Girls Only Weekend!

This past weekend, me, Christen and my niece, Jessica loaded up and headed to Birmingham, AL to visit my Mom. It's a good 5 hour drive from home. The trip there didn't feel like it took too long. I think it's because we gained an hour on the way.

My Mom is an awesome host. She fixed breakfast for us on Saturday morning & Sunday morning. Eggs to order, grits, sausage and biscuits. Yes, Jessica eats ketchup with her sausage. Actually, she eats ketchup with just about everything.

Mom had a great day planned for us Saturday. This is part of our Christmas. It's a 3rd annual deal. The first year, she took the girls to Jacksonville, FL to watch a Christmas Carol play. Last year, she took me along and we all went to my favorite place in the world: The Fox Theatre in Atlanta!! We saw The Nutcracker. This year, we went to her. She got us all tickets to "Scrooge The Musical" at the Virginia Samford Theatre. The play started @ 7:30pm on Saturday, so we had all day to find something fun to do.

Mom found and researched the McWane Science Center. We had so much fun there!! It's a great place for kids (of ALL ages).

The center even had an IMAX theatre. Jessica just happens to LOVE Harry Potter, so Mom treated us to tickets for the 1:30 showing. I'm not much of a Potter fan, but it was a neat experience seeing a movie on the IMAX screen. The popcorn was just what I needed to! AND I found out where I get my tendency of talking and asking questions during a movie. My MOM! As she was asking Jessica about everything to do with the movie, I had to laugh. I do the exact same thing to Jon.

The center had so many hands-on experiences for the girls to try out. The first thing we saw was the bed of nails. Christen and Jessica both said it felt really weird. Uh.. yeah! I would imagine!! You would lay on the bed and while on it, someone would press a button and the nails would come up and before you knew it, you were being held up by nails!

No way could I have done this. You sit in the seat, then pull yourself up. Christen did it with ease of course. Jessica needed a little help...

Here, my Mom and Jessica were playing tug-of-war with Christen. I do believe Christen won!

Yeah, the center even has dinosaurs and other big, scary things...

The girls even had a "Big" experience... get it?? If not, I must be older than you.

Can you tell who Christen missed the most?? Oh to be young and think you're in love....

This picture was just not meant to be. Their heads were blocked by the sleigh and neither of them found it a "cool" thing to do. BUT, they did it! They get credit for that.

This place even had sharks. Baby sharks, young sharks... The ones above are being kept in the incubator. They are alive and still in their egg!! You could see them moving and everything. They had to be the neatest thing that I saw.

Check out their reactions... I have no clue what text message Christen was reading, but it must have been scandalous!! Jessica, however, was looking at this:

They both got to "pet" the sharks. I didn't... I can't remember if Mom tried to or not. Some were quite frisky and would splash you. They also had stingrays.

Both girls tried this. You couldn't have paid me!! But I don't do well w/ heights. Even going up the stairs at the IMAX made me a bit dizzy...

Christen was the only one crazy enough to try the flight simulator. This thing went upside down and did 360s. I would have lost my popcorn in that thing!! Not Christen. Check out that smile:

And of course, we had great food. Now my town needs to get a California Pizza Kitchen. I'm hooked!!

Sunday, we started the day after breakfast by having some "girl" time. Mom painted the girls fingernails. I applied the dots.

And before we went shopping, Mom led us in a Bible study in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 17:7-8 to be exact.

"But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

I feel pretty blessed to have a mother who feels the call to lead us in Bible study, who recalls scripture to me to guide me and counsel me and who will just call me to tell me of a verse she read and wants to share.

All too soon, we had to head back home. I hated to leave, but Mom will be home for Christmas this weekend. It's nice to get away with just the girls every now and then.

Beckham is a Bear

Seriously.... He's a bear. Don't let his moments of "acting" refined fool you.

See???!!! Full on foaming at the mouth... well... kind of.... and how about that crazy look in his eyes???

I wish I had time to take pictures of the mess he made last night for us to find this morning.... It's the whole reason I believe he is TRULY a bear.... (or at least possesses some bear DNA somewhere)

You know, "they" say when you go camping in bear territory, you need to make sure to keep your food locked up so the bears don't come and raid your food. "They" also say that bears can smell food for miles and miles!! AND I was watching a documentary about Yellow Stone the other day and there was a segment about bears. The show stated that every time a system, or gadget or trap is made to keep bears away from food, another should be in the works because it's only a matter of time before the bear gets smart and learns how to avoid and/or make the system, gadget or trap work for them. They gave an example of one bear who figured out how to get food out of a trap. The trap was designed to lure the bear in with food and once the bear picked up the food, the door would close behind them, trapping the bear so the park rangers could relocate the bear. But this one bear figured out that if he stuck his foot out as he was grabbing the food, he could hold the trap door open and back out of the trap, with the food.

Not sure if Beckham is that smart yet, but if we don't lock the back door, he will jump enough times and hit the handle just right enough times to open the back door....

When I woke up this morning, a bag of sour watermelon gummies had been devoured, a plastic cup had been ripped to shreds and a paper plate was on the floor. While I was wondering if he had actually consumed some of the plastic cup, he answered my thought by projectile vomiting 1/3 of the cup along with some of the gummies and his food from last night. We try to keep everything that contains or did contain food out of his reach, but he's so tall, he can reach just about anything left on the counter. If Christen would have washed dishes last night and put away her candy, this wouldn't have happened. (It's her chore to wash dishes) Because we all know, bears can smell food from miles away and will do just about anything to get to it!

You can tell by the picture below he loves to eat things.. that ball was flat and chewed to pieces within a matter of two days...

Don't let Brandi fool you either. She will join right in and get in trouble too. She has that innocent look down pat.

So, we have a bear for a pet and his opportunistic mother. But we wouldn't trade them for anything.

Baby Gifts

One of my oldest and dearest friends is having a baby in just a matter of days!!! If anyone deserves God's blessings on her life, it's Kelly. We've known each other since the 4th grade. We were close for a few years, but unfortunately grew apart during our Jr. High and High School years. There were times I regretted that we grew apart, because there were paths I took that I shouldn't have. I feel that if I would have been around Kelly more, she would have influenced me to stay in my walk with Jesus. But, what-ifs do me no good now! I'm just thankful she is still in my life, even though she lives 6 hours away!!



I sent off her baby gifts this past Friday. I could have sworn I had pink tissue paper... but purple is great for a baby girl too right?







I could have went to Wal-Mart and picked out a card, but I wanted to put a personal touch on the card.







I love painting and making cards and I love putting Bible verses in cards. I think Bible verses make a card more personal than any words I could put together.











A girl we graduated with is very talented with a sewing machine. She makes all kinds of cute, personalized things, so I knew I wanted her to make little Anna some gifts:

Below is a burp cloth and bib and yes, it's pink zebra print!! Love it!!

And below is my handmade contribution. The song "You Are My Sunshine" was a favorite song of mine to sing to Christen when she was a baby.

I also got her a book (I can't remember the name of it to save my life!). The book is a board book, and it describes all these things the mother and child do together all through out the seasons. I can picture Kelly doing all those things with Anna as she grows older.

I'm so happy for Kelly and Brandon! They are about to receive the greatest Christmas present! And the best part is, they know just how precious little Anna is. Kelly will be a great Mommy!!

Loving Me Some Flea Market Finds

A couple of Saturdays ago, Jon and I were on a mission. To find a table and chairs. We really didn't want to spend much money, so we went to one of the local flea markets.

We didn't really find the table we were looking for, but we got one that will be sufficient to keep out by the pool. I did find three chairs that I really like though. Here's a before picture:

Yeah, not pretty at all. I don't know what kind of fabric that was on this chair. It was rubbery, so I'm guessing, some type of fabric normally used for lawn/patio furniture. Two of the chairs were covered in the blue, rubbery material and the other was covered in the lovely floral fabric below.

The chairs and table were used for the "guys" to play poker after a long day of selling their stuff. So you can guess the shape the fabric was in. But when you get a table and three chairs for $20, you just can't pass it up!

Walmart (and other stores too I'm sure) have these little fabric singles for $1. I bought four of these. It would have been nice if the squares were a bit bigger, but it worked out.

Not too bad if I do say so myself. Especially for my first time recovering a chair.

I plan on painting the chairs either white or cream when I get a free moment. And then, my next project will be adding cushions to my bar stools and covering them in this awesome laminate fabric I ordered from Laminated. The fabric is actually laminated, so they will be easy to just wipe clean:

Laminated gives this description in her shop about Laminated Fabric:

"A terrific alternative to oilcloth, this listing is for one yard (36 inches) of gorgeous laminated cotton! Laminated cotton is waterproof and highly durable. Softer than standard oilcloth but with the same wipe-able features. Can you imagine this as a tablecloth? Laminated cottons are 100% cotton sheeting on one side with PVC coating on the other side."

(I actually got the fabric in the mail yesterday... I LOVE IT!! It's SO soft and pliable. Can't wait to cover my bar stool seats with it)

Someone told me this weekend that I was becoming quite the "Susie Homemaker". When I was younger and still trying to figure out who I was, I would have scoffed at this remark. But now hearing that makes me happy. It's my job to create a comfortable home for my family. And I'm loving that I get to do that! God blessed me with an artsy side, and it's nice to be able to use that in a way that pleases my family and Him.