christmas: mamaw style

not many pictures here for some reason.  too much paper throwing i guess!  the darker ones (of kate and grace) were taken about 8pm - and the "stars" in those pictures, well we decided that was christmas magic!  it was enough to convince the kids it was time to make it into bed-time mode.  that, and the fact they heard jingle bells outside.  i heard them too.  faith swore she saw something in the sky!  we left in a hurry...

all because two people fell in love

hopefully i'm not spoiling melissa's fun by sharing her OWN photos, but i had so much fun taking these (and i love them so much), i just can't wait to share them myself.  (she did say it was ok to share them. but, if you see these again - well, act surprised!)

these are all right in their back yard at one huge oak tree.  well, i guess it is an oak tree.  i didn't really notice any acorns or leaves... 

 

of coarse, ALL the fairels were here this thanksgiving!

this one is behind their house at "the rock" club house, as grace told me.  she also told me that there was a dead squirrel on it (which i never saw when i was de-constructing the clubhouse which consisted of about 15 logs straddling the two big rocks with a plastic sheet over them).

this one is my favorite (set) of them all.

they all got a great work out when we (i mean they) were trying to jump at the same time.  we had a bunch turn out good though!

thankful thursday

i am SO thankful that my sister is visiting home next week!
really,  it is all i can think about.  i can't wait to see her.
and, i can't wait for my kids to play with her kids.
i bet she needs a break.
and so do i.

31 years ago i was an only child

that's right!  melissa pointed it out to me this morning.  "31 years ago today you were an only child" was a text she sent me early this morning.  and she was right!  this picture was me when i was 2.  looks like kendal with long hair.

i can't say that i wish i was an only child.  i guess sometimes growing up it would have been nice to get all the new clothes rather than having to share that cost my my sister(S).  but, that really isn't a reason.  and, i suppose we both had our own room sometimes (we chose to bunk together sometimes... and kate and i always bunked togther).  so, if i was an only child i would have never had that option (to have a roommate). 

anyway, my point is that out of most all the folks i've ever known, my best friends have always been siblings (had siblings).  my best boyfriends always were siblings.  my worst ones were always only children.  as a matter of a fact, the ONLY person i can think of that is an only child that was ever REALLY REALLY nice (to the core) is rhonda.  maybe i'm overlooking someone.  but, in general, i'm glad - REALLY REALLY GLAD - i'm not an only child.  whew, i can't imagine what kind of monster that would have made me!  (i'm bossy enough as it is!)

only children are just typically too selfish.  let's just talk about jonathan for a minute.  most of you don't know who i'm talking about, but many of you do.  his world revolved around him - the rest of us just entered it for a moment, and only for his sake.   he will never have children, and if he does, i bet it'll only be one.  and that kid will be miserable just like him.

so anyway, i'm glad i have a sister (yes, katelyn, i said "a" because i just needed 1 to not be an only... of coarse, i'm glad you came along too...).  

really.  there is a reason i wanted to have 2 kids and have them close.  what if i had trouble getting pregnant?  what if we had to resort to "other options"!?!?!  i wanted to make sure there was time.  i did not want to have just one kid.

and another reason i'm glad i had HER as a sister - if she wasn't here and didn't have kids first, i may have never had any.  her kids made me want kids.  so maybe i should thank her and rob for that one!  :)

Dracaena fragrans - i know how it got its name!

i bet half the world has a corn plant in their house. they are great because they are very low maintenance... they don't need a lot of light, they don't need a lot of water, and if you forget about it for several months, it won't die. well, i have one - well actually a set of 3 (like in the photo). i never even knew what it was called (corn plant) until nathaniel told me. i've had this thing for quite some time... my liking to it grew from the fact my sister had one and could keep it alive. (this is a great spot to put in the story when the first time i went to field camp, melissa moved into my apartment for the 6 weeks and took over my life... she did my job with DOT, she "watered my plants", fed my cats, etc. she killed almost all of my plants (most of which were cacti) in that 6 weeks time! my sister is a REAL brown thumb!... except when it comes to corn plants and apparently cilantro, which is maybe the one plant i can't grow.) ok - back on track. so i've had mine for a while, when we moved here, it took up residence in the turn of our staircase. there is a window there (west facing) that doesn't get much light except late in the afternoon. fast-forward 2 years... we noticed a "growth" out the top of it about 3 weeks ago. last week, nathaniel was walking up the stairs when he said "did you put a plug in around here?" which i have not, i don't really like smells. but the next day, i smelled it too. very sweet, clean floral scent was all over the stairs area. sometimes it even permeated into our bedroom. well this week, the smell is REALLY REALLY strong (still pleasant though) - it is the corn plant's flower! i didn't even know they could blo0m!

happy 30th birthday melissa!!!

ugly words

yesterday, i was talking to katelyn on the phone. i don't remember what we were talking about, but i said "i aren't...". being the grammAr nazi, i instantly realized that that wasn't the right word to say (i am we are hesheit is). so, i tried to figure out what the contraction for am not was. "i amn't?" again, i will use the pregnancy brain excuse for even considering such a word invention. haha. and, yes, i realize the right thing to say would be "i'm not..." - but that isn't nearly as creative. and while i'm on the topic of grammAr, i have to mention that my biggest pet peeve in the world is people who use the following method for describing photos:

kendal and i

there is kendal there is I... sounds so stupid i want to cry.

the passing of time

my computer plays a slideshow of all my "kendal" photos as the screensaver. i often find myself watching it, saying "awwwww" at the way kendal has grown! recently, i sifted through all of his baby clothes with the intent on sorting OUT the "genderless" newborn clothes to send to melissa (since she is waiting to find out the gender on baby #4). i boxed the remaining boy clothes up according to size. i really can't believe he used to fit in those tiny little newborn clothes! it was funny the memories that become attached to certain outfits. i suppose i can see now why mom didn't throw away (or donate) any of our baby clothes. i could see myself hanging on to all these things, even if i wasn't going to use them again (which HOPEFULLY will not be the case).

i was doing this packing about the time we were planning on a cruise sale date of may 10th (the next available cruise after the one we booked). to be honest, i kinda was sad about that (fortunately it worked out that we could bump it up a week) because i'd miss my first mothers day with kendal! but, now i won't miss it, and we STILL get to go on a cruise. i already have that deep dread in my stomach about leaving. it is already so great that i have nearly stopped eating except when starvation mode hunger kicks in. i used to get this feeling when we'd visit melissa in missouri from the day we arrived and, likewise, it worsened as the trip grew long and the drive/flight home grew near. (this was when grace was a baby, and again when faith was little too). i used to love to see them, but the entire trip i dreaded the leaving part. i even contemplated moving to MO for a while (i don't know if M knows that).

well i'm aimlessly rambling now... i can't believe how fast time passes when you become a mother. i know it "speeds up" as you get older, but once that motherhood part kicks in, time REALLY flies. i can't believe i'm 32. i can't believe kendal is 8 months (almost). seems like just yesterday i graduated from college and traveled eastern NC with the DOT. and it seems like just last night i met nathaniel. and just 2 hours ago i was pregnant.

so here is my photolog of my screensaver version the passing of time. go ahead. you can say "awwwwww" too!

-18 weeks

1 hour

5 days

2 weeks

1 month

6 weeks

7 weeks

8 weeks

9 weeks

10 weeks

11 weeks

3 months

3.5 months

4 months

5 months

for some reason, i can't upload any more photos... so i do have one for the 6 month and 7 month period, but i'll have to try later to do it. maybe it is too early for blogger to be working right!

riding dirty

funny that that song makes me think of faith. not in the "riding dirty" kind of way, just the "widin' durdy" way. (those of you who DO know what i'm talking about will laugh when you hear the song, uncensored - i can't for the LIFE of me think of where she'd hear this song! melissa doesn't listen to this kind of music!)

what's up with that dude's teeth? is that attractive? yea. ok. maybe if you are a gemologist.

so taday i said to nathaniel "we need a vacuum upstairs and we need one downstairs too!"

he said "NO WE DON'T!!!" (i agree, we don't need 2, but it would be nice.)

this brief conversation made me think of about when i was little, my mom had one of those blue electrolux vacuum cleaners. i used to ride the trunk part of it like a dog. some way, in my mind, it was like a dog. except without the fur. i loved riding that old thing.


also, i saw a couple of boxes on the side of the road today. anyone want to build a fort?



tee hee hee.

Longaberger

Today I received my pair of MINI loaf pans from Longaberger. I got the Tomato Color, as shown above. However, the above photo is of the regular loaf pan, not the mini. I guess it was a special order only... because now I can't even find it online!

Let me just say that they are SO cute. I even bought bananas the other day so i could let them overripen and make mini-loafs of banana bread. I was gonna save them and give them as gifts (with a cake in it), but, they are just too cute. I think I'll use them plenty, so I'm keeping them.

A while back, I ordered of the small pie plates and we use them all the time. I have both the tomato red and orange spice color. they are perfect for salads and pasta. i've wanted to cook a pot pie in them, but i haven't yet. i can't wait for THEM to go on special again, because i want 4 more!!!

also, i bought a lunch basket about 2 years ago. it is so cute. unfortunately it lives in the cabinet now, mainly because i never need to "take" my lunch anywhere. and i'm sure nathaniel wouldn't want to carry it to work (not as manly as a food lion bag, right?).

If you want to look at the Longaberger stuff, which is AWESOME both the pottery and the baskets, please go to my sister's page and see what they have! (and i'm assuming she doesn't mind me posting the link...)

true love, in the truest sense

tonight nathaniel and i went to eat at carolina ale house. we had burgers, FF, and beer. yum. i had a lot of ketchup on my FF. he had mustard. i'm not such a big mustard fan unless it is on a brat or a turkey sandwich.

yea, in case you were wondering, we used up all our extra weekly points in WW. plus tomorrow i plan to drink 5 gallons of water to help flush out that salt and fat.

so anyway, we were sitting at the table talking about fate (i.e., meeting each other at the right time, not a day too soon - because really, a day before we 'met' would have been way too soon for the both of us).

anyway, we got on the subject of my sister (melissa) and her husband (rob) and their newest pregnancy. we were talking about the fact that she'll have 4 kids by the time she is the age that i was when i met nathaniel. and about how we (N and i) were so "old" when we met, therefore we couldn't have had that many kids by then (and thank GOD neither of us had any). then i said "well she and rob had to find each other!" at which time nathaniel said the most truest thing in the world about melissa and rob. he said "they had no trouble finding each other, at least 4 times!"

lol. congrats melissa and rob. you've made it to the 2nd trimester. looks like we'll have a baby in about 6-1/2 months!

i think it is a boy!