FEELS LIKE HOME TO ME: February 2011

Blue Skies

We're off to start a new week. How was your weekend? Ours was great! Busy, entertaining, not really relaxing, but fun, none-the-less!

My weekend started early since the president of the college sent us home early. Thank you, thank you and thank you!

It was a beautiful afternoon, so I picked Libby up from school and we enjoyed the clear, blue skies.

After I uploaded this picture I was struck by how tall Libby is getting. Sad! She wasn't sad though, she had a lot of playing to do.

Then I got distracted by the Bradford Pear that bloomed overnight last week. It's so pretty -- and a little stinky. Does anyone else have stinky trees?

Her grandparents came by Friday evening and whisked her off for a night of fun. Drew and I met up with friends for the concert. (More on that later.)

This is Libby's friend, Riley. Riley is so good with Libby! We ate dinner with our Sunday School class Saturday night and they kept each other busy. Riley is 11, but if I didn't know better, I'd think she was 18. She tended to Libby, played with her and even got her to eat (some) of her dinner. As you can see, Libby had no trouble eating her dessert!

I'll be back soon with more updates from our weekend.

10:45 AM
0 Comments

What's to Come

Bloggers, we're almost through this busy week. Hasn't the weather been great? Everyone I've talked to has a touch a spring fever after two weeks of warm temps and blue skies. Even the trees in my yard are starting to bloom. I tried to tell them to wait, that we'll have another cold snap, but they aren't listening!

Tonight we're helping our friends, The Mays, with a fund raising banquet. They're missionaries with Candence International. Cadence focuses on ministering to individuals and families in the military community. Chris and Elizabeth will be running a hospitality house in Ft. Hood, Texas. They are wrapping up their fund raising efforts this summer and then will be starting their work. You can follow their story here.

We have tickets to see Brad Paisley tomorrow night!

We're going with a great group of friends, I know it will be a good time! We saw Brad several years ago and he put on a great concert. At the end of the show, I spotted Kimberly Williams Paisley beside the stage. I was so excited! I love her (from Father of the Bride and According to Jim). Drew accused me of being more excited about seeing Kimberly than Brad - and he might have been right! I bet Kimberly will be home taking care of their kids this time (according to the tabloids they have two kids now).

Performing with Brad will be Darius Rucker and Jerrod Neimann. One of my favorite songs right now is Jerrod Neimann's What Do You Want? I listen to it over and over again on You Tube.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us that also includes a birthday party and a Sunday School social. Let the fun begin and I hope you have a great weekend!

9:34 AM
0 Comments

Sick Bay

Hey blog readers! It's been a busy week. I haven't mentioned just how sick I've been over the last few weeks because it really didn't flow with the updates on Valentine's.

The first week of my sickness I had general cold symptoms. Sore throat, runny nose, stuffiness - yuck! Someone recommended Mucinex. I bought some and felt a lot better. However, my cold persevered. Week two I continued to have symptoms, but still pushed my way through the week. Who has time to be sick, anyway? Then the worst part happened, the dreaded cough. Hack, hack, hack....all the time. At home, at work, when I laid down to sleep. It drove me (and probably my husband and co-workers) crazy!

The beginning of week three I finally waved my white flag and went to a walk-in clinic this week. The verdict? The doctor did say that it looked like early bronchitis. He said they would treat the symptoms and hopefully have me feeling better soon.

I got a (painful, but effective) steroid shot, a breathing treatment, some heavy duty cough meds and my very own Z pac. I think I could run a mini-pharmacy out of my kitchen!

Several days into my treatment I'm feeling better. Not totally healed, but I think I'm headed in the right direction. I hope to be back to my old self soon.

Stay well, out there. Because because being sick stinks!

2:00 PM
3 Comments

The Love Continues...

The Valentine's Day fun continued over the weekend. Saturday night my parents kept Libby and Drew and I had a lovely date at Mark's City Grill.

Drew came through with some lovely roses for moi! They are very pretty and just starting to open up. Such a ~~smart~~ sweet guy!

Sunday after Libby's nap, we headed to the farm to enjoy the warm-ish weather and celebrate Valentine's with Drew's family. Libby and Nono baked and decorated MORE cookies and she enjoyed getting some special gifts.

Monday she lugged home two bags full of paper Valentines and candy from school.

She was in candy heaven!

Drew and I swiftly removed 90% of the candy and added it to her treat basket. She gets to sift through the basket after each successful trip to the potty.

Then we headed to my parents for dinner. Libby had already delivered Valentine's to Mimi and Papa and their cat, Emma, Saturday. But she enjoyed throwing her dinner on the floor and opening a few Valentine goodies.

Mimi and Libby reading "Five little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".

It was a nice holiday. I'm still sneaking the pink icing cookies that Libby helped decorate. Once those are gone, I might be able to focus on healthy food again! ;)

10:30 AM
1 Comments

Valentine's Fun

Happy Valentine's week!

It started early for Libby. Her great great Aunt Jeanette sent her a Disney Princess card that sings.

Did I mention it sings?

I got tired of having to open and close it over and over, so I clipped it to the 'fridge at Libby's height. Perfect. She stopped for a jam session on our way out the door to school.

This weekend we worked on Valentine's for Libby's class. I hope the boys won't mind getting cards with fairies on them.

Hopefully they'll go for the lollipop and forget about the pixie dust and girly-ness!

Libby was such as good helper. I called out each name, then she would pick a card she liked and hand me a lollipop to go with it. This was just another reminder that she is growing up on me. *Sigh*

I hope you get lots of treats from those you love!

12:00 PM
1 Comments

Rock Star

She partied like a rock star, a toddler rock star, that is.

Libby's social calendar was to-die-for this weekend. Two birthday parties for two different toddlers, both turning two.

On Saturday we celebrated with our buddy Jackson. Libby played and jumped her heart out.

They were cute!

Then she gracefully partook of a cupcake.

Sunday she jumped and played some more at Ella's party.

Again, such the southern belle.

Happy Birthday, little friends! Hope you both have a great year.

12:46 PM
1 Comments

Another DIY Success

I have another project to share from the new house. Except for a few pieces that got weeded out, we moved just about all of our existing furniture. I really didn't want to move the kitchen table we had. To be honest, I had fallen out of like with it a few years before. I appeased myself by saying, "I'll get a new one if we ever move." But when the move became a reality, I didn't feel I could justify buying a new table and chairs when I had so much other furniture that needed to be purchased.

I mentioned my lack of enthusiasm over the table in a conversation with my mother and wouldn't you know, she had creative idea. She volunteered to recover the chair cushions. The seats were a BORING khaki color that had several spots and food stains from five years of abuse.

We met at a fabric store one day on my lunch break and I picked out something to livin' up the chairs.

With her skills and a staple gun, she gave new life to my kitchen chairs.

Thanks, Mom! I like the table again and love the bright colors in our kitchen. :)

6:00 AM
2 Comments

Sweetheart

Hi blog readers! February got here in a hurry, didn't it? Valentine's Day is getting close. There was no denying it during my trip to Target over the weekend. Candy, toys and huge stuffed animals were everywhere! I was weak and bought a {semi big} bag of peanut butter M&Ms. They are "rewards" for potty training, but I tend to reward myself for just making it through the day. Oh well!

Libby made the cutest Valentine headband at school yesterday. She was very proud of her art work and wore it on the car ride home, which included our trip to Walgreens to pick up some things. Cute, cute!