we are now the proud owners of...

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...

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.html) 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...

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

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?...

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?

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

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...

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...

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!

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

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

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....

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!

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!