Out of Touch

Well, tommorrow we are off on another adventure for the summer! We are flying down to Clearwater, FL to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew for a week. I'm sure they are thrilled to have a house-full for a whole week. We are planning on going to Disney for a day or two also - Can't Wait! Mary Mac is so excited about the whole trip: from seeing her cousin Blake (although he thinks girls have "kooties", but she hasn't figured that out yet) to going to see Mickey Mouse! So, needless to say, I may be a little slow on new posts, but since Molli is a fellow blogger I may get a chance to get on! So stay tuned!

Memorial Weekend

We got to spend the weekend at the lake at Sam's parents new lake house. We had such a good time and laughed about the fact that not many families would or could totally embrace and enjoy spending the weekend together (6 adults and 4 young kids) in a house with absolutely NO furniture! Well, I take that back . . . there were 4 inflatable mattresses, a sofa bed, 2 chairs, and not to mention several fold-out tailgate chairs~! It was so fun and simple and relaxing! Although, next time, I wouldn't mind having more furniture to enjoy!

Mary Mac and Isabella "took" right to the lake! They jumped right in and swam all weekend, even after we killed a watersnake right by the dock! YUCK! I hate snakes (for those of you who didn't already know that)! I told Pop (my Dad), that not only does he have some "beach babies", but he also has some "lake babies" too. It was a hot and muggy weekend here and if it's any indication of how the rest of the summer is going to feel, we are in for a scorcher! I'll post some pics later of the beach and the lake!

Knock Knock?

Have you ever tried to play Knock Knock jokes with a 3 year old? At the dinner table last night, we got into a Knock Knock joke tirade and it was hilarious! Sam, of course, started it with Mary Mac by "Knock Knock?" "Who's there?" "Orange" (she totally fell for this one since orange is her favorite color) "Orange Who?" "Orange you gonna eat your supper?" She fell out laughing so hard she almost fell out of her chair. She then comes back with "Knock Knock?" "Who's There?" "Horse." "Horse Who?" "Horse Hay!" I know that makes no sense, but we fell out laughing too just becuase she was trying so hard and thought it was such a good one! Anna started laughing at us too with each joke even though she had no idea what she was laughing at! So cute and such fun memories! I love moments like these and I also love that I can blog about them so that I don't forget them when she grows up!

Vacation After A Vacation

What is it about vacations these days that wear you out to the point that you swear you should take another vacation just to recover from the first? We just got back Tuesday from a wonderfully long vacation - first to Mobile for Mother's Day (refer to my previous post), then onto the beach for 8 days! It was so wonderful to be able to spend that much quality time with my precious angels! They were both soooo good and my mom and I could not have asked for more! Aside from both girls waking up with pink eye one day, we had a rather uneventful 8 days. And, the best part was being able to spend my birthday at the beach and the pool reading a great "beach read" while mom took care of the girls!

Sam had not seen us in about 2 weeks due to his work/travel schedule, so when he got home last night, the girls could not get enough of him. They played and rough-housed with him all night! He was loving it too! He could not believe how much progress Anna had made trying to walk - no, she's still not walking, but very close and at least trying! And I was so glad to have my "partner in crime" home again too to help me with them! We are all glad that we are all home again!

So, onto the rest of the early summer - our country club pool opens in about 30 minutes and Mary Mac is on the countdown! Her secret she wanted to tell me last night was that we were going to go to the pool today! Let's just hope the glooming rain holds off long enough for us to get in a short swim!

Belated Mother's Day Post

After reading all of my friends sweet (and sometimes crazy) Mother's Day posts, I began feeling a little sorry for myself that I did not have some great story to post about how wonderful of day I had. But then it dawned on me. . .I had the best Mother's Day I think anyone could ask for. No, I did not get to sleep late, or have breakfast in bed, or any of those wonderful things that any mom would be grateful for on any day, but especially Mother's Day. Instead, I had a wonderful day that I will remember for a very long time! I got to spend my special day with my precious gifts from God (Mary Mac and Anna, of course), AND I got to spend the day with my wonderful Mom, AND my Mom and I got to spend the day with her Mom (Mimi). What more could any of us ask for? All 4 generations got to spend this special day together! We now have some great memories from that day that I will cherish forever! We do not get to see my Mom's parents but a couple of times a year, so to spend Mother's Day with all of the shining women who have been the best examples of how to be the Best Mom, was something so much more special than any sleep, food, or gifts! I just pray that I am able to be half of the mom/wife/woman that my grandmother and mother are. And thank you Papa for taking such good care of her!

So there you have it - I have proclaimed that this was the Best Mother's Day gift of all!

Mary Mac's Prayer

So this past weekend we (me, my mom, Mary Mac, and Anna) made a trip down to Mobile to visit my grandparents and family. It was a great weekend and the girls were so good. I was so afraid that they would get bored and start getting into everything, but, to my surprise, they did not! Anna really took to Papa and only wanted him to hold her, rock her, and even feed her! She only likes a few men - Pop and Daddy - so we were quite amused at her being so attached to him.

On Monday, we made the drive from Mobile over to our beach house in Destin to spend a week here for my birthday. The girls just love being down here at the beach. I'm not sure if its the fact that they have us all to themselves the whole time or the pool or the beach, but regardless, they love it!

So, last night we were getting ready for bed and had been talking about Pop coming down to the beach later this week and apparently Mary Mac was listening because the following was her prayer:

She said "Mom, don't forget to say your prayers!" I told her not to forget hers either. She immediately claps her hands together over her nose, eyes closed and began "Oh dear God, please get everybody down here to the beach. Please get Pop down here to the beach. The End." She looks up at me and asks, "Mom, what's that word?" Taking a stab at what she was asking, I replied, " Amen!" and she then repeats, "Amen!"

How sweet was that? It was too cute! I had to cover my face as I laughed because she was so serious and I didn't want her to think that I wasn't taking her heartfelt prayer seriously. Also, I was cracking up over the "Oh dear God" part - you think she's overheard me saying this in vain? Yikes - really gotta watch what I say!

New Look!

Ok, so here is my newest creation of a look for our blog! You like? I know you do!

I have to admit that I chose the color scheme because they are Mary Mac's favorite colors - orange (I know - not right for our child to like any form of the color orange, but she does), yellow, green, and white! So this new look is dedicated to Mary Mac! Maybe I will keep this one for a while, or at least until I can figure out how to create my own background and use it here. I didn't like any that I found already created online, so I created my own on Scrapblog, but am stuck trying to figure out how to get it on here. Any suggestions? I've tried using the same way that you would add the backgrounds from cutest blog on the block; I've tried embedding the html code as a page element : none of these worked! So, please feel free to give any suggestions or ideas and I will try them all! I will even give you credit for it! Isn't that sweet of me?

Gotta go! By the way, I also created my first pieces of work with my new sewing machine: 1) fixed a button on Sam's pants and 2) made a cloth napkin! Yea! Don't ask why the cloth napkin - just did it on a whim to practice a straight hem!

Pardon The Mess

Sorry for the crazy look I've got going on here, but I just couldn't stand it anymore and had to change the look of our blog again! It's like redecorating, but without having to actually do any heavy lifting or listen to Sam curse at me! I'll get it straight eventually!

Tennis Pics

Chris and I after our Big Win!Cool action shot - Ha! You like the headband?!

Casino Night - nope didn't win anything!


Not gonna tell you what Chris is saying!

Happy Early B'day To Me!

My birthday is not for a couple more weeks, but my mom just brought over my early birthday present! A SEWING MACHINE! YEA!!! I am so excited! I know it sounds crazy, but I really am excited about learning to use it. We've been talking for a while now about one of us getting one so that we can hem or take up the girls clothes. Poor Mary Mac - she is so tiny. She actually still can fit into an 18 months in shorts, pants (but then they are too short), and skirts, but can wear 3T in shirts and dresses. We are always needing to take up the waist in her clothes. And for Anna, I think she is going to be like me - short and little! So, I need to learn to hem for her!



Well, happy sewing . . . I'm off to try my hand at yet another hobby (as if I have time)!

Tennis Anyone?

Sorry for the delay in posts, but I have to admit that I have been doing a few things for myself for a change! I call it my Prescription for a Sane Mom! So, instead of posting about my kids today, I am going to take the time to brag a little about myself!

For those of you who don't know me very well, I grew up playing tennis - and not just fun tennis, I mean the kind of competitive tennis that kept me and my family (my brother played, too) on the road all summer, every summer, traveling to every tennis tournament we could get to! We pretty much just lived out of what Tyler and I affectionately called the Tennis Wagon or Tennis Lemon (picture [and smell] this: one of those lovely Dodge burgandy mini-vans with wood paneling down the sides, full of kids and tennis gear, and smelling of old, sweaty socks barreling down the highways and biways of the Southeast) - what a site behold, but what wonderful family memories we have! I have to admit that I truly believe that this is the sole reason for our family being so close - we spent every second of our summers together as a family! People just don't do that anymore! Everyone is too consumed with "doing it all"! And even though my dad traveled, he always seemed to show up at most of our tournaments. Memories of Dad being there go kind of like this: Mom, Tyler, and I travel to the tournment; we sign in and get our match times; show up at our 1st match and warm up; look over to the courtside and there is mom sitting quietly clapping, smiling, thumbs up (regardless of how you were playing -UUUGGHHHHH); and then there pops dad pacing behind the fence. Even though he was pacing, he was always there and that is what mattered to us! Ok, well, long story short, I got burned out and quit playing altogether at the ripe old age of 13 when I realized that I had nothing in common with anyone that I went to school with during the year and wanted to be in the "in crowd". Me? I know, you can't imagine that!

Well, fast forward to today - haven't really played a whole lot (other than a few spurts of leagues scattered through the years) and 2 babies later. I've been playing on a league that plays once a week at night and have had a great time and decided that this time is for real - I want to play again! And play seriously again! Wow, how things have changed since I was playing competitively at age 11! My partner, Chris, and I decided to play in a local ladies tournament last weekend and we had a blast! Not to mention, we played very well! We lost our first match (to our teamates on our league), but then went on to win the consolation championship! I have to admit it - I've been bitten by the tennis bug again (as an adult) and I love it! The good thing about learning to play as a child? It's like riding a bike - you can quit and pick it back up so easily! Mary Mac also had her first clinic a couple of weekends ago and she has been bitten too! We cannot get enough tennis! I have a video of her that I will try and post if I can get it edited to a short video!

So, I'm going to post some pics from the tournament and the Casino Night party before the tournament started. Another aspect of me playing again is that my husband has finally gotten to see me in action and is so proud! He's never played before, but I think he is really getting into it with me and Mary Mac and is just as excited! See Sam, I told you that I am a tiny bit athletic! Ha! I'll keep you all posted on my tennis adventures as they happen - so stay tuned!