Let the Games Begin!!

Well, Hello! And Happy Saturday to you! I just returned from an estate sale! I had scoped it out ahead of time, and went hoping to get a couple of chests for next to nothing! But, the chests weren't as cute as I remembered once they had a $95 price tag on each one! SOOOOOOO I bought 3 pewter mugs! $10 for them all- not bad for some Saturday entertainment!


I don't know why that picture is soooo big! Sorry, but speaking of Estate Sales...Have you ever read any of Mary Kay Andrews books? She writes the cutest books and the heroine is almost always an interior designer, or an antique picker, or an estate sale junkie! I love them because they are light and fun! And Mary Kay loves to "junk" in real life and she obviously has good taste! If she describes a room, you think, " HOW CUTE!". So, put these on your summer reading list- My fave is Hissy Fit.

Yesterday, Pax and Syd arrived for a 2 week visit! Within 15 mins we had a "red kool-aide and entire bowl of chicken salad disaster"{Lord, give me strength!} Then, I was going downstairs to give the "everyone work together and pick up your messes lecture" when I spotted a BIG WAD of RED Bubble Gum "resting" on the arm of Don's leather chair. I was about to spin into orbit- "WHAT is THAT?!!" That is when DON admitted that it was HIS GUM! OMG! COME ON! I just rolled my eyes and went upstairs. That is when I discovered that Don had put my BLACK IRON skillet in the soapy water in the sink to soak!! AGGHHHH! {Lord, PLEEEEAAAASE give me strength!} SO, here we are on Saturday. Pax has a Baseball Tournament today, Sydney went with her Mom to get her "bridesmaid"-(not flower girl) dress fitted for an upcoming wedding, my washing machine is acting up, I have to make 160 Pineapple Delight hors d'hourves for a cocktail party that we are hosting with some friends tonight, and I am avoiding all reality on my computer!!

Here are all of the little darlings last night in the back yard! They had been playing a homemade version of Hide and Seek where you look for the person who is hiding and then you chase them around the yard until you get a good position and then you throw a tennis ball and try to hit them as hard as you can with the tennis ball! It is a lovely new game that quickly had everyone in tears- I am going to get a wiffle ball set today so that we have some outdoor activities that won't be quite so violent!

Truthfully, I am really looking forward to the next two weeks! We have so much fun when Pax and Syd are here for long stretches rather than for a few days at a time. We settle into a routine, and I always cry when they leave. Hopefully Syd and I can do some cooking, and we can all spend some time at the pool! The heat is oppressive here- so STAY COOL!

Monday! Monday!

We are back from a big weekend in Little Rock for Amber and Martin's Wedding! I did not want to drag my big camera around like a geek all weekend so I do not have any pics of the super elegant rehearsal dinner at the country club, or of the wedding day brunch at a Tuscan style home that was spectacular, or of the BIG wedding and reception at the Clinton Presidential Library! Sorry to disappoint, but my little evening bag was the only accessory I needed. Of course, I would love to have pics of the wedding and of the Capitol Hotel where we had a room- what a treat!! So we will have to get by with these pics from last week and last night!

Here are Rafe (my brother) and John Stephen. Rafe is a farmer and he wears a large brim hat everyday to keep him cool. Ever heard of a "farmer's tan"? Well, he has one- the real thing- white forehead- tan face, tan arms and white legs!! This is a hard time of year for farmers- they have to water their fields and spend a lot of time worrying about the next rain! Luckily, Uncle Rafe could take a break and enjoy a BBQ with us last week!




For Father's Day we went to my Dad's for a burger cook and dip in the pool! Sydney swam with some of my Dad's dogs!!

This is about 2 minutes before the fun came to a screeching halt! Sydney tripped over the big dog on her way to do a cannonball into the pool! She fell half way in and half way out of the pool and scraped her foot up pretty bad! It scared us all! She had to spend the rest of the evening with her foot elevated and a big bandage! I guess we won't swim with the dogs anymore! Who is it that said, " the only trouble with trouble is that it all started out as fun"?!!!

So, here we are back on a Monday. I am doing laundry, trying to get our lives back into order. We made an offer on the house- looks like I am about to begin a BIG project!! I think it will make for some great blog material!! OK, back to the grindstone!!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Well, baseball season is in FULL SWING around here! We were at the ballpark every night last week, and there was a tournament this weekend- six games!! The team won second place in the tournament! We were very proud of them! John Stephen and Sydney have been there for the games, too! I did skip a couple of the games because it was too hot to take John Stephen out there in the 110*F Heat index!! You should see the gear I take to each game...two chairs, camera bag, diaper bag, battery operated fan for baby, bug spray, sunscreen, and my purse! Not to mention, Don's hat, sunglasses, and Blood Pressure Medicine:)!!




Here is Don. Straight from work. Apparently, he had some coaching wisom to share with someone who was playing! I think we all know who that person is!!

Sydney and the other "little sisters" have been entertaining themselves quite well. Her favorite treat is "frozen pickle juice"! YUK! I do not understand how we can even give her money to pay for such a treat, but she loves it!

Who's on first? Paxton Mills! MVP on his team this weekend!

And here he is pitching! Very hard to watch as a parent- each pitch makes you hold your breath and hope for the best! And I have to say that I really love watching the games- who would have thought?!

OK, in other news...We have to move...again! We knew this was a possibility when we rented this house, as it has been on the market for over a year! But, we hoped that we would find a permanent residence before someone made a deal on this one!! We have our eye on a house down the street, but it needs a lot of work. I think we will make a decision this week because we have to be out August 1st! Someday I will look back on this last few years and wonder how I did it! Deep Breaths! Be back soon! We have a busy week and a Wedding in LR this weekend!

Bubble-Licious!

My Bubble-Licious Boy! I just want to squeeze him and kissy kissy!! His entire wardrobe consists of Bubbles this summer- sorry, but I can't help it! I love chubby little baby thighs- so much more appealing than chubby mommy thighs! I took this photo on Memorial Day Weekend. Remember my camper? Well, we got it! And we spent the whole weekend in it!!


I hardly had time to drag out my camera- I am working on keeping it handy for the "kodak moments". But, anyway, back to the camper...We parked it in the yard at my in-laws lake house (their idea- we are NOT Cousin Eddie). It was too wet to park it in it's permanent place and hook it up to electricity and water. So we hooked her up to a generator that provided just enough juice for AC. Not enough for lights and other luxury appliances! Needless to say, a weekend with 3 kids and no water was INTERESTING! I had to give myself little talks all weekend about my attitude:)! And when we left I did tell Don that it was going to be a looooooog time before I was ready to take all 3 kids to the lake again!

Pax relaxing on the porch! We spent most of our waking hours on Chuck and Vicki's Porch, or in their kitchen, or their bathroom, or in their den. We did go out on the water for a little bit, but holiday weekends are so crowded-- we think they are like New Year's Eve- overrated and for amateurs!

On the last morning the kiddos left their bunks and made their way into our bed! The mattress is 4" thick and we found it to be way more comfortable than our mattress at home!! I guess we need a new mattress-a new FIRM mattress! Hey we are just making memories around here! Fun and Bubble-licious!! I'll be back with real pics of the camper soon- we are trying to decide on a name for our new home away from home: Shangra La, The Palace, The FEMA Dreama, Tin Roof...The list goes on...I am going to have our towels embroidered with the name we choose!

Bye for now!

Caught in the Act!

Well, Today was the End of an Era! I put John Stephen down for a much needed nap, and he just wouldn't go to sleep. Finally...silence. So I went up to investigate and here is what I saw!

Yep, He is now pulling up! And playing with the very dangerous blinds on his window!! I guess he was interested in the HUGE garage sale going on next door!

He was crying for so long, and I can only imagine that the Garage Sale Patrons were able to hear his plea to be rescued! How sad, to look up and see a this little cutie crying in the window!!

This was his expression when I discovered his new trick! Uh Oh! So, Don came home to check on something and I roped him into lowering the crib for me. Now he is all the way in the lowest slot. I have to say that his new abilities (Crawling, Pulling up, etc) are cramping his style in the nap department. Or should I say they are cramping my style? I can feel the baby weight melting off as I chase him around- I am too old for this!! Have a good weekend!

Happy Mother's Day- Belated...

Hello Blog! Long Time- No Post! Well, I've been busy, OK? Being a MOM is so time consuming that we can't even find time to celebrate Mother's Day on Mother's Day!! Well, actually, we did have a really nice Mother's Day with Don's family. His sister planned an awesome lunch with all of these great salads- very girlie! Chicken Salad, Pasta Salad, little muffins, and lots of family!! It was so nice to spend time with Don's family, and I got a new IPOD! Mine died a slow and miserable death by drowning in Diet Coke that was split in the console of my car- so I was thrilled to get a new one!!

But, my REAL Mother's Day treat was a special two day trip to the lake with my very own MOM! And my Sister- who should write a book on making motherhood look easy! We went to Steph's In-Laws' condo in Hot Springs for our little trip. Steph brought Chicken Spaghetti from a new Gourmet to Go business for our first night, and we enjoyed the patio's lake view. On the next day we headed to Garvan Woodland Gardens- a gorgeous botanical garden here in our state.

Wilson and Liza fed the fish along our woodland path!

John Stephen enjoyed the stroll. Maybe he can feed fish next year!

Wilson took his time- enjoying every morsel!

When we got back to the condo it was baby pool time! John Stephen really liked it! yea!

John Stephen and Liza in their Jammies! Liza is Two- and John Stephen is almost her size! Yikes! They had a lot of fun, and we were happy to put them to bed so that we could enjoy a great dinner that Steph made! Snapper, lemon artichoke orzo, and a fab salad with avocado that Mom made! Note: I made nothing! It never even occurred to me. I need to contribute next year- Steph and Mom did everything!

We decided to make it an annual event- I am glad! Spending time with my Mom and Sister is so much fun!! I did hear a comedian on TV say that all she wanted for Mother's Day was for someone to take care of her kids so that she could take a bath, drink a glass of wine, and cry herself to sleep!! Ha! There are days we can all relate!!

Gotta run- JSM is trying to crawl down the stairs!!!