A surprise for the boss

If you've ever worked in a school, you know teachers love to get neat gifts for each other, but it is dang hard to find something that principal's don't already have or to find something that they might truly like. So, this year I got the idea to give Mrs. Baird, my wonderfully fantastic principal, pictures of her daughters. They are each so unique and fun to be around. So I took some shots today, my first official photo shoot, :) and here are a few of my favorites. Bailey is in kindergarten and Chase is in fourth grade, love them!
This is funny because the train went by, like right beside us.



I got so many funny and cute shots of Bailey. As her own mother would say "she's a hot mess." Chase was basically a perfect model, didn't have to tell her to do much, she just did it.



I had fun with the girls. Hopefully Mrs. Baird doesn't read my blog so these pictures will be a surprise when we give them to her next week!

last weekend

We had a busy but fun weekend. Friday night Alex played flag football with his buds, sorry no pics. Turns out I'm not so good at action shots with mom's camera, but I'm decent with the still shots. Anyways, we went to Linsey and Sirron's wedding on Saturday. I teach with her and she's super sweet and there were lots of teachers from my school there, so it made it even more fun. We only parked about two miles away from the venue, but hey, we made it before it started and had a great time. Plus, we all know Alex won't turn down a chance to dress up and show off his style!



And of course Alex and Holly had fun on the dance floor......I did not dance!

Then Sunday I apparently was exhausted. I hate missing church, but I did not get out of bed until 12:00....I haven't slept that late since I don't know when. But we got a very slow start on our alphabet wall that I ordered. I thought it would be super easy and we'd knock it out in no time....but we got one letter done in ten minutes. So, I've learned a few tricks and I will have the rest up when I get rested! But I'll go ahead and give you a sneak peek.


I'll post pics when we get it all done. And I'll post a pic of a cute little turtle footstool that I bought......yes, at a garage sale. I've got to recover it, but its a cutie.

Men at work, ladies at showers

As promised here are some shots of the weekend we just had. My parents and Alex's parents came in Thursday. Alex and my dad got started on the ground work right away to extend our back patio. It needed it so bad because the original patio was small and also because when it rained we had a mini pond right by our back door.
These are the before shots.



These are the after shots. It had rained and they hadn't put up the guttering yet, so there is a little puddle, but nothing like it used to be. I was sooooo excited when I came home from work and saw this! They did such an awesome job and I was so proud! Now if it will stop raining, we can bbq back there.



I had purchased two neat looking ceiling fans for a great price at Home Depot, which has become one of my favorite stores, especially the one we have here because they have the BEST customer service, which is important to me. So Alex is slowly becoming quite the electrician and my dad is patient and a pretty good teacher! Alex seriously has learned alot and worked hard this weekend. This is a picture of the fan in Maelea's room. Everything worked perfectly and it looks great.


So Alex's birthday was Thursday, so I got him his favorite, a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. (His favorite since he met me!) He was quite excited to take a break and get his cake! Look at that smile.


Saturday was shower day. I was really excited, fat swollen ankles and all. I really hadn't done much of anything but they just start swelling right off the bat now. So here are some cute shots from the shower. We had such a great time and we got lots of great gifts. I am so blessed to have such a great family and friends that really care about us and our baby.




So many sweet friends attended the shower and Lynn and Charletta did such a wonderful job of hosting.




And you thought I was done with the home improvement stories right? Well....I said I purchased two fans. Yes, you've only seen pictures of one. That's because there were some issues with the one for the kitchen. It was exactly like the other one, except my dad made too many trips to home depot to fix it. Each thing he tried didn't work.



So he made one final attempt at fixing the fan that I wanted. And.....here's what we looked like at the final attempt.

No luck. So just take a wild guess at where we ventured off to...........yep, home depot. They let us exchange it for a fan and bam, Alex and dad put it up and she worked like a charm. Thank you dad for all of that hard work, I know it really tested your patience but I love how it looks and having it keep us cool is wonderful.



Rashad and Lashonda (I'm sorry if I spelled either of those wrong guys) picked up and dropped off Clarence and Ethel so they got to spend some time at the house, and of course make us all laugh!

And some finale shots, love them.





And they'll be back soon for Maelea's arrival! I can't wait!

Garrett

We had a big weekend this weekend, so more will come of that later, pics and all. But of course we had plenty of stories to tell as usual and Garrett was the topic of a few of them. Long grey beards and hair, romantic smelling sale barns, and just growing up and being a great man who will be a great dad. So I wanted to show you some of the work he's done on his place with his new arena. My mom took these shots, but we're all so proud of him and his wife Sheree! Can't wait to see you guys, love you lots!





He worked and worked on all his new panels and chutes and everything it looks great.





Another post will come later on about the weekend and a few pictures too. We're about to head to church, and I sure don't want my parents to leave after that! love you!

Happy "Bicycle Story" Day

Mom, I love you so much and we can't wait to see you this week! Thank you for everything and for all you've taught me. I only hope that I can live up to the mom status that you have. If I at least do it halfway, Maelea will be fine.

This post is a long one, so if you've got time, its a pretty good read if you're into sentiment.

Now onto the title. If you know my dad then you know he's a pastor and quite sentimental. And every year at church on Mother's Day, he tells the infamous "bicycle story" and we inevitably give him a hard time about it. So I couldn't let my first mother's day go by without paying a little tribute to the story and the story behind it. Love you dad.



- So, my parents believe and have taught us that you don't have to actually birth children to be a mother. A woman that takes care of children and loves them in any way should be considered a mother and treated with that kind of respect. We believe that you are a mother when you first conceive a child, if you had a child and lost them, or if you have fifteen children, and even women that have never had children, well they can still be mothers. Example, Ms. Wilma. And each year at church they do something different, but they always recognize each woman, not just the mothers.
So the story goes like this. When my dad was little, he used to ride his bike, fish, and play all the time. And you know how the country is, all dirt roads, especially where we're from. And you know that everyone knows everyone, and your business. My dad is the youngest of four, so most people knew his family and him. One day he was riding his bike down the dirt road and he had a wreck. Let me tell you, a bad wreck indeed. He had rocks stuck all in his skin and there was blood and dirt everywhere. Well he just so happened to wreck in front of the neighbors house and this woman came outside to take care of him. Now he wasn't her child, but she took him in the house and began to clean him up and dress his wounds. She didn't care that he was filthy or that there was blood everywhere or that she was using her own families supplies on another kid from down the road. Its what mothers do, they take care of kids. And he has never forgotten that feeling of a lady being a mother to him that day and what that meant to be a mother. He still has the scars on his side to prove this story to be true and I'm sure he'd show you if you asked. His own mother being a nurse and having two older sisters, he knew what women did to take care of children. He has never forgotten that story and even though we give him a hard time about it each year, it means alot to us too.
I'm so proud of my family and the women who have been mothers to me and who have cared for me when my own mom wasn't there, which wasn't very often. And proud to say that my own mother has been a true example of what a mother should be to many other children besides Garrett and myself.

31 weeks and a shower

I'm now 31 weeks along in this fun pregnancy. I realized that I don't get my picture taken in something cute, I do it when I've taken the cute stuff off and I'm in my comfy clothes. But here ya go with the big belly shots.





We had a shower today at Alex's school. The ladies were so nice and two of his guy teacher friends stayed for support and ooohed and ahhhed with the best of 'em. It was so cute. Alex opened all the gifts and showed each and every one of them proudly to the crowed. He did a great job and couldn't quit smiling. We got some super cute things and things that we needed like diapers, wipes, and a bathtub!




This is the cute pile of stuff we got. Of course I put it all away when we got home, it was pretty fun. Except for we need something to hold all of her clothes!


I went to a couple of garage sales Saturday and I got some fabric and some neat old sheets. So I made cushion covers for the rocker that was my grandmother's. Its no professional job, but I think it looks cute.


Can't wait for my parents to come down in about a week!