going to rush in and do whatever she's asking. Too cute!

Anyway, it didn't take long for the kids to start attacking one another!

Even the little ones got in on the action!

The more they threw out of the garbage can, the deeper they had to reach in to get them. That got pretty interesting because none of them were very tall.

Cocked, locked and ready!

Ava gave up on throwing the balloons, and resorted to crushing them over people's heads.

She had it down to a pretty exact method. And, I think she successfully soaked more people than anyone else, so she gets points for being resourceful.

Seriously, he had the best time, ever!

Sam and Huett were kinda teamed up, going after people together. It gave me a glimpse of what they are like on the playground. Every time I go to pick them up at school, they are together playing on the playground. I guess they'll stick together, and this was good proof!

Not sure who they were after, but this is a perfect example! Somebody was going down at the hands of the Hill brothers. Well, two of them at least!

I don't know who his aim was set on in this picture.

The adults all got a good laugh out of watching the kids try to attack each other!

He was coming after Mikey and me. Good thing he didn't fire that shot.

The water balloon fight was all thanks to us.

Just two solid hours of filling up and tying 100 water balloons in the 90 degree heat, at the expense of our fingernails, were totally worth it.

No doubt, this was another one of the highlights of the party!
Huett's a mean little stinker. He keeps rubbing it in Sam's face that he can't have water balloons at his birthday party because it will be too cold outside.

Oh, brother!

Fifth Birthday Bash!!

2010-07-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Huett's big party was last weekend, and can I just say, it was better than I could've imagined!

We've planned a lot of big birthday parties for Huett over the years...there was the

Giant Water Slide, the super-hero party, and two pool parties, but this one far exceeded the others!

It's not that I didn't do as much preparation, or have as much planned for the other parties, because, God knows I did. He is just getting to be such a big boy, and he was just in his element. There wasn't a single tear shed, which is a big deal for him, especially when he is the center of attention!

The turn out was great and most of our friends and family were able to attend!

Some friends that had been meaning to attend for years but hadn't been able to for one reason or another!
My friend Brooke from work brought her son Drew, and daughter Abby. Oh, yeah...and her husband, too!

Of course, Ava Claire was there to celebrate!

Charlie

(feeling okay despite having surgery that morning--relax, it was just tubes in his ears)
and his aunt Shell!

Alex and Christina (wow she looks just like her daddy)!

AmIright??

As you all know,the theme was camping, and there was much fun to be had inside the tents!

We had a good crowd! I'd say fifty or sixty people!

Archer roved the yard all day long, getting into a variety of different things, but still having a blast!

Harper is one of the cutest red-heads I've ever seen, but she gets some heavy competition from her big sister Henley, who is so. stinkin. pretty.(and has red hair to die for)

Oh what a pair. I can only imagine what these two will get into one day. It makes my head hurt!

Huett, and Lilly Rylan, one of his pre-school mates! She comes to all the parties, and we're glad she does! The boys were oh, so excited when she showed up. Huett really wanted his friends from school to come, and he kept asking if they were. Hopefully when he starts real school, more of his actual friends from school will be able to come because he would just be so excited about that!

This is Briley, one of my best friends from high schools little girl!

There were tons of "little kids" as Huett would call them, at the party! Let's face it, Mikey and I got a jump-start on most of our friends, so there aren't many with five year olds. Most of them are just getting started! I was still so happy to have the "little kids" there!

B-A-N-A-N-A-S! She is beyond cute to me!

Wow, I need a little girl!

Snaggle Tooth hopped a ride on Ava, the work horse! HA! Fun!

Do I sense a love connection between these two? According to her mother, she was just bossing him around the whole time. I think he was just being a gentleman!

There's me, in action! Not something you get to see very often-if ever- on here!

Alex, again!

If her and Archer got together in, oh, say thirty years,

I'd love to see how blue their kids' eyes would turn out!

Huett had such a great time at his birthday party, I'm overwhelmed just thinking about what I'll have to do to top it!

Well, I guess I better get on it because Charlie turns one September 4th!

Gotta go brainstorm some ideas for another bash!

Wish Me luck!

Sew Gran'd

2010-07-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

I just updated my mom's embroidery blog with some new designs, so you should ALL check it out!
Keep in mind that she has hundreds of different designs to choose from, so just because you don't see it on her blog, that doesn't mean she can't do it! If you have an idea, let her know and she can probably make it happen! GO visit her here!!

Character Strengths

2010-07-24T10:05:00.001-07:00

Today, as I was sitting at work between deliveries, I was reading a blog that I LOVE by a local girl that I have never met, yet feel like I know, through reading her blog. You should all check it out because I love her (is it weird that I feel like I know her well, yet she doesn't even know I exist?). Anyway, she did a survey that lists your character strengths, and posted a link to it. So, of course I took the assessment myself. After answering 240...yes, TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY questions, it tells you your top five character strengths.

Mine were:

Top Strength,

Humor and Playfulness:

You like to laugh and tease. Bringing smiles to other people is important to you. You try to see the light side of all situations.

Second Strength,

Perspective (Wisdom):

Although you may not think of yourself as wise, your friends hold this view of you. They value your perspective on matters and turn to you for advice. You have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others and to yourself.

Third Strength,

Social Intelligence:

You are aware of the motives and feelings of other people. You know what to do to fit in to different social situations, and you know what to do to put others at ease.

Fourth Strength,

Capacity to love and be loved:

You value close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing and caring are reciprocated. The people to whom you feel most close are the same people who feel most close to you.

Fifth Strength,

Hope, optimism, and future-mindedness:

You expect the best in the future, and you work to achieve it. You believe that the future is something that you can control.

I feel like these are pretty true to form, and accurate for the most part. What do you guys think?? If you do the survey yourself (there are several others on the site, too), comment and tell me what your strengths were!

Click here to access the site! You'll have to register first, but it only takes a second! Happy questioning!

balloons

2010-07-22T07:50:00.001-07:00

So, I've always been the kinda girl who loves balloons at a birthday party. The more, the merrier! So, Huett's birthday was no exception. I bought 25 red, 25 white, and 25 blue helium quality balloons at Hobby Lobby. The morning of the party, I took them to Wal-Mart to have them blown up.

In case you didn't know, it only costs $0.25 per balloon to have them blown up, and tied, and they even provide the ribbon. That is way cheaper than the ridiculous helium tanks you buy individually from Wal-Mart for $30 that only inflate like thirty balloons.

And those tanks are so wasteful, too, because you just throw them away.

Anyway, we went to pick them up just an hour before the party started.

Like I said, I always get balloons for parties that I throw. Well, this time, right when I walked out the door of the store, a huge gust of wind blew up and the three separate bundles of balloons got completely intertwined. My plan to put some in our car and some in Mikey's aunt Michelle's car went out the window.

It was here when I realized what was going to have to happen.
Yep, this is exactly what you think it is. Mikey took one for the team (more specifically, for me), and rode in the back of the truck, holding these balloons, all the way to my parent's house.

He held the balloons tight, thinking he was hiding from the other drivers, but everybody who's anybody knows he drives that truck. So, no hiding the fact that if I'm behind the wheel, then he's behind the balloons!
The boys got a HUGE kick out of that, too!

Anyway, we were cutting it close at this point, so we dropped the boys and the balloons off at my parent's house, and that was my first mistake!

Mikey and I rushed home to change clothes.
Our game plan was to rush back to mom's, change the boys' clothes, and distribute the 75 balloons at the subdivision entrance, the mailbox, on the hayride trailer, and around the tables.
Upon arrival at moms, we rushed out of the truck to get the balloons when I was approached by my sister. She said, "You need to go talk to Sam." I was confused by her somber expression and didn't really understand what she meant. I said, "about what?" She said, "the balloons!"
Long story short, somehow, amidst all the adults that were around my parents house, Sam managed ( with Ava Claire's help I'm told) to get 75... count 'em
Seventy-Five
balloons and release them into the clear blue sky!
I was shocked...and Mikey was disgusted. But there was no time to dwell on it, so I made lemons into lemonade. After the party I told Sam, "If you wanted Papa Hill and Popeye to know about the party, we could've just sent up a few balloons, but I bet they had one big birthday party in the sky with all seventy five of Huett's birthday balloons!

...KIDS

There's a party in my tummy...so yummy so yummy!

2010-07-21T02:21:00.000-07:00

I debated about where to get Huett's birthday cake for a while. I wanted to order locally to prevent myself from having to traipse all the way to Birmingham the day of the party. Then before I had made a decision, I found out Charlie was getting tubes in his ear on the morning of the party, so Mikey and I were all going to be in Birmingham. That's what sealed my decision!

We ordered Huett's 2nd birthday cake from Olexa's Cafe in downtown Homewood after I saw the cake in Birmingham Baby Magazine. I was told that it was the most delicious cake EVAH by numerous party attendees, so delicious, might I add, that I never got to taste it because it was gone! Well, I've also always been in charge of Ava Claire's birthday cakes (what can I say? Cute cakes are kinda my thing) so when her 2nd birthday followed in September, I ordered her cake from there. It WAS delicious, just like everyone said it would be! Anyway, the years after that, I ventured out and tried different bakeries (Charlsie's in Gardendale, Publix{I have a weakness for their whipped icing}, and Tater Jane's) and they were all great, making cute cakes (well, not Publix, so much, but Batman was what I needed and Publix had it so...) that tasted great. When I found out that we were going to be so close to Mountain Brook (he had his surgery at Children's South on Acton Road) there just was no other option!! I had to go back to Olexa's!!

The literal "icing on the cake"? They took Huett's invitations and personalized the cake to match! I knew I wanted a round cake, and I just loved how they put the decorations around the cake instead of on top!!

And the actual decorations were made of icing, too, which is another reason I love Olexa's!

Neither myself, or the boys are fond of fondant(haha!!) so I was glad to see that they could make cute detailed designs without using fondant!

Huett picked out the candles at Wal-Mart. Cute, huh? Anyway, this cake was so incredibly moist and delicious, you would swear that it had just been taken from the oven and cooled!

Olexa's specializes in the most amazing, beautiful wedding cakes. A friend of mine told me that if you lunch at Olexa's you can order a slice of wedding cake off the menu, and they bring it to you warm!! I cannot even imagine!

So, I know what some of you might be thinking. A whole post, just for the cake? Is that really necessary? Well, in my world it is. My mouth is watering just thinking about another slice of it. Maybe I should do a whole post about previous birthday cakes my sons and nieces and nephews have had...There have been some super cute ones!! I'll think about it!

Party Prep

2010-07-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

So, I've been disenchanted with blogging this week, more content to stalk other people's blogs than to actually blog myself. Busy just does not cover it. Anyway, I have an array of birthday posts coming, just as soon as I can narrate all the pictures that I have uploaded. I figured party prep is an excellent place to start.

This was the food table (as if you couldn't already tell). I don't really know why I am including it, but whatever. I am.

I went a little cupcake crazy. Something came over me when I was standing in the cake mix aisle, and I was trying to decide which kind to make. I knew that I was going to be cheating on my diet that day, and I just wanted to have options, you know?!?

This was a pile of all the sweets/drinks for the party. My MIL hadn't yet delivered her portion of the party supplies, which include 80...EIGHTY hot dogs, with buns, chips and dip!

Needless to say, this party didn't end up saving us any money, which is part of the reason I wanted to have it at home. Oh well. It's the best birthday party he's ever had, and the kid's had some cool parties. He definitely had more fun at this one than any of the years prior.

I made thirty-six jars of m&ms, teddy grahams, and marshmallows as the "party gift". They turned out so cute!

They were a big hit...and tasty too. Perfect mini-smores for a bunch of preschoolers!

Will be back soon with some more pictures of the actual party!

(if life grants me the time to blog)!

Five, seriously?!?

2010-07-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Well, the day has finally arrived. I can remember how distant this day seemed when he was born; how distant it seemed on his fourth birthday; alas, it is here. As always, it's bittersweet, the passing of another year! Five is just such a milestone! Pretty soon it'll be kindergarten and backpacks, homework and ballgames! We absolutely could not be more proud, or more blessed with such an intelligent, sensitive, caring first son!

So, in honor of the big day, he had cupcakes brought to him at The Ivy League!

He requested Spiderman, and I could not find any cupcake toppers to use. I had given up and told him that I was just going to do red and blue sprinkles, and he was all right with that.

After I dropped him off this morning at school, I was headed home to start making cupcakes, when, "Eureeka!" I had an idea!! I remembered back to when I painted his face like Spiderman, and thought I could do something comparable to that, but on his cupcakes! They turned out great, if I do say so myself (and I always do)!

48 strong...needless to say, my trigger finger is numb, seriously, from holding down the icing nozzle.
These are pretty awesome, aren't they?? I think I am only so excited about these because before this idea, I had all but given up on the cool Spiderman cupcakes that he wanted. And if you guys know me, I don't give up on much, so I was pretty disappointed.

Even though he knew I was coming at lunchtime with his cupcakes, he was still surprise when I peaked my head around the corner. Isn't that shirt the cutest?? Mom made it for him like lickety-split when he told her he wanted a race-car shirt to wear on his birthday! If you want to check out her website, just click here.

Of course, Sam had to get in on the action!

He was beyond excited when he saw his homemade Spiderman cupcakes!!

I got to eat lunch with them, and they all thought that was cool. I got asked a million little kid questions!

It's no wonder they come home looking like po' folks!

It's almost time for cupcakes!!

Huett is such a host...just like his mother. He wanted to personally pass out all of his own cupcakes!

They sang happy birthday in Spanish and English. He was soaking it all in.

Blow out the candles!

Now, gobble it all up! It pays to be the brother of the Birthday Boy!!

Huett sucks the icing off of the top like it's ice cream. I've never seen anyone do that!

Now, that's one happy birthday boy!

His official birthday party is tomorrow night.

Charlie is getting his tubes put in in the morning, and let me just tell you, he ain't no joke. Bless his heart, the poor kid's ears are killing him. The surgeon who will be placing his tubes said that he will suction all the infection out and that the relief will be immediate, which will be great. He is miserable, and inconsolable at times. I've never seen anything like it, well, with my kids atleast.

Anyway, I have been working at a fevered pitch trying to get everything prepared, and I know I will be out of commission tomorrow taking care of Charlie!

So, keep Charlie in your prayers. We have to be there at 6:15 in the morning!

And I'll be back with pictures of party prep pretty soon (say that five times fast)!

Last, but certainly not least

2010-07-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, as a mommy blogger, the only adults that often get mentioned on my blog are ones that happen to be caught in pictures with the kids.

Mikey's dear aunt Michelle joined us for our entire day on Sunday (and even kept all three of the boys Saturday night so we could grill out with friends)! I had to work Monday, but she spent the whole day with Mikey and the boys, too.

So, needless to say, Michelle you are more than greatly appreciated, and I love nothing more than the close relationship you have with Huett, Sam, and Charlie (Mikey, too)!

So lest ye feel left out, I added this picture of you b/c (and I am sad to say it) it is the only one of you I have.

But, if you will notice, there are (count 'em) ZERO pictures of me on this entire post and probably the majority of the previous posts as well.

So, since you are like a second mom to Mikey, I guess you have to take the good with the bad, including the under appreciated, under acknowledged part that goes right along with that, right Regina?!?

I'm just sorry that it happened on my watch!

Hitting the nail on the head

2010-07-06T07:45:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been frequenting some local play dates with friends from high school, and their many small children(which have been a blast by the way), and I've noticed some different parenting styles. For example, there is the helicopter parent...aptly named due to the fact that these parents hover over their children attempting to protect them from danger of all sorts . Then there are the hands off, let kids be kids kind of parents, which is exactly what I think I am. I mean, within reason, of course. Anyway MckMama (one of the bloggers that I follow) wrote a post today that struck a chord with me because in it, she gives detailed research that proves what I've always thought to be true. We should let kids explore, adventure, etc., and that by preventing them from doing so, we actually hinder their physical and emotional development, putting them in more danger. Anyway, she states it so eloquently, I would encourage you all: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, whomever, to go there and read it. Let me know what you all think!

Just click here

Fabulous Family Filled Fourth!

2010-07-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July has long been on my top 5 list of holidays. It is slowly inching higher, as I watch the excitement of the fourth through the eyes of my boys, and my nieces and nephew! Huett, Sam and Ava were more excited about this celebration than I have seen them since, oh, I don't know, Christmas morning?!?

Last week, the little fireworks stand on the highway put up one of those blow-up tube men that rises and falls, and ever since seeing that thing on the way to preschool, my boys have been asking about shooting fireworks.

So, shoot fireworks, we did...well, not us, exactly.

In high school, I had the pleasure of meeting two young men, Kenneth Yarbrough and John Allen. They are members of a big, fun family full of a bunch of boys (and a few girls). This family has produced some of the nicest, most caring people I have known, and while we've grown up, and apart, whenever I run into John and Kenneth, its like we're back in 2001. John and Kenneth are cousins. I think between the two of their families there are five boys and two girls. I hope that when mine and Trisha and Chad's kids grow up (4 boys and 3 girls) that they'll have the relationship this set of cousins has. I can remember meeting up to ride four-wheelers in the snow with these guys and it was always a blast. I can also remember cheering them on as they rode their bicycle off a homemade ramp into their family pond (so much fun). I always did get along better with boys than girls.

Anyway, you just don't meet an entire family of well-adjusted, responsible kids(that are now adults) very often!

I say all of this to tell you that while we had intentions of going to the city to watch fireworks at the Vulcan, we were just too tired to make that trip so late at night. Especially since I had to work the next day. That's when Kenneth and John popped back into my head. I remember going to watch their fireworks in high school!

So, I called Kenneth and he welcomed us to come, so, of course, we did!

This was the view from where we sat! All the boys from the Yarbrough/Allen family were out setting up the fireworks, as best I could tell. They had tons, guys, seriously! It had grown exponentionally since I was there 10 or so years ago! Impressive, to say the least!

Excitement was mounting at a pretty rapid pace!

My parents, and even my Nana made the trip (which is only like five minutes from our houses)
Isn't Charlie getting to be such a big boy?!? He was ten months old, today! He kind of looks like a toddler in this picture. I think it's the shoes.

Trisha's silly little family was there, and once again, excitement was at a maximum!

We stopped by a fireworks stand on our way there and let the kids pick out their own special one. They all, of course, picked out rockets. On a whole other subject, is Sam not going to be a lady killer?? The girls just won't stand a chance...and neither will I
:-l

These rockets were a prized possession throughout the night.

My men...

Disclaimer:

In every picture where Charlie was looking, Mikey looks drugged up, so I thought you'd all prefer to see the back of Charlie's head as opposed to Mikey looking high.

There were lots of locals there, including another old friend from high school, and her baby girl Lily (is that flaming red hair not to die for?!?) .

Yet another dear friend from high school, Jason, and his son Jase were there. His wife is a fellow blogger (one of the few in my area) and you can visit her blog here.

Have I mentioned that Charlie is quite a daddy's boy?

It wasn't long until the fireworks extravaganza began!

Pretty soon, all eyes were on the skies. This is Sam and his sure to be best friend Wilson, whose parents, Bethany and Nathan are also near and dear to our hearts! I'm telling you it was like a reunion in our town. Anyone who was anybody was there, am I right? And I was just off in my own little corner of approximately 50 people. I bet there were atleast 200 people there, if not more.

This was the view to my right!

I still haven't mastered the art of taking great firework photos. Seeing as I only get to practice once, maybe twice every 365 days, that is understandable!

Even little Charlie was mesmerized by all the colors, sights, and sounds!
once again, Mikey looks high...what's with this guy?

This was the view to my left, and people went down the line just like this as far as the fence went.
People sat like this the entire time, in silence, with the occasional whistle or cheers and claps from the crowd!

The fireworks probably lasted for fifteen minutes or so, and were pretty impressive! You'd never have known this was just a family thing that has grown as the years have passed. If I didn't know any better, I'd have sworn Crazy Bill himself was at the reins.

Everybody was watching in awe, even little Arch!

Sam and Huett used to be so scared of fireworks. The loud sounds more than anything, but not anymore! He was drinking it in!

Charlie, on the other hand, was not phased in the least, while he celebrated his first fourth!

I think it is due to the fact that he is subjected to noises as loud as fireworks on a daily basis, while interacting with his big brothers.

This was, by far, the best shot I got all night!

The finale was really impressive, and they had this shower of different colored sparks that went up probably fifty feet in the air, and I had seen those before, but never on such a grand scale! It was an impressive way to end the show!

Thanks Yarbrough/Allen family for the show!! I think I speak for everyone there when I say it was a blast and we will be back next year (and probably every year after that)!!

Good luck gettin' rid of us!

Well Done!

After that, we headed to another friends house to shoot our own personal stash of fireworks.

We had everything from the standard bottle rockets and sparklers to things like Saturn Missiles, and Bumblebees

None quite as impressive as what we'd already seen, but for these kids, the sparklers were excitement enough!

I don't know why these pictures are sideways, but you get the drift!!

These pictures turned out really cool!

Huett is demanding to have fireworks at his birthday party this weekend, and I told him I think we can make that happen!

The weather was perfect and it could not have turned out to be a better night!

It was, however, a late night. It was around 11:30 before we made it home!

Poor little Charlie was unprepared for that!!

He was such a trooper, but as midnight approached, he said he'd had enough!

This is a big week for the Hill family. My brother turns 29 Wednesday,

Huett Michael turns five on Thursday!!

Charlie is getting tubes put in his precious little baby ears early Friday morning, and Huett's camping extravangza fifth birthday bash is Friday night!

So, pray for a good day on Friday for our entire family!!

I think Charlie's going to be a new little boy once we get this issue corrected!! Yay for that

I will be posting soon with some very exciting house related news in the near future!

Just a few more hoops to jump through on the buying and selling end so cross your fingers for us! Sometimes things just fall into place and work out, you know?!? And that's what we're praying will continue to happen!!

Happy fourth everybody!!

IJS

2010-06-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, I just have this to say, and I'll get it over with! I know abortion is not big in the media right now, but if I hear one more person say that women have the "right to choose" I'm going to lose it!! I mean, yes, in theory that statement: Women have the right to choose; is true. Yes, I do have the right to choose NOT TO HAVE SEX, or to at least not have unprotected sex.

That, my friends, is when babies are made.

It's not like God "strikes" innocent victims pregnant...Well, not anymore anyway(remember a little couple named Mary and Joseph). So, in my humble, but ever so matter-of-fact opinion, that is where we, women, have a decision to make. You don't want a baby? Don't have unprotected sex. Or, better yet, don't have sex at all, whatever you gotta do.

If you are reading this, and you are pro-abortion, I suppose that is your own business, but please, please stop playing the "right to choose" card.

You had

the right to choose

whether or not you wanted to have sex. Once you

practiced that right,

whatever results from there should not be a surprise.

So, basically, enough already. Same thing goes for dads...don't have sex if you don't expect results from it. Use protection, and use it perfectly every time (and even if you do it perfectly, there is still a chance a baby might result).

Women, just stop acting like you are an innocent victim that just magically becomes pregnant.

I personally find it insulting that people think that women are incapable of preventing pregnancy. Irresponsible? Yes. Conniving? Yes. Incapable? No.

An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure (or abortion).

And that's all I'm saying.

Father's Day

2010-06-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things that come to mind when someone thinks of attributes a good father must have:

He must be a lover of children!

Mikey and Charlie April 2010

He must find joy in them.
Mikey and Charlie September 2010

When his children smile, so does he
Mikey and Sam September 2007

He must be a little goofy

Mikey February 2010

Willing to try things at the urging of his children Mikey April 2010

He must be a child at heart

Mikey and Sam January 2008

He must be an adventurer

Mikey and Sam June 2009

and an entertainer

Mikey and Charlie October 2010

He must also be a historian, marking his family's territory.

Mikey March 2010

He must be strong and steady

Mikey and Charlie April 2010

He must lend a helping hand

Mikey and Sam June 2009

He should be involved on every level

Sam, Mikey, and Huett November 2009

It is very important that he keep a child-like heart

Mikey September 2009

And that he always remain a willing participant for the sake of his children

Mikey October 2009

Even when he may have to sacrifice himself

Mikey June 2009

He must be villain, or superhero. Whatever the story calls for

Mikey July 2009

He must be a dedicated uncle to his childrens' cousins

Archer and Mikey June 2009

Loving his nieces and nephews as if they were his own

Mikey and Archer September 2009

No matter how many children abound

Mikey and Ava Claire March 2010

He loves each and every one,

Like. His. Own.

Mikey and Taiden April 2010

He must be a chauffeur

Huett, Sam, and Mikey February 2008

To kids, baby, paci, toys, sippie cups, or grandmothers
Whatever the need.

Mikey June 2009

He must be a coach

Huett and Sam May 2009

He must be a proud father

Mikey and Huett November 2005

He must inspire confidence, while providing protection

Mikey and Sam March 2010

He must be a good example of how his sons should behave
On and off the field.

Huett, Sam, and Mikey June 2009

He must find pleasure in the little things

Mikey and Sam September 2007

He must help his children when help is needed

Mikey and Huett April 2010

He can instill bravery in a timid son

Mikey and Huett January 2010

He must teach sportsmanship and competitive spirit

Mikey June 2010

He must remember how to have a good time amidst the stresses of being a parent

Mikey and Tiffany October 2009

Most importantly,

He must

Love. Their. Mother.

Mikey and Tiffany October 2009

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father

Sam, Mikey, Charlie, and Huett February 2010

Happy Father's Day Mikey!

Thank You for giving me three amazing, perfect sons!

Thank you for being the dad I always knew you would be!

No doubt, it is one of the major reasons I married you, and seeing you with them everyday makes me love you even more!

...In the words of Brad Paisley, "And I thought I loved you then".

Tannehill 2010

2010-06-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

So, a few weeks ago, we took the boys camping at Tannehill with my family. It was our first trip of the year, and it was a lot of fun!!

The big boys did wonderfully, and Charlie did great, too.

It was such a success, in fact, that these next two pictures are of the boys on our way home before we could even get out of the park.

Sam, as usual, was out first.

Charlie and Huett were soon to follow. That's the top of Huett's head leaned up against Charlie's! Talk about a pain in the neck. Funny how those painful-looking sleeping positions don't seem to bother them at all, and when they wake up, they are no worse for the wear.

There was a lot of mischief on this trip, and nothing captures that like this picture. He comes by it honest, considering I was voted "Most Mischievous" in my nursing school class**
**Why college graduate/adults were voting on a "who's who", I'll never understand. Other things I'll never understand: How I was voted "Most Mischievous" in the first place.
Whatever, Bevill State, Class of '04

There was a lot of playing in the creeks and streams, and in this picture, Ava Claire is ducking under one of the wooden bridges.

Cold little pigs!

Chad's family unit came to visit with us on Saturday, and Teagan had as much fun playing in the water as anybody! Taiden and Jenny were there, too, they just didn't venture out to the water!

Tannehill also has a pretty cool playground that we rode to a few times, and it was a lot of fun for the kids.

There is just something I love about walking through a stream. It takes me back to when I used to spend all day in the woods with my friend Amy, at her grandpa's land. We would literally stay gone all day. Walking through streams, riding four wheelers, playing in his barn, coming home completely covered in good, clean mud! Fun Fun!! When I was really little, I'd go with Trisha and Chad to a creek out by our old house. Chad would catch crawdads (sp?) and we would put them in our neighbors birdbath and let them fight each other to the death. Morbid? Maybe a little.

I can just imagine what our kids would get into if we were able to let them go and venture out alone like we did. Isn't it a shame that they probably won't ever know that kind of freedom because as parents, we just can't let them go like that anymore. Innocence lost, I guess.

I don't think I mentioned it on here, but I've been trying to figure out how to maximize the use of my expensive camera. I think this picture just goes to show that I'm getting better at it.

This looks professional, doesn't it?

Well, at least I think so.
Archer had a great time on our trip, too. He is just getting so big, so fast!

Charlie hung out in his stroller most of the time while the bigger kids were playing at the playground. He was just happy to be outside. The kid loves to be outside!

I can't put my finger on it, but I love this picture of Sam. He is so handsome!

It's his big brown eyes. I've got a thing for brown-eyed boys/men...and one little blue-eyed boy, too!

This is a great picture, too. He is changing so much lately. He has been eating a lot more lately, and seems to be growing like a weed. I guess it's a growth spurt! He's almost five ya'll! I can't believe it!!

In other news, Charlie has finally learned to crawl, and he keeps one leg up, and he just kind of scoots himself around the room. It's really cute. I bought him some leg warmers from Target, which have gotten mixed reviews from my family, but they really do keep the leg that he scoots around on from getting rubbed raw. It's pretty stinking cute, too.

He will be getting tubes put in sometime in July. He'll be getting them when he's ten months old, just like his biggest brother did, and for me (and Charlie) they can't come soon enough. The child's ears have been riddled with ear infection after ear infection for the past several months. Along with those ear infections comes oral antibiotics, which bring the pleasure of...and I'll just say it...diarrhea, and it is accompanied by raging diaper rash, which is sometimes worse than the ear infection in the first place! So, bring on the tubes!

In Sam news, he is still pretty basketball-centric, and Mikey and I are almost completely convinced that if we could find a 5 year old team (which is the youngest teams they have) to let him play, he would probably be schooling kids almost twice his age. He won't wear any shorts, unless they are basketball shorts. Like he refuses to wear his Old Navy and Gap cut off gym shorts that are like sweat-pants material. He looks at me like I am ridiculous and says, "Those are not basketball shorts" It's pretty funny! He is so much like Mikey, who will also only wear basketball shorts, unless it is a special occasion, and I specifically tell him to wear a shirt with actual sleeves, and shorts with an actual button!!

In even more other news, we still don't know anything about the house we are trying to get, so I guess no news is good news, in a sense. As far as I know, we still have the highest offer, so...we'll see.

Our house should go on the market this week. Chad is over there polishing off a few little touch-ups today, so once that's done, we should be in business!

I think that just about covers it. I know it's been a while since I've posted. Mikey has finals this week, so I've been helping him, and proof-reading his projects, etc. And that keeps us pretty busy! He starts his ninth and tenth classes tomorrow. Time does fly!

Intermediate Algebra starts Monday, so pray for him on that, because that is one step further than I ever had to go in college, and I'm no math whiz!

All right, that about sums it up!!

Hope to post again soon with some updated news about something...anything house related!!

PS While Perry Eye and Vision did waive the $120 fee they charged me for, I am still without any glasses or contacts. I went last week, waited 45 minutes just to pick up my glasses, which were already two weeks late, and they weren't right. So, that was on a Tuesday, she said she was going to send them back overnight for a quick adjustment, and she would call me on Thursday(b/c remember, they are closed on Wednesday). Well, it's Tuesday of the next week, and I haven't heard a word from them. I would be interested to see how long it will actually take them to contact me. I guess I'll call them day after tomorrow, when I am off work again! And still, absolutely no word on my contacts, at all! The office manager was incredibly nice and understanding, so at least that was a plus. I'll keep you posted!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2010-06-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

So, as I wrote in a previous post, our house is soon to be on the market. We've had a few people ask to come look at it, so I thought I'd play real estate agent for a day and post pictures of it on my blog (complete with detailed *and maybe a little biased* descriptions)

This is the front of our house. Yes, it's dark and not a great picture, but it gives you a good idea of what it looks like.

This is the front porch, which is about to be recovered with indoor/outdoor carpet.

This is our foyer. On the left, just out of the picture is a closet, perfect for shoes and coats.

This is our nice, roomy playroom, or formal living room.

This is the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. Directly to the right is the entrance to the dining room.

Same hallway, different end.

This is one of the bedrooms

I took a picture of each of the rooms from two different spots. This bedroom has a brand new fan in it!

Charlie's room, which also has a new fan.

Both of these bedrooms have normal sized closets complete with shelving and hanging racks.

This is the front bathroom. It was just completely remodeled two years ago.

It has a tub/shower and ceramic tile floors.

This is the master bedroom.

Our bed looks enormous, but I love it!
It has a normal sized closet in it as well.

This is the master closet. And, yes I know it's an absolute mess!
I have no good excuse for this except for the fact that straightening it out is probably the last thing on my list of things to do!

I felt I had to include it, however, because I love it and it was a major selling point for me!

This is the room that connects the master bath/closet/bedroom. I use it for a makeup room! This is the only area that is solely mine, so it's a little fluffed up! I needed some pink!

This is the master bathroom. It has new flooring, and a tub/shower combination as well.

I love the extra shelving in the corner. It comes in handy more than you'd think!

This is the formal dining room. It has new ceramic tile, and a new light fixture as well.

Yes, I know it's purple! I happen to like bright colors. I can't bring myself to paint it just to sell it. I figure the new owners can pick a color they love and paint it the way they like it! Anyone can paint, right?

This is our kitchen, which has been updated with all new appliances.

It also has newly laid ceramic tile.

This is our "downstairs" den. And by downstairs, I mean the two steps off of the kitchen that take you into this room. There is also a door in this room that takes you into the backyard.

This room also has new lighting in it.

The big stone fireplace is equipped with gas logs. I love nothing more than lighting them( and by lighting them, I mean turning the knob) on a cold winter morning and snuggling with my boys!

Also off of this room, the laundry room/pantry. My dad made custom shelving in there. And, yes it is a mess, too. That's why it isn't pictured! Whose laundry room isn't a little messy, hah!

Off the dining room are giant glass sliding doors that take you out to the back porch.

This is the deck, which leads into the backyard.

This storage building sits along the fence in the backyard, and will remain with the house! It's where we store everything and has plenty of room for all of our stuff, and more!

The house is 2200 square feet on a little less than one acre of land. The yard is just big enough for kids or pets to have plenty of room to play, but not too big that you'll be tied up doing yardwork constantly.

We just put a new roof on about six months ago, the landscaping in the front yard (not pictured) was just done last summer. The hardwoods were refinished last summer. The bathroom and kitchen were both remodeled in the last few years.

We put a lot of work into updating this house! It's as solid today as it was when it was built. And apparently it is well insulated b/c our utility bills are always lower than our neighbors(yes, we've compared). Speaking of neighbors, you couldn't have any better than the ones that surround this house! They have all lived in their houses for 20+ years, and are like family.

I think we will be listing it somewhere in the low 100s.

How did I do as salesman? If you all aren't chomping at the bit to buy this house then something is wrong with you!

I'm kidding, but this house really has been a labor of love for us, and I would love to see it go to someone who will take care of it and can enjoy it the way we have.

If you are interested, email me @ misstiff0201@hotmail.com

or call my cell phone: 529-8523.

pissed.

2010-06-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

I am so mad right now I could absolutely scream. Let me just tell you why (maybe this will be some therapeutic venting on my end). On May 4th, I went to Perry Eye and Vision to have my eyes checked. As many of you know, I have worn glasses since first grade and contacts since I was eleven. Anyway, I can not function without one or the other. For years I have primarily worn contacts, but have always had a pair of glasses for emergencies. Well, two years ago (I can get new glasses/ contacts every two years through our vision insurance) I went to The Eye Place on Valleydale and got my eyes checked and ordered glasses. I also got fitted for contact lenses, which is a separate exam. Anyway, I ordered some really cute Kate Spade frames, and my bill was around $200. My insurance covers 130.00 towards frames, so that left me with around $80 to pay on my frames. Standard lenses are totally covered, but I wanted mine made thinner (b/c I didn't want to look like I was wearing coke bottle glasses) so I paid an additional $70-$80 dollars for that. I also bought two boxes of contacts. My total for $210 frames, $70-$80 thin lenses, a contact fitting, and two boxes of contacts was a little over $200. Anyway, when I picked up my glasses, I didn't really try to wear them for anything but reading in the bed because I primarily wear contacts. A few months or so passed before I actually decided to wear my new glasses for the entire day. I headed off to work and it wasn't long before I realized that these glasses were great for looking straight ahead, but I could not drive in them, and it wasn't long before I was completely motion sick. I had to call Mikey to bring my contacts to me at work because I could not have survived the day like that. Anyway, it had been more than a month since I brought them home, so I couldn't return them (lesson learned). Well, I held on to those glasses because I loved them (and they weren't cheap). Now for the real story...
I went for my eye exam at Perry Eye and Vision in Sumiton on May 4th. I had a normal eye exam as well as a contact fitting. I took my Kate Spade's with me because I just wanted them to put new lenses in so that I could save the money on new frames when I didn't need them. After my exam, the doctor tells me that I have astigmatism in my left eye, (which I've had ever since I can remember) and that he thinks a special type of contact lens will help (I've never needed a lens to compensate for this before, but hey, I'm open to suggestions). He tells me it will have to be special ordered, which I am fine with, and that we will have a trial period to see if they help, because they are slightly more expensive. Fine Fine Fine. Everything is still great at this point. I sit down with the optician (who was very friendly) and she put my old frames on, looked at them, and started doing my paperwork, etc. She tells me that my insurance will cover $130 towards frames/lenses, or $120 towards contacts. We decide that it would benefit me more to use my insurance money towards contacts because my new lenses (which is all I was ordering, remember) will only cost around $80, so I decided to pay that out of pocket. I told her I would not be purchasing my contacts from there, however, because I can order them from The UAB School of Optometry and save 20% b/c I am an employee. They had no problem with that. Anyway, I wrote a check for $133 and some change, which I assumed was my copay for the eye exam, and my new lenses(which I was told would cost $80). In my mind I expected my bill to be around $110 b/c $25 copay + $80 lenses=$105 plus tax, right?!? Whatever, I paid and that was that, so already my lenses were a little more than I thought.
Well, they told me it would be around 7-14 business days for my glasses and contacts were ready, and that they would call me when they were in. So, at the most, three weeks, right? Well, week three arrived, and I called the office. She told me she hadn't received them yet, but that when she did, she would give me a call. No offers to check on the status of my order or anything, so I just assumed they would be here any day. My mistake. Anyway, another week passes, and we are on around business day 18 or 19. I called on Tuesday of this week, and they tell me the optician isn't there, to please call back on Thursday. I call back around 9:00 AM on Thursday and talk to the optician. She tells me she will call the lab to find out the status on my glasses and contacts, and that she will call me back. Well, 3:00 comes and she still hasn't returned my call, so I called her back. She tells me that the doctor has my chart (why would the doctor have my chart out of the office? It's been over a month since I was there), and that my glasses should be delivered Friday. Well, I have to work to Friday, Monday and Tuesday, and guess what? They are closed on Wednesdays. So that puts me off an entire other week. Mind you, my contacts should've been thrown out two weeks ago when my new contacts that I was supposed to be trying out should've been delivered. Anyway, she goes on to tell me that the office manager has left a note saying that I have a $120 balance on my account! WWHHAATT??
I have already paid you $133, and all I'm buying from you is lenses for my frames (which I already own!!) I told her that I had already paid $133, and she tells me that they added a contact lens fitting fee, and the tax would have to be adjusted to include that fee. Also, the lenses, which she told me would be $80 are going to cost over $100!! So, basically, I am paying more money (over $250) for one pair of lenses, than I paid for expensive brand name frames, lenses, and two boxes of contacts at my last eye doctor's visit. I just keep getting the run around. When she told me how much my "thinner" lenses would cost, I reminded her that when I was sitting at her desk with my frames, she told me the new lenses would cost around $80. She told me that she sees so many patients, and that this has been over a month ago (Umm...yeah lady, I know) so she couldn't possibly remember what we discussed. I am very nonconfrontational, but I wanted to scream into the phone, "I don't care what you remember, but I KNOW what you told me, so get your sh*t together!!!!"
I guess I should've taken my mom's advice and not used them because she told me they were WAY overpriced, but I just thought they were convenient. I do have a lot going on ( 3 small kids, husband, full time job, blah, blah, blah). SO, I guess the lesson is, get a price list before you buy anything, know what your insurance covers, and get things in writing. Oh, and don't do your business there. I know I won't!

ps. seeing as this situation isn't over yet, and I don't have any glasses or contacts, I'll update you with any new developments. Hopefully it will all get straightened out (besides the fact that five weeks has passed already) and I'll delete this post altogether...until then...wish me luck

HHH

2010-05-29T14:40:00.001-07:00

"Hip Hill Happenings"

I don't really have any great pictures of us lately. We've been doing a lot of playing outside, swimming, etc. We went camping last weekend at Tannehill, and that was a blast, but it's pretty hard to tote your camera around on a bicycle, and we did a lot of bike riding, so no great pictures, sorry!

Anyway, in other exciting news, several months ago, a friend of mine called me and asked me if Mikey and I were still looking for a new house in Bagley. I told her yes, we were, and she said that she knew of a big nice house(we need a big house, because if these three little boys grow to be as big as their dad, then in approximately 10 years, I'll be surrounded by nearly fully grown men) that she heard was about to go into foreclosure. I knew exactly which house she was talking about, so I tried to call the girl who owns it, (not really someone I knew, but I like the house so I decided to jump on it). Anyway, she agreed to meet me that afternoon for a showing.

Long story short, we put in an offer

(and yes, we still own and are living in our same house, we have not put it up for sale yet!).

Then, we waited.

and waited

and waited some more.

I'm talking months here people!

All along we were reassured that this was totally normal, and that houses up for "short sale"* can take months.

* a short sale is when a buyer tries to purchase a house that has been foreclosed on from the bank(who now owns it) for less than the previous owner actually owed on the loan.

Basically, the bank agrees to take a loss.

Anyway, I had nearly given up on it when the real estate agent that is listing the house called my brother (who is our real estate agent), and told him that we had the highest offer, and that she thinks we are going to GET THE HOUSE!!

She said something about closing at the end of June!

Of course, I'm trying hard not to get my hopes up because we all know these things can fall through at the drop of a hat. But I do have my fingers crossed!

We are working furiously to get our current house prepared to put on the market!

That makes me a little sad. I mean it's where we came home to from our honeymoon. It's where we brought all three of our sons home from the hospital. Lots of great memories to say the least! It's a fact, though, regardless of whether we get the new house we're after or not, we've got to move before next fall because that is when Huett will start kindergarten, and neither Mikey or myself are big fans of the elementary school we are currently zoned for!

Anyway, we hope to have our house on the market next week, and we are praying for a speedy sale(hopefully that won't be wishful thinking), and I personally am a big fan of our house. Sure, I'm partial, but it is a nice big one-story house, and we've gone to great lengths to update it from one end to the other, and I think we've done a pretty good job. And when I say we, I mean my brother, Chad. He's done it all from the new roof to the remodeled bathroom, to the tile kitchen and dining room, to the landscaping! It's nice to have your own personal handyman, even if you do get put way down the list behind normal paying customers!

So, I have had visions of giant playrooms, formal living rooms, an office, a giant whirlpool tub, a big roomy garage, a beautiful kitchen, lots of closet space, a fenced in backyard, and the boys riding their bikes around on the cul de sac dancing around in my head ever since Chad told me the news.

Even though it really isn't news yet because there is nothing in writing, I'm still (ever so reservedly) excited!

Every room in the house needs a fresh coat of paint because, let's just say, the previous owners had some pretty eclectic(and by eclectic I mean not at all appropriate for this big pretty house) paint choices. For example, the wains coat in the foyer is painted RED, like blood red. The half bath in the foyer is BRIGHT YELLOW and they have painted the mirror purple(you would think maybe LSU fans, that is until you venture upstairs) In one of the four bedrooms upstairs, the walls are Auburn ORANGE and the ceiling is NAVY BLUE!! I don't care about the big Iron Bowl feud, but it's just awful!! But I am totally able to look past this, because I know what a fresh coat of paint can do!! I'm also not afraid of a little hard work, it might just do me some good, right? Oh, and I almost forgot to mention (how could I forget this) the decorative wall sayings that look like they are painted on. You've all seen them, and personally, I am a fan. In moderation, that is. One in your entryway, cute. One in your kitchen, cute. One it almost every single room in your house, overkill!

(I feel like I need to insert a disclaimer here: The original owner of this house, if any of my readers know her, did some really beautiful decorating when she lived here, then she got remarried, moved out, and was in some sort of "rent-to-own" agreement with some people, I don't know who they are, but anyway, the renters are the ones who did the crazy paint colors, and all the wall quotes. You can still see remnants of what the original owner had going on, and what she intended for the house, and I love it! So, this is not a dig at her. I could tell she was appalled at what the renters ahd done when she was showing me the house. I felt her pain! Whew, now I feel better)

So, I'm more than a little excited, and worried to death about making two house payments until we sell ours. I have tried to figure it out, and we should (will) be able to do it!! Maybe I'll just pick up a few extra shifts at work, and I'll ship Mikey off to work every hurricane that hits this hurricane season(it's being lauded as the most active hurricane season in recent history)!

Tired of reading yet? I have a whole other topic to address, but I'll save it for another post. I'm sure you are all coming down with a migraine from reading for this long, and about something that really isn't of much importance to anyone but me and mi familia!

Still, wish us luck, and cross your fingers, but only on one hand. Everyone knows crossing more than one set of fingers is just bad luck, duh.

zoo

2010-05-18T01:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Mikey and I took the boys to the zoo. It was on this day that we got our first glimpse at the fun the future holds for us with three sons. This was, I think, the first time we ventured out alone since Charlie was born(besides Wal-mart, church, and maybe Jack's, I mean we couldn't let Charlie keep us from Jack's). It was actually a beautiful day. We were both pleasantly surprised by how peaceful it went. All three boys had a great time. Huett and Sam got to play in the water fountains, and we got to see lots of fun animals! Also, of course, the standard zoo train ride!

The two boys in this picture can only be referred to as

cool cat daddios!

Upon arrival, we had to stop at the gift shop and buy the boys these sunglasses because they were squinting terribly on the walk in from the parking lot! Also bought: a "spyscope" which you see in Huett's hands, and a "magic wand" AKA a clear baton filled with water and glitter for Sam!

A nice passerby offered to take our picture in front of this lovely bamboo forest. She just so happened to have a camera identical to mine! Thanks lady, if you're out there!

Note to self:

Stop bending down in all the family pictures. It is neither flattering or necessary! No one ever said you have to be level with your kids for pictures. Everyone knows you are taller than them, as you should be.

Charlie (accidentally) got some sun on our little trip but I'm not really sure if it was sun or just redness from the heat because it was gone by the next morning. He was loving it while we were cruising him around in his stroller!

Here we waited patiently in line for the train while we watched in amazement at how the algae and moss that was floating on the pond in the background was sucked down a drainage pipe that was right beside us. It was so gross, however, we just couldn't look away!

I was mildly disappointed to see that they've moved the flamingos from the entrance of the park and have replaced them with parrots or macaws or whatever you want to call them. I mean, yes macaws are impressive, however, I think they lack the wow factor that the flamingos have. But that's just my opinion. And, if I recall, I don't think anyone from the zoo ever asked me what I thought about it.

The success of this trip has emboldened us to venture out as a family more often, and that excites me!

(This trip to the zoo happened a month before our trip to Chattanooga, but I am just now posting the pictures from it!).

Brave we've become.

suckers

2010-05-16T02:14:00.000-07:00

For Easter, I wanted to try something new that I saw on a bakery blog that I thought looked neat and easy. Her recipe called for using cake mix and icing ( bake the cake and then mix the whole can of icing in). I, however, took the advice of my co-worker Brittany and made them with an Oreo truffle center! Great idea btw! It was delish!

You start out with just a standard pack of Oreos. I think next time I may try double-stuf but I can't vouch for how those might turn out because I've never tried it.

You put them in a food processor (or a blender might work as well) but I don't think you could crush them up fine enough by hand and I'll show you why.

It needs to be about this consistency to make the creamy texture necessary for the next steps. Andy no, I did not remove the cream. It will be black like all you used was the cookie, but I promise the cream is in there.

This is what is will look like and it is moist to the touch.

Next, you take one 8 oz. block of cream cheese (I'm sure the whipped kind would've worked fine) and mix it up completely. For this step I used my mixer. Well, actually my mom's mixer because I made these at her house. What, you though I owned a food processor? Wrong.

Then you take the truffly mixture and roll them into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball, not quite as big as a golf ball(you could make them however big you like as long as you don't plan on putting them on a stick.) If they are any bigger than the size you see here, you'll have a hard time keeping them from falling off the stick once you start dipping. Once you've made the truffle balls, refrigerate them over-night, or if you're in a hurry, stick them in the freezer for an hour!

Then I bought these miniature cookie cutters because the original directions from the website I linked earlier called for a small flower shaped cookie cutter to make the bottoms of the

cupcake-look-a-likes (you'll see what I'm referring to in a minute). However, the flower I bought was too big. It was the smallest one they had at Hobby Lobby so I don't know where you could get one any smaller. I substituted this small bottle cap from an unopened bottle of paint and it worked perfectly.

I bought these colored candy wafers that worked perfectly for dipping once they were melted. They also came from Hobby Lobby. Be sure you follow the melting directions precisely like when it tells you to use the defrost setting on your microwave, DO IT, trisha.

I used pastel Easter M&Ms, sucker sticks, and an assortment of sprinkles for decorating.

They were just so festive! I love sprinkles!

This was our final product! An Easter tree, if you will. They were delicious. It would've been much easier just to take the original balls and dip them in just one color of chocolate, but that would've been nothing like decorating Easter eggs, however, that's probably what we'll do next time for time's sake. Maybe with just a few sprinkles though.

We used the bottle cap I mentioned earlier to narrow the bottoms of some of the balls, which we then dipped in brown chocolate and let dry. Once that had dried, we dipped the top in colored chocolate and added the decorations that made it look like a mini-cupcake! So cute!

Here we have an Easter egg pop! Cutes boots!

The flower pop! We used syringes to do the detailed decorating!

The butterfly, Ava Claire's favorite.

Anyway, even if you don't get into the decorating aspect of this delectable dessert, it was incredibly simple to make the oreo truffles and it would've been quick and easy if we'd just dipped the balls into the chocolate and skipped the intricacies of the decorating. I would totally recommend it. Not to mention that everyone raved over the deliciousness that is the Oreo truffle! Enjoy!

Hippity Hoppity, Easter's come and gone!

2010-05-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

I love Easter! I love it so much that I called in to work so that I could spend Charlie's first Easter with him(and the rest of our family). I just could not justify missing his first Christmas and his first Easter, and his big brothers are at the prime age for Easter egg hunting and you don't get these days back...so sue me!

Anyway, we were all dressed up, and as much as I was hoping for some prime photographs, it was just so busy that the chance didn't really present itself. I do love this picture of my sweet little family. It finally seems complete, now that the third baby we always knew we wanted is here!

They are three of a kind.

It seems surreal sometimes to think that I have three sons. I mean I'm still the cool party girl that snagged the hottest guy around, who just turned twenty-one and only works three days a week, spending all the other days doing whatever I want to do, right?

What? What's that you say? That's not me anymore?

Because in my head it still is.

Whatever.

Anyway, Arch the Barch and Ava Tolbs were in prime condition in their matching bows(his bowtie, her hairbow) that Trisha made! He was just starting to toddle around these days.

We tried so hard to get him to walk that day that he went on a one week walking strike, simply proving what I already knew to be true.

You don't mess with the Arch.

Taiden Elizabeth made her appearance and she was a precious angel! So stinkin' cute! Mikey seems to think she looks like me, and I can't disagree because Ava and Teagan don't even begin to look like me at all, so I take that as a compliment! Can't wait to get to babysit them sometime soon! I need some femininity around here, and so does Ava Claire!

Mikey needs a daughter. I still feel like there's one out there for us. He is a great dad to sons, obviously, but he'd be incredible for a daughter. I still want that for both of us! But want is all I can do!

Mom made all the kids ( even Charlie and Taiden) matching chocolate bunny shirts with their names monogrammed on them. They were so cute!

Huett looking so handsome in his Easter frocks

Sam looking chill in his.

He is just such a cool kid. He keeps us laughing.

There's just something about him, and I can't put my finger on it!

Love him!

Charlie was mistaken for a girl numerous times in this outfit. In my defense, his outfit had little alligators on it(not feminine at all)! Whatever. I love it!

Looking a little more masculine here!

Archer is chillaxin' in the lounger out in the beautiful weather!

The beauty that is Ava Claire.

And yes, I took this photo!(as I toot my own horn)

Happy (late) Easter everyone! We should celebrate the resurrection all year long, so I'll use this as my excuse for postponing my Easter blog post for so long.

Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did, and thank God for giving us the reason!

Kidsmarket Spring 2010

2010-05-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't even mentioned all of my "steals" from the Spring consignment season of 2010. Geez, that last sentence makes me seem like such a fanatic. I can't rightly say that it would be an incorrect assumption!

This is all of the stuff I bought at Kidsmarket
and at the sale at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church in Gardendale!

I bought this $160 highchair for $60 and I swear it looks like it's never been used! It matches our kitchen table and chairs almost perfectly.

Our table is counter-height (that's just a fancy name for those tables that are taller than normal ones) and this reaches right up to it, and the wood stains are almost identical!

I got one of these outfits at each sale! These are Zack and Ali brand hand-knitted outfits! Charlie's "coming home from the hospital" was that brand and we (well, my mom) bought it from Jack and Jill in downtown Homewood. It was $70+ dollars for his newborn outfit. That's how I know these outfits had to be around $50 originally! I got one for $10 and one for $15!! They are so cute on him, and I have gotten tons of compliments already!

This is a smorgasbord of my fave buys for Charlie!

This Old Navy bathing suit is brand new and it was $10 for shorts and shorts!

I got an array of Polo outfits and they were all less that $10. In case you haven't priced children's Polo clothes lately, they are really expensive, but they hold up wonderfully. So, that's quite a bargain!

I love the colors in this shirt! And then they had the Polo shorts to match it!

Same thing in this picture. And the pink shirt still had the tags on it!

Now on to some of the big boys buys (they are in the same size clothes, so they share a closet, and everything that goes into that closet!

This cute GAP bathing suit and matching T-shirt were like $8!! It can be worn as a regular outfit as well!

This outfit is so cute on them! The shorts are really long and they look cool in their flip flops!

Matching cut off sweats and muscle shirts!

Love it!

2 color coordinated Gap T-shirts $10.00

Ralph Lauren swimsuit: $8.00

2 pairs of Ralph Lauren pants(blue and white)

1 pair of plaid GAP pants

all around $10.00 a piece

Brand new shiny basketball outfits (as Sam likes to call them)

$12.00

Basketball outfit with tags on it for Huett

$12.00!

Regular $39.99

2 big boy Polo shirts $8.00 each

Clothes in action!

It feels so good knowing all the money I've saved!

Clothes in real action!

All in all, I spent around $600.00 for all of their summer clothes (that's about $200 a piece)

If I had bought all of these clothes brand new it would have been atleast $2000, so I saved atleast %70 if not more!

Go me! Go me! Also, thanks again to my wonderful husband for spending the night in the parking lot to reserve my place in the front of the line!!

Charlie's baby dedication

2010-05-10T04:23:00.000-07:00

We had Charlie's baby dedication on Mother's Day!

He smiled and cooed the entire time!

He was dressed to impress
in the same communion gown that his
big brothers and big cousin Archer
wore to their baby dedication!

I am having the slip to the gown monogrammed by mom with all of their full names and dedication dates, and then I am going to hang it in a shadow box to hang on my wall, since I don't see anyone in my family needing it(unless Chad comes along with a son at some point, then I would of course take it out for him to wear)

BTW Check out my mom's new monogramming business here

He looks almost angelic! So Sweet!

That is the Miracle of Love

2010-05-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

Before you were conceived, we wanted you.

Before you were born, we loved you.

Before you were an hour old, we would die for you.

That is the miracle of love.
~Maureen Hawkins

To the son's who made us parents,
to the boys that made me a mom,
and to the two amazing women we've called Mom all our lives
Happy Mother's Day!

~Mikey and Tiffany

say say oh playmate, come out and play with me!

2010-05-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, we threw an impromptu playdate at my parents house on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The weather was cool, and we invited some of our friends over to relax!

Many an adventure took place that day in the back of my dad's truck!

Lisa and Glazer brought over their sweet little boy Jackson to play with Charlie! He is getting so big!

Here are Charlie and Jackson together! They are exactly five weeks apart. Can you tell which one is older? Probably not!

They love each other already, I can just tell!

Maybe a little too much!

That's allright. A little rough-housing never hurt anybody!

Such a sweet little addition to what couldn't be a better set of parents!

I can't wait to see these two grow up together!!

What does our world have in store for us?

It will be interesting to see!

Chattanooga Post #4

2010-05-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is the final addition to my Chattanooga trip!! If I've bored you, I apologize. Wait, no I don't. This is MY blog, and as far as I know, you're just a visitor!

I'm kidding, but seriously, I know this has been a lot of pictures to look at.

I don't find it too torturous because my family is so irresistibly cute!

Don't you agree?

Final stop, Rock City!

Obviously I don't remember going here at all as a kid, but I'm sure we did because my parents took us almost everywhere there was to go when we were little that was within driving distance.
Six Flags, check.
White Water, check.
All major beaches on the Florida Panhandle, check.
Stone Mountain, check.
Cabbage Patch Museum, check.
What? You didn't know there was a Cabbage Patch Museum? Well, like, duh. There is, and it's in Cleveland, Georgia. You didn't think those things just birthed themselves did you? Of course not. In Cleveland, there is a place where pregnant cabbages go, a "Vegetable Hospital" if you will, where the cute little newborn patches emerge. There is one delivery we watched, and the nurse let the audience name her. First name: Trisha...Second name: Denise. It was obvious who the outspoken one was at the time. NAME HOG!!
Anyway, I know in the annals of my past, I can remember vague glimpses of Rock City, and lord knows if you drive up the interstate toward Chattanooga you pass around fifty red, black and white barns instructing you to "See Rock City", but it was much cooler than I remember.

There were passageways both high and low where you had to squeeze through, which was kinda difficult with Charlie, but we managed. It was almost otherworldly, like something from The Shire in Lord of the Rings. It was beautiful, and I know we picked the perfect time of year for our trip. All the trees were in full bloom and the weather was so cool, it was ideal. This place seemed much more adventurous because you weren't at the mercy of a tour guide. They just let you through the gate and set you on your way.

It was kinda tough to keep the boys slowed down because they thought it was so much fun to run through the rock paths. We wanted them to slow down and enjoy the scenery, but that was hard for them to do.

There were rock-lined paths up high and down low, narrow and wide.

So lush!

He was so excited about this place!

This hanging bridge was lovingly referred to by Mikey as "the stupidest thing we've ever done"!

It was scary to both of us, and he was carrying Charlie!

This was the view from the top! Beautiful...and terrifying!

This was the view of the waterfall known as "Lover's Leap". This picture just doesn't do it justice, and it was much higher than it seems.

For some reason, every time I see a picture of him, I say his name in this deep voice like CHHHAALLLEEEE! I don't know why. It just invokes that strange reaction, kinda like the little boy on the YouTube videos, you know, "Charlie bit me" or whatever, but all jacked up on Arnold Schwarzenegger(sp?) steroids.

Here we are in front of the spot from which you can supposedly see seven states. I'm a little skeptical.

Three little birdies sittin' in a tree.

I couldn't leave this southern landmark without buying one of the "See Rock City" birdhouses. It's now hanging proudly from one of the Crepe Myrtles in my front yard. It's a nice addition to the landscaping, and it gives me a reminder of the awesome trip we took(the first one as our complete family without any outsiders). I hope we get to do more things like this in the future. I can already see where our little family is headed, and I like what I see!

Six Word Saturday

2010-05-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

All three boys home with dad!

All you SWS friends, say a prayer for him!

We've got a teething eight month, a three year old with a stomach virus, a four year old that is currently in good health(I'm hoping he doesn't catch the bug or mysteriously sprout any new teeth), and I'm at work, saving lives!

Happy Weekend Everyone, even if I am spending it at work!

Chattanooga Post #3

2010-04-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

Our next stop was the Imagination Museum! It was a great place that we had seen, but never actually gone to before. It will be a mainstay in our trips to the city for as long as our boys are the right age to enjoy it! It was great!

Right when you enter in the place there is a huge water play area, similar to the one at The McWane Center, but bigger. And then above that(and I mean way above) was a huge playground. And guess what! Every child had to be accompanied by an adult so we got to go in too! It was a blast from the past! And you could go up and up and up really high in the different tunnels and rope ladders. Even I loved it!

Charlie was having a good time splashing in the water because this was really the first thing he had gotten to do all day!

And, mom, there is finally a picture of me! Which I personally am uncomfortable looking at. Why is that? Oh well, at least it'll be proof to the boys one day, that yes, Mommy was there, even though it looks like dad's the one that gets to do all of the cool stuff!

Charlie got himself all wet splashing around...and I caught a cramp from staying bent down that long, but that is neither here nor there!

The last time we went to Chattanooga, Huett was almost three. Sam was a little over one and a half, and these two women had a random face-painting booth set up outside the aquarium. Huett normally did not have anything to do with strangers, but to our surprise he really wanted to get his baby face painted. At first they said he was too young, but after some convincing from Huett's aunt Shell, they agreed. We watched with bated breath as he was as still as a rock the entire time she painted his face. It was one of those cool entire face masks of face paint. He was too cute. Anyway, I tell you all of this to explain to you that ever since that trip, Huett equates the city of Chattanooga to the capital of face painting! On our way down he mentioned getting his face painted, and I told him we would try but I couldn't promise him anything. On our first day at Ruby Falls, I convinced him that no one would be painting faces because it was raining, and that seemed to satisfy him. Well, when we woke up with the sun on Wednesday, I don't think two minutes passed where this conversation didn't take place:

Huett:"Mommy (or daddy)"

Us: "What?"

Huett: "I really want to get my face painted."

Us: "We know Huett. And we promise if we find a place with face painting we will definitely stop and get yours painted."

Huett: "But it's not raining today"

Us: "We know, but the face painters might not be working today."

all while praying someone somewhere would be painting faces. I was even pondering whether or not I had anything I could use to do a makeshift face painting.
.

Finally, Mikey promised him that even if we didn't find "the face-paint" lady, we would stop and buy some paint and do it ourselves.

.

Imagine our surprise and relief when we happened upon a face-painting table inside the museum. Its intent was to allow the kids to paint their own faces with these little face painting crayons, however, I know Huett wouldn't have been satisfied with that. He wanted to be the green goblin, and this was the best that I could do! You would've thought he was painted like an alien from Avatar from the way he acted! Tantrum averted! And of course, to be like his big brother, Sam opted to be the Blue Goblin. I was so glad that we were able to get this taken care of and restore Huett's faith in the face painting mecca that is Chattanooga. And to not be circling the city looking for face paint or a Halloween store.

Once the face paint was taken care of, we ran into the trifecta of entertainment for my three sons. It's like the museum curator knew we were coming and set this particular corner of the museum up just for us. Sam is super basketball-obsessed. He shoots all day long at home and anywhere else he can find a goal.. he's really good at it too. Anyway they had this basketball goal with an air jet below it and when you threw the ball into the hoop just right, it would float. That kept him occupied for at least forty-five minutes.

Well, this exhibit was titled "Air in Motion" Ever since Huett was old enough to know the difference, we've had to drive through the second window at the bank because he loves to see the tube go from our car back inside the bank. Right next to Sam's basketball goal was a tube system. Mikey sat on one side, and Huett on the other, and they would shoot it back and forth! You could send little messages and stuff inside the tube.

He would run over to see if it had landed and he'd watch it shoot through the tube!

This is the tube you could watch it shoot through, and directly below this is where Sam's basketball goal sat!
Meanwhile, Charlie and I sat at one of the booths right next to all of that where he played with one of the puzzles they had sitting there. He also took a bottle while his brothers played, and I relaxed!

They had all sorts of dress up areas and this one was set up like a doctor's office, complete with check-in counter, ace bandages exam table, and pretend everything!

Huett wasn't really sure what to think about the x-rays. I explained it to him and I could see his wheels turning but I think it was still over his head!

Paging Dr. Hill. That has a nice ring to it!
It looks like he's about to deliver some bad news!

They had random people placed throughout the museum with different animals! Sam actually petted the snake! I was surprised. Huett didn't.

They had this huge area of like play-kitchen, play garage, tree house, play school. Inside there was a toddler and infant area. It was just perfect for Charlie and he sat there for a while as his brothers played.

"Get outta my dreams. Get into my car"

There was a whole dinosaur/fossil/archaeological section too. It had a sandpit for dusting for fossils, dress-up like a dinosaur or an explorer, and a dinosaur egg nest. Too cool! How do you get a job designing these exhibits? That's what I want to know.

RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

Complete with dino-tail.

When you put your fingers on this hand print, it picked up your heart rate and the drum beat to your pulse. Look at Sam's little hands on top of Mikey's! So sweet!

They had a whole pretend garden complete with "seeds", "veggies", "apple trees", "orange trees", "blueberries" for picking, and a "farmer's market" to sell them at!

They had a whole campground set up with tent, cave, pretend fire.

Before we left, I had to beg Mikey to try and fit into this kayak. He wasn't even close!

As I think you can tell from these pictures, this place was right up their alley. Because we went in the afternoon, we were almost the only people there. All the school groups had come and gone that morning!

One more stop before our adventures come to an end! Pictures coming soon!

Chattanooga Post #2

2010-04-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

Next stop on our Chattanooga Choo Choo was the Tennessee Aquarium. It was a beautiful day, and we arrived downtown around 10:00. We walked around the area for around forty-five minutes just soaking in the local surroundings! I love downtown Chattanooga, well at least this part of it. I've never been anywhere else in the city, but this part is great! Whoever their city planner was did a great job!

Look closely at the top of that arch and you can see Huett and Sam's little heads peeking through the rails.

Take a closer look! They were so excited about being there again! They remember going last time, and they couldn't wait to go up!

First stop, the sting ray tank! Their little arms weren't long enough to reach down to the bottom of the water to actually feel one of the sting rays but they sure did have a good time splashing around into the water!

Then into the butterfly world or whatever you want to call it. It was a little crowded because we somehow unfortunately managed to enter this side of the aquarium in the middle of an elementary school class so we didn't stop long enough to try to let them land on us like we did last time! I did, however, manage to go national geographic on the animals and take some pretty artsy fartsy pictures, which you are experiencing now!

I really like this one. They had something I can only liken to fruit shish-kabobs (not to be confused with Trish-kabobs) that hung on fishing line from the tree branches. They looked tasty to me, but I practiced some restraint and left those to the butterflies! What a pretty picture though!

These are some of the other sting rays that you were not allowed to touch! Oh, yeah! When Mikey was "touching" the sting rays we met earlier, he broke the rules and actually grabbed one. Disgusting, right? Anyway, that thing circled its body back around and bent in half so fast like it was going to bite him. It scared the bejeezus out of him. It was hilarious, and I am surprised that we didn't get kicked out of there on the spot! I kindly reminded him that Steve Irwin was killed by a sting ray!

Here is one of the macaws. At the aquarium. I don't get it, either.

This macaw said,

"What am I doing in a freakin' aquarium? I am neither fish nor amphibian! I don't belong here!"

Next, on to the penguin exhibit!

The penguins relevance, I get. Seeing that they live in and out of the Antarctic Ocean and everything. And they're totally awesome! It makes perfect sense. They are such funny creatures! They really are just like the cartoons that make fun of them! They are like weebles. They wobble but they don't fall down! And, they are deceptively fast under the water!

They boys were really excited about the tanks you could climb inside of! Lucky for them, at this point there weren't any other kids around so they got to stay in there for a while!

Sam kept posing like this all day. Not really sure why. I think it's his was of telling everyone, "Look at me, I'm the man." Duly noted, Sam.

Mikey went up ahead of us, and when we rounded the corner he was waiting inside this aquarium. The boys thought that was hilarious! Also in this section, the video of a seahorse giving birth. In the seahorse species, the male gives birth. In what I can only explain as his bellybutton are all the baby seahorses. When it's time to give birth, they shoot out into the water. Like one-hundred of them! It's like every time his muscles contract more shoot out. It's disturbing, and it must be seen. Google it.

We also ate at Cheeburger Cheeburger which is just a short walk from the aquarium. The boys really liked it, and so did we. Their food came in these little cars. Sam had a jelly sandwich and Huett just ate french fries. We had hamburgers that were yummy! And milkshakes, of course milk shakes!

Next stop...coming soon!

BTW

Charlie isn't showcased in this post because he had a major blowout that required an entire wardrobe change right after we left the restaurant and headed for the aquarium. Once that was over with he passed out and slept in his stroller almost the entire time. Rest assured that he was there!

Chattanooga Post #1

2010-04-24T20:01:00.001-07:00

The first adventure on our trip was to Ruby Falls. Well, actually the first real adventure we had was the last-minute plans to dash away on our mini-vacation! We had mentioned it once in passing, but around 4:00 in the afternoon, we decided to go. I booked the room right after I picked the boys up from preschool and we were on the road by seven that night! Exciting, right? It really was! They were absolutely beside themselves, and honestly, so were we! We'd never done anything like this before!

Nevertheless, we arrived around 11:00 and got into our room! They were bouncing off the walls...more precisely the beds, of which we had three! That was a pleasant surprise. It had a separate room that had a "wet bar" whatever that really is. Basically a sink, mini-fridge, coffee-maker and microwave, with a couch-bed and the bathroom! Anyway, it had it's own TV which I was able to set on the "soundscapes" channel since I forgot his sound machine. Charlie slept in there. That allowed us to stay up and watch TV with Huett and Sam without bothering Charlie. What a little unexpected blessing!

So, of course we woke up with the sun the next morning and after attending a magnificent continental breakfast, which included omelets, sausage, eggs, cereal, bagels, toast, and waffles, which you got to make yourself we were off to...the pool!

Charlie's first adventure into the pool went off without a hitch! He loved it, and so did the big boys!

Now back to our first stop! We went to Ruby Falls. It was a dreary drizzly day, so going deep underground was perfect!

They were pretty excited!

Here we are in the gift shop waiting on our tours to begin!
My little excavators!

This is exactly how Mikey and Charlie spent the majority of the mile long trip to the falls and back. Charlie got toted the entire time because the cave was definitely not stroller-friendly, which was just fine with him! Mikey spent most of the walk hunched over because the cave ceilings and all of the stalactites hung down far too low for his 6'4" frame.
Can you say backache?

Sam did pretty good on the trip, however, his strength did begin to wane towards the end of the trek. Totally understandable though because it was a lot of ups and downs., and he is only three years old!

Charlie was loving all the attention he was getting from the people that were on the trail behind us because, like you saw earlier, he was looking behind us the entire time!

Huett did great, and later told us that this was his favorite part of the whole trip. Well, besides the hotel pool, of course!

I know this picture isn't very clear, but this was taken at the waterfall inside the cave, which is completely magnificent! Obviously this picture doesn't do it justice! I saw it when I was little, but I don't remember it being that impressive. Little known fact...the scientists have no idea where the water for the falls originates, but they put dye in the water so they know it drains into the Tennessee River.

Any way, I love the looks on their faces! I wish this picture were clearer!

Next stop, the Incline Railway! This was a fun little adventure too because Mikey is incredibly acrophobic, or afraid of heights. It was a little train car that went from the tip top of Lookout Mountain, straight down to the bottom! It was like a seventy degree incline. Luckily for him, it went really slow! Still, the thought of it malfunctioning and becoming a runaway train car was enough to keep it interesting!

This was a look we got to see a lot of during our trip! Utter excitement!

Atop the platform above the incline railway we attempted yet another family pic! Huett has developed a bad habit of covering his eyes every time I try to take a picture of him, even if it isn't sunny! That's what you're seeing here!

These two! Charlie loves his daddy, and I love this picture!

So there you have it, the first of our adventures in the great state of Tennessee!