The Man of Our House

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!


(January 2006)

Aaron and met at Florida College. Our friends fixed us up and the rest is history! Ever since I first met him, I knew he would be a wonderful husband and father one day. The day he asked me to marry him is one of the happiest memories I have. The day we pledged our lives to one another is another happy memory, and also a reminder that we're in this for the long haul. I love him so much and I have so much faith in him, and in us.


(May 2007)

I am occasionally moody. (I'm sure none of you believe that.) Aaron is truly the only person who can get me out of a mood and laughing in no time flat. I understand that probably doesn't speak well of me, but I love that about Aaron. He can always make me laugh and he constantly fills our home with laughter.


(May 2007)

He had such a fun-loving spirit and creates joy all around him. He has a way of being able to say almost anything, to anyone, and not be offensive. He stands up for me. He protects me. He loves me.


(August 2007)

When we found out we were going to be parents, he was so happy he could not vocalize the words. His emotions overcame him when breaking the news to his parents, and the love he already had for our daughter warmed my heart. He worked hard throughout my pregnancy, sweating in preparation for her, helping me, urging me to rest all the time. He worked harder than I could have ever imagined to ensure I would be able to stay home. He leads us. He prays with us. He prays for us.


(November 2007)

When I was in labor, he stayed up all night, coaching me and watching the monitor. He would tell me when a contraction was ending, reassure me that I could do it, and he stayed with me through it all.


(November 2007)

Happy Birthday to a wonderful man, husband, and father. We love you and are so thankful for you!


(October 2008)

Christmas Card Reject

I'm sure you're all asking, "Why not use that picture for the Christmas card?" To be honest....we thought about it, but decided against it. Didn't want to gross anyone out...that would not be spreading Christmas cheer!

This is such a fun season of the year and a fun season of our life. Caroline is loving the Christmas season. She loves to look at the tree, and enjoys spotting them around town as we're driving. She's also really into Santa. She loves him! She did not sit on his lap...she was not given the option, I decided this year wasn't the year. I think it would have been disastrous. She LOVED waving to him as we passed him in the mall though. That was enough for this year.

There are 2 gifts under our tree that are wrapped in small gift bags. The bags don't have tissue paper in them, but shreds of decorative paper that match the bag. She is fascinated by these and has gotten into trouble more than once for pulling the shreds out. Luckily, those will be given on Monday so not too much longer to think about it. Seriously...lately if I'm in the kitchen and she's in the grotto playing and it gets quiet...I know what she's up to!

We have an old popcorn tin that has a Christmas scene on it that we put out each year. She really loves that too...she carries it around (it's about as big as she is) and sings, "Pa, rum, pa, bum, dum..." it's very cute and sweet to hear her little voice singing and hear the banging of the "drum." She got VERY excited the other day when she spotted a Christmas tin (for cookies) in the cabinet. "Drum! Drum, Mama!" she shouted. I let her have it...it's much more her size. :)

Growing Up

We've been super busy with lots going on...sorry for the blogging delay. I just haven't had much time to sit down and blog lately. As I've said before, life is flying by at rapid speed and we're watching in amazement as our daughter grows and changes.




Every morning this week Caroline could be found in her room "reading" the Bible. This is the Beginner's Bible Aaron's Aunt Sandra got her for her birthday. We've been reading it before nap time and bedtime every night, prior to saying prayers. She loves it. It warms my heart to see her loving the word, even though it's a children's version including pictures. I know this is just the beginning, a foundation, of the love of God's word we are working to instill in her. Heartwarming for a Mother.

Along with some of the other "younger" ladies from church, I hosted a Holiday Brunch last week for all the ladies from our church. We had a really good turnout and a lot of fun!




So, in preparation for this brunch, we removed Caroline's booster seat from her chair at the kitchen table. I needed all my chairs available, so I just intended to put it back once the brunch was over. However, I didn't get around to it that day and Caroline LOVED sitting at the table, without her chair, at supper that night. She loved it so much, and did such a good job, that we decided she no longer had to sit in it. *sniff* She's growing up so fast! So, Wednesday night, she's sitting in her chair like a big girl, and we're having corn on the cob as part of the meal. I cut some off the cob for Caroline...but she wanted to eat like a big girl.




It's seems so silly and small, but I can't believe she's eating corn off the cob! She loved it and I won't be cutting it off for her anymore. *sniff* It's the little things that make you realize how quickly life is flying by.

I have a new Christmas decoration this year that I'm really excited about!


Isn't it super cute? A friend made it for me as a surprise and I LOVE it!

Happy Christmas!

Thankful for Cousins

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. One thing I love about our family is the ability to go with the flow. Our original plan was to arrive at Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving day, drive straight to Aaron's aunt's house and meet the family there for the meal, then spend the rest of the weekend at his parent's. It did not go over like that though. Tuesday night our heat went out. Yes, we live in the south and it's not as cold as other places in our country, but it was C-O-L-D in our house. I think 58 or something. Caroline was already in bed, so we got her up and all tried to tough it out in our bed together. She thought it was time to play though and we were all getting colder and colder. So, about midnight we packed up, woke up my parents, and spent the night over there. We decided to head on to his parent's on Wednesday night to escape the cold house. We had a repair man out Wednesday but he wasn't going to be able to fix it until Monday.

Quickly fast forward to today. I wait and wait for the heater repair man to arrive and make my home warm again. He doesn't come. Long story short, we ended up going with someone else who luckily was able to come late this afternoon and fix it. We have heat again! I'm very thankful for a warm house, and also for families who were willing to take us in at the last minute.

This year at Thanksgiving, the girls (Caroline and Annalise) wore almost matching dresses. There were a few differences in the dresses, but we discovered we had the dresses when Steph was here a few months ago. Once we realized we had the dresses, we knew they had to wear them.





We are so thankful for Annalise and her sweet parents and so glad they're growing up together!

Deep Fried Festival

This post is a bit overdue, but I had more important things on my mind to blog about, so I put this off. However, a few weeks ago we attended a huge festival that comes to our fair city once a year. The festival boasts of peanuts, fried Snickers bars, elephant ears (mine and Caroline's favorite), corn dogs, and fried Twinkies. Oh, and rides also. Rides for $1.25 a ticket...not a family on a budgets dream. We were all set to decline riding anything, but Caroline got really excited about the carousel and her sweet Opa ran off to purchase tickets for her to ride, stating, "That's what Opa's are for!"




He bought her not one, but two rides! She loved it and had a blast!

We feasted that night on corn dogs, healthy right? The local corn dog man makes enough money at this yearly festival to keep from working for the entire rest of the year! He says he still takes his homemade corn dogs to other events, but he chooses too. It's unreal...but seriously, they are good corn dogs! We also had an elephant ear. This was Caroline's first time at the festival and her first elephant ear...she thoroughly enjoyed it!



She's really enjoying her elephant ear treat! Speaking of elephants...



Yes, that is Caroline and her daddy watching Aunt KK, Uncle Jud and our friends Will and Kristen ride on an elephant. We did not opt to let Caroline ride.

All in all a fun time with the fam!

Holly Jolly Savings

All over our hometown there are Christmas tress and other decorations popping up. At this time of year I begin to feel sorry for Thanksgiving. A lot of businesses and homeowners just move from Halloween to Christmas, leaving Thanksgiving in a lurch. I used to save all my Christmas shopping and decorating until after Thanksgiving, in an effort to support the holiday of giving thanks. Since having Caroline though...my thoughts have changed a bit. At least on the shopping part.

Aaron and I both grew up getting a lot of gifts for Christmas. I do not want to leave anyone with the impression that our parents spoiled us, or gave in to us, or just gave us everything we wanted...but, we both got more than we ever needed or probably even wanted for Christmas. We try and live on a budget, but aside from that even, we talked about holiday spending in our family before Caroline was born. We were both in agreement that we wanted to give her gifts and enjoy the giving part of the season, but we also wanted the holiday to be about more than gifts. We have some plans about how to instill the joy of giving, rather than receiving, in her when she's a little older, but for now, we're just trying very hard to be reasonable and frugal with her gifts.

If you're willing to share, I'd love to know how your family keeps from spending an arm and a leg on Christmas. We have family members we shop for, and friends we exchange with. Our list is small in comparison to many friends I've talked with, and we set a definitive budget and stick to it. Sticking to it is the difficult part....especially with Caroline. Remember when I said in an earlier paragraph that I no long wait until after Thanksgiving to shop? Toys R Us had a large sale on Fisher Price toys back in April (I think)...it was buy a toy for $25 or more, and get a $25 or less toy for free. We took advantage of this and spent $30 to get Caroline her "big" Christmas gift and birthday gift. I felt good about it. However, I keep seeing other things in the stores I want to get for her! Aaron (the more frugal minded one in our relationship, although I've come a long way...) patiently reminds me that we've already gotten her gifts. Not only those 2, but we got a couple more things for Caroline and other kiddos in our lives when KB Toys went out of business and slashed their prices. I also take advantage of sales at Books-a-Million. W-O-W can you get some books for cheap there when they've got a good sale going on!

I digress...

I've been using sales and coupons and I'm under budget for Christmas and I'm almost done. I would love hints from any of you about how you save. Some of you are probably a lot better than I am and make gifts. I have no crafty talents whatsoever, except I can make pillowcase dresses, but there's not a huge need for pillowcase dresses on our list of gifts to buy.

Oh! Before I forget....

There are some great Target coupons here. Right now you can get a box of 72 Up and Up baby wipes for $1.29...use the $1 off coupon on this site and get the box for $0.29. I don't usually use Target wipes, but I couldn't pass this deal up. Go and stock up if you can! On that same site are other Target coupons, including some for toys. :)

Sorry for rambling in this post!

for the grandparents...

Birthday Girl

This week we've been celebrating Caroline's second birthday. In fact, today marks 2 years since her due date. It's so hard to believe she's already 2! Time is whizzing by in rapid fashion, which is so hard to comprehend. Didn't I just have my first prenatal appointment? Didn't we just find out we were having a daughter? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was on bed rest? Didn't I just have her...yesterday?! Nope, that was all 2 years ago!

It's long been said that time flies when you're having fun, and we definitely have a lot of fun, so I suppose that old saying has merit. What a joy she is in our lives. She has given us more happiness and more blessings than I could have imagined. I thank the Lord for the joy she is and I pray we raise her in a way that's pleasing in His sight. She is a wonderful, special, beautiful (inside and out) little ray of sunshine in our lives! I love spending my days with her and I am thankful to my husband for working so hard to provide for us so I can be home with her.

We had family come in town and had a small party for her on Saturday. Last year, she wasn't thrilled with everyone singing to her and watching her dig into her cake. She cried at being the center of attention, and did not like it when her hand was pushed into the cake. What a stark contrast that scene is to this year! She loved her party this year and spent most of the morning gazing at her cake.





Once it was actually time to eat the cake, we all gathered around and sang to her. She loved having everyone sing to her. She listened and grinned, and when we finished, she clapped emphatically and giggled and loved it! She leaned forward and tried to take a big bite out of the cake! We don't have a picture, only a video. I have no clue how to get a video from my camera onto here. (Sorry grandparents!) I put some on a plate for her and she dug right in!





On er actual birthday Aaron was off work and we took her to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. (I had a coupon!) She loved it and had a blast. There was no real need for us to purchase tokens, because she had a lot of fun just running around. She did ride a few of the rides and enjoyed the huge singing Chuck E. in the corner.





It was a fun week and a fun birthday. We got to spend a lot of time together as a family, which is always great. I'm hoping time will slow down a bit, but regardless, we're savoring her toddler years!

The Fall

Over the past 2 years there have been moments (or hours, or days) where I stop and ask myself if I'm really cut out to be a homemaker and stay-at-home mom. These moments have gotten fewer as the years have gone by and I've grown more comfortable in my role in the home. In fact, most days now I am proud of the job I do and the home I keep. You know what they say though....pride goeth before the fall.

We're having a Gospel Meeting at church this week. (It's excellent too--if you're in our area, we would love for you to come. Every morning at 10 and evenings at 7. The speaker is Kenny Marrs and he's excellent.) Anyway, because the meeting makes our life much more busy and slightly more hectic, I have planned simple suppers each night, with the exception of Wednesday when I will host the speaker and his wife. Tonight was a simple, delicious and fairly nutritious casserole. I went to prepare the dish at about 4:45pm tonight. Aaron arrives home between 5:30 and 6:00 each evening. It's not a long cooking meal, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time. Anyhow, as I was gathering my ingredients I realized I was one ingredient short. After all my careful planning, I fell slightly right here. A quick inspection and I realize I didn't have anything else that could be whipped up quickly, so I loaded Caroline up in the car and ran to Bruno's for that one ingredient. 15 minutes and $0.97 later, I'm home and I've got my dish going. I get the meat browned and I'm ready to drain it. In the spirit of saving time, I decide to drain the meat over the trash can, using the lid to keep the meat in the skillet. Oh, and may I add that I've got a crying and whining toddler who is unhappy that I've sent her into the grotto to play while I cook. You can probably guess what's coming next. As I'm draining the meat, the lid slips and half of it ends up in the trash can. I fall a little more then, but I'm still proud and thinking I may be able to salvage some of it. Once I've got my meat ready (half still in the can, salvaging didn't work out so well...) I let it simmer in the pan with the tomatoes while I layer the casserole. I get everything ready to go and I layer the meat in...only to realize that I've forgotten to layer the kidney beans before the meat. I've completely fallen at this point and I'm no longer proud of my supper. I add the beans, do a little stir and get it in the oven. It's a slightly different rendition of a favorite around here, Taco Casserole, but I'm hoping it will be fine.

This weekend was the small birthday bash. I'm planning to post more tomorrow, but for now, let me leave you with a reminder of her birthday last year....

Little Ladybug

Caroline was a ladybug for Halloween this year.





We had a fun, but tiring weekend! We started our weekend a bit early with a high school football game on Thursday night. There is only one stadium here in town and the two high schools share it, so sometimes one of them will have a game on Thursday night instead of Friday. A good friend of ours from church plays for the team, as a freshman, and although he didn't get any playing time, he dressed out for varsity and we are proud of him! We didn't get home until 10pm, so it was a late night for Caroline, but she LOVED the game. She was cheering and clapping, and she LOVED the band. I told her she could be in band like her Aunt La if she wanted. :) At one point she was standing up next to me, swaying with her eyes closed and moving her arms to the music. She looked like a hippie.

Friday night we met a group of friends at a small, local Italian restaurant to celebrate and husband and wife's birthdays. They're 2 days apart. It was fun, but Caroline was a bit cranky and she had to be taken out. We're having some fit-throwing issues lately. I pray we're consistent and loving as we discipline. The Lord has given us such an awesome responsibility in raising her and each and every time we discipline her we remind ourselves that although it is hard, we're shaping who she's going to be. We want her to love the Lord, and be a polite and respectable lady6, so we're striving to that goal. We covet the prayers of our friends and family as we enter the "Terrible Twos."

Saturday was a great day! The Tigers pulled out a win and we were happy! It was a fun game to watch too--I even got excited more than once! That night we took Caroline out Trick or Treating, but only to a few of our friends houses. We just drove around and got in and out of the car. It was fun to see them all dressed up too. We went a little early so everyone would still be home. We ended up at Poppy and Granny's and they not only gave her candy, but were nice enough to feed all 3 of us pizza.

We've been struggling for a couple of weeks now with Caroline not wanting to go to Bible class. (Since we returned from Aaron's parent's.) She will scream and cry and hold onto us for dear life. It's been unsettling, because obviously we want her to go to Bible Class, but also because she's always LOVED going. Anyway, I've just been sitting with her in class, giving her some security and that seems to have helped. Sunday morning I sat with her about 10 minutes, and then was able to leave her. She did have her "Greenby" (security bear-blanket) with her, but her teachers were very supportive of her having him if it helped. One of them told me at one point Caroline was talking to him...hmmm...not sure if that's good or bad, but imaginative play is good for kiddos right? Regardless, Caroline and Greenby enjoyed Bible class together, without Mommy, and I'm glad!

We've got a busy 2 weeks ahead, but I will not forsake the blog! We're having a 2nd birthday (small) bash on Saturday, so I'll be back to chat about that! Until Then...

Desk!

Some friends have been simplifying their home and offered us a desk their children no longer needed. We are very excited for Caroline to have a space like this for her coloring and books. We're in the process of planning out her "big girl room", and I think it will be a perfect addition! Thanks T & J!





T had not been gone five minutes and she was ready to use her table! She's still in there, coloring away, loving it!

Hodge Podge

Hello, hello! I've been mulling for a few days over my blog. I have two different sets of pictures, one with several, and one with only a few, that I want to share and I've been trying to decide if I should blog once or twice. After much deliberation, I decided to only blog once--I know myself and I may or may not get back to blogging later this week to do more than one. We have a lot of fun stuff coming up too that I know I'll want to blog about, so I hope you'll all humor me and endure this long post!

As I mentioned in my last blog, we spent almost a week with Aaron's family because of the death of his grandfather. The occasion that brought us all together was sad, but we still loved being together and got a few good pics of Caroline with her family. (All except Oma...we'll make sure to get one next time!)




Caroline really loves her Uncle Jud. He has, for the moment at least, taken the spot of her favorite relative. He never has to bribe her with a cell phone or computer or cracker like some other members of the family. :) We'll have to keep an eye on him though, since he's a AL fan...we can't have him corrupting our daughter! (He's already given her a plastic elephant!)



Caroline really enjoyed sitting with her Aunt KK and kicking her foot up to be tickled by Opa's beard. She loved this game and we all loved her smile and giggles!



She loves her Oma's oatmeal! Apparently the kitchen was too bright for her eyes...



Opa discovered on this trip that he could pull up some of her favorite Sesame Street songs on YouTube. They enjoyed watching them together...well, Caroline enjoyed the songs, I think Opa only tolerated them because it got her sitting with him!(Remember those bribes I referred to earlier?) It was nice to all be together, even for a sad occasion. We are looking forward to seeing them again soon! (Two weeks!)



We are not fair-weather fans around here. We're sticking with the Tigers and supporting them, even though they're not having the best season. War Eagle!



This is George, the bouncing horse that lives at Poppy and Granny's. She loves him!

I had a Mary Kay party last weekend. A friend from church recently started selling Mary Kay, so the party was a great chance to support her and have a good time with the girls! Caroline went out with her Daddy that morning, but before they left, she discovered the makeup mirrors and brushes set up on the dining room table.









She's girly, that's for sure!

WHEW! That's all for now!

(Told you it was going to be long!)

Grandaddy

Aaron's grandfather passed away last week. We returned home on Sunday night from spending most of the week with his family. Grandaddy was very sick and it was expected, but a death in the family is emotionally draining in so many ways.

Caroline is so blessed to have met 3 of her great-grandparents. I never knew any of mine, and Aaron only knew one of his. We are so thankful we have pictures and memories of Caroline with of her great-grandparents.





The first picture was Grandaddy holding Caroline for the first time, her first Christmas. She was so teeny! The second picture was taken in August, the last time we saw him. I am so glad that one day Caroline can look back at pictures like these and realize that even if she doesn't remember her great-grandfather, she met him and made him smile.

Birthday Buddies

Two weeks ago we had a visit from Aaron's cousin, Stephanie and her daughter, Annalise. Caroline and Annalise are about 12 hours apart and share a birthday. I knew Stephanie before I knew Aaron, and I was excited when I found out they were cousins. She's great and I love chatting with her. Since our girls are exactly the same age, it's fun to talk about what they're doing and how we're handling the new situations that arise. I hope we're always close, even if miles separate us!




Look at those girls after their bath! They had fun in the tub and we got some great video of them splashing around.



It was fun to watch them play together during this visit. They actually played together, not just next to each other this time.



Daddy/Uncle Aaron was playing a tickling game with them. They loved it! I loved hearing the Grotto (our den) ringing with their laughter. A child's laugh is such a happy sound!





They're worn out from laughing!