pictures with mama, e.t.c.

I only have like two pictures with chloe. and, of course, I don’t like either of them. hence the reason I typically have the back of the camera pressed to my face. well, it dawned on me the other day that I didn’t have many pictures with my own mother. it made me want to be more intentional about taking photos with chloe and not caring what I look like in them. she won’t be critiquing my double-chin or crooked teeth. when I look at pictures of my mother I think she is beautiful – because I knew her.


so when chloe took a liking to my nose the other night – I practically yelled at jacob to grab the camera. we laughed as she was going to town on the tip of my nose – she LOVED it. I am glad we captured this moment. she is at that age where everything is interesting and she is trying to find a way to get it to her mouth.


and just for kicks – I dug up a photo of my mom and I when I was about chloe’s age. LOVE IT!

I am linking up over at the anderson crew for embrace the camera. I love this linky – it challenges me to think about snapping different images and capturing memories – not just events. every day life. head over there and check out the other links.

birthday happys

yesterday was the big day. thrity-schmirty. so far, so good.

here are a couple of ‘things’ that represent wonderful people in my life.


flowers from two people who ‘reappeared’ in my life about 2 years ago. I am so happy to call them friends now. funny, funny girls.

a *super cute* reusable bag from my old college friend. so glad we live near each other and get to see each other from time to time.

a new stone from my mother-in-law, with whom I share a birthday.

a cute scarf from my sister-in-law that I wore to church in the morning.

a few other blessings of this weekend:
a new nephew named Zeke
a chance to hang out with the ‘old and new’ friends (no picture. why do I do that?)
two naps
estate sale-ing
listening to an entire sermon (and processing it)
mexican coke
muddy’s cupcakes
kissing my husband
 
and A LOT of other little things.

looks like 30 isn’t going to be so bad after all.

mommy’s day out, etc

today, I am typing this while not popping a paci back in or holding a little one. today, I am typing this with a tear in my eye.

chloe is with her mimi and she is going to have a great day. her big cousin will stop by to play with her and her gigi, jacob’s great-grandmother, will get to love on her as well.

we are so very blessed with wonderful families. we are especially blessed to live fairly close to jacob’s family. mimi, jacob’s mom, will be keeping chloe when I go back to work in a few weeks until the end of this school year. what a blessing! and I couldn’t think of anyone who could care for her better than her mimi.  



^that is what I wrote this morning. then, I got too choked up to finish. :)

I ended up going to a small local consignment sale for one thing I’ve been hunting for chloe and a consignment store for a couple of clothes for me. it was nice. breathing room. but I missed my little girl like terrible. I only called twice.

jacob got home early and we decided to have a day date. it was unexpected and very nice. we held hands. and pop-kissed in public.

gag if you want.

it was a good day. and now we are settling back into our regular routine.

and hearts will be glowing

Can you finish the line in that song?

Jacob and I are essentially done with Christmas. We will be heading out to his folks’ house later today to have a small family meal. It won’t be anything extravagant.

No worries though. We did celebrate in grand fashion already. All of his family got together last weekend and earlier this week to celebrate.

Jacob’s extended family on his dad’s side all get together every year for a Grab Bag Christmas. Jacob’s grandmother sit has two bags, one for the kids and another for the big kids. Mrs. Claus (Jacob’s grandmother) and Santa Claus (Jacob’s dad) man the bags so there is no peaking. There are always some really crazy gifts and you never know what is really in the box until you open it. It’s great!


This year we had about 45 people and I think 17 of them were GiGi’s great-grandchildren. Three of the cousins are pregnant. so there will be even more next year. Isn’t that amazing?

Then, we had Jacob’s family Christmas Monday night. We really only get the kids presents and then Jacob’s parents. We got the kids flashlights and headlamps. (You can see why back in this post) Taran and his wife brought the best two presents ever though. They made a slideshow dvd of all the old-timey slide pictures of my mother-in-law when she lived in India AND their brand new 10 day old baby girl. Yep, they top as the best gifts this year.

A bunch of pictures from the weekend.


This train set belonged to Jacob’s grandpa. It is 71 years old and still works!
a little premature unwrapping
having a blast on the zip line
uncle jacob with battery duty on new toys

There are so many more I wish I could share. Hope you have had the most wonderful time of the year with your loved ones so dear.

Merry Christmas Eve!

present (in a) moment

My list of things to do this week are ever growing as the week gets shorter. How does that happen? AND only like three things have anything to do with Christmas. Bummer.

Even in the midst of this week’s chaos, I am simply missing this crew.

This is my family two years ago at my sister’s house in Denver. That’s me in the obnoxiously pink jacket. We have never been one of those families that gets all coordinated and such for photos. Nope, we just snap it. Wal-mart bags and all. (See bottom right corner on my brother’s feet.) That’s character folks. And I sure do miss these characters.

This was the last Christmas we were all together.

Jacob and I had flown in from our little rendezvous in NYC where we had just gotten engaged. I went upstairs and crawled in the bed with my dad. I told him I had a secret and then whispered to him that we were engaged. He smiled. He wasn’t feeling well. I couldn’t tell you for the life of me what gift dad got me that year. But I don’t need to, I have that moment.

After this picture, we got in a huge snowball fight. Dad was out there letting us have it. I hadn’t seen him that lively and having that much fun in such a long time.

I wish I could find the pictures from those few moments.

I think about my dad everyday anyway, but I am really thinking about him this week. And the rest of my family.

I’m not sad, just full of thoughts of them. I promise I will write about something more upbeat in the next few days. Cause it’s Christmas and I cannot help but to feel all excited like a little kid.

Hope you are enjoying every moment with your loved ones!

Give Thanks

There are too many things to list. But you had better believe I am counting my blessings and naming them one by one over here!

Here are some pictures though of the people we were able to enjoy for a special day of Thanks. Mostly the little ones. Not that we enjoy them more, but somehow I always end up with more pictures of them!

Uncle Jacob teaching the kids things they cannot
do without an adult.

Making silly faces with Aunt Candace. There are several of these.

Jacob’s grandmother. I caught her with food in her mouth.

Jacob’s older brother opening card with gifts from the parents.

Sister-in-law and me .

Meme getting ready for box trains and probably avoiding wrestling. I love how these kids are much too creative and active to play with just toys all the time. The grandparents too!

We are so very blessed with a wonderful family. Sometimes it makes me miss my family, other times it just makes me incredibly grateful to have such an amazing family right here in town.

Week in Review

First things first – I GOT A JOB! woooooo-hooooooo!
Our Bible class cheered yesterday when I announced this. Jacob cheered longer than anyone. Ha! I celebrated that day with a trip to Chick-fil-A to get a kids meal and trade my toy for ice cream – my favorite!


I guess I was feeling all confident and stuff. So, I bought a storage bench on Craigslist and recover it while I watched Practical Magic. That movie is a fall staple for me. I need to add legs to bench so it can become a coffee table/ottoman. Here’s the before.


Then, we went to visit some friends in Arkansas. Fun times. Good food. (Oh, the food.) Sydney and Darby even had a friend to play with too. Why did I not get any pictures of the friends?


Then, we spent some good time with family to celebrate Jacob’s grandmother’s birthday. Here is one of two pictures I have of Jacob and his grandmother. That’s is our nephew’s foot – not grandma’s. Ha!


Speaking of nephews……they LOVE their uncle. I think he loves them too.

The Heirloom House

This could be a good name for our place if we were in the business of naming our place...more to come on that in a later post. However, we do have many heirlooms floating around here. We adore them and are so glad that we have a house filled with pieces that hold history. we love old stuff, not for its shear coolness factor but that old pieces hold a story.

Here are some of our pieces and their stories.

The white cabinet you saw back on this post belonged to my great-grandmother on my mom's side. We called her Grand Ruby. She and her sister took my mom to church when she was younger and then helped her get to the Christian college where she met our dad. On the left is how it looked when my mom got it after Grand Ruby died. On the left is how it looks now in our dining room.

Now, for inside that cabinet....

This thing is filled with a mixture of our wedding presents and things my parents were given as wedding presents.
Some things belonged to our mom's mom, or MawMaw, if you will. See there that glass shoe in the bottom right side, those three teacups across the middle, and that pink depression glass set on the bottom shelf. Oh how my sister and I would admire that pink depression glass when we visited Mawmaw for Spring Break and the Holidays.

Well enough of my stuff, let's move to heirlooms from hubby's family.

This beauty hangs above our bed and looks eerily like Jacob's best bud, Sydney. We are not sure where it came from. Jacob thinks that it was drawn by his great-uncle maybe. All we do know is that it is a charcoal drawing that was in his grandparent's farm house in Pennsylvania. It has a gorgeous frame around it too.

One of our most valued treasures is this book. And while it is new, it holds years of photos and heirloom memories. Jacob's grandmother (with help from uncle and cousin-in-law) created and gave each grandchild a book of the family tree. It simply tells the story of Jacob's grandpa and grandma and the legacy they built of loving God and doing His will.

There are several other pieces in this house that have stories to go with them. There are so many others but I didn't want this post to go any longer. So, I'll give you them in list form.....Mawmaw's white Bible that Jonny gets, the bed my parents had when they first got married, part of dad's coin collection, Jacob's grandpa's work log, mother's pearls.

Well, like I said in my last post, I am glad that these things are in our house, but more importantly I am glad that we have pieces that mean something and tell a story of the people who once owned them.

We also have a great heirloom meatloaf recipe from Jacob's other grandmother......oh, it is so good. I'll be posting it soon, so be on the lookout.

Head on over Emma Calls Me Mama and enjoy all the heirloom pieces.

Wedding Party and Flowers Day

So I have decided to jump on the bloggy bandwagon over at Kelly's Korner and
link up to the Show Us Your Life parties she hosts.
This week is Wedding Party and Flowers.

I chose white tulips, green berries (whatever that 'h' word is), and some yellow roses. Family members carried yellow roses in memory of my mother. I ordered the tulips online and my stepsisters made the bouquets and boutonnieres.

Now on the the real stuff. We had one of the best wedding parties EVER. We were surrounded by all the people we love and our day couldn't have been any better. Let's get the show on the road so you can see all these wonderful people.

Here's the whole gang, posing for our casual shot outside.

This is obviously me with each of my bridesmaids.
We had a serious picture and of course a silly picture.
These are the sillies. Love them!

This is one of my favorites. I do not like that we are not together
but this was the best of us outside.

And on to the boys. Aren't they handsome?
This is one of my favorites too.

Here is Jacob with each of his boys doing the silly thing.
The pictures don't lie, these guys are so much fun!
You will not stop laughing when they are around.

We had just a few kids in our wedding, all nieces and nephews.
The kids are not into at this point. You should see the rest of these shots!
Hilarious!

There is a story here......The photographer placed us and then told the bridesmaids to find a
random spot and just focus on it. I was to remain looking at the camera.
Notice, the redhead just to my right.......

"Did you turn all the way around, Emily?" Oh mercy, we were laughing so hard!

a date with my boyfriend

What a beautiful weekend we had. The temperatures dipped back under 90 degrees and the breeze was nearly constant. We put aside house projects and chores and just enjoyed each other instead. It was loverly!

Friday was spent on a double date with my former roommate and her beau. We had a cheap and easy date night with BOGO pizza and two-for-one drive in movies. Oh yeah, our friends did leave to get Off! while we were at the movies.

Saturday was a full date day. Hubby made coffee while I got ready for us to head to the flea market. we stumbled upon some fabulous booths outside stocked with antiques and lots of vintage finds. We had a blast showing each other the cool things we spotted. We walked away with a just a couple of things.

That evening we prepared our dinner together. We prepped the food together and hubby lit up the grill. While thoroughly enjoying our savory appetizer, Hubby expressed, "This is my favorite kind of date." It made me melt like the cheese inside the bacon wrapped jalapeno I was eating.

Appetizer: Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos and Coconut Lime Shrimp

Main Meal: Cedar Plank Salmon, Cheesy Grit Stuffed Tomatoes,
and Roasted Asparagus and Summer Squash

That food was so amazing. We ate the appetizer outside by the grill while the salmon was cooking. We are living the life, I tell ya!

Sunday night hubby asked me on another date. I, of course, said yes, especially when it asked me to go see Harry Potter with him after church. We hated the price, but loved the movie. A good wrap to such a wonderful weekend. He even certified it as a "real date" by opening the car door for me. (We determined when we were dating that this is how you know it is a real date and not just a night together.)

I am glad he gets to kiss me goodnight still too. That's one of the best feelings in the world.

Count your Blessings, Name them one by one

Today has been a blessed day.

1. I got to talk to my mother-in-law for the 2nd time this week. Short but sweet.
2. The dermatologist called to say the mole they removed was normal.
3. I passed the two Praxis tests (with flying colors) that I took in June. Three down, one to go.
4. Was able to buy a small pillow at Target to celebrate the above. Of course, it was on clearance.
5. My sister-in-law called to say that something big with the boys might happen today.
6. My husband is grilling right now.
7. Facebooked with an old friend.
8. Got an email from my favorite aunt.
9. Emailed my student teaching cooperating teacher. Love her!
10. Laughed at my hilarious husband.
11. Had one of our tomatoes with lunch. Yum!
12. This list could go on for ages.......

Life is good!

Family Treasures

Jacob and I were blessed to begin building our nest with rooms full of furniture. We have even had extra, extra furniture store in our garage and attic. Needless to say we have not wanted for much nor have we needed anything. Several of the pieces we have in our home have came from family and some we bought before we knew each other.

I always think about how much stuff we have and how so much of it has been obtained for fairly reasonable prices and many pieces for free. It makes me like our home even more - the fact that we haven't spent a ton of money on it and it looks as nice as it does. Mostly this is because of the furniture and heirlooms that have been passed down in my family. I thought I would share a few of the hand-me-down pieces we have in our dining room the way they looked before.

These pieces don't look quite the same anymore and I'll share how they look now in a later post.

Item #1: Old Milkcan with Lid

Do you see that milkcan in the background? We've had that as long as I can remember. I ran across this picture the other day. That's me on the old loveseat. I have no idea where the milkcan came from, only that it has been passed down on my mother's side of the family.

Item #2: Green Vinyl Covered Chairs

Here are the chairs (look in the background) that my mother's parents gave my parents as a wedding present. You can see the chairs better in the picture below as well as the table they gave with the chairs. Dad rebuilt the table top years ago and it is still unfinished.
The table sat in our dining room until 2 months ago. It is now in our attic.
Now, the chairs are out of the attic and in our dining room.

Item #3: Grand Ruby's Cabinet
I believe we got this cabinet after my grandfather (mother's father) passed away in 1991. It originally belonged to his mother, my great-grandmother, whom we called Grand Ruby. I have had it since about 2003 when dad moved to Georgia for a short stint.
I love my brother's face in this picture!

Well, the milkcan still looks the same, the chairs are in the middle of being recovered, and the cabinet has been in the makeover process since about 2005. No worries, it is just about finished now. I love that the dining room (and whole house) is filled with so many family pieces. We are surrounded with memories and have things here as reminders of the people who used them daily. I think it gives our house such a unique character.