The Howards

Happy Heart Day

2012-02-14T17:48:00.003-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all you love birds out there.

Of course we had a quick photo session before school this morning. Fulton had to pop his sweater collar like his daddy today.

Little family pic without the Harley man...he was holding the camera.

Look what I arrived home to. Love it! Sorry ladies he's taken. This is our 10th Valentine's Day to celebrate together. It gets more fun every year. I love this guy so much.

Fulton racked up for V Day. Sweet gifts from Aunt Keri and Uncle Pete and KK and Pops. Today he had a Valentine's party at his school. I tell you his friends are the most gift giving littles I know. Fulton (or shall I say his mommy) gave his friends each a little Valentine's bag with some goodies in them. See the poster he made at school.... a heart with his footprints...presh.

He enjoyed digging through his bags and destroying them. Fulton says Happy Valentine's and thanks for the goodies.

Party Animal

2012-02-12T19:21:00.006-06:00

We've been practicing sitting up by ourselves these days....
Usually starts out like this. Sitting up all nice and neat and then....
he begins to fall and.....
ends up like this. We'll keep trying.

Party animal went to his first middle school dance Friday night. Matt and I (and Fulton) were in charge of the "coat room." It was quite entertaining. One of my sweet students said "Oh and I am so nervous I have never held a baby before." I responded with... don't worry you won't start tonight. Back away.

Fulton enjoyed himself. He was so in awe of the girls running in and out checking their makeup and rubbing their feet because they wore their mom's high heels, that I had to cover his eyes a few times when there was too much flesh showing with a few of these dresses.

Saturday morning I went to a place I have never been before and it was so yummy. We had a baby shower for our sweet friend Kelli (blonde sitting beside me) at The Egg and I. I ordered a blueberry pancake and it was the size of a basketball. So good. Matt and Fulton had some daddy son time and did a little shopping (hopefully for a Valentine's gift for mommy--I did leave the Belk ad out with something circled and a coupon).

Sunday afternoon Claire and Avery came over for a facial with our friend Chrissy. Avery is such a sweet thing and sent Fulton his very first Valentine this week. He sort of blushed when he opened it. She's a keeper.

Pops, KK, and Aunt Keri came over to get a facial too (well, Pops didn't get one, he just played with little buddy). We all had a fun family dinner tonight and enjoyed each other's company. I am so thankful to live close to my fam. Love them!

Making Friends

2012-02-04T15:19:00.007-06:00

This little guy has been trying to make some new friends lately.
Fulton really wants Harley to be his friend... Harley, not as much. See when Harley gets close, Fulton "tries" to pet him, but ends up grabbing a chunk of his hair. Harley is not a fan of this.

Harley man finally decided to show some love. I know you germ a phobes are freaking out right now. Don't worry, I thoroughly sanitized his face afterwards. Maybe they will be better friends one day.

In other news in the Howard homefront we have been dealing with major sleep issues. Naptime is out of control. A friend (thanks Amanda) recommended we read this book.... we didn't have to go far to get it because it has been sitting in the stack of books under the coffee table for a few months. I bought it when I was on maternity leave, but the words were too small and there weren't many pictures, so I put it down.

Little buddy struggles when it comes to taking a nap in his bed... actually I should re-phrase that.... not a struggle, he just won't do it. Guess where he likes to nap--in your arms. It's crazy because the lady he stays with gets him to nap in the crib 2 times a day, what is the deal when ma and pa try to get you to do it?! So, here we sit looking at the monitor watching the little red bar go up, trying to let him cry it out. Each weekend we think, this will be the day... unfortunately no gold star for us today.

Aunt Keri did come have lunch with us today. We had a long walk on the trail in the back of our neighborhood and grilled some burgers afterwards. Sister couldn't take any more of the crying and headed home to her nice quiet house. We enjoyed her visit though.

This is much much needed. Some of these were Christmas presents and today I finally unpacked some new everyday china that we got. Let me just tell you about our everyday stuff we use now. We didn't register for any when we got married, just the fancy stuff, and I thought what I was contributing to the marriage was nice enough, we didn't need anything new. Whatever. I bought that "china" when I was in college at Big Lots. I use the word china lightly, because I think I paid $1 per plate. Anyways, after much encouragement from the fam they just decided to start giving us pieces and I had no choice but to discard the old chipped plates and bowls and bring out the new stuff.
I really do like it. It's Fiestaware and it's chocolate... yum! I still want to get a few more place settings, but sister kept prodding me to just wash it and start using what I had. So I bit the bullet and the dishwasher is going as we speak. Matt is still at it trying to get monster to take a nap. We have dinner plans with friends and it is not going to be pretty if someone hasn't slept all day. Here's to happy napping!!

Anyone Single?

2012-02-03T12:29:00.002-06:00

I am linking up today with Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life Fridays.... and today is Singles Day!! So, let me take a minute to feature my sweet single friend, Amanda. Please note the lady on the market is the one on the right. Amanda is 25 and a southern girl, straight from the great state of Alabama. She is precious!! A beautiful girl, inside and out, grounded in her beliefs as a strong Christian woman. She is a keeper!! Know any single fellas out there we could set her up with?!

Life Of A 4 Month Old

2012-01-29T18:06:00.005-06:00

This is another random post... seems to be a trend these days. Fulton had his 4 month check up last week....4 months! It's going by way too fast. He weighs 14 pounds, 5 ounces and is 25 inches long. Our poor doctor... let's just say he probably should ask for 2 co-pays from us because I keep him in the room forever, asking all kinds of questions. He is wonderful though and spent over 30 minutes just chatting with us and listening to this wacko ask about the most ridiculous things. Fulton did great!

Look at Mr. Independent trying to hold his own bottle these days. Maybe we can teach him how to make it himself too.

We are in the need for some sunglasses for little buddy... he decided to make his own since his mommy and daddy are total slackers. I promise by summer we will get some. I know they won't stay on his face long, but wouldn't it be so cute for the 5 seconds it will last.

Fulton helped me cook dinner one night this week. Speaking of dinner... the doc said we can start solids now... yikes. Totally not prepared for this. I must do some studying up and get prepared. And get lots of bibs, I foresee this being really messy.

Saturday morning there was tons of laundry to fold. This guy can sure keep the washer going. Matt says Fulton needs to start doing some chores. Why not start with folding clothes.

Little guy loves to pull my skin. He thinks it's funny.... to me, it hurts a little, but I guess all I can do is laugh. It's better than the hair.

Fulton and Harley are becoming better friends these days. Well, I guess it depends who you ask. Buddy has found Harley's hair and that isn't too fun for the little fella. Poor Harley is in for it as little guy gets more mobile.

Here's a random bath time photo. Wow, this post really is random. Fulton really loves bath time... loves it so much some nights he gets 2. Right in a row. He is all clean and happy, we pull him out and wrap him up and spit up everywhere... running down his belly. Back in the tub.

Saturday we had lunch with some good friends, Justin and Elizabeth, and their little boy Peyton. Peyton is 6 weeks old and look how tiny he is. I can't believe Fulton was that small a couple of months ago.

This picture was a little dark. They were so worried Peyton wouldn't do good and would be fussy.. guess who took over that role. You guessed it.. monster on the right. Today was spent working in the nursery and enjoying our small group. We work in the "puppies" class in the nursery... let's just say the puppies ran all over the teachers today. That added to the fact that we got a speeding ticket on the way to church this morning... really, who gives speeding tickets on Sunday?! I even tried to witness to the cop, he would have none of it. Rough morning! We had lunch with some friends and Aunt Keri rescued us and came and got Fulton from the restaurant to watch him because he was in meltdown mode. Thanks sis!!

Our Amusement Park

2012-01-21T16:03:00.003-06:00

We had dinner at some some friends house Friday night and Fulton got to experience his first roller coaster ride. Johnny and Doretta bought this for their granddaughter for Christmas and we were dying to get it it out and see how it worked. Fulton was a little under the age and height limit, but we are wild and crazy in the Howard house, so we went for it anyways. He probably was a little freaked out and didn't really know what was going on, but he didn't cry, so that's a plus. I will admit that sister and I both tried it out ourselves too. I didn't check the weight limit before we got on, but I am sure I was definitely over it. I hope little buddy loves some roller coasters like his daddy. Mommy is really good at finding a good bench and holding everyone's bags. Next up, bungee jumping.

Long Weekend

2012-01-16T16:15:00.008-06:00

We had a nice long weekend with Monday off school and it was fab. Can't we always have a 4 day work week?!
Friday Fulton had pajama day at his school. Pajama day is easy....except when you don't get the text until the morning of and you didn't put him to bed in any "cute" pj's..... so then you feel it's necessary to change him out of his pajamas into some other ones. Matt said this was ridiculous, whatever.

Friday night we had some yummy dinner at the Depot close to our house and then played with our bibs some. Who needs a hat when you can wear your bib on your head? Cheap entertainment around our house.

And then we did a little modeling in our drawers. We gotta work on that muffin top coming over the diaper. He is taking after his momma on that one.

We did a little story time before bed...Fulton just likes to try to eat the pages.

Saturday we met up with one of my dear dear friends from high school. We met her and her husband and sweet daughter Laylee for lunch. Laylee was born about 3 weeks before Fulton, so I hope they can be best friends one day. Look how sweet Laylee is looking at the camera and wild man is so not interested at all.

Sunday we went straight from church to meet the fam for Uncle Pete's birthday celebration.

We had a yummy lunch at Wings and Uncle Pete got some good stuff for his big day.

Aunt Keri came over and we decided to go for a walk in the neighborhood. It was a little chilly, so it was the perfect opportunity to break out the "snowsuit" that Aunt Keri got for Fulton. I don't think we will see any snow this year, so this may be the only chance we get. At least he was warm. He kind of reminds me of the little boy on "A Christmas Story."

A few minutes into our walk and this was the result... success! Notice Sophie is his best friend these days. He loves that giraffe that sis gave him.

He woke from a good nap and was all smiles and ready to play. Hooray for naps that make us wake up in good moods.

Today we were out of school and had a day full of events.. so many things to do that I wrote them all on a sticky note so we wouldn't forget anything. Our first stop was the only fun thing for Fulton. We went to a painting pottery place and did a tile with his footprint. We had a coupon for a free one and thought we would take advantage of it.

Of course we couldn't walk out of there without creating something else. I know it's after Christmas, but we really wanted to do a Christmas plate with a reindeer from Fulton's foot and just never did it... so, why not avoid the rush and do yours in January. He was such a trooper. The rest of the day included lots of running around, another walk in the neighborhood and now someone is snoozing good in the recliner with daddy.

A Little Of This And That

2012-01-09T17:37:00.006-06:00

This is a random post, with random pictures.... but that seems to be our life these days.

Over the break Fulton had a night where he was so upset and just couldn't get settled down. I thought maybe we could try to read him a story. What better story than the true Christmas story from the book of Luke. Daddy broke out the Word and ended up reading him the whole book of Luke to him. End result--Fulton fell asleep. We will work on this, don't want our son falling asleep in church.

This was last week on our last day off for Christmas break. It was a freezing cold day and we had to break out the sweaters.

Little buddy is trying all kinds of new things lately. We broke out the exersaucer last week to see if he liked it... loves it!! He isn't really sure what to do with all these things surrounding him, but it provided him with a little bit of entertainment.

This little guy is so much fun to play with. I literally cannot get out of school fast enough to go get him.
Friday he was getting in the spirit for the big game tonight and chose to wear some of his Alabama gear.

Saturday was a fun day of running around and Aunt Keri came to visit. She had to come by and get some lovin on her little nephew. Saturday night we had our friends the Warrens over for dinner and a little cookie making extravaganza. Sorry, no pics.

Sunday was an adventurous day at church. The power went out and Matt and I actually had nursery duty. We were working in the 2 year olds and when the lights went out they all screamed and started running around. I felt like screaming and running around too. We came home to a drizzly wet afternoon and decided to try another contraption. The Jumperoo.
Sunday night Pops and KK came over for dinner and a little play time. Pops is growing a beard and I bet Fulton can't wait to grab a hold of it.

Fulton is loving the jumperoo.....loving it so much he ended up like this.

And then this. He slept like this for about 30 minutes before I finally woke him up because it was time to eat and hit the sack. I guess he likes it. By the way, all these baby contraptions are huge and are everywhere. It's out of control. We need a room just for this stuff. Fun!!

Beach Time

2012-01-02T09:54:00.009-06:00

Last week sister called me and said they decided to go to the beach with mom and dad. We had already decided we weren't going to go.... just too much to pack up and I didn't feel up to the challenge. Then we started thinking about it and how nice it was going to be down there and we really had no plans here at home, so that was 10:00 am and we were pulling out of the driveway by 12:30. I was proud of our efforts to get everything together in record time.
Little man had no idea what was going on, but he was ready for whatever we had planned. He was a trooper for his first long car trip/vacation. We only made one brief stop at the rest area for a feeding and change and we were back on the road. We made it to the beach in time for a quick dinner and of course a trip to Walmart and then it was time to hit the sack.

Friday, KK, Aunt Keri and Uncle Pete arrived shortly after lunch (we had some yummy seafood at the Shrimp Basket before they got there).

Little buddy had a nice long nap after lunch and was ready for some loving from the fam.

And then that meant he was also ready to hit the beach. The weather was beautiful on Friday. Perfect! Fulton's hats aren't quite the right size for right now, but it did the job.

There were actually people laying out in swimsuits. Now, I don't think it was that warm, but it sure was flip flop weather. Which by the way, Fulton doesn't have any yet... must look for some before summer.
Fulton was the star of the show with lots of people to love on him.

I think he enjoyed sticking his feet in the sand... he wasn't sure what that gritty stuff was but he seemed to like it.

His tiny little foot prints.

Just checking everything out.

And then the drool began and that was our cue to take it to the house. He had endured enough pictures and fun for one afternoon. It was off to have dinner at Bahama Bobs... delicious!!

After dinner we did a little snuggling with Uncle Pete and caught up on some of the bowl games.

Pops arrived late Friday night, someone had to stay and work. So, Fulton did some early morning bonding with him. To say his sleeping schedule was a little off while we were gone would be an understatement. It was a rough few nights.

This guy was such a lounger while we were there. I heard you shouldn't let your child watch TV until the age of 2... looks like someone has already broken that rule.

Saturday we went to lunch at Tacky Jacks. It is right on the water so we had lots of things to look at while we waited.
The girls. We had a little wait for our table, so there was plenty of time for pictures. I know the guys were thrilled about that.

And the whole fam.
Fulton was a champ during lunch and finally gave it up and crashed. It was super foggy on Saturday, so we didn't get out to the beach, but did a little outlet shopping and football watching. It was a wild and crazy New Years Eve for us.

Sunday we got up and headed out to the beach again... another beautiful day. Pops decided to be brave and stick his feet in the water... it was freezing.

It was very windy too... can you tell?!
Aunt Keri and Uncle Pete with the little booger. We headed in and packed it up for the drive back. Little stinker was pretty good on the way home too. We had a great little quick get away at the beach with the fam. Happy New Year!

Joy To The World

2011-12-26T09:25:00.008-06:00

This weekend has been a blessing celebrating the birth of our Savior!! Christ's birth truly was and is a joy to this dark and broken world that we live in. I pray that we can begin to instill this into Fulton's heart now and that we continuously remind ourselves why we are celebrating this time of year. It's so easy to get caught up in the decorations, gifts, parties and lights and I am often so guilty of.
This little cutie woke up Saturday ready for Christmas. He is starting to enjoy sitting in his little bumbo seat. The first time wasn't so pleasant, but I think he enjoys it a little now. I am sure he wouldn't want to admit that.

Saturday we packed it up and headed towards Oxford to visit with Matt's fam. We got to see his mom and stepdad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins galore.

Little buddy had fun. He was passed around from person to person and was such a trooper. After visiting and munching on goodies, it was time to head back to the house and get ready for bed.

Fulton woke up in a great mood Christmas morning and was ready to see what Santa brought. I know as the years come, it's going to be important to balance the focus of Christmas back to Christ's birth and not get too much into the focus of Santa. It's a hard temptation we will have to face.

Matt and I decided to open a few gifts from each other while we were still at home. Matt likes to be a sneaky little booger and had this huge box under the tree for me. I started opening and pulling all this paper out and then I finally got to another small box inside. He did good this year!!! We'll just say there was something for my ears that was really shiny and silver.

Unfortunately, Matt's present after that wasn't that exciting... but it was something he needed. His electric razor quit working about 2 months ago and he has been shaving ole school since. Never knew someone would get that excited about removing some facial hair.

We then headed to KK and Pops house for Christmas with the fam. Fulton opted to keep his PJ's on. Makes for better snuggling.

We all decided instead of doing lunch this year, let's have a breakfast brunch. This was fabulous!! We had gluten free homemade waffles (just for Pops), sausage balls, grits, hashbrown casserole, scrambled eggs and fruit. Yum yum!!

KK and Pops got Fulton this huge stuffed frog. He was excited!! I think he will love snuggling and playing with this thing when he gets a little bigger. It matches the colors in his room perfectly.

We opened some gifts. Pops got some good AL gear, maybe Santa will still deliver those National Championship tickets he is hoping for.

Sister got some new salt and pepper shakers to match her china.

Mom got some cute clothes and jewelry and a new fun red crockpot. I remember my first crockpot years back... it was white and blue with flowers around the top. They sure are making them nicer these days.

The Petersons will now be able to see when the power goes out.

Fulton got some fun toys and some cute clothes from Aunt Keri and KK. This little stinker slept through the gifts.

Matt was really excited about this extra large caulk gun that he got. Really?! What do you do with this thing? If you need anything caulked at your house, just call Matt.

And the aftermath.

Daddy does not like this picture and wants it forever deleted, I think it's funny. Let's just say Fulton finally woke up and was ready to play with all the bows and paper.

After a full day of fun and festivities, little buddy was crashed out. What a joyous day!!!

60

2011-12-24T09:29:00.025-06:00

Yesterday was the big 60th birthday for dad. Let the celebrations begin!! For lunch we headed to Grandma's to do a little celebrating with her.

Dad with his two favorite daughters!

Dad with sweet momma on his big day.

Sister is so thoughtful and got Pops some gluten free cupcakes for his birthday. Dad is allergic to flour... has been for most of his life... so he always misses out on the cake part. But not this year. Thanks to good ole Gigi's cupcakes.

Fulton made his Pops a birthday card. He was so proud.

And we watched him open gifts... got some good stuff. This whole time we are pretend celebrating his birthday... just wait to see what's coming later in the day.

And we celebrated Christmas with Grandma while we were there too. Grandma had several requests for Christmas and one was a wooden bread box. I searched high and low in the stores, no one makes wooden anymore. Never fear, the Petersons came to the rescue and found one online. She loved it.

Our attempt at a family picture. Gotta love some action shots. We left Grandma's house, flew home and rushed to get things ready for this........

A surprise 60th birthday party for our dad!! Woohoo! Mom, sister and I knew we wanted to do something big and fun for dad's birthday party.. it started out with just a few couples over to mom and dad's for dinner and then turned into a full blown surprise dinner party at the antique gallery downtown (where sister had her reception).

Sister and I, with the hubbys, got there early to get everything in place... we ran like crazy to get it all decorated and stopped for 2 quick seconds for a family photo in front of the tree before the big guest arrived. At least there is no spit up in this one.

All the guests arrived at 6:00 and we had mom and dad there at 6:30. He thought he was coming to a Christmas dinner that they have come to in the past. Look at the birthday boy!!! He promises us he was surprised... hopefully he was :)

Dad came in, greeted his friends and family, appetizers were munched on, and the dinner began. We served his favorites... bbq, cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans and the best random side dish... shrimp and grits. Delish!!

During dinner we had some "story times" and some told some pretty good ones on dad. I kept my mouth shut since Christmas is right around the corner and I don't want to put my presents in jeopardy. Dad even gave a little speech... it was sweet!!

Then it was time to cut the cake. And this cake was fabulous. Just a little side note here... if you haven't ever had one of Publix's cakes, they are really really good. Get it with cream cheese icing. Ok, back to the party. Birthday boy blew out the candles and everyone dug into the fabulous desserts.

There were some gifts involved, some gag, including this precious vest, and some real ones. He got some pretty good stuff even though people weren't supposed to bring gifts.

Just another random shot of the festivities. It was so good to have family, old friends, and new friends there to celebrate.

The Rawlins and the Monroe girls (with several new last name changes). Our parents have been friends for 35 something years. Can you believe it?! When I think about 2 families in particular that my parents have been friends with for this long, I pray that Matt and I can keep precious friends like this in our life for that long.

Sister and Steven, aren't they the cutest?!

Our family!! The night was so much fun. We had such a wonderful day getting to celebrate 60 wonderful years with Pops. Happy Birthday Dad! Please note the biggest party animal of the night had to be Fulton. He wore himself out... it's 10:30 am and he is still asleep. This is unheard of. Happy Christmas Eve!

Christmas At The Lake

2011-12-18T17:26:00.006-06:00

Friday after school we loaded the car and headed to the lake to celebrate Christmas with all the fam coming in town. Mom, Aunt Susan and mema slaving over a delicious pizza dinner.

Aunt Keri and Uncle Pete got there just in time for the festivities too.

The guys added some grilling to the already random dinner we had going on.

This little fella was ready in his Christmas Pj's to snuggle with anybody who wanted him. This was our first adventure away from home since little bambino entered the world. I think we should invest in a small trailer to haul behind the car from now on... he requires so much stuff.

Saturday morning we woke up to a beautiful day on the lake and spent the afternoon visiting one of Papa's grocery stores. Fulton slept through the tour, we will tell him about it later. After a delicious fine meal at Jacks, the only restaurant in the town, we just happened to find out that Santa was going to be at the town bank for free pictures. Hot dog!! We stopped by, made sister run in and ask if Santa really was there and the lady said, Who?! He was indeed there and we got a picture... success!!

Harley was thrilled to be out and about and get to go on a little vacation. He loves being at the lake and roaming through the leaves. I think he was a little disappointed when he found out "that crying thing" was coming too.

We came back that afternoon, did some snuggling with pops, had an afternoon nap and got ready for dinner and Christmas with the fam.

This year we decided to do presents first. Our aunt Susan decided to add a little "game" to the fun and while we were at Papa's grocery store we were all to find the strangest item we could, purchase it, put it in a brown paper bag and we would all choose a gift later. Random. But it was fun. Matt and I left with hemorroidal cream and spicy hot spam.

Mark and Katie's little boy, Caleb, entertained us all during the gifts. I think he enjoyed the bows and wrapping paper more than anything. It will be fun next year when Fulton and Caleb can get into some trouble together.

Our little fam opening gifts. Fulton got some fun stuff. He was a champ the whole weekend!!

To say he was a little overwhelmed with all the madness would be an understatement. A little overstimulation for the poor guy.

We had a delicious dinner complete with "Crackers" and paper crowns. This is some crazy tradition our family has to all open these Chinese crackers. You pop them open and each person has a prize and a paper crown. And you have to eat with yours on.

And the other table. Thanks to sister for taking these pics. We will have to picture her in our mind with her blue crown on. Please notice on the far end of the left side, we actually got our Papa to wear his pink crown.

Fulton was pumped about spending some time with his great-grandparents.

After dinner the girls did our annual Christmas ornament swap. I got a good one!! This was my third ornament swap in the last 2 weeks. We have lots of new cute ornaments for our tree. It was a blessed weekend spent with our family. We are so thankful for our families!!

The Weekend

2011-12-05T18:34:00.007-06:00

Here we are into the first week of December already... Christmas is just around the corner. Hooray!! Our weekend was jam packed, let me recap. Friday afternoon mom, dad, and I flew out of town heading to Tuscaloosa to see the Bucs play for the state championship again. We had some passes that looked official, even though they weren't, and we just kept going through gate after gate acting like we knew what we were doing and finally came across this guy. He took us through the Alabama locker room real quick and I think we were all so excited about that, we could have gone on home then.

We walked back down towards the field, after a quick good luck smooch, we were off to sit in our cozy warm box and watch the game. Fulton didn't get to see daddy before the game because he was taking a quick snoozer so he would be ready for kick off.

And boy did he have a good nap because he was so pumped up about the game. He loved it!! This little guy is so stinkin good when we take him places... he did fabulous!! They had a big flat screen tv in the back of the box and he loved staring at it (so much for that whole don't let your child watch tv before the age of 2 thing, right?)

KK and Pops are awesome as usual and gave my arms a break to hold the little booger. KK even got us a parking pass like 10 steps from the stadium. Too bad we can't do all this for AL games!

Saturday morning was spent recovering from an extremely late night and piles of laundry to do. Later we dressed festive and headed to our small group Christmas party. We had a blast fellowshipping with our precious friends and missed those that couldn't make it.

Sunday Fulton was a champ in the nursery again and then that afternoon we met up with the fam and headed to The Foundry for our annual tradition of serving dinner to a table of 10 men. Here's our table. Mom did a great job decorating.

We had a little time after our table was all ready and our meal was waiting to be served. Our family has really enjoyed being able to do this each year and show Christ's love to these men.

Our sweet fam. After serving and cleaning up we headed to dinner to watch the bowl announcements... Roll Tide!!

With A Thankful Heart

2011-11-25T16:20:00.003-06:00

Fulton got to experience his first Thanksgiving and he enjoyed it. We have so much to be thankful for and I am always convicted that I not more verbally thankful to my Father throughout the year. I pray we can teach Fulton to praise his Father and thank him for our blessings all through the year and not just on Thanksgiving. God is still working on my heart, thankfully he is a God of grace and mercy and won't give up on me. We spent the lunch portion of the day with our sweet friends Justin and Elizabeth. They invited us over for lunch for some deliciousness and we left there with smiles. Here's our little turkey all bundled up and ready to go. He's looking forward to next year when he gets to actually eat turkey.

We rushed home in time for Aunt Keri and Uncle Pete to fly in from sunny Florida and we had dinner with them. The rest of the fam were all down at the beach for the week... Matt's team is still in the playoffs, which meant we were stuck here... thankfully sister came home that night and we celebrated some more with them.

Our Thanksgiving family photo... best we could get. There was only about a 2 hour difference in between our lunch and dinner... at dinner Matt actually pushed his plate away after only a few bites and said he couldn't do anymore. What?! I have never seen this guy push his plate away. Just too much food for one day. Hope you enjoyed the day with your family and reflected on how blessed we really all are!!

Just Don't Get It

2011-11-23T08:56:00.002-06:00

This morning on the Today's Show they had a concert with Justin Bieber. I am just amazed at all these girls screaming and grabbing out at him just to say they touched the snowflake leather jacket of Justin Bieber. They said these girls had been lining up for days, in the rain, to see this guy. I just don't get it. Last year one of my students had "I love Justin Beiber" written all over her notebook. I asked, in all seriousness, does he go to our school? I had never heard of him... obviously I had missed the newest issue of Teen Beat. Look at this goofy guy!! Who, by the way, slacks his pants... and that drives me crazy.

So this got me to thinking when I was that age, was there a singer that I would scream and yell over and sleep with the pillowcase that had their picture on it?! Probably have to go with New Kids on the Block with this one. I always thought Jordan was the cutest... remember him?? Now, sister was an even bigger fan and I was jealous because she actually got to go to a concert and see them. I would love to dig up the picture from that one, complete with the t-shirt, crimp ironed hair and hairsprayed bangs. Love you sister!!

Enjoying Life

2011-11-20T15:17:00.004-06:00

Lately, we have been enjoying our time with our little man..... let me recap the last few days. Daddy enjoyed showing Fulton his very first Christmas ornament on the tree. He seemed to enjoy it--he said he can't wait until he can walk and then next year he can pull the ornaments off the tree.

Friday night Aunt Keri, KK and pops came over to see little man and visit while Matt was at his football game. Which by the way, they are still playing and this is the last week of the playoffs, so Go Bucs!!

The fam loves to come over and spoil Fulton and I think he enjoys getting to look at other faces besides mine all day.

Look at this sweet face that we got to wake up to on Saturday morning.

Look at big boy in his overalls for the first time.

Saturday night we hosted a baby shower for Justin and Elizabeth, complete with a monkey cake by Hope.

Fulton was excited because that monkey was just his size. I think it brought back memories of his Halloween costume.

We were celebrating the upcoming arrival of baby Peyton, who should be here in the next few weeks.

They got some cute stuff...even his first St.Patty's Day outfit. I didn't get a picture but Peyton got a Christmas ornament just like his buddy Fulton.

A few of the girls in our small group with the mommy to be. It was a fun weekend and we are looking forward to Thanksgiving this week! Much to be thankful for.

2 Months

2011-11-15T16:51:00.003-06:00

Our little man is 2 months old today... or if you are a week person... he is about 8 1/2 weeks. Going by weeks makes him sound more like a baby...which I don't want to end, so we'll just say he's 8 1/2 weeks today. This little fella has started sleeping through the night some... and I say some... because he likes to keep us on our toes and sometimes he will still surprise us with a 2:00 am wake up call. He is not a fan of doing his tummy time on his mat, but is working hard to hold his head up. If Fulton had to make his resume today, he would include napping, eating, drooling and gazing at the lights on his list of hobbies. Speaking of lights... we put our Christmas tree up last week (a little early I know and we are totally not trying to skip Thanksgiving) and Fulton loves to look at the lights. We may just leave that puppy up until March.

Sorry not to have any more exciting pictures and news, but we have just been pretty low key lately and haven't flown to the moon or traveled cross country or anything picture worthy. Life has been so fun with this little guy. Matt looked at me just last night and said, can you believe we are really parents to this little man? God is so incredible to let us experience this journey. Happy 2 months to our little bundle of joy!!

Bama Game

2011-11-07T17:22:00.002-06:00

Saturday we loaded up the U-Haul (at least that's what it felt like) and headed to Tuscaloosa to let Fulton experience T-town at its finest... the Alabama vs LSU game.
Sister and Dad pumped and ready for the game. The campus was absolutely crazy!! It was packed with more people than I have ever seen down there before. Thankfully most of it was crimson and white and not that ugly purple and yellow.

Our best attempt at a family picture with all 7 of us. It was a beautiful day Saturday and obviously you can tell the sun was shining bright, since everyone was squinting.

Sister, mom and me... the three of us were a little worn out because we had spent the whole day Friday at Christmas Village (Fulton too--poor guy was a trooper though).

Aunt Keri and Uncle Pete with sleeping beauty.. little man doesn't want to let go of that frog for the pictures.

We decided to brave the madness and actually walk away from the tailgate for a few pictures in front of the stadium...I think Fulton was the youngest fan there Saturday--he should have gotten some kind of award for that.

KK and Pops made the trek with us too.. we missed the ESPN gameday stuff but did get to see the big bus. Maybe next time.

We finally made it back to the tailgate and Fulton was thinking... goodness this place is wild. But he did get to see the world's largest pot of gumbo at the Ferg. I couldn't actually see the gumbo, but the pot was pretty big.

Look at our sweet little man. He just loved looking around at everyone and I think he watched a little football on the TV too.. he was perfectly content the entire day.

After a long day, little buddy was pooped and ready to take it to the house. KK and I packed it up and headed home and let daddy stay for the game. His first tailgating experience was a success, complete with 2 dirty diapers and all!!

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T09:25:00.006-05:00

This first picture doesn't appear to show that we had a very happy Halloween night....but don't judge by just one picture. I guess you could say we had a little mad cow disease going on here. Fulton had 2 costumes this year, so he went from the monkey this weekend to the cow (thanks to KK) for Halloween night. By the looks of all the costume pics I am not sure which one he disliked more.

Harley wanted in on the action and quickly came to the rescue to see what was upsetting little brother. I think he was telling him not to cry and he will just have to get used to it because we will dress him up in these silly outfits every year. Harley says he knows from experience and if you will just smile and get it over with then they will stop taking pictures a lot quicker.

Happy family picture....so thankful daddy made it home early from football to play with us. Remember when Matt and I dressed up as cows last year for some free food from Chick-fil-A... well, we are just teaching our son to follow in our footsteps.

Look who came to join in on the fun...Aunt Keri. She was a big help passing out candy to the millions of trick or treaters that came by. We finally ran out of candy and turned the light off.. guess what.. those crazy kids kept ringing the doorbell.. like, I know you are in there and if I ring this enough you will come to the door and give me a bag of chips or something. Aunt Keri put a sign on the door that said we were closed for business, no more candy. They still rang it.

Little rascal needed a nap before the second adventure came.

Remember how I told you we turned the light off and quit answering the door... well our sweet friends up the street came by to visit and finally Claire called the house and said why aren't you answering the door. Sorry, didn't know it was them or I would have. Look at the cute lobster they brought with them. Avery is so adorable!! The first picture was good and then it sort of went downhill from there.

Look at sweet Avery... she is touching Fulton telling him not to be a sad cow and hang in there for just a few more minutes.

I love this one...Fulton finally decided to break out a little sort of smile and Avery is petting his little cow arm. They were so sweet to each other. Little guy had a pretty good first Halloween. He was a trooper after all we put him through just to get some lasting memories through pictures. Unfortunate for him, it probably won't get any better because this momma loves to take some pictures.

Our Weekend

2011-10-31T11:52:00.005-05:00

We had a fun filled weekend for the last one of October. I cannot believe it is about to be November already... time to start getting the Christmas decor out (sister has beaten me on this one). Matt's game was on Thursday night this week.. so KK, Fulton and I went for the tailgate dinner before the game, but decided not to stay for the actual game. Food is always important, so you must make it for that... we watched the game online and stayed warm inside.

So... that meant that Matt had Friday night off.. woohoo.. hot diggity dog. First Friday night off in 10 weeks. Awesome! Can you tell I was excited? We took dinner to one of the coaches who just had a sweet baby girl last week and then we met Aunt Keri for dinner and then did a little running around town.

Saturday we got a slow start... but Saturdays are supposed to be that way. This was the best attempt at a family picture and of all the pics taken.. someone wasn't looking at the camera in all of them. We are working on Fulton and Harley looking at the camera at the same time.

Our first child... little Harley man. Have you missed seeing his picture? I know you have. He wanted to try on his costume that Aunt Keri got him. It was a perfect fit and now he's ready for trick-or-treaters.

Look who else put their costume on... in case you aren't sure what he is... Fulton is a monkey. I know he sort of looks like Yoda or something.

Once we had our costume on, we headed to the Taylor's house for a Halloween pumpkin carving with some couples from our small group. We love to fellowship with these sweet people. We have added some little ones to our group in the last couple of months. We have lots of babies all around now.

Let me admit that I didn't help carve our pumpkin at all. I have to say, it's a little different with a baby to tend to now, so my focus was a little distracted. Matt is a champ and did it by himself.

Some of our sweet friends with their carved pumpkins.

Matt's end result. He did a great job!! Super proud of the hubs. We are displaying it proudly on our front porch.

Our little fam!

Sunday morning it was time to rise and shine and get ready for church. Fulton had his Bible and was ready to get into the Word. It was a great weekend!!

Just Because

2011-10-30T16:10:00.005-05:00

These are random pictures over the last week...it's official. Our life and house are completely babyfied (how do you spell that word?) and we love it!! This little guy has brought so much joy (and dark circles under our eyes) to our lives and we are having so much fun with him. This little booger is already 6 weeks old and we are starting to see his little personality come out.
Look who started smiling this past week?! Of course Matt calls me in the room and says, guess what?! He smiled at me.. of course my little heart broke because I didn't see it first. So I proceeded to tell Matt that of course he did... he has done that for me a hundred times and he already called me momma too. Whatev!

Look at those sweet little innocent eyes... these next few pics were just a few back to back that we took.. his little facial expressions are too much. This is what he likes to call his "serious" look.

Daddy taught him how to fist pound. This was right after a sucessful nail trimming experience. What a challenge.

And right after that came this pretty sight. Nothing like spit up running down your leg.

He loves to catch his zzz's too. He was crashed out and I moved him to the changing table to get a fresh diaper and the little guy didn't even move. At this point in his short little life, he can sleep through anything... hopefully he will stay like that.

Look what a great momma I am... and just found these Halloween PJ's in the drawer that I bought.. nothing like wearing them one time before the actual holiday. Don't be surprised if you see these again in December. Little man was begging to wear his house shoes too.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-24T18:29:00.004-05:00

Saturday we braved the pumpkin patch..just a small one close to our house. We will save the big daddy patch for next year when little man can actually hold his head up. We stopped for a quick photo op with daddy at the hay barrels. Fulton slept through most of the adventure. We told him all about it once we got in the car. Good thing we didn't have to pay for him.

Another picture with mommy this time. I know.. lots of pictures.. but he was too short to ride anything. No pony rides, jumpy things, or train rides. Maybe next year. What else do you do with a newborn at the pumpkin patch.. just take pictures.

Want to know how to wake him up? Try propping him up next to a pumpkin to take a picture. I know someone was already dialing DHR on their cell phone. Don't worry.. we were right there.. ready for the bobble head action to take place. By looking at his face, do you think he liked it? Doesn't he look like a little old man in these jeans. I love it!

After that little meltdown, Matt decided to go ahead and pick out our pumpkin. He has to make sure he gets just the right one for carving.

Poor guy was pooped out once we finished for the day (we also snuck in some lunch, a haircut for daddy, and some shopping--we were pushing it).

Matt was eager to get in his "tummy time" too. Little side note ... we have all these baby tools to entertain this little guy and he really doesn't want to have anything to do with them. He enjoys them for about 5 minutes and then he is so over it. Makes me think I will just get him some old cans or tupperware to play with later on in life.

The Sling

2011-10-22T16:58:00.002-05:00

We aren't talking about an arm sling...although I thought after my flu shot last week I was going to need one of those. This is the baby sling.. and I am loving it. My mom and I saw this at a consignment sale and I really didn't think I would use it because truthfully I thought it was a little "too hippie" for me. Sorry if I offended someone... but I must eat my words, because this thing is fab. My little man loves to be held and you can only do so much stuff with one hand before you really need the other back.. so this is where the ole sling comes in handy. I tried it out one day last week and like magic, he was zonked out and I was able to continue about my tasks.

Only problem.. sometimes he ends up like his by the end of it. He doesn't seem to be bothered by it. The first day I put him in it, his head was all cocked sideways and I worried he would get a crick in his neck. My mom quickly reminded me that he was curled into much more of a crunch than this when he was in my belly. So, I guess this is my new fall accessory. Good thing it's brown.. it should go with a lot of stuff.

Off the subject of the sling, here's my little jogger. It turned extremely cold here in the middle of last week and we had to break out the fleece hoodie. Doesn't he look like a little rapper? He does know how to play the trumpet.. the tooting trumpet. Poor fella has some serious gas.

And the little rascal celebrated a 5 week milestone last week. He is sporting his Halloween shirt and socks here... he is going to have to a different one everyday to get them all in before Halloween. He likes to be festive though. Stay tuned for pictures from the pumpkin patch.

Baby Dedication

2011-10-16T19:06:00.002-05:00

This morning at church we had baby dedication. As much as I thought I had prepared everything last night to make this morning go smoothly, it was quite the mad rush to get to church on time. I guess this is the Lord convicting me for all those times that I couldn't understand how people with children couldn't get places on time...oh I can never take back those words enough because now I totally understand and I am just going to go ahead and accept the fact that I will probably never be on time anywhere, ever again. That's what I get for my comments over the years... so sorry.

Our sweet little family of 3.. guess who's the worst mom in the world and forgot his little booties to wear today.. yes, that would be me.. go ahead and call DHR since I had no socks on my child this morning.

This is our sweet pastor giving us the charge to take the initiative to be the primary faith trainer for our children. We often think about what Fulton will be like when he grows up and what he will enjoy, but our prayer for him is to know his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We pray for his salvation in this broken world. That is so much more important than what cute clothes he will wear, or if he will be good at sports or make good grades. All that stuff is so trivial compared to his relationship with the Lord. We realize now that our example to him is huge and we know we are no where near perfect, but we must strive to be the godly parents that the Lord desires for us.

My sweet fam came to support us today. They love them some Fulton!! We appreciate them being there and all leaving their own churches today to be with us.

And Matt's fam got to come as well. We don't get to see them enough, so we enjoyed them being with us today.

See this face... he is saying "I am so glad that is over!!" We talked all the way to church about how we would behave once we got on stage and that he could add a few more things to his Christmas list if he didn't cry in front of everyone and boy was he a charm up there. He did fabulous!!

We went back to mom and dad's house for lunch and the first thing Fulton did was ditch those dress up clothes and get into something comfy and do a little stretching. He was worn out from all those pictures and people pinching his cheeks and oohing and ahhing over him.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch with the family and a fabulously cute and yummy cake. Little man was eyeing that puppy and I think he really wanted to dig into it...but he will have to wait until his first birthday for that.

Pigskin Pictures

2011-10-15T19:57:00.003-05:00

Since it doesn't look like we will make it to any Bama games this year... we are just celebrating from the couch at home. Look how festive our little man is in his birthday suit!! We had his newborn shoot a few weeks ago and this picture was taken by Stacy Hart. She did an amazing job on his pictures. Don't worry, I thoroughly sanitized this football before we place our precious child's head on it. Our little booger celebrated a month of life today...amazing! We celebrated by going to the harvest festival in a cute little nearby town. Maybe I will get around to posting those pictures before all the leaves fall off the trees. On the football front... our Bucs and Tide both beat the Rebels this weekend.. Hooray!

Our Friday Night

2011-10-10T10:52:00.003-05:00

Fulton made it to his first Hoover game Friday night. I am not going to lie... I was stressing out about taking him and almost backed out on the way, but I am glad I went, it was a success. Sister came early with me and we actually made it to the tailgate dinner beforehand. We stopped for a quick picture with daddy before he headed down to the field. I know we should have taken him out of the carrier for a better picture, but goodness it's such a process getting him in and out of that booger, so we opted for this instead.

Little man did great!! I was so proud of him. He just sat there looking around and listening to all the sounds. Wow how things have changed from the games last year... slightly different :)

Mom and Dad came to help support too. I only had one picture of mom and dad and it didn't turn out good.. so I know mom will thank me for not putting it on here.. but I promise she was there too. Pops entertained the little booger for a while too and gave my arms a rest.

Sister and Steven were an awesome help too and carried Fulton's carrier all the way up the hill for me. Champs! We only stayed for half the game, and I really admit I only saw like 2 plays, I was a little distracted, but I am glad we went. It was fun and Fulton got to see where daddy works.

They Are Everywhere

2011-10-05T19:40:00.003-05:00

Burp cloths!! Geeze louise, I never imagined how many of these things you would need. It's really crazy. These are a few of Fulton's burp cloths and when we received all these as gifts before he was born, I seriously thought... what are we going to do with all these? We will never use this many. I could not have been more wrong. They literally are all over our house, sort of like coasters. And we go through so many in a day. Not to mention bibs too... never thought you would need many of those either. Obviously I was totally clueless on this whole feeding thing and now I realize you can never have too many of them.

Speaking of burp cloths... look at this stinkin cute burp cloth wreath a dear friend of our family made for us last week. Love it.. so much that I really don't want to take it apart to use them. It's just too cute. He is well decked out in the Alabama gear. We are rounding up on 3 weeks here in the Howard household. The dark puffy circles under my eyes may never go away, but the little man is worth it. Little buddy's cord finally fell off this week, I thought he may have to go to kindergarten with that thing still attached. Yay for real baths now!!

Fabulous Family

2011-10-01T18:51:00.005-05:00

Humor me for a minute while I take a minute to give a shout out to my fam. They are FABULOUS!!! They have been here for us since the minute our little buddy arrived and have been such a huge support to us. Dad is the master of soothing making this little guy happy. Fulton can be all upset and Pops takes him and he is just instantly happy.

KK is a champ and stayed with me several days last week and was a huge help. She is awesome at keeping him awake when he needs to be... so he will sleep at night.

Aunt Keri is the ultimate rocker. She can rock this little man to sleep in no time. I keep telling them they are all working on really good Christmas presents. I know I am sucking the life out of them since Matt has gone back to work and football, but they are amazing!! So thankful for my fam! Now, it's time to get focused for the Bama game... Fulton had his cute houndstooth elephant gown on and then had a major blowout, so maybe you'll get to see it next week.

Friday Night Football

2011-09-30T20:35:00.002-05:00

We didn't make it to the Hoover game tonight.. but we had our own little tailgate at home. Everyone was sporting their Bucs attire... including our little man. He was loving the shakers and really didn't want to let them go. He kept begging me to let him shake the cow bell, but I told him we needed to take it one step at a time.

As I type, Fulton is watching the game on the computer with Aunt Keri. He is cheering daddy on and telling them to bring home a win!

In other news, our little fella turned 2 weeks old yesterday. Today was my first day flying solo and we both survived. And we actually got out of the house and didn't have a breakdown. Yay for us!!

Earlier in the week little buddy got to do some good couch snoozing with daddy. Fulton is pumped about watching some Alabama football tomorrow.... he is ready for the Tide to beat the Gators.

Firsts

2011-09-24T15:20:00.006-05:00

We've had a few firsts this week... and first things first....we have survived our first week at home. It was touch and go there some nights, but we are still alive. This little stinker does not like to do much sleeping at night and it's wearing down his mommy and daddy. I may have to start looking for a night shift job.
Tuesday we had our first doctor's visit and Fulton did great. We actually made it on time, with a few minutes to spare. It didn't help that I was moving extremely slow and still needed to sit on my doughnut (and we aren't talking about Krispy Kreme here people).

Rockstar of a dad held the little guy and warmed him back up after they made us strip him down to his skivvies to weigh him.

Little buddy had to get some blood drawn and here he is with his very first band-aid. I told him if he did really good we could get an ice cream cone afterwards and since he can't eat it yet, I would take one for the team and eat it for him.

Aunt Keri has been amazing this week. She is like Super Nanny and keeps coming to the rescue at just the right times.

Pops and KK are fabulous!! They have stayed up some late nights to console us and encouraged us when we didn't think we were going to make it. We really don't know what we would do without our family. I keep asking each of them if they want to all move in with us, but no one seems to take me up on the offer.

This little stud turned one week old on Thursday... wow, one week already?! Where did the past week go... oh I will tell you where it went... feeding, changing diapers, crying (me and him), washing clothes over and over, and the cycle continues. But it's all worth it for this sweet face.

And Friday Fulton had his first real (well sort of real) bath since coming home. I know... our kid hadn't had a bath in a week... but I just kept sponging him off in the meantime. Matt and I are learning quickly... not quickly enough... that the woowoo can seriously shoot far. We just keep forgetting to cover that up and boy did it shoot to the ceiling and back down to the floor...all over the kitchen. Matt and I just stood there dying laughing. We will learn eventually... hopefully.

Fulton's Arrival

2011-09-19T20:58:00.009-05:00

Here's a quick (not really, sorry for the millions of pictures) post about our little man's arrival. Like I said in the earlier post, things began at school and moved quickly from there. We checked into the hospital at 12:30 and the fam arrived shortly after to visit for a bit. This was after the epidural, because before that I was starting to get a little violent and probably would have thrown that camera across the room if someone had suggested a picture. Yay for pain meds.

My water had already broken when we arrived, but I was only at 3 cm, so pitocin was started and a little under an hour later, we were at a 10. Stinky part was, I pushed for over 2 hours and the poor little guy was just so big, he was struggling to come into the world. Finally, with a little help from the doc, he arrived at 8:34 pm. Here he is just minutes old.

My sweet little man was just perfect! They immediately encourage skin to skin contact, which was great... took my mind off the fact that I knew there was some serious damage to the southern region and the doc was having to get the duct tape out to fix me.

This little guy weighed 8 lb, 8 oz and was 20 inches long. He has a head full of dark hair with one blond patch on the top side. It's a unique little mark. Matt did an incredible job encouraging me the entire time, holding one leg and taking pictures too. Super dad!

The fam was so patient to wait forever on us to get to my room so they could meet the little guy. Everyone had to take a turn snuggling with him.

His room was all ready for him!

Over the course of the next few days, Fulton had lots of visitors. I'd like to think these people came to see matt and me, but we know the truth. The fam is absolutely awesome and didn't leave our side. They are a huge help. Fulton got to meet 2 of his great grandmothers, one of his great aunts and uncles, and lots of our sweet precious friends who love us dearly enough to take time to come see us.

Sister brought Fulton his first birthday cake and since the little guy can't eat sweets yet, we enjoyed it for him. He loved it though.

Mom and Dad (also known as KK and pops) stopped by on their way to the AL game and Fulton was already suited up and ready too. He just couldn't seem to find his shaker.

We enjoyed the day visiting with friends and watching lots of football. Fulton kept falling asleep through most of the games, but we filled him in on all the scores when he woke up.

I love these sweet toes.. I cannot get enough of them.

We were finally able to go home Sunday morning and we took a quick family picture before loading up the car.

Little guy was probably nervous he was having to come home with these 2 crazies who have no idea what they are doing. God's grace and mercy are sufficient and we pray every day for wisdom to raise this precious child.

Mom and Dad were so gracious to come up the hospital that morning and help us get ready to go, while sister had lunch ready at our house and did a little decorating to welcome us home. We were all squinting a little because we hadn't been out in the sun in a few days.

And the decorations didn't stop outside... he forever has this fabulous birthday banner to use for his parties!

We ended our first day back at home staring at this sweet little face. Oh how blessed we are!! We survived our first night at home last night and lived to tell about it today. This is just an amazing experience and journey that God has allowed us to take and we are savoring every moment of it. Happy Birthday Fulton!!

Fulton Is Here!

2011-09-17T11:58:00.002-05:00

Our little man arrived Thursday, September 15th at 8:34 pm. Here's our first family picture, so it's a little rough looking. This little booger weighed 8 lbs and 8 oz and was 20 inches long. It was a long day...starting with the fact that I began having contractions that morning and then my water broke at school. Yes, you heard that right... at school. My students are probably forever traumatized. After that, I figured I better head on to the doctor. We checked in, got settled, begged for pain meds, and after about 2 1/2 hours of pushing, and our little Fulton finally arrived. We are so blessed and thankful to the Lord for this gift of life He has entrusted us with. Stay tuned my friends..more pics to come soon!!

Low Key

2011-09-11T18:17:00.002-05:00

We had a pretty low key weekend....nothing too exciting, but I will share anyways. Friday night I made it to the second game and sister came with me this time. I thought it would be an easy game for the Bucs, but they kept us on our toes and I told Matt if they continued to have games like that, I could go into labor in the stands.

Hoover came out with a win at the last second... I had to check the battery in my pace maker a few times because it was a nerve wracking game. This little storm that came through this week has made the nights a little cooler and it felt so good outside... I actually had to break out the jacket.

Saturday morning I hit up a good consignment sale with a friend and got my little man some cute stuff. We watched the Tide play and win, yay! Matt built us a little fire in the fire pit and we missed out on the smores this time, but I ate some oreos instead.

We had a nice little set up and watched a little football from the fire pit. There aren't many more nights of "just the two of us".... so we are enjoying it. Pretty wild and crazy Saturday night for us.

Here's a little preggo picture from this week. I am 38 weeks now and the dr said it could be any day now... could be 2 more weeks, could be 2 days.... wow... I really don't know how much more the ole belly skin can stretch. I think arms and legs may start coming out my mouth and nose. Can't wait!!

School Shower

2011-09-04T15:02:00.003-05:00

My sweet teacher friends at school threw me a fabulous baby shower last week!!

Look at this cute table that they did!! It was all sweet stuff.. my fav!! Some delicious strawberry cake, chocolate cake, brownies, cheesecake.. oh it was all so good. Makes me thankful I passed that glucose test a few months ago or I would have been sad sad.

Mom got come and celebrate with me. Sister couldn't get off work, we missed her being there.

These sweet teachers at my school blessed us with so many great things. We are just overwhelmed from each of our showers how incredibly blessed we are!!

They made me sit in this chair in the front like Mother Goose. I felt like I needed everyone to gather around on the carpet for story time or something.

These are the precious special ed teachers that hosted the shower for me. I love each of them dearly!! I am very thankful to work with such great people. It's beginning to get to the time of doing a little nesting around the ole casa. Just trying to get things in order for little man before he arrives. I guess he will come whenever he is ready, whether I am or not!

I Made It!

2011-09-04T14:53:00.003-05:00

Friday night I finally made it to my first game of the season. I really wanted to be a trooper and be there to support Matt and I am glad I went... but boy were my feet huge by the end of the night. Here's our sign.. these cheerleaders always amaze me at how big they make these crazy signs.

There's my good lookin man after the game with his enormously large wife and boy am I looking rough. I thought about soaking my feet in the gatorade jugs of ice on the sidelines after the game... you know, just to take the swelling down. But Matt said absolutely not!

My sweet friend Paige who stayed back with me when I couldn't keep up with the crowd and she was my buddy for many trips to the potty. I think we missed nearly a whole quarter of the game going back and forth to the restroom... but at least I was there to support!

And on another note... almost 2 weeks ago my sweet friend Ryan Lee had her baby. Our due dates were only 2 weeks apart, but she went a little early. Sister and I went to see her the day she was born, here is sweet Laylee. She is beautiful, just like her momma!! Makes me so excited for my little Fulton to be here... very soon, we are in the less than 3 week countdown. Hooray!!

Fulton's Nursery

2011-08-27T15:23:00.002-05:00

The nursery is finally complete. It's been 99% complete for a while, we were just waiting on the chair to arrive. Do you want to see it? Well, just humor me and let me tell you all about it.

I want you to get your money's worth, so I will give you every detail. Mom finished off the curtains with some of the fabric that matches the bedding and made that quilt that is over the chair. Impressive huh?! You know we are all about some refurbishing of furniture and the small end table in the corner was from the thrift store, Matt sanded and painted it to match the other furniture. We found the bed on the side of the road, no I am kidding, really, it's new.

This chest of drawers came from Craig's List, Matt sanded and painted it to match the bed too. We just added new knobs and it was like new. I saw this canvas at a fun little shop and just decided to copy it. I know, I didn't do as good as the one I could have bought, but it works. Cute frame was made and given to us by our friends Drew and Whitney.

I love this above his bed, but boy was it a booger to get on there. I ordered the vinyl letters off Etsy and we bought the frame and had the glass cut to fit. Well, it took me, matt, sister, and steven to get this stinker on there straight..lots of sweat and an hour later, we finally had it on. I really like it though.

Here's a little closer look at the little buddy's bedding. I am so pleased with his bedding. It was hard to find something that matt didn't consider "too girlie." Another cute frame to the left that sister gave us.

Another refinished piece by the hubs.... found on Craig's List again, sanded, painted and new knobs. Matt is a rock star with refinishing furniture... he has done this to so many pieces we have found over the years. He made and painted the shelves above the dresser too. So, there you go... here's our little bambino's pad. I hope he likes it!!

On another non baby note, our football season started today. The Bucs had a big game on ESPN today, but sadly, the big belly and I decided to stay home because it's just too stinkin hot. The off season goes by way too quick!!

More Fabulous Showering

2011-08-22T17:56:00.009-05:00

Saturday night we had a wonderful baby shower with our small group (which isn't so small anymore) at church. These couples are so precious to us and we couldn't be more thankful to each of them for coming to help us celebrate Fulton's upcoming arrival.

Sister was in charge of the camera, so she didn't make it in many of these, but here are some random shots. We had such a great time getting to catch up and visit with everyone. And not to mention delicious food! Obviously you can tell in the bottom picture that I haven't missed a meal lately. Geeze!!

What kind of party would it be without a fantastic cake by my friend Hope. That is me on top :) And I didn't get a picture, but there were some yummy cake pops too... I sampled all the sweets.

Cute plates... They did such a good job with all the cute decor!

Did you think the fam wouldn't come?! Bless them.... they are all so sweet to keep coming to all these showers and helping us celebrate, nothing like 2 in one day for mom and sis! Dad was such a trooper too, he had knee surgery the day before and still came, doped up on pain meds and all.

Oh goodness... we are so blessed!! We were showered with some wonderful things that are going to be a huge help when little bambino arrives. And some really cute stuff too!!

And we had to play a quick game too. A few of the guys had to change a baby's diaper blindfolded, but first they had to find it in the diaper bag. Let's just say I think Matt's diaper changing skills will be better when he can actually see.

And sweet friends!! Hope and Whitney did a lot to make this a special day for us and we appreciate everyone being there to help celebrate!! Fun day !!

Celebrating Fulton

2011-08-22T17:20:00.003-05:00

Saturday was a big day for celebrating little Fulton. I started the day with a wonderful lunch shower with the coaches wives. Aren't these the cutest Buc cupcakes to celebrate with?! They were from Edgar's Bakery and oh they were delicious!

We were so thankful to get a generous gift card to Buy Buy Baby that will help us get a few more things that we need before the little buddy arrives. Mom gave us these cute AL burp cloths and onesies. He will be ready for football season!

Sister hooked him up with more precious stuff again! Someone said the other day, what if it's really a girl?! I said, well, "she" would have a lot of blue clothes with Fulton on them because sister loves the monogrammed stuff!

Here are some of the coaches wives. We were missing a few, but it was such a fun morning getting to fellowship with these women.

Mom and sister are always there to support!

My Little Painter

2011-08-17T17:57:00.003-05:00

Let me just give a big warning before you read this post....there is a lot of skin showing in this next picture, I hope you don't lose your lunch. So, my sweet friend Ryan Lee who is due about 2 weeks before us, had someone paint her belly and it just looked fabulous. So, I told the Matt and the fam about it and I mom and keri were going to paint something fun on the big ole belly, but the hubs got all excited about it this past weekend and decided he wanted to do one too... so, here you go!
Matt was very serious about this whole thing. He kept saying, don't move, you will mess me up. He was concentrating real hard and as soon as we finished, he started talking about the next one and what else he could paint.

Here's the final product. He did a flower. He did pretty good, I was impressed. No worries, this is non-toxic body paint. Don't let the back of the bottle fool you, it said it comes off easily with soap and water... I thought I would have that purple on my stomach forever. So, I know... the belly is freakishly huge and I really cannot believe I am putting this on here... but if anyone tries to use it against me, I will deny it's me.. that's why I cut my head out.

Last Hoorah

2011-08-08T16:49:00.006-05:00

I guess you can consider this past weekend our last hoorah of the summer before school starts back. Our family, the Bouchillons, all came in town this weekend and we enjoyed a long weekend at the lake seeing family that we don't get to see enough.
My cousin Mark and his wife Katie have the newest member of the family. This is me with sweet Caleb. He is almost 10 months old and even though he is a Clemson fan at heart, he was sporting his Roll Tide outfit just for us this weekend.

We finally had everyone together at the same time for a delicious steak dinner, so we used the opportunity for some good ole family picture time.

And here's our sweet fam. We almost missed taking one together because we were photographing everyone else, but we got a quick pic before the sun went completely down.

And here's the whole crew. That's mema and papa on the couch surrounded by their kids, grandkids, and now great-grandkids. We usually only get one or two of these pictures a year... it is pretty painful for everyone and lots of complaining is involved, but it's all smiles once the flash goes off.

This is my cousin Amber and her fiance Patrick. They are getting married in just a few short weeks and we had a little mini shower for them. Poor Patrick flew straight from East Asia into this family madness weekend.

Matt finally got to open a baby gift... of course he said, what is this?!

We spent the next day playing in the water and it was a million degrees outside and ole momma senorita and little bambino just can't take the heat anymore, so I camped it out in the shade for a good bit of the day. Good weekend on the lake with family, hate to go back to work.

Our Week

2011-08-01T14:07:00.005-05:00

This past week was our last week to have a vacation and we took full advantage of it and headed to Gulf Shores with the fam...or at least part of the fam. We missed Sister and Steven, but somebody had to stay home and work. I guess I am saving up for when little man is born, but I just didn't take many pictures at all. We ate out every night, of course, you can never have too much seafood. This was at Tacky Jacks...one of my faves.

Matt and dad both ordered the garbage nachos. As you can see this is a huge plate of nachos with all this madness piled on top. The waitress was a little concerned that they were both ordering one and not sharing. But these guys don't share. You can see the before and after, they did pretty good finishing most of it.

Much time was spent on the beach, relaxing in the sand. I realize it won't be like this next year, so I was trying to soak it all in. This was right before a storm blew in and Matt, dad, and I kept trying to "hold out" and not go in... but once the sand started pelting me in the legs, I cashed it in. This is random, but you see that girl laying out in the back of the picture. I started thinking, do you ever wonder if you are in the back of people's pictures like that... freaks me out.

We got to come back out later for a little more time before dark and the waves were huge... that leads us to this....

This guy is crazy! Matt didn't wear his swimsuit back down since it was late... mistake. He kept watching all these kids swim and laugh and have a good time, he couldn't stand it any longer. He ripped his shirt off like David Hasselhoff and ran straight into the ocean with his shorts on. He loved it.

Harley man almost didn't get to come on the trip.... he was really sick last week and we took him to the vet the morning we were leaving and they wanted to keep him. I just couldn't stand the thought of the little buddy staying in the vet all week by himself... so we took the meds with us and nursed him back to health on the coast.

The last day the hubs decided he wasn't going to wear any sunscreen... but he is proof that sitting under the umbrella will still get you burned without your handy dandy SPF.

Last night to soak up the all you can eat shrimp platter and grease up the insides real good! It was a good week at the beach... sad summer is coming to an end...makes me want to cry.

Fabulous Shower

2011-07-19T12:40:00.007-05:00

Sunday was a day that we were showered with love by friends and family to get ready for Fulton's arrival. Look at these precious decorations and amazing table that they did. Mom made that door hanger with little buddy's name on it (She is very talented) and her and sister worked so hard on this cute diaper cake. I don't want to take it apart it's so stinkin cute, although I know his little bum will need those diapers very soon. Those cupcakes were delish!

Here are the sweet ladies that helped host this come and go baby shower for me. They are all such precious people in our lives and we were so blessed by all they did to make this a special day for us.

Me, Mom, and sister...nothing like putting big bertha in the middle of these 2 beautiful ladies!

For the record, I absolutely LOVE monogrammed stuff.. so much that I think I want to monogram Fulton's underwear one day. He got so much cute monogrammed stuff I just had to pinch myself (sister has been stockpiling this stuff for months). Mom also made him an adorable smocked bubble that he is going to look so handsome in!!

And Aunt Keri got him his first backpack.. I love it!! I am thinking about getting Matt a matching one for school.

I don't think I have shown what our bedding looks like, but my mom got it for us and made a quilt to match it... seriously, it is beautiful!! She bought extra fabric of the bedding and had been working on this secret project for a while. She also did some curtains. His room is finally starting to look like a real room.

Me and sister with the Monroe girls. Our families have been friends since before we were born... we love them!

And here are some other random shots of sweet people who came to celebrate the day. We are beyond blessed.. literally, I sat and looked at all this wonderful stuff that people have given us and I am just in awe. We don't deserve it, but we are so grateful for all these precious friends and family who are helping us get ready for this little fella to enter the world!!

30 Weeks!

2011-07-16T10:24:00.003-05:00

It's finally here... we are on the home stretch and I am 30 weeks pregnant! Woohoo!! I haven't done one of these ole preggo posts, but since I know you are on the edge of your seat dying to know the details, I will share some fun facts with you.
How far along? 30 weeks

Size of baby? This week they say he is about 3 pounds and if you are into comparing that to vegetables, he is the size of a head of cabbage.

Maternity clothes? It varies day to day... I still wear a lot of regular shirts, but most shorts are maternity. I am still looking for that perfect maternity blue jean jumper with the school house on it for the first day of school.

Gender? It's a boy! Fulton Maddox

Movement? This little booger moves all the time. He likes to do karate chops in the middle of the night too.

Sleep? Oh sleep... it's a love/hate relationship. Lately, I have been getting up at 3 am and then sometimes I will go back to sleep about 6. This is going to be a problem when school starts back. Maybe I can get my 8th graders to start having nap time. We are up to 7 --hear that--7 pillows in the bed now. Matt says if I add anymore, he will have to sleep on the couch.

What I miss? Hmmm... what do I miss... not really anything too life altering that I miss. Probably just being able to sleep through the night without going to the potty every couple of hours like a five year old.

Cravings? Since the beginning I have loved fruit and dill pickle chips. I have been laying off the chips more lately due to the fact that I almost have a mini heart attack every time I get on that stinkin scale at the dr's office. You know what else I love?? a good strawberry slushi.

Symptoms? The ole back has been aching a little more lately... and I am super clumsy. Is this even a symptom? I don't know, but I drop things all the time. Good thing I am not trying to win us a championship on the balance beam.

What I am looking forward to? I have some showers coming up that are going to be so fun and I am really excited about. Also, this comfy, excruciatingly expensive, chair we bought for the nursery should be coming in soon. I will sit in that everyday so we get our money's worth.

Chicago

2011-07-11T13:35:00.004-05:00

The Windy City! That is where we headed last week for our anniversary. It was an adventurous trip with lots to do in a few short days. Let me give you the quick and condensed version of our days in the big city. We arrived the first day and our plane landed at 8:30 am, so we had the whole day to play. We were set to see a show, Peter Pan, after lunch so we had a few hours to explore and figure out this whole city bus transportation stuff. Yikes... we got on our first bus and missed the stop so we kept riding it thinking it would turn around eventually.... not the case. This sweet man finally asked us if we needed help and told us to get off and walk across the street and wait for the bus coming the other way. Thankfully we had plenty of time because we got a nice tour of parts of the city that we probably shouldn't have been in. The show was great and afterwards we went to eat at Ed Debevicks... where they are extremely rude to you.. on purpose. It's quite the atmosphere!

The next day we were up bright and early and there you see me at that lovely bus stop again.. we were determined to get it right this time. We headed to Navy Pier and I guess you could call it somewhat of a big carnival on Lake Michigan. We took an architectural river boat cruise through the city and saw lots of amazing buildings that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. I will spare you the 75 pictures sweet boy took of all the buildings we passed, he loves some history. Matt even had a good conversation with some man in the park too.

We spent a little more time exploring Navy Pier, ate at Harry Carey's for lunch and then went to the beach. There was a beach on Lake Michigan about 2 blocks from our hotel. Matt put his feet in, said it was freezing, I sat on a stump instead. We had to hit up the Hershey store because they were giving away free samples (went back the next day too). I think I got a cavity just walking in that place.

That night it was time for the event Matt had been waiting for. He really wanted to go to a Cubs game, but they weren't in town, so we went to the White Sox game instead. See the bottom left picture of Matt glaring at me... it's because I was totally freaking out about riding this subway thing. Once we got on I swore that thing was going to fly off the tracks and we would die underground. Thankfully we made it. The Sox lost.. but it was a fun game. We even had some delicious hotdogs and nachos, dinner of champions right there.

The next day it was up and at 'em again (Matt kept me on a tight schedule) and we headed for the Shedd Aquarium. This was an enormous aquarium with lots of little creatures, big and small. Matt was so into it, as you can tell. I enjoyed it too... in between sitting on the benches and eating my poptarts. The view was beautiful outside the aquarium. In the right picture of the both of us, I know it looks like I have a twin in the water, but no worries.. it's just the whale swimming around.

After the aquarium we headed for some deep dish original Chicago pizza... this stuff is different, but good. We did a lot of yummy eating while we were there and decided to finish our last night with a fabulous meal at the Weber Grill Restaurant... and Weber Grill as in the thing you cook on in your backyard. Sometimes it takes me a minute to connect the dots... and when I finally saw the large grill on the side of the building I understood. We had a wonderful trip for our anniversary and Matt is already planning the next one so we can do everything we didn't get to do.

7 Years!

2011-07-10T07:40:00.000-05:00

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary! Here's a sweet picture from back in the day when we were a lot younger (and thinner). What an amazing man God has blessed me with. He sure puts up a lot from me (and it's been taken up a notch lately with my precious mood swings). Matt is such a godly man with a servant's heart. I love this about him. He sees a need and he meets it. Matt has such a selfless heart and always challenges me to exemplify the fruits of the spirit on a daily basis. Here we are 7 years later with a little bun in the oven, about to start a new chapter in our lives. We are so undeserving of this blessing of each other and now a new life coming to our family. Thank you Lord for this marriage and the blessing of another day of life with each other!

The Fourth!

2011-07-05T08:57:00.004-05:00

We spent a long weekend at the lake for the Fourth of July and it was fabulous! We had great weather, good company, and lots of delicious food! Saturday we stayed in the water literally almost all day because it was so hot. We got out late in the day to relax on the pier for a bit since we were all shriveled up.

Sister and me after a nice day in the sun.

Dad took us on a little sunset cruise and the weather was great. I am not supposed to ride in the fast boat because of the roughness, so we had to wait until late in the day when the waters were calm.

How pretty is this?!

Sunday and Monday we played again and Matt even entertained us with some jumps. This is his newest jump, his toe touch.

A little mini storm came up later that night and we were forced to get off the water, or dodge the lightning. I chose to go on up for the day. But the after storm sunset made for some good pics!

Our papa even came to see us... what a treat! And he was in a good mood... even better!

Since it was the fourth of July and all, I felt it was necessary for everyone to sing some patriotic songs and fly the flag for a bit. We had such a great weekend with family and friends!

Festivities

2011-06-27T15:05:00.003-05:00

Last week was the big birthday... last one in the 20's to be exact. I sort of like to stretch these birthday things out for several days.. and that's just what I did this year. Early in the week I met some of my dear sweet teacher friends for lunch and a little mini celebration. I love these girls (and others who couldn't be there) and I am so blessed to have these believing women to work close with every day.

The next day Matt surprised me with a little early birthday dinner. This guy is like Chef Boyardee extreme. He is such a fabulous cook and I am so thankful for that because I am a stinky cook. And guess what else.. he loves to cook... even better huh?! He even put candles on the table. He is awesome!

The next day I woke up to this! He decorated the house and even made birthday signs out of construction paper. He was so proud of himself... let me tell you what else he was proud of. The fact that he used color coordinating tissue paper to match the gift bags. I love it!! I scored some good prizes!

Complete with a hand made card and all!! On another not so birthday related note, I am looking a little green in this picture... I had to get up early and go to the doctor that morning to take my glucose test.. hooray I passed and dove into the cake afterwards! Then it was off to dinner with the fam and that was quite the experience. I should just stick to the same ole normal places we eat, but we tried to venture out and it was on the verge of a disaster and when it was all said and done our whole meal, all 6 of us, was free.

And one more fabulous birthday celebration with the fam at the lake this weekend. They all stayed up and decorated again (they know how much I love this birthday thing) and even had a cake for me... and if you look real close you can see that there is an extra letter added to my name. Two e's in Kristen... we will give the credit to my mema for that one :) gotta love her! It was still delicious though.

Fathers And A Treasure Hunt

2011-06-20T13:55:00.003-05:00

We spent some time with the fam after church yesterday celebrating Father's Day! We had a fabulous lunch at Beef O' Bradys.
Sister and I with pops. We made him take lots of pictures and thoroughly embarrassed him.

We made the boys sit with mom and keep her straight. Mom and Dad were a little pooped from their all night partying the night before at Mom's class reunion. They are such party animals.

Dad got some good stuff, new shirts, shorts, some tools, and an air compressor. Oh and a lunch spent with his favorite people... us. Happy Father's Day to a wonderful dad who is always giving of himself to others.

And there was a Dad-To-Be in the group... the hubs!! Sister never disappoints to recognize us as "almost parents." Matt is going to be such an awesome dad to little Fulton... I just can't wait!!

Later that afternoon in between lunch and a cupcake baking experiment with sister, which turned a little out of control with the icing, we met up with Drew and Whitney for some geocaching. Have you heard of this? I hadn't until our friends told us about it this weekend. In Whitney's words-- "It's a real live treasure hunt." Here's Matt and Drew doing a little map searching for clues for our first treasure.

Whitney found the first one. We were actually in an old cemetery, slightly creepy, but the treasure was found in that bush behind her. So you open it, you can take something or leave something in it, and you sign the log with the others saying you found it... and on to the next one. It's sort of addicting trying to find these things.

Here's the little hunters looking for one near Lover's Leap in Bluff Park.... this was a hard one. They rate these things by difficulty and the guys trekked all the way down this mountain, while Whitney and I sat on the rock on top, but they never found this one.

Good opportunity for a quick photo opp while we were there though.

All in all I think we found like 4 yesterday. We searched for one for like 30 minutes, after Drew and Whitney had looked for a long time the day before, and we finally found it. Please take that "we" lightly, we were at a park and honestly I sat on the bench most of the time. It was hot.. that was my excuse, that and the fact that I am carrying around a "little" extra weight these days!

Lake With Friends

2011-06-18T09:03:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we had our sweet friends, the Nibletts, up to the lake for a day of fun. Cassidy was dying to ride the airhead tube and since there is a life growing inside of me this year I couldn't ride with her. Paige was a trooper and took one for the team and rode it. I was afraid we may not be friends when they came back, but I think they had fun.

And then we got the rest of the fam on too.

Matt and Amy Jordan came up for the day too and it was so hot all you could do was just stay in the water most of the day.

After lunch we had a little surprise birthday cake for the birthday boy. He loved it!

Matt showed Cassidy how to jump off the railing and she was so scared to do it at first and then we couldn't get her to stop. She is an adventurous little booger.

Sweet Tad and Paige, aren't they cute?!

And we went for a little boat ride too.

I can't really do the fast boat this year, unless it's really calm waters, so it's senior citizen pontoon rides for me all summer. It was a fun day with friends and family. And speaking of family, mom and dad were there, I just didn't seem to get a picture of them.

Matt's Big Day

2011-06-14T20:25:00.005-05:00

Today was a big day for Matt.. the big birthday!! It's also Flag Day, so hopefully you said the pledge or sang the Star Spangled Banner a few times.

Matt had practice as usual this morning, but we had a little mini celebration when he got home and Chef Kristen actually made breakfast for him.

Matt is very good and will usually tell you exactly what he might want for his birthday and one of those things was another Columbia shirt.. so I found this AL one and he was pumped. He has already started counting down to the start of football season.

Here's the birthday boy admiring his new shoes. He desperately needed a new pair of these.. his stunk.. bad! The old ones are going in the trash. From here we went to the movies.. Matt's request. He LOVES going to the movies... me, not so much. It's because I can't stay awake. But he got me a big bag of popcorn and that kept my attention for a while.

Tonight we went to dinner with the fam. Matt had picked that he wanted to go to The Cajun Steamer and we got there and it was packed.. so we went to his second choice, J Alexanders. It was delish!

Poor dad was running on fumes after sitting with Grandma in the ER all night.. he was a trooper to still come. Thanks for dinner mom and dad!

And thankfully the birthday boy let me take a quick photo with him.

Sister and Steven got Matt these exact flip flops that he wanted and another special prize. Not pictured here is the fabulous bottle of spray sunscreen to go with them. Matt loves spray sunscreen and boy that fella can go through some bottles of that stuff.. so I think I will stock up now and give him some as stocking stuffers.

And he opened his gift from mom and dad in the parking lot... a reciprocating saw. Whatever that does. He was excited and now says his saw collection is complete. Thanks to the fam for celebrating with us! Fun day spent with the man I am in love with. Happy Birthday Matt!

He's A Rockstar!

2011-06-09T08:39:00.002-05:00

Matt has been doing a lot of painting and putting together of things recently. He is awesome!! With this little bambino arriving in the next few months, there are lots of things to be done. We got the office cleaned out and ready for occupancy and the bed arrived... now it was time to put it together. Sweet brother-in-law came over to help Matt with the bed. The furniture for the nursery is a "French White", basically it's cream colored. The bedding hasn't arrived yet, but hopefully it will soon so I can see how it looks.

And then it was time to paint the room... we didn't do anything drastic.. just a darker khaki color. He painted this whole room by himself in just a few hours and it looks awesome. I felt bad that I couldn't help, so I made myself useful and did the blue tape for him. Somebody's gotta do it.

And then he took a break from painting the walls and painted my toenails. How fabulous is he? really?! He is so amazing! It was getting uncomfortable bending over to do my toes, so he took over and did a great job by the way. If he ever needs a break from teaching I guess he could open a nail salon.

Last but not least.. the other pieces of furniture. We bought 2 pieces of furniture off Craig's List and they had to be sanded and painted to match the bed. This super (to be) dad sanded and painted it all the last 2 days. He is always sacrificing and extremely selfless... I need to take some tips from him. Thanks to husband of the year, Little Fulton now has furniture and some freshly painted walls (and his momma has some good lookin toes). I love this guy!!

Fun Week

2011-06-04T18:38:00.005-05:00

Last week we headed home from the lake, stopped for a second at the house and then packed it back up and headed to the beach. Our sweet friends, Charlie and Erin, came with us and we had such a great time with them. The next day we were out in the sand bright and early ready to soak up some rays.

Sweet Charlie and Erin. They didn't realize they were with some hard core beachers... Matt set up our camp for the day, complete with 4 umbrellas, one for every person.

I tried to get in the ocean a little, but the waves were out of control and knocking me down. Big fat pregnant girl falling in the waves= not very attractive.

We cleaned up and headed to Tacky Jacks for dinner. I had some delicious shrimp and grits... yum yum!

After dinner we went by the Wharf and the guys were very patient while Erin and I went in a few shops.. or maybe we went in every shop that was open.

You can't go to the Wharf and not look and gaze at all these amazing boats.

One quick photo of Erin and me before we went for dippin dots. Every time I eat those I think.. why didn't I invent these things?

The next night we had dinner at Desoto's and then Erin had an itch to play some mini golf... but before we could do that I made everyone stop in the game room for some skee ball.

I LOVE playing skee ball. I seriously want one of these in our house. I would practice all the time. I remember many years going to the beach when we were younger with the fam and we would go play skee ball. My poor dad probably had to keep shelling out the quarters for me because I wasn't very good.. but was determined to win tickets to get some plastic spider ring that you could probably buy at the dollar tree.

And then it was time for mini golf. I cannot remember the last time I played mini golf... but everyone actually shot a hole in one at some point, so I guess I still got it!

Erin is a hard core golfer... and concentrates really hard when she plays, can't you tell?

And it's a good thing we played golf the night before, because the guys went for real the next day. They sweat on the course while Erin and I hit up the outlets.

We all met back up for an afternoon at the pool... I can see myself spending a lot of time in the water this summer. It was very hot

We spent our last night's dinner at the Oyster House and Matt entertained us with pictures in the scuba diver cut out. He had to wait in line with the other kids.

Too bad Erin isn't looking at the camera... but it's on the only one of the 4 of us from the night. We kept trying to scope out a good person who looked like they could take the picture.. we finally interrupted this older man sharing war stories with his friend. Bad choice, I guess?!

One last stroll on the beach before dark. It was a beautiful night!

Of course we took Harley out for a little play time. He loves the beach, as usual... and came back in covered in sand. We had a great week with friends!

Lake Weekend

2011-05-30T21:18:00.003-05:00

We spent the weekend celebrating Memorial Day at the lake. What absolutely gorgeous weather we had. The last few years it has rained all weekend on Memorial Day, but this year it was beautiful. Sweet friends Drew and Whitney were able to come and enjoy some fun with us.

The water was still a little chilly, but it was manageable with this massive float I bought for the summer. It is a little crazy looking.. it's like a rocking chair or something. But it worked good. Everyone made fun of it, but they will probably want to borrow it.

Sister and me. Taking pictures in swimsuits is definitely not my favorite thing to do these days.. I mean, it never was.... but especially now that I am a two ton tessie. If only I could stay away from the dill pickle chips.

Sunday during the day I managed to take zero pictures. We had lots of company and lots of fellowship, but I was a little pooped out from the day before. I had to cash it in early after lunch and miss the afternoon fun. We did enjoy a little sunset dinner on the porch.

While Dad worked... that man (and my mom) are always working working to make the lake such a nice place for us all to enjoy.

We enjoyed this nice sunset before gearing up for a little campfire fun... I know, you are on the edge of your seat for this one.

Me and Pops in our matching Zeta shirts.. still gotta support that sorority that they gave so much money to years ago.

Here's the fun part...So dad built this fire pit (mental creation of mom), matt helped finish it off, and all the guys were dying to build a fire in it. Really?! It's like 90 degrees... but Steven and Matt made a special trip out that morning to get all the fixins for smores.

Sister and hubby. Now, if I am remembering correctly sister said she had never had a smore and didn't really know how to make one. This was the perfect opportunity for me to demonstrate to everyone how to make the perfect smore.

Can't forget the best part.. the chocolate. I knew they should have bought the economy box... we went through these bars fast.

All the fam enjoying the fire. Matt managed to ruin all the wire hangers in the house so we could have the perfect mellow roasters.

Sister decided she had had enough and decided to watch the rest from the porch. If only we had the guitar and could have sang some songs... there's always next time. Fun weekend with friends and family!!

Sweet Students

2011-05-30T21:03:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday before school ended, my sweet students, with the help of my fabulous aide, had a baby shower for me. I have had the best group of students this year (not that I don't every year), but I seem to have become more attached to this group.

My aide made the cake (if the kids had, then we wouldn't have been able to eat it). It was delicious! They kept the shower a surprise and were so excited when it was time for the party.

I took pictures with my students, but sorry I had to crop their heads out... they gave me some sweet gifts.

And another one of my sweet lovelies. See that picture he's holding.. he drew that for "Baby Fulton" as he always calls him. When we found out it was a boy, he told me...lucky you, boys are the best... well, at least I think so because I am one. Sweet kids... I will miss them. Don't get me wrong, I am pumped for summer, but this was a special group!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

2011-05-26T20:15:00.002-05:00

Today is a special day.. it's momma senorita's birthday!! Tonight we celebrated with the fam and went to mom's choice.. mexican! You can never go wrong with a taco! I really ought to dye my hair blond so I look like I am related to these pretty ladies.

Sister got 4 fabulous cupcakes from Dream Cakes... all different flavors so we could try each of them. My vote for favorite goes to the strawberry. They were all delish!

Mom got some good stuff, clothes, picture frames, and of course the best came from pops... he got her a Nook (with the help from his assistant, as usual). Mom was excited and was ready to leave the restaurant and load that puppy up. She is pumped because all her friends at work have one and now she is cool like them. Kind of like going to daycare with your new Nike's on. Happy Birthday to mom!!

Sun And Football

2011-05-17T16:26:00.005-05:00

What a fun (long) weekend we had!! Matt's team had a game in Fairhope this weekend, so the fam packed it up and headed south to catch a little beach time before the action. We all took off a little work to squeeze a little more fun in. Friday we spent the day at the beach and then sister and I hit the outlets and found some fabulously cute stuff for Little Fulton. Forget shopping for myself these days, it's way more fun to buy clothes for the little man.

Saturday we headed out to Fairhope and took some time walking around the town before the game.

Fairhope is the cutest town ever. They have beautiful shops and flowers and it just looks like the most picturesque town to live in.

Everyone sported their Hoover attire in support of the Bucs. Dad and Steven were troopers while the girls shopped.

And then we headed to the field... can't forget this was the reason we came in the first place. Look at my stud of a hubby! He is a rockstar!

It was extremely hot on Saturday... mom and sister sat with me under a tree in the end zone for the last half of the game. This body just can't seem to take the sun like it used to.

After the game Matt was able to come back to the condo with us and after a quick dip in the pool for the guys, it was time for some pictures on the beach before heading to dinner. Sister already has such a great tan!

Look at these 2 cuties!

Isn't my family beautiful... minus the big fat girl in red up front. Geeze louise!!

And one last guys shot before heading for seafood. It was such a fun weekend with family. I could take off every Friday and go to the beach... wouldn't that be nice? And by the way, the Bucs won, so yay for them!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T13:37:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms out there, mine included!! I have to admit, I was a terrible picture taker today. Our family opted for the easy way out and went out to lunch today instead of cooking...oh how nice it was! Mom chose her favorite, Dales. And it was delish! Sister got mom this cute shirt and some yummy smelling wallflowers for the house. She loves those things.

I got mom some cute workout wear because she (with sister) are all into Zumba now and they are like work-out-a-holics.

Dad (with the help of his assistant, otherwise known as Keri) got mom this Vera Bradley purse she has been wanting. She deserves it!

And look what sister got me... this precious gown for little Fulton. I LOVE it!! Matt doesn't understand these gown things... he keeps saying, where are the leg holes. I told him we will love these puppies when it's diaper changing time in the middle of the night. Speaking of diaper changes... let me brag on the hubs. He is such a diaper champ. We had nursery duty today at church and had all boys in our class and 2 of them must have eaten beans for breakfast because they dropped a bomb on us --right before shift change, of course. Matt handled them both, as he always does, while I gagged and sprayed Lysol. I have got to get better at this!!! Happy Mother's Day to a wonderful mom--I love her!!

Harley's Birthday

2011-05-05T17:33:00.002-05:00

Today is Cinco de Mayo, but it's also the Harley man's birthday!! The little guy is getting on up there in years... he is 11!!! This year he decided he wanted a luau themed party. I know he looks unhappy in this picture, but I promise you he begged me to put that lei on him. You may remember last year he got a birthday card from his girlfriend Esperanza, not this year... they broke up. He's back on the market for all those senior citizen lady dogs out there. Happy Birthday to our 4 legged child!!

It's A....

2011-04-26T18:13:00.006-05:00

Well, we had the big appointment yesterday to find out what this little booger is. Let me warn you, this is a bit long... but to get the full effect, I will give you the play by play. After all, I do want you to feel like you were right there too.
So at the ultrasound, we got the nurse to text my dear friend Hope so she could make a cake with the correct color icing inside. We wanted to get all the family together (the ones that could come) and all find out at the same time. Hope made this fabulous cake... isn't it cute?! I love it!

We took our time through dinner (more me than anyone else) and it was time for the reason the fam had come. Here is the part where things got a little crazy. You see, I was totally FREAKING out about cutting this cake. I really wanted to know, but sort of didn't want to know. It's like that present that sits under the tree and you are dying to know what it is and when you finally open it, the surprise is over. Well, really not the same, but you get my drift. Sister was the photographer and managed to get the play by play in photos of what was happening.

Everytime we would go to cut it, I would scream and jerk our hands back... Matt was about to just stick his fist through that cake he was so ready to know... and I kept delaying it.

And then the knife finally goes in, but I wouldn't pull it out.. I was about to pee in my pants.

And... IT'S A BOY!!! that was some blue icing Hope put in there. I was worried it was going to be purple or something and then I would have really been worried. See, Matt wore his blue shirt and I wore pink, so we could represent both sides.

After we knew we finally pulled out the ultrasound pictures and I kept saying, are they sure it wasn't a girl?? But, nope there was the woowoo front and center. Sister is still being a great photographer at this point.

And no party would be complete without some gifts from the grandmother and aunt keri. They both bought these things in pink and blue just in case.

After the excitement calmed down a bit, I went back to the table to actually eat the cake this time. This is a sad picture... I guess no one wanted to sit with me.

We must start thinking of a good name for the grandparents... I guess we all thought girl, because we all had some sort of pink shade on. The first thing out out of my dad's mouth was, we will have that little booger on the 4-wheeler next summer

Sister snapped this one and I guess this is where it began to sink in that I am now going to be outnumbered. We are so excited... boy or girl, we really didn't care. We are just so blessed to have this gift from the Lord. Matt is already thinking of this little football player and what position he will play, but I said no contact sports, chess team and safety patrol only!! Oh and by the way, his name is Fulton Maddox Howard. Don't tell me if you don't like it, I might cry.

He's Alive

2011-04-25T17:37:00.002-05:00

What an amazing service we had Sunday for Easter! Our message was all about the reason for our hope. When I think about the difficulties of life, the big things and even the small things, I can't imagine going through a day without the hope of Jesus Christ. Nothing in this world can satisfy the anxiousness, worry, stress, and struggles like the hope of Christ. I can totally relate to this verse: "For Christ died for since once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." 1 Peter 3:18 What a day to celebrate our risen King! After church we went to mom and dad's for a good time of fellowship with family. Mom had the table set all Eastery. As usual, it looked great!

After a delicious meal, where I ate entirely too much and would have unbuttoned my pants, but too bad they were already unbuttoned, we had some fun Easter baskets to dig into. Lots of goodies this year. Steven's parents joined us for lunch as well, so it was a full table.

And we had to take a quick family photo while we had a photographer there. Dad always gets antsy with these and always reminds us that we did a picture last year and that we only need one a year.

The girls... where did I get brown hair? I think I was adopted.

No Easter egg hunt this year (we will save that for the little bambino next year), but the Harley man did enjoy some time in the front yard. Hope you had a great Easter celebrating, and remembering the reason we celebrate!

Productivity

2011-04-18T18:01:00.002-05:00

This weekend was not what you would call exciting on the fun scale, but very productive. I reeled my dad (and later my mom) and matt in for some fun, held them captive for the day and starting checking things off the list. First up on the list was a ceiling fan installed in our bathroom. I have wanted one for some time now, it just gets so hot in there in the summer. It will be so nice... they did a good job. It does freak me out a bit when dad and matt start cutting holes in the walls and ceilings, but the end product is always great.

Then there was the guest bathroom. The ole toilet needed a little TLC and they felt it was necessary to pull the whole thing outside the house. Nothing like your potty in the backyard. Thankfully our neighbors didn't see.

And then the office... first they went into the attic and ran another cable line into our guest bedroom so we could move our computer over. This was the beginning of the madness of cleaning out this room. We figured little Howard needed a place to sleep one day, so we better get on it.

At the end... accomplished!! Everything was out of the room and had a new home. Yay! In the midst of all this, I even scored 2 awesome pieces of furniture off Craigs List for the future nursery. What a day!

Matt must have eaten his wheaties this weekend, because Sunday afternoon he started staining our porch. He was a man on a mission. I just watched, and told him which places he missed. These 2 guys can do anything I ask them... good to have them around. I really did appreciate all the help... I wasn't much help, but I did go get lunch. That is important!

Showering Again

2011-04-06T18:39:00.003-05:00

This past weekend the girls in our small group celebrated Claire and the soon (very soon) arrival of baby Avery. Here is sweet Claire with her cake that Hope made. Good thing Claire isn't on a diet because we had some yummy food there.

Here's a quick picture of some of the girls. Gotta love a picture of the bottom of your shoes.. please excuse that.

Claire got 3 of the same outfit. Obviously this pink and brown monkey outfit is popular at Target right now.

Sweet Whitney hosted the party at her house and I was her assistant. I like being the assistant because then I don't have to participate in the games.

And while all the girls were oohing and ahhing over the baby stuff, the guys packed it up for the weekend and went on a camping/fishing trip in the next state. Here's the hubs with one of his catches. They actually cleaned these fish, fried them, and ate them that night. Sick. What a stud with his 10 pounder (really I don't know how much that weighs, just thought it sounded good).

Happy Birthday Sister!

2011-03-29T17:05:00.002-05:00

Sister's birthday was this past weekend.... so a belated Happy Birthday to my big sis!! She's a good one!! Sorry all these pictures are just of the 2 of us, there were others at the festivities, I just didn't take any pictures of them. The fam gathered for some yummy Firebirds to celebrate a little early last week. Thankfully sister had a free dessert coupon and we all devoured a cheesecake in about 2 minutes.

This weekend we were at the lake and the whole fam was there... like aunts, uncles, cousins and all from out of town and we thew sister a little mini birthday party there too. We had our crowns on because we were also having our family Christmas dinner since it was missed when the big snow hit Gatlinburg and we had to high tail it out of there.

Make a wish.. I hope it's a good one! Happy Birthday to the best sister ever!! She is awesome!

Quick Getaway

2011-03-15T11:36:00.008-05:00

It's finally Spring Break and we packed up Friday as soon as school was out and headed to the mountains with mom and dad. Aren't they cute? We had a quick photo session on the back porch before heading out the next day. Sorry, these next few pictures are not exciting and I really have nothing funny to say... so just endure with me.

Harley is so sick of these family pictures we take. He refused to look at the camera.

Mother with her favorite daughter (sister, you know i am kidding).

The men....waiting patiently for me to stop taking pictures so we can leave.

This was a good ole self timer picture... After this we headed to the Titanic exhibit. Now, I am not much of a fan for history stuff (Matt cringes when I say that), but this thing was really interesting. We learned lots of good fun facts that may win us some money one day.

The next day we were up and ready for another fun day on the town.... but not before a rousing game of pool. Obviously Matt and I have never played pool together before because he totally changed the rules halfway through the game. Cheater!

Later we headed up the mountain towards Cades Coves (otherwise known as boresville) and stopped on the way for some KFC and a picnic. Not such a healthy lunch, but what better than some fried chicken by the rapids.

Really, isn't this beautiful?! God's creation is magnificent. I was just in awe. (That was until we tried to use the restroom that hadn't been cleaned in months. I decided not to go in after mom came out gagging with her eyes watering)

It was a little chilly up there... I really wanted dad to go on that rock over to the left so I could take his picture.

A quick little family photo minus sister and Pete. We missed them.

Now, let me tell you what happened when we got back to the house that day. Mom, dad, and matt are doing stuff outside and I decide to come out and let Harley take a little walk. Then I look down the driveway to the house across the street and see this big black thing in the neighbor's driveway. I thought for a second, that is too big for a dog, oh crapola that is a bear. This is the part where I run to grab Harley and scream to the others that I see a bear. Although no one really believes me at first because I like to play around a lot... but finally I convinced them I was for real.

Then the furry little fella sees us and decides to head up our driveway. We are still all 4 in the driveway taking pictures, then I start to run. Matt is leisurely taking his time, because he's a man and he's not scared of bears. Whatever.

The little (or not so little) grizzly came all the way up the driveway. We were all standing on the back porch watching it... hearts beating a little fast.

I guess he was hungry because he picked this softball up in his mouth and carried it for a minute.

And this is really crazy... here he is looking straight up at us. I mean what is he thinking? Come down here you people so I can have a snack?! He then walked up the front porch and stuck his head in a glass of water my mom had sitting on the steps and then climbed the hill and headed for the next house. I was so freaked out to go outside by myself after this and of course dreamed about bears all night. Fun little vacay!

Random

2011-02-27T17:15:00.002-06:00

This is a really random post... but has this ever happened to you? Last week I really wanted a biscuit on the way to school... I never do this... so I went a good bit out of the way to swing by this McDonald's (and obviously I haven't been this way in a while) because... I pull up and see this!! They have totally demolished the thing and are rebuilding... disappointed!!

But the hubs helped cheer me up the next day when he brought me breakfast in bed...homemade waffles with the new waffle maker I bought him for Valentine's Day... Romantic present.. I know! But it was his request. And we cannot eat the waffles fast enough, he is making them all the time. He loves the thing.

On to something else random... today after church me and 2 of my sweet friends coordinated a luncheon for some of the local missionaries that our church works with. Whitney found us these great aprons (with a few stains on them).

And we made the guys help too... and they actually enjoyed it, I think. They went to get the food and they so kindly told me that spaghetti sauce spilled "just a little" in my car. Take a deep breath... but they did great manning the dessert table. It was a good day serving others!

Blessings

2011-02-20T07:23:00.004-06:00

Blessings... this post is such a blessing for us to be able to say....... We are pregnant!!! We are so excited, it's hard to put into words. We were able to tell my fam with a save the date on the dessert after dinner. Of course my dad was reading it upside down and he thought it said "Save the ta-ta's." We had to explain it after Keri was screaming and jumping up and down.

Mom and Dad are thrilled... and dad said let the spoiling begin. If it's any indication on how much they spoil the Harley man, then this little peanut is in for a treat (not dog treats though).

Aunt Keri and Uncle Pete are pumped... Keri is so excited!!! When we were talking about how the fam would react and Matt said, Keri will be the most excited... and she didn't disappoint. I heard Uncle Pete is really good at telling bedtime stories.

And the Harley man... let's talk about his emotions for a minute.. he is in a bit of denial since the news broke. He is still a little confused and doesn't want to admit he may have to give up his spot on the couch. He will always be our number one pup (right there with Domino), so hopefully he can come out of this mourning state he is in right now.

Seriously, we are beyond blessed. After nearly 7 years of marriage, the Lord has blessed us with children... we don't deserve it. God's grace and mercy are overflowing and we know this child is His, not ours. We just pray we can purposefully rear this child to know and love the Lord beyond anything else. Thank you Father!! "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9

Much Needed Upgrade

2011-02-13T17:18:00.000-06:00

We finally bit the bullet and did a much needed upgrade to our kitchen. New counter tops! Here is the before.. lovely ole blah color.. they must have been giving this stuff away for free.

In the process... what a mess! This threw me off my anal schedule for a few days, especially when I went to dump out some water in the sink and there was no sink. Patience...

And the finished product. We really like it.. It may not look like much of a change, but it really helps the value. My favorite part is this under mount sink where you can wipe the crumbs right into the sink. It's the small things in life!

Ladies Retreat

2011-02-03T16:30:00.002-06:00

Last weekend I enjoyed a fabulous get away, "Come Away With Me" as it was called, and gathered with about 80 ladies from my church to renew, refresh, and relax. We heard some incredible teaching about sacred echos and really learning to listen when God is speaking to you, something I am not very good at. It was such a blessing to be around some seasoned women from our church and have the chance to learn from them as well.

6 of us from our small group went together and we were a little packed. It would have been worse, but I made Whitney leave her bag of shoes at home. One bag limit.

We were all smiles and ready for the road trip... those in the very back may not have had smiles on, but they made the best of it.

Here we are before dinner that night... now these next few pictures are all the same, but I will post them anyways, because it's all I took.

This was Saturday before our last session. We were getting a little worn out at this point, so we decided to break out the ring pops.

And it's time to go home. It was a great time to get into the Word and listen to what God is teaching me in this time in my life. I just need to do more of the sitting still and listening part, rather than the always talking part that I normally do. I am blessed to have these friendships in my life! To add to that fun... we got out of school a few minutes early today because of icy roads... a few minutes is all it takes to make me smile!

Ice Ice Baby

2011-01-25T17:36:00.003-06:00

Now that you are singing a little Vanilla Ice, let me tell you about something we did this weekend. Expanding our horizons, we ventured out to the Alabama hockey game. I like to call myself a hockey fan, although I haven't been in quite sometime... probably since high school when the Birmingham Bulls used to play at the Civic Center. I never understood the rules or really got into the game, but I thought it was pretty cool when they would fight. This night didn't disappoint in that department either. We had to bundle up... brr.. it's cold at the ice skating rink. I made a comment on the way in that I hope they have the heat on... Matt said, don't count on it.

Here's the team. Who knew AL had a hockey team?? I didn't until a few weeks ago and the place was packed. It was the last home game..there's always next year.

Look at this cuteness. So at half time they let the little peewee hockey team come out and play. Some of these boys couldn't have been more than 5 years old. They looked about like I do on skates.

Our buds, Danny and Casey, joined us for some fun.

Here we are towards the end.. Matt wants to go ahead and beat the crowd so we stop to watch it at the glass. Now, this is where the action is.

Up close and personal. This was right before 2 of the guys were slammed into the glass right in front of me and I nearly peed my pants and dropped the camera. I did let out a little yelp too, Matt moved a little further away from me, I guess so people wouldn't think we were together. Fun times at the ice rink.

Fabulous Friends

2011-01-22T16:27:00.003-06:00

Nothing too exciting going on this month of January... but last night we got together with our small group to celebrate our friends, Jonathan and Melissa, and the soon arrival of baby Maya.
Me with my buddy Ian. What you can't see in this cute picture is the yellow sticky slobber all over my hand from this lovely sucker he has.

Love these girls!

The sweet couple... they got lots of good stuff. Sidenote... I should never be the one to write down the gifts again because I didn't know what half the stuff was and I couldn't spell some of it.

The girls! See that sweet baby next to me.. that is Lydia.. last time we all got together for a shower it was for her!! She is adorable.

Awesome cake that Hope made.... she does a great job.. and very tasty too. I don't think I would be able to cut into my hard work like that.. but that puppy had to be eaten.

Me and the hubs. This guy is awesome... he made some killer chili and some mean grilled cheeses for the group last night.. he's a keeper!

Classic

2011-01-08T17:34:00.005-06:00

So I am flipping through the channels over Christmas break and I start telling the hubs that they just don't make TV shows like the used to. We don't watch much TV in our house and when we do, it's mostly TLC, Food Network, or HGTV. Now, Matt loves him some ESPN, but as for sitcoms, there aren't really we are into. So, it made me reminisce over some of my favs when I was younger... let's take a walk down memory lane. Do you remember these? Full House. I love this show--hear that.. love, as in I still watch it when it comes on. I always thought it was cool that DJ and Stephanie shared a room and I knew sister would never have shared a room with me. Favorite episode is when DJ starts dieting and passes out at the gym... so intense!

Growing Pains. I love some Kirk Cameron... this guy is a strong Christian and speaks out on his faith a lot these days, which makes Growing Pains even cooler. Poor Carol, she was so smart and her glasses were so thick.

Punky Brewster. Oh goodness, I really wished I was Punky. I mean not the whole orphan part, but I loved her "style." She always wore those 2 different colored shoes and had the coolest room ever. Favorite episode is when they were playing hide and go seek in the back and she hid in an old fridge and got stuck. That one had me on the edge of my seat.

The Wonder Years. I sort of remember watching this one around dinner time. That mans voice that talked for Kevin always sort of creeped me out, but I loved Winnie's hair. Poor Kevin, his brother Wayne was so mean.

Saved By The Bell. I saved the best for last!! I love love love this show and still watch it at 6:00 every morning when I am getting ready for school. If they take this off the air, I will cry. There are too many favorite episodes to name, but one of my favs is when they have to make their own product and one of them makes "buddy bands." Why didn't I think of this?!

Celebrating All Week

2010-12-26T15:33:00.011-06:00

Happy Birthday to our Savior! I am so thankful for this season to celebrate the one who came to Earth to walk where we walk and pay the ultimate sacrifice for us. I am blessed to be His daughter. This past week we have enjoyed celebrating with family. Here is a rundown of the last few days... lots of pictures... and lots of fun! Last Tuesday Matt and I loaded the car (it's ridiculous to look at the amount of stuff that 2 people can take) and headed out.

We made a stop in Oxford on the way to visit with Matt's family and do Christmas with them. It was fun to catch up with them and eat some goodies before hitting the road heading towards Gatlinburg.

We stopped on the way to get a Christmas tree. Matt tied this thing to the top of the car in the rain. If you are ever in the market to wait until the last day to get your tree... you can get a good deal --this sucker was on sale for $11.99, can't beat that.

A few days later we celebrated Dad's birthday!! We stayed up the night before blowing up balloons and doing a little decorating. Sister made a fabulous (gluten free just for dad) cake. We opened presents, ate some cake, and celebrated 59 years for the pops!

A few photos and then it was off to Dollywood. Have you ever been? I would describe it as a country amusement park. We love some Dollywood!

We didn't get to do much at Dollywood because the temperatures were absolutely freezing and the roller coasters were closing down. We did do this bungee ropes course contraption thing. It was interesting. We had other family here with us, but I didn't seem to take many pictures because my hands were numb.

The next day was Christmas Eve and we did some last minute shopping and a few more family photos and it was off to have dinner with the whole fam.

We got to meet our newest family member, my cousin and his wife had a little boy in Oct, Caleb. Such a cutie! My aunt Susan had a little surprise for the fam and don't let all that blue blind you, we now have official family t-shirts. I know, you are jealous. I used to make fun of these things when I would see them in the thrift store, but now I am a proud owner of one myself. It's centered around "Christmas Vacation" because this fits our family perfect and we watch the movie together every year. On the back is a top ten list of our favorite Christmas memories (don't think sappy here, people, our family is crazy).

It's Christmas Day and guess what... SNOW!! And lots of it. The night before we knew it was probably going to snow all weekend and get worse as it went on, so we left the 2 non-4 wheel drive cars at the top of the hill and decided we better leave Christmas afternoon to ensure we would get down the mountain. Well, we didn't leave early enough... because the snow came fast and got deep quickly. So, we decided we better stay put and just enjoy it... more to come on that in a minute. So, here we are enjoying it!!

We came in for some delicious breakfast made by sister and mom and decided to open our stockings. Our family really gets into stockings.. not just candy.. good stuff, like stickers with your name on them (thanks sister) and flashlights, eye masks, and who can pass up some good chip clips that double as earrings?!

After stockings we opened presents! Fun times!! As you can see dad really enjoyed his new coat. At this point we are still planning on staying until the next day or possibly the next, until the snow melts some... soon the craziness will start.

After presents we went back into the snow and this time with the sled. I have not been on a sled in a long long time. This puppy was so much fun. We have some great video, but these pictures will have to do for now. We even got mom on that thing. Mom and Dad's house has a great driveway for sledding, so we took advantage of it.

Now, here's where the pictures end... let me give you a quick rundown of what happened next. The rest of the day was planned to meet up with the rest of the fam, have our nice Christmas lunch, do presents with them, lounge around, sip on cocoa, you know, all the fun stuff... didn't happen like that. My aunt called mom as we were walking up the driveway from sledding and said... uh, I think we better get out of here today, it's going to get worse. We literally flew around the house like mad people, packing, cleaning and shuttling our stuff up to our cars to get out as quick as we could. It was nuts! I almost peed in my pants going down that mountain, it was scary scary, but we made it home safe and sound (all the way driving in the snow) and enjoyed every minute of this time with family! We made memories we will never forget. Thank you Lord!

Christmas With Grandma

2010-12-20T14:05:00.002-06:00

This weekend we celebrated Christmas with my grandma. Let the Christmas fun begin! Matt was a little under the weather with the stomach virus some last week... poor guy, but his appetite is back and ready for some good cooking.

Grandma doesn't like her picture taken, but sister and I always make her pose for lots of photos. She's a trooper!

And now one with the boys.

This was one of many shots to get a family photo. It's the best we could do with the camera set up on 10 books and the coffee table. Happy times!

In other Christmas fun, Friday night we went to the Alabama Theater to see Christmas Vacation. Scottie, mom and dad came and it was a night of laughs. Cousin Scottie informed us when we got there that he had never seen the movie. He was rolling on the floor laughing... even at some quiet parts when you weren't supposed to laugh. My face was hurting at the end of the night. You can never see this movie too many times.

Festive Attire

2010-12-13T18:41:00.002-06:00

That's us... in case you weren't sure. I know, don't be jealous of this festiveness. We had our small group Christmas party this weekend and the challenge was up again for some tacky Christmas attire. Matt and I will not disappoint, and we are always up for a good challenge. Just in case you can't see.. those pretty little panty hose have candy canes on them. My dear friend at school let me borrow her beautiful skirt, tights, and a gorgeous poinsettia purse (not pictured) that just made the outfit complete with the hip sweater I got from my... um, mom's house. (I love you mom!)

Kellie, me, Whitney, Hope, and Johnna... quick pick before our ornament swap. Which by the way, I got a great one. I actually had 3 great ones and some people stole them from me. That is why I don't like those games.. I get attached and then they get taken.

David and Jennifer are always good sports... they just added a little bling to their outfits from last year.

The ladies... although we had some boogers not participate, who are probably going to get coal in their stocking now, it was a lot of fun.

Matt has sure gotten his money out of these green pants. They have now made their rounds to a St. Patty's day party and 2 Christmas parties. He was proud of that vest too!