Grow

Yum. Just Yum.

2012-02-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

I went to Costco last week and found the best breakfast spread ever:

It is by Belle Chevre, and it isn't sold everywhere -- definitely not in our grocery stores in the boonies -- but if you see it, get it. I got both the fig and the honey flavors, and they are so good. I have been eating it on bagel thins, and I could probably just eat it out of the container by the spoonful. This stuff is delicious!

images

*I will get back to regular posting at some point in this lifetime...

Rejoining the 21st Century

2012-02-09T05:20:00.000-08:00

Hello again! My last week has been filled with moving and trying to fit in work as usual and feeling a little like we are caught in this:

A big black hole...

We have had no tv, internet, phone, or cell service. We live in the middle of the woods, and it has been very quiet around this new house. It has been sort of nice because it has given me the opportunity to crank up my music and get a lot of unpacking done with no other distractions. However, any time I get anywhere with a bit of cell service, I get a lot of messages and texts that say something like Where are you? Why can't I get in touch with you? This is ridiculous!! Stop ignoring me! It seems I've fallen off the face of the Earth -- unless I go in Tyler or Gibson's room and stand by one of their windows, stand on one foot, contort my body in some weird way, hold my mouth just so, and sometimes I can get a text through...sometimes.

Now we have our tv and internet back up, and hopefully my cell phone booster will help with my cell service. We saw the phone guys sitting in their truck outside of the phone box out by our road yesterday, and I don't know if they thought they were going to hook up the phone telepathically, but they certainly didn't seem to actually be hooking anything up -- I just love dealing with service people.

The house is coming along, though, and I feel like we are really making progress. That is, I feel like we are making progress until we go back to the old house and see all that is still over there, and then I get really depressed at the mess that still needs to be sorted. And we have a ton of boxes that we never opened when we moved from our old town, so they have been boxed up for a year and a half. I have found some great things that I had forgotten we had, like the sweetest little pottery handprint ornaments from when Ty was 4, Sanders was 2, and Gibson was 3 months. We have found some nasty things, like an old coffee maker that had a moldy, nasty coffee filter in it!!! Yuck!

Oh, moving is fun....

Final Sneak Peeks!

2012-02-01T18:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some final pictures before the house is all finished and we are all moved in...

Living room:

Kitchen:

Butler's Pantry:

Laundry room:

Powder room:

(vanity before it went in the powder):

Moving starts tomorrow!

Movin' On Up!

2012-01-31T18:40:00.000-08:00

(sing that title to the tune of The Jeffersons' theme song)

So, looks like we are moving soon. I am crawling out from under boxes to write this post because we are now in the packing stage!!

Brad and I spent all weekend unloading everything out of our attic, and we ended up throwing a ton of stuff out and sending six huge trash bags full of stuff to Goodwill on Sunday and three bags today. We have moved on to the kids' rooms and are trying to go through all of their stuff to organize it into what to throw out, donate, and keep. It amazes me to think of the junk we had hanging around in this house...

This is what our living room looks like right now (this is our "goes to the new house" pile):

It kind of makes my blood pressure rise every time I look at it, but I know the mess will just get bigger before it gets better, so I am trying to be okay with it. This is the hard part for me, also, because this is the packing up of the smaller stuff, and even though we seem to have a bazillion boxes stacked up everywhere, we still have most of the house left to pack. It is a bit depressing.

We plan to spend Thursday through Sunday doing our actual move if all goes as planned...wish us luck!

Prayer Request

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Brad's cousin's child, Jasper, should be in surgery right now getting cochlear implants due to total hearing loss after complications from meningitis (I believe it's bacterial). Except for a short stint at home last week, the poor baby has been in the hospital since before Christmas, and he is basically having to learn to do everything again -- swallow, eat, drink, walk, focus, and hear. His parents have been very strong and have had a lot of support and prayers sent their way, but more prayer would always be welcome, I am sure!

Please pray for Jasper as he undergoes this surgery, his surgeons, and his parents, Rebecca and Jim (both are Clemson grads, so you Clemson people may know them!).

You can read Jasper's CaringBridge page here.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

We had our HANDS UP!!

2012-01-25T12:16:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, I gave Brad tickets to the Luke Bryan/Jason Aldean concert in Greenville, SC. We went this past Friday with our friends, Wes and Jeana, and had a blast. It was one of the best concerts I have ever been to (I have to say Michael Buble still beats all). Jason Aldean was the headliner, but my fave was Luke -- and not just because Gibson thinks he looks like his daddy. He is pretty darn hot, though!

Random

2012-01-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

I am getting ready to hit the sack for the evening, but I wanted to stop in and bore you with some randomness...

1. We thought we might get to move into the house this weekend (yay!!!), but those dreams were dashed this evening by the carpet people and the inspector (boo!!!). Our carpet is at the store, but they won't install it until Monday, which means that the inspector won't come until after that to do our final inspection and give us our CO. I believe we ordered this carpet at least a month ago, so we have been waiting on it for quite a while, and the fact that it is the last thing holding us up is irritating me.

2. Most of our furniture is in and will be delivered Saturday! Unfortunately, they can't deliver it to our house, but rather, they will have to deliver it to Brad's packing house. At least our living room won't be bare when we can move in...

3. My blonde roots are growing in big time, and the other day I had a panic attack that I was getting gray hair. Thankfully it isn't gray, but I can't be going around with roots that are lighter than the rest of my hair, or other people might think it's gray, too -- not cool. I may have to do like Gibson wants me to do, and go back to "yellow."

4. I decided today that my kids eat too many of the same things for breakfast and lunch, so I wanted to change it up a bit. I made a batch of egg salad for sandwiches for tomorrow, and I was planning to make this Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries and Bananas from skinnytaste for their breakfast for tomorrow. I got all of the ingredients out and started chopping up the bananas when I realized that I didn't actually buy the dang oatmeal at the grocery store today. It is pretty hard to make oatmeal without the actual oats. So, instead, I made these Baked Bananas. If you like bananas, I would recommend these -- they taste like dessert but are skinny!

5. Brad didn't know what to do since I was doing all of this extra cooking. He asked me if I was stressed out about something. I guess that shows that I am usually pretty lazy with the kids' school lunches; he usually takes care of breakfast!

Y'all have a great night!

Happy 300!

2012-01-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had the opening celebration of our church's 300th year. It was a fabulous service that started outside in our historic churchyard with some people all dressed up in period costumes from the 1700s, and a "town crier" who read proclamations by Queen Elizabeth, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and our governor, Niki Haley. Following that brief ceremony, we all went inside for our normal worship service, but this time we had a special guest preacher -- The Lord Bishop of London, Richard J.C. Chartres, who preached the homily at Will and Kate's wedding (yes, the Will and Kate!). His sermon was powerful as was the entire service; it really was a great opening to our tricentennial celebration.

I know that I have mentioned before how much I love our church. I love it for the fact that the gospel is brought day in and day out in that place, but I also am a huge fan of history. I love the fact that we have the second oldest church in South Carolina, and one of the oldest churches in continuous use in the United States. I love the fact that the beautiful building that we sit in each Sunday was built in 1724 and that we often use communion silver from 1734. I love the fact that my grandfather, his parents, and his grandparents are all buried in the churchyard, and that one day my parents, my children, and I will be, too. That's a lot of generations and a lot of history!

But, it is just a building, and as beautiful and special as it is to me, it is the actual clergy and congregation who make St. Helena's such a special place. As I said, the gospel is preached day in and day out there, and God is alive and moving in the church. It can be felt when you walk in, and it can be felt the entire time you are at St. Helena's. I am so thankful for my church, and I can only hope that it will last 300 more years.

If you care to read any articles on the tricentennial, you can read them here, here, and here.

I'm Christie, and I'm a Planner-a-holic!

2012-01-16T18:18:00.000-08:00

I know we are halfway into January now, so most of you probably already have your planners for the new year, but I had to post about these anyway. I realized that I have some kindred spirits in my love of all paper products with my recent post about the return address stamp, so I thought I would tell y'all about another product to which I am addicted -- my planner!

I love a new planner! I love to get a new planner and write down everyone's birthdays and anniversaries and every appointment that is already set. There is just something so exciting about a totally blank, new calendar.

Right now I am using two -- one for home, where all family members can catch up on everything that is going on in our lives, and one that I use for my daily, take everywhere planner.

My at-home planner is the Home Office Edition by momAgenda. It is 9"x11" and has both monthly and weekly formats for writing down all of your important info. And, each weekly page has a slot for each child -- up to four children -- in your household. I guess if you have more than four kids, you just need to hire an assistant to keep all of your family appointments straight!!

For my daily, take-everywhere planner, I am using the Erin Condren Life Planner. It has everything you can think of in it -- monthly calendar pages, weekly calendar pages with slots on each day for morning/noon/night, notes pages, etc. I am really liking this one!!

I like that both of these planners are spiral bound so that my appointments on Wednesday and Thursday don't run into the crack of the page -- I have always hated that about regularly bound planners (and, yes, I have put a lot of thought into it). I also like that they both give plenty of room for writing down appointments each day -- I don't like for everything to run together. I have seriously gone through some planners in the past couple of years, and I really like these two!

If you haven't already gotten a new planner for this year, what are you waiting on? Go out and try one of these! And if you have, keep these two in mind for next year!

Ahhhhh!

2012-01-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

We stayed at a Hilton this weekend, and all of the products in the bathroom were the Mega Rich line by Peter Thomas Roth. I fell in love with all of them but especially the body wash:

It smells sort of grapefruity and has micro beads and all sorts of vitamins in it. I think I will making this purchase ASAP!

Theme of the Week: Business Trips

2012-01-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

This past week (starting last Friday) has been full of trips for the farms -- both mine and Brad's.

Friday we started out in Savannah, Georgia, for the SE Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference (click on the link, and see if you can spot Brad!). Hunter, our Uncle Mac, and I attended Friday classes at the conference, and Brad and his family were going to classes all weekend, so we stayed the weekend at The Westin right by the conference center.

Friday night we rode the ferry over to River Street to meet up with Hunter and Joe and some friends, Molly and Joe, to go out to dinner and drinks at The Bohemian Hotel. The Bohemian was a really cool place, and I would love to go back and stay there sometime. The food was good; the rooftop bar was really cool -- I liked it all!

Saturday Brad went to classes, and then the two of us had a little time to ourselves, which was really nice. We went out to eat Saturday night at Leoci's, a great Italian place suggested by the concierge, as an early celebration for our anniversary (January 12) -- and as we were walking up to the restaurant, we ran into my parents' best friends! Small world...

Sunday we headed home to find:

Turquoise!!!

On Tuesday, Hunter, Graham, and I headed down to Sarasota, Florida, to meet with our new sales team for the farm. Although our farm is a family business, our sales is outsourced, and we decided officially in December to make a change in our sales department that had been a long time in coming. We will probably be making some software and other changes to go along with our sales changes, so we went down to Florida to learn about our new sales team and how they do things. However, we made a little stop along the way:

To the happiest place on earth, of course!!! We went for a short detour to Disney, and after wearing new shoes and walking around for three and a half hours, I have the worst blisters you have ever seen. I am about crippled, not to be dramatic or anything. But we had a blast while we were there and got in some great family bonding.

We got home late last night, and today Brad, the kids, and I are off to our state watermelon association meeting...the business trips continue! Have a great weekend!

New Mailbox

2012-01-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

First of all, I don't even want to talk about that train wreck that was the Orange Bowl last night. It is almost comical we were so bad. I don't know this girl, but I saw this link to her blog on Facebook, and she said a lot of what I feel in this post -- however, I would like to rant and rave about football, and I did watch. I care a lot about how well we Clemson does, so I've been in a bad mood today.

But that's enough about that.

The real reason for this post is because I wanted to talk about lettergirl. I saw her Etsy shop on another blog probably a couple of years ago now, and I committed her to memory because I knew one day I would want one of her cute return address stamps. Now that we are going to be having an actual mailbox (although Brad told me tonight there might be problems with that because our mailbox will be a mile from the closest mailbox on the route...lovely) and a permanent address, I want to buy one of those stamps I have been holding off on.

Now the problem is just going to be deciding which one to get!

I also really like the "From the Library of" stamp:

Hmmmm....decisions, decisions...any favorites??

**all images via lettergirl on Etsy

What About the House?!?!?

2012-01-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I am glad you asked!!

Okay, so you didn't, actually, but I am going to tell you anyway...

We obviously didn't make our goal of being in the new house by Christmas. And we still aren't in the new house a week after Christmas. In fact, I have told some friends that I am beginning to think of it as this nice house in the woods that we visit daily. We nod our heads at things that we like and correct things that we think should be fixed. We discuss how much it costs and where we could cut costs. We plan where furniture will go. We measure things and remeasure things. We ooh and ahh and love the house, but it isn't our house. It doesn't feel like we will actually ever live there.

But it is our house and we will actually live there if we can ever finish the durn thing. And the end is ~~maybe-kinda-sorta~~ in sight. It should hopefully be just a few more weeks, but here is what we are working on now:

-- Re-painting the kitchen and laundry room cabinets. Yes, I said re-painting. I had a discussion with my cabinet builder about the fact that I wanted a white white kitchen, and I even had a white picked out for my cabinet color. He had painted everything his white without discussing it with me, and he assured me that his white was plenty white enough. It wasn't -- especially when we got the cabinets installed in the house and compared them to the trim in the kitchen, which is the color that I wanted the cabinets. So we are re-painting.

-- Vanity tops are being installed in the bathrooms tomorrow. Once they are finished, they should be able to start on the countertops in the kitchen and butler's pantry because the cabinet paint should be dry! Marble for those tops is ordered and in the hands of the countertop people.

-- Once the countertops are in in the kitchen, subway tile has to be installed.

-- Stairs to the bonus room and our mantel got a coat of poly yesterday. All hardwood floors need one more coat of poly.

-- Carpet should have been ordered today and will hopefully be here in the next week.

-- The plumber has to come to install all toilets, sinks, and faucets, but they are all on site.

-- My front door is waiting for its coat of turquoise paint. The original color I was planning on was looking like more of a gray-green, so I picked out another shade that is definitely turquoise. I cannot wait to see it up.

-- All doors need doorknobs and doorstops installed.

-- All exterior doors and shutters need a coat of Urbane Bronze.

-- Appliances must be installed.

-- My chandelier needs to be installed.

-- The decking on the porches needs to be stained.

-- Knobs and pulls need to be installed on all cabinets.

-- Cabinets in my office need to be finished and installed (will probably be finished after we move in).

-- Vanity needs to be installed in powder room.

-- Brick on the fireplace needs to be painted.

-- Power should have been turned on today!

-- Phone is in the works. The phone company came out last week and freaked out that our house is so far from the road, so they sent our order to engineering. Engineering has since okayed the order, so now we are waiting on installation - again.

Um, off the top of my head, I think that's it...as you can see, it's mostly piddly stuff. I hope it won't take too long to get it all finished because I am SO ready to get in the house. I really can't wait to enjoy that place-in-the-woods-that-doesn't-really-seem-like-ours!

Christmas Recap

2012-01-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

Brad and I both come from big families, so Christmas is always a time with plenty of opportunities for celebrating. Add to that two birthdays -- my dad on December 17 and my sister on December 26 -- and we are busy all month!

Our first Christmas celebration actually came on Daddy's birthday but didn't involve celebrating for Daddy's birthday. We always celebrate Christmas with Brad's mom's family the weekend before Christmas. It used to be on Christmas Eve day, and I am so thankful that they moved it; it is so much easier this way. I don't have any pictures from this particular celebration, but Brad grilled more meat than you have ever seen, and we ate and ate and ate. Tyler read Jesus' birth story from Luke aloud, we opened presents, and had a grand old time.

We celebrated my dad's birthday on the 18th with a dinner at my sister's house. It is really fun to get together with everyone these days because the kids are all old enough to play together, and they are all really cute together. Of course, taking a picture of all six kids is an impossibility!

A couple of nights before Christmas, we had to finish up our shopping, so Brad and I took the kids out for a night on the town to shop, eat dinner, and pick out gifts for each other. Brad is usually not one for shopping, but we all had a great time together, and he said that he would love to make that a yearly thing. I was shocked!

On Christmas Eve we went to our church's evening service which is one of my top two favorite services of the year. It always puts me in the Christmas spirit if I am not already. Usually we go to my Aunt Lea's house for dinner after church, but this year we decided to come on home instead. I hated to say that we weren't going to Aunt Lea's. I have been going to Aunt Lea's house after the Christmas Eve service for over twenty years, so it is Christmas Eve to me. However, it is a late night for the kids, and they always fall asleep in the car before we get home, so we decided against it this year.

And, except for missing my cousin's engagement, I ended up being really happy with our decision. There is so much that we have missed out on over the years by dragging the kids all over the place on Christmas Eve. We got to put out reindeer food and cookies to Santa. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. The kids couldn't wait to get in bed. We got to see the kids excitement over Santa's impending arrival -- seriously, all things we haven't experienced before because they have always been asleep when we have gotten home! Brad and I were more excited than ever for Christmas this year, too!

And by the next morning, Santa had come!

After opening presents at our house, we went to YaYa and O'Daddy's house to have breakfast. We then headed down to my parents' house to open presents with my family, then went to my aunt's house for our big family meal. After we had stuffed ourselves and had a short time to rest and play with our cousins, it was time to go celebrate with Brad's dad's side of the family and stuff ourselves again.

We spent the night at the beach house with Brad's family and opened presents with them the next morning.

But, wait! The celebrations were not over yet! That next day was also my sister's Big 3-0, so we ate dinner at my mom's house that evening to celebrate.

And NOW I can officially go on a diet.

NYE Family Style

2011-12-31T20:27:00.000-08:00

What's the best way to celebrate New Year's Eve?

As I finish cleaning up from our evening in, I have to say that I am happy with staying in just as much as I enjoy going out. I will admit that I was a bit sad that we had to cancel our plans at the last minute due to Sanders being sick (it's strep -- we confirmed that today), but if she hadn't been sick, Brad and I wouldn't have spent tonight with our three favorite people in the world:

We spend so much time rushing around and going from function to function that it is nice to have something to make us stay home and enjoy each other -- although I am ready for poor Sanders to feel better because she still has some pretty miserable moments.

We made tonight all about celebrating. Brad got a whole prime rib from someone who hunts on the farm for Christmas, so we cooked part of it tonight using this recipe from Pioneer Woman. Oh my gosh, it was good.

We all ate our dinner on trays in the living room (something we never do) as we watched a cute movie, Monte Carlo. It was definitely more of a girl movie, so the boys pretended not to like it. After the movie was over, Brad took the Tyler and Gibson outside to shoot off a couple of fireworks, and then we ended the evening with homemade hot chocolate.

Now everyone, including Brad, has been sleeping soundly for about an hour, and we haven't even made it to 2012 yet! I think I am off to follow suit and will ring in the new year with my eyes closed. Maybe next year we'll get to dress up and go out...then again, if next New Year's Eve is anything like this one, it will be perfect.

Happy New Year!

An Anniversary and More Sickness

2011-12-30T18:52:00.000-08:00

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary. My mom posted this wedding picture to Facebook, and everyone commented that this could be me marrying my brother -- a very strange thought, if you ask me! I guess at least we know we're not adopted! ;-)

On a serious note, I am very happy that those two got married 34 years ago. They have been great role models to show Hunter, Graham, and me what it is like to have a good marriage and be good parents. and for that I am very thankful! Happy Anniversary, Mama and Daddy!

Now, onto sickness...

I mentioned in my last post that I had gotten a stomach bug, and so I had. Monday night, or Tuesday morning, if you want to be technical, I woke up with one. I thought maybe (hoped, really) I was the only one in the family who was going to get it, but yesterday evening when I got home, Sanders wasn't feeling well. She woke up at midnight last night with the bug -- but now I think it is something else. She also has fever, rash, and a sore throat in addition to the throwing up part. Poor Baby is miserable.

I have spent my entire day cleaning and sanitizing everything that isn't nailed down.

Now I am wondering if our plans for tomorrow night are going to change from going out with friends to camping out on the couch with sickos. Oh well, at least I won't have a headache Sunday morning, right...?!?!

Holiday Eating Tips

2011-12-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

Pecan Pie -- One of my faves!

Source: myrecipes.com via Jamie on Pinterest

Hello! Merry Christmas! I hope y'all have all had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas like we have. In fact, we are still recovering from all of the celebrating!

I have to admit that right before Christmas I was feeling pretty down on myself for all of the over-eating I had been doing since, oh, Halloween. I definitely have not been watching what I eat, unless you consider watching it go in my mouth watching what I eat. And exercise? Who has time for that with all of the parties and gatherings and shopping and trying to fit in work in between everything else?

Suffice it to say I have had a pity party or two over all of this excess...as I stuffed in another cookie/piece of pie/slice of cheese/glass of wine!

But then I got this forward from my mother that made me feel all better...at least through the holidays. I wanted to share it before Christmas, but I didn't get a chance. Since it technically is still the holidays since we haven't hit the New Year yet, I thought I would still share it:

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table

knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave

immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare... You cannot

find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has

10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an

eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have

two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy.

Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed

potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or

whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car

with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your

eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's

food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's.

You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the

time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while

carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted

Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near

them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of

attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind,

you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you

don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three.

When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory

celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or

get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips;

start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this

motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving

safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in

sideways, chocolate in one hand and wine in the other, body thoroughly used

up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

Now, don't you feel better? I sure do! Now, go out and celebrate...then we can all get "back on the wagon" in January!

Or, if you want to get a jumpstart on your weightloss, you can do what I did and get a stomach bug. Those are always fun! And they come with the added benefit that you don't really feel like eating much for days!

Wish List

2011-12-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas is going to be a bit slim this year between Brad and me because our big gift to each other is the house -- you know, that one that is never going to be finished?

Yeah, that one. Merry Christmas to us!

Anyway, we are just doing a couple of small gifts for each other, and I have to admit that I bought my own gifts this year. Brad is a wonderful guy and good at a lot of things, but gift giving is not one of them. I learned this very early on in our relationship. For a while, I would just get frustrated because I would try to get him something that he loved, and he would just try to get me... something. Then I started making him a list of things I would like, down to color and size, and he would just pick the first thing off my list. So, since I figured there is no surprise in getting the first thing off my list, I decided this year, I would just do the shopping myself.

A little unorthodox, but, hey, it works for at least this year -- especially because he chose to ask me about a week ago if we were going to even exchange gifts this year.

Like I said, we are only doing one or two small things, so these will not all be under the tree for me this year, but I wouldn't mind if they were...

1,2

Hmmm...maybe Brad should just start reading the blog...? Then he'd have no excuse to not know what to get!

Merry Christmas!

To Me From Me

2011-12-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

As I have been doing my Christmas shopping, I have also bought myself a little something...

Two new books for my coffee table! I have only skimmed through these, but I love both so far!

It's Christmas Time In The...Country!

2011-12-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

Every year I say that I am going to take some time to really enjoy Christmas, and every year, I look back and wonder where in the world my time went as I look at Christmas in my rearview mirror. I hate that because I love Christmas. I love everything about Christmas -- the music, the movies, the decorations, the time with family and friends, and most of all, the gift of our Lord.

So, tomorrow, the kids and I are going to take some time to really enjoy the season. We are going to bake some cookies, watch some movies, read some books, drink some hot chocolate and crank the Christmas music...

Or at least, we will do as much of that as time and the kids will allow! I am really looking forward to it -- a little time with the kids and some Christmas cheer.

Of course, this is real life, so I also have a ton of laundry to catch up on and plenty of things to do around the house. And I am sure the kids will not be able to be angels all day, and I will wonder why in the world I decided to do something fun and sentimental with them -- isn't that the way it always is when you try to do something fun with your kids? Or is that just me?

I hope you and yours are having a Merry Christmas and getting to enjoy the season -- and I hope that you are celebrating the real reason for this season!

**Someone asked when I posted these pictures the other day where we got the pajamas. They are Orient Expressed.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2011-12-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday today to my daddy...the absolute best daddy!

House Progress: Lights!

2011-12-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight I'm just going to give you some pictures and not many words because I am tired...

I will be back with words later! Peace out...

Lately

2011-12-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

Y'all will be happy to know that I survived my encounter with the Magistrate unscathed. No jail time or anything!

Just kidding -- I didn't think I was going to jail -- but I was pretty nervous about going in there today. It was relatively painless, and I left after only paying a $25 fine.

Aside from being a convict, going on vacation, and building a house, there has been plenty more to keep us busy these days...

Brad and I went to a formal dinner/dance that we attend twice a year. I asked our sitter to get our picture before we left, and this is what we got:

So you can't see it, and it's a terrible picture of me, but I wore the same dress from How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days. Another pic from that shindig with my friend, Susan:

The girls had to dance at Festival of Trees -- or, performance number 1 of 3498 this Christmas (okay, so I exaggerate a little...):

Brad talked me into letting him give Gibson a haircut. With the clippers. For some reason I stupidly thought that it wouldn't end up shaved but short. Gibson definitely needed a trim, and I like it pretty short, but not as short as it turned out:

This will never, ever happen again. I thought I might cry. Looking back at the pictures, I still think I might cry.

My mother bought the kids some Christmas pajamas, and I took some pictures of them in them last night -- can you tell our tree still doesn't have a skirt? The kids and the pajamas are pretty darn adorable, though, and I managed to get a few good shots even though they were way more interested in some show about snake catchers that Brad was watching on tv:

Gibson looks entirely too old with his new 'do...

Hope you are having a great Monday and are enjoying your Christmas season!

Are You with "The Family?" - Part 1

2011-12-10T14:32:00.001-08:00

So, back to Peter Island...

(I wish I were back there now!)

We got to the resort at about 3ish on Saturday afternoon -- or at least 20 of us did. The first thing we did upon arriving was start having cocktails. They gave us one when we got off the ferry -- some kind of ginger lemonade thing that was delicious -- and after that we headed down to the bar to see how fast we could go through our room credit!

We were very excited to be there, so we made a pretty good dent in said room credit the first evening -- and we introduced Peter Island to "The Family," as they came to know us. We took up half of the resort, so anywhere we would go, the staff or other guests would ask "Are you part of the family?" Some of the other guests like us, some tolerated us, and some (like the Germans I talked about in my last post) would rather we weren't there.

We don't get out much. ;-)

The rest of the family came in that Saturday evening. Or at least, the rest of the family was supposed to come in Saturday evening. My cousin and her husband missed their connecting flight in Atlanta due to some maintenance guy's error at their original airport, so they didn't get to come in until Sunday evening. They missed an entire day -- and once they finally did get to St. Thomas, their luggage was lost. For something like 3 days.

After the first full day, several of my cousins took out one of our two rental boats to this bar called Willy T's. When it became dark and they still weren't back, everyone started to worry -- especially my aunt and uncle whose 18-year-old daughter was on the boat. Willy T's, a bar on a boat, isn't known for being the classiest establishment -- and that is putting it mildly; there's lost of nakedness at Willy T's, especially by people who really shouldn't be naked in public! Add to that five or so people who have been drinking in a boat, in the dark, in unfamiliar waters. Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling.

With part of our crowd being delayed in their travels and part of our crew missing, it didn't seem like our vacation was off to the most stellar start (although we were all at the resort where we were supposed to be and having a grand old time)!

The Willy T's crowd made it back safely, everyone on board got a good talking-to, and we got on with the business of vacay...

Dinners were always fun. The first night we were there we ate with just my parents, Hunter and Joe, and Graham and Elizabeth. There was live music right outside the restaurant, so we spent the entire meal singing at the top of our lungs to easy listening music -- lots of Mariah and Whitney. I was really surprised they didn't play more island-type music. We got a lot of stares when we were singing -- we got a lot of stares a lot of the time, in fact!

The rest of the nights they set up three long tables, and the entire family sat together. It was fun to all be together, but they couldn't really handle serving 35 people at once. So, some of us would be eating appetizers while others were eating entrees and others hadn't even ordered. Of course, we all didn't necessarily arrive at the same time, either. Some nights they had a buffet, and those were definitely the best for our big crowd.

Oh, the beach...

Back later with more!!

House Progress!!!

2011-12-08T18:24:00.001-08:00

First, I am going to have to apologize (for the millionth time) for the poor quality photos....these were all taken on my phone. Second, these were all taken at least a week and a half ago, some over two weeks ago, so they need to be updated even now! But...here they are...progress!

Brad's closet:

My closet:

Our shower (don't pay attention to the floor...it is getting fixed. It is a little too gray on one side and white on the other in this photo):

Standing at the front door looking back toward the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom:

Cabinets going in in the kitchen!!!!

The bar side of the butler's pantry:

The beginning of the cabinets in the laundry room:

My vanity on the left and Brad's on the right:

Girls' vanity on the left and Bubbie's on the right:

They have started putting up lighting and have done some work on the mantel since I took this pictures, so I will post more soon. I feel like the ball is really rolling now! However, Brad and I made the decision the other day (forgive me if I am repeating myself -- I can't remember if I already posted about this...) that we are not going to try to move in before Christmas if they finish the house. It would be too stressful in an already-stressful and busy time of year, and that is the last thing that Christmas is supposed to be! The kids did ask for Santa to maybe bring their presents to the new house...it just depends on where things stand on Christmas Day, I guess. And if the big guy can find our new place!

More pictures soon!

My Hair May LOOK Brown...

2011-12-08T12:05:00.001-08:00

Hello! First of all, thank you to everyone for all of your sweet comments, texts, homing pigeons, etc. about my new brown hair. I really like it. It is funny -- people are either totally shocked by it, or they completely ignore the fact that my hair is a different color. I guess they are going by the old saying of "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Anyway, as my title states, my hair may look brown, but I am still totally a blond. I have pulled some really stupid moves since we got home from Peter Island, and I could just kick myself when I do stupid stuff.

The really big one is I completely forgot to show up for jury duty last week! I didn't realize it until last weekend, and when I did, I had that horrible, sinking feeling settle into my stomach like I was going to get into trouble. I called first thing Monday morning, and the lady who answered the phone told me that I would be visited by a Sheriff's Deputy who would serve me with a subpoena to appear in court next Monday to explain to the judge why I didn't show up -- yikes! Those of you who know me in real life know that this would be my worst nightmare -- being the put on the spot, in the center of attention, for something I did wrong?!?! No, thank you!!! As of this morning when I left for work, I had yet to see said subpoena. Why hasn't it shown up? Did that lady know what she was talking about? Can the Sheriff's Deputy not find our house?? (I know we live in the boonies, but that is a scary thought if we ever had an emergency...) Now I am wondering if I should call back. I am definitely not begging to go to court, but I don't want to fail to appear again. Ugh! Stupid, stupid Christie!!!

The second thing I did was show up to drop off the girls at ballet Tuesday ready to buy tickets to their Christmas recital only to see that all tickets for both shows (yes, they have to dance two nights) were sold out. I thought they went on sale this week, but they went on sale last week. So I am sitting there thinking that I am going to have to bring the girls to rehearsals, bring the to the recitals two nights, and not even get to watch them?!?! Thankfully for me, the teacher had two tickets for each night saved for someone else who already had tickets and was willing to sell them to me, and I was able to scrounge up another ticket for the first night. So now I just have to figure out who is going to use those tickets. And, evidently I wasn't the only parent who didn't get tickets -- some parents got more then their allotted amount, and the theater is really small -- so now the teacher has added a third show that all dancers must attend. Shoot me now.

So...hair color? Brown. Common sense? Blond. Definitely blond.

Peter Island Resort, BVI

2011-12-05T16:05:00.001-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year, thirty-five of my family members went to Peter Island Resort in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. It was heaven on earth.

Because there were so many of us, and not everyone could get off of work and school at the same time, we left in shifts. Brad, my brother Graham, my sister-in-law Elizabeth, and I left on the Friday before Thanksgiving and flew down to St. Thomas and met up with the crew who was already there. We spent Friday night at a hotel in St. Thomas, and then got up Saturday morning to take a ferry to Road Town, Tortola (the other end of the island where we stayed last year).

Once we got to Road Town, we spent a little bit of time shopping and sightseeing before we were picked up by a taxi and taken to the Peter Island ferry dock and whisked away...

Peter Island is an all-inclusive resort (except for your alcohol -- oh, and bottled water at meals -- found that out the hard way for $12 a bottle!), so basically anything you want to do is included -- kayaking, snorkeling, sailing, windsurfing, etc. Of course, the spa is extra -- and I took full advantage of that! However, because we were all staying for a week, we got a nice room credit that we could use at the bar, the spa, or the boutique, so that went a long way to defray those costs.

We stayed in the ocean view rooms. We had thought about renting the three villas that they have on the grounds of the resort, but they weren't available for the whole time that we were staying. The ocean view rooms were nice, though -- and I liked that Brad and I had a room to ourselves:

This was the view from our room:

Most of our days were spent on Deadman's Beach. We would grab as many beach chairs as we could, and plop ourselves down right in front of the beach bar. There we would read, listen to music (our own -- that was one thing they didn't have much of in the daytime), hang out in the water, sip beachy drinks, and watch the boys try their hands at sailing/windsurfing/paddle boarding/etc.

This was the view standing on Deadman's Beach, looking back towards the beach view rooms:

And looking toward the other direction:

And out toward Tortola and Deadman's Chest (another little island where Blackbeard supposedly dropped other pirates off to die with only a barrel of rum for comfort...):

The following pictures are from the day we went to White Bay beach. It was a more secluded beach, and we had to be dropped off there by the Peter Island staff. They brought us a picnic lunch, and we mostly had the beach to ourselves -- in addition to some Germans who we managed to make angry within the first three minutes of being there:

One of the villas:

One evening we went to watch the sunset from one of the highest points at Peter Island (the island gets as high as 5000 feet). It was beautiful!

While eating dinner one night, this humongous boat pulled up in Deadman's Bay. We were amazed by this boat and tried to guess who in the world could be on it. I tried to get pictures of it at night all lit up, but it wouldn't show up well. So, I took pictures of it the next day. Turns out this boat is called Fortunato, and you can rent it if you so desire, for $450,000 per week plus expenses! That yellow thing coming out the side of it is a slide...

Looking onto Deadman's Beach from Deadman's Grill:

The pool:

Deadman's Chest:

It was really a beautiful place and a really relaxing vacation...overall; we did have our share of craziness, though. Tomorrow I will tell you about all of that!

Who wants to go with me back to Peter Island?!?!

I Like To Surprise Myself

2011-11-30T18:51:00.001-08:00

Today I went to get my hair done, which was nothing out of the ordinary. Except I came home looking like this:

Can you tell I love posing by myself?

I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go dark with my hair! I was really nervous about it once I committed, but I am loving it so far! I have had a lot of different cuts from long to super short, but this is the first time I have done any color other than blond. This is something I have wanted to do for a while, but honestly the thought had not crossed my mind any time recently until about half a second before it came out of my mouth. We'll see how it goes!

Reality...Blech

2011-11-30T07:43:00.001-08:00

Hi, my name is Christie, and this is my blog...

It's been a while, but I have my reasons. Last week, Brad and I were on a fabulous vacation with 500 of my closest family members (or 34, the number is fuzzy) minus the kids, and the week before that I was a big bundle of stress getting ready for vacation.

Why is it that getting ready for vacation is so stressful?
But, now we are back and trying to get back into the routine of real life. Reality has been fun. Fun, fun, fun. Clemson lost to the dang Gamecocks. For the third year in a row. Duke the Dang Dog tore all of the insulation out from under our house while we were away. It rained all day Monday. It rained especially hard while I was putting groceries in the car. Our cabinet guy has still not even built some of our cabinets, and I really wanted to be in the house by Christmas -- and he's known about these cabinets and has not had another job in front of ours.

I liked vacation much better. I would even let the kids come visit sometime!

Anyway, I have lots to blog about...vacation, house, Christmas...so I will be back soon!

For now, I leave you with the view from our room at Peter Island:

Ahhhh....

Birchbox: Super Fun!

2011-11-11T10:38:00.001-08:00

Margaret knows that I am a total sucker for anything that has to do with beauty products -- she is, too -- so she knew that when she signed up for this new (or new to her) program called Birchbox, that I would be all about it, too.

Birchbox is a program where you pay $10 and receive a box of beauty samples each month. It is always something different, and you never know what you will get. You just fill out a little survey when you sign up about your skin condition, hair color, eye color, and what type of beauty products you buy most -- and then you just wait for your first box!

This is so fun because it combines two of my favorite things -- getting a package in the mail and beauty products!

My first box came the other day:

Inside it has a list of all of your samples for the month and how much they would cost should you want to buy the full size (which I guess is the idea behind sending the samples):

My goodies for the month:

Here is what I got:

1. Lavanila: The Healthy Body Butter in Vanilla Blossom + Lavanilla: The Healthy Baby Lotion

2. Mama Mio Skincare: Boob Tube Bust & Neck Firmer (It says "Don't be fooled by the cheeky name -- this award winning cream uses collagen-boosting CoQ10 and nourishing shea butter to keep skin youthful." Who doesn't want youthful skin? Especially as we (I) are getting into our 30s?!?)

3. Tay: Cucumber Day Moisturizer with Mango Butter

4. Zoya: Nail Polish in Izzy (a really pretty hot pink sparkly color)

Treat: Chuao Chocolatier: Firecracker Chocopod

Margaret and I compared our boxes, and we got totally different stuff -- she got a mud mask, a lip gloss, and I can't remember what else. I think it is fun to know that they pack different boxes for different people. It is nice to know that we don't all get the same products each month since we don't all have the same skin and hair.

If you would like to join Birchbox, you can go straight to their website, OR you can leave your email address in the comments, and I will send you an invite!

It's The Most Wonderful Time...

2011-11-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

I know not everyone shares my love of Christmas music or Michael Buble, but these are two of my favorite things -- and now they are combined!!

image

If you haven't heard this new Christmas cd -- and, no, I do not think it's too early to listen to Christmas music, thank you very much -- then I have to say it's a must! Really -- go get it!

Future Farmers...and a Watermelon

2011-11-07T18:41:00.000-08:00

We are all still coughing at our house -- and by all, I mean all. Brad and I are now coughing, too. The kids feel okay enough to go back to school -- or at least Tyler and Gibson did last week, Sanders did not, and they were off today -- but this illness, whatever it is, has really thrown us for a loop. Our house has been a whiny, tired, un-fun place for the last week and a half. So, I haven't felt much like blogging!

But, I wanted to share these funny pictures with y'all tonight. We took these a while ago -- before the PMA. My sister-in-law, Angela, did a calendar to hand out to people at the trade show, and she put pictures of the kids in it. She came over to our house one afternoon, and we staged some "summer" shots and then some "fall" shots for the calendar. My favorites are the ones with my niece in the watermelon costume. She looked absolutely hilarious!

Sick-or-Treating

2011-11-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to go trunk-or-treating with some friends last night, but we couldn't be around other people, so that was out. The kids were really disappointed, so we decided to make our own fun...

I got pictures of everyone in their costumes before we went to the doctor:

We went to Ya-Ya's house to trick-or-treat. Ty decided against dressing up -- she wasn't feeling that great when is was time to go, so she went as herself.

After going to Ya-Ya's, we went to the housing on the farm and passed out candy to all of the men who work for Brad. I don't think Halloween is a big holiday in Mexico, so I think they were all a bit confused, but they enjoyed getting some candy from our dressed-up gang! And our kids actually enjoyed giving out candy more than they missed getting candy -- they decided that next year they want to go hand out candy at the nursing home. I am not sure that they will go for that at the nursing home (and who knows if the kids will even remember when it gets to be that time), but Brad and I were proud of them for coming up with the idea.

It turned out to be a pretty fun Halloween when we thought it was going to be a disaster -- and we even got in the bed at a decent hour! Happy Halloween!

Mommy Is Going Crazy, Thank You For Asking...

2011-11-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

I have sick kids -- three of them.

Tyler and Gibson have been sick since Friday, and Sanders has been sick since yesterday. Ty has double ear infections, chest congestion, headaches, cough, sore throat. Gib has chest congestion, cough, sore throat, headaches, and tummy aches. Sanders has just started with the chest congestion, cough, and has an ear infection. So we are now on three different antibiotics and facing constant whining.

These are fun times around our house.

But my favorite part of the day yesterday was when we got stuck at the CVS -- yes, stuck. Gibson managed to lose the car key in the store.

We got to the store to get our prescriptions filled and were told that it would take fifteen minutes max to fill everything. Since we weren't going to get to go trick-or-treating, we picked out candy for our own little Halloween party, got some other little toiletry things that we needed, and then went to wait in the pharmacy area for our medications. After what seemed like forever and a million "When are they going to be ready?" questions, they had our prescriptions filled, and it was time to go -- or so we thought.

I remembered that Sanders had wanted to hold the key when we got to CVS, and for some dumb reason, I allowed her to hold it. I asked her for the key, and she didn't have it -- Gibson had snatched it from her earlier. Of course, Gibson didn't have it either.

It had disappeared into thin air.

I made the kids take me back to where they were when they last remembered having the key, and we looked around for it, and it wasn't there, so I marched them back to the pharmacy waiting area and told them to sit there while I went searching for the key. I looked up and down every aisle we had been down on my hands and knees multiple times, moving things, looking in between things -- no key. I asked the people at the cash register and at the pharmacy if anyone had turned in a key -- no key. I even looked outside to see if the car was still there -- it was.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes or so, I resigned myself to the fact that the key was gone, and I called Brad to go by the house and get the spare key. While we waited for him, I continued to look for the key, all the while my blood pressure was rising higher and higher. However, the Lord was looking out for my children, because about five minutes later, they called me to the pharmacy, and someone had found my key!

I have never gotten out of there so fast in my life (after thanking them profusely)!

On the car ride home, I was trying to take deep breaths and remember that the kids weren't feeling good, that I shouldn't have given them the key in the first place, and that I didn't need to yell and scream at them. But, it was hard to stay mad when I got home and got a note from Sanders:

She melted my hard heart.

Today we are still stuck in the house and back to driving each other crazy, and if we don't get out of here soon, it isn't going to be pretty... Hopefully everyone will be all better tomorrow!

I Want to Win! (and Last Week's Menu)

2011-10-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

I am a product junkie.

I am also a shoe junkie, clothes junkie, jewelry junkie. Heck, if it has something to do with something I can put on myself, I am that kind of junkie.

Anyway, there is a giveaway over on Blue-Eyed Bride for this new eye shadow by BareMinerals. I have used BareMinerals in the past and would love to win this new product of theirs to try out, too. And you should join, too! (Or not, then my chances of winning would be better!)

(images)

This eye shadow is called READY, and I think it looks great -- look at all of the color combos it comes in!

Oh, I hope I win!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news...my menu:

As usual, I just cooked a couple of things, but here they are:

Chicken Tortilla Soup: This is a great soup and great for fall. It is also not too shabby as far as calories and fat and such. And the taco chicken recipe that goes in the soup? YUM! I put more tomatoes and a little less chicken broth. I would rather a more tomato-y and less broth-y soup. I guess it is the tomato farmer in me. It is not thick at all -- I just add one more can or so of tomatoes, so it is still a really broth based soup (I am not making any sense here...), but just more tomato-y. Get it?

This makes a lot, so invite over lots of friends, or plan on eating lots of leftovers!

Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili: I have to admit that I was hesitant to make this. I mean, it has "pumpkin" in the title, and Brad does not like pumpkin. But Margaret assured me that you couldn't taste the pumpkin, so I made it. And she was right -- it was delicious, Brad loved it, and he never noticed the pumpkin (until I told him after he finished the chili and then he got mad at me and told me he was going to secretly feed me liver!). I did use ground beef instead of turkey, though, because ground turkey is against my religion...or something like that. Or, really, I just don't like it.

I will definitely make this chili again -- although next time Brad probably won't eat it since I let him in on the whole pumpkin secret...

Anyway, have a great week! And go check out the giveaway!

Atlanta!

2011-10-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

We went to Atlanta weekend before last so that Brad could attend the Produce Marketing Association conference and the kids and I could finally go to the Georgia Aquarium. We stayed in the Westin downtown, and our room was on the 47th floor. We had an awesome view of the city -- I know this is a terrible picture (I couldn't figure out how to take the picture and get the lights to show up correctly -- a photographer, I am not.), but this was our view at night:

We got to Atlanta on Friday in time to check into the hotel and change clothes for dinner. We were all being taken out to dinner by someone who does business with Brad's family, and he was taking us to this really nice place -- Nicolai's Roof, on the 30th floor of the Hilton Atlanta. Brad and I had done a little research on the place since we knew we were taking the kids, and we definitely knew that we were not dealing with a kids' restaurant. This place had received Most Romantic and Best View rewards. We were really nervous about taking the kids, and we gave them all a lecture about being on their best behavior, using their nicest table manners, etc -- and then we just kept our fingers crossed. However, we had no reason to be worried. The people were so nice. They had nothing on the menu pleasing to kids, so they went to the other restaurant in the Hilton and got cheeseburgers and pizzas for the kids! They made them Shirley Temples. And our kids were as good as gold. They got a little tired before we were finished with our meals, but they were great. We could not have asked for better from the restaurant or the kids, and the people at Nicolai's surely didn't have to be as accommodating as they were. Such a thing may never happen again, but I am so thankful for everyone's behavior that night!

Saturday morning the kids, my mother-in-law, and I met Brad's cousin's wife (are you with me on that?) and her kids in front of the Aquarium. One of our fabulous sitters, Joni, attends the University of Georgia, so she also met us. We had heard a lot of great things about the Aquarium and about the dolphin show -- which we had purchased tickets for in advance -- so the kids were super excited. Add to that that they were getting to see their cousins and Joni, and you just about had a perfect day!

There were a lot of really cool things to see in the Aquarium, and apparently we got lucky that the octopus showed himself because usually he is hiding somewhere!

There is a room where one entire wall is glass from a tank that holds some of the biggest sea life you have ever seen -- huge manta rays, whale sharks, things that make us humans look teeny tiny. I think we could have spent a lot longer in this room if we didn't have to make the dolphin show.

There is a tank where you can touch stingrays and some sort of shark -- I can't remember if they were hammerheads or sand sharks. Honestly, I didn't get close enough. The kids all touched a stingray, though, and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

A group shot of the kids before we left:

The kids had the best day. They went from exhibit to exhibit just squealing with delight at each new form of sea life that they got to experience. It was really fun to see everything through their eyes!

Saturday night Brad's cousin (a different one) came over to our hotel room to babysit the kids so that Brad and I could go to a cocktail party and dinner back at the Aquarium hosted by another company that does business with Brad's family. The cocktail party was in this room that had huge, glass tanks on either side -- on one side we could see Belugas and on the other we saw all of the whale sharks, manta rays, etc. I have to say that party was a bit boring for me. Brad was in business mode, so I spent most of my time checking my Clemson app, texting my brother, and worrying over the Clemson/Maryland game since we were down by 18 points at one point in the game. I hate to say it, but my eyes really start to glaze over when the talk goes toward watermelons for any length of time! Thankfully it didn't last too long -- and thankfully Clemson ended up winning! And, when we got home, the kids were all worn out and looked like this:

Sunday morning Louise and I took the kids to Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta, and it was another great place for us to spend our day. There were a ton of things for the kids to do there. They played with these machines when we first got in the museum:

Then they moved on to the section where they had the "real life" sort of stuff -- the delivery truck, fork-lift, grocery store, tractor, living room, etc:

Right now they have this really cute fairy tale section, and the kids got to pretend to be in different fairy tales:

There was a stage, complete with costumes and dance shoes. Sanders was very serious about her dancing, while Tyler and Gibson had a little more fun with it:

And then there was this stuff that was a mix between beach sand and clay -- semi-moldable but not completely. The kids loved playing in this table, too.

I actually had more pictures to upload, but Blogger isn't cooperating, and I am tired of trying -- and by now you are probably tired of reading about this trip, anyway. Suffice it to say that we had a great time at the museum!

That afternoon Brad got finished with the conference, and we went out to eat as a family at a very touristy location -- The Hard Rock Cafe. It was close to our hotel and we figured it would be fine for the kids, but it was the first time I had ever eaten in one, and the food was not that fab. But we made up for it by going to this all night diner afterward and getting each of the kids and Brad the biggest slice of cake you have ever seen in your life -- and of course, no one ate his or her whole slice, but that's the fun of vacation, I guess!

The next morning we were up bright and early and headed home...but I definitely think we will do Atlanta again, and next time I want to go when we can take in a baseball game and maybe the American Girl doll store!

Some (Really Bad) House Photos

2011-10-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

There is a lot going on in our house these days! Our builder has another project waiting in the wings that he will lose if he doesn't finish our house in a timely fashion, so he finally has gotten a fire lit under him to get this house going. I think Christmas in our new home just may be a possibility!

One of these days I am going to remember to take off my 50mm lens when I head out to the house to take pictures...but you can get the gist from these. Here is what is happening these days...

The shiplap is going up on the fireplace wall and in the foyer:

The trim is going up on all of the windows and doors:

The painters have at least one coat on almost the entire house. I had a bit of a problem deciding on the master bedroom and bathroom, but I got that all figured out yesterday. This is the dining room on the left (this picture does not do the color justice!) and kids' den on the right:

Tile is in all of the bathrooms (except the master -- it has hardwoods -- yes, we are crazy) and the laundry room. This is the girls' bathroom:

Just for kicks...another view of the living room looking down the hall from the kids' den:

It's getting exciting around here!!!

Back from Atlanta and Menu

2011-10-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

We are back from a great trip to Atlanta. I have been trying for 3 days to put my pictures on the blog, but every time it gets stuck in the uploading phase. I think Blogger is not liking the fact that I am uploading so many pictures at once, and I need to wait until I have time to do them in batches.

Anywho, we had a fun trip, but I will fill you in on most of that on the picture post. I did get half a second to duck into Sephora while I was there to pick up some makeup I was running low on, and I complained to the nice gentleman who was helping me about the puffiness and dark circles under my eyes that just won't seem to go away these days. He told me all about the products that he uses for such problems, and I scooped up some of them and came home with samples of others.

I have been using the Ole Henriksen eye gel for several days now, and it feels so good going on my eyes in the morning and evenings -- especially because I followed Kip's (Ken's?) advice and put it in the fridge. I just got a sample of the Dior HydraLife, but I think I may break down and buy it as well. It is an eye cream rather than a gel, and it feels good in addition to the Ole Henriksen -- I think as far as puffy, tired eyes are concerned, you can't get too much of a good thing.

Finally, this Hourglass concealer is great -- nice and thick and covers well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As far as my menu for last week, I didn't cook too much -- we seem to always have leftovers, and I am determined that we are going to eat. them. all. -- but here is what I did cook:

Panko Chicken

Healthy Crock Pot Spaghetti: I have made this recipe twice, and it is sooooo good. It is a lot like Million Dollar Spaghetti that Mary Loyal talks about in her menu last week (which is one of my all-time faves), but it is sort of like the healthy, lazy (wo)man's version. Everyone in the family loves this meal!

*images via Sephora

Praise the Lord, It's Friday!

2011-10-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

Who is ready for the weekend?! I sure am! They always seem to get here at just the right time...

:: Wednesday was supposed to be one of those really productive days where I stayed home and got tons of laundry, Bible study homework, grocery shopping, cleaning, and packing for this weekend done. Of course, things never go as planned.

Gibson woke up Wednesday morning with a nasty sounding cough and the hint of a fever, so he stayed home from school. Then our washing machine started to smell funny, and after I let it rest for over an hour, it started leaking water and suds all over the porch. So Brad had to come home and take the entire thing apart to find that there was a hole in the tub -- and this is the second washer/dryer that we have had mess up in the year that we have lived in this house.

Needless to say my day wasn't as productive as I had hoped.

:: Gibson was finally feeling better today, so we went on his first field trip ever this morning. We went to the pumpkin patch, and it was absolutely freezing! I was not prepared for it to be cool this morning, and Gibson and I were both wearing short sleeves. I was ready to go as soon as we got there, and Gibson played in this duck race water thing the entire time -- so now he'll probably have pneumonia.

:: We are on the way to Atlanta right now, so I am blogging as we drive down the road -- a first for me! Brad has a produce convention this weekend, so the kids and I are tagging along to do some fun Atlanta stuff -- the aquarium, the zoo, etc. I also hope to get in at least a little bit of shopping if I can okay it with (or sneak it by) Mr. Spreadsheet.

:: Clemson plays Maryland this weekend at Maryland. This can be a tricky game for the Tigers, so we have our fingers crossed that we can stay undefeated. I am so excited how well we have done this season, and I can't believe that we have only been to one game so far. GO TIGERS!!!

Have a great weekend!

Bible Studies

2011-10-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last year I was dealing with our move and getting used to a new area, and I never got to join a Bible study. I have to say I felt a bit lost after being used to being in some sort of Bible study for years. I knew there was one going on around here, but I also knew it was too late to join -- it was a Beth Moore study, and the group was too far into the study for me to jump in. I told some girls to keep me in mind when they started a new one. Unfortunately, they started a new one during packing season, and I didn't get to do that one, either.

However, lucky for me, there is finally one I can do!

It is A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place, and it is another Beth Moore study. I absolutely love Beth Moore Bible studies, and if you have never done one, I highly recommend them. She is hilarious and fun and brings the Word in a way that makes you want to shout and cry and laugh all at the same time. I am really enjoying it -- even the homework part, which is really saying something for my usual procrastinating self! (Oh, I hope my kids don't inherit that trait!)

I am also doing a small group book club/Bible study on this book:

The Ministry of Motherhood: Following Christ's Example in Reaching the Hearts of Our Children by Sally Clarkson. So far we have only gotten the introduction done, but I am excited about this book if it is as good as I think it will be after reading the intro. I don't know about you, but I could definitely use some step by step guidance in following Christ's example -- sometimes it is more likely that I exemplify the devil than Jesus in my parenting skills. Not pretty, I tell you -- especially when it comes to homework! Thank God for grace!

Anyway, I am really excited about adding these studies to my normal Bible reading. It is nice to have some time to go study the Bible with others, and I really missed that last year and realized just how nice it is because I didn't have it. I will keep you posted on how these go!

Menu Monday

2011-10-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

(I started this post yesterday and never got around to finishing it...here it is...)

I am so tired this evening. I haven't slept well in three nights, and it has been one of those rainy, yucky days. I am ready to get in the bed...

But, I haven't done Menu Monday in a while, so I wanted to do it tonight. Last week, my mother-in-law was out of town for a couple of nights, so Brad and I fed my father-in-law for most of the week. I definitely got away from the normal semi-healthy cooking that we do around here -- my FIL is more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy.

Here is our menu:

Monday: leftovers -- I really can't even remember what leftovers. That is a bad sign.

Tuesday: Marinated pork tenderloin, macaroni and cheese, roasted broccoli.

Wednesday: Crock Pot BBQ and Simple Slaw

Thursday: hamburgers from our local meat market

Friday: we went out to dinner

Saturday: Brad's cousins were in town, and his parents made this delicious (but not diet friendly!) meal of fried shrimp and fish, french fries, hush puppies, and coleslaw. Mmmmm!!!

Sunday: leftovers

__________________________________________

I know I also said that I was going to give you my tips for the Southern Living cake. Some of these were passed on to me from my friend, Sharon, and some I read in the reviews on Southern Living's link to the recipe:

1. I halved the sugars -- both the white and brown.

2. Instead of using applesauce, I used plain Greek yogurt.

3. Instead of using canola oil, I used applesauce.

4. Some reviews said that the cake needed a little more apple flavor, so Sharon said that she added extra apple and a bit of apple cider. She also said that that might have been a bit too much, so instead of adding extra apples, I just added a splash of apple cider (we got the cider when we got the apples in North Carolina, so I had some on hand). I thought the cake had just enough apple flavor.

5. This isn't really a tip, but if you are a picker like me, you may want to make extra icing -- that stuff is delicious, and I found myself wanting to stick my finger in it over and over again! (Don't worry -- I used a clean finger!)

I know it sounds weird that I substituted the yogurt for the applesauce and then the applesauce for the canola oil, but it worked -- my cake was really moist (I hate that word) and really delicious. I served it at the luncheon before Brad's grandmother's funeral, and it disappeared quickly!

33

2011-10-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to the man who makes me laugh...provides for our family...stands by my side...leads our family...loves the Lord...drives me crazy...keeps me sane...loves a good spreadsheet...is the best father...loves me when I'm unloveable (which, I can assure you, is not often, ahem)...is a wonderful husband.

I love you!

Happy 33rd!

Here's to 33 plus 33 more! Let's hope we spend them all together.

**In other news, it is also Duke the Dang Dog's birthday -- or, at least, as close as we can guess. Happy Birthday, Duke!

Feeling Fallish

2011-09-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, so honestly, it doesn't feel like fall at all here. It is actually 80-something degrees and humid as heck, but Brad, the kids, and I just got back from our church's retreat in the North Carolina mountains this past weekend. That retreat always signals the beginning of fall to me. It is cooler up there -- at least in the mornings and evenings -- and the air just feels crisper.

So, I am jumping into fall, which makes me want to:

1. Switch from iced coffee to nice, warm lattes or pumpkin spiced lattes.

2. Make this spiced cider bourbon drink I saw via Covet Living recently. I don't usually drink bourbon as I am more of a vodka girl, but I had a spiced cider bourbon drink at this Maker's Mark dinner a couple of years ago, and it was really good. I have been dreaming of it ever since. This recipe calls for a 2:2:1 ratio of cider to ginger ale to bourbon and can be found here.

3. Make the cake from the September cover of Southern Living. We got a ton of apples in the mountains, and the first thing I thought about when we got them was this cake...in fact, I had been thinking about the cake long before I got the apples. I really want to pick all of the topping off that picture right now...

4. Decorate with some pumpkins. Although, realistically, if I put any pumpkins outside, Duke would immediately haul them off and chew them to bits. So any decorating I do will have to be inside.

Maybe I could just do some glitter pumpkins like these...

5. I have already switched my nail color to fall with my Essie Chinchilly. I can only do my toes, though, because the minute I paint my fingernails, they get chipped. The minute.

So that's my fall inspiration. What's yours?

Images 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Recent Reads

2011-09-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

My Reading Club is starting up on Tuesday, and that got me thinking about all of the books that I read over the summer. I feel like I am leaving some out, but this is all I can think of right now:

I am a new member of Reading Club, and evidently we always choose a classic to read over the summer. Cold Sassy Tree was the pick for this summer, even though it was only written in 1984. I thought it was a great book, but it took me a while to get through it because of the way the characters talk.

Night Road is the third Kristin Hannah book that I have read, and I have enjoyed them all. It isn't the lightest read, and if you read the jacket you know what terrible thing is going to happen, but it is a good book with a good ending.

Her Daugher's Dream was the sequel to Her Mother's Hope, and both books were good but very frustrating at times. I wanted to reach through the book and shake these women so often!

Bossypants had a ton of hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny parts. That being said, to say that I disagree with some things Tina Fey thinks would be an understatement.

I also read Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews, but my internet is now not cooperating for me to get a pic. I love Mary Kay Andrews for a good beach read, and this was another great one. A couple of her books have felt like they have been churned out quickly, but this was not one of those -- I thought it was great!

I would recommend any of the above books if you are looking for something to read!

I have also been listening to a ton of books on cd to try to make my commute seem a bit shorter -- and, boy, does it work! Some I have listened to recently are Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin, The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks, and Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich.

I am always looking for something to read (or listen to!), so if y'all have any good suggestions, please let me know!

House Checklist

2011-09-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

Things are really rolling along with our house! I have no new pictures for you tonight, but here are some things that are happening:

- The columns are up on the front porch and the screened porch.

- Drywall is in.

- Robert, our contractor, has put up a couple of different options for trim (molding, baseboards, window trim), and Brad and I have begun discussing which ones we like.

- I gave Robert all of my paint colors for the inside, so painting should be starting ASAP!!!

- The v-groove is up in the ceilings of our porches, and the ceilings have one coat of paint on them.

- The girls' vanity, Gibson's vanity, the master bathroom vanities, and the kitchen cabinets are all finished and ready to be shipped to the house. We have final drawings for the laundry room, butler's pantry, and my office, and those should be underway.

- Our tile is ordered.

- Our lighting should be ordered and on the way. And, just for kicks, a sneak peak at my foyer light:

And my dining room chandelier!

(images)

The Boy Goes to Clemson & Menu Monday

2011-09-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Brad and I took Gibson to Clemson for the Auburn game. Gib doesn't get much boy time, so we decided that the football game would be the perfect opportunity.

And it was!

It ended up being a really fun game because we got some nice, cool fall temperatures in the morning -- and WE WON!! Go Tigers!

**To those who I didn't get to see while tailgating -- noon games don't allow for much visiting! By the time we got parked, we had to head down to watch Tiger Walk. Gibson didn't get to "slap five" with the Tiger, so we then had to head back up to the breezeway to make sure that he got to do that when the band and cheerleaders went by. Brad had decided that we were coming home after the game, so, sadly, we didn't stick around to long. Hopefully our next trip back to Clemson will be a longer one.

Menu Monday:

I cooked a couple of things last week...

Chicken Parmesan (my version)

Bowtie Pasta Lasagna: I then put this in a baking dish and sprinkle parmesan cheese and seasoned panko crumbs on top and bake at 350 until bubbly.

Roasted Lemon Chicken with Croutons, Roasted Broccoli, Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Nothing was new except for the cupcakes, and those were really good. They were a recipe from skinnytaste.com, so they aren't that bad calories- or fat-wise, and they are delicious. I left a couple of the cupcakes un-iced and have eaten them for breakfast, and they are really good like that, too. Hmmm...and my house smelled like fall while I was baking!

Sanders at 6; Gibson at 4

2011-09-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Brad and I took Sanders and Gibson to their six- and four-year-old check-ups at our pediatrician's office. I don't usually enlist Brad's help when I take the kids for their check-ups, but I knew that Gibson was going to get a fair amount of shots and I wasn't going to be able to hold him down by myself. Plus, misery loves company, as they say.

Anyway, I wanted to jot down a couple of things about each of the kids so that I can remember what they were up to at this point in their little lives...

Sanders:

:: Weight: 46.5 lbs (a little over 50th percentile)
Height: 45.16 inches tall (again, 50th percentile)

:: Sanders is this close to riding a bike without training wheels. She has been working on it when we have been at the beach as we don't really have a good place for her to ride here at home in all of our soft sand.

:: Knows almost every word to almost any song that comes on the radio -- especially country music. She loves music and loves to listen to her iPod.

:: Stopped sucking her thumb right after turning six, and, got her ears pierced as a reward! (At Wal-Mart of all places...much more to that story...)

:: Is very loving and kind and wants to be touching or hugging someone at all times.

:: Is our helpful child. Sanders is always the first one out of the bed -- at 6 a.m.!! -- and helps Brad get breakfast on the table. She is always asking "What else can I do?" and helping out around the house without being asked. We have started to wonder if there has been an alien invasion in our house! :)

:: Is doing very well with reading and school work. She isn't reading fluently yet, but I don't think it is going to be too much longer. She has been rocking all of her tests that she has had so far this year -- I can't believe we have two kids taking tests now!

:: Is very interested in all things science (I have no idea where she gets that...ick). She is really interested in bugs, plants, animals, etc.

:: Is a shell collector extraordinaire.

:: Really became a good swimmer this summer

Gibson:

:: Weight: 43 lbs (50-85th percentile...kind of a big range, huh?)
Height: 43.5 inches (95-97th percentile)

:: Gibson is a very sweet boy most of the time, but he is also a very energetic boy. His teacher reminds us that he needs to work on listening.

:: For a little while at the end of the summer, Gibson talked about himself in the third person..."Gibson wants ice cream!"

:: Has a cute (or at least I think so now...) lisp.

:: Also knows almost all of the words to almost all of the songs on the radio. He also loves country -- and Adele.

:: Is working on riding his bike without training wheels.

:: Talks about how he turns into Spiderman, or about dragons making the house fly somewhere, or other totally ridiculous things like they are honest to goodness truth. Is that normal? Sometimes I wonder if he believes it...

:: Has learned a love of fishing. Gib has gone fishing with his O'Daddy (Brad's dad) a couple of times recently, and he loves it -- especially because he has caught some big fish!

:: Is working on quitting his thumb-sucking habit. He is almost there....almost.

:: Started swimming on his own this summer!

:: Learned to waterski this summer, but he also had a fall that scared him and he hasn't done it much since.

Menu Monday: We Love Coleslaw!

2011-09-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

Our entire menu last week was based around coleslaw. It didn't really start out that way, but it sure ended up that way...

Monday: Labor Day. We were on our way home from a long weekend at the beach and had a little something before we left, so I didn't cook.

Tuesday: Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork and Simple Slaw. I was a little hesitant to make this recipe because it calls for cooking a Boston Butt in root beer. For one thing, I don't like root beer. On top of that, I used to make a roast in the crock pot with a Coke, and Brad thought it was too sweet. However, the picture looked good, so I made it. And I am so glad I did because it was delicious, and I wasn't the only one who thought so -- Brad told me that I needed to "keep this recipe" and the kids loved it, too. The simple slaw became the basis for the rest of our week's meals, too.

Wednesday: Shrimp Tacos. Tyler always requests tacos, but I have gotten tired of the whole usual taco thing. I decided we were going to try something different this time, so we boiled some shrimp (which took forever to peel) and added those to taco shells along with fresh tomatoes, simple slaw (for the adults -- the kids weren't quite so adventurous), avocado, tomatoes, and shredded cheese. These were some of the best tacos I have had, and except for the peeling of the shrimp, they were very simple.

Thursday: Leftover night

Friday: We went out of town with Margaret, Ben, and all of our kids (6 in all) to Margaret's parents' beach house for the weekend, so we cooked a very beachy dinner of boiled shrimp and simple slaw -- are you seeing a theme here?

Saturday: Parents' night out

Sunday: Roasted broccoli and my version of Easy Mac (noodles with shredded Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar and a splash of milk and butter -- Sanders' request and delicious, but not the straight-up broccoli I was planning to eat!)

All in all, a pretty good eatin' week! Have a good one!

The House! Exterior Paint Colors

2011-09-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I told you that our house has mostly been painted -- at least on the outside. I know you can't tell from my poor photography and from the poor evening lighting, so I wanted to show you our colors (although who knows how they will read on your computer screen!)...

The body of the house is a creamy white, Sherwin Williams City Loft (SW7631):

The trim is a bright white, Charleston White DCR100:

The accent color is a chocolatey sort-of color, Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze (SW 7048):

(This will be on all the doors except the front door, the shutters, and anywhere else we think we need an accent color. Also, we picked this before we picked the roof color, so now I am a little worried about how it will play out with the charcoal roof...)

And, finally, the front door. Brad thinks I have lost my mind, but I am really excited. Sherwin Williams Cloud Burst (SW 6487):

That's right -- it's turquoise. I have been looking at all sorts of blogs and home decor magazines, and people are painting their front doors all sorts of colors -- navy, red, green, yellow, turquoise, even pink. So my choice is really not that far out, and I love it. Even if Brad thinks it will stop traffic.

So, what do you think?

The House! Pictures of Progress

2011-09-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

I am really excited about the progress we are making on the house. Since these pictures were taken, the contractor has gotten most of the siding painted on the outside, so we are looking more complete (although the inside has a ways to go) and less multi-colored!

Here is how it was looking about a week ago...

Front view:

Hardwood floors (unfinished and bad, evening photos)...we decided to go with 5" boards and are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that no warping will occur:

Living room/kitchen side:

(You can almost make out the curved wall in the previous two pictures)

Courtyard/carport side:

Random gawkers in the next few photos (also known as my family):

That concludes our home tour for the evening! I will be back soon with some more sneak peaks...

**I didn't do Menu Monday this week because we scavenged in the freezer for dinner all last week. I just never had time to do to the grocery store. It was boring but inexpensive -- Mr. Spreadsheet was so proud!

Praise the Lord, It's Friday! (And I'm Excited!)

2011-09-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yet again, I am so happy that it is Friday. Here's why...

:: The kids have an extra long weekend! Not only is it a Labor Day holiday on Monday, but they get out at 11:45 today, so it's a 12:15 pickup at the bus stop.

:: Sanders gets a big girl day tomorrow because (I am almost scared to actually say this out loud), we seem to have finally, finally remedied this problem:

This has been a really long time coming. A really, really, really long time. I thought we might not live through it, in fact. Or maybe she'd still be sucking that thumb in college or on her wedding day. As her reward, we are going to get manis and pedis, get her ears pierced (yes, yes we are), and go to lunch -- all big girls.

:: Of course, we will be back in time for the next big thing I'm really excited about:

The super exciting kick-off of Clemson football! We have to rig the computer up to the tv to be able to watch, but we will get it figured out... GO TIGERS!!!!!!

:: Finally, my house is looking sooooooo great. I have some pictures to show you in a post all its own soon, but here is a sneak peak:

Happy Weekend!!!

Tragedies

2011-09-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know about y'all, but it seems like around here, bad things have just happened in spades recently.

When Brad and I moved a little over a year ago, we didn't really leave our former community behind. Instead, we became "dual citizens," if you will, as I still work in our old town, our family still attends church there, and the kids and I live there for the summer while I pack tomatoes. So anything that happens there hits close to home, and our former little town has had some real doozies lately -- 4 deaths in the past week and a half.

While they all have been very sad, and we have known or known of all of the people who died, the one who has affected me the most was a little boy. He was at a birthday party, and he drowned, only to be resuscitated and then ultimately die at the hospital a couple of days later after never gaining back any brain activity.

We didn't know this little boy or his family -- he was one we knew of -- but he has been all I could think about for days. I don't know if it was the fact that he attended the same school that Ty did before we moved. I don't know if it is because we knew pretty much everyone else who was at the birthday party -- all those adults who are now wandering around, asking themselves what they could have done differently and all those children whose little lives will always be different because a friend died amongst them. I don't know if it was because he was the same age as Sanders. I don't know if it was because I let my kids go off with a sitter all summer to swim and always trusted that they would be fine. Or maybe it is simply because a sweet, little life was lost too soon.

Whatever the case, my heart has been broken for his family and all involved, and I have held on to my children tighter since the accident. And while I don't believe that God makes bad things happen to people -- I believe that that is part and parcel of living in this broken and fallen world -- I find myself with each new, bad thing asking him why? Why so many bad things all at once? Why children? And, selfishly, I wonder how to protect my children, my family, myself from all of this hurt and tragedy.

And I am always amazed at how the Lord meets me where I am and shows me that He is always, always there, whether it has been with my verse of the day:

When I said, "My foot is slipping," your
unfailing love, LORD, supported me. When
anxiety was great within me, your
consolation brought me joy. Psalm 94: 18-19

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With
Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8

Great peace have those who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble. Psalm 119:165

Or with my devotional, Jesus Calling:

From August 23: Entrust your loved ones to Me; release them into My protective care. They are much safer with Me than in your clinging hands. If you let a loved one become an idol in your heart, you endanger that one -- as well as yourself.

From August 31: I am developing your ability to trust Me, to lean on Me, rather than on your understanding...My preference is for you to depend on Me continually, trusting Me to guide you and strengthen you as needed. This is how you grow strong in your weakness.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

The truth is, none of us knows how long we have on this earth, aside from the Lord, and all we can do while we are here is trust in the Lord and live.

I know I put a video on here last night, but I thought this one was fitting. Margaret first introduced me to this song, but my mom sent me the video earlier today...

**Please pray for the family of the little boy and everyone else who was at the party that day. Please also pray for the rest of the people in our little community who have been affected by all of the recent deaths. Finally, please pray for a young boy at the kids' school who has learned that his cancer has spread throughout his body.

Moooooooooooooves Like Jagger

2011-08-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

This song has totally been stuck in my head lately, and although I don't think my chillens have actually ever heard the song, they have been dancing around the house, singing "I've got the mooooooooooves like Jagger!" and giggling with me for days. Seriously -- listen to the song, and then just try not to dance!

Just Because They're Cute...

2011-08-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday we had to take a trip to Best Buy, and while Brad was asking some questions about speakers for the new house, I entertained the kids at the 3-D center. I couldn't resist taking their pictures in the funny glasses:

On the way home, the kids were worn out from the weekend and all fell asleep in the car...wish I could sleep in the car like that!

(Lots and Lots of) Pics from the Birthday Par-tay!

2011-08-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

Sanders and Gibson had a fun Beach Bash for their co-birthday party this summer. I don't know how long I will be able to get away with co-parties, but I am going to go with it for as long as possible! (I do usually host a little family get-together on each child's birthday, but we had the party on Gibson's actual birthday, so he just got the beach shindig this year.)

Here are some pictures from the big day...

Graham and his twin, aka his daughter, Collins:

Jumping off the front of the boat was a fun pastime while it was still deep enough -- we had to deal with the tide going out:

There was also a really fun octopus sprinkler in the yard and lots of toys to play with under the house if one didn't want to play in the water at the beach:

Daddy and me:

Hoses are always fun:

Brad, Ben, and Whitt relaxed after most of the party-goers went home:

Menu Monday: I Cooked!!!

2011-08-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

Now that we are back to school, I guessed it was time to get back to reality for me and the whole cooking thing. I have no motivation to cook lately, but I need to feed all those people that live in my house, so it was now or never...

So, I cooked last week. And I ate like a baby dinosaur. So this week, I am going to try to go back to cooking a little more on the light side.

Last week's menu:

Monday: Chicken from Susan's blog with the special sauce and peas.

Tuesday: Aunt Caroline's Poppy Seed Chicken (recipe below)

Wednesday: Pioneer Woman's Corn Chowder with Chilies

Thursday: At 6, I got on the couch with the intent of closing my eyes for a few minutes. I woke up after 9. Thankfully, Brad had fed the kids leftovers, gotten them bathed and in bed, and even had my plate covered and waiting for me on the table. What a sweet guy that Brad can be...!

Friday: My kids had Grayson's birthday party, so Brad and I snuck out for a dinner date while we had some free babysitting!

Saturday: In-laws cooked

Sunday: leftovers

___________________________________________________________________

Aunt Caroline's Poppy Seed Chicken

4 whole chicken breasts, cooked & cut into large pieces

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

4 oz almonds

1 can sliced water chestnuts

1 T chopped pimentos

1T lemon juice

2T grated Parmesan cheese

2T poppy seeds

1 stack Ritz crackers, crushed

melted butter (for crackers)

Melt butter and put with Ritz crackers. Set aside.

Place chicken in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Mix soups, sour cream, almonds, water chestnuts, pimentos, and lemon juice gently. Pour over top of chicken. Finally, place Ritz cracker crumbs and poppy seeds on top. Bake at 400 until very hot -- about 30 minutes.

Fall Window Shopping

2011-08-24T18:12:00.001-07:00

Why is it that whenever you have money to spend, you can't find anything you want to buy, but when you have a husband called Mr. Spreadsheet who won't let you buy anything, you see lots of things you like? Or is that just me? Here are some cute things I have seen lately (and some of them may have to find a way to come home with me)...and my first attempt at Polyvore!

Fall Window Shop by tomato1979 featuring side zipper pants

Sheer top
$198 - anthropologie.com

J Crew navy jacket
$188 - jcrew.com

Faux fur jacket
$84 - piperlime.gap.com

Seven For All Mankind zipper jeans
$178 - piperlime.gap.com

J Crew side zipper pants
$70 - jcrew.com

Women: Tops | Piperlime
piperlime.gap.com

Bangin'

2011-08-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

Once again, I have made a hair change. I get bored easily, or regularly, I guess, with my hair. This time I knew I didn't want to cut any length off, but once I saw the video for Kenny Chesney's song You and Tequila featuring Grace Potter, I knew I wanted her 'do.

Today I took this pic in when I got my hair done:

And this is the result (Excuse my awkwardness at taking my own photo. I sent out a different one from my phone earlier and got a lot of comments that I looked mad, so I am trying to look not mad.):

I mean, I could definitely use a touch-up on my makeup after a full day, and the bangs need a little help being not-so-poofy (although you can't really tell that in these pictures), but all-in-all, I am happy.

What do you think?

Praise the Lord, It's Friday!!!!

2011-08-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, we are only one half-week into school, and I am exhausted. So, today, I just have some random thoughts...

:: Have you read and/or seen The Help yet? Both are really good, so if you haven't done either, read the book, and then go see the movie!

:: 5:45 a.m. comes really early for a non-morning person like me. That is what time I have been waking up these past three school mornings. Ugh. It is especially early when the dang dog has been barking outside our window all night. Sometimes I want to shoot that dog.

:: Our friends Jen and Mark come to visit this weekend! I haven't seen them since I went to New Orleans for Jen's 30th birthday last November -- and now Jen has a baby bump! I can't wait!

:: I know people are really crazy about their coffee, so I might step on some toes here -- I mentioned before that I had made PW's Iced Coffee, and that it is delish. Well, I went to Starbucks while the kids and I were out getting some school shopping done the other day, and I got an iced latte. I don't get to Starbucks much because we don't have one around here, but I have to say that my iced coffee (okaaaaayyyy, PW's iced coffee) that I make at home blew theirs out of the water. Seriously.

:: Listen, don't come messin' around our house at night, trying to get into our stuff...we are armed and dangerous, even in our sleep:

(obviously this is just a toy gun...)

Okay, have a happy weekend!!!

First Day of School

2011-08-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of school for my chickens. Tyler is in third grade this year, Sanders is in first, and Gibson is in K-4 -- where is the time going?

I followed in the tradition of torture that my mother put us through and her mother put her through...sign-holding:

They aren't completely mortified by it yet, but one day they will be, just like I was!

The kids are riding the bus this year, and Gibson was really nervous about it. In fact, he flat out told us that he didn't want to ride the bus. So, this morning, when Brad and I had to take the kids to the bus stop (our bus meets at a central location), I was pretty nervous. My children looked so teeny tiny getting on the bus. I was that mom who got all teary -- and it was pretty obvious because Brad and I were the only parents to actually get out of the car at the bus stop. I guess we were also those parents who were new and didn't know the process!

In addition to bus nerves, Sanders has been apprehensive about starting first grade. She was worried about everything -- a certain friend not being in her class this year, being in a new room, being with a new teacher, reading to the Kindergarten kids when she's in second grade. You name it, she was worried about it. Every time I would try to calm her down about something, she would bring up another issue. Sanders is usually my brave girl, so having her get all worked up really made me apprehensive!

Tyler was the only one who was super excited about going back to school. She is ready to start a great third grade year! Thankfully one of my children wasn't worried!

Needless to say, I had a case of butterflies this morning just like my kids because of all of their worries. I prayed for them all the way to work this morning. I was very happy to hear a good report when they got back off the bus this afternoon -- and, by the way, they love riding the bus!

Here's to a great school year!

Crabbing! (But Not Catching!)

2011-08-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago, Brad took a day off of work, and we took the kids crabbing. It was their first time crabbing, and mine, too, and we were all excited about a little family time together out in the boat.

We were all excited, that is, until the kids realized that crabbing is hot and requires a lot of patience -- which is something that is not in their vocabulary. Brad finally got the chicken tied on the string and the string tied on the sticks, and we stuck the our bait in the water. And the kids wanted to immediately pull it up to see what we caught. And then they wanted to check the lines every five seconds after that.

When they realized that it was going to take a little bit of time to catch a crab, the kids decided that they instead needed to drink every single drink that we had (that was not beer) on the boat in ten minutes. And eat every single chip. Which, of course, was all we had on the boat to eat.

Aside from being a great photo op (though these pictures were taken with my phone, so they are showing up a bit blurry for some reason...) and some good, quality family time, our crabbing outing was kind of a bust. We caught zilch. Nada.

The kids even tried a little fishing, but we were just on the wrong tide for everything that day. So, we will have to try again -- and next time we will be more prepared!

My Baby Is Four!!!

2011-08-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

This crazy, silly, beautiful boy -- my baby -- turned four yesterday. I don't know where the time went (or why these dang lines are under my writing.)! We had a co-birthday party for Sanders and Gibson at the beach, and it was a lot of fun. I will post pictures soon.

Happy Birthday, Gibbers!!

Camera Phone Pics!

2011-08-09T04:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I would do one of those really fun and exciting posts where I show you all of the pictures that I have taken recently with my phone...

First, on the 4th (of July, that is) a bunch of us got together at my in-laws' beach house to watch fireworks. Before they all started, we spent some time playing out on the beach. This is my SIL, Elizabeth, and you can see my dorky self and my brother in the bottom left (I was showing him my cool app):

One random Saturday, Brad and I had to take all three kids appliance shopping for the new house -- that was a barrel of fun. They were pretty well behaved, though, so we treated them to lunch afterward, and Gibson took a weird picture of Brad:

One day while the kids were with the sitter, they met up with some friends and all got some face painting done!

We spent a lot of time at the beach toward the end of the summer (I can't believe it is the end of the summer..part of me is sad; part is happy). I got some normal pics and some groovy ones:

We had a much-needed, very relaxing, grown-up only boat day with some of our silly friends!

Tyler and I got our eyes checked and both had to get our eyes dilated. She had to wear these funny paper sunglasses-things under her glasses because she didn't have any real ones to protect her eyes when we left. She looked hilarious!

And then we had Sanders birthday. We spent the day at the pool with Margaret and Ben, and their kids. Margaret bought birthday donuts for Sanders, and even put candles in them!

So, that was really fun, huh?

Just a Little Something for My Wish List

2011-08-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

On the wedding circuit this spring, I noticed many a Tory Burch clutch, and I decided that I need one. However, with my husband, Mr. Spreadsheet, crunching away at how much we are spending on our house and freaking out constantly, I can't justify just going out and getting one.

So, I am adding it to my wish list! And, really, I'm not picky! I love pretty much any of them:

Every good Clemson fan needs an orange clutch!!

What say you? Which is your fave??

All photos via Saks, Bloomingdales, and Nordstrom.