As Christmas approaches the weeks get crazier and I don't have enough time in the day. My mom reminded me that I hadn't blogged in awhile. So here are the highlights. Saturday Nick had to work overtime. I did not want to spend the day at the house but the weather was icky and I hated to drag Gabby out and about in it. So, what do you do on a cold and rainy day? You go swimming! Before I kept Daniel, Damon and Whitney, I would get up and go to water aerobics at the Wellness Center every morning. I love the water and apparently I have passed that to Gabby. I can't take a shower without her trying to nose-dive into the tub. She is fearless. She doesn't mind putting her face in the water. I happened to remember that they have family swim on Saturdays. She ate, took a long nap, and when she woke we headed to the pool.

Gabby LOVED it! I would stand her on the side of the pool and she would jump into my arms and kick those little legs. She would scream with excitement and her voice would echo through out the pool area so of course she would scream just to hear it. After about an hour and half of constant playtime, I had one tired baby on my hands. We loaded up and headed home. The best part was that she took a two and a half hour nap afterwards. After hearing all those cases of children "Dry Drowning" I was paranoid so I peeked in on her every fifteen minutes to make sure she was still breathing! This was the first time in a long time she has napped that long and of course I didn't get anything accomplished. When Nick got home we loaded up and headed to the tree farm. It is so important to me to make memories with Gabby and although she won't remember, I wanted us to go, pick out a tree, and cut it down ourselves for her first Christmas.

I spent today decorating it while she "helped" me. She FINALLY said "Mommy" last week but when you ask her to say it she says Daddy and grins. Tonight, I was trying to get her buckled in her car seat and she was kicking and throwing a fit. I sat her back in her car seat and said "No No Gabby." She looked at me and yelled, "NO!" I am not sure but I think I have trouble ahead. Friday, Nick surprised me with my Christmas presents. He can never wait till Christmas. He got me a photo shop program for my computer so I can edit all of Gabby's pics and Gabby got me a Pandora charm bracelet and charms. I had been wanting one but never mentioned it to Nick. I was so shocked that he picked out such a thoughtful gift on his own.

How to Make Peanut Butter Kisses ( With Two Three Year Olds)

First, gather everything together and measure out your ingredients. Can you imagine how messy that would be? I used a peanut butter cookie mix because it was easier and got it for free when K-mart was doubling coupons up to two bucks! Next, make sure they wash their hands. You never know how many times they have stuck their finger up their nose today. If at all possible, get the same color spatula. If not, they will fight over who gets which color and finally decide that tomorrow when they switch places and Daniel becomes Damon and Damon becomes Daniel they will have the opposite color. (??? How do they come up with this stuff??) Next, let whoever didn't get to choose spatulas pour the first ingredient in. Be prepared to answer several questions like, "What is this? Where do eggs come from? Can I touch it?" and etc. Next, let them take turns mixing.







No, they aren't really getting anything accomplished but they feel big and you can REALLY mix it when they are done. Take a hand washing break because you saw one of them, out of the corner of your eye, pick their nose and they are both denying it.






After that, roll the mix into balls, not squares, not snakes, not dinosaurs, just regular round balls and cover them with sugar. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven. While you wait, unwrap the kisses. No, you can't eat them. No, they won't fit up your nose and no, if you drop one on the ground you still don't get to eat it because I will know you dropped it on the ground just so you could eat it . Then wait....

And wait.




And wait.(they decided after the second picture they wanted to tell me how the should pose) Finally, take out of oven and place kisses in the center of cookies and let cool.

Enjoy!!
Even though you know you have a mess and the floor that you got on your hands and knees and scrubbed earlier today is covered in sugar because the boys decided they would wrestle in the floor while the cookies baked and before I could grab them to wash their hands. Enjoy not only the cookies, but also in the fact that you got to make a memory with two special little boys. I know you are asking yourself,"Where was Gabby while all this was going on?"



Eating a half frozen waffle.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Thursday, after Nick got home from work, we loaded up some hot chocolate and cookies and headed up to the square to take Gabby to her first Athens' Christmas Parade. I never cared too much for it but now that I have a child I want to start the tradition of going. We met Mom, Dad and Nanny up there. We waited for the parade to begin in Lance and Tommy's office(thank you April!) It was freezing! Gabby did pretty well. She stayed all bundled up with Nana Deb.

In a truck beside us, sat a man with his lawn chair and propane heater. Mom and I took bets on whether or not he had a cooler full of "goodies" with him. At first, we thought he knew several people in the parade. It didn't take long to realize he just was reading the signs and yelling,"Hey Christy, Hey Evelyn!" and so on. When the 96.9 van came around he yelled," 96.9! Ya'll are my favorite radio station! Ya'll play the best mix of soft rock around!" By this time, Mom and I were rolling! Mom missed it when the Chick-fil-A van came around because he got up and chanted, " Throw free coupons, throw free coupons!" Nanny went "MIA" so mom went looking for her. We found her sitting on a couch in one of those offices on the square. My niece, Kynsleigh was in the parade for winning, I think "Little Miss Limestone County". I will have to check and make sure. When Gabby saw her, her face lit up! We left shortly after and headed to Village Pizza for supper.

I told myself that I HAD to blog real quick before I went to bed. Even though I am about to pass out from exhaustion. We had a great Thanksgiving. Thursday we mainly spent the day at Mom and Dad's since Nick's family wasn't doing their Thanksgiving dinner till Friday. It has kind of become a tradition to sit down at the kitchen table with my sisters after lunch and look at the Black Friday ads. We make a list of everything we want to buy and map out all the stops for the next morning. This year I was up at 2:30!! Pam, Paula and Meredith braved the crowds with me this year. We hit Kohl's for some 1/2 toys and $2.50 BIG towels then headed to Wal-Mart for DVD players and Princess Barbies. We ran into the Breedings at Kohls at 4:00 a.m. and then again at Wal-Mart. Next was Target. Nick and I wanted to get Gabby a Radioflyer wagon for Christmas. I found the one I wanted, regularly $100 bucks, on sale for $64!! My mother-in-law's sister didn't make it down for Thanksgiving this year but Pam stayed on the phone with her getting the low down on all the deals. We finished up with breakfast and an afternoon nap. That night, we headed to the Miller family get together. This is a picture of Gabby and her great-grandmother and her great-great grandmother. I will have to get my mother-in-law to send me the picture of my niece, Kynsleigh stealing Grandmother Miller's walker! We finished the night with a late movie in Athens. Could this weekend get any better? Oh yeah, it did! Saturday Alabama whooped some Tiger tail! It was nice giving those Auburn fans their seventh....loss. Oh come on! You Auburn fans know you would have rubbed it in too! Sunday and Monday night I worked. It has been so crazy at the hospital. We didn't have an empty bed in the whole house last night! They begged me to work tonight and although that incentive pay sounds good, I know that their was no way I could stay awake all night. God has blessed me with a job that I can work as much or as little as I want. Tuesday we had an appointment with the pediatrician. My car was making a funny noise this morning so Nick took it to get it checked. When we got to the doctor, Gabby had the biggest poopy diaper and I had no diapers in my bag. I had two packs in the car. Unfortunately, half way out to the car I realized I was driving Nick's. I had to bum a diaper off a mom in the waiting room. I felt like the worst mother! Thankfully, Gabby had a good check up. She was in the best mood when Dr. Crowell started his assessment. But when he put the otoscope in her ear she showed her attitude. She has been really bad about slapping us in the face. Monday she did it to Nick and in the middle of him getting on to her, she put on her pouty face and gave him a big kiss. You could tell she was hoping that would get her off the hook and it did. We laughed so hard! She is already playing us! She weighed 18.4 at the doctor!! She gained over four pounds in three months. That is the biggest gain she has had so far. Login and Kyns came over this afternoon. I am hoping Gabby will be so tired from all the excitement of the day that she sleeps through the night.

Yes, I am still alive

I think finally my single mother days are over. It seems like Nick is done with the major overtime. He still works over and goes to school, but at least we get to see him. Monday he came home from work sick. I personally think it is mainly fatigue but he has been having some nausea the past week. Not much has gone on the last few weeks except Gabby got two teeth! My baby is getting so big! Daniel and Damon spent the night Wednesday. Thursday while the weather had warmed a little, we packed a lunch and walked to the park. We passed a lady raking leaves. She looked up and said, "You have your hands full!" Damon just looked up at her and replied, "She sure does!" I laughed the whole way to the park. Of course, by the time we got there, ate lunch, and began to play, one of the boys had to go to the bathroom. They lock the doors to the bathrooms during the winter and this wasn't the type you could tell him to just go behind a tree. So, we loaded up and walked back. Those boys are so protective of Gabby. She loves playing with them. When we got back, mysteriously, no one had to go to the bathroom! After a while of playing outside, the boys eagerly came in for some hot chocolate. Daniel got so tickled when I told him he could use a big mug. He looked at Damon and said, "We can pretend this is coffee!"

Then, he crossed his legs and said, "So, what have you been up to?" I cracked up! He thought he was so big. It was so cute, I had to snap a picture. I can't believe I am saying this, but I actually am warming up to the idea of more children. We would probably have to adopt. The thought of going thru another pregnancy makes me cringe and Nick informed me the other day that my pregnancy sickness, "Got on his nerves". I apologized for getting on his nerves. I did remind him however that I am the one that pumped myself full of hormones and carried his child for nine months. I don't think we will go to the extent we did with Gabby. I love that little girl, but the strain that fertility puts on your marriage and love life is stressful! I knew God would bless us. I didn't know that he would use this to strengthen our relationship. I loved Nick when we got married, but I never imagined I would love him the way I do now. Friday night he made reservations to Bonefish Grill. It was nice to get some alone time. Saturday, after a long day of hunting, he came home and took care of Gabby so I could rest. More and more I am realizing that we are more of a team than I thought. You pretty much have to be these days. He said something the other day that made me realize he does appreciate me. He said, "Ronna, you don't have to work, but you do. You realize that we have personal goals that can be reached easier if you help out financially and I am going to try to do more around the house to help you." My time with Gabby is precious and there are several times I am crying on my way to work because I am having to leave her. But then I begin to think of something Tim said in one of his lessons. "Don't make your child the center of you and your spouse's attention. You can not forget about the relationship you have formed with your spouse." And although I think a child as young as Gabby demands the majority of your attention, I can't forget the commitment I made to Nick. I better save this so the next time he makes me mad I can read it!

Week 2 Of Single Motherhood

This has been another week of Nick working long, L-O-N-G hours. The last two nights though he has actually been home in time to see Gabby before she went to bed. It bothered Nick because at first she acted like she didn't know who he was. I have stayed busy Fall, "Spring Cleaning". Yesterday, I cleaned out drawers, closets and cleaned carpets. I wish I had my mother's "cleaning gene". She has always stayed on top of things. As I loaded my dishwasher, something I have put off doing for two days, I began to think about when I was young and everything my mother did for us. Don't get me wrong, my father did an excellent job providing for us. But my mother was the driving force of our house. When does it happen? When do we go from thinking everything our parents' say is stupid to realizing they actually do have some pretty good ideas? We moved to Athens when AT&T transferred my Dad to Huntsville. Not long after, the government decided the company was becoming a monopoly and my Dad lost his job when the company had to down-size. We sold the house and rented a one bedroom house. My parent's slept on a fold-out couch and my sisters and I shared the bedroom. Living in such a small house wasn't completely necessary but at the time that was the only thing available in the school district we were in. We loved our school and my parent's wanted us to go thru as little change as possible. I never worried nor was embarrassed about living in that house. In fact, I have a lot of fond memories from there. My mother cleaned houses and business offices at night to help with the income. She pinched, poked and squeezed every penny. I remember one time she went to Kroger when they were tripling coupons and saved $100.00! She was so excited and I had know clue why. But now I realize that meant there was a little extra that month and I am sure instead of spending it on herself she bought us something. And the economy was no better then than it is now. We always had clothes, and not that it matters, but cute clothes. We never did without. We might not have had everything we wanted but we had everything we needed and then some. My mother was always there for parties at school and for softball and basketball games. We always had way too many gifts at Christmas. My father worked a second job some Christmases just to make sure and he mowed lawns in the summer for extra money. Not long ago, Mom got a promotion and Dad quit mowing yards. I got a little teary eyed when I found out because I new what it meant. It meant that no longer did my parents have to worry about money. I never felt the stress of not having enough money and I know my parent's stressed in secret so we wouldn't worry. Now my parent's get to travel and splurge! I ask Mom a lot how they did it raising a family of five on one tight income. She says she never worried that there wouldn't be enough money for the necessities. She knew Dad would work 3 jobs if he had to. So, for some that think that they are doing a horrible job at motherhood, here are some words of wisdom. Not from me, but things I have learned from my parents. Tell your children you love them often. Sometimes to the point that they are sick of hearing it. Make memories everyday with your children. Give out hugs and kisses like it is candy at Halloween. Teach them about the awesome love and power of God and that God does provide. He might not answer your prayers just the way you want them to be answered but the way that is best for you. Believe me, they will forget about the fact they didn't get every toy they asked for. But they will never forget the time and love you spent making them happy, healthy, children of God.

HELPPPPPP!!

This week has been crazy! I have seen Nick a total of about 3 hours since last Friday! He has been working major overtime. He worked twenty hours yesterday, got home at 3:30 this morning and just left to do it again today. I feel so sorry for him! Hopefully he will be able to get off in time for Gabby's first Halloween. I worked Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. I knew my day would be crazy Tuesday, so I left work an hour early just to catch a nap. Nanny's brother passed away and the funeral was in Oklahoma on Wednesday and Dad and her were flying out Tuesday afternoon. After running back into town to pick my niece, Kynsleigh up (she spent the day with us Tuesday and Wednesday) it was back to Nanny's to take her to the airport. Mom asked if I would make sure she packed everything she needed. The last time Nanny packed her own suitcase she left out most of the essential items: underwear, shirts, etc. They were only spending one night in Oklahoma so she didn't need much. She did pretty good packing everything she needed but for some reason she thought she needed 6 pairs of panty hose, 2 things of deodorant and 4 hair nets. She reminds me of when I was little. I would get mad at Mom and Dad and tell them I was running away. I grabbed my " Going to Grandma's" suitcase and filled it with doll clothes. Every time, Mom would sit me down and tell me she needed to make sure I packed enough warm clothes. By the time she got done going thru the suitcase I had forgotten why I was mad and the whole running away thing was over. Anyway, I had called Nanny and told her I was bringing her lunch but when I got there , there was evidence of several candy bars that had been eaten and she had just opened a root beer. She refused to leave the root beer there and she tried stashing it in her purse for the plane. She thought she would be able to hide it from security. Can you imagine them finding an opened "beer" bottle in her purse? When we got to the airport we parked in the ten minute parking to wait for Dad. As she sat there and stared at the timer she said, " You know, when I was born those people would have never guessed something like this would ever be invented." Was she amazed that there were massive machines with engines flying thru the sky? No, that little timer kept her fascinated till Dad got there. I felt so sorry for Dad. They had a long flight with a two hour lay over and Nanny was hyped on candy bars. He did text me and tell me that Nanny swears she is able to see tractors driving from cruising altitude. I knew her eye sight was good, just not that good. After another day of taking care of two wild girls, Wednesday I was beginning to feel what it was like to be a single mother. I didn't realize how much Nick helps out. So if anyone would like a wild child I would probably be temped to give her away. Atleast for a few hours. I was able to take a few pictures of Gabby in her Halloween costume before she had a complete come apart. Doesn't she look so cute? The other picture was one of her fall pictures taken by my cousin. I love it! She looks so big with her hand on her hip.

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer

Nick surprised me with tickets to the Alabama- Ole Miss game a few weeks ago. We debated on taking Gabby but when we found out we would have to pay full price for a ticket for her we decided to wait till she is older to experience it. So, Saturday we woke up bright and early, dropped Gabby off at my sister's house in Birmingham(thanks for keeping her sis!) and then headed for T-TOWN! We got there just in time to see the players entering the stadium. I love to be down there on game day! Nick is a huge, HUGE Tide fan and when we're down there I can relate. I watch the games on T.V. but it doesn't compare to being in Bryant-Denny. Last year I went with him to homecoming. I was five months pregnant and miserable. Saturday it was a lot better. I don't know if it was the weather or the fact that I could walk 10-feet without feeling sick! We had just enough time to grab a bite, take a quick walk around the quad, and catch up with David and his tailgating crew before entering the stadium for the game. We had great seats! Of course we had the crazy drunks that kept pulling booze out of their bras. And beside us sat Nick and I in the future. It was a couple in their mid 50's that were Bama fanatics. They go to every game and every time we scored they kissed. My plan is to do travel nursing once Nick retires. He told me Saturday that I would have to find a job in Tuscaloosa during football seasons. It was a close game but that just made it even better.

Nanny

I think part of this story happened before I began blogging. If I blogged this part, sorry about the repeat. Nanny and my cousin were going to a family reunion in Kansas. My grandmother used to religiously go get her hair washed and set every Saturday but now she said she read somewhere that girls are to wash their hair every two weeks and boys every week. Anyway, I was washing and curling her hair before they left for the reunion. As always, I was joking with her about finding a man. She made the comment she would look at the reunion for a boyfriend. I knew she didn't realize what she was saying so I reminded her these people were her relatives. She laughed and said, "Yeah, we wouldn't be able to have kids if we were related." Yeah, like an 87 year old really needs to worry about birth control! Well, here is the connection from that story to her latest. My grandmother thinks she has found out what she has been suffering from and the whole reason she got her license taken away. She says she is suffering from Post-Partum Depression or in her words, the "Baby Blues". Her baby is 52. She can not except the fact that she is 87 years old!! My grandmother won't die from an illness or old age. No, she will die from something crazy. I can see the headlines, " 120 year old woman plummets to death when sky diving accident goes wrong". Mom said the other night as they were driving down the road my grandmother looked up at the moon and said, "That moon is going almost as fast as we are! Oh! It almost hit that tree!"

Just few quick funnies. Kynsleigh has always been curious when it comes to me nursing Gabby while I am at my mother-in-laws. We call it, "BA BA", so I just tell her Gabby is getting some

BA BA. Recently, Kynsleigh has been really into taking care of her baby dolls. Rocking them, changing their diapers,and of course, giving them BA BA!!

And what do you do when your aunts comes to visit and Mommy and Daddy go out on a date?

You break out the hairspray and hair paint of course!!

Fun on the Farm

Last Saturday, Meredith and the girls came up for the weekend. I had heard about a pumpkin patch in Taft, TN called, Lyon Family Farms. I HIGHLY recommend it for kids of any age. Mom, Shana, me and Gabby, Meredith, the girls and of course Nanny went. When Mom told her how much admission was, Nanny said she would just sit in the car. But when we got there Nanny was talked in to it. The first activity we saw was called the "Cow Train". Basically, it was a lawn mower pulling 55 gallon drums cut in half. When the teenagae boy driving informed Meredith and I we could ride with our kids, Nanny decided she wanted to go along for the ride.She let us know real quick she was getting her money's worth.

So Mom and Shana decided, after much encouragement, that they needed to ride too. Can you imagine the looks we got riding around the farm in that? I cried I laughed so much! After that the girls played in the "Corn Wagon", it was a wagon full of corn kernels,they played on the swings and the inflatable wagon. I was hesistant when Mom put Gabby in the corn wagon, but she never tried to put the corn in her mouth and she had a blast!

Once again.....................

Nanny decided to get her money's worth. I tried explaining that this was a day for the kids, but she would not listen. Later she told me she would have gone down the big slide but the there were too many stairs. She did however actually get lost in the corn maze. We just let her wander for awhile and she finally found her way out. Finally, we got on the hay ride and rode out to the field to pick some pumpkins. After much searching..........................

Gabby found the perfect ones!!!

After the tractor dropped us back off at the farm, we played on the slide some more and went to see the animals. They have a section where they have a few animals to pet and then inside the barn are bigger animals to look at. We had a blast! We also had three, okay four if you count Nanny, tired girls. After bath and supper, they all went right to sleep.

When it rains it pours

Can I just say, I told me so? Wednesday we called the plumber to come fix the leak under our kitchen sink. We found out we had a leak in the wall between our kitchen and bathroom. After Nick had to cut a hole in the wall and the cabinet, we found that the leak had ruined the sub-floor under the cabinets and in the bathroom So, we had to bust up the slate tile (we just put down about two years ago) and bust the ceramic tile up to fix the leak and replace the sheet rock. The ceramic tile was that original 1960's powder blue so no big loss there but we really weren't at a place in life to be able to do a remodeling job on our kitchen and bathroom. We also have to replace the cabinets. We were going to go ghetto and just replace the bottom cabinets but after talking to the cabinet guy we decided we might as well replace all of them. I know what you are thinking. Your insurance will pay for that. Guess again. The lovely people at Cotton State Insurance company denied the claim because it wasn't a "sudden accidental" leak. I explained that the leak that lead us to find the major leak was "sudden accidental" . I have gotten nowhere so far. We thought we would be moved out of this house by the time we have our next child but the way things are going why would we want to leave? We will have a new kitchen and bathroom. Dave Ramsey has ruined my life!! It just seems like ever since we took that class everything around us is crumbling. Dave, I don't think a $1000.00 emergency fund is going to fix this one, buddy. I am beginning to agree with my husband. It is easy for Dave to sit and judge when he is getting rich off me. How ironic is it that we pay money, money that we apparently don't have, to have some guy tell us how to save money? Tonight is the first night we have stayed here since Wednesday. Gabby must have missed her bed because she went right to sleep when Nick put her to bed. So, please pray for us. It is very stressful to be living in a construction site. It really test your marriage. Maybe that is what I will do. Write a book titled," Survive This, Survive a Marriage". Kind of a workbook type deal filled with scenarios. Example: You just brought your child home from the hospital to find your washer and dryer are broken. What do you do? You sit down to email pictures of your new baby and realize your computer has 12 viruses. Your husband gets in his truck to go buy a new washer and dryer and software to fix the viruses and his check engine light comes on and you find out it is something major. What do you do. Your husband works full-time and goes to school and you are fixing to go back to school, when you realize your "dripping" faucet is a mask to a wall full of soaked drywall and ruined floor. What do you do? I think I would prevent a lot of divorces because couples wouldn't survive my workbook and never get married. I hope I don't sound too negative. :) Lori, sorry for dissin' your man, Dave.

How come when one thing goes bad it seems so many others follow? Just this morning as Rebekah and walked and tried to solve all the world's problems as we always do, we discussed finances.We both agree that although staying home with our children, life would be easier if we had and extra full time pay check coming in. I told her how it seems like everything has happened these last few months. We had our car tags due in August, Nick got a ticket for following too close, and we had to call the plumber for a $400 pipe repair. This morning as I was fixing Nick's breakfast, I ran the water in the kitchen sink and heard it dripping under the house!!! This was the new pipes, too! I 464, sorry that was Gabby (she just 8uuuuuuuuuuu woke up, has been asleep since 9:30 last night! :)I debated whether or not to even tell Nick about it before he went to work but I had to. That put a bad start to both of our mornings. 9;lp[5rf, sorry I am trying to type and entertain a 754, 7 month old .Plus, I am having to perform the drea9ded c67
\n balancing of the checkbook today! Monday night at work I heard someone singing a Christmas song! I just cringed in disgust. I should be looking forward to Gabby's firstgb j6tgbv Christmas. ;pp I am thinking I might just get her a computer keyboard since she is having so mu/ch fun with this one. yhy6g67hbnvhgbhhbgfv5rf7unbjbnnnnnnnnn. Oh well, the only thing to do is leave it in God's hands. Anyone need a typist? She doesn't know how to make coffee, can be a real stinker(diapers and air freshener included), and occasionally pulls hair, but as long as a nap can be worked into her schedule I think she would put a great asset to any company. Come to think of it, I think a demolition job would be more up her alley.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

It is finally here! My favorite time of year! Okay, I know I haven't blogged in a while but in my defense, I warned you. Plus, I have had a busy past few weeks. My father-in-law had a heart attack last Tuesday. He is okay, but it was a big scare for all of us. I will try to update you on the last few weeks.

Topic #1-Nanny

I can't believe the kind of fan base my grandmother has! I don't know how many people have asked when I am going to blog another Nanny story. You people think I add to her stories but I don't! This is 100% her! I went for her monthly house cleaning a few weeks ago. When I got there she had pictures covering her kitchen table and was staring intently at this one picture of our family reunion back in July. I asked what she was doing and she replied, " This picture frame isn't big enough for the picture so I am trying to decide who to cut out." Who knew they made picture frames in only one size. Do you see now why I do the thing I do for my grandmother? One wrong move and I am cut out of the family picture. She also found her Oklahoma driver's license from 1951. Look out Limestone County PD. I have a feeling she is going to try to use it to drive since she failed Alabama's driver's test. When I was leaving I jokingly (not really, I was pretty serious) told her not to be chasing after any boys. She used to tell me that when I was in high school. She informed there would be no boy chasing, just men chasing and asked if I knew where any single ones were. I reminded her that she had a widower living next door. She said, " There wouldn't be much chasing going on there, he can barely walk! That wouldn't be any fun!" This past Friday night mom and dad took her grocery shopping. Dad was in the automotive section, when he looked up he saw my grandmother. When she realized he saw her she took off running, running NOT walking. To be 87 she can really book it. When they got to the car she realized she forgot to get cough medicine. He told her if she hadn't have been running from him she would have remembered. She said," I wasn't running, just walking fast." I remember using that defense when I was about 9! I really think she has gone back to her childhood.

Topic # 2-Gabriella

In the last few weeks she has gone from awkwardly scooting to crawling. She is trying to stand up but hasn't gotten very far. Soon I will have to baby proof the house. I am so amazed on how time has flown by. It seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Friday, since the weather was so nice, I took her to the park. After an hour of wrestling with her and calling Nick for reinforcement, I finally got some really good pictures. Well, I have got to go to work. Tomorrow is "Pajama Tuesday" and the only thing on my agenda is spending time with Gabby. I doubt I will get to blog but I promise Wednesday I will type an entry.

"Bring the Rain"

Today has been a frustrating day. As you can see she has learned to pull my glasses off. I think Gabriella may have let me put her down for a total of thirty minutes today. In the middle of piles of laundry I had been folding, I sat with a child clung to me and I began to worry about all the small, petty things that were bothering me. You know, bills, work, marriage, etc. And as Gabby began to use me as a jungle gym, I started to wonder if I would be happier working full time. My days are spent cleaning up spit up and poop, I scramble to get laundry done and the house cleaned and find something for supper. I have no adult conversation for the majority of the day. The conversations I do have are with a six month old and consist of "You pooped again!" or "I'm gonna get your belly!" And after all my time spent, Nick walks through the door and Gabby starts crying for him. I am ashamed to admit that I was jealous of Nick getting a "break" two weekends in a row. Here I was just wanting five minutes to myself, and he was getting days! After Gabby went to bed, I began reading emails and catching up on blogs. I just happened to remember a friend from work telling me about a lady starting a blog right after she found out her fourth child would be born with several terminal illnesses. I decided to just scroll through her blog and catch the highlights. Fortunately, when I got to her blog it was so long I had to start from the beginning. I got through one entry before I began to break down crying. Here I was, all day long grumbling because my daughter wanted me to hold and love on her all the time. Here I was doubting whether or not staying home with her was the right place for me and this woman sat pouring her heart out to whoever would listen about how God had blessed her and would be with her and her family through this difficult time. After I dried my eyes, I crept into Gabby's room, picked her up, and rocked her. I thanked God for giving me such a wonderful, spunky, beautiful daughter. As I sat staring at her, I couldn't help but cry thinking of how she is the product of an amazing love I have for Nick. God gave me the answer to all my small and petty worries. I am right where I need to be. My job is molding Gabriella into a smart, kind, God-fearing little girl. For anyone who wants to read the amazing story, Google, Bring the rain. It puts everything in perspective.

Weekend Wonderland

After walking with Rebekah Friday morning, I ran home and took a shower, dropped a pie off at a work, and stopped at the farmer's market, all before going to Cullman to meet my older sister at 7:30 in the morning! I brought the girls to Nana's for the weekend. So, Friday I had a three year old, one year old and a six month old. Talk about a handful! Ramah and Gabby refused to nap at the same time and Anja refused a nap all together. On the way to Nana and Poppy's they all passed out. Saturday, Nick went to the Alabama/Clemson game so Gabby and I hung out with my family. Just as we were getting ready to leave for Chuck E. Cheese, I got a phone call from Rachel, Rebekah's sister. Apparently my grandmother called her at 10:00 o'clock Friday night, after we just dropped her off at her house, wanting Rachel to take her to the grocery store. Mom and Dad told her they would take her Saturday. Rachel has been dealing with kitchen remodeling on top of her mother and wife duties. Plus, she had to get someone to watch Aaron while she took Nanny to the store. I'm sure she didn't have time for Nanny drama! On top of that, Nanny did her usual "runaway" bit once they got to Wal-Mart so what was supposed to be forty-five minutes turned into an hour and a half! Good thing Rachel called and Dad headed to town to get her, because once Dad got back to Nanny's house she realized she had forgotten her key! They would have been locked out and we would have been in Decatur. So, I am sorry Rebekah and Rachel, but it looks like Nanny has decided to invite you into "her world" Enjoy the crazy ride!

Diet Coke Wishes and Chicken Sandwich Dreams

Since my parents are on a cruise, I took supper to my grandmother tonight after church. Of course out of all the places to eat in Athens, she wanted McD's. As I was watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics, my grandmother asked," Are those men just painted or are they made out of stone?" She was referring to the Asian men dancing that were painted in white. I just looked at her and asked, "Nanny, what do you think?" Later, she informed me that my television would stop working in the year 3000 and I would have to get a new one. I am sure she has been seeing those commercials about T.V. stations going digital next year, but I just told her I didn't care I would be long gone before the year 3000, besides I am sure I would have needed a new television by then anyway. As I watched her put her tomato and cheese, (cheese she sliced herself because sliced cheese is too expensive), onto her sandwich I remembered something from my childhood. We lived just north of Birmingham until I was about five. After that we would take turns during the summer going and staying with my grandmother who still lived there. Every day we would go to Hardee's and every day my grandmother would pack her lettuce, tomato, and cheese before making the two mile trip to go eat. I always wondered why Hardee's didn't offer lettuce, tomato, and cheese on their burgers. I remember thinking I was going to make that suggestion one day and then I would be rich! Not until years later did I realize that Hardee's served lettuce, tomato, and cheese everyday! My grandmother was just too cheap to spend the fifty cents extra to add it to her sandwich. I remember turning around and going back to her house because she realized that she forgot that precious little Tupperware container that held her garnishes inside. She still has that container and still fills it and puts it in her purse when she goes to McDonald's. I don't know if I have told you but when my aunt got sick and came to stay with my grandmother, she forwarded her mail to my grandmother's house. A few weeks after this took place my parents decided to get the mail forwarded to their house (six houses down) because they were paying my aunt's bills and Nanny would get the mail and then lose it. They still have my grandmother's mail forwarded to their house. They are taking care of her bills and it just makes since. It's not like they keep things from her, they just sort the bills and then give her the rest. Anyway, a few weeks ago my parent's found out that my grandmother was walking up the their house and stealing the mail. She got caught because she asked if I received an invitation to a family reunion and said that she and my parents had. My parents never saw the invitation. Well, tonight as I was leaving I told her I was going to go get the newspaper from my parents' driveway. As she was walking back inside she yelled,"If you see any mail up there steal it and bring it to me!" I am beginning to think I should be scared of this woman because as she gets older she gets more sneaky! Okay, there is my Nanny story for the night! This week my DH has been working so hard on our dining room! He has the light fixtures, baseboard and crown molding left and then we can move everything in the room. Thank you Nick for taking your vacation and doing this! Well, I better finish up! Rebekah and I are going waking at five again!

Okay, this will be quick since I told Rebekah I would get up and walk with her at five in the morning. We did it today and I have to say......It was great. Starting your day off like that kind of puts the rest of the day into the right motion. Since my first couple of weeks of Weight Watchers has been a flop (I gained 3 pounds!) I have to do something drastic. Since I have someone counting on me it makes it easier to get out of bed. Tomorrow we brave Northtown. I seriously thought about going to Walmart and buying some pepper spray. Other than the walk, my day has been spent cleaning up after Gabby and helping Nick's parents get their rental property ready to rent. If I don't blog anymore you know it is the result of walking in the semi-bad part of Athens in the dark. Pray for us!! :}

Daddy's Night Out

Saturday was my friend Amanda's baby shower and since her husband and Nick are cousins, Nick's great-grandmother was there. So, Gabby got to meet her great-great-grandmother! Wow, five generations! After the shower we headed to Priceville for a car show Nick had been wanting to see. It was at the Veteran's park and the weather was so nice. I really didn't think I would have a good time but I did! It really doesn't matter where we are as long as we are spending time together and not fighting! It was so funny, Nick grabbed my camera before we left the house. I asked him if he wanted me to blog about it and he just grinned and said, "Well, I thought you might want to." For somebody who thought this was stupid he sure has been checking my blog a lot! So, I am going to try to post a slide show from the car show. I call it, "Nick's Picks". If we had a lot of money these would be the cars he would rebuild. He also told Gabby to pick a type of car she wanted her Daddy to rebuild. By the way, Nick and i decided to change churches. We are now members of the , " Nature's Trail Church " for sportsman. Really, it is a real church, check my slide show. Not really that we are changing churches. Or we might change to the First United Methodist Church of Priceville. They were passing out free bottles of "living water". Nick asked me if this made us members. Afterwards, we met Aunt Shana for supper and then went to see Gabby's Great-Grandmother Keenum. That is who is in the picture. I guess Nick will get to pick our next date since this one went as well as it did. So Nick,I had fun with you baby!! Since I know you are hooked on my blog !! HAHA!

My name is Bond....Gabby Bond

I guess being around those big kids today made Gabby think she was a big girl too! When I turned around to grab a diaper she decided to scale the changing table. It won't be very long till this chick is crawling. Pray for me!

FRIDAY FREE-4-ALL

This afternoon Marian called to see if I could keep the kids while they spent some quality time with Caleb. As soon as the kids got here they hit the door to play outside. Not long after that, Daniel told me we needed to get in my car and go to McDonald's. Since we didn't have enough seats for everybody and 4 kids at a restaurant just didn't appeal to me, they settled on a pizza being delivered to the house.

I bravely agreed to let the boys paint.....

while Whitney played dress up with the Barbies.

After pizza, playing on the swing set, and taking turns riding around the yard on the four wheeler ( aren't we rednecks!), we heard a faint noise in the distance.

I C E C R E A M !!!

The kids had never had this experience before, so of course they had to get some. It reminded me of when I was little and the ice cream truck came to our neighborhood.

Wow! It looks like a tough job being a kid!

dAzEd & CoNfUsEd

Today I helped Mom and Dad out by taking Nanny to her last eye doctor's appointment after her cataract surgery. First of all, as long as I can remember this woman has worn glasses, all the time. It has only been recently that I have learned that the only thing she needs them for is reading! She has 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/25 in the other w/out glasses! But she insists that now she needs to go get her eyes checked for new glasses. After the appointment she needed to go to Wal-Mart for some groceries. I, being the good grand-daughter I am, told her I would let her out up front then park and meet her inside. It took me twenty minutes to find the woman! What was I thinking?!?! This 87 year old woman litteraly was sprinting thru the store. After I found her it was if I had said, " Okay Nanny, ready, set, go!" Here I was trying to steer a buggy with one hand, throwing what I needed in the buggy with the other, and trying to hang on to Gabby with both, while she took off in front of me. All of this for a half gallon of milk and cough drops. But, one good thing came from this experience. I have found the secret of living forever and looking young. Are you ready?? King size candy bars. Last time I was at her house there were 3 in her freezer and mom says she buys a hand full every time they take her to the grocery store. She bought two today. I know now how she can sprint thru Wal-Mart. She complains that she hasn't been able to sleep lately. Hmmm...could living off chocolate be the reason?? After Wal-Mart we had to go by McDonald's for a $ 1 "chicken biscuit" AKA a chicken sandwich. Imagine our conversation when she found out that they have raised the price of a chicken sandwich to $ 1.29. Oh McDonalds, you have lost a lot of business. She stopped going to Hardee's because they increased the price on their senior citizen drinks. I don't know where she will go now. Finally, we headed back to my house. After she caught me up on Dr. Phil and Britney Spears, yes my grandmother knows all about Britney, she played with Gabby, we ate supper and then I took her home. She says one of her magazines talks about Britney all the time. Now, the last time I checked neither Reader's Digest nor Caper's Weekly discussed the all important topic of Britney.

Weekend Update

Saturday I spent the first part of the day with Nick's family helping make egg rolls. His mom makes some awesome egg rolls! My sister came up to Athens for her high school reunion. While her and her friend were at the reunion, mom, dad, Shana and I took: Gabby, Kynsleigh, Ramah, Anja, Chloe, and Hayden to the Kiddie Carnival. In short, 6 kids 3 and under. I am telling you.....that would be like the best birth control ever! Take some of these teenagers to a place like that and give them 6 kids to look after. It is making me rethink having anymore kids! They really were pretty good. The three oldest kids became instant buddies. Hopefully, I will have some pics to post in a couple of days. I have got to get Rebekah to teach me how to do a slide show. Sunday, Gabby and I met my family at the park for lunch. While we were there the ice cream truck came by. Since Anja had never experienced the whole "ice cream truck" thing, I told her I would buy her some. When we got up to the truck she decided Ramah needed her own. She thinks she is sooooo grown! When she was walking away the ice cream guy asked how old she was. I told him three and then Anja whipped around and put that hand on her hip and said, " I am fixing to be 4 and 5!" She just turned 3 at the end of April!! I think she is going on 13 though. The whole high school reunion thing got me really thinking. I HAVE GOT TO LOSE WEIGHT!!! The egg rolls were a nice parting gift to all the rich and fattening foods. So, starting tomorrow I am really going to get serious about it. I am going to start Weight Watchers and start going to the Wellness Center again. I have had a membership for over a year and have hardly used it. Silly me just thought I could buy a membership and the weight would melt off! :) So, feel free to ask how I am doing that will be good motivation. Unless you are like skinny and beautiful.

Invitation Aggravation

Okay, I warned you in the beginning that I was not good at keeping up with stuff like this. I am going to try to recap the last few weeks in these next few blogs. The main thing that has kept me away is my invitation drama. I am helping throw a baby shower for a friend of mine and it was my job to do the invitations. I thought it would be an easy job. I wanted them to be unique so I planned on having a picture of the ultrasound on the invitation. Yeah.....it was going to be around fifty bucks to do that. Then, I had a copying company do it. Thirty bucks and there ended up being some errors on the invitations so I had to go back and since they could not get them done in my time frame I was back to the drawing board. Luckily, my sister and a friend of hers stepped in and did them but you know what?? After all their hard work I realized that I had given them the wrong address!! After a quick label over the address they ended up looking great! Thanks Shana and Shannon! I can happily say that I am DONE with the invitations! Last weekend the boys came to spend the night. It amazes me how much they have grown! We took them to Cracker Barrel for some "pannycakes" and then to the Kiddie Carnival. I don't know what it is about that place that I love. I think it is the small town atmosphere. Running in to everyone you know and seeing all the kids get so excited about riding on a junky--I mean "antique" carnival ride just their size. I can't wait till Gabby is old enough to enjoy it. We enjoyed the weekend with the boys. I wish we could do it more often. This picture was taken at about eleven o'clock at night. I don't know if they were being their normal silly selves or if lack of sleep played a part. You be the judge.

Glued to the Tube!

By the way.... I just had to show this picture. Since we bought our new car, Gabby HATES her car seat. She screams the whole time. So, I decided to see if she would like to watch a movie. She expects it now! She just sits there and looks at me after I buckle her in like, "Ok mom, where is my movie?" Yes, I know I am a horrible mother! But, I have already had a handful of older mothers who have said if they had portable DVD players when their children were little they would have done the same thing. Hey, at least it is an educational movie! Only because I don't have "Sponge Bob" on DVD..... yet!

Triple Trouble!

Saturday I went to a family reunion with my parents and grandmother. I wouldn't have gone, but they were headed down to my older sister's house afterwards. I just had to see those girls! I don't get to see two of my nieces enough. Gabby has got some toughin' up to do! Ramah, the one year old, thought Gabby was her personal baby doll. She just loved on her the whole afternoon. Mom and Dad took Anja to see my mom's mom so I stayed at the house with Gabby and Ramah. It was another one of those situations that made me really, REALLY not one another child until Gabby is at least three! Oh, by the way, my sister called this afternoon. Ramah has strep throat. So, Rebekah, I don't know if it bounced from me to you or if I am at a double threat to get it. Luckily, it is very unlikely that Gabby can get it at this age. That is the last thing I need right now. Sunday we got a phone call from Huntsville Hospital. My uncle is dying so they called the family in. This has been so stressful on my parents! His wife passed away in January and my parents have been dealing with all their finances and the care of my uncle who has had Alzheimer's for the last several years. My sisters and I bought my parents a cruise for their anniversary this year. I hope they get some well deserved R & R. Well, I am fixing to head to work. I switched with a girl last night so I could go to the pot luck. Besides the heat, it was really nice. I enjoyed getting a little break from holding Gabby. She is such a "mama's girl" lately! But, I don't think I would have it any other way!