Hoedown in Dothan-town!

We had a blast in Dothan, AL this past weekend with our friends Brett and Crystal. We went to the park, where we saw a ton of animals and had some good ole fashioned ice cream.

Sean got to go play golf with Brett and Josh on Saturday morning while Crystal and I hung out with Baby Girl! We did a little shopping, and when they got back, we headed to the park and then Crystal and I got a little bit of time to do some girl shopping while the boys kept SD at the house and made us dinner.

By the way, Brett- that was the best grilled chicken I've ever had. A bottle of wine, and some good conversation later, we were all ready to hit the sack. SD was a trooper the whole time and slept like a champ, even in a new environment!

We went out the next day to this place called "Zach's" for some "authentic Dothan food" as Crystal likes to say. Talk about home cooking! Country fried steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, and SD KILLED some fried cornbread! She is a southern girl for sure! Here are some more pics from our trip:

Brett and SD swinging:
















Do you think she was having any fun at all?















Brett and Crystal at the Peanut Patch!















And the Gleason Fam too!















Mom and Daughter learning how to make corn meal!















Riding on Brett's shoulders was a big deal, since she usually hesitates around men, but she took right to Brett. We are looking at a horse here:



















Gleason Family at the ice-cream shoppe!















"Chocolate wasted!"
















The Tidwells and SD in line for a milkshake!















"Just in case anyone lost their cow, I found it!!! Here it is!!!"














Enjoying the sunshine on the patio!



















SD with Aunt "Frystal"

The Westover Post

What's making news in your neighborhood? Gossip on the nosy neighbor? Yard of the Month? Ohhhhh NO! Not in Westover.

We have a raccoon issue...well, we had A raccoon. With distemper. And, yes, it caused the entire neighborhood to go bananas. I swear, diseased animals make people in Alabama go crazy.

Here's the low down. Sean and I are coming home from church and we see Stephanie in the driveway of her home. She's on the phone with here mother-in-law, Gail. Talking about "the raccoon"!!! We get the story: apparently there is a raccoon that had something "wrong" with it in the middle of the street. Hunched over, not moving, I'm guessing with that crazy look in his eye, like he's planning on coming back tonight to murder all the neighbors.

We get news that the lady in the blue house goes to see the diseased animal with her black and white cat in tow. Honestly, if there is a mosquito outside, I'm not bringing Lucy out for fear of heart worms or West Nile...but obviously this lady is Mrs. Doolittle. Not sure what came of this...but if the cat catches distemper, that will be a later blog post.

Okay, leaving Steph's we get stopped by Bethany, who gives us her side. "Oh my gosh, did you guys see the raccoon?!?!" At this point we are all 3 laughing because we realize how big of a deal we are all making about "The Raccoon". She says the cops came and then animal control followed.

Meanwhile, down the street, the neighbors from both sides of our house are meeting in our driveway letting us know how much action we missed while we were in church. At this point I'm thinking that this raccoon must have been rainbow colored, an acrobat or from outer space the way everyone is reacting. It was hilarious.

The statement from the neighbor on the right: "Man, y'all sure did miss it!"

The scoop from the neighbor on the right: "Mr. Bob was outside poking it with a stick and wanted come get my kids to play with it!" Trish was also ready and willing to shoot it with her shot-gun, had the cops not been here for 45 min. guarding "THE RACCOON" before animal control made it here. I love me some Trish!

Finally, we make it to the front door and I look across the cul-de-sac seeing Mr. Bob filling in his across the street neighbor about the vicious, serial killing, crazy-eyed RACCOON! Honestly, it was such a pretty day, we were lucky to see good ole Mr. Bob with a shirt on. I sure am glad that crazy thing didn't bite him on the leg like the goose did on Cody road a few months back.

Anyway. That's whats going on today, and I guess that's what we missed when we were at church. I'm sure that crazy thing looked similar to this:

Finally, a play room!

We finally have a place for all of SD's toys. Thanks to my good friend, Lizzie, who is holding on to my guest room furniture, we have a place for SD to play! This is wonderful since it allows us to just close the door at the end of the day and not trip over her toys in the middle of the living room! This first pic is a picture of the room when my dad was painting it!

Here is SD's beautiful white chest we got from White House Antiques and we have turned it into a toy box. I love it because the top is too heavy for SD to lift on her own, so I get to decide which toys are in, and which are out!

A reading area for my stinker! I made the hanging bookshelf! Thanks Pinterest! We have a Walter Anderson painting hanging above to add a little bit of Ocean Springs to the mix!







I just finished these today. I wanted something that was inexpensive and that matched her room! These yellow canvases go with her yellow curtains and only cost me about $18! You can't see it in the pic, but there is a bird sitting on the branch!

Here is a pic of the finished product! I actually found this matching chair to Shelbia's on Craigslist for $120. It came with an ottoman too! What a deal. I can sit and read to her while she plays or she can sit with me! We also moved a TV equipped with a Wii and Netflix for my work-out space and cartoons for SD! This room has made our life a lot less chaotic and we just bought a large air mattress for our guests when they come to stay!

Not for the weak tummies.

So, you may be looking at this photo, and nothing strikes you as different, unless you are a woman, in which you may be thinking "Gee-wiz that kid has got some major granny-panties" or "what's coming out of that poor child's pants?" If you would like to know, please continue reading, but I warn you, it's probably not the best time to be eating. Especially something like soup. :)

So, our day started great! Church (SD was awesome in the nursery, thanks Annie and Aunt Tina) and then off to Foley for some family fun at the Outlet Mall. SD was a champion. Great shopping all day. One diaper change at J Crew. So, Sean and I decide to go to Bass Pro on the way home, and there seems to smell like there is either a skunk, or a small sewer spill in our backseat. I look in my diaper bag...no diapers. Really? Really. Honestly, I have made it almost 14 months of her life without this happening. Why here, why now?

We rush into Bass Pro just knowing I have a smelly surprise just waiting for me under those darling pink pants. I'm improvising in my brain what I can make a diaper out of...then I think to myself, this is Bass Pro Shop, they have EVERYTHING. NOPE. The restrooms are right outside the "home" section (yes, they have one in BPS, but honestly, if anyone of my friends decorated their home in camouflage and/or antlers and/or moose plates, we would not be friends anymore) and we stumble upon some hand towels. With decorative antlers. Awesome. And these are my husbands words "$5 for a towel?!?!?! NO. WAY." I'm thinking "Great, I'm going to change this horrible diaper, and I have nothing" So, I decide, surely they have one of those little machines in the bathroom and I'll improvise with a maxi pad. I AM SO SMART!

Okay, so I lay her out on the table, and voila! NO POOP! Dang, my girl was dropping some bomb toots in the car....I guess we were worried for nothing.

Here is where the turning point for normal parents would be, and this is what they would be thinking: "Hey, since my daughter is so gassy, this probably means this diaper is on the eve of utter destruction, we better get her home! The only diaper we have is on her and since it's Joe Cain Day, getting off the interstate to grab a diaper at a store would be complete chaos. LET'S GO!"

US: "Let's look at the fish and play on the elevator with our child."

Next stop: McAlisters. Hey, Gleason family. Awesome choice. Let's take more time to get home. Together you guys have the brain of a monkey. And there is where the volcano erupted. Full force lava. Red face, grunting, watery eyes, the whole nine yards. She couldn't even finish her pickle.

The smell hit my husband first. Then me. Good thing I had just finished my potato soup, or else we would have wasted our $3.50. And then I got a whiff. I knew what was waiting for me. Bad news first: (besides no diaper and 2 stupid parents) we have to wait to make sure she is finished. We are in the eye of the "smell of death" hurricane. Just waiting for the other side of the storm to hit. Good news: there isn't anyone else in the restaurant, so no one is loosing their lunch (or dinner).

I do the poo-poo walk (you know the one where you hold your baby at arm's length in front of you so you don't get any on your clothes) all the way to the bathroom, and of course it's almost out of the top of the diaper.

Here are my tools: 1. a toddler's shirt 2. wipes and 3. McAlister's napkins. Time to get creative. After I clean up this child I flip the shirt upside down and stuff my baby's chunky legs through the arm holes, only to have a large neck hole right on her bottom. Awesome. Then, a lady walks in the door. Awesome.

I mean, REALLY!?!?! Lord, you had given me such an awesome day with my family, I guess He just needed a laugh. She looks at me as I'm shoving my child's legs into an upside down shirt and stuffing napkins in the neck-hole to catch any urine on the way home. HOW HORRIBLE OF A MOTHER DO I LOOK LIKE TO THIS LADY?!?!?

Instead of taking my time and doing this the correct way, a million things start going through my head, like "Lady, don't judge me. You don't know what it's like to have 5lb diaper and nothing to change your child into!!!" So what if I'm stuffing napkins in her pants!!!!!"

Needless to say, the job was not done correctly, because I wanted to leave the restroom before this woman got a good look at my beet red face and took pity on this poor child and her stupid mom. So I high-tailed it out of there....and did not look back

But hey, we were still dry when we got home. The end.

Fun Times with the Family

Today, we took our baby girl on her first trip to the golf course today. She had such a great time. She loved the golf cart and got the general idea of putting the ball in the hole, however, she didn't understand that you need to hit it with the club to get it there! For some reason, I was TOTALLY expecting that my child (at 13 months) would be a prodigy and would just pick up the game! NOT. She loved going around, picking up all of Sean's golf balls and putting them in the holes. Here are a few pics from today's putting spectacular.


















Learning to clap for daddy when he sinks a put!!!













Here's momma trying to teach her baby how to put. She wasn't getting the hang of it really quickly, but she will soon!

"Peace-out, Daddy, I'm outta here!"

















SD with her putter. Mom looking on.













Lucy sunbathing in the front yard.

SD putting all of her balls in the hole!

Curly Sue!

Pinterest Perfected!

Here are a few ideas and recipes I have snagged from Pinterest and tried them out...

I thought this idea was so cute! This was an old window frame I found at White House Antiques, the best little antique shop! I lined it with some scrapbook paper and then put all of SD's black and white photos in the front. This is for her "play room" so I tried to make it so that all the photos were of her playing. It looks great in her room.








Here is the Pinterest recipe for Texas Ranch Chicken Casserole. It was pretty good...not fantastic. I think it could have used a little more kick! I added a little taco seasoning and a packet of dry ranch dressing...I think next time I make it, I'll put some chili powder in it too!

These are some chicken wraps that I made just last night. I added tomatoes to mine (because I think everything taste better with tomatoes) and they turned out really good. I used spinach wraps instead of flour to add a little nutrition. This gets a thumbs up. They are extremely filling, I could only eat half of one, and they made 4 large roll ups. Good, Inexpensive and husband approved. The only suggestion is that you serve it with some salsa, and I love sweet corn salsa.

Mine was not near as pretty, but they tasted great.








Honey Crockpot Chicken. This had a little Asian Flare to it. I served mine with some homemade fried rice (a lot more healthy) and pot stickers instead of egg rolls. This was easy and very, very good.



Here is my photo!

The last "project" was trying to remove my "spillovers" on my flat top. I found a blog through Pinterest that says to put baking soda on the baked-on mess and then lay a soapy washcloth over it for a while, and it should come right up. Not the case. I found that (Thanks to my neighbor, Trish) a product called "Bartender's Friend" works much, much better! Thanks Trish!

Family Time!

Well, a lot has been going on since the Holiday's have passed! Football games, family has visited...a lot of prayers have been sent up, a lot of prayers have been answered...and I'm just now getting time to sit down and take it all in....

Here are some photos of the fam:

Aunt Heather with SD

G'ma and Kenny...getting married next month! Congrats guys!

The Family

Girls!

The past month has been filled with emotion, both good and bad:

Some of the goods:

• A few babies I'm looking forward to meeting...JSarge (LUKE) being one, and NO I'M NOT THE OTHER!
• DUH, an Alabama National Championship
• My Daughter is now WALKING!
• An awesome Saints game with my best friends
• Family coming back together
• Getting back in my community group and Ladies' Bible study at church. It feels so great to have the Holy Spirit surround me with such wonderful people!
• SD's one year appointment...she knocked it out of the park!
• Kindermusik in full swing again!
• Happy Birthday to Keri, Tiffani, Banks and Lizzie this month! Love you all!

A few of the not so good:

• Sweet Kayda Jade being diagnosed with cancer. Here is the good news: she is surrounded by believing parents that know the Lord is in control at all times. We've been praying so much!
• The Saint's losing to the 49ers, really guys?
• My bro being gone for like 2 months, and leaving without painting my play room for SD....thanks for that Zach!
• I've had a few doctors appointments to see if I have gallstones...hoping for the best :)

Y'all come back now! Ya Hear?!?