Fun in T-town

Today we took a little jaunt to Tuscaloosa to visit blogger Stacey and her three sons and enjoy some fun in the sun. Julia spent the day in the baby pool- totally content. The boys on the other hand were all over the place, in the house, in the sandbox and usually- on this slide, which is AWESOME:
Then we had pizza and cupcakes to celebrate Jackson's second birthday! I LOVE summer days!

Open House Sunday 2-4

Come on by. I'm actually getting sentimental. If we don't sell I wouldn't be sad to stay- I really do love our home.

We gonna party- it's your birthday!

So last night is going down as one of my favorite nights! Marc, Shana and Jen threw me a SUPRISE 30th birthday party!!!! I had NO idea at all. Shana and I always go out to eat when its one of our birthdays so she told me we were going to go get pedicures and then eat at a cute place downtown. When I left the house, Marc was mowing the grass- I had NO idea there was a party in the works! Shana and I got our pedicures and then showed up at J. Clydes off Cobble Street and many of my friends yelled "suprise" and I completely lost it and cried like a baby!
Here are two of the lovely hostesses- Jen gets the special award for driving up from Mobile just in time for the party and then turning around and leaving a few hours later so she could be back for work! THANK YOU!!!
Here's the place- in the background you will see the BAND they hired! Yes a band- two guitar players and a saxophone player too!
Here's another view- you can kind of see the Happy Birthday banner- and they had "30"s hanging around. Julie at the back table is holding one of the centerpieces- a 5 by 7 of my face!
Here's fellow blogger Tally and her husband and Kathy- see my face on the table?! ha!
Here's another blogger, Carrie, her hubby Matt, and blogger Matt Ford. I haven't hung out with these college friends in a LONG time and we laughed and laughed!
Thank you everybody for doing this. I will never forget this AWESOME night! (By the way, I won't be 30 until Wednesday) ...but I can already tell 30s not so bad!

Home for Sale

Alrighty- our home is now for sale! If you know anyone looking for a 4 bedroom/3 bathroom house in the bluff park area of Hoover (Alford Ave. exit- just south of Lakeshore exit on 65) send them my way! The backyard is flat and beautiful. I'll post pics and price Friday. And if anyone works downtown- the commute is a breeze from this area. I can get to ANYWHERE in like 10 minutes.

Kids 4 Jesus

All this year Marky has been going to a once-a-month kids "bible study" at a friend of mine's home. It's called Kids 4 Jesus and the material was just amazing. We studied virtues like modesty, sincerity, vigilence, etc. Today we had our last meeting. The babies go upstairs with a sitter and the moms stay with the "big" kids. Here are the kids looking at the lesson- this month the theme was "holy daring".
Here's Marc doing the Holy Spirit relay. He had a cape with a cross on it and had to yell, "Holy Spirit, come into my heart and give me holy daring" and then run and give somebody high five and hand them a picture of Jesus, because when the Holy Spirit empowers us we can share Jesus with others.
Here's the class with the teachers. You can see the little mobiles on the table that we made- they had the seven sacraments on them. I'm so glad little man had this program and look forward to doing it again next year.

Home Improvement

Well- we've made an offer a new home. We're still negotiating, but in the meantime we've decided to get our home ready to sell. Last night Marc installed a new kitchen faucet, repaired cracks in the walls, and fixed a toilet (I'm so glad he's so handy). I spot cleaned the carpets and organized. Today has been power wash day and it has been so much fun. We've never power washed anything and I can't belive how much of a difference it makes. Can you tell which part of the deck he'd already done in this pic? Tomorrow we are staining it.
Look at how much better the right side of the retaining wall looks....
Meanwhile, I have decided that I am the bird whisperer. Birds love my hanging plants and ALWAYS have. While watering my flowers today I saw this little family of baby birds....
And this family of baby birds in my front-porch fern......
And this little family-to-be in my other front-porch fern.....
Isn't it amazing how they can make their nests so perfectly round and sweet? I'm actually glad we can provide some shelter for these sweet little babies.

What we've been up to

I love summer days- we stay busy outside. After pictures yesterday we went to the zoo with Aunt Shana. I cannot tell you how nice it is to have Shana living here with a job that lets her be off some of the days of the week- and she's always up to go somewhere- especially Moe's. : ) Isn't it cute how Julia is chewing on the dirty train railing?
Our philosophy with sunglasses is "go big or go home".
And here is our awesome "baby" pool at the YMCA. Isn't this thing awesome? At the deepest point it is only 1 1/2 feet so I can literally sit in a chair and watch my two non-swimmers play. It's like a big, clean bathtub.
After swimming today we went to Chick-fil-a to eat lunch and play on the playground. Julia insisted on wearing her sunglasses inside. She is kind of addicted to sunglasses like her mommy. The lady at the counter asked for her autograph.

You oughta be in pictures...

So today we got our annual portraits made. Thank goodness Aunt Shana was able to go with us to portrait innovations and get these done. It was a lot of work- I was crawling all over the place and trying to get Julia to sit or stand still is almost impossible. Here are the results- we're pretty happy! This picture of them kissing was just a whim- it wasn't posed- they just did it.
I didn't crop this one well- but you get the idea....

Happy happy babies!

Who am I serving here?

I mentioned last post that we have had company the past three weeks. It has really affected how I run things around here. I really try to have all the dishes put away immediately after breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm always dressed nice at night (i.e. changed out of my gym clothes into normal clothes) and have dinner on the table. I pick up the toys right before 5:00 when I expect the boys home- even the toys in the yard. I kind of like it. My house is staying clean and we are eating yummy meals and then cleaning them right up. Why don't I do this for my husband? I know morning sickness has had me down, but there really is no excuse not to "fix up" myself and the home and prepare for daddy's arrival. I hope this is a new habit of order for me. Oh- and I also think it's good I haven't been able to be on the computer as much. Maybe God sent me just what I needed to remind me that I have a husband to serve and he should be the number one "guest" in my home.

Slow Blogging

You may have noticed that I've slowed down on my posting. The reason for that is twofold: 1) I left my camera in Charleston and really don't like posting about our antics without at least one pic. 2) We are having extended company stay in our guest room for weeks (he's studying for the bar and looking for a house in B'ham) and that's where my computer is. So when I come in here I kind of feel like I'm trespassing on his privacy- even though it is absolutely necessary that I check blogs and e-mail. : ) Anyway- I plan to get the party up and going again soon- I just need my camera back! The biggest news we've had this weekend- Marky finished his 100 Easy Lessons reading book and got a new telescope as his reward!!! He also got a little planetarium thing that puts star patterns on the ceiling in his room. We are into space right now. Well, gotta run- just wanted to check in with my blogging girlfriends!

I stand corrected

This morning when Marky wouldn't share his stuffed animals with Julia who was crying I said, "Marc, why won't you just love Julia and share your toys?" He looked shocked and said, "Mommy, even when I'm upset with her I still love her. Sissy I still love you." Mommy stands corrected.

Welcome Home Mommy

I just got back from a weekend trip to Charleston to see one of my best friends, Sibita. We had the best time- we ate great food, shopped downtown, went to the LPGA tournament going on in her neighboorhood, toured all the fun Charleston stuff, and stayed up late talking in our PJs. Sweet hubby Marc kept the babies all weekend and gave me the plane ticket as our anniversary gift. When I finally got home around 7:30 last night the babies were all clean in their jammies waiting for me. Marky gave me a hug and said welcome back. The dog kind of nodded a hello. Daddy gave me a hug. BUT Julia lost her mind. She was so happy to see her mommy. She literally laid on me for an hour. I was tired after a while and would say, why don't you get down and see daddy? And she would say "see mommy" and kiss my face. She must have kissed me a hundred times. What a welcome. I love you little girl!