Why Don't I Blog Anymore?

Because every stinkin time I load pictures into my blog it shuts down and loses all the work I did.

And it's no better 3 months later.

So there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GUS GUS!!

BEAR LOVES YOU THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS MUCH!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE......

This precious, adorable, smart, funny child!

I couldn't imagine a day without her being with me-- through all the good and all of the bad-- we are always hanging tight.
She has such a heart for family and togetherness and it makes my heart just about burst with love and pride for her.

She's my best friend (yes, my best friend is 4) and my best audience.

Don't you want to just squeeze and pinch her little cheeks and eat her right up!?

You Can Find Me...

on tumblr!
Thanks to Hollie at Everyday is a Hollie-day for the GREAT idea!
It's perfect for keeping track of all my wish-lists. Especially all the projects running around in my head.

View my tumblr site at http://isohavetodothis.tumblr.com and pass along any other ideas you have.

Sara!
(Don't forget to check out Hollie's site-- very cute ideas from the wonder mom!)

Happy Birthday Lay-Lay!

Kalaya turned 4 this past weekend and we had a weekend of birthday festivities to celebrate. Of course, like usual, we held it at Nana and Grandaddy's.

This years' theme ( decided last year in December-- my baby knows how to plan!) was:

Strawberry Shortcake

The first step was making the cake and this year she wanted a "big girl cake". By that she meant- multiple layers.

This year we decided to use fondant. And the best part about fondant is....We all got to help!
KK was definitely the master mind behind the whole thing.

But we all had our part to do. Nana, KK, Sandy, me and Kalaya all made parts for the cake.

She loved her cake!

We had to make sure Strawberry made it to the top somehow!

And of course everything was pink, pink, and pink.

But as long as there was food-- Justice didn't care what color it was.

And of course, after eating (pizza party- which by the way was the best idea we ever came up with. No cooking, no dishes, just nice and easy) --it was time for presents!

and wrestling with the cousins.

She loves her new skates. However, her favorite gift was a tub waterfall toy for her Barbie mermaid. How do I know it's her favorite? After opening presents she immediately stripped down and got in the bath to play.

And of course we had our customary water party too. Slip n Slide- balloons- water guns, etc.

Dominic stayed in for the water festivities--maybe next year!

Happy Birthday Lay-Lay Part Deux!

The next part of Kalaya's 4th birthday included alot of surprises for my big girl.

We woke up early Sunday morning and loaded in the car to go on a "surprise birthday adventure"!

She was ready to go.

First stop was the Chattanooga Zoo. And even though this zoo is smaller the others-- it was AWESOME. Alot less people to contend with and way cheaper. The best part was getting a private behind the scenes tour of the entire zoo where we fed tons of the animals and got to hear neat stories about them.
Can you see Goliath sitting rigth beside Kalaya at the window? Hard to tell but there was a massive chimpanzee sitting right beside her.

Walking into the train car to view the cougars.

She loved the zoo- although it was as hot as a billy goat in a pepper patch out there.

Good thing we got a nice big ole bed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo to relax on!

Not to mention the pool with waterfalls that we had to swim in as oftern as possible.She enjoyed our newly created "french fry Jenga" game at Cheeburger Cheeburger too.

(yes, I spelled that right)

Resting after a loooong day.

Looking at the choo choo's the next morning.
After eating breakfast the next day- we visited the children's museum.

If you've never taken your kids there-- go now!

Don't stop, don't pass go, don't collect 200 dollars.
We've been to the Atlanta one too, and don't get me wrong, it's nice. But the Chattanooga one is awesome.

She REALLY enjoyed painting her own face.

Played lots of instruments (by the way, its around now that my OCD and other lovely things start kickin up in my head and I realize I'd really like to bathe in hand sanitizer right about now)

Operation! The upstairs theme was Grossology for the summer. Lots of information on boogies, poo, burping, and smells.

Bring your 4-49 yr old boys for entertainment.

The trip was awesome. She came back tired but very happy.

Now the question is---

how do we beat this next year!

A Boy Who Loves His Country Gold Saturday Night....

More Land Pics

The view to Nana's house and up our driveway.
All the pines are gone!

Got some more brush to clear out. Gotta love the bushhog!

We're on our way!

There's Victory in Jesus No Matter Where You Are!

TIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEERRRRRRR

The pine trees are out! Now to get the stumps out and the land surveyed!

(anyone know a land surveyor in Alabama who works for hugs? ;)

Hello My Name Is......

Blackie Poo
Poo
Cuatro

Havalina

Cassy

Strawberry
Custard
Madeline


DOOLEY!

Poor kitten- she's gone through alot to get a name but I think that Dooley will stick.

Why Dooley, you ask?

Well, we have our chihuahua named Diesel and I couldn't call the kitten Unleaded.

So, Dooley it is! (you know-like the truck?)

Ready....

I'm so ready to build my house I can just taste it.

I'm ready to sit on a wrap-around porch on my refurnished rocking chairs.
I'm ready for my hanging pots to surrond the house.
I'm ready for my brightly painted front door.
I'm ready for my tulip garden and Kalaya's 'forget-me-nuts' garden.
I'm ready to call Nana and tell her Kalaya is on her way and watch her walk by the field to see her.
I'm ready to have my pretty red sofas back out again.
I'm ready to get address labels with my own address.
I'm ready to set up the swingset and sand box in Kalaya's own corner of the yard.
I'm ready to smell the woods as soon as I get up in the morning.
I'm ready to start the ' family' garden with Nana up on the hill.
I'm ready to open the windows and watch the fireflies while I wash dishes.

I'm just plain ready!

Kalaya's Kuts

When you are born with hair like this----

What else would you be destined to do but style hair?

She most commonly likes to tell us about her husband- Brother John- and his antics or the fact that she does hair for dogs too ("Bring your dog in anytime- but I never do cat's hair").

But make sure you bring enough cash- she's been charging $20 lately.

Swimming, Spelunking, and Soil Aeration

The other day our babysitter's little girl was sick so what did that mean?

WORK DAY WITH MAMA!

Kalaya was soooo excited- she got to come to work with me for awhile that morning.

It was only for a couple of hours to get some things done- but it was definitely fun for her. She asked me at one time " Mama, when I get older can I work like you?"

I wanted to say " No baby! Run! Don't do it!" But of course I told that of course she could.

Poor unsuspecting child.

Anyways, we left early ( a whole day at mama's work would not have cut it) and went to Nana's house in Alabama early. We figured, since we had the day to play, we would do just that.

We stopped in Cave Springs on the way there to play.

If you've never been, Cave Springs is a really cute little town for kids and even adults.

The park there has a cave (duh) and a spring( double duh) that creates a pond and streams for the kids to wade and play in. Nana and Grandaddy used to take Jeff and I there as kids too. Heck, all kinds of people still go there. Kids were in the water, older people were at the mouth of the spring collecting water in gallon jugs to take home, and it was just down right lovely.

Good thing, come summer time, we keep a bathing suit around just in case of such emergencies.

And because Cave Springs has a ----drum roll please-----CAVE!---- we decided to go in and explore.

Finally, we got to Nana's for all the normal good times.

Kalaya planted cucumbers early this year and got her first ones off of the vine.

She's such a good farmer!

2010 Projects

My goal this year is to get into some more hands on projects. Currently I'm sewing Kalaya and nice, new, big picnic blanket but that will take awhile. (and probably even more then that since I haven't picked it up in a few weeks)

But in the mean time, I've been redoing a rocking chair that was Nana and Grandaddy's.

Why you ask?

Oh a whim - I reply.

Just thought it looked like it needed redoing. It's over 30yrs old.

If it was an Orange County resident, it would have already had 2 boob jobs and multiple Botox injections.

So here are the final results!

Pretty good- if I say so myself (and I do).

Especially when it started like this:

Nah- just kidding. I forgot to get a 'before' picture but it was a dark brown stain and had 30+yrs of booties sitting on it. Just use your imagination.

Next project: redoing the mini rocking chair that Jeff and I had as kids.