Vine St.

I saw a ghost yesterday.

I saw her in a restaurant eating a sundae with her friends. I followed her to her normal haunts, I watched her laugh as she walked across the street. I listened to her weep over silly crushes and I saw her sitting on a window ledge, her feet dangling over the edge, reading a book. I wanted to scold her as she made rash decisions and carelessly disregard sunscreen. I followed her as she cut class and went to the beach and I watched her wait tables. I listened to her arrogance and naivety and spied on her as she snuck into Disney hotels to swim in their pools.

Yesterday, I met a girlfriend of mine at Celebration (weird Disney-owned town that's a wee bit like the Truman Show) so that the kids could play in the public sprinkler system they have. I did this in March when I was here, but took the toll road. This time I took the main highway that runs through St. Cloud and Kissimmee and was catapulted back 14 years. After I graduated from high school, I attended a small, Christian College that used to be located in Kissimmee. As I was pulled into my memories, I turned on Over the Rhine's "Eve" and just dove in. I had not traveled on that road for at least 10 years and it was surreal. I passed the old restaurant I used to wait tables at (now a Chinese restaurant) and the Friendly's (now with broken windows and weedy sidewalks) I used to go to to get sundaes with masses of friends. I passed Old Towne where groups of us used to go and walk around. I kept seeing my face and remembered thinking the thoughts of yore. I passed the Perkins I used to get coffee at and where I was (unsuccessfully) taught how to play chess. I remembered rebellious thoughts and Dottie Datsun and going to the beach. I remembered struggling over my waking adulthood and having a bank account closed by the bank because of ill use. I remembered slurpies and sunburns and road trips. I remembered meeting Missy and I frantically tried to call her to have her join me in my nostalgia. It almost felt like an out-of-body experience. I didn't really wake up until I pulled into Chik Fil-A to get lunch.

It's interesting thinking about the metamorphosis we go through as we age. I want to laugh at myself back then, drama queen that I was (yeah, yeah I know I'm still a drama queen). How many girls will I be before I die?

Safe travels

It's been a busy couple of days! We flew into Orlando (with no adverse effects-thanks for praying!) at about 1:30 on Thursday and have been going and visiting non-stop ever since. It's been great to see family and cuddle new babies and laugh with everybody again. Yesterday my sister and I took the kids (all seven) to Cocoa Beach and last night went to the Silver Spurs Rodeo in Kissimmee, FL. Yep, the rodeo. It was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. There are some crazy people who like to do weird stuff- hence, ride bucking bulls and try to stay afloat on them for eight seconds. I say afloat because they really seem to be in the air above the bulls. And then the crazy guy gets bucked off the bull and scrambles up to avoid being kicked in the head by the angry bull. Reiterate: kicked in the HEAD by the ANGRY bull. GET UP, absurd, crazy man.

I slept until 8:00 this morning- which is entirely against my nature and will get ready in just a minute to hopefully find a red light saber in the city of Orlando somewhere. I promised my nephew, Cole, that he could have the said item for his birthday and now I cannot find it. Red is the key here. I did see a purple one (the only one I saw) at the local Walmart, but he wants red. MUST FIND RED (monotone-robotic voice).

Anyway, just wanted to give a quick update. More to come later.

Va-ca-tion-ish

Well, I'm very (very) sorry to say that the bathroom wallpaper upstairs has not been peeled before I go to Florida. I really (really) wanted to get that done before I left. And I didn't. Yes, Crissy, I'm a loser. And lazy. Please forgive me. And then come help me peel it. There (brushing my hands off from guilt) now that that is done...

I've been packing all day. Why, oh why, does it take eight hours for me to pack for a trip? My mom reminds me everytime that we visit that they DO have a washing machine, just in case I want to do laundry (which I do every day). I overpack (understatement). I do not know how to underpack. Or to pack just right. The whole time I packed my bag, I kept thinking to myself, "just pack three or four outfits". Nope. What if I don't feel like wearing what I packed? What if I wished I had packed the blouse I decided against. It's happened before, despite the fact that I overpack. And it's not that I go to all of these important places. We basically sit around and do nothing a lot. Or hang out. Or swim. Or go to the park. Oops, I just thought of something else I "need" to pack... And, I'm back.

I'm excited about taking the boys on a plane. Corin and Silas have both been on a plane, but they were both babies and do not remember. They are just crazy excited. I'm also a wee bit nervous because of ears hurting and tummies being upset. I threw up on the plane at least once when I was a kid. I think my mom said I threw up a on a flight attendant once. Cringe. So what can I do, except for have them chew gum and drink Coke. Benadryll is out for Corin (who has a HORRIBLE reaction to it-it makes him crazy). I might pack a little for Si and Beex. It's only an hour and a half flight, so maybe it'll be grand. I remember the last time I flew, Silas was a tiny baby and Corin was two and it was dreadful. I think I cried when I saw my Dad and said, "I'm never doing THAT again." And now I'm doing it. With an extra kid. Maybe I'll have a good story. Anything will be better than this drive to Florida. Well, hopefully.

Now I must go finish obsessing over the suitcase before Quinn goes to bed. I hope to be able to blog while I'm visiting the fam.

If you think about it, PLEASE pray that my kids don't puke on the plane. I will.

Quinn, Melinda, Folks, and Andrea

Quinn started his new job yesterday. Today and tomorrow he is required to be there at 2am for training and, to top it off, his first class started yesterday. He says he's doing okay; tonight he'll probably crash early. I told him that I wished he could've started next week, but he said he's glad to get this first part over with.

I had Melinda over for coffee this morning. You may remember the name from this post about our first trip to the school in January. She and her husband had invited us over for dinner on that trip and I really liked her. They made us feel very welcome. Anyhoo, she and I, I think, will be good friends. We chatted about Anne of Green Gables, (in which she felt the same annoyance I did over the last Megan Follows movie. Did she even read the books? Megan Follows, that is), C-section births, Over the Rhine, seminary, and other such things. It was lovely and I plan on seeing her a lot.

Around lunchtime, I packed up some lunch and headed to RTS to meet Quinn. We had lunch with a lot of other families and it was nice to meet some more people. I'm really looking forward to going to the Mrs. in Ministry meetings they have here. When I get back from Florida, I will be all about it.

Andrea asked me today if I went camping. I smiled at her. It's funny to think that I originally thought we were so much alike. Basically we both like to run and bake. And there's where the similiarity ends. I told her I WOULD camp, if there were bathrooms and electricity close by, and preferably in a camper. With air conditioning. She has a great laugh.

Well, that's my life up until 1:00 today. Maybe I'll update you on the rest of my day tonight. Pins and needles.

Link List Update

After much procrastination, ta-dah!, I updated my link list...

If you do not see yours on there, then it means I don't like you. Oh, I mean I overlooked it. Let me know. When I say I overlooked it, it means that I actually did everybody I know and then forgot to save it a whole bunch of times. ANNOYING. So don't get angry, just get even. Leave me a nasty message or just tell me what you think of me. OR, you could just leave me a nice comment (cussing me under your breath) and let me know that I forgot you.

I've heard that Donna Brumlow has a blog and I can't find it. Help me out.

A New Project (obsess much?)

The time is currently 7:52 on my microwave and the house is quiet, except for the whir of the washing machine (always). Why is my house quiet, you may ask? Because everyone, except for me, is asleep. Quinn went down at about 7:00 (with just a wee bit of help from the old Benadryll) and the boys went down about 7:30. So now I'm awake. By myself. Oh, what, WHAT shall I do? I will not peel wallpaper. I do not want the cursing to wake up the children. I will not mop, even though the floor is a bit sticky from popsicles (I gave in). Nope. It's Blog-o-rama time.

Today, because I do not have enough to obsess about, I started a food journal on Nutrimirror. I was mildly curious about my calorie intake per day so I instantly became overwhelmed with curiosity and decided I would start a food journal blog. I googled "food journal" to get some ideas and saw this free site where you can enter what you have eaten and it tallies up your calories and so on. So, no new blog (how boring is a food journal anyway). Quinn is skeptical of it (I tend to go WAY overboard with something like that) and is kind of watching me with his eyebrows raised. What he doesn't know (don't tell him- Babe shut your eyes) is that I ALREADY obsess about food. Typing it on a website is, uh, a good way for, um, me to, hmmm..., educate (YES!) myself on making better choices (oh yeah, that sounds great) in my food intake. Who's against education? NOT ME.

So, here are a couple of reasons why I wanted to do a food journal:

A long time ago I decided to not drink Coke and Dr. Pepper anymore because of their high calories and zero nutritional value. I will have one very occasionally, but it has to be regarded as "dessert" in my brain. The same goes with Mochaccinos from Starbucks, sweet tea, and really pretty much any drink that has calories. I usually drink water instead. Sounds great, right? Yeah. Great. On the flip side, because I do not KNOW the caloric value of a huge piece of chocolate cake, then I don't worry about it. And eat a lot of it. The same was true with homemade cheesecake until I found out it has 1200 (!!!!!!!!) calories per slice. Talk about ruining it for me. I will not eat a huge bowl of ice cream (because it's not good to do that), but instead will eat a big scoop of ice cream in a coffee cup (packed down) with hot fudge, marshmallow, and caramel toppings drizzled all over it (Oooh, that sounds delish right now) because that is supposed to be better (again, in my head it is better). I eat a lovely bowl of GoLean Crunch in the morning because it has lots of protein and fiber to keep me full longer, but will eat handfuls of dry cereal because it's just THERE. I'll make a nice salad with carrots, baby spinach leaves, chicken, and tomatoes for lunch and then eat the rest of what the children don't finish because it's not FINISHED.

All these to say, I was MILDLY curious what my caloric intake was and I will watch it over the next few weeks to see if, just by paying attention to what I'm doing, I will make better choices in what I eat. And, I'm looking for a new way to drive my husband crazy. Bingo.

Popsicles and an Airplane

Yesterday I cleaned the whole house. It looks clean and it smells clean. Let's see how long it lasts. While I was cleaning the kitchen yesterday, Felix came to me asking for a popsicle. I had bought popsicles while the Sharps were at our house and the boys had eaten them all this week. Felix loves popsicles. He asks for them all day, without ceasing. "Momma, I have popseekle?" "Momma, I eat popseekle now?" "Momma, I eat popseekle for 'nack?" We ran out of popsicles two days ago. I have not yet purchased more popsicles. However, this does not stop a relentless two year old from asking every ten minutes as long as he's awake. My answer is the same, "Felix, we are out of popsicles. Would you like something else?" To which he always says yes. Then we hunt him something out of the pantry and he eats it, only to come to me later and ask me for more popseekles. No, no it IS cute. His little voice is slightly lispy and he's learning how to put sentences together. However, it is highly annoying to be asked the same question over and over again, especially as persistent as he is. I do not remember my older two doing this, and yet I'm sure they had some similiar knack they used to do to grate on my nerves.

Well yesterday, in a momentary lapse of reason (hmmm, Pink Floyd album), I told the boys that we would be flying to Florida on Thursday for a visit to Grandma and Papaw (my parents). I had told the older ones this before, but had not mentioned it to Beex on purpose, because of his habit of asking me a kajillion times about whatever. And THEN, I said to Felix, "We'll have to tell Grandma how much you like popsicles so she'll have some for you." And, FREEZE. I regretted saying those two sentences almost as soon as they exited my mouth. For the rest of the day, and already three times this morning, Felix would come and say, "Gwanma said to get my popseekles momma?" "Momma, we fwy auhplane to Gwanma's and get popseekles?" "Momma, we go latuh to Gwanma's house and get popseekles?" "No momma, you say Gwanma get me some popseekles." Later, under his own deduction of reasoning, figured out that Connor (my sister's youngest) lives in Florida so he would then throw "Conna" into the mix. "Momma, we fwy auhplane to Gwanma's and see Conna and get popseekles a'day (today)?" I tried to teach him to say in 5 days, but that really only confused him. Even during our movie night last night, he leaned over to me and whispered, "Momma, I see Conna and get popseekles a'day."

And now, as I'm posting, he has come to me, kissing my arm and saying, "Momma, you tell Gwanma to get me popseekles? I go see Conna and we have popseekles a'day? Momma, you say Gwanma get me popseekles? Momma, I hungry for bekfast."

Mother, please, PLEASE, buy some popsicles for my poor, deprived two year old.

A Guilt-Driven To-Do List and a Wee Bit of Random

Peel more wallpaper.. yes, yes maybe tomorrow.

Write some thank-you notes... I am HORRIBLE about thank-you notes. No really, ask my mother-in-law. Cringe.

Clean the bathrooms. Let me remind you, I am the only woman in a house with four males.

Go to the Post office to get stamps for said unwritten thank-you notes and to mail Chris Sharp's MP3 player back to him.

Mail a recommendation someone asked for me to complete.

Clean kitchen and vacuum. These things will get done tonight. They involve no thought and are instantly gratifying.

Some random thoughts:

I read somewhere that people who have blogs are narcissistic. Well, Matt D has called me narcissistic, I guess. He has a blog, too. This information has made me think about why I blog (since I constantly must defend myself). Maybe it's because I require constant affirmation and validity. Maybe because I find it therapuetic to see my thoughts. Maybe I just like it. Hmmm. Why do YOU blog? Are you narcissisitic (like me)?

I went to my Bible Study today with the ladies and enjoyed it. I took a Pecan Pie, ham sandwiches, tomatoes, juice boxes, and 2 pounds of strawberries. The girl who hosted the study looked at my food and said, "Why did you bring so much food? Did you bring lunch for everybody?" Um. Because? "I thought we were supposed to bring stuff for lunch." She smiled and said, "oh, well it looks good!" I think they usually bring food for their kids and a little something for a snack for the ladies. Ah. Now I know. I did feel a little silly. There was a lovely girl from England there and she said, "Oh, what a feast!" I felt like I looked a little desperate for people to love me. "Please love me; look I have PIE. And sandwiches. And strawberries. And juiceboxes." Sigh.

Today, Andrea, my new friend (how long do I have to call her my new friend?), asked me if I played soccer. I replied, "Well, my boys play soccer. They were on a league in Birmingham." I loathe soccer season but know it's good for them.
She shook her head and said, "No, do you play as a family?"
I do not know why she is asking me these absurd questions. "Um, well I WATCH them play." And gripe about the too cold or too hot weather. "But, no, I do not play." I do NOT play sports that have a ball flying around in the air. I am one of those people who get hit in the face. I like to run. And in highschool I did rowing. No flying balls aimed at my face. And then I looked at her. With incredulousness. "Do you?" On purpose?
She says, "Well, yeah! That was my sport in highschool and college. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that some families play behind the seminary on Friday nights at 6:00."
Oh. "Thanks. I'll tell Quinn." Quinn was interested, but had decided to mow the yard. Maybe next time. And I will sit on the bleachers, in mortal fear of being asked to join the game by another woman. Because then I will have to play. Until I get hit in the face. hmmmm...

Well, I am being entreated for a trip to the potty with Beex. Must be off now.

Will Work for Seminary Classes

Quinn got the job! His hours will be from 4 until 8AM. So it IS possible that he could have 6 to 8 hours of sleep, just not likely. I am trying to build up piano students to start when school starts in August. There is a need for piano teachers in the area we are living in and so I hope to have 20 (or so) students by late summer. Here's to wishin' and hopin' (and thinkin' and prayin')-go ahead sing it, I'm actually doing the choreography in my head.

Today we went and got tags for the vehicles which was SUPER fun. Remind me when I do that again that three little boys do NOT enjoy standing in line at a government office.

Along that same line, why do children see an aisle in the grocery store and think, "I must run as fast and as hard as I can. NOW!"? Not sure how many countless "conversations" I've had with my children about not doing this. Ugh. I have a headache. I think I'm just going to start being the crazy lady who people stare at in the grocery store who screams at her children relentlessly. I just need to get some pink sponge rollers and allow them to go with no shoes on. "BOY! How minny tiiimes do I haf to tell yew to stop yer running! Don't make me pull off da big belt. Ya know I'll do it, tew. Now, go get yer momma some uv dat der chocolate-brownie ice cream. Der ya go. Tank ye."

Today I also ventured to our neighborhood park, on foot, with the children. This was also not a good choice on my part. They were so exhausted and I was exhausted by screaming bike-riding instructions at them the whole time. Next time I'll drive. I did meet my other new friend, Melinda today at said park with her three little ones. The children played in the mud to their hearts' content while we chatted about seminary and stuff. It was good.

It is only 6pm now and I am ready for the kids to go to bed. I keep looking at the microwave clock waiting for the time to change to 7:30. Please.

Need to tidy up and think of something wonderful to make for the Bible study tomorrow...

Good night, dear blogger friends.

An Interview

Quinn has an interview at 3AM at UPS in the morning. 3AM? yeparooski. He's hopeful to get it.

Pray that he does.

Off to kiss the boys goodnight.

Poop, poop, poop

No, no plumbing problems. Just poopiness, in general. So far, being in Mississippi has felt a wee bit like vacation and now it's beginning to feel like, well, like we live here.

I know we actually do live here.

I miss the 'ham. I got an e-mail from our Moody Church today announcing a potluck lunch on Sunday for the Jennings, who are missionaries in England, who are also home for a brief visit. I can't go. Poopiness.

I've been taking a few days break from peeling wallpaper. Secretly, I'm waiting for Crissy Sharp to come back and light a fire under my butt. Peeling endless wallpaper is not fun for me. I have hung up pictures in my butter-colored kitchen. They look good. I know I've promised pictures, but I don't feel like doing anything right now. Poopiness, remember?

We went to the party the other night and had a good time. I forget that it takes time to become friends with people. I've been invited to a Bible study on Friday morning. I will attend.

It's raining today and I'm watching the pine tree in the back yard, waiting for it to fall on the house. Pessimistic? Nooooo...

We went fishing this morning with our new friends, Mike and Andrea. Andrea and I are a lot alike. We both run and love to bake. We will probably become better friends. Except that she likes to fish (and lots of other outdoor things, bleah) and I don't (way, way, way don't). We got rained out at the pond and she was helping the men load stuff in the vans, soaking wet, while I comfortably waited (warm and dry) in the van for the stuff to be loaded. I may have pointed and laughed at her. Maybe. And then felt bad because she doesn't know me that well and she just figured that I'm a lazy jerk. I'm not a lazy jerk. I just don't like to get wet. And I didn't fish, right? Okay, I'm a lazy jerk.

I'm making potato soup in the crockpot for dinner and it smells good. Potato soup and Elizabeth McGinnis's cornbread recipe sounds divine.

I'm re-reading (for the millionth time) the Anne of Green Gables series. I can never get enough of Anne. I wish I were friends with her. I also wish I were more like her. Yes, I know she is pretend.

Well, I guess I'm going to try and organize some stuff upstairs. I wish somebody would pop in and ask for a cup of coffee. I may make some anyway.

Maybe the poopiness will go away when the rain subsides.

Up and Running

I'm currently sitting on the floor of Quinn's office typing a new post. We have internet now. Uh, woo hoo. There are a couple of kinks still, but hopefully we'll get everything settled out in a day or two.

We are getting settled and the house will be a slow go. Go here to see what we've done so far. Crissy put up some great pics and a nice list of what we've taken care of. We DID get a lot accomplished with the Sharps here. It's nice to have slave labor. I do LOVE the house. It's big, BIG, and it has lot o' storage. I've jogged around the neighborhood and think, "um, we are not supposed to live in this neighborhood; it's too nice." I'll have to give the illusion I belong. The neighbors have been lovely and the streets are quiet. The inside of the house is really great. I love the big, open kitchen and dining area and Quinn has a small office upstairs that just suits him to a tee. The boys are adjusting well (so far, so good) and hopefully we'll be making some new friends soon. We've actually made a couple of friends; Andrea and Mike, who came by last week to welcome us to Mississippi. Andrea is the head of the "welcoming committee" at RTS's Mrs. in Ministry. We went to church with them yesterday at Redeemer Pres and tonight they invited us to a BBQ with some families from RTS. Woo hoo! I've made my Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake to woo them to be friends with me.

I hope to post pictures soon. We've painted the kitchen a lovely, butter yellow (not SUNSHINE yellow, Scott) and I love it.

Also,

Abbey and Virge- I do love peeling wallpaper that comes off easily, however the bathrooms have MULTI layers and the sheetrock is coming off, too. They will have to be spackled and sanded. I also (secretly, shamefully) love to peel sunburned backs. Quinn calls me a monkey.

Must go get ready for the BBQ (and friend-making).

More later (because I have internet now).

Toodles

Things I hate...

Not having internet access. Monday. 12 noon.

Peeling wallpaper.

Faux wood panelling.

Missing Alabama.

Saying goodbye.

PEELING WALLPAPER.

Waiting to meet new people.

Sitting still. It only makes me feel guilty with so much WALLPAPER TO PEEL.

White carpet.

White walls. I KNOW they're practical and neutral. Super boring.

All of the wet, soggy boxes in my backyard. Oh yeah, the neighbors are loving us.

How high gas is. Seriously folks in big government buildings, the conspiracy must end.

More to come soon...

We do not have internet access yet and occasionally we get some other wireless, but only for a brief time (today is the first time I've looked at my e-mail). Hopefully this week we will establish our own account. It hasn't been on the list of priorities. I will post pictures when I have them. Everything has been going well, though there have been minor problems (we are still waiting for hot water). The kitchen is newly painted and the house is mostly unpacked. I will update later.

Stay tuned for more!

The Inside

Well, indeed, we did close on the house on Friday and I have brought home pictures. I am excited to get in the house and make it our home. Here are the pics...

Some ideas for the house:

Ripping out the carpet downstairs (in living room and dining room) and putting in Pergo wood floors. BTW, if you have a Habitat for Humanity thrift store in your area, I would definitely check them out for new Pergo floors. I bought our floors yesterday and saved over $900 buying them from there ($50 dollars a box at Home Depot vs. $22 dollars at the Habitat for Humanity store).

Painting the fireplace.

Painting the chair rail and panelling a darker color for contrast and a more modern, finished look.

Painting the kitchen a sunny yellow.

Repainting all the bathrooms.

This is all we can do right now. The upstairs paint looks good (even if it is white, white, white) so that will stay as-is for now.

To answer some questions: we bought the house as-is (it's a foreclosure), there was no appraisal or inspection (it would not have changed the price of the house because it was as-is), and, yeah, we are crossing our fingers a bit as we move in. Quinn is very handy.

Are you kidding?

Well, we didn't close yesterday. And we've been waiting yesterday and ALL DAY TODAY. So now at 4:30 we are HOPEFULLY going to close in the next 30 minutes.

ANYHOO... the party that was planned for tonight has been changed to tomorrow night. Come if you can! Go here for more details....

Or e-mail me.

Out the door now...

Be Anxious For Nothing

Yeah, right. I wish I could! I've been waking up at 4 or 4:30 for at least a month now and just would love to sleep until 6am.

I'm thinking about the house, cleaning the house, decorating the house, moving away from the 'ham (that's Birmingham), and worrying about jobs and such. I'm breaking out like a teenager and my house is a wreck. Poor Corin is having a hard time with moving away from everything we've ever known. Last night, I went to his class at church to make sure he had made it there and he looked at me and said, "See ya in three years, Mom!", which, ironically, is the amount of time that Quinn has left in Seminary. Silas is totally fine with everything, which means that he hasn't thought about it long term yet. In about a month he'll look at me with tears in his eyes and tell me he misses his friends. Felix is.... hungry. "Momma, I want a snack." He'll probably be more sad to move back to Birmingham because Jackson will be the place he remembers.

Today, we are heading off to close on the house. We're taking a whole bunch of boxes (thank you, dear friends, who've helped me pack) and I hope to bleach the toilets and windex the counters and shelves in the closets. I WISH I could have the carpets cleaned today, but we do not have power or water at the house yet. We need to take care of that today. It's a packed day! Better get started.

Party, Party, Party

This is Scott. He likes to fish. Can you tell? He calls me Hollywood occasionally. I think he called me Brittney Spears once when I wore a white linen suit. Yeah, he's like an older (much, MUCH older) brother. He has a lovely wife. Her name is Melissa. I do not have a picture of Melissa. She is funny, sarcastic, and endures Scott for a husband. They have a good story. They are also throwing a Bon Voyage party for Quinny (as he occasionally refers to my husband) and me on Friday night from 6pm until whenever. He asked me to post the info on my blog for all of my non-Community-Presbyterian-Church-friends to see and to let them know they are invited. Hop on over to his blog to get more info. Just click on his name.

PS... There is no childcare... hence, I need to find a babysitter.

WE GOT IT!

This is a completely different house than we had looked at before and I hinted to it on Saturday morning's blog, but was hesitant to mention it. It is a foreclosure and we are taking it as is. It's very big (for us) on the inside and it's in a gorgeous neighborhood. A contract is being written as we speak and we are closing on Thursday sometime. There will be before and after pics coming soon. Thank you for praying; the Lord is gracious! And if you have been around me this past week, thanks for not shooting me. (I've been a little emotional- a little over the top, if you will). I'm very glad there is closure and we actually have a place to move to one week from today. YEA! I'm so EXCITED!

Hangin' out with O'Jay and Chelle

O'Jay is what my babies call Quinn's cousin Jason. I think Silas did it. Jason and Michelle had us over for dinner last night and it was fabulousness. They are our only blood family in Birmingham and I'm sad that we're leaving them. However, the consolation is that Grandma's house is in Mississippi and we congregate there for holidays. I feel bad for people who don't get to go to Grandma's in Mississippi.

Brittney (my oldest niece) cut my hair last night (you can kind of tell in the picture) and I love it! Shorter, but not as short as I was thinking earlier (I chickened out a bit)- I can still pull it up in a ponytail- but with lots of layers. Michelle dried my hair for me using a round hairbrush (the way her hairstylist does it) and I really want a round brush now. I am a bit of an idiot with a round brush, since it gets caught in my hair everytime I use one. But maybe next time...

It was good to sit with family. We laughed and joked and had general good times all around. I love that we've gotten close to them. I actually refer to them as brother-in-law and sister-in-law and my children have always known them as Uncle Jay (O'Jay) and Aunt Chelle. I love that they love my kids. Thanks for having us over, guys. We love you all...