Papa's Birthday Song

Okay, just finished using the video recording feature on my husband's Mac. God love Macs. Seriously. So stinking amazing! Anywho...this is a very fun feature I have a feeling I'll be using often. You might even expect a guest appearance by yours truly (that'd be me) sometime in the near future. Possibly.

SO. I decided to use the Mac for a little birthday video for Papa. He turns 72 today and since we can't be with him, we thought it would be nice to send him a little personal message on his special day. I know some of you will be tempted to skip the video because, after all, you are not Papa, but trust me on this one, you're going to want to watch it. It's short and may have brought a couple of us in this household to tears. The laughing kind.

Enjoy. Especially you, Papa! Happy Birthday...we love you!

It's A Zoo...

...online! Check out this fun website that I found in a parenting magazine recently. You click on each letter of the alphabet and the letters come alive and turn into an animal that starts with that letter...complete with sound effects.

My little guy really enjoyed it.

Yes. We are Artsy.

Or at least my husband is. Did you all know my husband is an artist? If you've ever visited his blog you will know this fact. Or you might have guessed it from his profile picture. He is actually a professor of art and teaches mostly graphic design courses, but he also does work of his own when he has the time. That time has been little for the last several years (with little ones), but now that the kids are older he has been able to focus again on this aspect of his person. Plus, he has a show coming up at Union University, in Jackson, TN...so a deadline also helps.

He has recently created an Etsy site to display and sell his artwork. I really love his current work. In the past he has done mostly painting, but recently he has been working on assemblage. Basically he uses discarded pieces of pottery, glass, metal, etc. and pulls them all together into a beautiful piece of art. He redeems them. Did I mention that Rich is a Christian artist? So, yes, you may infer that each piece of work has a deeper spiritual meaning, which to me, makes it all the more beautiful.

So, all that said, if you're interested you can check out his new shop. It's called Bits of Redemption and you'll find it here.

Finally, I will leave you with a preview. It is one of my favorite pieces and is currently displayed in my dining room.

The First Day of First Grade!

A Sweet First Grader!

Seriously...when did he get so tall?

A Goodbye From Brother

An Exciting New Year!

A Great New Teacher

An old friend (they are in the same class!)

A breakfast date for Will and Mommy after drop off...

And my personal favorite? An after school smile!

You are...

Helpful

Fun

Silly

Involved

Playful

A Samurai?

Hardworking (he built the sandbox)

Loved

Debonair

and so stinkin' Handsome at...
34!

Happy Birthday, Rich. You are all these things and more!

All My Love,

Seeking Quiet

My heart is racing. My pulse is pounding. I'm agitated. My spirit. It's restless. Not at peace. I've been struggling with this for a few days and I can't seem to pinpoint why...or even what I'm struggling with. Or maybe I'm just not willing to pinpoint it. Is that it? I went searching for solace today. I went to a place that helps me block out the noise. A place for me to achieve clarity, seek perspective, and find peace. Usually quiet does that for me. Today the quiet was noisy, too. It felt like a fitful sleep. I was tossing and turning and getting nowhere. I've been longing for just a morsel of peace to sift through the noise to me. This one finally did.

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

Zephaniah 3:17

Personal Plea to Moms of Little Girls

Would one of you (or more) please, PLEASE, PLEASE go to Target and purchase one of those cute little sweater dresses for your little girl for the fall? (I looked and looked, but can't find a link to it online...so you'll just have to trust me). I will be eternally grateful because this will prevent me from having to buy one just hang in the closet for no particular reason...seeing as I have only boys to buy clothing for. Thank you. I feel better already.

So. Hello! How have you been? I feel like we have so much catching up to do. I've been a stranger to this blog and to your blogs quite a bit lately and for that I apologize, but I've been quite busy as of late traveling to see a friend, soaking up the last bits of summer, and watching the Olympics - which of course goes without saying.

I took the boys this weekend to stay with my friend Sarah and her boys. We had such a great time catching up and running around a bit. We did a little shopping on Saturday in the "big city" near her home and went to a very fun and unique park there as well. Of course the park would have been more fun had we not been melting from the heat. One of the highlights was visiting the store in which I now dream of doing all my grocery shopping because it was such a pleasant experience. But alas we have none here in B-town. Thanks Sarah for a wonderful weekend. Let's not let a year pass again without any late night girl talks! Promise?

Yesterday I did something quite brave and heroic and took both boys BY MYSELF to a local amusement park. And it was actually quite fun. I think that should be an official childhood milestone. The ability to be cared for at an amusement park by only one parent.

Okay, I think that is all I have to share for now. I promise to catch up with all of you and your news soon. And I'm serious about the dress. Please. For me.

Inlaws After A Girl's Own Heart

So. This week a packaged arrived on our doorstep. The return address was from Rich's parents. This is not an unusual occurrence. Often they will send a package of miscellaneous items to the family with toys, books, etc. for the boys. But this package was different. Delightfully different. It contained a small box (bless them for considering the Big D...there it is again...sorry) of pure bliss. What could be in said package you inquire? Fudge. Peanut Butter Fudge. And not-just-any-peanut butter fudge.

You see that there? Are you drooling? You should be. (No, I didn't pose the fudge...I got the picture off the internet.) That wonderful fudge is from a place in Nantucket, Massachusetts called Aunt Leah's Fudge. They say it is the "World's Best Fudge" and they speak the God's honest truth. It is hands down...THE BEST FUDGE I've ever tasted. I've been enjoying small tastes as the Big D allows and it is heaven. If you are ever in Nantucket...it is an absolute must see (and eat). Also worth ordering for a special occasion (I have ordered it for our anniversary before in honor of our honeymoon there...there being Nantucket, not Aunt' Leah's, although if I'm being honest we did spend a significant amount of time there as well). I will warn you that it is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but in my humble option is worth the splurge.

Thanks Dick and Joanne for the goodies!

And since I'm talking about candy, I'm feeling the need to give you a couple of other suggestions for amazing candy you can order for yourselves or give as a gift.

THE BEST CARAMELS can be found or ordered from a place called Abbot's Candy Shop based in Hagerstown, Indiana. My parents give these to us every year for Christmas. Yum.

THE BEST PEANUT BRITTLE can be found or ordered from a place called See's Candies based in San Francisco, California. This candy shop is more well known than the others so I'm sure many of you have heard of it. But I had to mention it because their Peanut Brittle is to die for.

Okay, I will stop now. And I guess I should open up the comments to your suggestions as well. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on any tasty treats!

We Love Lucy

I wanted to share some pictures from our visit with my niece, Lucy. We had a wonderful time and having her here was such a great excuse to do lots of fun touristy things we don't always do here in B-town. She is a beautiful, smart, clever, talented, and fun girl!

Here we are taking a self portrait after she was accosted by the lady at one of the make-up counters in Macy's. That's a story in and of itself. It was one of those experiences where I half expected Allen Funt to jump out from behind the counter and say, "Smile! You're on candid camera."


Here's a group self portrait...turned out pretty good, huh? Good thing my husband has long arms!


Here's one of Lucy with the boys. My boys adore her. ADORE her. She (many times daily) had to endure what we now affectionately call "hug attacks" from Richie. Those of you who know Richie in real life know exactly what I mean!


And lastly, I'll leave you with one of my favorites...Lucy with her pet bee. Bzzzzz!

We love and miss you Lucy! Come back again real soon!

A Run-in with B

Remember B? Many of you weren't around back then, so you'll have to read the back story. And if you promise not to judge me for my spiteful attitude, you can also read this.

Okay, did you read it? So that was over a year ago and we haven't had any more issues with her since then (if you don't count the dirty looks and icy glares). That is, we haven't had any more issues with her...until today.

The saga continues, my friends. The saga continues.

SO. Rich was outside this morning and when he comes in he says that B confronted him about the how we are watering our yard. It seems the water is running into her yard (her yard is downhill from ours...go figure). At first, I was going to ignore it because, although her tone wasn't nice, she didn't cuss him out this time (which if you read the back story...is an improvement), but then I glanced out the window and saw her taking pictures of the "water" in her yard. I'm not kidding people, this really happened. I'm afraid the "Listen Here, Mister" mode boiled up in me and I said "I'm going to talk to her." I was praying as I went out that God would help me keep my temper. And I did (for the most part), however I can't say the same for her. I went out to simply try and talk with her and see if we could resolve the issue. She immediately took the defensive and the profanities started flying...and I don't use the word profanity lightly. She went on and on (irrationally) about the water in her yard. I can't even make sense of what happened or what she said. She told me to get off her property and just kept yelling when I was asking her if we could please just talk about it. I almost made it through the whole encounter without saying something I shouldn't. But not quite. I may have told her she was crazy. And I may have meant it. And it may have felt good to say it. Bad, bad, bad...I know. It's just this lady really gets to me. She has absolutely no right to treat us this way. We've gone out of our way to accommodate her and she does nothing but respond hatefully. Sigh. I just don't get it.

You Know You're...

...on the Big D when your child gets a brownie sample at the grocery store and you really want to steal it from him...even AFTER he proceeds to sneeze on it. Yeah.

Sorry, I know you are sick of hearing about the Big D, so I'm going to try and stop talking about it. Really. I promise that is the last time for awhile. But that just had to be shared...because it really happened. And it's sad. Sad and true.

And that is all for now. I will be back soon with a post (complete with pictures) about our visit with my niece!