Neglected?

Feeling neglected? I was shocked to find that I had not posted since April 20! Wow! I've been super busy, and the blog is usually one of the first things to suffer, then laundry, and the kitchen sink...the list goes on. Yes, I realized it was bad, when my father-in-law says to me, "You're never on Facebook anymore."

So, what have I been so busy with? Well, a few main things have been occupying my free time (which believe it or not...stay-at-home moms/homemakers/full-time moms do not just have an abundance of. Maybe I'll post more on that some other time.) First, I'm serving on the hospital foundation board and placed in charge of a fundraiser that involves a tour of kitchens in one of our local communities. I helped with a similar event when we lived in South Carolina. Since the event has never been done before in our community, it is a lot of work. And, since I don't have as many contacts as someone who has lived her much longer...it is tough to get all the resources/help you need. We're about 3 weeks away from our event, and I'm feeling the crunch. We need more sponsors and need to sell more tickets. If you're interested in either, let me know! :) Topping it off, Josh has agreed to cook with one of our demonstrators, Kathy Nicholson who has her own cooking show. So, we've been busy perfecting his recipes...which hasn't been all bad because it involves eating! (Also, our logo is not orange...but blogger keeps turning it orange and I refuse to deal with it!)

Additionally, our church is planning a musical for July, which as you may guess involves Josh acting/singing. Guess who was tapped to design tickets, posters, programs, etc? We've lived here not quite 2 years, and I'm amazed at how quickly everyone learns about your background/prior work experience. And, since you don't have a paying job, you must have all the time in the world, right? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy writing, designing and the others, but not when all the projects come at once. I also enjoy having an outlet and using my creative skills, but it can also be very exhausting when your only designated work time has been relegated to (if you're lucky) a couple hours of your little one's nap and Monday evenings after his bedtime. (Last week I stayed up till 2 a.m.) I hate to sound like I'm complaining, but I do feel the need to get some of this off my chest, so sorry you're being forced to read it! (I promise to promptly follow this entry with a Jack-heavy & photo-heavy post!)

The last item that I've been working on is just my MOPS stuff in general. Our last couple of meetings have required a good bit of set-up, clean up, preparation and the like. Our final meeting is this week, and I needed to prepare a DVD of our year-in-review. It sounds easy enough, but I'm quite the perfectionist when it comes to these videos. You probably won't be able to tell, but I spend a great deal of time making it zoom in on the photos or scroll an image one side to the other. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. We're also gearing up to begin our planning for next year. I've already designed Save the Dates cards for our moms. Fortunately, we scaled back our summer event schedule. Hopefully, we'll get a better turnout with fewer and less frequent events.

Well, that's what has been keeping me busy. Hate to have bored you. Next post will fill you in on what we've managed to squeeze in during non-nap/non-Monday nights!

Best Nap Ever

I think I had the best nap of my life yesterday afternoon. Just thinking about it sort of returns me to the sheer bliss! I guess I have to set up the story, so you can learn how to also achieve the best nap ever. It all starts with a ridiculously fun weekend.

Friday afternoon our MOPS group left for our retreat in Clayton at Camp Pinnacle. My mom graciously agreed to come and watch Jack until Josh was home from work. Later that evening Josh's buddy Ben and his son Ben Jr. would be coming up for the weekend. After our steering team made a stop at the SUPER Wal-Mart in Clayton for much needed supplies (ie. Oreos, Reese's PB Eggs, Cokes, Candy...), we got settled in the cabin at Camp Pinnacle. Once the moms began to arrive, we split into teams and began a scavenger hunt around Clayton. There were a few items to collect, but the majority of the hunt involved capturing photos of places or things taking place. It was oh so much fun.

Later we met for dinner at Mama G's and then retired to the cabin. Only there wasn't much retiring. Most of us stayed up pretty late playing games, laughing, snacking and then crept into our sleeping bags for a couple hours of rest before our 7:30 wake-up call. We enjoyed yummy Chick-n-minis and cinnamon clusters from Chick-fil-A before returning home...making the early departure much easier.

Once home, I joined the boys (Josh, Jack, Ben & Ben) for their late breakfast. Soon after Ben headed to pick up Wendy. The rest of us stayed and played. Ben, Jr. & Jack took a bubble bath, which Jack enjoyed until we turned the jets on. Then he was done! After he got out, we turned them back on and let the bath become a tub of frothy bubbles. Ben, Jr. loved it. Then, we all headed to Chuck E. Cheese.

I thought there might be a chance that Jack would hate CEC and we would then have an excuse to never go back. It's actually not that bad, but Saturday afternoons are pretty much the worst! At least we didn't encounter any vomit! Anyway, Jack loved CEC! He devoured the pizza. Oh, and thanks to daddy we discovered he likes root beer too.

Sunday the Pucketts joined us at church. We enjoyed an awesome lunch at Hawg Wild. Love that place and it's incredible sweet potato fries. After the Pucketts departed for home around 2:45, Josh set out to mow the front yard. I put Jack down for a much-needed nap. I quickly studied up for my KidzLife duties at church then crawled in bed myself. I remember waking up when Josh came in about 20 minutes later, but he didn't bother waking me again when he left for drama practice at church. Thankfully, I did wake up in plenty of time to make it to church by 5:30, but it was one of the best naps ever. I'm pretty sure there was drool to prove it! LOL!

You can read more about my MOPS Retreat here.

Say Cheese

Saturday we took Jack to have some photos made, sort of commemorating his first birthday. A great gal I grew up with does photography in our hometown. I've been admiring her images for months on her website and facebook profile. I was excited for the opportunity to have her photograph Jack. The shoot took us to Athens, actually Winterville (which is right outside of Athens). We even managed to get some Christmas shopping done and squeeze in a home-cooked meal with my family. (Thanks, mom!)

Anyway, Sue Ann (our photographer) posted a few "sneak peek" shots from Jack's session on her blog. There's one shown here, but hope you'll take a look. We are so pleased with what we got. We can't wait to see the rest. Thanks, Sue Ann!

I guess it's also been several days since an update, so I'll fill you in on some fun things that happened this week. First of all, it snowed here on Monday! Fun, right? None of it stuck, but it was so pretty! Here's a picture of it coming down in our backyard. Jack wasn't nearly as interested in watching it fall as I was. Maybe once there's some to play in, he'll be more into the snowfall. Anyway, how cool is it that we have snow here on Dec. 1? "Very" is the expected answer!

Our final MOPS meeting of the calendar year was on Friday, and it was a bit silly! We had a game where each table had to make one of their members into a reindeer with only the supplied materials. Somehow I was selected to be the guinea pig...I think I was a pretty good sport. What do you think?

We also brought cookies to swap and share with the lovely and sweet volunteers who keep our children each meeting. I wasn't in the baking spirit and instead assembled these reindeer cookies I spotted in the Family Fun magazine. I've posted new pictures on the Picasa site as well. Hope you all are enjoying your holiday season.

On a Ride...

We had our third MOPS meeting on Friday and I happened to catch a glimpse of what Jack and his fellow Giraffes (that's the name of his class) were doing to pass the time without their moms.

I think they make Jack ride alone because he pulls the other kids' hair. What a bully. He must get that from his daddy. I condone no such behavior.

Visitors

Thursday morning found Jack and I welcoming visitors again. This time in the way of his Grandmommy and cousin Sean, who were out of school for fall break. They arrived just before lunch and we all had some time to play before meeting Josh for lunch. Sean really enjoyed feeding Jack. Although it usually ended up being a little messy, the two seemed to be having a great time.

They played most of the afternoon until I basically made Jack take a nap. He might have been content to skip it all together. We watched a movie while he napped and I started on dinner, which I needed to take to some friends in our Sunday School class. After Jack had dinner (with help from Sean), I set off to deliver the meal. On my way home, I got a call from Josh who was finishing up a shift at the free clinic and was ready to break away for dinner.

We met him at the clinic and then headed to El Campesino, one of Josh's mom's favorite places here. We always have such great service there and the wait staff loves Jack. They are always teasing him and making faces for him to laugh.

On Friday morning I had a MOPS meeting to attend. Grandmommy and Sean decided to stick around and play some more with Jack while I headed to the meeting. We had a great meeting and a wonderful speaker, Ivy Hall of Initials, INC, which is based here in Clarkesville. Ivy's a great speaker and a phenomenally sweet person. She is one of those people that no matter what whenever she is talking to you she makes you feel like she is truly interested in what you are saying. I feel like I probably don't always give off that same impression...something to work on.

After the meeting, Tate & Brit came home with me for the afternoon, but not before a stop at Josh's office with Andrea & Andrew. After our brief pit stop we picked up Wacky Packs and lunch for everyone at Sonic and headed home. Grandmommy, Jack & Sean were all waiting on us. We also had another visitor!

We're having the yard re-seeded in hopes for a more positive result and the guy was there tilling up the backyard. The boys couldn't wait to get outside and watch the real live tractor. Even Jack enjoyed it oohing and aahing as his hair blew in the breeze. Just after lunch our company left and it was just me and the little boys. We sure enjoyed our visit from Grandmommy & Sean.

After Derek picked up the boys, I started on dinner. Once Josh got home, the three of us enjoyed a quiet evening at home. We watched a movie after putting Jack to bed. It was one of those relaxing evenings that is the perfect ending to an active week.

Saturday morning we headed down to Athens for the UGA/UT game. We enjoyed a fun tailgate with the Carrs and a nice victory for the dawgs. We're halfway through the season and our easiest games are behind us. Here's hoping the dawgs can finish strong like they did last season.

Joined the Club

So, we have officially joined the club as of last week...the sick kids club. Jack had been a trooper with a runny nose for about a week, but really started to get down on Monday. He started to run a bit of a fever and sure enough he had ear infections on both sides. I think we caught it early because he had just started to fuss with his ears a bit. Thanks to some antibiotics, he seemed to be feeling better by Tuesday afternoon. What a blessing to have made it 10 months with no major illnesses. We are thankful for a healthy and happy boy!

It's a good thing since we had company. Miriam & Bob, some friends from South Carolina were camping nearby. They stopped by to meet Jack. We had not seen them since about this time last year when I was about 8 months pregnant. Miriam and Josh worked together in the ER in Abbeville. It was great to see them and have an opportunity to catch up.

Wednesday morning our MOPS steering team had a meeting to regroup before our second meeting. We met at Sarah's house. Jack enjoyed playing with Mallory and exploring all her toys. It was quite a rainy day. We really needed it, but it always makes for an interesting day when we get it all at once.

This & That

Last week was incredibly busy around here. So, hopefully this week will be a little more relaxed. On Tuesday, I had a meeting at the hospital. On Josh's afternoon off we had the car brakes replaced and ran a few errands (including a house call :) Then, I finalized the Wednesday Whirl (an email newsletter that goes out to our MOPS moms b/f each meeting). Wednesday brought the hospital golf tournament. My great friend Andrea was kind enough to watch Jack for a few hours while I helped set-up and get golfers registered. After they teed off, I picked Jack up and brought him back to the course for the conclusion. We raced to church for Wednesday night supper and then set-up the tables for our first MOPS meeting.

Here's Jack in between crawls. Yep, he's crawling. He's been doing an army crawl for several weeks now, but a week or so ago he figured out how to keep his belly up (although he still doesn't do it most of the time). So, needless to say he's keeping the floors clean with his shirts.

On Thursday morning, we decorated for our MOPS meeting and then I had to take care of some hospital ads before picking Jack up from Early Steps. We headed over to Andrea & Andrew's, where we all piled in the truck and headed to Buford for a trip to Babies R Us. It was hectic, but an incredibly fun trip to break up the craziness of the week. We also managed to squeeze in a stop at Chick-fil-A and Ann Taylor Loft. After returning home, I dropped Jack off with Josh and headed back to our church to have a prayer meeting about MOPS. Then, I zipped back home to feed Jack before heading to BUNCO...another fun time! We laughed and carried on a bit too much I think! After returning home, I started on my breakfast items for the MOPS meeting and also put together my nametag, which I should have made weeks ago!

Friday morning was our MOPS meeting and everything went off without a hitch. We had a great turnout and everyone seemed to be excited to be reunited with one another after busy summers. We even finished on time! The Steering Team celebrated afterwards at Zanzo's. Joni agreed to take Jack home with her while I went to the newspaper to see about a special section on the hospital that will run in October. Joni is such a wonderful friend as well. After picking Jack up we fueled up the truck and went home to do a load of laundry before our road trip to Rome.

Yes, we left town! After an exhausting week, we packed up the truck and went to visit friends and family. Josh's buddy invited him to camp out at the lake. Jack and I slept at Josh's parents house, which was much more comfortable. We met Josh and his friends out at the lake on Saturday for lunch. Josh had smoked a bunch of ribs and we all enjoyed a wonderful feast. (They were even better the second time around - when we ate leftovers last night.) Jack mostly napped at the lake. Before long we had to pack up and head home so Josh could catch a nap before the late UGA game...he had to work on Sunday. He napped a little on the way home...unfortunately Jack did not. Anyway, we were glad to be home and enjoyed watching the game with our feet up. I almost dozed off a couple of times. I hope everyone stayed up to watch. If you did, you got to see TK make a great catch towards the end of the game. I wish he could have stumbled into the endzone. We were so proud for that Habersham County boy! Now, we have a week to prepare for a dangerous Alabama team. Apparantly a blackout is planned and GameDay will be in Athens. What a day it will be!

Big Bulldog Weekend

We had a busy bulldog weekend, and there are plenty of photos to prove it. The fun kicked off Thursday evening when some friends of ours rolled into town. Ben, Wendy & BJ joined us for a long weekend. We gave BJ his birthday present, which you can see he loved. A Stafford jersey and football. The Pucketts brought Jack a jersey too.

Josh grilled up some great steaks. The weather was great so we hung around outside and enjoyed catching up. On Friday, I had a MOPS meeting. It was our last one before our new year kicks off...yippee! Afterwards, I met the Pucketts at the park, which was fun. Jack again loved the swing...giggling as I pushed him back and forth (all while his hair is flapping in the breeze!)

Friday afternoon as soon as Josh was home we headed to Helen to walk around a bit and then enjoyed dinner at the Nacoochee Grill. Then, we joined the Raider football game already in progress. The Raiders beat Heritage 12 - 7. Jack lasted most of the game, falling asleep on Wendy some time in the 4th quarter. He was a trooper.

We got up early Saturday morning as we had an errand to run in Athens before game time. The Pucketts joined us later at IHOP for a delicious breakfast. Then we dropped Jack off and did a little tailgating before the game. It was a hot day, but there were some clouds in the area, which provided some much needed shade during the game. We were treated to an awesome game as Georgia drilled Central Michigan and Knowshon showed off his vertical. The photo here is was just after T.K. made the first catch of his college career. We were never prouder to be from Habersham County! We went nuts! Our evening finished with pizza at Peppino's.

Sunday was also pretty busy as Josh had to work and I had the ER Open House. The Bates graciously agreed to watch Jack for several hours while I greeted folks and showed people around. Then, Jack and I headed to church. He managed to stay awake until almost 9 waiting for Josh to get home. After they had a little time together it was off to bed! What a fun weekend!

Snoozing away

As I write this post, the little man is downstairs in the pack 'n play asleep, which is not so unsual because he takes naps each day. Today, however, we've been out and about all morning and didn't get a good long morning snooze, so I wasn't sure if he'd take a good afternoon nap or be a crab all afternoon. He was asleep when we got home about an hour ago. I got him out of the car and put him right in his pack 'n play to try to get him to go back down. I just went to check in on him again, since he's been so quiet and found him in this hilarious position. Anyway, I thought it was so funny that I tip toed out and grabbed the camera. I know it's hard to see clearly through the netting in one photo, but you can get the drift!



Last night, we were walking around in the yard and I caught a glimpse of how pretty the sky was. It was just after sunset and the sky was that beautiful purple and pink color, and we could see the mountains in the distance. We have such a lovely view from the backyard that I often forget and take it for granted. Anyway, I snapped a couple of pictures, although they don't quite do it justice. We certainly are blessed to live in not only a friendly community, but a beautiful one as well.



Today Jack and I went to the park to meet some friends from MOPS and then ran a couple of errands before having lunch with some friends to celebrate my upcoming birthday. Merideth, Tate & Brit; Andrea & Andrew; and Missy & Trevor helped me celebrate. They surprised me with balloons and cupcakes. Here's a funny photo! This was probably before Jack stuck his finger in the cupcake. Remember, he was due for a nap! Instead of licking off the yummy frosting he just cried about it...poor kid's got a lot to learn!

At the Lake with the Girls

Friday and Saturday, our MOPS Steering Team had their retreat at Lake Burton. Since it was all day Friday and part of Saturday, I took Jack along. As usual, he was pretty laid back and enjoyed sitting in the floor playing with Mallory, Sarah's one-year-old, while the ladies tackled the agenda. They entertaining themselves. These two were so well behaved.

After dinner we had a chance to get out on the lake. I convinced Joni into tubing with me. She had never been before. She was pretty reluctant, but had a wonderful time once we got going. She even wished we could go faster. Jack enjoyed the boat ride. Although we must have been pretty boring, because he fell asleep while Joni and I were on the tube! As usual, there are lots more pictures

Sorry for all the hyperlinks...Blogger wouldn't let me upload any photos!

Making New Friends

Now completely enthralled with the world around him, Jack is making new friends each day. Hands down his favorites are other children. He laughs and is so entertained by kids that sing to him, dance for him, make funny faces or sounds. Our friends, Tim & Joni have a 4-year-old named Drew. Jack is so entertained by Drew, and Drew pretty much enjoys Jack too. So, it's a win-win! Here's a picture of them at a birthday party earlier this week.


Since there is a Wednesday Night supper hiatus at church during the summer months, most of us ladies decided we should all meet up occasionally on Wednesday nights to keep from having to cook! What a great idea, right? Well, this week several of us met up for Japanese...yum! As you can tell Jack was again entertained by the other kids. Here's Drew & Tate giving him a show.


It's so hard to believe that we have now lived in our new community for a year! So much has happened in that short time. Josh and I are so blessed to have found a community, a church family and great friends in our new area. It's so neat to think about how God placed us here. With me staying home with Jack I thought it would be difficult making new friends, but we've been blessed with a fabulous Sunday School class, and I've been blessed to meet many other great ladies through the MOPS ministry. This week at our church softball game, we snapped this photo. There are two other recent first-time moms in my Sunday School at church. Both with boys! Isn't it neat how God works? Here is me, Jack, Andrea & Andrew and Amy & Hudson.

The Adventure of the Runaway Sodas

So, Saturday evening we attended a MOPS family cook-out for our outgoing and incoming Steering Team Members and their families. It was great to meet the husbands of so many of the great moms I have worked with and will continue to work with. We were responsible for bringing drinks. The expectation was for around 50 people, so we had about 9 two-liter drinks and a gallon of lemonade. The party was at the Thurmond's house, who live up in the Highlands neighborhood. As we arrived, I carried Jack, his bag and the lemonade and Josh tried to get the two liters, but some of his bags broke and the drinks went rolling. It was so hard to contain my laughter, but hopefully you can imagine the humor in the situation (unfortunately, I didn't have any hands available to photograph it). Although, it's probably good I couldn't photograph...that might have sent Josh over the edge. He didn't find it as funny as I! He finally took my suggestion and loaded them into Jack's stroller and proceeded down the hill. Once we arrived Josh noticed he had a seersucker short twin, Sarah!

Anyway, we enjoyed getting to know some of the other families and having dinner with them. Jack enjoyed flirting with the only girl there, Mallory, who is almost a year old. I guess he likes older women. Here's a cute picture of them getting to know each other. Mallory was so cute. She kept her eyes on Jack while we ate...probably to make sure he didn't steal her dinner! We look forward to watching these two growing to be good friends.

How we spend our days...

Jack and I are enjoying getting out and enjoying this beautiful weather. Sometimes, it's a walk around our neighborhood and other times it is a stroll with friends at the park. When we are out running errands, we enjoy stopping by and seeing Josh on his lunch break. Often times I'll pack a lunch for us to eat. It's always a treat for both Josh and Jack to see each other in the middle of the day. Since Josh can't always make it home for lunch, it's a great way to spend time together. Here they are hanging out during a recent lunch break.

Wednesday was my first MOPS Steering Team meeting. MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. Preschoolers means birth to kindergarten. It meets on Fridays during the school year at our church. The mom who served as Publicity team leader is stepping down as she welcomes another baby in the fall. So, I agreed to take over the Publicity functions of the group. I'm really looking forward to getting more involved. It is an incredibly fun group and our coordinator works really hard to make it a meaningful ministry!

On Friday, Jack had some friends over to play! Micah and Noah came over to play while their mommy, Tori, went to the doctor. They are so well behaved and play so well together. Jack was pretty content to watch them play. He enjoyed watching all the activity. Micah was very sweet to Jack. Micah and Noah live just a few miles away and go to our church. Tori and I sit at the same table at MOPS.