Monday

It’s Monday! I just finished up some leftover painting from the weekend and I should be cleaning my house getting ready for company… But its rainy and yucky and my girls are still sleeping, so I thought I’d post a couple things from the past few days around here…

 

We’ve made a few updates around the house including:

saying goodbye to these beauties in our sunroom:

And we took 30 years off the life of the built in that’s in our living room:

This is the before and I can’t wait to post the after! Its not completely finished yet (that’s what I was painting this morning), so I’ll post it soon! It looks totally different though and it’s got me motivated and ready to tackle ALL of the cabinets now! Let’s just hope DW is just as motivated.

 

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We are loving anything miniature these days… Our latest finds have been the “Champs” from Blue Bunny – They are the perfect size drumstick for AB and she loves them. I do, too! :)

Target has the BEST selection of tiny size snacks right now! We picked up these gummy bears last week and not only are the bags tiny sized, but the bears are too! So cute.

 

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This girl is cutting four top teeth right now. She’s been chewing on everything these days and makes this funny face often as she feels her new toofies.

She’s loving Gerber puffs these days. She likes the little star puffs, but she LOVES the yogurt ones.

AB loves to make Mames laugh. She is enjoying her sister more everyday and I love seeing their relationship develop.

 

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On Saturday, DW had a benefit shoot in the morning, so the girls and I went to Hobby Lobby to get ready for Fall. We didn’t buy one thing for fall, but we’ve got our eye on a few Christmas things…(I can’t believe its August and they have Christmas out already!!!)

When we came home, my Mom & Granny came over for a visit. We played outside with the girls and AB made us all snow cones. Its her favorite thing lately.

When DW got home, he got Granny on my golf cart and we took her for a ride! She loved that it was red! :) I loved that we got her on it and she got to ride it. :)

And the biggest news from our house this weekend:

We now have a crawler!

Life around here is fixing to get interesting!

~amw~

Singing In the Rain…

The forecast at our house every afternoon this week has been RAIN!

 

It hasn’t been much fun for a certain little girl who has wanted to play outside with her new soccer ball—except for yesterday!

That’s when Little Miss reminded me that she had a new um-ba-rella and that meant she could go outside in the rain! :)

The same Little Miss had dressed herself that afternoon and when she came walking up with her tutu and umbrella, there was no way I could deny her. So I grabbed my camera because I knew it was going to make for some cute pictures!

It was just barely sprinkling, and AB had a ball playing in it!

 

~amw~

Ballerina Belle

She’s only had her first lesson, but I think it’s safe to say our sweet girl is going to love dance class!

Yesterday morning the girls and I did our usual Monday running around, which includes a trip to the grocery store.

While passing through the bakery department, I decided to pick up a little cake to celebrate the day. I told AB that very special days deserve cake. I believe that with all of my being. :)

Later that afternoon, while Mamie was napping, AB and I did a little Pinterest inspired project to go along with the ballerina theme of the day.

By mid-afternoon it was time to pack everything up and head to meet Grammy. Even Mamie was dressed in theme…

We couldn’t have such a big day without going by my Granny’s house first! AB was excited to show “Great-Granny” her ballerina bun!

I had high hopes of taking lots of cute pictures outside the studio before her lesson, but the rain dashed those plans. And as soon as I signed her in, she was off to her class.

Mrs. Debbie, the owner of the studio is one of my Mom’s dearest friends. I’ve known her since I was five years old and her daughter, Cyndal, who I’ve known her whole life, will be AB’s teacher. Their family is precious to us and we are so excited that AB is getting to dance at D&D!

Her little class was quite a crew, I didn’t count, but I think there were around ten 3 & 4 year olds!

The Beginning Combo class is an hour long and they do both ballet and tap.

They started out in a circle on the floor and did their stretches. I was so proud of AB and couldn’t believe how grown up she looked sitting in there listening and following directions.

They have a closed circuit camera in the rooms, and the parents get to watch on a TV screen in the waiting area. There’s also a mirrored glass window that all the Mommas were taking turns crowding around trying to get a peek at their girls! I tried to snap a couple pictures with Mom’s cell phone through the window.

Mom and I were just dying- it was so precious!

After a water break mid-way through the class and then a shoe switch, it was time for the tap part of their lessons.

They end the class each week sitting in a circle with prayer time.

It was precious to see, but the more I thought about it last night, the more I loved it. What a witness and example to these little girls – just reiterating to their tender little three year old hearts that you can pray ANYWHERE – even at dance class!

DW came straight over from work and he was able to catch the last few minutes of her class. She was so excited to see Daddy had come, too! I did get to snap one quick picture of her after class…

My Dad was waiting for us at the restaurant and we all had dinner and then cake to celebrate, as AB reminded everyone, “a very special day.”

An hour of dance is hard work, because this little one was OUT when we pulled into our garage last night!

She woke up long enough to facetime with her Aunt Nen & Uncle Adam to tell them all about dance class and try to facetime her Aunt Kels, and then she was back to bed! :)

~amw~

Birthdays & Rollercoasters

We’ve been celebrating my man’s birthday for a week now. It only feels right though, because people like DW, should be celebrated EVERYDAY. He’s just that good. For real.

We started the celebrations last Sunday morning on his actual birthday. His Mom is almost always the first to call him on the morning of his birthday and she kept up with tradition this year, too. I’m sure she remembers the day better than anyone and she should – as the story goes, he was two weeks OVERDUE and weighed almost 9 lbs.

On that morning in 1979, when I was just a mere twinkle in my own parents’ eyes (ha), DW came into the world and I’m certain it’s been better ever since.

Like all good southern housewives, I made sure my honey got all his breakfast favorites on his birthday. Bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, grits, and biscuits. Yep, we went to the Cracker Barrel.

Breakfast was followed up with church.

Celebration number two was at Pappy & Nie-Nie’s house that evening. DW requested seafood for his birthday supper. Pappy & Nie Nie never disappoint. Adam & Lauren got brother & SIL of the year for their  birthday meal contributions…fresh from the Keys grilled lobster. OH.MY.GOSH. They were THAT good!

We missed Van & his crew, but they were on their way home from vacation that day.

For dessert, I made DW a cookie cake, and decided to make it his favorite colors…orange & blue and of course, we had to put a gator on it. :)When AB saw it, she decided she wanted to wear her cheerleading uniform (that my SIL found at a thrift shop in Atlanta for $5.00 – Thank you, Aunt Kristy! :)   So, since she was wearing that, I put Mames in hers too!  

AB was so cute helping her Daddy open his presents. It was hilarious, because she also told him everything was from her! :) She’s going to be so fun this year at her birthday and Christmas!

On Monday night, (since my parents couldn’t join us on Sunday) we had birthday dinner at their house. Mom cooked one of DW’s faves- chicken wings. She does the best wings! They’re actually a fave of all of ours! (Including AB, who requests that Grammy make her some wings every time we’re going over there for dinner!)

DW’s been playing with all of his birthday presents all week and on Thursday night, we got to try out his present from the girls! I don’t know when I have seen something so adorable! The bike trailer is almost too much to bare! The girls LOVED it! BOTH of them! We rode to the feedlot (where on a sidenote: I was nearly attacked by a momma raccoon and her babies. Did yall know raccoons can growl and hiss?!?!?).

On our way home, Pappy & Nie Nie saw us when we had stopped off at the office. They pulled in to check out the girls’ new wheels. Even Pappy gave the bike trailer a test spin. Too cute!

DW’s last celebration was this weekend.

My present to him was an overnight Mommy-Daddy date!

Back when my Mom and I took the girls to Busch Gardens, he made the comment about how much they used to love to go there when he was a kid and ride the roller coasters. I thought it would be fun to take him there and ride some rides and relive some younger years. :)

So, I lined up my Momma & Daddy to watch the girls and I had the weekend all planned out… We’d leave on Saturday morning and play at Busch Gardens all day. I had even pepped myself up to ride all the roller coasters DW wanted to ride (even though they aren’t my cup of tea at all…because this trip was ALL ABOUT HIM and I really wanted to do it for him). I made hotel reservations at the Intercontinental and dinner reservations at Shula’s restaurant.

Well, things don’t always go as planned. We hit Tampa yesterday morning and it looked like we were in the middle of a tropical storm. Maybe not that bad, but the radar over Tampa was solid green. Sometimes, though, when our plans don’t go exactly as planned, they turn out even BETTER! We ended up getting to do even more than we’d planned!

We decided to make the best of the rain and that it was great weather for lunch and a movie. We had lunch at Maggianos and then saw the new Bourne movie. I told DW to pick ANYTHING and I’d be happy to watch it…even The Dark Knight… (THANKFULLY he chose The Bourne Legacy!) :)

After our movie, we got checked into our hotel and praise the Lord, we had an afternoon nap. DW can’t be lazy at home, so I was glad to be somewhere he could be.

We got ready and had dinner. Shula’s was as good as we remembered.

After dinner, we did a little shopping…for ceiling fans. :) Most of our date nights end in a trip to Lowe’s or Home Depot. That’s fine by me, because it means there a project going on, and I do love me a home project!

Courtesy of the parking lot chains, DW learned a lesson that night – he may be able to outrun me any day of the week, but his 6 foot 4 inch self will never out limbo me. :)

After buying some ceiling fans, we decided to just do it all and have dessert at 10 p.m.  -  I’m sure calories don’t count after 9:00, and thank goodness because our dessert choice was The Cheesecake Factory.

We headed back for the hotel and woke up (on our own) Sunday morning after 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Amen. We decided to give Busch Gardens another shot and got to the park right after it opened. We were greeted this time with blue skies, but also lots of people! It was pretty crowded, but we still a great time. We spent a few hours at the park and rode three of the rides. It felt so crazy to walk in without carrying anything! Usually we have strollers and the backpack and sippy cups and the big camera and sunscreen and snacks and the kitchen sink.

In front of one of the death traps we rode.

After the 3rd ride, the clouds were rolling in and we decided to go ahead and leave and get some good lunch before heading home. I didn’t tell him then, but I was SO RELIEVED when DW suggested it. I think if he had wanted to ride one more roller coaster I may have cried. I did my very best to “enjoy” or at least act like it on those rides, but looking death in the face going 70 mph on some steel tracks really isn’t my thing. I am the biggest chicken EVER. Next time I decide to take him to ride roller coasters for his birthday, his brothers and sister are coming too. They can ride and I can watch! :)

Lunch was at The Columbia. It was delish.

After lunch we were homeward bound!

My parents are so good to us and even stayed at our house with the girls. They lived it up, too, while we were gone, and we came home to “hand cookies” –

It’s not an easy thing for us to ever leave our kids and we don’t do it often. But knowing they’re in good hands made it doable! :) AB and Mames did great – so much so that Mamie wouldn’t even hardly come to me when we got home! (& AB cried when she woke up from her nap and Grammy & Pop weren’t here anymore). That’s good news, because this was some more practice for another little trip we have coming up in October! :)  (IF Mom and Dad don’t cancel on us after this weekend- ha!)

DW and I enjoyed our little break so much.

I always love him, but sometimes I forget just how good we are together.

As we crossed over onto “our road,” the IPod that was on shuffle, started playing “our” song… what are the chances?

 

Ordinary no, I really don’t think so
Not a love this true
Common destiny
We were meant to be
Me and you

Like a perfect scene from a movie screen
We’re a dream come true
Suited perfectly for eternity
Me and you

 

I couldn’t agree more.

~amw~

Beginning Ballet…

On Monday, AB will go to her first ballet class. I am beside myself.

But not nearly as excited as she is about “dance class!”

A few Friday’s back, Mom & I took the girls out to lunch and shopping for all of her dance class essentials. We made a day of it!

We hit Arabesque which is a little dancers dream…

so many tutus and leotards! :) 

We had her fitted for her ballet slippers first.

Then, we got her tap shoes!

She was so excited! (We all were) :)

After Arabesque, we went to Target and we found LEG WARMERS!!! AB had to try them on at Great-Granny’s when we stopped to show Granny all of her dance stuff.

Showing Great-Granny how her tap shoes sound

She’s had to try on her “dance cwothes” at least a half dozen times since we got them and has pulled them all out to show anyone who’s been over at our house! :)

We’ve been practicing our ballerina buns this week– I even watched a tutorial on the “sock bun” and we tried it… it might be a little too big for AB for now. (It looks like I have put fake hair on her! ha)

Grandma got her the ballerina nightgown, and AB’s worn it every night this week since getting it in the mail on Tuesday! 

We are all so excited for Monday!

I can’t wait to see our little ballerina twirling and tapping! 

~amw~