Guest Blogger!

Hi everybody! It's Sinead--Fiona's sister. Fiona gave me the keys to her blog, and rather than wreck havoc and cause trouble, I figured I'd share some pics that I took of her gorgeous and hilarious kiddos today. I came down to LaGrange for the weekend and spent the best morning with Fiona, Mary Maddox, and Grady. We had such fun running around the yard at Gran and Papa's house, and of course we had to spend some time on the playground there.

How could you resist this gorgeous face? I mean, come on!

Grady was being particularly cooperative with me, so he was my predominant photographic subject today. Maggie (my oldest) is so tired of her paparazzi mommy that she usually just runs away or gives me this kind of face

when she sees me coming with the camera. Not Mary Maddox and especially Grady--they were all smiles for me. Maybe it was just that it was a different person behind the camera. At any rate, enjoy! :) (oh, and some of these are overexposed, but I still like the image. I just got a new lens--50mm f/1.8 prime--and I'm still in the process of figuring it out.)


I wish wish wish that this one wasn't overexposed, but alas... Sweet Grady. I could just eat him up!


Doesn't he just look like he's ready to get into the middle of something? :)

I already said that he was being cooperative, right?

and not to be outdone--Miss Mary Maddox had to get in on the paparazzi thing, too!

That's enough from me. Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger, Fiona! You need to return the favor on my blog some time! We had a blast with you guys, too! love you!

Feel free to stop by my blog and say hello, too! :) You know you want to!

sinead

so excited!

we got tickets to go to a vip lunch and book signing by paula deen! i am so excited! you think that we will hit it off and become best friends and and she will want me to come to savannah and be on tv with her???...yeah, i doubt it too, but one can dream can't i!

i am super excited though! i love paula!

http://www.metrocooking.com/

happy 1st birthday hailey!

we went to my niece's (john's brother, steve and his wife amber's little girl) 1st birthday party today. it was really fun...

hailey wasn't so sure about the cake at first...

it didn't take her long to figure out it was yummy!

here are john's parent's 3 grandchildren...they were really good all day even though...


this is what we had to sit through on the way home...it was like a parking lot on 85 south bound. it was awful. thank God i was armed with snacks, juice and a messy car with lots of toy options! (not to mention the best in law's anyone could ask for!)

heart day!

i hope that y'all had a terrific valentine's day! we did!

mm & grady made valentine's for their friends. they said, "i love you to pieces!"


the pieces were everywhere!


here was my valentine...a suprise dinner cooked by my sweet husband. he came home early...cleaned up "the pieces" and cooked me brussel sprouts! my favorite!


he also got me some wine...because he knows me so well, he picked out the wine with the cutest label! i hope you got to spend your valentine's with someone just as sweet!

a revelation...

i have had a revelation tonight...i have been struggling with mary maddox and grady lately. i am not sure if it is just a tough age for them, or that they are so close in age, or if it is that i have been doing so much with them since john has been studying, or maybe it's that i am just not patient enough. whatever the reason, tonight i realized something...these two kids of mine are amazing! i need to open up my eyes and never forget that it is my job to love, nurture, protect, mold, and teach these little brilliant people.

so, what led me to this revelation, might you ask? we went to our montessori open house tonight. mm is in the toddler class this year and will be moving to the primary class next year and grady will be in the toddler class. we went to visit and i spent 2 hours there in total awe. i couldn't believe that the two wild children that i walked in with were the ones that i watched in these classrooms. grady was going to get activities off of the shelf and sitting down to play with them. mm was so independent and worked her way around her class showing me how she was learning what animals go with what letters and the sounds that they make and learning her continents! (by the way, we live in north world, which i thought was so fitting!) i couldn't believe what i was seeing. it made me realize that i shouldn't be frustrated by the kids...they are just kids...i should be frustrated with me! now...the challenge will be fixing it!

little brains like this one are so much more efficient then mine (and most adults) which gets all foggy with the stuff that isn't really that important.


p.s. - i am sorry for the heavy post...i am sure i will be back tomorrow with the usual stuff!

a toddler's valentine's day

paper - $3.00
paint - $5.00
wipes - $2.50
clorox - $3.50
high chair - $19.00
entertaining toddlers on a sunday morning by painting valentines that go from this...

to this...

to this...

to this...

to this...

to this...

to this...

to this...?


...priceless!

will's party

Here are some pics from will's birthday party...we had a really good time!


love this picture! this is will and his paw paw (i think that is what they call him) anyway, this is aimee's dad teaching will how to fish...without water, without bait...without fish, but it is not the sweetest thing ever?!


i see a promising career here...

"BREAKER-BREAKER 429!"

"10-4 GOOD BUDDY!"

happy birthday will!

happy birthday to my nephew will! i love this picture of him.

we called him tonight to wish him happy birthday. it is always hilarious when 2/3 yr olds get on the phone. mm wished him happy birthday and talked about the most random stuff...whenever she talks to her cousins (will or maggie) she gets this really goofy voice. she shouts into the phone "will/maggie you're kidd'n me!" she has a big belly laugh and says "mommy, will/maggie is a silly billy!" i can't wait to get our new video camera to capture it! hilarious!

anyway, happy 3rd birthday will...we love you. we had a great time at your party this weekend. (more pictures to come, my camera's battery died)

snack day

it was our turn to bring snacks to montessori the other day...i tried to be so good and make apple raisin muffins...the first (tester) batch turned out great. the second batch was awful! i don't know what happened. good thing that i bought some back up raisin bread! we also had to bring oranges, so i bought mm and g's favorite clementine's. these are the best oranges and apparently you can only get them around christmas time. anyway, they are small, sweet and easy to peel...unless you are peeling enough for the whole class! yikes!


grady-bug was really cute. after we ate dinner, i asked the kids if they wanted to help mommy make muffins. usually when we are cooking, mm always wants to help and grady comes in and out of the kitchen...mm was helping me measure and mix everything together when grady comes walking into the kitchen so proud...he had taken the tester muffins that i made the night before and squeezed them out of their wrappers, put them on a toy cookie sheet and put them in mm's little stove. i couldn't believe it! bobby, emeril, tyler, or jamie don't have anything on my muffin man!

are you a....

this is a new term that i love...i ran across it on a blog in which i am a blurker...so let's resolve this...if you are a blurker, welcome. i am glad you are here...leave a comment and you will be a blurker no more! i promise to start leaving evidence on the blogs that i read so they know that i love reading their stories, getting ideas, finding new sites or blogs.

by the way, this is not to make anybody feel guilty if you are a blurker. i hope that you enjoy this little blog of mine...as long as you aren't creepy...if you are creepy, please don't come back! and if you aren't creepy, i just am curious who you are...maybe you have a blog that i can blurk!

happy baby dap!

my sweet friend daphne is having a baby! she might be the funniest person i know. she runs an assisted living community in montgomery, and has the most incredible stories! sweet bo will be laughing all the time with his mama! congrats dap! we love you!

well...that's okay.

hello all...i am sorry that i haven't been posting lately. i am so tired that i usually fall asleep when i am putting the kids down, so needless to say, i haven't had much computer time.

we were super worried about what to tell mm about molly...how do you explain something like that to a 2 yr old? finally i told her that mm wasn't going to be coming back from the dr...she said, well...that's okay! aren't kids amazing?! she still doesn't really get it though. yesterday she said that molly was at the playground and she would come back tuesdays and thursdays! (those are the days that she goes to montessori)

so when things aren't going so hot...just think like a 2 yr old...well, that's okay. and it will be, no matter what is happening, we will all be okay!