Fun with Friends

July 4th we went over to High Point for a lovely little neighborhood parade with Robyn and John Michael. We had lots of fun, even though it was HOT.

They had a parade and fire trucks. At the end of the parade, the fire trucks sprayed water. It was really cute, and the kids loved it.

This pic! My child is so cute.

Then, we headed over to Brian's parents house and swam for a while. Preston really liked it. Then he played with the hose for a long time, filling up this cup and pouring it out, over and over. Haha! We just talked and hung out while he kept himself busy. So funny.

Let's just say, he slept very well that night. :)

A few days later, we had Brian's cousin and her family over for dinner. Preston and Eva are just about 6 months apart in age, and little Henry is about two months old. It was so fun to see them, eat dinner, and let Eva and P play. I think we have more play dates in our future, because these two really enjoyed each other and played together well. There was only one issue of not sharing, but for two toddlers, that is impressive!

We've also had some family fun. P loves to go riding bikes around the neighborhood....

This past weekend, it was our turn to host our neighborhood party. At times, it was a tad chaotic with all the kids, but to me, that's the best kind of chaos there is! :) We had a really great meal. Brian cooked his specialty (burgers) and everyone else brought some really delicious sides. Including my mom, who brought a casserole by earlier in the day because she wanted to help. :) Thanks mom!

So happy to be in the wagon with Tyler AND eating watermelon!

Bennett, Tyler and Preston are in the above photo. They were all born within a few months of each other, so it's fun when we get them together. 

P has had watermelon before, but Kristy put them on sticks for the kids to eat. He LOVED it and had 4 of them. She let us keep the leftovers and he snacked on them all week. Ha!

Lots of fun with friends lately!

A Break, Anniversary, Staph and Flood.

Where to begin? Summer is slipping by and so much has been going on.


Our hall bathroom is still under construction. Yes, the bathroom that was originally quoted as an 8-day project has now gone over 2 months. The end is in sigh though, and I cannot wait to share the before and after pictures. I am so pleased with our choices, its functionality and its storage! (On the other hand, I am NOT pleased with our contractor. We can now tell you someone NOT to use. ;)


Speaking of bathrooms, we have two upstairs. One is under construction, so the other, in our master bathroom, is the one all three of us having been using. June 27, I put Preston in the bathtub, went to turn off the cold water, and the whole knob flew off and water was gushing out of the wall, filling up the tub. I scooped up a screaming Preston, and with no way to turn the water off, I screamed at Brian (who was downstairs) "Plumbing emergency! Turn off the water!" Brian ran outside to the water shut off near the end of our driveway and shut of all water to the house. Thankfully, our bedroom did not flood, and Brian was able to fix the cold water knob. After we get all of the bathroom cleaned up, we put Preston to bed without a proper bath, headed downstairs and took in the site that was our kitchen. Water everywhere! It drained from the tub upstairs through our chandelier in the kitchen, all over our kitchen table and floor.


God works in funny ways, because after I cried for a solid hour and Brian huffed and puffed, we realized how lucky we were. Usually we keep EVERYTHING on our kitchen table - bills, laptop, cameras, etc. - and our kitchen table was completely clear when it happened. After calling a plumber out, there is no damage and everything is fine. We are so thankful for this, because for about an hour, we thought we were down from three bathrooms to one in our house.


On June 28 (the day after the bathroom incident), Brian and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated at one of our favorite restaurants, Bari. It was a really nice meal, and we were very thankful to my in-laws for keeping Preston so that we could celebrate our anniversary. We didn't take a single pictures of ourselves, but I did snap a pic of the last bite of my meal. Delicious!

Brian also wrote me a really sweet note and got me some flowers. It meant a lot, especially after the stress of the night before.

After the bathroom incident, I did have a small breakdown. I am learning that breakdowns are pretty common when you become a mom. This time, the breakdown was over the fact that our house is a "lemon", I am juggling too much, housework is backed up, the preschool tuition check due next week, and I want all the contractors and workers to go away. So what did I do? Naturally, I called my mom and begged for help.  Being the perfect and logical woman she is, she offered to keep Preston for a couple nights to allow Brian and I some quality time together at home, without a child, to clean up our house, go out to dinner, and just enjoy each other. She always has the answer!

Words cannot express what this did for my overall well-being. Thank you mom! I spent some time with my best friends, Brian and I spent time together, and I feel rejuvenated. This may be my new way to de-stress!

She actually took him down to our family farm for a couple nights to see my grandparents and go to a family reunion on my grandmother's side. I was kind of a nervous wreck over this (not going to lie) but my mom took my car and called/texted me every five minutes to tell me he was still alive. ;) Here are a few pictures of them having fun!

Getting ready to head off to bed

Family reunion play time

Pool time.

The child LOVES squash.

Eating some freshly picked corn.

Playing in the front garden.

Packing up veggies with his great-grandmother to bring back to Memphis.

When this child came home, I could have cried I was so happy to see him. Melts my heart!

He did, however, throw us with another curve ball this month. He got a mosquito bite on his cheek that wasn't going away and seemed to be getting worse. My 2nd cousin, an ER doctor in Atlanta, happened to see him while they were at the farm and said it looked like he had staph. So, we took him to the doctor the night of July 3 and sure enough... staph.

At the doctor's office, showing us what it would be like if P had an identical twin!

Thanks to a few antibiotics, he is already looking better.

Pretty soon, I'll update on some fun things we've done lately. He is coming into the age where we can really take him to lots of fun places and he is really starting to play with other kids. He will be one and a half so soon, and I just love this age! We also did some fun things for the holiday. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

My Other Half

Being a working mom is by no means easy, but I couldn't do it without my other half. World's best dad, husband and friend, Brian. So many reasons to love him. The longer we are married, the more I realize what it meant on our wedding day when our priest said "two are now becoming one." Parenthood is all about partnership, and this Father's Day, we celebrated the daddy in our little family as best we could.

We woke up bright and early, and Preston showed his daddy what he got for him. Brian mentioned that it would be cool to get his old bicycle from his parents house and use it, but it needed to be fixed. So Preston got it fixed for him, complete with a new tire and tune-up, but also added a toddler bike seat to it so they could go on rides together! Preston was very surprised and took the bike around the block for a spin. He is really looking forward to taking P out on some rides along the Greenline.

Then, my whole family came over for brunch. My grandparents, who just came home from celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in Alaska along with my parents, were in town, so my brothers, mom, aunt and grandparents were all able to come. They even spoiled Brian a little with some treats, too. :) My dad was home sick. I was so sad I didn't get to see him on Father's Day, but since he had a virus, we all had to stay away from him. Brunch was wonderful and I loved spending some time with my sweet grandparents. It was really special. :)

Preston went down for a nap as they were leaving, and when he woke up, we took him to his first Redbirds game. It was a really special moment for Brian, since we had a whole suite to ourselves. It was perfect, because Preston could run around and eat popcorn and make a mess without bothering anyone. Plus, the weather was beautiful.

Preston wore his St. Louis Cardinals/Lance Berkman jersey.

Loved the sliding glass door in the suite!

He watched the game, ate popcorn and ran around the suite.

"Awesome! These aren't baby proofed!"

At the end, they had all the dads go on the field with their kids and gave them baseballs.

At this point, P was tired and being a little clingy.

He was a good sport and threw a little with his daddy, though.

Gotta get one with the momma!

We stopped by Brian's sister house to eat dinner and see his family afterwards. We got home and did bath and bedtime. It was such a special day, and I really hope that Brian enjoyed it as much as I did. I love celebrating him. :)

PS - Last week, Preston went to his first PGA tournament. He was SO good and was quiet when they held up the "Hush Y'all" signs. We followed Rory for a little bit, and saw a few of the other big name golfers. He had a blast on the course. Maybe we have a future golfer on our hands? Who knows!

Bubbles Galore!

We've been enjoying life lately. I made a little trip for work to Washington, DC and caught up with some old friends while I was there. I had a little bit of "me" time, and had a wonderful trip in a great city. Brian held the fort down with Preston. I found it funny how many people asked me if I was worried about leaving my baby with my husband. My response was quite the contrary! I was more worried for Brian - was he handling everything okay, I hope he's not stretched too thin, I hope he's eating, etc. etc. etc. :)

When I came home, we had a nice weekend together. We went to Preston's last class at the Little Gym and he was hamming it up big time! He has no fear of being center of attention. Then we went to Tyler's first birthday party. Tyler is Preston's neighborhood friend, and it was the cutest first birthday party. They had a bubble theme and it was adorable!

Preston had an absolute blast! He devoured a cupcake (much to everyone's delight), dove head first into a baby pool filled with bubble solution, was covered in about three layers of dirt, and ran around like he owned the place. Brian and I talked later about how fun it is to watch your child have fun. Nothing better. :)

I mean, really?

Reed made quite the mess!

I am so thankful for having such sweet neighbors. We are hosting the next neighborhood get together and it should be a fun time. These little ones are all growing so fast. I really hope that they have lots of fun summer memories in the neighborhood! :)