arabia mountain

Yesterday was absolutely GORGEOUS outside and we definitely took advantage of it. I was determined to get out yesterday regardless though because I had not left my house since Wednesday and I was going insane! Thankfully it was pretty enough to actually be outside.

Apparently we have lived in Conyers for almost 5 years and not known there was a mountain 5 minutes away. By mountain I mean very large stone hill, but still it felt mountainous. A few minutes from our house is Arabia Mountain. It's a granite rock like Stone Mountain but not nearly as big. We trekked out there yesterday morning to check it out. Very simple, very quiet, very relaxing, very fun! Micah was so super cute climbing the mountain. He kept wanting to jump in all the puddles the rain had left. After the first few times he realized he was getting his pants wet and was not about it! He actually sat down on the rock and said "clean it." He only enjoys getting wet and dirty on his own terms!





After a couple hours of walking, sitting, looking, talking, we headed to the most nonrelaxing place...the mall! We were there just long enough to grab some lunch and check out some maternity clothing stores. I have had a couple wonderful girls let me borrow their clothes, but you can only fit into so much of someone else's things so I'm in desperate need of some warm weather pregger outfits. I didn't buy anything but at least I got to feel nice and girly by window shopping and am ready to roll when I get paid next week!

feed the birds

Last week while we were outside playing Micah kept spotting birds flying around. I was all out of birdseed so I rummaged through the snack cabinet and found a box of Elmo crackers that had been around for awhile. We spent the next little bit throwing the crackers around the backyard and sitting to watch if any birds would come snag some. Apparently this was the most fun ever because a couple days later Micah was still talking about giving the birds a snack.

Yesterday I was checking all my regular blogs and found some cute bird feeder ideas on The Crafty Crow. One seemed easy enough for a two year old so I went for it. After nap I poured a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, grabbed some pipe cleaners and we went to work on the floor making a circle chain of cheerios. Now by we I mean Micah strung about 10 ate 3 times that many and then played with the circles as I was finishing them! He still had fun with it and now we have a yummy bird friendly snack hanging up in our backyard.

shoppin' mama

My sister and I were fortunate enough to go through life with an extra mother. Ms. Vickey would frequently join us on various shopping/lunching adventures giving us the extra feminine view that sometimes my mother lacked (no offense mom!!) As the Lord blessed Ms. Vickey with only boys and therefore was never able to shop for wedding stuff, she joined us on our excursions to try on and purchase our wedding dresses. She even bought each of us the tiara we wore on our wedding day. Being 'the queen' herself it was only appropriate that she give us our very own crowns!

As I sit, write, and reminisce, Ms. Vickey and her family are going through a difficult situation that is unfortunately all too familiar to some. I am not sure if I can correctly explain everything that has happened the last few weeks/months so to know specific details please visit her blog that is being updated by her sons. I can tell you that this week she was diagnosed with stomach cancer and has recently learned that it has already spread to various parts of her body. Only one person knows what the future holds for her and it's the only person you would want. Her life/illness/future is in the hands of our God! She has a faith beyond faith and has been a constant encouragement to so many throughout her life because of her trust in the Lord and His will for ALL our lives. It's no secret what we are all praying for...a complete healing that will enable her to be with us for a long time to come, however, no matter what the outcome, be assured that God will be glorified in it.

I wanted to share my personal top ten fav things about her in hopes that it will give you a glimpse of her personality and help you as you pray for her and her family!

10. Clothes, clothes, clothes...she is able to find the CUTEST stuff to wear for every situation. She's one of those people that could have just finished doing yard work yet still look perfect. (you know what I'm talking about!)

9. Little piggies...Ms. Vickey ALWAYS has her nails, both hands and feet, painted. It would always crack me up when she saw my mother's unpainted toenails and look to Jen and I in distress to do something about her piggies!

8. Back scratching...because of the great care of fingernails, she can give the best back scratches! Even if only for a second as she walks by it just hits the spot.

7. Pictures...she has everyones, and i mean everyones, pictures somewhere in her house. Either on the refrigerator, bulletin board, frame or album. I can go and find pictures of my family and other friends from 15 or 20 years ago!

6. Hostess with the Mostest...both her and my mom love hosting people, having gatherings, sharing the love. She gave plenty of showers, teas, luncheons, etc for plenty of people. Not to mention the occasional pool party!

5. Snack Cabinet!! Picture 4 children under the age of 10 stopping by before they head to Enterprise from Dothan and being told they can have anything from 4 cabinets worth of yumminess...not to mention a refrigerator always fully stocked with drinks...heaven right!

4. Poodles...Ms. Vickey has a love affair with poodle dogs which is hilarious because my dad hates them (except for hers of course).

3. Raisin Bran...ok now I know this is going to sound odd but I really like raisin bran, but hate raisins. One time when I was doggie sitting Ms. Vickey asked what I wanted for her to get me to eat and I said Raisin Bran without the raisins. She preceded to buy a box of cereal, remove EVERY raisin from it and then put it in the cabinet with a big X over the raisin part! It was amazing! Don't say I could just eat plain bran flakes because it's totally not the same, the raisins are coated in sugar crystals which gets on the cereal in the box which is why it's just way better.

2. Zebra collection...for some reason I was obsessed with Zebras when I was little. I now have a massive collection of ornaments, figurines, etc with Zebras on them courtesy of mom and Mrs. Vickey. A long time ago I had to spend the night at their house while I was visiting a friend in the hospital. On my bed was a white nightgown with a zebra head that was wearing a real pink bow!! LOVED THEM!

1. HER! marriage, faith, personality, love, friendship, everything! I am blessed to know her and blessed that she knows and loves me too!

Ms. Vickey and my mother outside of NCCF

2 years old

Seriously he's 2 already!?!?!

This weekend we celebrated Micah's 2nd birthday. By the time we got to Sunday, his actual birthday, we were so exhausted the only celebration he got was not taking a nap because his Nana and Poppy were coming to see him.

On Saturday we had a party/gathering of friends and family to celebrate Micah. We had a great time but let me tell you that it is way different organizing something when you're pregnant. I wore out fast! Thankfully my parents, brother, sister, husband, and friends who came early helped finish it up before everyone else arrived. Our theme was The Big Road Race. It's a berenstain bear book that Micah absolutely loves! Zach used the cover of the book to make invitations and I bought one for all the kids who were going to attend as their favors. We also had 'race' food...hot dogs, mini hamburgers, nachos and the Piece de Resistance, the beautiful car cake created by my own two hands.


Though it was a little crowded I think a good time was had by everyone. The kids played outside on the slide and in Micah's tunnel fort. There was nothing left of the food except two small pieces of cake and a little cheese dip and there were new cars, puzzles, books, balls and a basketball goal by the end.
Thanks again everyone who was able to come and everyone who is such a special part of my son's life no matter if you were able to make it or not. We love each of you!

Georgia Aquarium

Sunday is Micah's 2nd birthday and instead of getting him the traditional gift we decided to take him on a fun outing instead. There will be plenty of birthdays in the future where he will have specific things he wants so while he's still too young to be worried about a present we thought this would be a great and fun alternative.

This morning we headed to downtown Atlanta to the Georgia Aquarium. Zach and I had not been yet and we had been waiting to take Micah until he was old enough to enjoy it. He is definitely old enough! He had a blast!!! He talked all morning about how we were going to see the fish (he called everything fish at the very beginning!) Once we were there he was in heaven. Watching him glue himself to the different viewing windows was just too cute for words. He was enthralled every time something new swam by. Two of the sections had HUGE viewing windows/walls. The one in the Ocean Wonders exhibit was awesome. There were tons of different sharks, sting rays, fish, etc. We spent awhile just sitting and staring. We were trying to teach Micah the different names of everything and he did a pretty good job until we got to hammerhead shark, which he turned into hamburger shark! It was such a great day of quality time for our family of three (and a little bit).

It's amazing to me how much Micah has grown, especially in the last few months. The way he learns new words, enjoys new adventures, and relates to those things/people around him is amazing to me. I know there will be many times in the future where I won't think he's being 'so cute', but I am still so excited about watching him grow into the person God has created for him to be.

Daisy Mae (May)

Daisy is my adorable daughter. I got her as a puppy freshman year of college and she has been attached to me ever since. Zach even knew when we started dating that if he wanted to stick with me for life Daisy was right there next to me. We named her Daisy Mae before I even met Zach but now is affectionately known as Daisy Mae May!

Micah absolutely loves her! He loves giving her snacks, throwing her ball and various toys for her, and of course loves to CLIMB all over her! Thankfully she is patient and just puts up with him. Zach took some great pictures of Micah and Daisy playing outside so I thought I'd let you see those plus a little bit of their past relationship!

March 2007

May 2007

December 2007

February 2008

October 2008

January 2009

Oh Boy!

This morning we found out we are going to have another little boy! We were super excited but I for one was very surprised. I just knew this was going to be a girl...I'd even started decorating the room in my head ready to spring into action with online shopping after we 'officially' found out!

However, having two little boys will be fun and my brain has already switched gears into how to make a cute (and of course manly) room for my two little men! I'm hoping that car mobile is still on sale at target!?!

We have absolutely no idea what we are going to name him. We had a boy named picked out but since I thought it was a girl as soon as I heard it was a boy I no longer liked my boy name and now will be searching through family names and internet lists to find the perfect one...then I have to find the same letters we bought for Micah so that the new name will match his on the wall...and convince my mom to switch cribs with me because Micah's big boy headboard will be a dark color and the crib we have is natural. Do normal women worry about stuff like this!?

I'll stop my sudden list of things I need to do and let you see a picture of the cute new one! His little arm is up next to his face and I swear he and Micah have the same nose. Tell me what you think!

computer savvy

Months and months ago my sister-in-law Christina mentioned that she goes online to play games with my niece Haley. I can't even remember now which site she went to but I do remember her saying how much Haley loved it.

Most of you know Micah's love affair with Elmo and Sesame Street. Recently we've been hitting up the Sesame Street site, sesamestreet.org, and playing some games. There is one that he absolutely LOVES! It's a pet sorting game hosted by none other than Elmo himself. There's a shelf with two different kinds of animals, in two different colors and two different sizes so that there is a variety of ways to sort them. So far we've just sorted by animals while naming their colors and it seriously will crack you up listening to him yell out the animals when he sees them.

After they're all sorted each stack of animals will dive and then there's a big splash at the end which inevitably gets a big "YAY!!!" We're going to try and get it on video soon, because it's just too cute not to.