~Spring Break 2009~

On Monday, March 16, it wasn't officially spring yet, but Brooke was out of pre-school for the week, so the girls and I headed to the coast for a little Spring Break road trip.
We were on a mission to spend the week with our special friends the Remonts, at their new home in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
It took us a while to get there because it was such a yucky rainy day, but after we arrived it started to clear up and the rest of our week in Ocean Springs was filled with sunshine.
Our sweet friends had tons of fun activities planned for us and we all had a super great time!
Here are some of the highlights of the trip...

Upon arrival, we were greeted with hugs and kisses! We checked out the Remonts beautiful new home and played for a while. Before too long we got hungry and decided we had to have some shrimp. I always need shrimp when visiting the coast!
We went to eat at a cute little seafood place...probably would have made a better date spot with drinks and such...can't remember the name, but we had the shrimp and crab claws. The shrimp were perfectly yummy, but the claws were not so good, so we exchanged them for more SHRIMP! The big kids had a colorng contest and even Miss Bailey had a great time.

After dinner, we got a little tour of downtown Ocean Springs and then headed back to the house. We bathed, put on our jammies, and stayed up late just hanging out. The big kids snuggled and watched The Little's on DVD and they loved it! (Do you remember that cartoon from way back? It used to be one of my favs.)
The next day was St. Patrick's Day...
We had a quick breakfast with another visitor, Mr. Flat Stanley(thanks to our friend Kim and her daughter Caroline) and then headed out for a BIG, BIG Green day!
Our first stop was the children's museum for story time and playtime...the story time was really fun and the museum was even MORE fun! The kids got to listen to stories, sing, dance, do a craft, build with blocks, climb (indoors and out), do science experiments, and participate in tons of pretend play. They were train engineers, boat captains, airplane pilots, restaurant workers, hotel managers, and high tea drinkers~just to name a few. It was a really nice museum...wish we had one like that in Bham!We stayed for hours and hours until we were sooooo hungry that we HAD to leave or we would have just fainted. Of course, we decided on and headed straight to Chick-Fil-a for some chicken nuggets and since it was St. Patty's Day they had even turned the lemonade green. We love that place!
After Chick-fil-a, we managed to go back to the house for a teeny, tiny nap and then we were off again. This time it was to see Aiden play in his T-ball game. Watching 5 years olds play tee ball is too funny...brings back memories of when I used to be a T-Ball umpire for BREC.

Brooke was a little upset that she didn't get to be an official player on the team...

So, after the game I asked if she could practice batting and run the bases a few times for posterity. She loves baseball and plays with her daddy in the yard every chance she gets. Next year, she will be old enough to sign on with the local little league in our town. We'll see if she is still interested...
We left the field and headed to Aunt Jenny's restaurant for some all you can eat catfish and shrimp and loved it every minute of it! It's a really cute southern restaurant with lots of windows that give a great view of the water~complete with pralines and all! You should surely go if you are ever passin' through. Too bad I was completely stuffed after my first plate and didn't get to ask for a second helping to get my money's worth...maybe next time. We headed home to veg out in front of the TV and have our humongous praline patties for dessert! To see more pics of this super fun filled St. Patricks's Day click here!
The next day, we slept in a little later and then woke up super excited...Today was BEACH DAY!!!
We packed a picnic and headed over for some sunshine, sea shells, and sand all along the seashore! It was a little cold, so Bailey and I kept our cover ups on, (which was totally fine by me ~my skin was and still is a lovely shade of winter white) but Brooke and Aiden didn't mind sporting their pasty white buns or the cool breeze. They bared their bellies and even splashed in the water...Brrr. The highlight of their day had to be digging in the sand and looking for sea shells...they mostly found oyster shells, but they thought they were all terrific treasures! Each of us had a lovely time...well except for when Bailey was forced to touch the sand! Hopefully she will get over that soon! ;-)
Click here here to see pics of our time at the beach...
On Thursday, we just hung around the house for the most part.

The kids had a blast playing out in the yard. They rode the 4 wheeler, the scooter, and jumped in the bounce house. Before too long they had worked up quite an appetite. It was time for lunch, so we went out to The Shed for some good ole' Bar-b-que. It was a pretty scary looking place upon arrival...Aiden even called it creepy! But since we had Mr. Aaron with us, we risked it and decided to stay and try it because according to the Food Network, it is some really good stuff! We went on in, found a seat, and chowed down on some Q. I'd have to agree with the Food Network...YUMMY! To see a few more pics of The Shed and our last day of Spring Break click here.

After lunch, we went back to the house and packed up the car. Later, we got on the road and headed back to Birmingham.
The trip home was very peaceful and uneventful...
WELLL, except for the time when I almost ran out of gas in the middle of NOWHERE! Yes...NOWHERE...no GAS or SIGNS in sight AT ALL! The van started sputtering and acting strange. Thankfully the girls were sleeping so they didn't notice and I just prayed and prayed and prayed for miles and miles and miles with the big "E" light shining the brightest shade of orange I had ever seen and it was practically blinding me! I have no doubt that my Heavenly Father intervened and carried our little silver mini van to that gas station that appeared out of nowhere, so that I wouldn't be stranded on the side of the road and I am so grateful that He did. I am thinking it was just not my time to go and God just knew that my hubby would have killed me if I ran out of gas...FOR SURE, so He carried us! Thank you Jesus! It was truly a miracle...I was sweating bullets and shaking like a leaf by the time we made it to that little gas station for refueling! Seriously y'all, I am so grateful that we made it to the gas station...such a blessing! (Oh and if you wouldn't ever mention this little mishap to my hubby I'd appreciate that, kay!)

The girls continued sleeping throughout the entire ordeal and didn't wake until Montgomery. When they woke up, they requested Dora on DVD and that kept them occupied for the last hour. We eventually made it to Alabaster where hubby met us and then we headed over to ???? (I'll give you 1 guess) for a late dinner reunion. What a lovely end to a great trip!

Yesterday, I read an article about enjoying the season that you are in and not always looking to or worrying about the next season of life and it really got me to thinking....I am always planning or worrying about what is next and I think that sometimes I may miss out on the now. So I am going to try to enjoy each day to the fullest and learn what God has for me today. Thank you God for the blessing of sweet friends and even better family. I am so grateful for this sunny season in my life and I pray that I can and will be even more thankful for the rainy season as I know it will eventually come because it says so in Your Word! I love you almighty and powerful Lord of heaven and earth...thank you for choosing me and giving me ALL the seasons of my life and what a beautiful life it is!
"To Every Thing There is a Season, and a Time to Every Purpose Under the Heaven ..." -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Oh and one more thing...since it is March 30th after 10:00PM, I guess you would like to know the winner of the Spring Giveaway!!??!!
OK, so I loved, loved, loved ALLL of your comments and I couldn't possible pick "the best," so I just I just asked the number generator to go ahead and pick two random winners...the first number will win the grand prize...pearl necklace and bracelet and the second number will win the runner up prize...not a pearl set, but a really cute silver butterfly set. It is a sterling and iridescent beaded bracelet with a butterfly charm (made by me) and a matching sterling silver necklace. It's very springy..hope you like it!

This is so much fun!

Are you ready to know?

OK, OK, I will stop stalling.

I entered in the comments from the January 1st entry until the March 20th entry...there were 94. The number machine picked and the winner is...

Congrats to #32 Bridget (grand prize) and #69 Kent (runner up)...woo hoo!
Random numbers generated Mar 30 2009 at 22:8:29 by www.psychicscience.org.

Thank you all for the sweet comments and for joining in on the fun...now don't be a stranger...y'all come back and visit anytime...besides you never know when I will be giving away another prize! :-)

2nd Annual Spring Giveaway

Today is the day, spring has officially sprung! And when I start seeing all the plants blooming around town and in my yard, it puts me in a generous mood....hence the giveaway!
This is a pic of the peach tree in my front yard blooming. It is gorgeous...so much a symbol of all things spring....doncha think? It makes me think of all the fun activities that are around the corner for Spring and Summer...So exciting!

If you look closer, you will see a bee, busy at work. Doesn't spring make you get busy cleaning, organizing, preparing like the bee? Is does me! And what better way to be rewarded for all your hard work than with a prize!

Soooo, if you have been working hard getting ready for spring then you must enter my giveaway. It is open to all readers near and far! BTW, this is not a public blog and only family and friends have the address, so you have a pretty good chance of winning!
Couldn't you use a new "pretty" to keep or give away as a special Easter gift? I think so!!!! Besides, if you have been reading my blog for very long, you know that Easter is my favorite time of year and that every "girl" big or small needs some new jewelry to wear on Easter Sunday.
OK so here is the prize! My friend Kerri, at Sweet Pea Creations makes these pretty little necklaces and bracelets with genuine freshwater pearls and sterling silver. I will order a set for you in the size and initial of your choice to be delivered to you for your special girl in time for Easter.
These little beauties are appropriate for infants through teens, but if you insist on keeping it for yourself, I can get it especially made in a larger millimeter pearl.
So here's the deal.
To win, all you have to do is post a comment to this entry. Don't forget to tell why you just have to win!!!
And then to better your chances you may post a comment to all of the other posts since January 2009~that gives you up to 12 chances to win, but make sure your comment is related to each post. For example, if you comment on the Mardi Gras blog, you have to make a comment about Mardi Gras or the Circus blog comment has to do with the Circus. You can't just say, "I wanna win!"
I will tally all the posts from January 1st through March 3oth, 2009 and pick the winner with a random number generator on March 30th at 10PM.
Also, feel free to leave a really silly, funny, or persuasive comment, because I may just have to personally make another prize for the person who leaves the "BEST" comment!
OK y'all, I am so looking forward to hearing from you!

Oh and if you have never left a comment before, follow these steps....
(You do not have to have a Google account)
1.) Click on COMMENTS below
2.) Type your comment in the "Leave a comment" box
3.) Under choose an identity, click on the NAME button.
4.) Type your name
5.) And then click "Publish your comment".

The comments will be closed at 10PM on Monday night March 30th and the winner will be posted by 10:30.

HOPE YOU WIN!!! :-)

The Barfy, Bloody Blizzard

This morning hubby and I were awoken by the early morning cries of Miss Bailey. It was 6AM...way too early to wake up, so I asked hubby to run up and put in her paci really quickly, so that we could all go back to dreamland.
Hubby ran up and I ran to the potty. While I was on the potty, I heard hubby yell, "Can you come up here, please!"
Oh no, Houston...sounds like we have a problem!
I ran out of the potty and came around the corner to find the most beautiful site. I could see out the front windows and it was snowing!!!!! Yes snowing on this first day of March...big beautiful flakes that had already covered the entire yard. Click HERE to see all the pics from our special snow day!
It was incredible looking, but wait, that's not why hubby was calling. There was a problem upstairs! I finally get to Bailey's room and there it was...the writing was on the wall...errr...bedpost!
She had barfed in the night and had it EVERYWHERE!
I took her straight to the bath tub, and hubby went straight to the laundry room. We make a great team! ;-)
I had to scrub that girl and wash her hair like 4 times to get it all out.
We wondered how long that sweet baby was rolling in all that mess...bless her heart!
I snuggled her all morning and she laid there really still, but didn't get sick anymore. We gave her Gatorade and dry toast and she perked up a little.
Hubby went to Sunday School and to work in the nursery. We knew that church attendance would be sparse due to all the snow, but hubby didn't want to miss and besides I couldn't go and check on everything with a sick baby, so we stayed home and waited for him to get back.
Brooke woke up around 9:45AM and there was no corralling Bailey any longer. She was feeling better and loves to follow her sister everywhere she goes, so the girls ran back and forth from the front windows to the back windows...ohhhing and ahhhing at all of the snow...over and over again until daddy FINALLY came home.
YAY! It was time to go out and play, so we dressed in lots of layers and headed out to build a snowman.
Brooke and Daddy rolled out some huge snowballs and stacked them into a big ole snowman.
As they were putting the finishing touches on Maddie the snow girl/snowman, Bailey lost her balance and fell right over...landing face first on the concrete sidewalk!!!
I heard the thump and then saw the blood!
Ahhhh...my precious baby...I was a little panicked...I took a deep breath, ran her inside, and cleaned her up. After a few minutes, the bleeding and the tears stopped and the little munchkin was begging to go back outside. Well alrighty then...let's go!
I took her out to make a snow angel and have a snowball fight and she loved every minute of it...along with all the rest of us! (Well except for Big Ted he didn't know what to think, so he just stayed inside until the snow was all gone!)
After everyone was all wet and frozen, we came in stripped down to a dry layer and then had some hot chocolate. A little later, we made vanilla snow cream which was pretty cool too!
And so in spite of all the barf and blood, the Birmingham Blizzard was blissful and beautiful.

What a special treat on a Sunday morning! A great reminder of His renewed grace and mercy for us each day....

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow... Isaiah 1:18