Funny Anna Talk

I had to get this documented for our memories before she learns to say it right. Anytime she uses the word "right", she says it really funny and it sounds like she's saying "yet". It is so cute and we just love hearing her say it and we are going to be so sad when the day comes that she doesn't say it anymore. We've had lots of other things going on and I will post pictures and stories when I get a few minutes to download them all.

Yard Pictures

Ok, so these pictures REALLY don't do it justice - I took them with my phone this morning, but here are the promised pictures of our yard work (or at least some of it).

Obviously, this is the front yard - the only work we did here was refreshing the mulch in all the flower/tree beds and grass cut. I've still got to go get a plants for the planters on the porch.

This is one of the 2 large beds we planted stuff in. You can't really see all the plants from here or the tulips and hyacinths that I planted over the winter that have looked gorgeous until this week.

Again, not a good picture, but in the very back corner you can see a new bed that we made and planted the hydrangeas in. This was where I had planted tomotoes last summer that killed the grass and then the dog has just made it worse over the fall and winter. Hopefully, we can keep the dog out of all of the new flower beds this year, thanks to a shock collar!

A Weekend of Work

Sam and I joined the whole neighborhood Saturday in deciding to get some of our spring cleaning in the yard completed. It was such a great day - sunny but just cool enough that you didn't get too hot. The whole family (smoothies in tow) loaded up in Sam's truck and headed to Lowe's to get a few things. Well, a few things turned into 3 hydrangeas, 7 euonymus, 5 (I think) indian hawthorns, 10 bags of top soil, and 1 confederate jasmine. And the worst part is that was only the first of 4 trips to Lowe's that day.

The girls (Sophie included) had a ball playing in the yard and "helping" us. We started by Sam digging all of the holes and me planting them. Once everything was all planted, I headed back to Lowe's and loaded (or had loaded) 15 bags of mulch while Sam cut the grass. We finally called it a day at 6:00 pm and we could hardly stand on our 2 feet. Sam was up at 7 the next morning and at Lowe's to get our last load of mulch. We finally finished everything around lunchtime Sunday. It was a lot of work, but the end result was so worth it. I'll have to take pictures and post later. Last night I thought, we finally have a yard that I am proud of! It looks amazing! Only 1 1/2 days, 16 plants, and 60 (yes, that's right) bags of mulch! Now, I'm just waiting on the end of the pollen so I can clean our porch and furniture and it will be perfect!

Let's just say that after almost 4 hours of tennis (1 1/2 cardio-tennis plus 2 hours playing after) on Friday, a full day of yard work Saturday, and half a day of yard work Sunday, I AM SO SORE! I definitely got my workout in this weekend!

Wow It's Been A Crazy Couple Of Months

Well, judging by the title of this post, you quickly have realized that I have fully and completely failed in my New Years Resolution to post more often! I thought I was doing better than I actually was until I realized this morning that I had not uploaded pictures from my camera since the big snow here back who knows how long ago. If I can get Blogger to work the way I want it to, I will try and post pictures in the order in which they occurred (fingers crossed). Because so much as happened in just a few months, I will try and limit the captions of all the photos. Sorry for the overload in pictures - there's your warning - there are a lot of posts to come!

Easter 2010

Man, Easter came upon us so fast this year! These are the only pictures I have from this Easter. With all of the birthdays in the last month, I was just not prepared! The girls both had parties and hunts at school, but I forgot my camera (of course). Mary Mac also had her annual Music Recital at school and she surprised us all by being the "Star" of the show. She got to play the big instrument-thingy (obviously, I am not musically inclined) and got to play it for the whole program and all classes. She was the one keeping the beat for the rest of the kids. I couldn't believe it! She did so good! I definitely know that she is our "artsy" and creative child, but I'm still not 100% where it comes from. With Anna's birthday party on Saturday we missed our church hunt, but we had one at home Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon at the lake.

Who remembers those sponge rollers? Although they did nothing for my hair as a child, my mom always insisted on me sleeping in them before special occassions. I hated them and vowed to never to do that to my children, but as I have many times before, I've eaten my words! But, in my defense, Anna has already wavy hair so I thought I would try it. It turned out pretty cute!

Our family Easter picture

And of course, it would not be Easter without the afternoon at the lake. Since the water is too cold to get in to "potty", I decided to take along our little portable potty. It was a great idea! And it was a beautiful day on the lake - Anna napped on the boat, and me and MM got a little too much sun!

Anna's 3rd Birthday

I really cannot believe that my baby is already 3! She is the funniest, cutest little (and I mean that literally) thing! She was the first to tell everyone that she is an April Fool's baby! We had her party on the Saturday before Easter at the Fun Factory (like a Pump It Up). I really didn't want to do it there (yes, my fear of germs was tested), but she loves bouncy houses so much that I just bit the bullet. Her Aunt Molli was the first one to take her down a bouncy slide at the ripe old age of 1 and she's loved them ever since! She (and her little friends) had so much fun and with it being mostly little ones they didn't have to worry about the "big" kids being too rough or hurting them. I think they went down the big slide 1 thousand times!



A few things about Anna at the age of 3:



-thinks she is as big as Mary Mac

-tries just about anything MeMac (what she calls Mary Mac) does

-loves to be girly, but also likes to dress like her sister (who is anything but girly)

-weighs only about 23 lbs on a good day

-height 3"

-is very mischievous but knows how to "play" everyone

-loves candy (suckers mostly) but is not a big fan of "real" food unless it's Daddy or Pop's steak (expensive taste already)

-is taking ballet (her first recital is coming up - pictures to come) and swimming lessons (not crazy about the water yet)

-loves PEOPLE! She would rather hang out with the adults than play

-has the sweetest little voice, but her "baby talk" is starting to fade and I am very sad - she is quick to correct me now if I try and get her to say some of her sayings in her baby talk

-oh and how could I leave this off? She talks non-stop! Literally! She was so late in saying her first words, but she is making up for it now! Sometimes we have to ask her for just 3 minutes of silence just to clear your head!

-loves her Sophie girl - getting that puppy has made a world of difference in our child that was terrified of anything of the non-human kind!

-she and Mary Mac have nicknamed each other and have continued to call each other by their nicknames for months now - I think it may stick! Anna is Strawberry Shortcake and MM is Lemon Meringue and they will tell anyone that if you just ask them what their name is!

-finally and most importantly, she had her cardiology checkup last month and she is doing amazingly FANTASTIC! He officially diagnosed her defect as mild and does not want to see her back for 2 years!!! Woohoo!

All her friends

Blowing out the candles

The cake - it was not only so cute, but very YUMMY!

Mary Mac sliding

The Birthday Girl

Sam's Actual Birth-Day

Birthday Dinner

Giving Daddy a Big Birthday Bear Hug - you don't think these are Daddy's Girls, do you?


The Cupcakes we made for Daddy - no I am not very crafty!



The girls insisted that Sam's cupcake needed a race car on it since that was his birthday present so this was my attempt at drawing a race car with icing - hehehe!

Sam's 30th Bday (continued)

We had no plans once we finished at the race track, so I decided to ask around with some of the others there to see what we needed to do the rest of the day. They all said that we could not leave without going to the Stockyards in Ft. Worth to get a "real" Texas experience. This is like an old western town right in the smack middle of Ft. Worth. Every weekend they have a cattle drive down the cobblestone streets and a Rodeo every Friday and Saturday night (yes, we stayed for that). And if you've read our blog before and/or know us, you know that we felt right at home at the Stockyards. We kept saying that we felt like we were at home in Fayette!



It was also St. Patty's day weekend and they had a parade also. It was so much fun and we vowed that we would definitely have to bring Mary Mac back there, but next time we would stay at the old hotel right in the heart of the Stockyards (it is still a real working Stockyard/Auction town). Instead, this trip we stayed at the Grand Hyatt at the airport - it was FABULOUS which surprised us both being that it was at the airport.

I had to take a picture of these stud horses mainly for Mary Mac, but also to tell that this woman had these ponies on a leash at the parade like a pet! Oh, and one pooped and it splattered on Sam's boots (thank goodness he had his boots on!)


The cattle drive - Sam kept having to correct me because I kept calling them Steers - they are actually Longhorns!

My "seat" (a saddle) at the bar at one of the restaurants

The actual auction building

The rodeo arena

And of course I couldn't go to the Stockyards and not get a real Stetson cowgirl hat!

The main drag

Sam's 30th Bday Weekend

As you remember from an older post, we surprised Sam for his 30th birthday and took a trip to Dallas for the weekend (kid-free) and he got to participate in a Ride and Drive day at the Texas Motor Speedway. Other than the trip out there, we had a great, well-needed, weekend break! It was so nice to just "be" together without any distractions. Our trip out was horrible - our flight was scheduled to depart Bham at 11:30 am and arrive in Dallas at 3:30 with a connection in Memphis, but a line of storms roared through the night before and had most flights cancelled. Delta tried to get us on another flight, but the only option ended up taking us to Atlanta via a bus to then only find out once we got to Atlanta that our "new" flight was delayed. We sat in the Atlanta aiport from 2 until almost 8 and did not get into Dallas until almost 10 that night! Gotta love flying!!!!

Sam driving his car

Before the ride

A Day at the Park

Tire Swing Together!

I love this pic of MM - it was just a random picture from under the tire swing!


Hanging on the monkey bars

Sweet Angel (ignore the red stains on her face)

We skipped church that Sunday and had a picnic at the park. It was the first somewhat nice day in a long time!

A-Club BBQ Cook-Off

Anna enjoyed the bouncy obstacle course

Shocking, I know, but MM wanted to stay and hold the animals


Sorry for the over-exposure (I'm not a photographer).



It was freezing that day and had snowed the day before, but we were determined to go out and enjoy the day at the stadium. It was way crowded and kind of a chaotic mess of people trying to eat the yummy BBQ. They let the A-Club member's families come early and enjoy the activities before the public was let in so we did get to do it all and left early!

Snow Day

They played for a total of 15 minutes in the snow then wanted to come inside, sit by the fire, drink hot chocolate (which they don't really like), and watch Hanna Montana.

Dressed and ready for the snow. Obviously, we have no "snow" clothes!

My newest obsession - arent' these the cutest shirts? I made them! Ha!