Phone Photo Dump

A bunch of random things & pictures from my phone....

- my best helpers...

- Mamie's looking so BIG these days. 

- after being without an ice maker for FOUR months, ours was finally written off as not-fixable, and we got to order a new one!
Cue the hallaleujuah chorus.

I'd rather be without my dryer or oven than the ice maker. 

I'm an ice snob and will totally claim it. Poor DW is probably happier than I am to have a working ice maker again, since he's the one who's had to haul a cooler of ice home three times a week while ours has been broken. :)

- Our VBS was back in July & was a great time.

Lauren & I taught music again and as always, I got way more out of than I put in. Our guys ran the sound system and Pappy, Nie-Nie and the rest of us cooked on the last night. We did grilled hotdogs & chili and a S'mores buffet to keep with the "backyard camp out" theme. 

- I can't remember if I ever blogged about it, but after Christmas, we put up a play-loft that one of DW's cousins had passed down to us. I'd forgotten we had it stored in our shed outside until DW threatened to find it a new home if we weren't going to do something with it. It couldn't have been found at a better time- I was wondering how we were going to keep Mamie out of all AB's new Barbie stuff, and the loft seemed like the perfect solution. 

And for months it was. Fast forward to July when I walk in to find this...

Yes, Mamie can climb a ladder. We're in the process of figuring out how to keep her from climbing it again. :) it was the sweetest thing, though, to see how excited she was to be in what I'm sure seemed like "Barbo-land" (she calls Barbie, "Barbo").  She was so happy and just kept pulling out the drawers and saying "Barbo! Barbo! Barbo!" :)

- a long time family friend recently got married. My mom and I helped plan, decorate, direct, & do the food for the reception. Of course that meant my dad and DW helped, too. I didn't have time to take many pictures, but I was so pleased with what we pulled off! It was exhausting, but we were glad to do it. Momma & I kept saying it was like paying it forward- we had so much wonderful help with my wedding ten years ago, that it only felt right to help our friends. My inlaws were also great to let us borrow some of their things for the reception and for keeping the girls a lot during the week of the wedding. As always, anything I volunteer for means all "my people" get signed up too. :)  My dads threatening me if I volunteer for any more weddings. Ha. We really did have fun, though, spending a few days together and making it all happen... 

I loved the way the hula-hoop pinterest inspired "chandeliers" turned out... 

I also made my first wedding cake...

I've always made my kids' birthday cakes, so I figured surely I could make a Wedding cake too. (Yes, it was a moment of insanity & i know how crazy it sounds now). I was so nervous about it, but it turned out pretty good and thanks be to The Lord, who answered  my prayers, it didnt fall apart! ;)

- this girls is too much...

Both our girls love dress-up! :)

- my sweet cousin, Krissy, sent me this phone case a couple weeks ago. (In honor of Cousin Camp) :)

I love getting mail, especially when it's fun stuff like this. 

- Since my mom and I took AB for her first pedicure back in March, she's been obsessed with it. She's always coming over rubbing my feet and "giving me a pedicure" 

I'm not complaining at all! She's also loving "doing hair", but we're working on her being gentle skills. :)  She's been practicing her skills and gave Nen a pedi, Blue Run style- 

I'll also neither deny nor confirm that DW had a green toenail recently... Because "Gween is a boy color, daddy" ;)

- if you haven't tried these, you need to. So good. 

- Monday was DW's birthday... I changed the batman saying, "Always be yourself unless you can be batman, then always be batman" to...

Always be DW even if you can be Batman. :)  That's true- he's better than any superhero. 

- a few months ago, I made an upholstered head board for my SIL.

Before

It was touch and go for a while, and I was sweating it-- I had to even walk away from it and not touch it for two weeks before I finally finished it.

But in the end, it turned out and looks really good once she got it in her room and her bedding on it. 

After

- this girl loves to lay in her bed and play on the I-Pad. And when she does, she totally looks ten years old. 

How is she starting Pre-K on Monday?!?!?

-amw-

River 2013

Our week (back in July) at Blue Run this year was soggy and wet, and not just because we were river rats. It rained every day we were there. The weekend brought good weather, though, and since that’s when all the guys are with us, that’s the most important part anyway! :)

We cooked, swam, boiled peanuts, fished, played with cousins, chased off trespassers (I may have been slightly close to “losing my witness” on that one), played board games, had Sonic limeades at least a half dozen times and just enjoyed being at the river!

 

AB made her diving board debut this year. She took a little convincing at first, (in the form of straight up bribery by her Daddy, who promised to buy her some new Barbie clothes) but by the end of the week, she was a pro.

She swam OVER THE RIVER GRASS while we were floating with the boat and it blew my mind. But when you’re with your Dad it just doesn’t seem as scary…and that’s the way it should be. :)

Mamie kept everyone on their toes chasing her. :) She liked to be IN the water, just not IN the water. She wanted to be held in the water, but up high enough that she didn’t actually have to touch it.

Her favorite part of the river this year had to be the turtles. She would lean over the edge looking in the water and say “TUR-DLE” over and over again. It was the cutest. She also practiced her fish identification when we’d take rides on the boat…everything she saw was a “Mul-yet.” Who needs sunshine anyway, when you’ve got Mamie around??? 

The week was like it usually is, and everyone just kind of came and went as we could. DW, the girls and I ended up staying the majority of the week and the last night may have been my favorite. The evenings are always the best, when all the floaters have gone home and the water is quiet and calm…its always so peaceful. We sat down by the water and fed the fish, swam a little more and then DW, decided to climb the tree and jump. AB was SO impressed and loved it. He racked up a few extra “Daddy-can-do-anything” points that night. :)

The only bad part about a week at the river (even a rainy week) is having to leave it.

~amw~

Eight…

I was 22 years old on that Tuesday morning in August of 2005 when we left our house with great anticipation of meeting our son. It was so early that red lights down Newberry Road were still all turned to flashing caution lights.
Looking back, I was just a baby myself…having a baby. Cooper was the only one of our children who was a “surprise” and we are eternally grateful for those forgotten pills and the perfect gift that came from them. :) 
Like most young parents, I couldn’t believe they were actually letting us take him home from the hospital. I am sure it was because they knew my parents were going to be staying with us for two weeks while I healed from my c-section. Either way, they let us wheel him down to the front and still didn’t stop us when we didn’t even know how to hook his car seat and the nurse had to show us how.
DW drove and I sat in the back and stared at that sweet tiny boy. I had a six inch incision, hadn’t slept in two days, and my chest was increasingly growing massive in size and felt like it was on fire --- but still in that moment, EVERYTHING in the world seemed good.
We were young and naive and still living safely within the walls of a life that hadn’t experienced an earth shattering tragedy. Sure, we knew bad things happened, but until they happen directly to you, its easy to push fears and thoughts of the bad things to the back of your mind.
We loved being parents from the start. We enjoyed our boy and made a lifetime worth of memories in our 27 months with him. It didn’t take loosing him for us to realize what a gift he was, and I will always be grateful that we don’t have to live with that regret.
It’s always a hard time of year for us, as his birthday gets close. Its hard to not focus on the “how it should be’s” or “what if’s” --- it’s hard to think of a way to celebrate him when the reality of him not being here still hurts so very much.
All I can keep telling myself is that God is good. And I believe that with my whole heart. He is faithful and He continues to sustain us and carry us through the hard days. He loves us and has blessed our lives tremendously by giving us family and friends who do, too.
Cooper changed our lives. He was an extraordinary little boy- and of course, I’m completely partial. :)We will love him and miss him until we are with him again – but until then, we will always, always, always (even when it hurts) celebrate his little life and the joy he brought to ours.

~amw~