WAR EAGLE

Really, is there anything else to say?

what a game!!!!!


So intense and unbelievable and crazy, and I am thrilled that we won!!!!

A few images from our day yesterday stolen from my mom's blog.

WE WON!!!!  AND WE CAN'T BELIEVE IT. 

Three generations of Auburn fans.  That's my dad's mom, who was as into the game as the rest of us. 

Watching Cam Newton run around the field, celebrating the HUGE WIN.

And a few pre-game images, John and Andrew are becoming big Buddies.

NERVOUS HERE!!

Possibly a fourth generation of Auburn fans?

Okay, bring on the SEC Championship!!!

Home

We've arrived in Alabama, and the cousin hoopla has begun.  We're excited to be here and thankful for a week with family!!!

My Friday and Stopping By for a Quick Hello

oh, little blog, I have been away for too long.

This week has been busy and so full of daily stuff, that I have neglected my little corner--my getaway spot.

Now my mom is here for a couple of days, and I am busy hanging out with her.  Today we even made a quick trip into Atlanta to visit Trader Joe's.  We were walking distance from the apartment where Scott and I first lived as a married couple just a few years ago.  After Trader Joe's, we were sitting outside of Starbucks while I nursed John (discreetly), and we were across the street from the Grady High School football field and track where Scott and I often ran during our time in midtown.  We would run there from our apartment.  I thought about that self that was running around that track, and I know she would have been shocked if back then I could have told her, "look across the street at the Starbucks, you will blink and you will be sitting there nursing your second baby..." How could I have known how quickly things would change?  Whenever I am in that part of town, nostalgia nearly overwhelms me.  The memories of that brief moment in time are sometimes hard for me to believe.   It often seems as if those months didn't exist until I am back in that place, and I can feel the way it felt to be newly married and living in that new city.  But, alas, I now have my dear, precious, and exhausting Ada and John.

And now I am going to steal pictures from my mom so that this post won't only be words....

 Chick-fil-a before heading into the city.

 Ada and mom while "skyping" with Kate.  My first skype experience, by the way.

 John-John (what we affectionately call him) on my hip, his second favorite place to be.

 more skyping.  Side note--I am hoping that by November, I will be able to say that my entire downstairs is painted.  And this includes repainting the dining play room a chocolately/mocha brown color.

 And more pictures from Chick-fil-a.  John was a trooper today, and we found out this morning that the EEG results are normal...Praise the Lord!!

And that was our day, a nice break from the norm...happy weekend!!

Birthday Surprise

Do you remember the poem that I posted on Mother's Day? 

I first read that poem over at this blog, and I immediately felt that it echoed my thoughts on motherhood.  It is no secret that my pregnancy with Ada was a big surprise that brought some major and immediate changes to our life, most obviously the deletion of my income.  As a result, I am certainly not traveling across the sea to foreign lands or buying "fancy" jewelry, but I am rich indeed.  These children are worth so much more than "all of that."

Well, knowing that I love that poem, and knowing that I love my New Orleans artist/ little sister Sarah's art work, Scott had this done for me.

I love it.

We are up to our elbows in practical around here, so it was especially nice to receive something that is pretty, not practical.  Thanks for being so thoughtful, Scott, and thank you, Sarah, for doing the work.

And now I strongly suggest that you head over to Sarah's blog to learn more about her life as a "starving artist" in New Orleans, and perhaps you can buy some artwork of your own.

The 3rd Birthday Post--lots and lots and lots of photos

The older cousins early in the day

And the younger two

And later at Chik-fil-a

(Ada just saw this picture and asked me if I had a baby in my tummy--nope, Ada, no baby)

And finally cake and presents

Tricyle!!  Which wasn't the big hit we were expecting. 

And a few more presents funded by Mary Ann and Mae Mae

So there you go, we properly celebrated age 3.  Now, I am off for a long Sunday afternoon nap.

Headed Out

I'm loading these two stinkers into the car and heading out of here early tomorrow morning.  Yes, you guessed it, back to Alabama we go.  It is a sort of last minute trip.

You see, for weeks now it's been, we're going, we're not going, we're going, we're not going.  And then a couple of days ago my Friday tutoring student rescheduled to next week, and I got the word that Sarah will be home from New Orleans, and Kate will be in town, and Ann (who, have you heard?, is pregnant with her FOURTH!!!  There is nothing like the excitement of brand new life!!) will of course be there, since she lives there, and the original reason for going was for a baby shower for Esther Bratton's little Charlotte (due to arrive very, very soon)

 so...

We're going.

And that's where we'll be 'til Monday.

Happy weekend, everyone!!!

Cavity Free

Do you remember all the dentistry drama from last summer--root canals and fillings and everything else all while first trimester pregnant?

Well, yesterday I went to the dentist for the first time since all of that happened.  And I am so happy to report that I am cavity free.  I have terrible teeth, despite my best efforts to brush and floss correctly (okay, I could probably put forth more effort in the floss department), so it is a rare visit to the dentist that I walk away with no cavities to be filled.  I was relieved, and may finally be able to make the big switch to a Georgia dentist.  We'll see.

In the mean time, Ada is soaking up the time with her cousins.  (And John is eating and fussing and eating and fussing in typical John-fashion, all while getting to know his cousins a little bit better).

(here, Ada and Ellie are getting "murried" as Ada says.)

Father's Day

We are a blessed crew to have Scott as our husband and daddy.  We love him, love him, love him.  He puts up with my crazy up and down emotions and Ada's endless energy and John's need to wake up at all hours of the night.  I mean this in all truthfulness, Scott is probably the most patient man I have ever met.  He quietly walks through this life with me, and I am so glad that he is my partner.  Truly, if I were to describe Scott using two words, I would say patient and kind.  Always patient and kind. 

Ada adores him.  No one makes her laugh like her daddy.  He makes her laugh deep from her belly.  I am unable to produce those laughs from her.  He comes home from a long day of work and he plays and plays with her, running around the house and flipping her upside down, while I stand in the background saying, "please, Scott, be careful," and they always ignore my warnings. 

I know that John will soon adore him; probably in a way that only a son can.  I see it in Luke and Andrew as they love Steven and my own daddy.  Though Andrew is still young enough to prefer Near a lot of the time.

I am also thankful for my own daddy, and Scott's dad.  We were given such a gift in fathers who were faithful to our mothers, who worked hard to provide for their families, who were very present in our lives and continue to be present in our lives and our children's lives. 

I posted this poem two years ago, but I have to post it again.  It is one of my favorites and it certainly speaks of the love of my own father, Scott's father, and now Scott.  Parenting, it's a thankless job most of the time, but I am surrounded by men who fully embraced what they had to do. 

Those Winter Sundays 

Sundays too my father got up early
And put his clothes on in the blueback cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

--Robert Hayden

(photography by Cindy Stansberry Photography)