(I know most of my pictures lately have been of Em, but I promise I still take plenty of pictures of Tucker, too.)
These artists are amazing! They do 3D art work on the sidewalk…it looks so realistic, doesn’t it?
I looks like someone has taken out a chunk of side walk and moved it, but really it’s just chalk!!
Look at the guy standing “on top” of the world.
This is what it the same picture looks like from the side view.
Want to see more? Click here.
My friend over at Peapod Squad Stuff has given me an award! She thinks my blog is “spoon-licking good”! She’s a hoot, with her cute, cute triplets who just happen to be the same age as Tucker! Sometimes she makes me laugh, other times she makes me cry…but it’s always a good read! You guys should all go check out her blog!
And, while I’m being all super-bloggy(this is, I think, the 4th post today…I obviously have many, many important things to do in my life!), I figured that I could pass along the spoon-lickin’ goodness!
So…I would like to share this award with all new blogs that I met one way or another through Mommyfest 2008(or blogrolls of other blogs on Mommyfest blogs…man, this blogging thing is so viral!).
Numero Uno: Baby On Bored by Stephanie. You guys have heard me rave about her hilarious books Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay and Naptime Is the New Happy Hour, but now you can get a dose of her hilarious-ness every day! (She does occasionally drop the f-bomb, so just be aware if you don’t like that kind of thing.)
Number 2: Heather at The Spohrs Are Multiplying, Spohrs(pronounced spores) being their last name and a play on words. Very interesting and very funny in a smart ass kind of way!
Number 3: Lindsey over at True Tales of a Hair Wrecker. I’m sucker for witty blogs, what can I say? She’s clever, and…you guessed it: funny!
Number 4: Kaye at Mr. Nespy’s World. I won a mom journal on her blog during Mommyfest! (BTW, It came in the mail today, Kaye, and I love it!) But this girl is a serious saver! The amount she saves in a month is probably somehow directly proportional to how much I over-spend per month! My new fave that I’ve discovered are her “Tuesday Freebies”…things that you can get for absolutely FREE!!!
And for Number 5: Eleisia at In the Kitchen. I haven’t slowed down to actually try any of her recipes, but they all look amazing! Just reading this recipe made my mouth water.
So, congrats, ladies. I like you…I really like you!
Marshall has started riding his bike to and from work again. He called me this afternoon to tell me that his back tire was flat, and asked if I could come pick him up. The kids and I talked in the car about Daddy’s bike being broken, and Tucker was very upset about it. When Marshall finally got in the car and we were driving home, this was the exchange between my sweet son and his dad:
Tucker: Daddy is your bike broken?
Marshall: Yes, Tucker.
Tucker: You can ride the little red bike, Daddy. (He’s talking about his little red tricycle.)
Marshall: Thank you, Tucker.
Tucker: You can ride the little bike until your tall bike is fixed again, ok?
I know this is my 3rd post today, but forgive me…I have a lot to say. This time I am asking for your advise. We will be moving in a little over a month to a small town about 2 hours from where we are now. Our current house has been on the market for about 4 months. We’ve had some people come to look, but nothing too serious. We found a house in our new location that we really liked, but we simply can’t afford two mortgages right now. So…we’ve been stuck in the frustrating and confusing land of the in-between-and-undecided. A while back, we had an offer from the owners of the “new” house we like: if we would buy the house, they would be glad to rent it from us until we moved. Although that sounded like a pretty good idea, it still left us in a place of having to pay 2 mortgages. Our income will be *very* tight for the next few months, and that just wasn’t going to work. Marshall will get paid here at the end of June, and our next paycheck won’t come in until mid-to-late August. That’s a long time to spread a not-so-much amount of money!
So…now we have a new proposal. Let me see what you in the blogosphere think of this: The owners of the “new” house are willing to rent the house to us, starting July 1st! We would write up a purchase and sale agreement in which we would negotiate all the normal stuff-a price, closing costs, inspections, etc.-and then we would also submit a lease agreement talking about the length of rent-time, amount of rent, and such. The lease price would be more than our current mortgage, but the house is bigger and nicer. And, hopefully, we wouldn’t have to do that for too long. We have briefly talked to the bank about getting some money to bridge the gap between residency and real, full-time practice, and they seem willing to help us out as best they can. So, to me, it seems like a win-win situation. The sellers have a definate buyer; we have a definite home in a good town with a good school district; and we don’t have to move but one time!
Here’s where you come in. Do you see anything wrong with this idea? Does it seem to make sense? Be a good plan? We want to do what is best, and it seems like this is about the best possibility, but we don’t wan to over-extend ourselves or do something blatantly stupid. I’m going to attach a few pictures of our current house and the “new” house, so you can get a feel for what we’re talking about here.
Current house: 3br, 2ba on two levels. It’s in the historic district, which I love. It has cool textured paint in the kitchen/dining room that I will miss terribly. And the way the morning sunshine comes through the big windows in there…love it! There are gorgeous camellia bushes/trees in the backyard that make me smile every day when they are in bloom. The basement/lower level is something I worked very hard on and am pretty proud of the way it turned out.
“New” house: 4br, 3ba on one level with a bonus/playroom above the garage. It has a big kitchen, which I don’t have now and miss. It has a pretty big backyard, but no fence(which we’ll need with the dogs…but that’s easily remedied, right??). It has a nice partially covered deck in the back, with all the things that you would need if you wanted to put a outdoor patio kitchen back there. There is ample storage space-some in a crawl up attic space, and some in a walk-in attic space. Oh, yeah! It also has a garage, which I’ve never had before and always wanted! 🙂
Ok…I have to admit that in these pictures, it pretty much looks like the same house. I never really noticed that before…oh, well. Let me know your thoughts anyway! 🙂
In case you haven’t heard, the 5 year old daughter of Christian music singer Steven Curtis Chapman was killed yesterday. Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, have three biological children and three adopted children from China. The youngest, Maria, was killed when one of the older boys accidentally hit her with a car. I don’t know the Chapman’s personally, but I know that they are good people and that they are Christians. So please join me in praying for them during this difficult time. If you would like to leave a message for the Chapman family, click here to go to a blog set up by Steven’s manager.
As a parent, I am shuttling kids around all the time. Everywhere I go, the parking lot is full of children…church, school, the play ground, the park, the library. One of my greatest fears is hitting a child! This heart-breaking story will definitely serve as a reminder to look very carefully before you back up.
So yesterday ended up being my very. last. day. with “the girls”. I cried a little sobbed most of the way home when I left their house yesterday. I was doing ok until I read this, written by the oldest of “my” three girls:
Dear Bridget,
It’s hard to believe this is the last school day you’ll spend with us. I am really going to miss seeing you. We have had some really good times. I wish you could stay here forever. I hope that we always stay in touch and talk/e-mail often. I will check your website to get updates on your life. Thanks for being such an awesome babysitter and friend. I don’t think there is one person in [our town] happy that you are leaving. You made an impact on many peoples’ lives. There are not enough words in the universe (every language including Pig Latin) to describe how I feel towards you. You will be greatly missed here.
If that doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, you have no soul. What a sweetie! I’ll miss you, too, Ell-bell!
So a friend sent me this little thing where she made up her own quiz. It was fun, so I thought I’d make one of my own, too! Just click below to take the quiz. And be sure to type in your name so I’ll know who took the test, and how well you really know me! 🙂
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And I don’t even have pictures!
On Friday night we drove up to see Marshall’s parents. We ate at one of my favorite restaurants, but I had a pregnant moment while was there and ended up being completely repulsed by the food I’d wanted so badly only moments before. That’s on of my biggest gripes about pregnancy. I hate that you can want something with such passion, and then the moment you set eyes on it, you feel like you might just hurl. Not nice. And I’m not a “craver” usually. When I’m preggo, I can be hungry, starving and not be able to think of anything that sounds remotely appealing. Annoying.
Anyway, Saturday was a great day for all of us. Marshall’s parents kept the kids for us while we drove to ATL for a wedding. The kids and in-laws had fun because they got time together to go to the park. They fed the ducks and saw lots of animals-the bear and llama seem to be the kid favorites.
We had fun because we got to go to a wedding unlike anything we’d ever seen before. The wedding itself was pretty typical of American Catholic weddings, but the reception was amazing. It was at Magnolia Hall in Piedmont Park. And what made this shin-dig so different for us was that the majority of the attendees were from Nigeria. What an exciting culture! The aunts, uncles, and special friends of the groom brought gifts for all of the attendees. We left with a bag full of fun goodies like an egg tray, hand towels, decorative plates, a bath towel, a tote bag, a notebook…the list goes on! You all know how much of a sucker I am for free stuff! 🙂
The food was delicious. And we had to leave to get back home just about the time the Nigerian music started. Man, what a beat! I wish we could have heard more!! Everyone was so friendly and beautiful in their traditional dress. The women wore these beautiful headdresses, which I now know are called “gele”. (You can see something similar to what the women were wearing here. This is the same family, but a different celebration.) I started to use the word hat or headgear, but headdress is much more appropriate. I’m telling you, these things were so beautifully wrapped and crafted. I secretly wanted to wear one, too! 🙂 I hate that I didn’t have my camera!! (I left it at home??? I can only claim pregnancy brain!) Anyway, the ceremony and party were both beautiful, as was the bride who is an old friend of mine from home.
OH! Talking about free stuff a minute ago reminded me that during Mommyfest 2008, I WON something! Kaye over at Mr. Nespy’s World had a give-away for a “Mom Journal” seen here (the bottom, solid bright pink one). The front of it reads: “Mom’s Journal: My kids drive me nuts. I drive them everywhere else.” And it is apparently “helps mom keep track of schedules, medical information, and important phone numbers”. So…I should get my “winnings” in the mail soon! Yay!
Oh! And since I’m a loser and didn’t take my camera to the wedding, I’m going to see if my friend Tara will let me link you guys to her website once her wedding pictures are up! Cool wedding…must see!