Eight is Enough , Magic 8 Ball , Eight is Great!

As you can see, Eight is a hard anniversary to title! I just found this picture today and tore it {as you can see on the bottom} off of a frame to scan in. This isn't the best picture of Jason, but we were so young and happy, so who cares?

I loved everything about our wedding. I loved the flowers {my extended family owns a florist}, the formality {our wedding started at 7:30 because of several factors, but it was a late, dressy one}, the family and friends {were you there?? Holla in the comment section!} and, of course, the groom.

As I mentioned in last year's post on our 7th anniversary, Jason gets me. I still don't understand how he gets my CRAZY and QUIRKY self, but he does. And I love him for it. He's the funniest person that I know and so, in honor of our 8th wedding anniversary, here are the

Top 8 Reasons I Love My Husband/ Funniest Things He's Said This Week:
8. Jason takes and hides the children on Tuesday nights {even when it's our anniversary} so I can clean the downstairs and KEEP it clean for Bible Study and then he puts them to bed and hides himself while women invade his home.

7. We were sitting in a lecture during our Sunday School hour {guest speaker in town from Lithuania} and the speaker mentioned liturgical dancing. I leaned over and asked Jason if he knew what liturgical dancing was. Without skipping a beat, he said he did NOT know, but he was sure that the Duggars did NOT practice it.

6. Jason is a great hands-on dad. He loves, cuddles, wipes snot and hineys with the best of them. He's totally into being a dad. And the boys love him, climb on him, make him laugh/ laugh at him and can't wait until they hear the garage door open every afternoon.
Many thanks to his dad {and mom} for being great parents! You raised a good dad; they don't just happen very often.

5. I was doing laundry this weekend and asked Jason if a wadded up pair of his socks on the floor was dirty or clean {they were folded like they were clean}. He said they were dirty, "of course". I suggested that I was confused since they weren't in a dirty laundry basket. To which he replied, "when I throw my clothes on the floor that means they're dirty- don't you know that by now?" And when I turned around to smack him he was already running. Really funny.

4. He is a very patient teacher. I don't know if I've ever told him before, but the man has the patience of Job. For example, my mother calls him with computer questions like, "What was my password for that again?" and "How do I get this to attach to that e-mail?". Mainly I love him for talking her through these so I don't have to.
{Sorry, Mom. You know this is the truth. But I am sorry to out your computer "mastery" on your birthday- well, when you read it it will be 4/29. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!}

3. Jason has been tearing down our kitchen, you know {can I add here that I love that he's handy?} and he was tearing the final bits off the wall above the stove last night when I was cooking tuna steaks with pecan crunch coating {I can't find the recipe to link there, but it's a Southern Living one that's delish!}. As I was crunching the pecans, breadcrumbs, etc, the wood bits were falling nearby. He casually commented that he liked more fiber in his tuna, so he was going to toss some over to me. Then he faux threw them in for 10 minutes.

2. My hubby is truly a man of God who is trustworthy, honest and loyal. I can really say that without reservation and for that I am thankful every day.

1. We were at Ollie and Henry's pre-school parent meeting last Thursday night and when the kids and music teacher with acoustic guitar were filing onto stage to sing their performances, he leaned over to me and whispered, "I dare you to yell, 'FREEBIRD!'".

Here's to eight times eight more years of dirty socks, inside jokes and liturgical dancing. {The Duggars are missing out.}

Happy Anniversary, Jas. I love you!

The Breakfast Room Remodel

I guess I get to call it a "remodel" since there was some minor construction involved.

There would be major construction involved if I could ever keep that room clean, but alas, despite just being a "breakfast" room, we eat all our meals in there, the dogs eat in there, the kids tromp through there to go outside, trains reside there, I slowly and gracefully glide tromp back and forth for cookbooks there, etc.

I'm all for a well lived in house, but I just don't want mine to look the part. Oh well. Too late for that wish to come true.

If you'd like to see the whole Breakfast Room saga unfold,

Here is Part 1 and Here is Part 2.

I wish I had before pictures that were good enough to add here, but there was NOTHING in this room except painter's pinkish beige on the walls.

Here is what it looked like when we bought the house.

Apparently it was not even worthy of taking some decent pictures of the room! But since you now know how much use it, it definitely needed a little spunk.

Here is same view now.

I {heart} these curtains. Connie and I found this fabric for $2.99/ yard (or maybe $3.99?? Who cares when it's that cheap?} in Fayetteville at Sir's Fabrics. If you live anywhere around here {Huntsville, Ala} that store is a must. I'm also a big fan of hangin-em-high. I always hang as high as I can to make your room look taller! Curtain rod and ends are from Bed, Bath and Beyond and I most certainly used those coupons that they throw at you every day in the mail.

OK. I'll try to connect all the dots for you. Here is the wine rack that is to the right of the curtains. I found it YEARS (like 8 years) ago at a Tuesday Morning and spray painted it black. Here is my favorite picture of it from our old house. That is Ollie at 15 months and I call this picture, "Only the FINEST Whites". Back to the breakfast room, continuing to the right, here was the big empty wall that is now full of fun stuff. I know the second rooster is superfluous, but I couldn't find anything else and I knew something had to do there. Much like I couldn't find another word for "superfluous". You know what I mean. TOO MUCH ROOSTER. I'm working on it.
You might notice the personalization on the big rooster board there.
As in, it's our own little restaurant. Get it?

I had it made from Signals because I just loved it. I'm not particularly fond of fowl or things that cluck or cock-a-doodle-doo, but the Rooster is a symbol from the Emmaus Walk and unless you are in the cult, I can't explain it to you. Or something like that.

Basically it reminds me of a new morning which I need most every day.

To the right of the big rooster, there is the entrance to the kitchen and then this wall.

Then in the corner to the right of that is this little nook. I was so excited about this table because it was Other Mama's and I remember right where it was at her house! How special to have it here now!

The black pineapple and saying were from Uppercase Living and my friend Sonia sells their wonderful product. They have ALL KINDS of great stuff and here is her website with info if you're interested.

Then we are back around to the other corner of my tiny 12 foot square room! Whew! Hope you didn't get dizzy! The final corner holds one problem, though. This bookcase!It's driving me crazy all of a sudden and I've got to change it.

Here are my thoughts: I think I'm going to paint the back of it.

WAIT! Come back! Don't comment against the idea, yet.

I think I'm going to take a shelf or 2 out to allow for some taller things and paint the back wall of it. Any color ideas? I've thought about maybe the yellow and the white mixed for a lighter yellow? Or maybe a pale green? Whatever it is, this collection of knickety knacks has got to get gone.

It doesn't fit in with the new digs!

Please ask away if you'd like to know where I got something. The paint color is Deep Cowslip #5 by Laura Ashley sold at Lowe's. Who knew Cow's Lips were Gold??

Thanks in advance for your bookshelf ideas!

Girls Beach Trip- A Planning Guide

I decided that since I don’t want to bore you with all the eating, gossiping and facebook stalking catching up and yakking that we did on our trip, I thought I’d encourage you and provide a FREE guide to how to plan your own trip. {Not that you would ever actually pay for my advice, but somehow things are more attractive when they are FREE.}

1. Gather group of girlfriends. Ours has a nice bond that we all pledged the same sorority the same year in college {we’re “pledge sisters” if you are in the loop with sorority vernacular}. You can have a connection of anything: same aged children, common workplace, bunko group or you all like sleeping, eating and margaritas.

See? Anything!

Blake and Alecia on a boat ride. My parents were nice enough to come down and dad took us out on the boat! He's starting a charter boating business if you're interested on a great trip the next time you're on St. George Island!

2. Find a place that is far away to escape. For us, we have tried meeting at people’s different houses before, but the person hosting usually still has a family to take care of, so I know it’s harder on them. For example, Emily lives outside of New Orleans, so we have always loved to trek down there, but she still has to be a mom and wife there. Not that she complained, but it is always nice for everyone to be able to get away. St. George Island is not only beautiful, but FREE {see, isn’t that word more exciting?}. Other Mama and Big Daddy bought the house almost 20 years ago and our family is delighted to share it.

3. Plan EARLY. We picked this date about 6 months ago. You will always have things that come up and since we had this FIRMLY on our calendars, we turned down everything from weddings to work trips and carnivals to conferences. {Did you like my alliteration? I’m a fan…} You wouldn’t believe how popular our weekend became, but we had our trip on the books!

4. Think about food. We e-mail around a rough draft about a week before of who will bring breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc. We usually eat breakfast and lunch in and then go out to dinner so no one has to clean late at night.

This is Amanda, me and Emily going out to dinner on Saturday night with no makeup on and one of us (*ahem, possibly me*) has not showered!

5. Have plenty to talk about. For us, the big news this year was that Amanda has adopted 4 children from the Ukraine! Their whole story is here. Thankfully, talking has never been a problem for our group and I’m sure not for yours either.

We have seen each other through marriages, divorces, pregnancies, children, infertility, spirituality, surgeries and all kinds of drama in between. There is something comforting about being with a group that knows all about you: your good and bad, your strengths and your weaknesses. We have all known each other for close to 15 years, so there are plenty of hairstyles, boyfriends and jeans that I might not want Y’ALL to know about, but these girls have seen me through all of it- including some Jordache jeans that may or may not have originated at Goody’s in Troy.

6. Write down your memories. I know this sounds awfully cheesy, but we have a book that we bring to every girls weekend. Each time we all write down a few things about the weekend, what’s going on in our lives and our hopes for the next year. It even feels awkward when you are writing it all down, but looking back on all our notes is precious.

How special will that book be 20 years from now?

OK! I think that’s it. Just add it all together for a wonderful weekend. We are all especially grateful to grandparents and husbands who helped juggle all our duties to be able to escape and come back more rejuvenated. I don't how I would make it without those momentary breaks from reality.

What an honor it is to know and love you girls! My life would surely be the poorer without you.
Until next year!

An Update Full of Updates

Hello blog world!

How are you?

I'm fine, thanks.

As you know from probably staring at the post below, I went to the beach! And my little vacation turned into a blog-cation, as well. I'm nice and rested and have a little menu of what's to come/ what's been going on.

After a nice L-O-N-G season {because of 42 rained out games}, Ollie finished his second season of soccer. His little pot belly {showcased nicely in that polyester-mix jersey} did not inhibit him from running and chasing the ball a lot. No goals, yet... at least not for our team. Actually, the only goal he scored was for some other team- not even one he was playing. He just ran onto a field and kicked a ball in a goal.

I think that counts. Don't you?

Here's an updated picture of the girls from this past weekend. We had a great time that deserves a whole post to be written this week.
Remember our kitchen? Well, it turns out that this is NOT a load- bearing wall- thank goodness! And right now we are looking at a lot of space! YAY! I love it already!
And our breakfast room is "done" and I'll have to give that a whole post, as well, but here is a sneak peek:
Henry is just as happy as can be and is TALKING all the time. He repeats everything you say {can be dangerous, right?}. But he ends anything that ends with an "r" or an "s" with an "ee" sound. Like Thomas is "Tommy" and Arthur is "Artie" {these are both trains}. And he even calls his brother "brothie". I'm off to Tar-jay with little man and "brothie" for a few things for dinner. Thanks for your patience with me and I look forward to giving you the whole low down this week!

To Do List

1. Get stuff ready for kids while gone to beach (lunches, clothes, etc)
2. Dream about sleeping late CHECK
3. Fold and put up clothes that are piled in the hallways
4. Send out directions to our beach house to friends (back roads way with lots of lovely gas station details- as in which gas station to avoid so as not to become fodder for local cat-calling from oyster men)
5. Prep casseroles and food for family this weekend
6. Grocery shopping for beach food involving lots of dips and things I like to categorize as "shower" food CHECK
7. Get car washed so people traveling with me don't ruin their clothes whilst brushing up against pile of filth and so I won't be embarrassed by the sheer mass quantity of empty water bottles and goldfish in car.
8. Pack my own stuff for trip (thinking I might need to find maternity swimsuit for this lovely little pooch I've got going on- NO- not the pregnant kind, the Kit Kat kind)
9. Soccer game AND pictures tonight
10. Update blog

Hmmm... Can you tell which one of these fell on the bottom of the list? So sorry to be MIA (from my own blog and from commenting on your blogs)! I didn't even get to watch Idol last night; I started to, but fell asleep half way through it.

It's probably telling that I decided to watch 18 Kids and Counting first because I wanted to see the big Duggar announcement! Did you hear? Josh and Anna are expecting their first child! Duggar grandbabies! Do you wander how many grandchildren Jim Bob and Michelle are going to have in 30 years? Maybe 84 or so? What would that Christmas look like? You'd need a flow chart to remember which child belonged to whom. WOW! Another Duggar generation...

I'm off to see these girls who I love dearly. I had to miss last year because I had a new little man, but this was March 2007 (last time I got to see them all) and I was about 10 weeks preggers with Henry (can somebody say Designated Driver)?
I don't think there are any DDs coming this weekend, but fortunately we don't have anywhere to go on St. George Island. We're just going to sit back, laugh, relax and eat food that must contain cream cheese, salsa and/ or ham. Get out your sunglasses, flip flops and trashy magazines, girls! It's going to be fun!