Favorite Foto Friday

When Luke was three years old, he had to dress up for church. The theme was "What I want to be when I grow up". He immediately said he wanted to be a mailman. We thought it was so funny, because most little boys will say a police officer, astronaut or fireman. Not Luke-mailman it was for him! Eric and his friend, Isaac, went to work on his uniform. They covered all the details-down to the pulled up navy socks and the hat with the earflaps. He got so many compliments and we had a lot of fun with it! Now that he's almost seven, he says he has no idea what he wants to be when he grows up. He loves animals, so we recommended a veterinarian. But he says, "No way...I could NEVER cut open a cute little animal". He has plenty of time to decide. I will be proud of him no matter what he decides.

Are these worth it?

I saw these new FitFlops on Bath & Body Works website. They are supposed to burn calories, strengthen and tone your muscles and generally help you get in shape just by wearing them. All for the low price of $49.99!!! I'm always looking for comfy flip flops in the summer, so I went to Park Plaza and tried them. I thought if they are that great, I can justify spending the money (somehow!!!!-that's A LOT of money for flip flops!). But I tried them on and I just wasn't impressed. The little piece in between the toes just bugged me!



So I went to the mall this afternoon and got these Adidas Ayuna flip flops for $24.99. They have foam bottoms and they are SO comfortable! I thought I would wear them this summer at Wild River Country or at Typhoon Lagoon at WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!! DID I MENTION THAT IN SIX SHORT WEEKS I WILL BE THERE?!? Oh my goodness! I am very excited!

Would you pay $49.99 for a pair of flip flops? Have you tried either one of these shoes?

Little Wonders

It wasn't until recently that I realized how much I loved Rob Thomas' music (I listen to K-LOVE 90% of the time). I took Luke, Ty and Harlan to see Meet the Robinson's last year and loved the movie, but loved this song even more. I'm so thankful that I have the Lord with me to help me when I've had hard times. Only He can help me to "let things go". I'm so thankful that the "hardest part is over" and I always try to rely on Him to "let my troubles fall behind me". LOVE THIS SONG!!!!

Favorite Foto Friday

This is Luke's first Easter in March 2001. He was about nine months old. At this time, he loved Baby Mozart videos! He could crawl and pull up on things, but not walk. When he would crawl, he wouldn't put any weight on his right leg-he would just drag it behind him. It was so weird. He didn't have any teeth. If you look carefully, you can see his little strawberry mark in between his eyes. It would get very red when he would cry. You can barely see it now. He also has one on the back of his neck. When he would sleep in his bed, he would stick his little bottom up in the air. His favorite food besides baby food was Cheese Puffs-sucky mom, huh?

Snow Pictures

Snow days are so fun! Eric, Luke & I hung out the day that it started snowing and we had snowball fights, made a snowman and took a long walk (without my camera so I would actually enjoy the walk instead of trying to set up the perfect photo opportunity). The next day, Eric and Luke headed down to Grant County to ride on the 4-wheelers with Pop. I don't know which one of them (Luke and Pop) had the most fun. Luke and Eric had to teach Pop how to build a snowman, since it had been so long since he had made one. Newt had to join them for a picture by the snowman. They made the snowman have holly hair and a stick pipe. Good times...

Snow Ice Cream

I'm so late at posting snow pictures, but anyway...

Ever since I've been a little girl, I've LOVED snow ice cream! I know people that use eggs, sugar and vanilla, but the BEST thing ever is just snow and a can of Eagle Brand Milk. It's just like homeade ice cream that you churn in the summertime. I get so excited and I don't care if there's only an inch of snow I'm out there with my big plastic bowl and a spoon, scraping snow off my patio table. I taught Luke how to only scrape white snow (not yellow-GROSS!!!!) and how not to get any grass or black things in the snow.

So I had the big bowl of snow and the Eagle Brand and I went to get the camera. Eric said, "Looks like she's making a blog entry...". Ha! He's catching on. It turned out perfect-of course! We all sat down to enjoy our bowls of snow ice cream. Eric started in about how this was not the healthiest thing to be eating, but I wanted no part of that. I saw on Yahoo!'s homepage about there being bacteria in the snow, but this is one of those subjects that I just say "Who cares?". I am going to eat it anyway.

Luke gave me two thumbs up on his snow ice cream!

Does anyone else make snow ice cream?

Favorite Foto Friday

These three girls were my best friends in college and in graduate school. They are Jana, Janice and Mindy. This was taken in December of 1997 or 1998 (I can't remember...yikes!!!) at Janice's wedding shower. We were so different in personalities, but it just worked. We all took a road trip to Natchez, Mississippi one summer and stayed in a bed and breakfast. Sometimes I miss the college life of going to class, hanging out, working on projects, studying with friends, internships, etc. I have a ton of great memories of these girls! Miss you!

Favorite Foto Friday

Here are my sweet nephews Ty & Harlan otherwise known as "Mr. Cool" and "Mr. Laid Back"-Ha! If you guys know them, you will know that perfectly describes their personalities. They have been greatly different from birth. But you will never meet two brothers that are closer than they are.

Ty and Harlan are ten and eight years old now. I was an aunt before I was a mom and being an aunt has always been one of my most favorite roles. When they were babies, I practically lived with April and Bryan. I pretended I was their nanny. I love spoiling them with little things. They have always been so wild, rough and tough! They love shooting guns, fishing, riding their horses, playing in the mud, etc. They are both great at sports. They've played football, basketball, baseball and Harlan has played soccer. They are growing so much and are changing in looks and personalities.

Luke and I get to pick them up from school at least one day a week. We eat dinner together and head to church for AWANA. Luke doesn't have any brothers or sisters, so Ty and Harlan are his favorite people on earth!

We love you, Ty & Harlan!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 37th birthday! I've been celebrating for the past 4 days! The girls at work decorated my office and they brought all the food for a Mexican Pile-On. They gave me gifts and cards and made me feel so special!

Friday night, Eric and I went out to dinner and had the house to ourselves. Luke spent the night with Nena & Papa.

Saturday, I went out shopping with my sister and my mom. We planned on eating at Mimi's Cafe after running around for awhile, but I was SO SURPRISED that when we arrived there were six of my best friends waiting. We had a great lunch and they bought me the sweetest gifts, cards and LaDonna made a chocolate cake with pecans in the icing! It was so exciting!

This morning, I woke up and Luke had written "Happy Birthday" on his dry-erase board. Eric and Luke gave me funny cards and 5 cute, colorful T-shirts and some cool running shoes that I've been needing. Luke's card had a little button on it that I wore to church. It said, "I raised the WORLD'S GREATEST KID!!!". I don't think I'm quite done raising him, but it was cute.

My Sunday School class was so sweet. They had decorated our room with my sister's help and they brought all kinds of goodies: chocolate covered strawberries, donuts, juice and other fruit. So nice! I feel very blessed to be surrounded by friends and family that love me. I thank God everyday for all these blessings!

Grandma making biscuits

Last week, Luke and I went over to Grandma's house for dinner. She was diagnosed with Altzheimer's about 3 or 4 years ago. She still lives alone, but one of us goes over twice a day to give her medicines. They need to be locked or she will forget she took them and take them again. So, she has family over at least twice a day. We've noticed subtle and not-so-subtle changes, but thank the Lord that she still recognizes all of us and she's basically just like she's always been except she repeats all of her conversations literally seconds after she tells us something. She'll often forget if someone came earlier in the day, so we keep a communication notebook in the medicine box and we write down anything unusual.

My grandma has always made these kind of buttermilk biscuits. They are flat and crunchy and I just thought that's how everyone's biscuits tasted until I was given a tall, fluffy one. :) My grandma was born in 1930 and she and her brother and sister were raised my a single mom during the Depression. She's got the saddest but uplifting stories about being raised in such poverty. She's from the country and we've always noticed that she still says things like she heard them 60 or 70 years ago. For example, she calls everyone "you-nz" (sorry-I don't even know how to spell that). Like she will say "You-nz come back tomorrow, okay?". She has other words that we've always giggled about, because they are SO Grandma, ya know?

She always took us to church when we would go visit her and she still catches a ride on Sundays to the little Church of Christ church "over yonder" with one of her neighbor lady friends.

She sure does love her great-grandbabies. And her grandbabies... but I think having Ty, Harlan and Luke around is keeping her young acting. Just this week, Harlan had a cold so April let him hang out with Grandma while she ran to clean a house for someone. When April returned, Grandma was hysterically laughing to the Suite Life of Zak & Cody! She always kisses and hugs on all of us when we are there.

When Luke and I showed up to help her cook dinner, she was making fried pork chops, baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, couple of other veggies, and buttermilk biscuits! With sweet tea, of course. I tried not to think about how many WW points I was about to consume and just enjoyed hanging out with Luke and my grandma!

I love the last picture of her and Luke. She's making a face after Luke found a worm in her ditch!

Do you know anyone with Alzheimer's? What were some of your favorite memories of you and your Grandma?