Jiggity Jig

This girl


will be on her way to see this girl

tomorrow. We'll be rolling out after Addie goes to bed to make the long drive to Illinois. The trip will be well worth it as Sabian is performing his first wedding next weekend. We are very excited to be attending this special day - pray for Sabian as he prepares!

I am really looking forward to seeing my family and friends. I will try to post while we're gone but if I can't I'll post all about it when we get back.

Happy March! Today I am thankful that tomorrow we are headed home!

The Tale of Two Cameras

Once upon a time two crazy kids in love got married and were blessed to receive many wonderful gifts from their loving friends and family. Among those gifts were gift cards that covered the cost (all but 10 cents!) for a camera that this couple had been eyeing before their nuptials. The couple purchased this camera and lived happily ever after. Until...

...three years later the lovely lady had the fortune of winning a gift certificate at work that enabled her to purchase a smaller, more portable camera, one conducive to slipping in her purse or diaper bag and keeping it there for capturing spontaneous moments.

Life continued on for the couple, happily snapping photos here and there with both cameras, one dubbed "her" camera and one referred to as "his" camera. Double the cameras, double the photos, double the fun. Although "his" camera, now almost four years later, is a tad outdated, the couple decided to hold off on purchasing their next dream camera until the time was right.

For now, each camera is connected to a different household computer. It is often that the lovely lady will peruse "his" photos and discover moments that she has not yet seen. And so is the tale of two cameras, and a few of those stumbled upon moments to share with you.

X marks the spot:


A little bath time fun:


Is it just me or does the doll floating in the background creep you out?!


Sportin' my Wewa Gators t-shirt!


Playing outside with dad. Soon, crawling in the grass will be hazardous. The ants will rise again and take over the yard.


How's that for holding on to my apron strings?

Did I mention that I'm thankful that we're going home next week???!!!!

Your Nose Knows

For many of us there are songs, when we hear them, that conjure up memories of specific people, places, and experiences. They make us think of who we danced with at a high school prom, or the road trip you were on when you heard this song, or the song that made a bad day better a long time ago.

Our senses are crazy powerful things.

I don't think I'm alone when I say I can apply the same concept to smells. In fact, I've written about it before. A funny side note: I wrote that post I am referencing almost exactly a year ago. Strange.

Monday night I drove to our local Dollar General for some muffin mix. I vaguely remember thinking it felt a little sticky outside, even at a cool 58 degrees. When I got back to the house and stepped out of the car, it hit me. It smelled like Wewa. It smelled like Florida in the summer. It smelled like this:





What I smelled Monday night smelled like our first experiences here. When it is warm here it smells warm. It not only feels humid, but it smells humid. While it was by no means hot earlier this week, the slightly warmer temps and the leftovers from the rain we'd had earlier in the day combined to make it smell and feel like spring.

I was a little unprepared for the emotions that tugged at me as I stood on our porch. Suddenly I remembered everything about our move and our arrival in Wewa. I remembered how difficult it was, and sometimes still is, to be away from familiarity. I recalled the group of people that was waiting in our front yard for us, the mess of our house after everything was moved in, and the realization that set in that this was where we were.

This isn't the first time I have caught a whiff of something that reminds me of that time and I know it won't be the last. I guess each time I smell something that reminds me of those experiences I realize that now the scenes I see aren't so foreign to me. I'll admit, it is still hard to call here "home," even almost two years later, but the memories that are brought up by those smells aren't bad ones. Sometimes I barrel on through the thoughts and sometimes, like Monday, I pause and really think about them.

Today I am thankful that in just a few days I will be with my family!

Onward & Upward

For the past two years Sabian has volunteered as an assistant coach for the Upward basketball league in Wewa. Upward is a Christian sports organization that promotes good sportsmanship and Christ-likeness while giving kids a chance to learn how to play on a team. The score isn't supposed to matter but as we all know kids, yes, yes the score really does matter to them. And let's be honest - I'm sure it matters to the coaches, too!

Last year I was a bad wife and did not go to the games to support my husband. Chalk it up to being pregnant and by that time exhaustion setting in? This year I have seen the error of my ways and Addie and I make it to most of the games. Admittedly, it can be hard giving Sabian up for two more nights of the week, even though it may only end up being an hour or two each night. And, the season is short, but I will be the first to tell you, I try to guard our family time as much as possible. Despite that, Upward has been good for Sabian when it comes to building relationships with some of the middle schoolers who attend our youth group and even some who don't.

Addie really enjoys being at the games and watching the kids play. At first she was mesmerized by the cheerleaders but now she tends to watch the game a little more and even join in with the clapping and occasionally a cheer. She's especially happy when some friends of ours, Daphne and her daughter Savannah, are there because Savannah is more than happy to share her brownie with Addie.

So, whether she's a future cheerleader or player, Addie's already made her way in with the team.

Today I am thankful for a beautiful day. Sabian, some of our leaders, and our youth kids are out and about during our 30 Hour Famine doing some community service. Without fail 30 Hour Famine seems to always fall on the coldest weekend of the year (even last year when we did it here!) but this year it is very nice outside.

Sweethearts

This was me last Valentine's Day:

This is Valentine's Day (weekend), 2010:

Addie with her Valentine's balloon from us and her first rose from her dad.

(If you look closely it looks like I have a shrunken left arm.)

Feeding the seagulls our left over crackers from lunch.

A couple of shots from our pre-Valentine's Day photo shoot for cards for our families.


I am thankful for a fun, relaxing Valentine's weekend. And crab legs, flowers, and chocolate for Valentine's Day.

Organized Momma

So, if you know me at all you probably know that I am an organizer. I love containers (hence my love affair with the Container Store) and it is always exciting to me when I can figure out a way to reduce clutter. Yes, yes, it is an exciting life I lead.

Today, I hit a jackpot. Well, not really, but in my compartmentalized mind, this was a doozy. I have been following a site, babysteals.com. Every day at 10 a.m. Central they list a one day deal and sell the item(s) until they are gone. Often, I have found, whatever it is goes quickly. VERY quickly. And often, it is an item I don't need or, even at a discounted price is still beyond my budget. But, today I had to splurge. Check out today's offer:

In my mind this solves so many diaper bag and life issues. Okay, maybe the last is a stretch - I mean, can it really do my laundry and empty my dishwasher? Maybe not, but it does allow me to take along a variety of snacks and such and such for Addie without having to load down the diaper bag. AND, according to the instructional video (yes, I did watch it and had goosebumps the whole time) it is useful for other items even after Addie has outgrown Cheerios and those Gerber puffs she likes oh so much.

So, I suggest you go NOW and order your own Packin' Smart before they are all gone. Did I mention they are 50% off and you get two to a pack? When these come in the mail it will be like Christmas all over again.

Today I am thankful for others who are organizer freaks like I am. It is thanks to them that there are products like this one available for those of us who look forward to these little things in life.

I am also thankful for the generosity of our church board and congregation. Thanks to them we now have a privacy fence all along the back of our house. Let the gardening begin! Well, as soon as we get out of the 40s and 50s...

UPDATE: it is an hour after the original babysteals.com post and they are SOLD OUT!

A Few Fun Things

Since things have been a little slow (dare I say "normal?")around here, I figured I'd post some fun things I've run across over the last few weeks. This isn't to say I do not have anything to post about Addie or Wewa or life here in general, but I'll wait until I have a couple of more interesting things under my belt. For now, fun stuff to check out.

I love Crate and Barrel and I love their spinoff, CB2. Once upon a time when I was a girl about to be wed, my sister and I went to Crate and Barrel on a Sunday morning (yes, skipped church!) for an exclusive event that allowed brides to be browse and register the store without the chaos of other customers clattering about. Ah, that was so much fun. Back to present day, I am totally digging this rug at CB2.com.I really think I need one of these, and if you are a mom who makes your own baby food, I would think it would be awesome for steaming and cooking veggies. Introducing, the foodpod. A little futuristic looking but seems to be pretty convenient. If nothing else, the ditty playing on the site should get you in the mood to blanch something. Oh, and it looks like Fusion Brands sells some other pretty cool tools, too.

If I ever own a cat I would have to figure out a way to spring for this litter box. If Sabian really wants a cat, this would be my only request.



And of course, a Threadless entry. How can you pass this up?

I guess that's it. I sure thought I had more in my arsenal of favorite things, but I've either forgotten the other items for the moment or The Sea of Monsters is calling my name too loudly.

Today I am thankful for a few more days of "cold" weather here. Before I know it the humidity will rule the land. Sigh.

Readin', Rockin', & Relaxin'

It seems Addie already knows that it is mandatory that one sleeps in when it is dreary and rainy outside. We're in for a bit of rain today, which is really fine by me. Since it has been another slow news week, I'll post a couple of photos of Addie and call it a day.

I'm excited to see that Addie seems to really enjoy her books. We've reserved a shelf for her on our bookshelves in the living room so she can check out her books whenever she wants. The shelf formerly housed magazines, which she thoroughly enjoyed, but so much so that I think she'd live on a diet of paper if she could. We took the opportunity to teach her what "no" means, but after a while it just made sense to bring her books in there so she could enjoy them. She really does, and it is fun to catch her "reading" them.

Addie has a bit of a fan club at church, although it looks as though she is the adoring fan in this photo. Cameron and his sister Savannah (not pictured) love, love to play with Addie and argue over who gets to hold her. Apparently Cameron is serenading her here.

And, of course, there is the swinging. I snapped this shot because, well, Addie just knows how to sit back and relax.

Here's to a rainy, cozy day. I am thankful for feeling as though things are caught up (did I just jinx myself?) so that I can enjoy just hanging out.

Where the Wild Things Are

**Disclaimer: the weak of stomach may not want to proceed with the reading of this post. Read at your own risk!**

It has been a while since I have posted about the animals in Wewa. You might even remember that early on in this blog the animals here were at the forefront of my posts. Well, here's another.

Last week I was sitting at the kitchen table chatting with a friend online and I looked out my window to see this:

Our next door neighbor's dog, Ryder, was making an afternoon snack out of our trash. Mind you, our trash had been sitting by the curb for a week because either, 1. We didn't get it out soon enough or 2. The truck didn't come by to get it. This has happened to us before, but we've also, at times, gotten it out too late. So, it was pretty ripe stuff and Ryder was having a good ol' time. He didn't even budge when I walked out there to clean up the mess. Oh, and don't confuse Ryder with Roxy. Roxy was the dog that used to live across the street and dropped the interesting items in our yard each day. She's been long gone.

A couple of days went by and I got up one morning to rescue Addie from her crib and as I was changing her diaper, I looked out the window of her room and saw another scene. I wanted to be sure I was really seeing what I was seeing, so I called Sabian into the room.

"Uh, Sabian, is that what I think it is?"

"Yep, that's a deer."


It seems this time Ryder was having breakfast - a gruesome one at that, and RIGHT NEXT to our mailbox. I was pretty grossed out and the questions running through my mind were many.

Where did he get that?

How does this happen?

Who does that belong to?

Am I going to throw up?

Not long after I saw what was taking place across the street, when I peeked out again the deer was gone. One of the benefits of living in a town where the vast majority of residents hunt is that they know what to do when this sort of thing occurs. But really, does this sort of thing have to occur?!

I still shiver when I think about it, but it was too Wewa not to share.

Today I am thankful that someone knew what to do with Ryder's leftovers. I am also thankful that in about a month I get to see my family again!