Thanksgiving

I can't say that I ever thought my life would be so fulfilled.  I could possibly be the happiest and most joyous woman on the face of the earth.  Life is so wonderful in our home, with baby Camryn getting so big and starting to walk, and Lucas Caden all but spelling and reading...He is just so smart...to Cash telling the funniest jokes you've ever heard.  Rob and I just get to sit back and watch these 3 little angels grow and it brings so much joy into our lives. 

Sometimes I don't understand things of this world, like how someone like me could possibly be fortunate enough to have the most wonderful husband and 3 children in the world.  I am so very thankful and grateful to our Heavenly Father for blessing me with this family.  It is such a fantastic time in my life right now that I wanted to share that with all 3 of my readers..haha!!  I think there are more like 4 (thanks Cathy).  So anyway, enough of the sappy stuff and onto some fun Thanksgiving pictures. 

Jered hosted Turkey Day at his house this year because mom and dad's remodel is a complete mess.  We are hosting Christmas here so he agreed to let us to Thanksgiving there.

My handsome Cash

This is my big handsome boy and Papa.  Dad will be so thankful to me for posting this pic.

Love this picture of me, mom and the boys.  She is the best mom in the whole world!  I'm just hoping for a close second :)

Did I mention how incredible the food was this year?  I mean it was fabulous!  Mom is quite the cook as well...don't think I'll ever come close to her in that department.  Our children have the best grandparents in Nain and Papa that they could've ever asked for. 

Jenn Jenn Jenn and Jess Jess Jess

So here is to my sister Jess and her best friend (and sort of my friend) Jenn.  Those two girls are the 2 people I can act like a complete idiot around and they never seem to care.  Ok, maybe they care but they don't act like they do. 

I sure don't get to see either of them enough lately...what with Jenn all busy with Tony and Jess out in California.  But over the past 11 years some of the best times of my younger 20s were spent with those two wild girls!  I just wanted to thank the two of them for their friendship and loyalty and for all of the fun times we have had.  It is past time for us to all hang out and do something stupid and fun! 

Seriously, though, I'm only posting this crap so Jenn will get off my back!! :)

So here we are years ago at the Piano Bar...

And here is me and Jenn on Jess's birthday a few years ago...

So anyway, I sure miss spending time with these girls. 

Big One Year Old

So it's been one year since that evening where I decided I had to get this baby girl out of my belly.  I was so huge and ready to deliver.  I got on my treadmill for 2 or 3 days in a row and even did some light running, b/c I knew it was time.  So on that Friday evening, I told Rob I felt like I was having some contractions....I went by myself to the hospital b/c I figured they'd just send me home.  We were still 3 weeks from my due date at that point, but all my babies had come a little early.  So I got there and they hooked me up and sure enough I was contracting...Yay!!!!  So the nurse said that either I'd have her by tomorrow morning or else they'd hook me up on the drip and we'd have her by tomorrow evening for sure.  What an exciting feeling!!!!

Rob packed up some stuff and came on over.  I couldn't sleep at all that night, but early the next morning they came in and got the drip going.  Long story short, we had our baby girl around 3:45 p.m. Saturday Nov. 21.  She was a big girl, weighing in at 9 pounds, 6 ounces.  Wowza!!  Still can't hold a candle to Aunt Jess though, 10 lb., 13.5 oz!

So a year later we have seen so many changes.  That little princess has been pulling up since 7 months and standing since 9, but still won't walk.  What a stinker!!  She literally will stand up and squat down, pick something up, stand back up, but will not walk.  She has taken a few steps but won't take off.  I'm thinking it has to be any day now.  The boys didn't walk til about 13 months either. 

I got Camryn the most adorable onesie made to match a bow I found at a shop called Main Street, Ltd. in Charleston.  They do a fantastic job there! 

Obviously these are before the cake took place...

With daddy in front of the decorations and her presents

So I kinda went a little overboard on the fanciness of the cake.  It was, afterall, only a small family party at home.  But here it is...Confectionately Yours made it

 

I love first birthdays because it's so much fun to watch the babies with their little cakes.  Here is her first bite...

And here she is after diving in and getting a real taste of the cake

The boys were big helpers when it was time to open presents...

 This is her new stroller that Nain and Papa got for her. 

It was a fantastic day...it's hard to believe that my little baby girl is a year old now.  It makes the boys seem even bigger, too.  What a wonderful life!!

Now if only Aunt Jess had been here...



A good laugh

So you should totally click on this and have your sound hooked up for a good laugh at the Waters family...
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/f0apR7gOQD2xw6hK

Well, over the past few days we've had 3 people come out to bid the painting job on the house and are now anxiously awaiting their estimates.  Probably gonna be a lot b/c it's a pretty big job, but I cannot wait to get it all done.  I think the house will feel brand new once we get the painting done and new floors put down.  So exciting!

I've decide I'm gonna decorate for Christmas and was planning on doing it tomorrow but Rob has put it off til Sunday.  I guess that's ok though b/c I have to work tomorrow and Thursday on floor, and I still have planning to do for Camryn's birthday party on Saturday.  I don't really do anything too major for their first party, b/c I want them to enjoy it and just dive into their cake.  I figure if there are too many distractions they won't really go for it like I like them too.  I remember when Lucas Caden turned 1, and he went to dive in head first for his cake and we all got so excited.  So he started crying and then took a nap.  It was too much for him.  By the time Cash turned 1, we were well trained.  He had a red Elmo head for his cake and he LOVED it!  I cannot wait to see what she will do with hers :)

The boys have suggested we do a 'princess' party so I think that is what it will be.  I went and ordered her outfit today from Main Street Limited in Charleston.  It is such a fantastic shop.  They have all kinds of unique items and can personalize anything.  I also got each of the kiddos their Christmas ornaments and bought myself a little bag to carry.  I think Camryn's diaper bags are about worn out, so I figured I'd just get a new one that's a little more stylish. 

We went to Cracker Barrell for dinner tonight.  I was planning on fixing something, but was invited to a Matilda Jane trunk show which threw a kink in my plans.  So we headed over to Alma and had dinner, and then I spent WAY too much money on clothes for baby C.  But I don't buy her too much fancy stuff so I figure a couple things here and there is ok. 

Lucas Caden thought he wanted pancakes for dinner but I think he had too many biscuits because mommy finished off what he didn't eat of his pancakes.  Good thing, too b/c Cash decided he wanted to eat my chicken strips, even though he had 3 of his own that he ate.  And Camryn actually ate green beans off my plate!  She's not a big veggie eater, so I was thrilled.  Rob had a breakfast meal, too and I had chicken strips.  Good times :)

Bout to get ready for bed I guess.  It is 9:15 after all....late by my standards.

Not much to report

So there's not too much to report this morning.  I enjoy writing about the kids so much but the boys stayed with their Nanny and Papaw this weekend so I didn't get to see them
:(

Thursday night I headed down to Little Rock to play tennis on Friday and Saturday.  My amazing husband said he'd keep all 3 kids by himself.  What an awesome daddy!!  So I rode down with Mary and when we got there my good college friend Kristi (formerly Sutfin) now Kindrick picked me up in her very RED, brand new Tahoe.  Awesome!!  So we drove out to her house and I got to meet her 2 beautiful daughters and her husband Clint.  They fixed dinner which was salad, rice and chicken, and it was delicious!  We also drank a bit of wine which was terrific.  I'm normally not a wine drinker, but it was actually very good.   So I hung out there for a few hours, but Kristi...excuse me, Dr. Kindrick was on call for that night and was getting paged a lot and I figured she'd like some sleep.  So she took me back to the hotel around 10:30, and I went to bed.

Friday we had 2 tennis matches and then Rob and Camryn got down to LR around 6.  That evening we all went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse...my favorite!  It was a lot of fun.  Camryn slept all night Friday at the hotel so that was fantastic.  Saturday we had 2 more matches.  Tennis was very very good....lots of good practice.  After the matches, we ate lunch and then shopped a little for house stuff in LR.  We bought a new bed for our room which will be here Wednesday!  So exciting and I will post pics when we get it and its all made up.  Got home last night around 7 and just hung out here at home.  Camryn slept all night yet again!!!   From about 9 til 6 this morning.  So exciting!

Today we really don't have much planned but I'm sure we will come up with something...I'm sure wishing we'd have been able to go to Cali to surprise Jess with mom, dad and Jered.  I think Jess was so surprised she forgot to be excited.  It was funny listening to her talk about it.  Hopefully we can get back out there some time soon.  Missing her terribly!

Remodeling and loving life

Let me start off by thanking my baby girl Camryn for sleeping all night last night!!  Woohoo!!  Those are few and far between so they are definitely praise worthy.  She is the best little girl in the world I swear.  So sweet and easy to handle...at this age, anyway.

So we are kinda into our remodel but not too deeply yet.  We are trying our best to take it one project at a time.  But some days I just open a can of paint and get after it.  I am not what one would call a real patient person.  I kinda like when things move right along.  So I did just that yesterday and painted the hall bath an awesome red color.  I wish I had taken a before picture but I didn't think about it.  But it was pinstriped wallpaper before and here it is now...

Still taped off but you get the color.  It's hard to get great pictures of a hall bath.  Also, I'm not real artsy so I'm making Rob paint the stuff close to the ceiling.

I've also spent some time painting the trim from wood color to a cream/off white which we are LOVING!!  It's so pretty.  I tried a small part of the dining area to make sure we like it but it's too much work for me to handle, so we are gonna have to hire that done.  Here's a small area I did.  Oh and Rob painted the walls yellow in the dining area and green in the kitchen.  Fantastic!

And here is where we cut out the wall to make space for a bar top.  Obviously we have not mastered painting real close to the ceiling yet b/c we keep putting that off :) 

We are also gonna get new countertops put on and the cabinets painted black with a glaze over them.  And all the trim you see will soon be that creamy white color.  We cannot wait!!  How about my little princess getting her beautiful self in this picture.  Cute, huh :)

So life is good in our home.  The boys are loving it so much here with so much room to roam.  They are big helpers when Rob is working outside.  Mom, dad and Grams came by last night and checked things out.  Had a great visit with them and the boys are so excited when they come to our house.  It was a wonderful evening! 

Wonderful Saturday and date night

Ahh, how I am loving this new home!  The kids are enjoying it so very much out here and so is my husband!  And if they are all happy, then so am I.  Saturday was quite a day full of projects.  Rob decided he was gonna dig up the flower bed in front of the house which involved shoveling rocks and dirt and weeds for about 3 or 4 hours.  It ended up being a huge project, but he did have good help.  Lucas Caden was Rob's number 1 helper yesterday.  Every load that Rob made to the trash pile, LC was running along beside him and then Rob would push him back up to the house in the wheelbarrow.  It was so great!  Cash was so dirty and I'd tell him that he was filthy, and he would say it was from "working."  Yea right!!  He sat outside and supervised and ate snacks all day.  What a stinker.  

So about 2:00, me Cash and Camryn headed over to Brent/Katie Cox's house to pick up a black lab that they had been keeping til we could get him.  So we got him and brought him home and boy is he pretty.  So now, Toto has a friend. 

While the boys worked outside, Camryn and I did a lot of painting in the kitchen.  It had been painted a really awful pink color so we had the walls mudded and textured.  And we painted them a really pretty green.  I will post pictures later.  She was such a good girl and never once tried to get in the paint. 

Then around 5 we got ready for our date.  Got the kids to their sitters and headed out around 7.

 We had dinner at 21 West End which for me was a filet and for Rob, chicken.  He had eaten Doe's steak on Thursday and wanted chicken instead.  The food was great!  And I so enjoy spending time with my handsome, wonderful husband.  After dinner we stopped in at MoJo's Piano Bar to listen to some music.  We had a blast there!  There was quite a crowd there this time so it was a lot of fun.  The only thing missing was Jess and Jenn....they are pretty much Piano Bar professionals in my book. 

We came home around 11 and Camryn had fallen asleep at like 8:30...not too tough on her sitter.  Sydney (sitter) said she was one of the best babies she's ever kept...aww :)

All in all, I'd say Rob's bday weekend was absolutely fantastic.  I love going on dates with him and just getting to be together.  Now onto the work that Sunday brings...and lots of it!

Friday night family bday dinner

So Rob's birthday was last Thursday the 4th, but he had a work dinner program to do, so we all went out to dinner Friday night instead.  Me, Rob, Lucas Caden, Cash, Camryn, and my mom and dad all took a trip to Marketplace to eat.  That's one of the few places that the kids always sit and eat.  They love the cheese dip!  Cash loves the chicken strips, too and Lucas Caden loves their pizza.  So we had dinner and then after we ate, mom and dad came over for cake and ice cream.

So I didn't have a blog this time last year but if I had, there would be lots of pictures of the surprise party I threw for Rob last year.  It was fantastic!!!  We rented out the big room at Fianna Hills and had a group of around 70 there to surprise him when he and I came in.  He was so shocked that he literally lauged and giggled for about 3 or 4 minutes while trying to think of something to say.  I say all of this to say that this year I didn't go to quite as much trouble b/c I figure I caused him enough embarrassment.  I did, however, find a ridiculous picture of him dressed up for Haloween and had that put on his cake.  See what you think...

Here he is getting his first glimpse of the cake.

I just couldn't resist when I found this picture in the garage of the house we moved out of.

Here he is...thrilled!

So after dinner and cake and ice cream, we were all just sitting around visiting and dad and Rob decide to start our first ever fire in the new house.  So here she is.....

I had really missed the smell and sounds of a wood burning stove!  We've gotta find some wood and a screen to put over it to keep the kiddos out of it. 

So all in all,while I did not cause him near the embarrassment that I had last year, family bday dinner was a terrific night!  Mom says he won't wanna have any more birthdays if I don't quit surprising him.  He got a couple of gift card for his birthday, too.  I figured I should make up for the cake, so I got him a gift card for Dillard's and mom and dad gave him one to Lowe's....very much needed :)