Holding On

I am again experiencing the need to hold on to a moment.  Tonight when I put Emma Jane down to sleep, she wrapped her tiny little hand around my finger.  That moment (as my Aunt Debbie says) soaked into my heart.  I MUST ALWAYS remember what it felt like to have her tiny little fingers around mine, because they will never be that tiny again.
With that in mind I started thinking about one of the most touching posts I've ever read by Ruby Red Slippers at Lions, Tigers, and Boys, Oh My.  I can't help but get teary eyed  (well, ok, more like cry my eyes out) when I read it because I think of my own parents.  Luckily I remember my mother's hands to a tee.  I remember exactly what they look like and how extremely soft they were.  No one ever could figure out how she kept them so soft, including her.  They truly were as soft as Emma Jane is now.  I also remember my Dad's hands.  His Duke ring and wedding band were worn almost every day of his entire life.  I have very vivid memories of what their hands look like and when I think of their hands, I feel so close to them, yet realize the finality of our situation.  I will never see those hands again.  I wish I would have taken pictures of them, or even had them in any of the pictures that I have.
If I were you (any one of you) I would take this idea from Lions, Tigers, and Boys, Oh My and make my own post like this.  Or if you don't have a blog, make a page in your scrapbook, or photo album.  I can't tell you enough, how much I wish I could.  Please stay tuned for my version of this post.  It may take me a bit (it takes time to get my thoughts about my parents into words).  I look forward to spending time thinking about all of the things those precious hands have done and been through.

Movie Night

Popcorn? Goobers? Mr. Pibb? Pick your poison. None of it was here at our house tonight, but we did manage to have "movie night" without it. Instead of this very typical theater menu, this mama made homemade toffee cookies and served milk with them. We opened up our new Winnie the Pooh movie, cozied up on the couch all fresh and clean after bath-time, and watched. Just like Christmas, we sat and enjoyed. Drew watched the movie and I watched Drew's eyes dance as Pooh and Christopher Robins sang about their friendship and I watched the excitement in his eyes as Pooh and Piglet ran from "huff-a-lumps". I soaked it all in (it's not every day that you can get a two-year-old to sit for as long as Drew sat to watch this movie.... especially two-year-olds named Drew). I do believe movie night takes the cake. It's better than just about anything in this world that I can think of. I love my family time and I love love love my little boy.

She's Growing So Quickly

I just wanted to show the update on Emma. She's growing so quickly. I can't believe she's already 7 months (almost 8!!!) She's cute as a button and she's got enough personality to fill the room. She brings so much love into our family and we all vie for our time with her (especially Drew... he loves his little sister so much). Nobody can make her laugh like Drew can. You wouldn't believe the laugh that she reserves especially for him. It's the best belly laugh you've ever heard. I hope you all enjoy the pictures at least a fraction as much as we enjoy her.

Where is "U"?

Being the teacher that I am, I was playing letter games with Drew the other day. He seems to be a "numbers kind of guy" so we're trying to expose him to more letters. He's not too fond of them though, so I have to really make it into a game.
Well, the other day we were playing with his letter blocks which have little figures inside of them that represent their letter.
I asked him where "A for Airplane" is. He did well. He knows A is always at the beginning so he found it quickly.
So I decided to make it a bit more challenging for him, so I asked him, "Drew, where is U?" He ran around behind me with a sneaky little smile and sat down right behind my back. Then he pokes his head around and says, "I'm right here, Mama!"
It took me a second, but then I realized what he thought I was asking him and I laughed so hard and he just laughed and laughed with me.
What a funny little boy I have!

Oh Summer Time

Oh to hold on to summer for the last little bit. Wouldn't it be wonderful to snap your fingers and have your Polyvore come true. I'm addicted! Now I can get my shopping fix and not even spend a dime.
Oh how I wish I could jump into this picture (with these clothes and accessories of course).
I s'pose I'll have to do a "back-to-school" one next.... hmph!

My New Favorite Camera Accessory

Look how totally cute this camera strap is. I absolutely LOVE it!!!

and if I wear it with my iron free Brookes Brothers shirt.... ooooh, how preppy! (just like this picture)

I have the cutest Anthro pants that I could wear with this too. Oh my goodness, I'm going to have to "Polyvore" this one!!! hahahaha I don't think they'll have this strap.

What A Ride!

What a feeling to see the words "We picked you!" Yay! They picked me! Wow! To be the "featured blogger" at SITS! I so enjoyed my day in the sun. I enjoyed reading all 400 and something comments from my readers. Thank you all for your kind words and taking time out of your busy days (or relaxation time) to visit little ol' me!
To those of you that looked at the gumbo recipe, you'll love it only if you love the process. I completely understand if you just choose to "pick some up" if you feel like eating it instead of making it yourself. I am the same way about some recipes. I have this wonderful goat cheese souffle' recipe in my recipe book, and i've scribbled over it "forget it. Order pizza!!!"

For those of you that want to make it..... I hope you get some good music, good wine and enjoy your time in the kitchen the way I do.
And to those of you who read "Merry Christmas Snuggle," as for the blanket, I wish I could tell you a meaningful story about how my grandmother made it for me and I remember cuddling up with her watching "Miracle on 34th Street,"


but that's simply not true. Your going to be amazed (or utterly disappointed) to hear that that blanket was purchased at Hobby Lobby for 50% off! I KNOW! I was very excited when I bought it knowing that it at least looked so special.
Anyways, thank you for all of your kind comments and I hope you continue to visit. I'll keep you posted on my family, fun finds, training, and treasures found while exploring my family's history.
So....
Y'all come back now, ya' hear!!!

The Last Summer "Hoorah" with the BFF's

Well, here we are on the last couple of days of summer, squeezing every last drop out of it like a lemon for our favorite summertime drinks (ok.. that was a really bad simile.... I promise, no more)
Wednesday afternoon the BFF's and I got together for lunch. (I really need to post just about them so that I can link BFF's to a picture of them. For now Melinda + Mary + Jill + Me = BFF's)
We had a nice little time with Drew, Emma, and Sadie. It makes for a loud house, but we like it that way.
We had a very simple spread so that we could just enjoy. Veggies and dip, chips and home made salsa from Melinda's garden (or maybe Shay & Christin's garden which we've all been eating out of.... it's HUGE!!!!) and pizza.
It was nice to sit and chitty chat before everything turns into "school" for us teachers. Drew had a hard time sharing Sadie's Cozy Coupe with her. Yes, that's right, I said SADIE'S cozy coupe. He acted like it was his and wouldn't get out of it. So Sadie, being typical Sadie, just went with the flow and got in with him. It was too cute!
I look forward to the day that we can "reason" with him a little bit better, but for now they are doing a pretty good job working it out on their own.

For a little while Drew was being such a southern gentleman....

... and even opened the door of the cozy coupe for Sadie and let her in.

After that, Sadie showed us some of her rockin' moves to some country music.

Sadie loves to "ham it up" for the camera.... and I am a sucker for her, so she gets a lot of "camera time"

Letters Home From College

My sister found a pack of letters when going through some boxes a couple of weekends ago from my parent's house. As she unknowingly unfolded an era from our family history, she gasped. They were letters that my dad had written home to my grandparents from college. They kept every single one. It was obvious that they wrote back and forth, but we did not have my grandmother's matching letters (I guess a college boy has no where to store such things in his dorm room nor probably the foresight to hold on to what were at the time "letters from mom"). His letters were coming home about every third day. Probably an immediate response to her letters.
It was amazing to read about his every-day-life, especially to this bloggie-blogger who believes in capturing every-day-life moments (the whole reason I got into this whole "blog thing").
Seeing his very distinctive handwriting on his stationary sent goosebumps up and down my arms. I love his handwriting. As for the stationary, well, I'm southern through and through and I have to admit that I ran a finger over it to see if it was engraved or embossed. I regret to report, my southern belles, that it was embossed. BUT! We'll chalk that up to his version of being "a poor college kid."
As I leafed through these letters, stories of school, tennis, ping pong (boy did he love ping pong), college football and basketball games, the work-load, his roommate, Wayne, and much much more came alive through his words that I could almost hear him saying as though he were reading them to me himself.
A few times he would say something sly and write out a "heh- heh" afterwards. If you knew my dad, you can hear it right now as you read it *smile*.
I really laughed when I read about how much laundry was coming home (yes ladies, he mailed home his dirty laundry for my grandmother to wash and she mailed it right back usually with some cookies or fudge or whatever he demanded.... but we'll get to that later).
I tried to pace myself so that I would continue to have something to read every night before bed, but I have to admit that I have no self control and I devoured them all in one night.
It was neat to read from such innocent times about people who were more "Cleaver" than June and Beaver themselves! (no, seriously). The language and topics were comforting to read.
I'll be sharing some of the stories and quarks very soon, so stay tuned!

My dad is younger than his "college years" in this pictures, but I love it so much I thought I'd include it.

My Favorites

Please feel free to "peruse" some of my favorite posts here

My Own Home Make-Over

So here's my new idea about decorating. I want to decorate each room according to how I want to feel while I'm in that room. Well now, I know what you're thinking..... Mary Beth, that's nothing new.... what's interesting about that?
I asked myself, "self? When do you feel the most" (haha)
My answer was "when I listen to music."
So that's it! Each room has and artist attached to it. For instance, my master bathroom - Enya! See what I mean!?! It's perfect! Can't you just picture it? My back porch - Jimmy Buffet of course!!! My kitchen - Stevie Ray Vaughn. Perfect!!! My dining room - Harry Connick Jr. Beautiful!
Hahaha! It ought to be interesting to see how I'm going to make this "flow." But I'll figure it out.

So He Thinks He Can Dance

One of the great things about running is actually having the time to just listen to music (oh yeah, and the fact that running gives you a great tush). A lot of the time that I spend training for San Francisco, I have actually not been listening to music, I've been using that time to think about fundraising, my mother and father, and just different uplifting ideas. But sometimes I do listen to the Pandora App. on my iPhone while I'm running. I love it.
Well, tonight I plugged it into our stereo system at home and we got to really "jam out" to some great "running" music. Well who knew Drewbie was such a dancer! We laughed and laughed while watching him just let it loose to Yaz and Royksopp (mind you, this is my running playlist). It was so funny. I wish I would have gotten a video of it, especially when he and his daddy were dancing, but I was just laughing too hard to even think about it.
Drew was just making up all kinds of crazy moves. Do you think it's possible that a 2 year old instinctually knows the "lawn mower?"