Catching Up

Here are some pics from our beach day at the lake on Friday and from the park yesterday. We had a really beautiful weekend weather-wise. Yesterday after the park, we hung out in the backyard and looked at clouds. Ellie is hilarious when it comes to saying what the shapes look like to her. Sometimes they are dead-on and sometimes crazy. Brandon pulled the boat out and we are going to work on cleaning it this week. I'm off to register it here in AL this afternoon so we can hit the lake later in the week.

Lazy Days

Well, I haven't posted much lately because we haven't really been doing much. Just the regular routine. We did have a fun day at the lake yesterday, but I was too lazy to get the camera out. Wednesday we went to the park and here are some shots of Ellie playing with Abby.

Here she is tickling her, not pushing. She does pretty well until too much of my attention is on someone else and then she has to be right by my side. I guess she is in for a rude awakening in October. Tomorrow we are going to the park again and maybe to the range with Brandon so I'll try to get some good pics of her. On a personal note, my belly has all of a sudden become quite obvious. Just in the last few days- POP! It's scary because there is still a LONG way to go. If I can get Brandon to take a picture of it and I don't hate it, I'll post tomorrow afternoon. I am off to watch SNL. I hope it's new.

A Berry Good Time

We went strawberry pickin' today and it was great. The farm is less than 5 miles from our house and they have row after row of yummy red strawberries. We met Amy, Conrad, Savanna and Cooper and picked berried until our buckets were full. The weather was beautiful and if we'd had a bigger bucket we probably would've gotten even more. After the hard work, we rewarded ourselves with home-made ice cream. Ellie was really good at picking the berries and even better at eating them. You can see by the stains on her face and shirt that she taste tested quite a few. I managed to stay clean the whole time- until we got home and I was cutting them all up to keep in the fridge. Typical!
(This is only about half of what we brought home.)
On the way home we bought shortcakes and whipped cream. I am going to eat an extra one tonight for my dad. It's something I remember him enjoying (along with Nutty Buddy ice creams). Well, I'm off to sugar up some berries for dessert. And use the SHOUT stain stick on all the clothes we wore today. There is even a red handprint on the back of E's shorts where she had to pull them up a million times.

There are no words....

I don't know what to write about this except that it reminds me of the little boy's "Scuba Steve" Phase on Big Daddy. And it makes me giggle every time I look at it. It should be good for bribery one day.

Sort of Busy Weekend

This weekend has been pretty busy for us. Well, Friday and today anyway...

Friday we had playgroup at Lake Thollocco on post. It was really fun. The weather cooperated ad I even got a little red on my shoulders. I put sunscreen on, but missed a few spots. We ate our picnic lunch when we got there,

then walked over to the water. The kiddos splashed, and dug in the sand a little. But the water was really chilly and the wind was blowing the sand around like crazy.

After the beach, we moved on to the playground which was really fun. E liked the "squirrelly" slide the best.

Friday night I joined my jazzing friends and a few others for "Margarita Night" at Melissa's. (It was just "Coke Zero and then water with lime night" for me.) To see the pics, go to the Smith Boys .

Yesterday, Ellie and I did nothing. The weather was really yucky so we just stayed inside and relaxed. It was a nice day.

But today was really fun. We went to Dothan to see a ballet performance of The Little Mermaid. We are big Ariel fans around here. In fact, as soon as we got home, E asked to watch the movie. The show was great with adults and kids of all ages included. We were on the 4th row! Here is E with Ariel before the show

and then showing how excited she was for it to start.

And then afterwards she wanted to take a picture with the treasure chest.

Jane of the Gymnastics Jungle

Ellie really looked like she belonged in a Tarzan movie last week at gymnastics. She spends most of the class upside down and the other part running or jumping. It's only 30 minutes, but it wears her out for the rest of the day. Bonus for me!!!

"I Stole It" Saturday

This is compliments of Lisa from Sweet Home Alabama. She "filched" it for Filch it Friday, but it's taking me forever to type so it's be Saturday by the time I'm done.



The rules are simple: Hit shuffle on your iPod (I have a white Shuffle (and am jealous of Nanos) for those of you who were wondering) then answer each question by hitting next.



NO CHEATING!!!



It took me a while because I only have a shuffle and didn't know all the song titles and artists off the top of my head. I had to go to iTunes to look. And I realized that I have a really weird mix of songs and artists that I like to listen to. And I don't know how much mine actually shuffles because there are a lot of the same artists that came up.



1. What does next year have in store for you.

"Ride Captain Ride" by Blues Image from the Anchorman soundtrack (Guess I'll be doing some more traveling)



2. What does your love life look like next year?

"Bennie and the Jets" Elton John (not sure what that means)



3. What do you say when life gets hard?

"Wisteria" by Sol Driven Train (this kind of fits)



4. Song that reminds you of good times?

"Sacrifice" by Elton John (???)



5. What do you think when you get up in the morning?

"Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon (a good song, but in the am, not sure)



6. What song will you dance to at your wedding?

"Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani (doubtful! Elvis was more our style. We dance to "Love me Tender")



7. Song that reminds you of your first kiss?

"Sexyback" by Justin Timberlake (real nice)



8. Your favorite saying?

"Under African Skies" Paul Simon (not sure if it fits, but I have been singing this a lot- this is the song Ward sang to my dad)



9. Fave Place?

"Treat Her Like a Lady" from the Anchorman Soundtrack (yikes!- maybe TMI)



10. Most missed Memory?

"Apocalypso" Jimmy Buffet (I have been missing the beach lately)



11. What song describes your best friend?

"Broken Arrow" Rod Stewart



12. Your ex?

"My Little Girl is Smiling" The Drifters (I think this one is just off)



13. Where would you go on a first date?

"Afternoon Delight" Anchorman Cast (heeheehee)



14. What is your drug of choice?

"Under the Boardwalk" The Drifters



15. What song describes yourself?

"Stand By Me" The Drifters



16. What do you like doing most?

"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" Elton John



17. What song describes the President?

"Black or White" Michael Jackson (I think this describes the Pres election hoopla right now better)



18. Where will you be in 10 years?

"Lucky for You Tonight It's Just Me" SheDaisy (Let's hope not- I can barely keep up with one personality)



19. What describes your love life now?

"Waiting in the Wings? Steve Wariner



20. What is your state of mind like at the moment?

"Beaches of Old Mexico" George Strait (I wish!)



21. How will you die?

"BAD" Michael Jackson (Oh I hope this is wrong.)



What does your ipod say about you?

PS. Speaking of iTunes, don't forget to check and see if the new Sol Driven Train cd is ready for download. Tonight is the release, but I'm not sure when it will be available.

Going Postal

Just needed to pass along another link to Sol Driven Train this week. I must be a little homesick or something. The new cd comes out this weekend and it was reviewed in the Charleston City Paper yesterday. In the picture that accompanies the article, all the band members are wearing my dad's mailman shirts. And the fact that the writer compared the album to Paul Simon's Graceland is crazy. I remember listening to it in the kitchen where I grew up and the song that I watched/heard Ward play to him on his last day at hospice was from that album. It's on heavy rotation on my Ipod and sometimes I can get all the way through it. I've heard some of the songs from the album already and I know the rest will be great too. After Saturday it will be available on cdbaby.com and for download on itunes.

I win!

Ellie and I were laying down for a nap earlier.

Meaning- I really wanted to take one and she was bouncing on the bed saying "Mommy I can't sleep".

So she asked me "What is a contest?"

I told her it was like a game and whoever was the best wins.

So she told me about the silly face contest on one of her shows that she watched yesterday. And asked if we could have one.

To which I replied, "How about we have a snoozing contest and see who can do that the best?"

To which she craftily replied, "You can!"

It was actually a tie in the snoozing contest. I think I flaked out first, but she slept longer. Happy days in the H of P.