And the news is.....

MARTIN HAS A NEW J.O.B!!!!! We have prayed and prayed and prayed for this opportunity to present itself. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but we think it will be a good move for him. Please continue to keep Martin in your prayers as he works out his two week notice and transitions into his new position. This is an exciting time for us right now, join in with us as we celebrate!! CHA CHA CHA

I also want to give a big shout-out to Mrs. Landrum who took my advise and purchased the Micorplane Foot File. I got a report from her eldest son, "Gary", that she loves it!! For everyone else out there, here's your second testimonial.

Can't tell yet...

Tomorrow I will be able to share our great news!! But until then, hang on. We've struggled so long with this and emotionally. Please pray everything goes well for us today. PS...I love it Brian!!! :o)

I took the girls for a walk yesterday afternoon to the swings and slides in our neighborhood ball park. It's right behind our neighborhood. As I was swinging in one swing, Graisi in another and Alli Claire cackling in the next, I couldn't help enjoying that very moment and know that it just doesn't get better than that. Who'da thought swinging with my girls could be so great? If you haven't been in a swing recently, I'd encourage you to do it. Swing really high, lay backwards and look up at the sky. You feel just as free and happy as you did as a kid. Thank you girls for making your Mommy realize there is still a kid in there even after all these years. These are the memories I want the girls to remember about me. I want them to know that the world is not that serious that you can't take a moment to enjoy the little things with the ones you love.

WONDERFUL NEWS!!!

But I can't tell you what it is right now. More information to follow in the next day or so. But it's great I tell you. It's something Martin and I have been praying for for the past several years. And NO, I'm not pregnant again :o) Not that it would be bad or anything, but that's not what it is. I can't wait to tell you, I'm just jumping out of myself with excitement. God is soooo good and faithful. This is His perfect timing and only He could have provided this way for us. May all of our excitement be for Him!!

Please pray our house will sell soon. Pray our house will be bought by a family who will enjoy our house and make new memories there.

Rains/Pours Syndrome

Why is it when things go wrong, they happen in clusters?? Now the car won't start.... Martin called me yesterday afternoon after I'd gone to Wal-Mart and about to turn into the drive way needing me to come pick him up from work because the car wouldn't start. I'm really tired of the rain and would like for it to stop, metaphorically speaking that is. Because goodness knows we need the wet stuff badly right now in the deep, hot South. It's HOT ya'll!

Anyway, enough of the depressing stuff, here's a conversation I had with Graisi last week after she played me a song on her guitar. I'll have to get her words and give those to you at a later date.

Shelli: I wish I knew how to play the guitar.
Graisi: Why don't you get Papaw to teach you?
Shelli: Why don't YOU get Papaw to teach YOU?
Graisi: I don't need Papaw to teach me, I teach myself. I really do. I teach myself.

I wish you could have seen the sincerity in her facial expressions.... and heard the previous song being played and you'd understand....

Alli Claire is standing up by herself now and will be walking before we can turn around good. Her favorite things to do are blow raspberries and laugh. She is such a funny little bird.

Weekend News

Saturday, Martin helped some friends move into their new house and I took the girls to the McWane Science Museum to give us something to do. On the way home, we stopped by to see Daddy and Nancy and let Graisi have a little time with them. We couldn't stay long, because I had to get home to clean. While we were at McWane, I got a call that a couple wanted to come look at our house Sunday. So, we left early so we could get home.

Every time we clean like that we make a pact that it's not going to get messed up again and that we are going to keep it that way. Why does that never work???

We went to church and then home to clean some more before our potential buyers arrived. They had a little girl about Graisi's age, another about 3 and a 10 month old baby boy. The girls were in Graisi's room playing while they looked and ended up staying for about 30 mins while the kids played! Please pray our house sells soon. I need to be settled.

We had dinner with Ed, Sallie, Kevin and Tonya last night and had a great time laughing as usual. We had an exploding Grape Fanta where Tonya looked like she'd just entered a wet t-shirt contest, something or another come out of Kevin's nose and an eclair come out of Sallie's. This seems to be the trend of our friendship!! Mallory joined us halfway through dinner and stayed and played with Graisi, Hunter and Brantley. Hunter hit Graisi and Graisi hit Hunter back. And in Hunter's words, "She hit me in my heart". We're having a little problem with Graisi not taking up for herself, so we've told her if someone hits her to hit back. But she hasn't learned how hard is too hard yet.... We're going to work on that.

On another note, here is a picture from when Graisi spent the week with her Aunt Janet. This is Graisi, Maggie and Caroline. Aren't they cute!!???

PS...I copied and pasted the above underlined text after I posted the picture. I have no idea how to remove the underline.... :o) There isn't an underline button anywhere on this menu bar! Just so ya know.

TK concert was AWESOME!!

The concert started at 7:30 with a small opening group. To tell you the truth, I don't remember their name even though Martin told me several times (Flynnville Train). Miranda Lambert sang for about an hour and was very energetic and entertaining. I don't know a lot of her music but she was nice to sit and listen to. Our seats were in the third tier about middle way up, directly in the middle. To be free tickets, there were great seats!! Toby took the stage at 9pm and rocked until 10:45!! This concert was head and shoulders above his last concert here. I think he was really tired of touring by the time he got to us in 2005. Birmingham was his first stop this go around so there was a lot of energy put into last nights performance. He played a good bit of his old #1 hits, some from a few years ago and some new stuff. It was a good mix of everything. He finished the night with a guitar version of the Star Spangled Banner, The Angry American and An American Soldier. Have I said it was awesome yet?? Let me say it again....it was AWESOME!!

Graisi had a blast at Mallory's birthday party at Sweet and Sassy last night. She spent the night and Kerri got her up and out the door at 6:30am. I wish you could have seen her hair! Sweet and Sassy is a hair salon geared directly to children. (It's a lot like Libby Lu except better but more expensive.) They had taken her hair on top and twisted it into little bitty twists and lots of bobby pins. Her hair looked like mine when I got it pulled down this morning. There wasn't anything I could do with it except pull it up in a ponytail. And even then it looked like a pom pom ball in the back. I've never seen Graisi's hair look like that. It was kinda cute once I got it pulled back. But it was a bugger to get brushed out...

We picked Alli Claire up from Linda's (our neighbor) last night at 11:15pm. She met me at the door and wanted to know why I had to come back. She said she wanted to keep her and that she would take really good care of her.... I politely declined her request, took my baby and ran out the door. No, just kidding. But I really think Linda would keep her if we'd let her. She said Alli Claire was a perfect angel but commented that she liked to rub and scratch your skin. And that she does. It can become quiet annoying ...quickly. I told her to put AC to sleep around 7:30 or 7:45 but she slept until 7:20 this morning, so I have no idea what time she actually went to sleep.

Alli Claire has added one more word to her vocabulary and she's only 10 months old! She will now tell you "Bye Bye". She did it for me yesterday afternoon while we were sitting in the living room waiting on Martin to get home. She was waiving while she said it to, so it wasn't some random sound. This morning while I was leaving her classroom she was sitting at the table eating and she looked up and said, "Bye Bye" and waved at me again. I can't believe how much she's learned and how fast!

Alli Claire is doing much better!!

We had a good day yesterday. No episodes with Alli Claire and she slept well last night. Thank you for your prayers!

On to new business... Martin and I are taking in a Toby Keith concert tonight with a few of our friends. He's not the best entertainer in the world, but I like his music, especially the older stuff. And it's a night out :o)

Graisi is having fun at summer camp. This week is food themed. Today they're going to a Mexican restaurant. Yesterday they had Chinese. Tomorrow is a field trip to the Blue Bell ice-cream factory. YUM YUM!!

An Eventful Monday..

So, remember the weekend we had?? I happened again with Alli Claire Monday afternoon. Her teacher called me wanted to know exactly what she was doing when we took her to the ER. When I described it to her, she said she was doing it again. I called the Dr.'s office, got an appt and raced home to get the video camera in case she wasn't doing it when we got to the office. I picked Graisi up from camp on the way to pick up AC. When I got to preschool she had not stopped doing it and had been grunting in discomfort for about 3 hours at that point!! I thought it would let up like it did Saturday. Graisi sat in the front seat while holding Alli Claire (she was so bad I didn't want to put her in the carseat for fear she would quit breathing)...it was that bad!

When we got the office, there wasn't a receptionist so I ran back to the nurses desk hysterical at that point. Her oxygen level and breathing were ok but they got us in right way. The doctor still doesn't know what happened and why it took a 36 hour hiatus. He thinks it's a viral chest cold, but the symptoms really don't point to viral or bacterial... He's perplexed as are we. He ordered me home yesterday for observation in which we watched two episodes of Matlock and lots of HGTV and TLC, but no more attacks. Go figure!

Did I mention how well Graisi did during the chaos of Monday?? She sat right in the front seat holding her baby sister who was obviously sick, locked the car behind me, sat in the office very quietly while we tried to figure out what was happening and didn't bother anyone!! She was an angel! The doctor also commented on how well she was acting. She is my big girl!!!

Everything is ok right now, but who knows when and if it will happen again.... Keep us in your prayers!!

An Eventful Weekend

Let's just say it started off very well and ended very well, but the middle was a little eventful.

Martin took Graisi skating and I took Alli Claire shopping. While I was getting her ready and brushing her teeth I discovered she had already cut two new teeth and another one will cut in the next couple of days.

When AC and I got home she was asleep in her carseat. As we all know, you don't wake a sleeping baby so I let her finish out her nap in her carseat. When she woke up I nursed her and she started grunting and developed a fever. She naturally grunts when she doesn't want to do something or doesn't want you to do something, but this was different. She would grunt and cry or whimper. She was lethargic and glassy eyed. She couldn't get a good deep breath. I called the nurse and she said and I quote, "I don't want to alarm you, but when we hang up you need to call 911." Don't want to alarm you..... She obviously didn't know who she was talking to! So I called 911 and the paramedics and ambulance came but by then her breathing had calmed down and she was breathing somewhat normally. Her oxygen level was 98 and her lungs sounded "a little tight" but nothing to worry about. Immediately after they left she started again. I called the nurse back and she instructed me to call 911 again and have them transport her to Children's Hospital via ambulance. The paramedic heard her wheezing for about 4 breaths and then it was gone. I was strapped onto the bed and holding Alli Claire on my chest and she took a nap during the ride. By the time we arrived at the hospital she was our happy, friendly baby. She waved at the doctors and nurses. She was smiling and babbling at them. They had no idea what caused her distress but they guessed it was either an asthma attack or reflux.... her chest x-ray was fine. She had another little attack before she went to sleep and Martin got it on video just in case it happens again and we don't have the camera. It was eventful.

Needless to say, I didn't have the opportunity to make Martin's Father's Day card like I'd hoped. But Graisi had made him one and gave him her penguin rock she made in Summer Quest and Alli Claire had made him a footprint at pre-school. We went to church and came home. Martin laid out all of the ingredients for a chicken casserole and gave me detailed instructions on how to make it, so I technically made him a Father's Day lunch :o) I was not gifted in the cooking arena. We all got to take naps except for Graisi who was very quiet for the rest of us. She was totally involved in TV watching since she normally doesn't get to watch it. We all had a really good afternoon.

Happy Friday!!

Graisi and Mallory finish Summer Quest today. They have had a blast this week learning about Jesus and all of their other extracurricular activities. Mallory finally gets to bring her blue jean purse home and Graisi gets to bring her rock pets and sculpture home. I can't wait to see all of their treasures. Their questions have also been amusing too!!

Alli Claire's rash has started clearing up nicely. You just about can't tell it was there. Who'da thunk she would have gotten something like that from her teacher? Oh well...these things happen. Luckily it wasn't a bad case.

Martin is taking Graisi skating in the morning because she hasn't been in 3 weeks and could really use the practice. I'm still not sure what Alli Claire and myself are going to do. But I'm sure it won't be very strenuous!! I look forward to the weekends when I can get some down time with Martin and the girls. I especially enjoy sleeping late and snuggling with Martin before Graisi comes and wiggles herself in between us and AC wakes up and wants to eat and join in too. Mornings just don't get better than that!!! Happy Friday everyone!! See you Monday....

Pictures and Summer Quest Service

Last night we had a wonderful worship service with the children from Summer Quest. I always love these services because of their enthusiasm. They get so excited doing all of the motions to the songs and get to show out for the parents too. It was a good night had by everyone. Thank you Reagan for burping REALLY loud and making everyone laugh in the middle of the service!! It was priceless! For a three year old the girl can burp.

Here are some pictures that I had developed last week. Some are from Memorial Day weekend, Graisi's Field Day at school, the church picnic and Mother's Day. Hope you enjoy!

Graisi and Michaela swimming and Uncle Damon trying to get back into the boat

Uncle Damon, Eli and Kaitlyn

Aunt Leiann, Kaitlyn, Kathryn and Sean watching the others get ready to go tubing

Alli Claire looked like a big pink marshmallo in her life jacket. She wasn't feeling good here.

Michaela, Graisi and Shelby tubing

Alli Claire at the church picnic trying to get into her "O's"

It's so confusing!!

Graisi at field day sharing a cold treat with a friend

Snow cones are #1

Mommy and her girls on Mother's Day!

Graisi on some springy thing at Helena's city fest

And the saga continues...

Alli Claire's mysterious rash is the result of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. It's viral and there's nothing you can do about it. She didn't show ANY of the classic symptoms until yesterday afternoon (she broke out Thursday or Friday of last week). She has had no fever, has kept her appetite and has had no blisters. The pediatrician said if I had brought her in Monday, he would have been fooled. Only yesterday did one or two little pink dots show up on her hands and feet. He was really surprised that she was still eating considering she had ulcers in the back of her throat. I'm not sure what that says about her... either she really likes to eat regardless of the pain or she has a really high pain tolerance. But anyway, she's not contagious anymore since she's broken out. We think her new teacher, Toni, brought it to her classroom last week. There was a outbreak in Toni's previous class... Oh well, we're on the downhill now.

I'll post pictures tomorrow. I had problems with it today. Happy Hump Day!

Adam and Eve

I picked the girls up yesterday afternoon and they both talked about their day until Graisi fell asleep. Graisi said her "Rock" class wasn't much fun because all they did was paint a platform, but it should be fun the rest of the week. Mallory was excited because she got to make a purse out of blue jeans. They both enjoyed cheerleading and dance and Mallory learned a few words of sign language. I am so glad we have a church that places a huge emphasis on children. After all, they are our future :o) I also had to field a few questions from the girls on the way home about Adam and Eve. Graisi wanted to know how Adam and Eve populated the Earth when all they had were boys..... I had to dig really deep into my Genesis trivia to remember the answer to that one. You know it's really hard when they throw random questions at you.

Alli Claire has some odd rash on bottom, legs, a little on her tummy and a spot or two on her arm. I can't tell if it's a heat rash or if it's something else. I'm going to take her in to the doctor this afternoon to see what it is. I'll let you all know tomorrow.

A Full Weekend of Fun

Graisi got home Friday night after Alli Claire went to bed. We were all happy to see her, but no one was happier than Lucy, Graisi's cat. She had been sleeping upstairs on Graisi's bed waiting for her to come home all week. She was just a little pitiful as far as cats go and went into psycho mode when Graisi got home. I was afraid she was going to wake Alli Claire, but she didn't. It didn't take Graisi long to get into trouble, though. She was excited to be home too, but continued to STOMP up and down the stairs making the house rattle. Between Graisi and the cat, I don't know how Alli Claire stayed asleep....

Saturday, Ashley (Graisi's friend from preschool) came to visit for the afternoon. They had a really good time together and finished off the day by watching "Bindi, The Jungle Girl"... WOW!What an intriguing program!! (That's sarcasm ya'll.... can you hear it?) There was footage of Steve Erwin on there wrestling something or another. I overheard Graisi telling Mallory and Ashley that they'd made a robot and put a plastic covering over it because the real Steve Erwin was dead. That's the only way she could figure he was in the video. Pretty creative, huh??

Mallory spent the night and ended up sleeping on the couch because Graisi wouldn't quit telling her to move over and to keep the baby dolls toes out of her back. All was well in Friendship Land by Sunday morning.

We got home from church and I cut Graisi's hair on the patio. It's pretty short now. I kept asking her to check it and she kept coming back telling me to cut more off. It's sitting right above her shoulders now. She said it's much cooler and not as heavy. As long as she likes it... that's all that matter, right??

Then Graisi went with Kerri, Jeremy and Mallory to the lake for an afternoon of boating and swimming. She came home long enough for a shower and then back to Mallory's to spend the night with her. Do you see a trend here?? Kerri took them to Summer Quest this morning for a week of VBS. (We just don't call it that). I can't wait to hear about their day when I pick them up this afternoon.

Alli Claire woke up about 20 times last night. Ok..that number is a little exaggerated, but not by much! She screamed at midnight for 15 minutes straight. We let her scream because she didn't have Graisi upstairs to wake up. She did finally got herself back to sleep.... and then whimpered every so often for the rest of the night. I can't figure out why she's not sleeping well. We have the same routine every night and this doesn't happen all the time, just sometimes. I'm hoping she will grow out of it shortly. I'm praying really hard!!

Way to go Navy Blue Team!!

Martin is meeting Janet in Anniston (did I get it right this time, Honey??) this afternoon to exchange Graisi. Heaven only knows what she's going to drag home!! We already know about a new pair of shoes, purse and a t-shirt. It should be interesting....

I painted Alli Claire's toes for the first time yesterday afternoon when we got home. She was asleep in her carseat and still. It was prime opportunity. They're now pink little piggies. I'll post photos as soon as I get them back. I know I'm killin' some of you with the film, but I'm just not ready to delve into the digital world yet and I can't afford the camera that I want. So we'll have to wait on Wally World to develop my two day pictures that actually take a week to get back.

Congratulations to the Navy Blue team. This is Martin's retirement year in softball and they won the tournament two years in a row!! Way to go guys, I'm proud of you!!! (with minimal injuries too :o)

Missing Graisi

This has been a really boring week without Graisi.... Not much to report on.

Tuesday afternoon I took AC and had her 9mo pictures taken at JC Penneys. Now, remember she's 10 months old now.... I'm doing all I can at this point. Anyway, she did really well. She smiled in all of her pictures which made it very difficult to pick which ones I wanted. I also had pictures taken of her hands and feet. Don't ask why, but I've always loved baby hands and feet so I had them taken. Then we went to dinner and spent a gift card to Outback where I mistakenly poured ice-cold water on Alli Claire's leg which woke her up in a abrupt fit of screaming. I felt horrible. I was holding her on my chest and when I went to get a drink of my water it tipped towards me and spilled onto her leg and streamed downwards. Then she smacked my hand and told me "Na Na" when I tried to put my hand on her highchair.... I guess she can hold a grudge.

Yesterday afternoon I went home and cleaned the house in preparation for Graisi's friend from preschool coming to visit Saturday. Graisi always asks who's coming to visit when she sees me cleaning. Is that sad or what??!! Hey, I do what I can when I can do it....

This afternoon it's just me and AC. Martin has a double header tonight and won't be home until late. Me and the little Chick will just hang out until bedtime. I might get a toilet cleaned or the melted crayons off the patio. That's another story for another day....... it will be told in the near future.

Everyone, have a wonderful Thursday afternoon!!

Alli Claire's first words

Alli Claire has uttered her first words which were "Na Na" (otherwise known as "No No") while she shook her head from side to side. After I got home yesterday afternoon I was busy in the living room and noticed AC making her way up the stairs. When I started climbing them she started crying, shaking her head and hollering, "NA NA NA NA" over and over again. She would look at me and then begin to shake her head and holler again. It was by far the funniest thing I've seen in a long time!! When I got her back downstairs and calmed down by giving her my watch (she LOVES shiny stuffy if you don't know that already) I asked her if she would give me my watch back... in which she responded in true AC fashion... Na Na and shook her head from side to side with a big grin on her face as if she knew she were incredibly cute. I could just eat her up sometimes!!

Why?

Why is it you never remember you're out of conditioner until your in the shower with your hair wet??? I've been meaning to go to Wallie World for the past week, but just haven't gotten there. Martin went by yesterday to get Graisi some as he left her with Janet in Anniston (that's our half-way point to exchange children :o) But I failed to mention that I needed some too. So this morning as I stand in the shower ...wet... Martin runs around the house looking in all of the travel bags to try and locate any amount possible. No such luck.... but he did get Graisi's empty bottle and put COLD water in it to try and excavate any elusive conditioner left in there by Graisi. Did I mention it was COLD and I was in a HOT shower?? Hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?! Thank you so much Honey for finding me some conditioner this morning! You're the best!!

I'm trying to forget last week ever happened. It was horrible!! That stomach bug Alli Claire shared with all of us was nothing to play with. It sent two of us to medical professionals. Martin is still healthy and able to take care of us. Thank you Lord!! We really needed him!!

Saturday was the City Fest in our local hometown. We all had a really great time. We looked around a lot and I had the girls silhouettes done in black paper. Mom had our silhouettes done at Ruby Falls when we were little and I've always loved it. So I thought I'd have the girl's done too. We met up with Mallory and Kerri around 2pm and the girls played and played and played in the inflatable area. Then about 6pm the music started and Kerri and I got distracted when we went and watched the girls slide down a big hill on cardboard boxes. We got a kick out of it when we had to teach them how to do it and not hang their feet off of the edge. It brought back lots of memories for both of us. Guess no matter where you grow up there's always a hill and a box somewhere :o) Then some big kid came and took Mallory's box away from here and Kerri marched up the hill and removed it from the other little girl he'd given it to. I got tickled because she looked like a mama hen protecting her little baby chick! A few more times down the hill and the fun came to an abrupt halt when Graisi came down the hill screaming there were ants on her. I guess as she was plowing down the hill, she went through an ant bed.... We went home as the Gin Blossoms played. We really wanted to stay and watch Diamond Rio, but I don't think the kids could take much more. Mallory spent the night and went to church yesterday morning and then back home for an arguing match between the two of them. I swear they could have been sisters!!!!

Graisi is at Janet's this week for lots of fun and activities. Janet wins the "Best Aunt" award. Last year she had lots of arts and crafts for them to do and even gave them $10 and took them to the Dollar Store for them to buy whatever they wanted!! How great was that!!?? I can't imagine how she's going to top last year, but I'm sure she'll find a way :o) So it's just Alli Claire, Martin and I for the week...AAHHHH. We'll miss Graisi, but she needs the break as much as we do. We'll see her Friday.