Prayers for Tuesday's Family

Please keep Tuesday's family in your prayers. This sweet angel lost her battle with cancer yesterday. I never knew I could find myself so attached to a family I've never met, but I feel as though I'm grieving for a child I know. Dear Lord please wrap your arms around this amazing family and give them peace. Amen.

Update: The Kittens Have a Home!

Hooray! The kittens have a home AND they are going to stay together!! I'm excited, but I'm going to miss these sweet babies.

These two sweet little kittens were abandoned in a box outside of my office this morning! How horrible is that? They are both so precious and very playful. We think the black and white one is a boy and the solid white kitty is a little girl. If you or someone you know would like a new furry friend, please let me know.

How cute is he??


Playtime!


We like to call her Lizzy. She's a great office helper. :)

Cameras for Footprints

ATTENTION Bloggy Friends! I need your help. The Birmingham Footprints group is preparing to make 50 bags for families on February 7th. It's my job to collect disposable cameras. The cameras are left with the nurses to take pictures of the babies when Mom and Dad can't be there. If you would like to help us out I, and the recipient families, would be very grateful! Just leave me a comment or shoot me an email and we will figure out the details.

You can click here to learn more about Footprints Ministry.

Random Pictures

Here are a few random pictures of J.K. over the past few days.

He loves to play "music" with pots & pans. It can get quite loud in our kitchen during his live shows!

Here's proof that my kid loves to play in the dog kennel. We're currently dog-sitting my parent's dog and he's become more fond of her kennel rather than Lilly's. He thinks he's hillarious. He's even learned to close the door while he's sitting in the thing.

J.K. wanted to help Mommy blog a few days ago. All was great and wonderful until he literally pulled the shift key off of the keyboard.

Here's a shot from his playdate with Anna Aunt T's new pup. They had so much fun together playing fetch and rolling around on the floor.

And last, but certainly not least, the Hubby and J.K. were having a blast last night playing on his rocking horse! Hubby won't be a happy camper when he sees that I've posted this picture because he specifically said, "Don't post that to the blog!" But I couldn't help it, the picture is just too funny! Thanks Uncle George for the awesome rocking horse. Oh, and I'm sure you all noticed his bruises from the double-fall weekend he had. Poor little guy. Here's hoping we can make it through the next few weeks without any major boo-boos!

I'm Giddy!

I'm so excited! The stars have aligned and the two things I've wanted most are finally coming into fruition. First, for those who have been to my house, we will soon have a brand-spankin'-new driveway! No more where the walkway ends (the walkway ended at the window, not the door) and no more Lake Avery! You see, we began remodeling our house in early 2006 and we basically finished the job. However, the yard wasn't a priority. We ran out of energy, time and money so the landscaping had to wait. Then it was just put on the back burner. Well, Hubby is sick of hearing me complain about the disaster that is our front yard and has gotten the ball rolling on the last portion of our renovation. The old driveway is now history and our yard looks like a huge mud pit, however by Thursday or Friday it will be beautiful! We'll still have to work on sodding the yard, but that will have to wait until spring. I'm just happy that my shoes will no longer be covered in mud after walking the short distance between my car and the house.

Reason #2 why I've been giddy for the past 24 hours is that J.K. officially has a new daycare. I haven't really blogged about my dissatisfaction with the daycare, but I didn't want to bore everyone. I've actually been pretty pleased with the infant and toddler 1 class, but I've been very concerned about the classes he would be moving into. The great news is that there's a solution to the problem and I'm so relieved. As of June 1st he will enjoy his first day at a top-notch daycare in our neighborhood and I just can't stop smiling about it. The even cooler thing is that his friend that looks just like him from his current class will be moving with him. It's nice to know that he'll already have a friend in his new class. His Mommy and I are thrilled!

On a not so fun note, J.K. had a rough weekend. The poor little guy had two pretty nasty falls around the house. He kinda looks like he's been in a cage fight! I feel horrible and obviously feel like a bad mom even though there wasn't much I could do. He was a tough boy, he only cried for a few seconds each time. I would have been much more upset had it been me. I'll have to post pictures of his battle scars later today.

Making Bags & Playing with the Dogs

Oh my dear blog how I miss you! How I long for the days when I could take the time to post about my random happenings. Unfortunately the job has gotten in the way. That's what happens when cutbacks are made and you're one of the few last women standing. I would love to say that I want to come home and write a post, but honestly I'm exhausted and the last thing I want to see is the ever so familiar gleam of light shining from my computer screen. All I really want to do is curl up on my couch with a glass of wine, chill with the hubby and play with J.K. Here's hoping that life will simmer down soon and I can get back into some sort of normal routine, but for now I'll just have to blog when I have a moment and the desire.

This evening I have that desire. I had such a wonderful weekend. It all began with a date night with the hubby and my parents kept J.K. Friday night. I slept past 7 a.m. for the first time in a long time! I woke up Saturday morning with so much excitement because I was heading out to volunteer with Footprints Ministry and make bags for the families at St. Vincent's NICU! It was one of those moments when I knew I was doing exactly what God has called me to do, and there really is no better feeling. This was the first time for the Birmingham group to make bags on our own and we had great participation. My prayer is that these families who receive the bags will find God's peace and comfort through these small gifts. I also hope that it makes their day a little brighter to know that they aren't alone. If you'd like to read more about Footprints Ministry you can click on the link in my sidebar. A big thank you goes to Nicole Collier for being such an amazing Christian woman who has taken on the role of leading the Birmingham group. She has devoted much of her time and energy to making this ministry a success here locally and we are grateful to her for it. We also wouldn't be able to do this if it weren't for Kim in Montgomery following God's call for her to start Footprints Ministry. We are all so blessed because of her efforts. Below is a picture of all of the volunteers and the bags.

In other news, our weekend has been full of playtime with J.K. His new favorite activities include all things Sadie & Lilly (the dogs). He loves to pet them, play fetch with them, sit on them and even lock himself in Lilly's kennel. We are so blessed to have two wonderful dogs who put up with all of J.K.'s craziness. Sadie lets him pull her fur and Lilly lies there while he rolls all over her. Below is a picture of him and Sadie hanging out in the kitchen floor.

How many dogs will just let a toddler sit on them? You can barely see Lilly sitting patiently behind the two of them. I love all of my kids!

A Holiday Wrap Up

The poor little blog has been abandoned over the holidays, but I'm finally back! I was at home all week with J.K. and we've had a blast together! We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. It looks like Santa's workshop has exploded in my living room! We spent Christmas morning here at our house and woke up to all of the goodies that Santa left under the tree. J.K. was given a bunch of toys, books and clothes, but what would his favorite goody be?? A banana from his stocking! He refused to let go of the banana on Christmas morning. I still don't understand why we spend money on toys! The hubby surprised me with a sewing machine on Christmas morning. I had no idea how to sew, but as of today I can sew both straight and zigzag stitches. I even taught myself to sew little flowers! I'm slowly on my way to becoming a domesticated diva.

We had a lot of fun at my parents' house on Christmas Day. We ate way too much delicious food and the kids were so excited to open all of their gifts. I don't know who had more fun, the grandkids or the grandparents.

As you can see, J.K. loved the banana. All of these toys and the kid wants the banana??

Our Meme & Papa, my grandparents. Aren't they the cutest?? We love them so much!

Cici helped A. open one of her MANY gifts! I think she has enough baby dolls to last her a lifetime!

We had a great time ringing in the New Year with our friends Julie & Clay. We got to be "grown-ups" for the night and it was too much fun! We enjoyed some delicious food, a yummy champagne punch and we even played Clue at 2 a.m. Yeah, we're crazy like that!

Julie & I looking quite ridiculous in our party hats.