Keep the Babies Coming...Along with the Wins Over Rocky Top!

Can we cram more in one week's time?....probably not! :) Last week Don was in Houston all week for training so midweek I headed up to my parent's house. On the way though I stopped and had some birthday cake with one of our favorite 6 year olds, Baylee Southern. Crazy how much that girl can change in 2 years time. She went from a babyish face to looking like a little girl. No pictures from that but she is a cute little redhead (Oldest) in the picture with Kelly (and pumpkins) below. Our other favorite 6 year old Hayleigh Dyer (pictured holding the water bottle in that same picture with Kelly)also turned 6 in October. She also has changed tremendously in the last few years. She is a beautiful young lady. So we made out way to my parent's.

The next day, dad and I took Kate to The Great Pumpkin Patch in Hayden. What a beautiful drive over looking at God's wonderful creations. Kate couldn't do much at the Pumpkin Patch but we did ride in the wagon out to the pumpkin patch and back then we let her ride a little pony just her size. Dad walked alongside her and it was SO stinkin cute! She didn't smile the whole time or care to touch the pony's mane. I think she had a good time. After many pictures and some good eats, we left. Next year we might have to try to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton. See how they compare.





Friday my mom was off work so we made food for the Key's baby shower and ran errands all over town. That night I headed up to Keri's house to paint pumpkins that we were going to use as decorations throughout the house for the shower. We did an Auburn one, a Starbucks one, a Zebra one, a leopard one, a baby "It's a boy" one, a sports theme one, a polka dots, and a striped one. They all turned out SO cute! Each represented things that Kelly and Ryan like besides the cute polka dot and striped ones, those are staples. :) Don flew in that night from Houston and met us over there. The Farm was all so happy to have him home.




Saturday we had to get ready early for a noon photo shoot for Kate's one year. We had already done one but the weather did not cooperate as well as Kate's smile. :) I think we got some really cute ones this time though. After that we headed to Tazikis for a yummo pork sandwich then home to watch the Bama/Tennessee game. Because Tennessee has a new coach that has talked alot of Preseason Smack we were anxious to really put them in there place. I had to leave before halftime to head over to Keri's to help setup for the shower where we were expecting 60+ people. Don was suppose to come at halftime. Let me back up a minute. This shower was for Kelly and Ryan Key on the arrival of their bouncing boy Colton Christopher Key. Kelly and Ryan have been waiting patiently on this child for 4.5 years and after alot of ups and downs they are within 1 month of meeting him. SO EXCITING!





The shower was a major success. They got some many wonderful things. Probably the most special had come a few months earlier from Keri and Brooke. Kelly's mom passed away unexpectedly a few months after Ryan and Kelly got married. Keri and Brooke secretly gathered some soft denim jeans and teeshirts when her dad donated the clothes to a China mission at church. Keri had another friend, Ashley Williams' mom piece together a quilt for Kelly and baby Colton. It was perfect with lots of little pockets for Colton to hide his toys. Here is a picture of the quilt that represents Grandmother Barbie...


What a special gift from precious friends!

Keri counted 82 people at the shower (that included guys because it was a couple's baby shower). Crazy!

Thankfully for my husband's and my frame of mind Bama won their game but it was a crazy nailbiter where Terrence "Mount" Cody blocked a fieldgoal that would have put Tennessee ahead as time expired. Final score 12-10.

Sunday we had church and afterwards we had a shower for the upcoming birth of Miss Cadance Simmons. She belongs to Carl and Cheryl. They are due on November 24th, which was Kate's due date. After Kate there was a drought of little girls. There has been 4 (if you include Colton) since Kate. Kate is looking forward to Miss Cadance as a play buddy. I didn't take any pictures from that shower. My mind was by that time very exhausted and not thinking clearly.

Overall, great weekend!



A picture from last Monday of Mom, Kate and Petey walking on wooded trail in Mountain Brook:

Sweet Child of Mine and A Reflection on 10 Years

This past Friday I was asked to reflect back on what has taken place in my life in the last 10 years (10 year high school reunion). We were also asked to predict what will take place in the next 10 years. Lets see what has happened for me in the last 10 years...went to college - Roll Tide, graduated with my Master of Accountancy, married my sweet husband Don, moved from T-town to Birmingham, built a new house, began a job for the largest accounting firm in the world, passed my CPA exam, found a wonderful church family, worked my behind off for 4 years, and had a sweet bundle of joy 1 year ago. In between all of that lots of trips all over the continental US, Jamica, Carribean cruise, and New Zealand. What do I expect for the next 10 years? I would hope more babies and enjoying the simple things in life. And maybe starting my own business and become independently wealthy. :) What a wonderful life I have! I am truly blessed!

Oneonta High School Class of 1999 (1/3):



Kate eating mashing potatoes by herself:



Good Morning Beautiful, How was Your Night (Notice tip TIP toes):





SO EXCITED!:

SO MUCH FUN!!!

Please everyone immediately go to http://www.peoplestylewatch.com. You can try out celebrity hairdos on yourself, plus makeup, and even plump your lips. I just did some tonight and could have spent hours and hours on here. SO FUN!

Fun Pics

Group shot at Alan Jackson concert, October 3rd:



Incognito Bunco, My house, October 12th:



Cooper Southern sporting Ashley Williams wig at Incognito Bunco, SO CUTE!:

Sweet Pea, Apple of My Eye - 1 Year Old Today!

Here we are...1 year old! What a year it has been! Highlights include, first smile, first recognition of her mommy as something other than food, sitting up by herself, first word - Dada, first teeth and not tooth, lighting up when seeing mommy or daddy after they have been away, recognition of Mamey/Pop/Mawmaw/Pawpaw, fake laugh to get attention, crawling in its various forms, climbing up in mommy or daddy's laps, clinching to Dada's shirt as he carries her, deep belly laughter, teasing Petey with his ball by putting it in hard to reach places, shaking her head and smiling with a big grin when she is in a good mood or just plain happy, and shouting bye-bye because it is easy to do with its motion. Those just name a few. We have yet to walk but we are pulling up on things more and more everyday. No real cruising just yet.

She is finally on a bottle (secret was warming the milk). Yay for mommy (which equals freedom)! We will try to transition her better to a sippy cup over the next month. She is eating the majority of her food with her fingers now. Occasionally if we are out or I am being just plain lazy, I give her jar baby food. She is enjoying eggs, Mandarin oranges, string cheese, waffles, and various forms of goulash that mom makes up.

She is showing more of a personality these days. When she is happy, she is the happiest. And when she is irritated, she is just plain bad. She might have a little bit of a temper. We aren't saying where she gets that from. :) Overall she is really good. No set routine but she does still enjoy 2 naps a day. Normally for an hour and a half or so.

Her hair is slowly coming in. It won't be long before she will be a complete dark headed girl. Her eyes are just as blue as ever.

For her actual birthday, we let her try eating her cake again since the other day it was refrigerator cold and didn't work out quite as well as we hoped. So I stuck that cake back in the frig and pulled it out again. This time I nuked it and it was more of a success. There was more digging in and slinging icing. After a quick bath, and Petey trying to give himself a diabetic coma from eating all icing slung on floor, Don and I headed to the Galleria to let Kate ride the carousel. I took lots of pictures of her and her Dada on it but there weren't many smiles. I think she was trying to figure out why the room was spinning. I promise Kate I didn't spike the icing on your cake. :) After that we headed over to Don and I's favorite pizza joint, Davenport's Pizza Palace. She was so happy while we were in there. I even let her try some pizza. After that though, everything came crashing down. We were back home and Kate was asleep by 8:30. Earlier in the day, Kate and mommy had done some smock dress shopping, then home for a wagon ride and swing push...it had been a long day.

Kate - sweet Pea,

Keep being the sweet innocent girl that we know you as today. You have changed our world in the best way. You could not have come to us at a better time. We love the way you make us feel and how you are reintroducing us to simple joys in life. You give us a reason to go to bed and wake up every morning along with striving to be a better person and example. We look forward to the many many years ahead.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Cup-Kate's 1st Birthday Party!!!

This weekend was great! I am still recovering from it but it sure was special for my family. We celebrated the birthday of one precious little girl on Saturday. The weather was perfect, bright sunny with an occasional small breeze in the afternoon. I could not have asked for a better forecast. I love October!

Kate's 1st birthday theme was cupcake or as we like to now refer to it "cup-Kate". It was so fun to decorate. I chose bright pink, blue and green as the colors (just because those are my favorite). My friend Keri appliquéd a cupcake on an outfit I had plus her name. It was perfect and saved me about $70. Yay! Thank you Keri! She also made her a bib that matched. It was precious! Big shout out also to Mamey (Kate's grandmother and my mom) for slaving away all day Friday to help me pull things together. We couldn't have done it without you. Mamey helped me come up with a menu. We wanted it to be kid-friendly even though it was a 2pm party. We chose bean dip (corn and black beans with lots of other veggies) with chips, sausage balls, chicken nuggets, fruit salad, chocolate-pecan cookies, bright pink punch, and 48 bright pink & green cupcakes. 24 were put together as one large pull apart cupcake-cake and the other went on a cupcake stand. Shout out to Keri again for this idea! Mom and I made Kate's cake from a cupcake mold that Keri provided. It looked precious only problem was that we put it in the refrigerator to firm up the icing on Friday and I didn't take it out until time for Kate to blow out the candle. So the cake was cold and Kate didn't dig in like I thought. We are going to have a do over on her actual birthday, this Thursday, October 8th. I want to see a face in the cake! :) She did stick her finger many times in the cold cake and enjoyed. We had a few toys outside for the kids to enjoy like a miniature bean bag toss, hula hoops, pin the tail on the donkey game, a new red wagon that was Kate's present from her mommy and daddy, and sidewalk chalk. The kids also enjoy try to knock down the cupcake piñata. After several failed attempts, the kids all pulled on the strings at one time. Still no success except a rip in the bottom. I helped the cause my ripping it open. The kids received some polka dot Chinese looking pails to put their candy in plus a first birthday party favor.

After food, pinata and cake, it was time for the presents. Kate racked up on a tickle me Elmo, first learning purse, a "First tooth" (referring to Houndstooth for Alabama football) t-shirt & cheerleading uniform, a snassy black and white dress with a red shrug, a rocking horse for child under 3, a drum set, a pull behind snail with shapes to go inside, talking dog, talking baby, half dollar for this year, a sleep unicorn, Pumpkin outfit, and pop up toy. It was all around a great party. Final shout out to Grandma Gladys for heading up the clean-up crew. Somehow Petey ended up with a small pink Mohawk by the time everyone left. Petey must have allowed himself to get too close to some grubby little paws. I truly appreciate everyone that took time out of their day to come celebrate.

After the party, Don kept Kate and my mom, aunt, cousin, and I headed to Verizon Music Center for an Alan Jackson concert. Mom and I had bought the tickets on a whim a few months earlier when they were selling them for $10 at the Sugarland concert. Because the AJ concert had been announced that day, you could get the tickets for $10 without any convenience or handling charges. It was a slight bit cool (just typical football weather)and very enjoyable. The Alabama State Fair was also going on in the parking lot so there was lots to look at in the distance and in the sky with the full moon. I have probably seen Alan about 5 times but he never gets old and I knew every song but one. Good times with great girls!

Here are many pictures from the day and weekend. Kate isn't smiling in a ton of them because she chose to forgo much of her nap and completely ignore another one on her big day. She hung in there like a trooper and I believe there were one or two big smiles for the day.