Tiffy's Birthday

Today was Tiffany's 34th birthday.  Greg was very sweet and surprised her with a date which means that Jackson got to come spend another afternoon at the cottage.  We had a fun time painting a rainbow for the leprechaun trap, taking a walk with Elizabeth, baby Owen, and Cooper, eating dinner at Chick-Fil-A, a quick shopping trip at Publix, bathtime with Sammy, and then it was time to party!

The extra special birthday banner Jackson did all by himself for his Mama.   

The sweet Dean family with an even sweeter addition! 

Jackson could not wait to start singing the birthday song. 

 

(Sorry, I don't know how to rotate pictures.)  The delicious cake made from scratch by Greg.  Notice the art deco style smily face that is rumored to reflect Tiffany's favorite type of patient...happy and easy going, but with a cavity (an orange sprinkle). 

Opening her present from Jackson.  We went the day before for him to pick out a present and a balloon. The present?  Sparkly princess ponytail holders, complete with heart embellishments.  It was a difficult choice between the ceramic dog statue and the ponytail holders.  It's a shame, I really think the dog would have added something special to the decor at their new house.

He was very proud of the ponytail holders! 

  Sam wishes everyday was Big Flo's birthday.  Let's just say the boy can eat some chocolate cake.  Tiffy started out giving him small baby size bites until he started growling at her.  Yeah, he was up until 10:00 thanks to the three pounds of cocoa he ingested, but it was worth it to watch him enjoy each bite!  I am sure he is having sweet dreams tonight!

A Fun Day

Jackson loved pushing Sam in the swing almost as much as Sam loved being pushed!  

Word on the street is, Stacy London will be contacting Jackson to replace Clinton Kelly as her co-host on "What Not to Wear."  Jackson is clearly the authority on current trends and fashion!

Best friends! 

Starting on our St. Patrick's Day activities clover flowers and a leprechaun trap.  I learned the importance of researching my information prior to informing a four year old about a mythical little man who searches for pots of gold.  Jackson politely informed me to "look it up" after I could not tell him where leprechauns live, how they walk on rainbows, why they want gold, or why they like clover.

The happy clover bunch!

It is always an exciting time when Daddy gets home from work! 

Taking a break after all of the fun!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

6/20/2010: the most magical day of my life.  I feel like I was just pregnant two days ago and held Sam for the first time one day ago, yet here we are eight months later.  Where has the time gone?  My sweet baby seemed to grow up too quickly from the very beginning.  He held his head up, played with toys, slept through the night, began solid foods, and sat independently all earlier than the norm.  We even had to move him up to a big boy car seat before he was four months old.  Where has the time gone?  I have cherished every second with my sweet angel, but I feel like the moments slipped through my fingers.

Now my baby (who in my mind is still nine pounds and in need of swaddling) is drinking from a sippy cup, crawling, praying (he nods his head when we say Amen), clapping, and has sprouted two sweet little teeth.  Is he going to be getting on the school bus tomorrow morning to go to third grade?  Everyone told us when Sam was born just how fast he would grow up.  I thought they were being a little exaggerative.  They were not.  Time flies when you're having fun.

Captivating. 

Sam loves green beans!! 

Playing with his best friend, Owen. 

Swinging is his favorite sunny say activity. 

Too bad this won't last forever.  Sweet babies! 

Nap time after an exhaustingly fun day.  Poor baby apparently fell asleep while sitting up.  Daddy had to readjust him so his legs would not fall off! 

Get ready Big Flo, we will be scheduling an appointment soon!  Bye bye sweet gummy smile...

And he's off.  Time to break out the baby gates!

What a blessing to have a happy and healthy baby!  What joy he has brought us over the past eight months!!  

Date Night

Sweet baby Sam spent this past Thursday AND Friday night away from home.  I know, gasp.  Ty was approached by Dr. Coleman to do his scholarly activity on Celebrate Recovery, which is a Bible based recovery program for hurts, hang-ups, and addictions.  In order to get a better understanding of the program Dr. Coleman invited us to go to the weekly meeting held in Scottsboro.  Lucky for us, Bobbye, Buster, Papa Doc and Pammy were happy to keep Sam for us since we would be getting back late that evening.  We headed back to Huntsville around 8:30, but did not want to go home.  We didn't know what to do since we had already eaten dinner and had coffee at CR, so we went to Target.  Dull?  Maybe, but it was time together outside of the house.  Plus we got six boxes of our favorite cereal for dirt cheap!  Ty went to work the next day and I spent some time going to thrift stores and Home Depot...a wonderful morning indeed!  I then went to take some more food to my little friend and ended up spending several hours with Bobbye, Pammy, and Aunt Sarah.  Pammy, Sam, and I then went on a shopping excursion to track down some shoes that fit baby feet which happen to be about three inches wide, two inches long, and four inches high. Cute feet, difficult challenge!

Lucky for us yet again, Papa Doc and Pammy decided to stay another night!  Ty and I were able to go on a real date!  We ate the delicious Buffalo Chicken Fajitas at Chili's for dinner and then went to Target again...one of our cereal bags had a hole in it.  =(  We can't handle going to a 10:00 movie, so we went home.  It may sound boring, but it was perfect.  Back in our Auburn days our date nights often included getting a pack of Oreos, two glasses of milk, and two toothpicks.  We decided to relive those special times.  We lit candles, set up the Oreo station on the dining room table, and watched my favorite Indian sitcom on my laptop.  It was such a special night filled with wonderful conversation and laughter with my sweet husband.

Romance Ashley style.

The next morning I was able to do some Cricuting and other little things around the house that seem to be more difficult when my little friend is home and Ty got some work and studying accomplished.  Then Ty and I went to the YMCA and had great workouts!  We were very excited to be with Sam once again.  He did great on his little vacation.  He ate what he wanted and received constant attention from six people...an ideal situation for little Sam!  I warned them all that he will be talking in a few months, so he will be able to tell Mama all of the things they do while I am away (ahem, like drinking sweet tea)!  I am so thankful to have in-laws who I am thrilled for my child to spend time with.  An answered prayer.

Love Is In the Air

Valentine's Day has always been a special day to me because it was my Papa's birthday.  Anyone who knows me knows how much I treasured my Papa.  We had a special relationship that grew largely in part to me being his driver when I was in high school.  I don't really recall how I inherited that job, but I am so thankful that I did.  It was my standing assignment to drive him whenever we had a family function or get together.  It was during those rides that we had some of our best conversations.  There were also many times that I would go to Papa and Granny's house just to be with Papa, walk around the farm, or explore their house.  I would often find little things hidden in the back of a closet or tucked in a piece of furniture that I thought were absolutely wonderful.  I would always show Papa what I found and get him to tell me about it.  If it was something that I was pretty certain no one else would want (which is pretty much the case for all of my "treasures") I would ask Papa if I could have it.  His response was always the same, "What do you want that for".  One of my favorite treasures that I found this way was an old picture of a Jersey cow that I found tucked way back in his office.  Of course, he had no clue why I would want such a thing, but it has hung proudly in our home ever since I had it matted and framed.  For me it captures the roots of our family and holds extra significance because of the way I came to possess it.  I have a plaque hanging above it that says, Home is where your story begins.  What a true statement that is.  (One reason why I loved being a social worker, because I was able to help make peoples homes better, ultimately impacting their story.)  I may not have had Papa here this year, but I did have my precious baby boy who is named after Papa and unknowingly imitates his Papa Joe! Valentine's day to me is first and foremost Papa's birthday, so what a fitting day to show others that I love them.

We began this Valentine's Day by spending time with Elizabeth and baby Owen.  I made both boys matching shirts to wear for their first Valentine's!  The shirts were cute, but they sweet little angels wearing them were far cuter!  The weather was beautiful that day so we took them outside for a little photo shoot.  Poor little guys haven't really been able to experience sunshine or warm weather since they were little bitty guys, so this was very exciting for them.  As if it isn't difficult enough to photograph two babies at the same time, the task was made even more difficult because they were so distracted by their surroundings.  We had to resort to inside pictures to get one good one....and that took about 40 attempts!

Sam received his first ever Valentine delivery that afternoon.  Our sweet Mrs. Cynthia sent him a card with a one dollar bill inside. He thought he was extra special for receiving such a special treat in the mail!  Thank you Mrs. Cynthia for always thinking of us!

Sweet baby Sam made Valentine's goodies to share with others.  This included 2 pounds of pretzels dipped in chocolate, about 12 dozen cookies, rice krispie treats, and 3 dozen cupcakes.  He flew around town like a chubby little Cupid handing them out to those he loves.  He also gave some to his Sunday School teachers and to the elders at church the day before.

While Ty was at work, Sam and I made a Valentine for Ty and one for Bobbye and Buster.  It is very interesting to say the least to do arts and crafts with an almost 8 month old!  The glue was especially fun!  When Ty got home we loaded our little Cupid up to deliver his Valentine to B&B.  Buster ended up making bacon and egg sandwiches for dinner and we had a great visit!

Big Flo should be proud....I feel quite certain that Sam will one day be a Dentist.  He loves to examine teeth!

When we got back home we snacked on the yummy edible arrangement Ty made for me that had cantaloupe, pineapple, and blueberries, with some dipped in chocolate!  What a thoughtful husband I have!

It was a special day all the way around.  We are so thankful for the memories we have of those who are no longer with us and for the times we are able to spend with who are here.  We are blessed beyond measure and cherish our time together with those we love!

P.S.--Maybe one day Cupid will be gainfully employed so he can deliver Valentine's goodies to his loves who live outside of his zip code!  =)

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Unfortunately I got out of the bloging habit when our internet was down for a couple of weeks back in November.  Good news...we are back!  Sweet Elizabeth has been an excellent source of encouragement for getting back into the swing of things.  (She is so good to keep her blog current!)  The book she recently had made compiling all of her blog posts from the previous year has also become a strong source of motivation.  It is a super neat idea and is far better than any scrapbook I could create AND it is even cheaper....you know that it a great selling point for me!

My sweet baby Sam is growing so quickly and I have now missed documenting some important milestones.  I repent of these transgressions and will do better!