Picture of the week numero tres

Got home last night and realized I forgot to bring home my laptop so I could post a picture, so here's today's and yesterday's...













The first one is Braden and Jace Brawner, Anthony's brother and his son, at the carnival last Saturday. Isn't Jace cute? He's a sweet baby.
The second one is of Wesley on the carousel. That's Mary Ann and Jace in the background. Jace was loving the carousel until it started moving and then he DID NOT like it. I'm sure it scared him when it all of a sudden started moving. In fact, I think this is only the first or maybe the second time Wesley has ridden on a carousel without me there beside him. One time he got on one by himself and started crying once it moved. The guy operating it had to stop and let me on. Happy Thursday! Maybe tomorrow I'll have something other than carnival pictures.

Picture of the Week Numero Dos

Here's another one from the carnival on Saturday night. Tune in tomorrow for a picture of Jace, mine and Anthony's nephew.

Picture of the week...and oops

Oops...forgot to post one last week. If you had been at my house, you would have understood. We had three t-ball games, a graduation (Anthony's sister), a graduation party (at our house...i.e. mad cleaning frenzy), a visit to the carnival while it was in town, and visiting with Anthony's brother, Braden, his fiance, Mary Ann, and their little boy, Jace (who all live in Seattle, WA). Needless to say, we were a teensy bit busy. So, to make it up to you, I'm going to try (extra emphasis on the try part) to post one a day this week. Here's the first one...












This one was taken by Anthony while MaryAnn & I were on a ride (Anthony & Braden were both too chicken to ride any : ) JK, they both get motion sickness). Wesley is going to be like me. He loves the upside-down, spinning-around rides and would have rode this one, but he was 3" shy of the required height. Maybe next year.

Sunny's & Brandon's baby gifts

Some of you may remember me saying I would post a link to pictures of the secret gift(s) I was going to give Sunny & Brandon Hall and the babies when I went to visit. Well, since I've visited and finally given it to them, you all can look too. Click on the link above (the post title) to see Kynsie's album (and a couple pages from one of the boy's albums). There is only one picture in the album (one I took while she was pregnant). The rest of the pages have spaces for pictures for Sunny & Brandon to add. They loved them by the way. : )

Picture of the Week...

sorry it's late...I was driving back from Knoxville last night and by the time I got back I was so tired that I just vegged out for the rest of the night. I went to visit Sunny & Brandon Hall and their beautiful triplets for a few days. This is the first time I've seen them in person and (prepare yourself for the gushing) they are the most adorable, happy, all around wonderful babies I've ever known (except for Wesley, of course). They are just precious. All three already have distinct personalities and looks. Kyan looks the most like Brandon, Braylen looks the most like Sunny and her side of the family and Kynsie is a combination of the two. I was so impressed by how well Sunny was doing (not because I didn't think she could do it, more because I imagined if I was in her situation, I would be losing my mind). She is an awesome mother, attentive and an advocate for her children, making sure their every need is met, but also balancing that with knowing you sometimes have to put your foot down for their benefit. All this is evidenced in how happy and healthy they are. Without further ado, here are some pics I took at a mini photo shoot while I was there....


Kyan

Braylen

Kynsie (I was making her laugh -hence the wide-eyed look).
I think you'll have to agree that they are just adorable.

Picture of the Week...

The first two are of a car that belongs to Anthony's boss. Look closely at the picture of the wheel and you can see me, Anthony & Molly in the reflection. The second two pictures are from when we went bowling with Megan (my sister), Eric (my brother), Jennifer and Trinity (my niece) the weekend Megan was home before flying to Germany. We didn't get to go to Trinity's birthday party so we gave her gift to her at the bowling alley. She is just such a cutie. She loves Dora the Explorer and one of the things we got her was a Dora bath doll. Every time Anthony would touch it she would scrunch up her face and give him a look and say, "Mine!" For some reason she didn't want anything to do with him, which is so funny because every other time she's been normal with him. She sure didn't want him touching her toys that night, but she didn't care if me or Wesley played with them. She and Wesley had so much fun chasing each other around and bowling. I wish my brother lived closer so I could see her more often.
Picture of scores taken by Anthony.

picture of the week rained out...

potw will have to be postponed until tomorrow...i'm still in my office working on a project for one of my classes that is due by midnight (might be my best procrastination work yet) and all my pictures are on my computer at home. check back tomorrow night and i promise i'll have a new one up. happy tuesday!

Our little MVP

As promised here are pics from Wesley's first t-ball game. For those interested, his jersey number is 11 and his team's name is First State Bank (don't ask me what the M on his cap is for...Martin, maybe). If any of you want a schedule of his games just email me or leave something in the comments and I'll email one to you.
The first one is Wesley diving to catch a grounder (playing shortstop). The other boy running toward the ball is Joshua Parham. Joshua and Wesley have been in the same daycare class since they were six weeks old, and their birthdays are less than a week apart. They have become like brothers, either they are fighting like cats and dogs or they are the best of friends. In the second one, Wesley is playing pitcher and catching a grounder.
All in all, I was really impressed with the two teams. I was expecting a few kids to skip bases or run the wrong direction, but there was none of that, only a few comical moments. Once when they were going back on the field I looked up to see Wesley's (very long) shirt untucked and his hat on backwards. He hates keeping his shirt tucked in and I can sympathize. Anthony has a pet peeve about caps being turned around the RIGHT way. I'm sure some of the other parent's got a good laugh out of me standing up on the bleachers and hollering, "WESLEY, turn your hat AROUND!" Wesley had a good time and is excited about his game tonight.
Happy Tuesday!

An apology...

Sorry I forgot about the picture of the week on Tues.; been busy this week with getting ready for Wesley's first t-ball game this Sat., his kindergarten screening, going to a business conference in Memphis for a day, finishing up a presentation for one of my grad classes, visiting with my sister, Megan, before she left for Germany (she finished AIT last Friday, got to come home for two and a half days and flew out for Germany where she'll be stationed for at least two years, although she will undoubtedly serve some of that time in Iraq) plus all the usual busyness of a job and a family. So, all of that is to say I didn't just neglect you, I had a good reason for it slipping my mind. I promise a picture of Wesley in his t-ball uniform next Tues.
Here's a picture of my mom, Margaret, Megan and me after her basic training graduation back in November. Hard to believe she's a grown-up now and not just my baby sister anymore.
And, if you know Sunny & Brandon, mosey on over to their blog to see some recent pictures of the triplets and their perfectly squeezable chubby cheeks (there's a link over on the right).

Picture of the week

This was taken just a few minutes ago. Wes was riding his bike around the front yard and I made him stop and pose for a second so I could take his picture. Right now we're sitting out on the porch on the swing, enjoying the nice warm weather and waiting on supper to cook.

ETA: The picture was inspired by the photography of Miss Tara Whitnaay. http://tarawhitney.typepad.com/me/

In honor of 01.02.03.04.05.06

I thought it was kind of neat that today was the only time for another century that the clock could read 01.02.03.04.05.06 (at 1:02:03 am) - although I think it happens twice in a century, once in the am and once in the pm, but Anthony argues that it's 13:02:03 in the pm. So, anyways, for this monumental occasion I thought I would celebrate by posting cute pictures of the munchkin that I took yesterday (notice the smudges of dirt on his face and that fake smile in the second one). I would have posted them at 01:02:03, but I was asleep in the am and at work in the pm.
One thing I'm loving about going digital (don't know why I always say 'going digital' like it's a new galaxy or something) is the instant gratification of seeing my pictures the second after I take them. I haven't gotten any printed yet so I'm wondering if opening up the prints will be as fun as it used to be when I didn't know what they were going to look like.
So, happy 1-2-3-4-5-6 day! Oh, just think, in June we can have happy 6-6-6-6-6-6 day. I'm sure all of you just cringed reading that. Okay, enough blogging, I've got to get some sleep.

Picture of the Week

The first one is Wes playing ball with his dad, Jody, this past Sunday. I even jumped in for a little game of woofelball (sp?) and you would have thought I had run a marathon I was so winded from running after Wesley. That was one heck of a wake up call...I need to exercise because I am majorly out of shape.
The second one is a lot less fun. This is just one illustration of what happened here in West TN on Sunday. I think the death toll has gotten up to 20 in just the state of TN now, but I'm not positive. Lots more have been injured and I read somewhere that about 1,200 structures were damaged in Gibson Co. alone. I keep hearing more stories of people's families who were either killed, hospitalized or their homes horribly damaged. I saw a news report that over 62 tornadoes touched down over the Southeast (I don't know if that means 62 individual ones or 62 touch-downs). I say all of this not to wallow in the horror and devastation, but to say, please keep the people of West TN and the other states affected by this in your prayers as they really need them right now. I am so thankful that we were protected.
So, that's my picture of the week.
ETA: A little bird asked me, "Ahhemm, are you going to give credit for the picture your husband took that's on your blog?" My talented husband did in fact take the picture of the truck and I adjusted the contrast and such before loading so I must give credit where credit is due.

More pics...

they wouldn't all load on that last post, but here's some more of wes playing with his cars...gotta love bed head! - you can barely see it in that third picture.

To my two readers...I'm still alive.

I doubt I have any readers besides April and Haley, so I won't waste time apologizing for my negligence since I've already emailed both of you with my lame excuses for not updating in a very long while. Since I'm currently procrastinating on studying for my finance exam, I'll just cut to the good stuff....pictures. The first three are pictures of the newest 'additons' to our family (our family of vehicles that is). The car is a 65' AMC Rambler which Anthony drove back from Pennsylvania in the snow in. The truck is an 86' (I think) Chevy Silverado that he traded his S-10 in for (which didn't have enough room for all three of us to fit in comfortably and did not have a/c - two things that this truck does have). He agreed to sell his El Camino for the Rambler. I also have a new toy....a new digital camera, my first one. I've haven't had it for a week yet so I'm still learning about it, but it is a hoss (for lack of a better expression). I was like a kid on Christmas morning the day it came, all giggling and giddy. All of the pictures below were taken with my new camera - just goofing around and trying to get the feel of it. The first one is of Anthony torturing our dog, Molly and the second is one of Wesley playing with some of his matchbox cars in his room. That look on his face is the "I know you're taking pictures of me, but I'm pretending not to notice and trying not to smile" look. I mentioned to Haley that I'm going to try to do a photo a week for a while and see if I can keep up with that. So, until next week...buh, bye.

Wonderful news...

I have the most wonderful news. No, I'm not pregnant. No, I didn't win the lottery. I finally mastered my mother's chicken & dumplings recipe. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal to you, well probably to anyone, but to me, the daughter who requests the same meal every time I go to visit my mother, it means I can actually fix it FOR MYSELF. If there ever was a better comfort meal than chicken & dumplings, cream corn and biscuits (and chocolate in some form for dessert) I have not discovered it. Now, fixing chicken & dumplings is not that hard, but fixing them like my mom does, with the perfect ratio of liquid to chicken to dumplings is something I have tried numerous times to achieve and have ended up with something either so thick you could turn the pot upside down and it would fall out in one congealed clump or so watery it's more like chicken noodle soup. But, hallelujah, I finally made them the right way. Let's just hope I can do it again the next time.
In other not so trivial news, I will be getting my OWN office at work. Ms. Debbie, my supervisor, got promoted to Dean's secretary and my boss wants to do a little re-organizing of duties so I will be handing over some of my 'secretarial' duties to the lady taking Debbie's place and taking on more of the budget managing duties and moving down to one of the professor's offices that are being vacated as she moves to another building. Long story short, I get my own office with a door and everything THAT I CAN CLOSE! No more constant interruptions. Maybe I'll be able to accomplish more work this way.
And, as of Monday, two of the triplets had come home (Braylen & Kynsie) and Kyan would probably be coming home in a couple days. So all of them should be home by now and doing well. I think that is just awesome because according to their due date they should not even be born yet. They weren't due until December 31st. I get to go visit and help take care of them the week after Christmas when the university closes down. I am SO excited.
In case I don't get a chance to update again before the big day, hope you and your families have a very Merry Christmas filled with lots of time to spend with family and a spirit of thankfulness for the birth of Jesus Christ, the real reason for the season.

Yayyy!!!

In case you haven't heard, I'm an aunt. Well, maybe an adopted aunt. Okay, really just a self-appointed adopted aunt of three beautiful babies (I actually haven't seen them, but I know what their parents look like so they must be beautiful). My friend/old roommate/matron of honor in mine and Anthony's wedding gave birth to triplets (two boys and a girl) late Sunday night. All are doing well. Their names are Braylen Michael, Kyan Garner, and Kensie Reese (I like all their names, especially the little girl's). All weighed over 3 lbs. and were born at 32 weeks (full-term is around 40 weeks). All three are breathing on their own. Praise God! There have been a lot of people covering them in prayer for these babies to be healthy and to be big enough and far enough along to escape most of the issues with preemies and multiples. I am ecstatic (as if you can't tell). My mom and I are heading to South Carolina next Wed. to be there for my sister's graduation from basic training so I'm hoping we can make a stop on the way down there to see the little ones for a minute or two and see how the momma is recovering. I also have to finish the three gifts I've been working on for the babies. I would tell you what they are but I don't want to ruin the surprise. I'll be sure and post a link to pictures of them once they are done and I've given them to Sunny and Brandon.

Not much to say...

Just wanted to post a few pictures of our dog, Molly, that I took while trying to use up the rest of a roll of film. Isn't she a cutie?!

I know, I know....

So, I've been a bad blogger. A horrible one actually - haven't posted in almost a month. For some reason, October just seems to have flown by. As requested by one of my friends, here is a picture of Wesley in his costume. This is the only one I have so far. When I get one back with a full length shot of him I'll post one of those so you can see his whole costume, complete with blinking lights and 'muscles.' He had a blast last night. We made a few trick-or-treat stops at one of our neighbors, Wesley's babysitter's, one of our friend's houses and my in-laws (Mimi and Pops to Wesley) and spent the rest of the evening at our church where they have Fall Fest every Halloween. I wish they had these when I was a kid. Our church has a dunking booth (which our preacher is usually in - Wesley didn't get him, but we did get to see someone else dunk him), two or three of those blow-up jumping things/obstacle courses, a maze (made with cardboard boxes), lots and lots of games that you can win candy at (or get candy even if you don't win) and a photo 'booth' where you can get your picture taken and printed in front of a fall display with hay and pumpkins and stuff. I was definitely pooped by the time we got back home. Wesley was unusually hyper for the entire night (especially considering he only had a single piece of bubble gum from his candy bucket - which was a batman head - I thought it was kinda creepy, but Anthony insisted that he needed it to go with his costume). I didn't capture it on film, but the cutest thing was Wesley 'flying' around with his cape billowing behind him.
So, I'll try to be a more faithful blogger, but I can't promise anything with the holidays approaching all too fast. I am usually one of those people that has half their Christmas shopping done by now, but that's not happening this year.
Edited to add: In case you were wondering, the lady in the picture is my supervisor and the other secretary in my department, Ms. Debbie. I have known her for about 4 years and Wesley adores her so we stopped by on the way to daycare last Friday before his Halloween party to show her his costume.

Lists...

I love lists. I'm a complete organization freak (not in practice unfortunately, but at least in theory for all of you who have seen my house in the last year). I crave order and sparkling cleanliness. It is a craving that I rarely get to satisfy at home. Anywho, back to why I was posting this. I have become addicted to blog surfing. It all started with Ali Edwards' blog. Ali is big in the world of scrapbooking and one of those people that I think it would be so cool to be friends with. From hers I found sooo many more, including Tina Barriscale's. Her post yesterday was about lists. She gave a top five list titled "One reason I'm glad it's fall again. aka - the hottest men on TV." This reminded me of how much I love lists, but since my hubby might get a little jealous if I posted about other hot men (or at least I would if he posted about hot women), I will create a different, slightly more generic list (although I have to say I agree with Tina's #2).
Five Reasons I Love Autumn:
1. Rainy, cold weather = lots of naps on the weekends
2. Sweaters, sweaters and more sweaters (I think this stems from being made fun of when I was a kid for my hairy arms - I wanted to wear long sleeves year round to cover them up - altogether now, "awwwww." I'm much less sensitive to Harry and the Henderson's remarks now)
3. Hot chocolate, chili, soup and lots of other hearty things to eat/drink
4. The smell of the leaves on the ground and the cool, brisk breeze rustling the leaves.
5. No more mosquitos - they are horrible at our house for some reason.

feeling better...

So, this week is going slightly better. I'm feeling less sorry for myself and worrying more about my grandparents, two of which are in the hospital right now and a couple more that just got out of the hospital. I am trying to do a better job at work, which oddly enough makes me like work better. If I feel like I accomplish something it seems like less of a waste of time.
We found a home for Mae (the beagle). A nice lady who saw a picture I posted of her at our vet's office came to look at her last night and decided to take her home. She said their dog of over ten years passed away about six months ago. Wesley didn't get upset at all. I told him before she got there that she might take Mae and he was okay with it. Then again, he didn't like her that much. He still asks if we can have 'black Mollie' back (because she's a black lab and our other Molly is a yellow lab/golden retriever mix - in case you were wondering). So...we are finally down to one dog and one cat and one child :)
Posted a new profile picture that my hubby took of me a couple days after I 'chopped' my hair off (as my dad says) - pretty good pic for an amateur, huh? Yes, Sunny, I forgot to tell you I cut my hair. You can't tell much about it except that it's short.
I guess that's all for my rambling today.
Happy Tuesday!