fiona&co

paper plane t-shirt for grady

2011-03-24T22:33:00.004-04:00

so here is a paper airplane t-shirt that i made for grady for this contest. i apologize that is in not ironed, but come on...i have an antsy 4 year old, fading light, and excited dog to contend with! who has time to heat up the iron!

detail of the shirt

super detail of the stitching

detail of the plane. i liked the rough edges of this. i think it will be even better after a few washings!

airplane on mommy's feet

getting ready for blast off

"mommy, i thought you said only 2 more!" or... is he from europe and is trying to tell me something that we americans only do with 1 finger?

so, hello there friends. i know that i haven't blogging in a while...ahem 2 years...and i am sorry to disappoint you, but this isn't really a real post either. i am entering a t-shirt that i made for grady into a contest on a blog that i read, i am momma hear me roar. if it makes you feel any better, now that i am writing this, i really do miss the late night cataloging our crazy lives! i can't say that i will start back, but i have made those empty promises before...let's just all be surprised if it happens!

in case you have been missing these cuties...

2009-07-28T23:00:00.003-04:00

we have been having a lot of fun as silly amphibians

and chip pirates

looking into the past

2009-07-28T22:48:00.004-04:00

so i have seen this a couple places and have had it in my mind that i wanted to try to do something like this in lagrange. i want to do grady's room so i was searching for old photographs of lagrange on google...i was really looking for an old pic of charlie joseph's, but couldn't find anything...google lead me to troup county archives website which had tons of old pics. i looked through all of them and almost fell out of the chair when i saw 309 waverly way pop up! there was actually 2 pics, one from 1936, right after our house was built and one from 1939. it was awesome seeing how much it was so much the same and how much it has changed...

get dirty!

2009-06-21T22:00:00.005-04:00

we did it...we finished the 2009 atlanta muddy buddy! and, if i do say so myself, we did really well! i was really proud of myself...i really worried that i was not going to make it and let pelham down.

what is muddy buddy you ask? it is a 10k run and bike with a buddy. each buddy starts running or biking and comes to an obstacle, both complete the obstacle and switch...you continue leap frogging each other until the finish line that is complete with a mud pit that you crawl through with your buddy. (by the way, this trail is part of the 1996 olympic mountain bike trail..yikes!)

here is the proof!here we are at the beginning...see how clean we were!

we were VERY nervous.

here i am finishing before the mud pit.

and here is the pit...apparently we were supposed to crawl on our bellies and not on our knees...oh well! pel decided to crab crawl.

here is some of the group that pelham runs with in south ga.

john was so sweet and got up at 5am and drove with the kids to cheer us on. it was awesome to see them along the trail. they were even dressed in hot pink for us! we signed mm up for the mini muddy buddy, but after she saw everyone going in the mud, she decided that it was not for her! they didn't even want to give us a hug. it was so funny!

until next year!!!

by the way, this is the mud before...looks innocent enough doesn't it?!

all dressed up...

2009-06-07T08:49:00.004-04:00

and some place to go...we went to a beautiful wedding last night so we had to put on our finest! if i do say so myself, i think that we cleaned up pretty nice. thank you beth and ken for inviting the kids...they thought that it was really special that they got to come to the wedding.

the kids only came to the reception for a little bit and then they were off to spend the night at grandmama's and grandaddy's. we were having fun in the grass while we waited for them. isn't this the cutest pic...they love each other SO much...can't you just see it in their eyes?

grady has come up with this really goofy smile. it is pretty funny...

love my cute family!!!

happy birthday mary maddox!

2009-05-25T23:51:00.005-04:00

4 years is the amount of time that this little person has been on this earth...i have known her forever. i can't wait to spend the rest of my life loving her.

we celebrated her birthday at montessori before the end of the year. it is a really neat ritual...the kids walk pictures from every year of their life around the sun. i am not sure that have seen a more excited child...it must be hard for her to wait all year and see all the other kids celebrating their birthday.

as you can see, she took being the line leader very seriously...her and amos aka "boyfriend"knew just want to do.

grady sat on line with mm and stayed after we left. she loved showing him off. i hope they always love each other this much.

we had her party today...we had an alice in wonderland theme. ms. bobbie was a hit!!!

have you ever seen a cuter alice?

happy birthday mary maddox, i love you!

the beach

2009-03-27T07:28:00.003-04:00

as so many of you have pointed out, I am WAY behind on this little blog. i have missed lots of birthday wishes which i will catch up on...so without further udo, here are some pictures from the beach.

mom just celebrated her 60th birthday...happy birthday mom!!

the weather was bad, but we still had a great time...grady tried to drag dad into the ocean!

this is unusual...the kids didn't mind posing for me!

and another!
love this one!maggie and mm playing in the sand...love those freckles!

our little friends...one of the 10 deadliest animals...porteguese man of wars! ...fortunatley they were babies.our little leprechans!

i am in love...

2009-01-12T22:16:00.002-05:00

with this little boy...

i can't help it...i want to eat him up...he has been saying the funniest things lately...here are few samples.

yesterday grady had a 3 1/2 hour nap...needless to say he was not at all sleepy at 8:30. it went something like this...
grady putting his head under the covers and being really still for a minute and then shouting...mommy! i am a camel! wiggle wiggle, giggle, giggle, fidget, fidget, and then back to the hiding camel. so i brought him downstairs so he wouldn't wake up mm. he laid with john for a while and continued with the wiggles, giggles, and fidgets. i finally decided enough was enough. i picked him up and brought him in the den to lay on the couch. after a few wiggles and giggles he looked out of the window and pointed to the moon and looked at me and said, "mommy, can you turn that light off?" i said, "grady, that isn't a light, it's the moon.." he said, "no mommy not the moon, that big circle light!" we laughed and he wiggled and giggled a little more. finally i said, "grady, if you weren't so cute, i might have to kill you" (please note, this was close to 10 o'clock!) he looked at me and said, "not today, mommy, tomorrow!"

and then the kicker was this conversation...

grady: i lergic for p-nuts.
me: no, grady, you are allergic to all nuts...peanuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans...
grady: ...donuts?

it was the cutest thing! he sounded so upset!!

the moral of the story i have starting writing all of these funny things that the kids say at the time they say it and i put it in a big jar in the kitchen. i don't want to forget all of these things!

happy new year!!!

2009-01-07T00:09:00.002-05:00

happy new year everyone...this is the last picture of 2008. please notice grady's hand on the baby doll's thigh...hopefully that is not a sign for the things to come in 2009!

and...here is the first picture of 2009...

mm woke up ready to start the new year...

grady...not so much!

december in a snapshot...or 10...

2009-01-06T23:26:00.004-05:00

so here is a run down of christmas...

we rode the pink pig...waiting in line for santa...got out of line for santa...

went to callaway gardens to see santa...waited 10 minutes, but had to listen to santa scold his elves because they didn't close the line good enough and it was time for his hourly break, that lasts and hour...
mm had a christmas program at montessori to which she wore a tank top...(this changing after she is out of the house is starting WAY too early! thankfully she had a jacket at school that they made her wear...THANK GOD!! please notice all of the cute outfits on the other children)

a second program at daycare the same day...please notice the cute shirt that we forced her to put back on. (as a side note for future reference...it was 76 degrees this day)

a terrific carousel ride in the valley...who knew this was here!! it was super fun, but cold!

mm decided to ditch her hat...boy, we are going to have issues when she is a teenager if she is this opinionated about her attire at 3...eek!

we left milk and cookies for santa, carrots for the reindeer, suckers for ollie (our elf on the shelf), and da ta da da...all of the kids binks for all the babies all over the world that need them. santa was so kind to deliver them for us and we didn't even have to pay postage!

when i downloaded my pictures on christmas morning i found this one...santa must have been playing with my camera...he must be in the market for a new one...or maybe he was doing market research for his elves...or maybe, he wanted ollie to see what he looks like from behind so he wouldn't end up like his boss!

here is the mess they left behind!

and here are my two little elves coming down the stairs. isn't it sweet that they are holding hands!so there you have it...christmas in a nutshell...in between we spent time with our wonderful family and friends who we are so thankful for! we love you all.

pop quiz

2008-12-12T00:37:00.002-05:00

i decided to post this picture because....

a) these are the cutest kids in america
b) i wish i was at the beach instead of here with this miserable weather
c) these are the cutest kids in america
d) i feel really guilty about not posting
e) i am trying distract myself since i don't really want to remind myself i haven't bought a single christmas present...
f) i am really good at procrastinating
g) i am really panicking inside since christmas is two weeks away and i haven't bought a single gift
h) these are the cutest kids in america
i) all of the above

ding...ding...ding! since you all got it right i will let you all play heads up seven up after recess...maybe you won't notice when i slip out and do all my christmas shopping...(panic, panic, panic!!

2008-11-30T00:41:00.005-05:00

yesterday mom asked me to go up into the attic to see if i could find the old barbies that sinead and i used to play with... i found 2 rubbermaid boxes of dolls...the first was babies dolls (by the way, we opened and closed that box really quickly because those dolls were stinky and scary!) the second box was the barbies. completely preserved and just as i had last left them. sinead and i had the best time going through them and it was amazing how quickly the memories of each one and their outfits came back to me...i spent the next hour pulling them out and taking pictures of them...i must say that this was fun! sinead then proceeded in bathing all of them and washing and conditioning their hair!

lauren muzekari and i spent HOURS with these! i remember that their names were always Alex and Sam (short for Alexander and Samantha, of course! I can't remember if those were my names or lauren's, but i remember them clearly!)

here are barbie and the rockers...notice the brunette's cute stacked bob...i went through a hair dresser stage...clearly i was years ahead of the trend that we are currently seeing! i am pretty sure that the dark headed guy in the picture was a new kid of the block!

this is the wedding party of naughty bride barbie (notice the sheer top). pictured left to right...spray tan gone bad barbie, clearly 80's barbie complete with gigantic lace collar, drop waist dress, and heavy blue eye shadow, naughty bride barbie, and peaches and cream barbie (her real name, dad gave her to me for my birthday one year as we were leaving to go to ireland) they are ready for the ceremony so they can do the running man at the reception.

sinead said that this was her first barbie...i couldn't resist pointed out how old she was compared to the rest!! (love you sinead!)

this is future girls next door barbie...i wish you could see her whole outfit...the jean skirt is a custom complete with buttons in the back! i am sure that it won't stay on long seeing that her shirt really is a bathing suit!

here are the barbie twins...

twin number 1 is not at all bitter that her eye lids have falling out, the hair plugs went wrong, and that her sister is totally hotter than her. she loves her so much that she doesn't mind wearing the same dress that she has had since 1971 while her sister gets to look hip going to her footloose audition!

here we have beauty pageant barbies...miss red head doesn't look too upset that miss ponytail too tight ripped her dress before the evening gown portion.

and last but not least here are the future barbies. in the box there was a note explaining that in the year 2008 barbie would only wear metallic fiber since she was able to produce her own personal energy.

i thought that rocker ken deserved a closeup...he reminds me of barbara walters.

ps, don't tell john, but i found an outfit just like this for john for christmas on black friday! it is all about business up front and party under the jacket! anyone seeking a cpa who appreciates a wears neon mesh shirt under his jacket and ribbon tie, call john at boatwright!!

happy birthday katie!

2008-11-30T00:36:00.003-05:00

obviously November is a busy birthday month for us...Friday was sweet Katie's. She is so cute...no matter what is happening she says "OH NO!"

something to hold you over...

2008-11-24T22:48:00.002-05:00

i have SO many projects going on right that i have been bad about blogging, but i am super excited about thanksgiving and spending some time with the fam...and i am working on a new series...not sure if it can beat the sleep series, but this one is fun!

sweet maggie

2008-11-24T22:21:00.003-05:00

happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday to yooouuuu...happy birthday to you! i love you, maggie. i hope that you had a wonderful birthday! love auntie fi!

happy birthday sinead!

2008-11-17T01:05:00.003-05:00

happy birthday to my sweet sister, you are a terrific mother, friend, daughter, and person...i know that we always gave you a hard time, but know that we love you so much...oh and i am sorry for the trip to and from Notre Dame!

happy birthday margaret!

2008-11-17T00:57:00.003-05:00

margaret and i have been best friends since the 4th grade...super funny story...when her grandmother "heard" that another little girl had moved into the neighborhood she made it her mission that we be friends. one day i was in the front yard minding my own business when this grandmotherly women drove into the driveway in a huge green car. she got out and said that she wanted me to come with her to meet her granddaughter...i remember it like it was yesterday...i turned to look at my mom who i had assumed would object to her youngest child getting in this car with a stranger...but she didn't...she said sure, that will be fine...i was thinking...that is not fine...she is a stranger, do you want me to get kidnapped!! well...turns out that it was worth the risk...margaret and i have been through a lot...a whole lot...thank god we made it out alive...there were a lot of close calls!

as you can see if the picture, we are about to go through more together. she is expecting a little girl in march...i can't wait to meet this sweet child that is going to be as mischievous as her mommy!

happy birthday margaret!! i hope that you had a great day friday!

happy birthday lindsey!

2008-11-05T06:36:00.002-05:00

today is a big day for my sweet friend lindsey...happy birthday! i hope that you have a great day...i am sure that you will!

ps...i stole this picture from you!

change...

2008-11-05T06:21:00.002-05:00

we witnessed a historic election yesterday. obama didn't get my vote, but i will come into the next 4 years with an open mind. i was reading facebook yesterday and was completely taken back by what people were saying...i couldn't believe some of the comments...i felt as though is was not 2008 at all. hopefully people will realize that even if they didn't want change...sometimes change is good...

okay last one, i promise...

2008-11-03T21:40:00.011-05:00

so i had to post one last halloween picture...i love these...couldn't you eat them up for thanksgiving!!! kidding, of course!!

2008-11-02T09:43:00.002-05:00

it was really spooky....

that i found this in our pumpkin...

we were invited to a pumpkin carving party and i lifted my cute green pumpkin up to put in my bag when i found this HUGE black widow inside...did i kill it right away like i should have...no, of course not, i grabbed my camera! after i got the picture, john got her out with a shoe and squashed her into the ground several times...poor lady didn't know what hit her.

john turned to the kids and told them that if they ever saw any spiders to come tell us right away...poor grady said "daddy, daddy, look spiders!" pointing the the fake ones on our porch...i wish he always listened that good!

halloween 2008

2008-11-02T06:56:00.005-05:00

we had the best halloween ever. here are the pictures...there are a lot of them! aren't these kids the cutest?

here is mm is her costume...the headband didn't last long.

here is grady as an owl...i was really happy with how he turned out. he didn't keep the glasses on, but i still thought that they were really funny. notice how he has already gotten into the candy before we went trick or treating.

here is the practice run at our house...

hailey came over beforehand to take some pictures. it is really hard getting them to all be looking at the same time...go figure!

sitting was better...

here is our real first house...the livingstons are always so sweet.

after trick or treating, we all came back to alvin and lindseys to watch "the great pumpkin" under the stars...it was perfect ending to the perfect night.
here is mm snuggled up with her friends eating monster hands popcorn! fast forward a few years and i see these girls having many sleepover

2008-10-27T00:42:00.007-04:00

spooky?....
not so spooky?.....

i'm feathered!

2008-10-27T00:25:00.007-04:00

feathered [feth-erd]

–adjective

1.	clothed, covered, or provided with feathers, as a bird or an arrow.

2.	quick; rapid; speedy; swift: feathered feet.

having the bright idea that your kids need to be a type of fowl for halloween and coverting your den into a feathering station which results in feathered floors, feathered couch, feathered sewing machine, feathered pjs, feathered fingers, and feathered feathers. oh and a feathered off husband due to all of the above feathered mess!

ps...john really isn't really feathered off...he has however wondering how i am going to get all of the feathers cleaned up...i am wondering too!

help me rhonda!!

2008-10-13T21:37:00.006-04:00

i need help. mm insists on being a duck for halloween (this all came about because her friend "lou" said she was going to be a duck, is this true lindsey?) anyway, i am going to attempt to make a duck costume, but need help trying to think of something for grady...i can't really think of anything that goes with a duck...goose, nah, egg, nah. so, here is a little contest...if have a good idea, leave a comment...i might even throw in a prize for the winning idea!!! oh, there is one stipulation...it can't be anything with a hat, bulky, or anything else that a picky 2 yr old won't wear...don't you see my difficulty?!

by the way, i really get into making halloween costumes...something about me making everything 10 times more difficult for myself than it has to be...one day i will learn! here are the last couple of years

2006

2007

the beach

2008-10-06T23:21:00.003-04:00

here a few pictures from the beach. we had a really great time...someone told me today that i looked rested and i laughed at them...i may have had a great vacation, but nobody got to rest!

we had this great idea that we were going to try to take family pictures down at the beach...it was not the best idea that we ever had, but i guess it was worth a try. the pictures turned out terrible...the sun was too bright (hence the squinty eyes), mm was mad that i made her wear a dress, grady kept running to the water to wash his hands, etc, etc. anyway, this is the best of the worst!

here is mm in her "shake her booty" bathing suit building sand castles

grady's mommy should really get him a haircut!

after we had tried and tried to get a couple pictures we finally let the kids play. i love this picture. this was the starting line for the race...or is it a commercial for sprint...more bars in more places...for some odd reason, i think that will is going to smoke them...

and while we were down there a nice funeral home let us borrow some tents. it was super cheep...we only had to dig 4 graves. let me give a shout out to turner, waters, waters, westmoreland helping families during their time of high sun to prevent sunburns and heat stroke. i joke about these gigantic tents and how silly we all look under them, but they are the only way that we can survive the beach!

hopefully i will have more to come in another post. stay tuned!

tina fey for president

2008-10-06T22:30:00.003-04:00

i have to share this even though, i am sure that you all have seen this already. tina fey is an absolute genius. i am a proud republican and really like sarah palin, but this is hilarious...i don't care who you are!

we are outta here!!!

2008-09-27T07:15:00.002-04:00

we are going to the beach and won't be back for a whole week...we are so excited. we are going with my whole side of the family...mom, dad, dermot, aimee, sinead, chris and 6 wild grandkids under the age of 4!!! we are going to have a blast...i will have lots to post when we come home!

the world!!!!

2008-09-23T21:57:00.003-04:00

mary maddox finished her world map today at montessori!!! we are SO proud of her! the kids work really hard on this and its a big deal when they complete it...they take the poker (a big push pen that they hold like a pencil) and poke holes around the lines of each continent until it is cut out, then they have to figure out where each continent goes on the map. once someone finishes their map, they get to walk around the circle showing their friends their map while everyone sings the continent song. this might have been mm's favorite part because she made us reenact it when we got home. we also found out that she knows the oceans...next she'll be starting on the countries in each continent! and to think that i was worried that she didn't ever leave the art table!

happy birthday lou

2008-09-22T23:58:00.000-04:00

today is this sweet girl's 3rd birthday. she and her family are some of our closest friends...not as close in proximity anymore, but just as close in our hearts. her family had another great birthday party tonight and we had a great time! here is a picture from the same sweet girls birthday party just 2 short years ago...my have things changed, but also stayed exactly the same!

sleep study

2008-09-18T22:52:00.005-04:00

mm and grady usually fall asleep in our big bed. when we are going to bed and after they are asleep, john and i pick them up and move them into grady's bed. one night when john was going up before me, he called to me saying i had to come upstairs...this is what we found...

so i decided to take pictures of them every night before we went to bed. a lot of nights i found them in the exact same positions...it was really weird.

he loves me...

he loves me not!...

yes, grady had to wear this shirt to bed...i guess he thought that it went better with his converse than his pjs!

this was the funniest! poor mm...by the way, they started on opposite sides then they are now.

this was super funny too...grady must have woken up and started to get out of bed, but fell back asleep before he made it out.

i wonder what these sleep patterns say about my kids?

football fever!

2008-09-14T14:43:00.003-04:00

well, it is that time of year again where we pack out friday and saturday's with football...this weekend it went like this...friday night-granger game-mm went with john early and grady and i had a date to mighty joes. me and the kids left early since it was past their bedtime. saturday-lagrange college game...it is really hot in callaway stadium at 1:00 in the afternoon. then home to watch the GA game.

here is a picture of us...needless to say, we are ready for the weather to get cooler. i hate sweating at football games!

here are the kids mid "go gringerrrrrsss!"

pelham came in town this weekend so the kids were super excited to see her.

it was a bad idea to let them get blue raspberry italian ice...their mouths are still stained blue.

happy birthday aimee!

2008-09-12T22:58:00.001-04:00

happy birthday aimee! my brother could not have chosen better. you are not a sister in law to us, but a sister. i love you and those sweet children of yours. i hope that you had a wonderful day!

two peas in a pod...

2008-09-08T00:07:00.004-04:00

i have noticed lately that i don't have many pictures of the kids together...after noticing, i have been trying to take more of them together...they really are best friends.

best friends, but a lot of time it looks like this. (ps please excuse the unbacked boxes in the background...it told you that we would never be unpacked...)

letter to crocs...

2008-09-04T22:41:00.004-04:00

Dear Mr or Mrs Head Croc,

I am writing this letter to you as a plea...a plea for all mothers and children across this world. We beg of you to make your product in regular whole and half sizes. We ask this of you even though we understand that you are making trillions of dollars by making ugly plastic shoes that are supposed to fit two sizes of feet. We ask this of you on behalf of little boys everywhere that are eating their veggies and growing...growing big and strong and out those infamous 4-5 size crocs, but are still too tiny to fit into the 6-7s. The same little boys who are so loyal to your company that they sleep in their plastic footwear which result in their feet to be rubbed raw. Do they let this pain deter their support and devotion to their security-shoes? No, this physical ailment is only a battle wound for their cause and commitment. What are we as mothers supposed to do? We can't allow our children to do this to themselves. Our only choice is to go to the loyal crocery and try on every color of 4-5s and 6-7s in stock...looking at the bottom at the manufacturing location hoping that they were drinking too many margaritas in Mexico...hoping that this lack of judgement would lead to an in between sizing error. Doing this while our child that we carried in our wombs are pleading with us to put their shoes back on. Saying in his broken toddler voice...me like these, mommy, me like these. You left us no other option but to turn to the crocery worker and say..."I'll have to get those red converse high tops in a 6"

Please consider these loyal warriors of the playground and the mothers they come home to and reconsider your sizing policy.

sincerely,

mommy of crocless

out with the old...in with the new, but not too happy about it!

ps...I ask that you do not hold my family or educational institutions accountable for the grammar in this letter...while they were trying to teach me proper English, I was either talking or doodling.

happy birthday markette

2008-09-02T06:35:00.002-04:00

our good friends the bakers invited us to dinner saturday night to celebrate markette's birthday. we went to the farmhouse at serenbe...it was incredible! the atmosphere, the wine, and especially the company was perfect.

this is the back of the farmhouse...we slipped out the back door and wondered through the gardens and saw all the things that we just ate growing right in the backyard. click here to learn more about serenbe.

grady's party

2008-08-24T23:26:00.008-04:00

we had grady's party today...i know, it is two weeks late, but is anyone surprised?...anyway, this years theme was SO grady...we had a messy party. as most of you know, my sweet grady has an incredible skill for getting messy, so we decided to run with it. i have learned that we can only handle a small group of 2 and 3 year olds at a time so we invited our neighborhood wednesday night friends. we asked them to come prepared to get messy. it was a lot of fun!

here is his cake...you can't get any messier than a dump truck. i am really happy with how it turned out.

grady was really excited about blowing his candles out, but got really shy when everyone was singing to him.

the truck had a terrible accident.

it is blocking all lanes on I-285

we couldn't have a messy party without finger paint. it was the only time during the whole party that all of the kids were quiet and sitting down...go figure!

i love this picture...he is really concentrating on his painting...maybe he has some of his mommy in him...not the concentrating part, the art part!

of course, mm loved it too.

we also played a little game of pin the mess on grady!

thank you to grady's friends...he had a really great time.

grady's cake

2008-08-24T22:49:00.013-04:00

i am not sure why, but i always have to make simple things difficult. this is very true with grady's cake this year...i probably have been watching a little bit too much Ace of Cakes, so i channeled my inner duff, mary alice, geoff, katherine, and crew...here are the results. i am really happy with the way that it turned out, but i don't think that duff will be calling me anytime soon!

i bought a sheet cake from publix and cut and constructed the truck form...i then attempted to use fondant for the first time...i thought that it couldn't be much different than clay, but i was mistaken. once i finished covering it, i painted some details on with the icing dye. for the final touch i added chocolate pudding and oreos to the bed, and donuts for the wheels. it was really fun to make, but a lot of work!

the license plate was grady's birthday.

mm asked if i would make her a cake. of course, i told her that i would...i am really fortunate that her birthday is 9 months away!

if you are interested....here are some construction pictures on flickr

olympics

2008-08-24T00:07:00.003-04:00

i am really sad that tomorrow is the last day for the olympics...i love watching it. it amazes me that for most of these people competing they have been preparing for this for the majority of their lives. think of all those people that train most of their life and don't even make the olympic team...maybe one of my two will make it and i can be the new debbie phelps! how does michael (..you know, michael phelps my new best friend) handle that kind of pressure and still not crack at all!

this could be a new book for me...where michael??

what i want to be when i grow up...

2008-08-19T23:13:00.004-04:00

i want to be a children's book writer and illustrator. i found this great website today. It is a site for children's book illustrators. maybe it will motivate me to start thinking about possible stories or characters...here are some of my favorites...

Lauren Child is the creator of charlie and lola

Ian Falconer is the creator of the Olivia Series
do you think that this is just another way to procrastinate...i really should be doing laundry, cleaning the house, and unpacking! man, i am good at procrastinating...i wish there was a career in that!

now taking reservations...

2008-08-18T00:29:00.006-04:00

to marry the cutest little boy in america...approximate wait time...25 years. his mommy has to love on him a lot more before i can promise him to someone else!

by the way, this was at mom and dad's a couple of weeks ago. they have a sprinkler system that is fed by the lake (so technically no watering ban) anyway, will and mm ran from zone to zone jumping into the sprinklers. grady wasn't as brave getting into the full stream, but he sure liked running away from him...come to think of it, he is the bravest one by going in his birthday suit, but if my bottom looked as cute as his, i might too...well, probably not! please notice that his shoes never left his feet!

happy birthday bug!

2008-08-14T23:30:00.003-04:00

happy 2nd birthday sweet grady. this child is a complete mess, but that is why i love him. he has changed so much in the past year. this time last year he was the quietest most gentle soul...now he has let it all loose, but that is why i love him so much. i love his little words, he funny little laugh, and loving nature. he is all boy and i wouldn't have him any other way. i love you grady, i am looking forward to many more changing years!

weekend gone wild!

2008-08-03T23:25:00.002-04:00

what does a weekend with all 6 grandkids at mom and dad's consist of?

lots of golf cart rides...lots of sharing well...lots of not sharing so well...parades of children on ride on toys/strollers through the house...running through the sprinklers...dad chasing geese through a neighbors yard at a high speed on the golf cart...mom thinking that the screaming coming from the speeding golf cart could only mean someone was seriously hurt...some paper airplane flying that led to parachute making...fun on the playground...lots of mosquito bites...approximately 42 "GRAAAA----DDDYYY"'s...super tired kids, parents...and grandparents!...and lots more! we had a great time with all the cousins, but it was WILD!

here are some photos of one of the calmest moments of the weekend.

Mom and Dad's yard, part 2

2008-08-02T16:08:00.017-04:00

Guest Blogger Sinead sneaking in with some pics of Mom and Dad's house that Dad wanted to share with the family over in Ireland and England. It's been a while since some of you were here, and he wanted you to see the changes in the yard. :)

and then I thought I'd add a little picture of Dermot and his newest love, Regan.

Happy Saturday!

Céad mile fáilte romhat

2008-08-01T23:49:00.003-04:00

dad told me tonight that a lot of my family in ireland has been reading this little blog, so...

isn't it amazing how technology can bridge so many gaps? it has been so long since i have last visited ireland or england. y'all probably don't want us to visit once the see all the crazy stuff we do!!! seriously though, i hope that it will be soon that i can help my kids experience some of that wonderful culture that i was so fortunate to have every summer growing up.

by the way, in case you didn't know, Céad mile fáilte romhat means "100,000 welcomes" in gaelic.

mom & dad's house

2008-08-01T23:07:00.007-04:00

this summer they had to drain the lake at mom and dad's to fix a leak in the dam. lots of people on the lake took advantage of the low lake level to build retaining walls to help with erosion. i thought i would share some pictures that i took tonight. (sinead is going to upload some that were taken from the lake too) i think mom and dad like it so much because it reminds them of the walls in ireland...kinda cool huh?

i thought that i would include the last one for those of you that were at our wedding. as you can see, where y'all sat is now full of hydrangeas, crepe myrtles, and holly bushes...isn't it amazing what 6 years and a lot of work can do?

mommy & g

2008-08-01T23:00:00.003-04:00

here is a picture that lindsey took with my camera at a neighbors birthday party a while back. i absolutely love it. i need more pictures of me with the kids. thanks lindsey!

happy birthday p!!!

2008-07-21T23:18:00.003-04:00

happy 30th birthday p!!!

we share too many memories to count. i cherish each one of them. i hope that you had a great birthday. love you!!! fiona & co

it sure is quiet...where's mm?

2008-07-17T23:02:00.006-04:00

anybody with toddlers know that if they are quiet, they are up to something. this is especially true for mm who could possibly the chattiest 3 yr old ever. after noticing the silence, i walk down the hall and hear something dropped which is followed by the clear sound of mm's tiny feet running full speed out of the bathroom...this doesn't look good...

i laughed so hard. is it good that she knows about where to use the mascara, or bad that she doesn't know exactly where to put it since she doesn't see her mommy using it very often? check out the blush on her forehead!

i met someone very special yesterday

2008-07-12T23:27:00.003-04:00

we welcomed a new member of the family yesterday. my brother, dermot, his wife, aimee, and son, will welcomed a new baby sister into their family. regan marie waters...6lbs 15.5 oz at 7:54 am. she is so tiny and precious. i can't wait to spend more time with her.

here is will holding his new sister.

she doesn't seem too impressed with her auntie fi!

i got mm out of school early so she could go to atlanta to meet her new cousin...she was super excited.

here is mm and maggie waiting so patiently to see the baby.

Happy Birthday !!!!!

2008-07-07T14:02:00.006-04:00

Happy 30th Birthday Mommy!!!!

We Love you, MM & Grady

it's official...

2008-06-30T00:12:00.003-04:00

we are moving on thursday...we started packing this weekend...as you can see from the pictures john was in charge of packing the fragile stuff...

the kids loved these boxes...poor john made the mistake of picking them up in it and running around the house. who needs a gym when you have toddlers in a bucket? their laughter was priceless though.

by the way, as you probably figured out (most of you already know)...i am a really good/bad procrastinator...i should be packing right now!!!!

calling all bloggers...

2008-06-26T17:16:00.002-04:00

so, we all know what a horrible blogger i have been lately, and i am sorry to tell you that i don't think that it is going to get much better in the next two weeks. i had an idea...anybody want to volunteer to be a guest blogger for a few days....anyone???? let me know!!

grady loves school!!

2008-06-26T17:09:00.004-04:00

these pictures make me so happy. kim brown, the director at the daycare sent me these this afternoon. she had taken them while the kids were on the playground. we are so lucky to have the best daycare in lagrange...don't they look like they are having a ball? kim even let grady fill her shoes with sand...now that is love!!!

just in case you are interested, here is the church and daycare's website. http://fpcchildcare.org/

3 or 16?

2008-06-12T06:51:00.002-04:00

my baby is growing up...she is acting and looking more like a big girl these days... notice the outfit choice...we are going to have some rough years ahead of us!

Happy Birthday Mary Maddox

2008-05-27T06:56:00.003-04:00

it was my baby's 3rd birthday on Sunday. i can't believe it has been 3 years! she is so grown up. here is some birthday footage. clearly, i let her pick out her own outfit. this is her new favorite song...buckle my legs. not sure where she got that one from, but it has some intricate dance moves.

oh and please disregard the horrible narrator in the background!

i will post some photos tonight...my camera battery died.

montessori picnic

2008-05-22T00:35:00.003-04:00

mm had her end of the year picnic at montessori last week...i can't believe that it has been a whole year. she has learned so much and we are really proud of her.

clearly she had fun too. you may not be able to tell, but she was laughing hysterically with her little friend. he is the only one that comes down from daycare with her to montessori.

here is her sweet teacher miss kelly. her other teacher miss pat couldn't be at the picnic because of a death in the family. i can't believe what these two women have been able to teach mm.

here is mm showing grady her book that she has worked on all year. i love this picture. mm is so proud of what she did and enjoyed showing grady. he will be in the toddler montessori class next year.

isn't this picture sweet.

i think al gore has his priorities mixed up...

2008-05-22T00:23:00.001-04:00

he shouldn't be worried about global warming...he should be worried about grady warming or should i say destructing...what am i going to do with this boy?

doesn't she look so sweet and innocent?

2008-05-20T01:02:00.004-04:00

not at all like someone that would say "dammit! dammit! grady! don't worry about it, i will get it" after her sweet little brother spills all of his milk on the floor? let's hope this was a one time thing and my almost 3 year old isn't cussing her teachers out!

i have my eyes on...

2008-05-20T00:34:00.004-04:00

this...and it would look extra cute with this...

happy birthday anne!

2008-05-20T00:19:00.002-04:00

my sweet mother in law celebrated her birthday last week. doesn't she look so young...hard to believe that she has 30 year old twins! thank you anne for all that you do. we will never be able to thank you enough. we love you and hope that you had a wonderful birthday!

should we be worried...

2008-05-20T00:09:00.003-04:00

that grady is obsessed with shoes...he won't let us take his shoes off and he is constantly bringing us our shoes to put back on...as you can see below, he even has to wear them to go to sleep.

usually it his his crocs that he likes best, but one night he wanted his red converse high tops on.

so every night before we go to bed, we have to sneak into his room and slip his shoes off his cute little feet and try not to wake him up.

hey...remember me?

2008-05-20T00:01:00.002-04:00

hi my name is fiona and i used to post on this blog!

sorry for the lack of post lately...it's been crazy lately. hopefully, i will get back into the swing of things here. i have lots of things to post about, but i will try to spread them out.

we are now the proud owners of...

2008-04-30T23:23:00.006-04:00

2 houses less than a mile away from each other! wow...we must be crazy! here is a sneak peek at the new house! we are really excited! let's just hope that our sweet little house sells!

here is one big reason that we are leaving such a great house and neighborhood...don't you just love this kitchen? (no the walls aren't as pink as they look in the picture) black and white tile floors, lots of cabinets, room for an island, a breakfast area (not shown in this picture), and a gas stove (don't worry, i have the fire dept's digits!)

here is the sunroom...we can't wait to sit in here and watch the kids as they play outside.

and mm's favorite..."the playground and play house"...she kepts talking about the new house at her playground...of course the house is secondary to the playground! the yard is huge! more pics to come later of the rest of the house and yard.

so...there you have it. we have given the current owner 10 days to move out. we are going to do a little painting and such before we move in since we aren't pressed for time. it is funny, i kept pushing back when i think that we are moving in. i bet you can't guess why that might be?!

i can't help...

2008-04-27T23:38:00.003-04:00

taking this cutie's picture...he is really into cheesing it up for the camera these days...and see, he doesn't even have a dirty face!

the hatchery.

2008-04-27T22:58:00.006-04:00

we had a great neighborhood outing yesterday. greg, melina, & river moved in on park probably about a year ago...they are a great family...fortunately for the neighborhood and the world, greg works at the national fish hatchery in warm springs (http://www.fws.gov/warmsprings/) not sure exactly what his title or role is, but it has something to do with genetics and science, so naturally, i zone out...anyway, i think that he is saving the world one fish at a time...that is my story anyway.

he took us on a field trip yesterday to see the hatchery. it was super cool.

we got to do a bunch of things that we probably aren't supposed to do...here is everybody feeding the catfish...i might have nightmares about those things coming out of the water and frying us up! that are pretty scary looking creatures...especially when 10 toddlers are waiting anxiously for them to eat the food that they have thrown inches from the bank!

this is greg, the super hero fish saver...he was letting the kids look to see what was in the ponds. mm was pretty excited.

another thing that we probably weren't supposed to be doing...those fish don't know how scared they should have been seeing this little boy coming after him. greg was catching newts and crawfish and letting the kids touch them. after this trip, i have a feeling that grady may want to go into catfish noodling. see below if you are not familiar with the sport! http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/story?columnist=sutton_keith&page=g_col_sutton_noodling

on the other hand, i think that mm might be a priss. while i was trying to keep grady from falling in, i turned around to this...mm putting on my lipstick! (anybody notice how i can juggle this kids without putting the camera down...i have got some skill!)

don't we look hot...sweaty hot... not hot, hot!

we had a great time! thank you so much greg, melina, and river!

sweet boy!

2008-04-23T00:13:00.003-04:00

so, i have been hard on my little grady man lately...even with all the dirty faces, funny pigtail wearing, goldfish dumping, dog water bathing, porch jumping, under the dressing room door running, cat food emptying, ketchup licking, acorn hoarding, ear infection getting, stain-making, ice cream/sucker/fruit snack/sticky food loving, all around little boy acting...i love this little man and i wouldn't change him for the world!

by the way... thank you clorox, spray and wash, windex, pampers, heinz, benedryl, tylenol, and band-aid...we couldn't do it without you!

big news!

2008-04-19T23:33:00.003-04:00

and no i am not pregnant! (by the way, sorry about the april fool's joke, apparently it got a lot more people that i had expected. i am really sorry.)

can you spy anything unusual in the picture below?

yes, we are moving! anyway, this is the reason for the lack of posts lately. we are busy touching up paint, cleaning closets, and donating half of our life to goodwill after hours...(for those of you that don't have kids, that is after the kids go to bed!)

we are very excited and sad to leave this great little house, where we spent the first 5 years of our marriage, had our babies, and have gained the most wonderful friends! the good thing about it is we are only moving a mile away! crazy, huh?, but our friends and neighbors have assured me that we could still come to the neighborhood events. (by the way, i cleared that with them before i signed the contract on the new house) more to come on the new house soon, i promise.

so, if you know of anybody that needs a super cute little house with the best neighborhood in the world, please spread the word. i will be posting more interior pictures tomorrow.

i love pigtails!

2008-04-19T23:23:00.003-04:00

i was putting mm's hair in a ponytail this morning and when i got done, grady turned around and backed up in my lap indicting that it was his turn...isn't he pretty?!

this is pretty scary...look at mm around the same age!

disney world!

2008-04-19T22:49:00.004-04:00

okay, so it wasn't really disney world, but we did have a wonderful time in south georgia! (a little background...mm was under the assumption since we were going on a trip, that we were going to disney world. one of her friends from school had just gotten back from disney!)

we made the well overdue trip to south georgia to see two of my very best friends in the whole world...it is just lucky for me that they happen to live 20 minutes away from each other!

we stayed with margaret, who you might remember from a previous post (http://fionaandco.blogspot.com/2007/11/happy-birthday-margaret.htm l) when she invited us to stay, i warned her what kind of damage hurricane grady and tropical storm mary maddox might cause...that did not deter her and she wanted us to come anyway! luckily, it seems like her beautiful home and husband weathered the storm! (those plantation shutters that grady rammed the dining room chair into might have thought differently!)

here is grady eating an ice cream sandwich...notice the pretty tablecloth that had to washed immediately!

here is grady giving tim a good-bye hug. don't they look sweet?

this was the morning after the storm. notice that margaret is trying to function the remote control car while she is sleeping! i love it! i told her that she should have listened to me.

on the way home pelham invited us to pick strawberries at her dad's farm. mm was really excited about it. when we went into the store beforehand, mm saw all the strawberries on the counter and yelled "oh, i found the strawberries!"

grady knew just what to do.

here they are inspecting their loot.

thank you so much to margaret and pelham for entertaining us down south! i love you both!

separated at birth...

2008-04-11T01:02:00.003-04:00

i know that y'all are sick of looking at grady's dirty face, but when i downloaded this picture from our wednesday night neighborhood dinner, i figured out who grady looks like.

if you want some old school fun go here http://www.woolywilly.net/

home away from home

2008-04-08T12:44:00.002-04:00

most of y'all know that mm and grady go to first presbyterian day care...most of you also know that without "school" mommy would be locked up somewhere! we have never had a bad experience and have loved every single teacher. i know that they love my kids so much and i am so thankful for them. i don't know what i would do without them.

anyway, the director at the school has recently started our website. i loved looking through it with mm and grady this weekend and they would tell me who their friends where and what they were doing. mm kept asking me, "mommy, can i go back to the computer to look at my friends?" it was really sweet because they spend a lot more time with them then anybody else.

here is the link http://www.fpcchildcare.org/index.html

make sure you look at the crazy kids in the slide shows of toddler 1 and toddler 2 classes. (incidentally, mm dressed herself that day...can you tell?)

3rd time's a charm or 3 strikes & you are out?...

2008-04-01T23:07:00.003-04:00

here we go again! 3 kids in 3 years? lord help us! needless to say, john and i are very surprised about this little bit of news, but we have a little while to get used to it and we are excited. everything happens for a reason right?

2008-04-01T23:04:00.003-04:00

april fools!

did i get anybody...probably not...i must give credit for this joke to a blog in which i am a blurker... http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/ . you should check it out...sorry to try to fool you...especially you, john!...not a funny joke, huh?

21-30

2008-03-31T23:28:00.002-04:00

21. i wish i was a runner.
22. i love getting my hair washed at the hairdressers
23. mohawks give me the chills...you know the ones where the whole head is shaved bald except that piece down the middle...uh!
24. my favorite song is baby got back!
25. i secretly wish i had gone into construction.
26. i hate my handwriting.
27. i wish i was as organized as melissa.
28. i can't wait until april 15th.
29. i am dying to go to the beach!
30. the past few weeks, i have been thinking about ireland and feel the need to bring the kids there to meet their extended relatives. (don't worry, i am not stupid...this trip will have to wait!)

speaking of gargamel and azrael...

2008-03-30T23:52:00.004-04:00

i googled them to see if i was spelling their names right in the previous post and this picture popped up... see, i told you that they wouldn't stand a chance against grady-man!

pig pen...

2008-03-30T23:24:00.003-04:00

has nothing on my little boy...

chocolate from easter.

this picture does not do this situation justice...notice how shiny grady's hand is...that is because it was covered in syrup...clearly the fork was not working for him...he then decided to skip the pancakes and just lick the syrup off of his hand.

yes, those are washable markers...apparently he was channeling his inner-papa smurf. I don't think that gargamel or azrael would have a chance against this little guy!

god forbid i take a shower... this is what i come out to... in case you are wondering the medium in which this child was working with, his face is grape jelly and his hands are purina...yes, purina. mm and grady were playing "let't cook for chance" mm was making grady get the dog food, put it in a bowl and she would cook it in her stove. needless to say, she was clean.

i have a feeling we are in for some very dirty, destructive years!...mud pies, here we come!

happy birthday dad!

2008-03-29T23:46:00.003-04:00

this is my favorite picture of my dad. (thank you lindsey for capturing it) it speaks so clearly of what he means to all of us and why. i hope that you had a wonderful day dad. we love you.

easter

2008-03-29T23:27:00.003-04:00

we had a fabulous easter that started off with me taking some time off of work to go to the kids easter egg hunts at school.
grady seems pretty pleased with his finds!

mm had her montessori egg hunt in the morning and it was really nice to stay a play with her and her friends. this girl loves to swing!

on saturday we went to great grandmama and great granddaddy's for lunch. i love this picture of my sweet mother in law, anne...doesn't grady look like her?

gran helped us dye some eggs.

didn't they turn out pretty? move over martha!

this is sunday morning after church...can you tell that they have already been into the candy? poor hailey didn't know what to think of my two crazy kids!

we did manage a nice family pic, using a sucker as a bribe...funny, that is becoming more and more common!

after naps, our friends , the kornek's invited us over for another egg hunt. see those baskets that grady is heading for...he proceeded to take all of their eggs and put them in his bucket...don't worry, i made him put them back!

i remember that i had a picture of me that was just like this...

my name is grady and i am a choc-a-holic...welcome grady.

although, it is awful to say... i welcomed going back to work the next day...two kids hyped on tons of sugar equals a stressed out mommy!

our computer crashed

2008-03-29T22:26:00.002-04:00

literally! john and i woke up in the middle of the night to the most horrible crashing sound...I knew that there was a tree through the roof or a car in the living room...nope it was our computer crashing through the amoire in grady's room. the shelf collapsed and left our computer dangled there in mid air! scary huh? by the way, grady slept through the whole thing! (i guess that is one good thing about being a holy terror during the day is that he sleeps really well at night! ) anyway, that is the reason for the blog-silence this week, but i have a lot to catch up on...bare with me!

91....

2008-03-22T23:54:00.003-04:00

is the score that my sweet husband made on his audit and final section of the CPA exam.

which means that I am now married to...dat dat ta da....

John Heath Westmoreland, CPA!

we are really excited! i have never seen anybody more dedicated and committed to something like this before. he has been through 4 sections of this exam which meant studying countless amount of hours...going to work all day, coming home to change, and going back until 8 or 9 or later. putting in full days of studying saturdays and sundays just to take the section exam, take a couple weeks off and start all over again for the next section. the kids have missed him. i have missed him. and he has missed all the things that he enjoys doing so he can do this for us. all of his hard work has paid off and we couldn't be prouder of him.

now if we can just make it 3 more weeks until the end of tax season, we are really going to party!

congrats jh, i love you so much!

it may not be easy being green...but it sure is fun!

2008-03-17T23:23:00.006-04:00

we had a great st patrick's day...here are some pics to prove it!

mm and grady put some mushrooms out for the leprechaun...he really enjoyed it. he even left a note...(by the way, we were in the kitchen getting the leprechaun something to drink. i was getting glass down when i asked mm and g if they thought that the leprechaun would like milk or juice. when i turned around, grady was handing me a beer! we are going to have trouble with that boy!)

we had the neighborhood kids over...i tried to convince them that papa emo was a real leprechaun, but they didn't believe me!

you can't fool this one!

i think that this little man might be the cutest leprechaun ever!...can't you tell he is trouble. he looks so much like his daddy here...not the trouble part, that is totally me!

here is my sweet friend melissa and her sweeter baby! couldn't you just eat him up?

the girls got into the painting after everybody left...i doubt ms pat lets them paint on themselves at montessori.

if you thought valentines was bad scroll down!

mm, don't paint on your face!...i'm not mommy!...right-i see that.

a mustache like papa's.

how could i resist this face?...my friend lindsey thinks that i am setting her up for a whole body full of tattoos! maybe she will get it out of her system now...let's hope!

we hope that your leprechauns had a great day!

happy birthday mom!

2008-03-11T23:23:00.004-04:00

today is my mom's birthday...we celebrated by going out to a really fancy dinner (chick-fil-a) and a really snazzy outing (the grocery store) ...but we had a great time!

this past year since mom had her stroke has been really rough on her, but she is doing terrific. she has come an enormous way and we are all so proud of her... i don't think that many people would be able to cope with having a severe debilitating stroke, quit smoking, and go through menopause at the same time...but she did and we admire her strength!

so, happy birthday mom! we love you!

the question is...

2008-03-11T23:14:00.001-04:00

will i ever get sick of "starring you" jib jab movies? the answer is no!

Don't send a lame St. Patrick's Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

the big 3-0!...happy birthday jh!

2008-03-10T23:57:00.002-04:00

we are a week late posting, but happy birthday to my sweet husband...there would be no "and co" without him. john turned 30 on the 4th! we made his favorite pudding pie and mm helped me put the candles in...there sure were a lot of candles! i am just glad that i can say that i am still in my 20's...for a couple months anyway!

God forbid that we leave for 2 minutes to clear the table and put candles in a pie! This is why we try not to leave grady unattended for very long!

what are we going to do with that boy!

i guess we have to keep him, because i am pretty sure that there isn't another little boy as cute as my little grady-man. incidentally...that is spaghetti sauce in his nose! doesn't he look like a mini daddy...that is okay with me, because i happen to think that his daddy is pretty cute himself! i love you john, happy birthday.

11-20...more funny things about little ole me!

2008-03-10T23:02:00.004-04:00

here we go again!

11. i get upset if my magazines or books get wrinkled
12. i can't draw... and i am serious. i can paint, but i can't draw.
13. i hate, hate, hate my neck...it is like a turkey.
14. i can't resist stripes or polka dots.
15. i talked so much in high school, one of my teachers moved me next to her desk...i started talking to her so much that she moved me back...i didn't care who i talked to!
16. i traded my super cute jeep wrangler for a honda civic...my only practical decision!
17. when i was little, i wanted to be a nun when i grew up! HA! mom even made me a habit!
18. if i didn't have kids, i would drive a vintage mini (a red one!)
19. i hate my handwriting.
20. one of my favorite smells is a new cabbage patch kid!

So...what did y'all think about those?

does your laundry look like this?...

2008-03-03T01:31:00.004-05:00

more of this cutie!

2008-03-03T01:12:00.002-05:00

hailey was baptized today...we were going to do both grady and hailey the same day, but the snow storm messed us up...it was probably better that way. i am not sure the church could take two westmorelands in one day, but i must say that she was a cutie!

here is a picture of the 3 kiddos. i had to photoshop grady in...he wasn't into the picture taking today!

happy 100th!

2008-03-03T00:25:00.005-05:00

so...it is my 100th post on this little blog about me and my family and i have heard that you are supposed to post 100 things that you don't know about me on my 100th post...well, as most of you know, i am pretty much an open book, so this was a tough task! since i know that no one has time to read all 100 things at once, i thought that i would break it up into 10 at a time, so here goes!

i secretly/not so secretly wish we could move to another country (preferably somewhere in europe) for 1 year. only a year though!
my dream job would be writing and illustrating children's books.
i don't have a favorite color, but i have a least favorite color...purple! it is fine on everybody else, but not me!
when i was little i gave numbers relationships...ie: 1 was the best, 2 always was there to help 1, 5 was the most popular, 10 was the most important, 9 was always really busy being the vice president to 10, and nobody liked 8 because it was always jealous because it wasn't 9 or 10! i know, weird huh? we should have seen my math phobia coming!
i often don't buy things because i think that i could make it cuter!
i love the smell of new cabbage patch kids.
motherhood is ALOT harder than i thought it would be.
i am obsessed with fonts...i could look at fonts all day! by the way, i just found this site http://kevinandamanda.com/scrapbook/fonts/fontsforpeas/ where you can turn your handwriting into a font! i thought that it was really cool.
i am a better mother because i work...that sounds awful, but it is true!
i have wanted a volvo station wagon since i was 11...i know, that is weird too

so, here is the question...how many of these did you know? let me know and stay tuned for 11-100! i am sure that it will just prove how really weird i really am!

Guest Blogger!

2008-02-23T23:12:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-02-23T22:03:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-02-17T22:23:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-02-17T22:14:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-02-13T00:07:00.004-05:00

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

2008-02-12T23:36:00.007-05:00

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

2008-02-12T23:28:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-02-11T22:33:00.001-05:00

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

2008-02-05T00:04:00.000-05:00

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....

2008-02-03T22:38:00.001-05:00

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!

2008-02-03T21:49:00.001-05:00

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!