Down Where Southern Skies are Brightest stands ole VHS. With her banner proudly waving in her Black and Gold. Sing her praises ever loyal, full of cheer and joy. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater, dear ole Vincent High! ...
Ice Cream Sundays
The weekend before last our sweet daddy was in New Orleans visiting his best friend and catching the Saints game. His girls had lots of fun and on Sunday they requested an afternoon at the park with some ice cream. After nap, we headed through the drive-through for chocolate Blue Bell ice cream and a milkshake for mommy and we were off to spend the afternoon in the beautiful sunshine. This is what Sophie thought when Ella tried not to share. She liked the milk shake okay, but she really wanted her sister's scoop! We did lots of pushing and swinging, climbing and sliding, and confirmed that Sophie had a dangerous side. She was not the least bit intimidated by this rock wall or the height of the slides coming down. She climbed and slid with abandon and only gave her ...
cheering for the tide
We had fun last Saturday, cheering for our team and celebrating the last day of Ella's birthday week. She practiced her fake smile and was brave enough to ask another girl where she got her super-cute face stickers. Although these didn't last the whole game, she was pretty happy with them for awhile. We got to spend the day with our two favorite people, K & Cory. This is quite possibly my favorite football picture ever. Ella did a lot of snuggling and laying down in between cheering for the band, singing the fight song and hitting our neighbors in the head with a very excited red and white shaker. We're en route to these same red seats, anticipating cold Coke in a stadium cup, brand new shakers to start the day and another victory at Bryant Denny. Roll Tide! ...
coming home.
I haven't blogged much about SD's new job, but he's been going strong since April. He works from home now, having pretty much taken over our bedroom {at least it's not my blogging desk!} and gets to take the girls to school in the morning and see them a lot more during the week than we were used to. He's still traveling some, but generally only once or twice a quarter. The girls miss him so much while he's gone, but we love hearing funny stories {like how he slept in on of the retirement homes or navigated Manhattan in a rental car} and getting random photo updates from him during the week. Last week, he was working out of their Connecticut facility for a few days, but flew in and out of NYC. Ella was thrilled to hear he saw the Statue of "Liverty" and other skyscrapers in the city. His ...
Our Bed
As much as I would like to share a bed with my husband, only, this is what most evenings in our house look like. They might not all sleep in there every night or all night, but at some point in each week I am covered in limbs. Did I mention that we only have a queen sized bed and our dog weighs 95 pounds? Yeah. And in case you are having any trouble discerning what's really going on... my leg is hooked around SD to keep from falling off. The dog is ALWAYS on my side, behind my legs and stealing my covers. Sophie will only sleep on top of Josh and Ella is almost always laying sideways at the bottom of the bed, precariously close to the edge. And, yes. That "Ken" doll is actually Joey McIntyre of the musically talented New Kids on the Block. I had a very diverse musical library as a ...
The Birthday Girl
My favorite little five year old was born on September 11th... on the 5th anniversary and it's hard to reconcile the two days. I thought all day yesterday about posting, but I didn't know which part to blog about. The part where I was a senior in college and watched the world change in the printmaking studio with fellow artists who were just as confused as I was or the part where a precious little girl made me a mommy. They are both such poignant moments in my life, game-changers, "marker" days as my pastor called them on Sunday. Both days, one ten years ago and the other five, left an indelible impression on me and will forever profoundly affect my future. So instead of attempting to tell two stories that are so very different, I devoted the majority of my day loving my little birthday ...
DIY Mermaid Birthday Party
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. Birthdays are my love language. No matter the cost or the countless hours spent planning, prepping, and crafting (and not sleeping), there is nothing better than making all of your girl's dreams come true! It's been so much fun sharing Ella's special day and all of the little projects that made her party just perfect. I know you've been waiting patiently and what you really want to see are those beautiful party pictures, right? As always, my beautiful sister documented all of the details for us and we couldn't be happier with how the photographs turned out. We hope you love our DIY Mermaid Birthday Party! Ella really wanted to "be" a mermaid for this party, so I did everything I could to make that happen. These photo invitations were ...
Birthdaypalooza: Mermaid Tails
Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might mean that I earn a small commission on any purchases made. Your support of this blog is always appreciated! After seeing a mermaid towel for sale online, I couldn't help but think that Gran could clearly make one just as cute for a fraction of the cost. It only cost us $16 and 30 minutes one afternoon after school to whip this one up. We were halfway through the process before I realized we weren't taking pictures, so you'll have to bear with my very rudimentary illustrations. I really wanted to share the tutorial, pictures or not! We used these oversized bath towels for our mermaid tail. How adorable is this? Pin this post for later! ...