Easter Pictures

It has been a week since I have posted anything. Between work and home, I have been swamped. On Saturday I scheduled our yearly Easter pictures and of course we waited over an hour before pictures were taken. She and I both were unhappy with the wait and crowd. The pictures turned out really well so I cannot complain. Here are the poses I bought.

Kitchen Shower

Today was Aunt Stacy's first of many wedding showers. Some of her college friends from Auburn threw her a kitchen shower. She received many nice gifts and we all enjoyed spending this exciting time with her. We all wish Aunt Stacy and Uncle Eric the best during this wonderful journey together. Here are some of the pictures from today's shower.

Thursday Night Out

I am posting pictures from out Thursday night trip to Trussville PlayStation. Our neighbor invited us to go with him to church night at Trussville PlayStation. We had never been before so did not know what to expect. We all had a great time and we will definitely be carrying Blair back soon! Thanks Mr. David and Ashton for inviting us to go with you guys!

How sweet is this face! Blair had a great time and was as sweet as she could be.

Blair playing Hutt-Hutt Golf (No, that is not a misspelling. Her Daddy continued to tell her it was Putt-Putt but she continued to tell him it was called Hutt-Hutt.).

Blair and Daddy riding go-carts.
Mr. David and Ashton riding go-carts.
Enough skating with Mommy, Little Miss Independent decided she could do it "by myself".

Day 1 in Chattanooga

What a great weekend we had in Chattanooga (and my birthday present). We played hard, ate great and enjoyed spending time together. We went to the Children's Museum when we arrived in Chattanooga. We spent hours playing and exploring. It reminded me some of the McWane Center but I thought this place had more age appropriate stations for Blair. She had a great time at the museum.

After we closed down the museum, we went to check-in at the suite and of course swimming was on the agenda for this little princess. She swam until the pool closed that night. As you will be able to tell from the pictures, she is very entertaining. She keeps us laughing!

Blair playing the harp at the museum.
Dr. Dukes has a nice ring to it!
I was the patient at this station and she was telling me that she was going to give me a shot in the arm. She diagnosed me with a throat problem and told me if I would brush my teeth everyday that I would feel better. Can you tell this month is dental month at her school? She thinks brushing your teeth is a cure for everything right now.

I think the only people that will appreciate this picture and station is Daddy and Grandpa.

Here Blair is singing "Rocky Top" in the recording booth. The museum had the words and music on the recorder for her to sing along and record her voice then play back her voice.

Daddy, Mommy and Blair at the museum.

Blair doing what she loves best...swimming like a fish.

Day 2 in Chattanooga

Day 2 in Chattanooga was packed with fun and exciting things for us to do. We started the day by going to the Aquarium (River's Journey). Then we headed off to the IMAX theater to see Under the Sea with our 3-D glasses. Blair was so funny to watch during the movie. When the fish would come close to us during the movie we would see Blair reach out and try to touch the fish. It was really cute! After the movie and one large tub of popcorn consumed by Blair, we headed back to the Aquarium (Ocean's Journey).

After we finished at the Aquarium and IMAX, we headed back to the hotel for shopping and swimming. The suite had an indoor heated pool and our little swimmer took advantage of that. I think she would live in the water if she could. She swam any chance she got that weekend. She learned a new trick too. She now will do a flip into the water from the side of the pool.

Here are some of the pictures from day 2.

Blair touching some of the fish at the Aquarium.

She squealed each time she touched a fish.

Blair posing in front of one of the exhibits in the Ocean's Journey Aquarium. Blair watching the penguins swim.

Trapped in the Shark's Cage.

Goodnight Sleeping Beauty!

What a great weekend we had together in Chattanooga.

New PJ's

How cute is she with her new Minnie Mouse gown and slippers! I went on a shopping spree this weekend and found several things for Blair, Chris and myself. I really enjoyed the me time and all of the many things I found, the new PJ's included. Let me just tell you, along with myself, hundreds of other people were helping put money back into the economy this weekend. I had to stand in long lines everywhere I went to buy stuff. Not just one or two items, buggy loads of stuff.

Blair and Daddy are winding down for bed and part of their ritual is to do a lesson a night in one of the many learning books we have purchased. It is quite humerous to hear both Daddy and Blair getting frustrated with each other. He is really a great Daddy and treats her just like a princess even when he gets frustrated with her for not wanting to cooperate. Hope you all have a great night!

Perfect Day for a Treat

What a beautiful day it was today. I love the days of being able to play outside longer but I despise the time change and adjusting to the change. As soon as Blair and I got home today I could hear the ice cream truck coming down the road. It was a perfect ice cream day! As you can see below, we had to buy a treat for Blair. Of course she took two licks and she was done with the treat. Below is Ashton and Blair enjoying their treat.

I Won!

To end my birthday week, my name was drawn for a trip for four to the Wilderness at the Smokies Resort in Tennessee. What a great surprise! It has an indoor water park that we will all love. Blair is such a water bug that I know she will have a blast. Then Friday we are off to Chattanooga for the weekend. We are going to the Aquarium, IMAX and Children's Museum. The Chattanooga trip is my birthday present from Chris and Blair. I am really excited about both trips. I will have many pictures to share when we return.

Happy Birthday Grandma

Happy Birthday Grandma! We hope you have a great birthday with your two girls. Blair and her cousin Kailyn are staying the night with Grandma and Grandpa in honor of Grandma's birthday tomorrow. They are suppose to have a camp out in the living room with their new sleeping bags. I know they will all have a great time together and I am sure our little jabber jaws will have many stories to tell when they return.

Grandma and Grandpa never tell on their sweet angels but we always find out what adventures they got into much later. I believe the last time they spent the night the entire bathroom was soaked from water being flung from one side of the room to the other. Also, Grandpa's new truck got a bath from the inside. The girls sprayed the hose pipe right into Grandpa's windows that were down that day. I must admit, I love to hear the stories that come from the sleep overs. I am anxious to hear the new stories this weekend.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Grandma and Blair

Home Sweet Home

We were able to stay in our house last night. The smell of the acid stained floor had diminished with the help of pledge, vinegar and water and other cleaning supplies. I cleaned the house from top to bottom to get rid of saw dust, sheet rock dust and everthing else involved with the home project. I love the floors and will be thrilled when this project is done.

Again, thank you Aunt Stacy for allowing us to stay at your house. We loved staying with Aunt Stacy (Blair does because Aunt Stacy lets her do anything she wants) but there is nothing like being back home and sleeping in our own beds.

The picture below is of our newly waxed acid stained floor.

The Love Dare, Day 3: Love is not selfish - The 3rd day requires yet again to not say anything negative to your spouse and buy him something to let him know you are thinking of him. The buying part is easy but the saying nothing at all when you have something negative to say is killing me. The part that is killing me is dealing with a stubborn man with an ankle injury.

I finally convinced Chris to go to the doctor since he could barely walk on his foot and it looked like a softball had been inserted where his ankle was suppose to be. He went, they diagnosed him with a severe ankle sprain and gave him a brace to wear. I got the I told you I did not need to go to the doctor call immediately following the visit. I think I would rather it have been broken because if anything else happens you can bet money he will not go to the doctor.

Chris came home tonight and iced his ankle. Our little monkey had to have an ice pack as well to put on her ankle because she said she hurt her foot too. I think the 3 year old is easier to care for than the 29 year old. Happy Thursday!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yesterday was my 31st Birthday and boy was it a wild one. I woke up to my cell phone going off with work calling about our system not working properly. I did not feel well that morning but later felt much better when some of my employees treated me to Kobe for lunch. (I am going to take Blair to a place like this, she will love watching the men cook.) Then my sweet husband and little girl sent me a huge arrangement of flowers and Happy Birthday balloon. This was a pleasant surprise because my husband does not do flowers. For dinner all of the family enjoyed a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill in honor of my birthday.
I got a real treat when I got home. As you probably know from past blogs, we are finishing our basement and decided to try something new with the floors. We went with a really nice acid stain floor. Looks great, Smells TERRIBLE! The smell of the stain took over the entire house and we had to vacate the premises (Thanks Aunt Stacy for the free room and board!). To top that one off, my sweet husband missed the bottom back step as he was loading the car and rolled over on his ankle. Do you think he allowed me to take him to the ER? Nope! Happy Birthday to me!

The Love Dare for Day 2: Love is Kind. The kind of love I had to give my husband today was not kind. Instead I felt like tossing the entire book out of the window for his stubborness with not going to the doctor. It has to be a man thing! He cannot walk on his foot and is in major pain as well as badly swollen all the while he is telling me it is fine. Blair must get her stubborness from the Dukes side.

On a happier note, I still have several days left for my birthday week. Then next weekend my husband is taking us to Chattanooga for the weekend as my birthday gift. Yeah! I am really excited about that trip and what all we are going to do with Blair.

Fireproof

Chris was away last night on business so I put Blair to bed then picked up my new book, Fireproof, and began to read at 9pm. At 3am this morning I had read the entire book. I could not put this book down. Then at lunch today I went back to the bookstore to buy The Love Dare book. Everyone should read this book! I have yet to see the movie but I do not see how in the world it could compare to this book.

Reading this book makes me want to be a better person not only for me but also for Chris. I decided to take the 40-day challenge starting today. I am excited to take The Love Dare. Day One: Love is Patient. Patience is something I do not have very much of so I know God will use this to help make me a better person, wife and mother. Today I am suppose to demonstrate patience and say absolutely nothing negative to my spouse. Yes, I know some of you laughed out loud at the thoughts of me keeping my mouth shut, I did a little too. I will let you know how that goes.

Never Leave Your Partner Behind

Winter Wonderland

As most of you know today starts my birthday week. No, I do not have a birth-day, I have a birth-week. So what better way to start my birthday week than to wake up to a beautiful winter wonderland. My sweet husband said he put in an order for the snow just for my birthday. If he has that kind of connection, I have more orders for him to put in!

I woke Blair up this morning at 7:30 to see the snow covered yard. She immediately popped up and said, "It snowed in our yard this time." For those of you that do not know, two of our neighbors and Chris created a snow machine several weeks ago and made snow in our neighbor's yard in January. She was a little confused why the neighbor's had snow yet no one else had snow on the ground. She was very excited this morning to see we had snow in our yard. Hope you all enjoy this beautiful day!

David, Ashton, Chris, Blair and Jacob taking time to smile for the camera.

Blair sledding.

Our snow covered house.

Blair getting ready for some snow fun.