testing, testing 1-2-3

Fathers Day 2009! We love you Daddy!

You made it! Glad you made it over here to the "secure" side... hope the experience wasnt too much of a hassle logging in and all that stuff... I guess it wasnt or else you wouldnt be here.

Maddie and I took a trip home for Aunt Laura's wedding shower and I have lots of great pictures to post from our long weekend. Just needed a few nights to get things unpacked and pictures downloaded... more to come soon!

going private

hey there blog readers.

i've decided to make this blog private. i've had this nagging feeling for a long time now that this is the smart and safe thing to do. i love sharing our lives and our pictures with you all but would feel a lot more comfortable if i knew who i was sharing this information with.

the way this works is that i put your email address into my account and you can always access the blog via your username and password. i think that if you have a gmail account- you're automatically logged in (which is just one step easier). if you would like to continue reading this blog- please leave your email address in the comments field. i will not publish your email address- i promise.

i hope this doesn't deter anyone from reading this blog. if you are a friend who has never really admitted to reading the blog, or a friend of a friend... or a wife or husband, mom/dad, etc of one of my friends... please just let me know your email address. i really would like you to continue coming to our page! this is more to deter people from umm... oslo and india from lurking around.

i hope you all understand and that none of our regular readers goes anywhere! :)

she fought the smoothie...

And the smoothie won. I especially love the cheerio stuck to her cheek. We had to capture this moment to embarass her with it in the future.

Thats all I have to say about that.

weekend with laura

Aunt Lowra (thats how Maddie says it) was here this past weekend and we had such a blast with her. We're so lucky that she can come down and stay with us periodically and Maddie really adores her. At one point Maddie was screaming from the other room, "Hey LOWRA! Come here." So cute.

The pics above are from our trip to the zoo. Aunt Lowra loves to hold babies and well, Maddie loves to be held so they were like peas and carrots. Also notice Maddie wouldnt pet or brush a goat or pig in the petting zoo without Laura there with her.

We miss her already. Hope she comes back soon.

superfans

Yes, our seats were really that close.

We scored some crazy Braves seats from some good friends and had an absolute blast at the game. The Braves won and Chipper (Jims man-crush) hit two homeruns. We might have gotten a little spoiled though... I dont think we can go see another Braves game unless we're sitting in the front row. Thanks John and Ellen!

southern safari

Who knew we had wild animals just an hour south of our house? This weekend we took a trip to Wild Animal Safari (I think thats what it was called) with Steff and Lanny and Steffs mom. It was great fun. There was a walking tour through a zoo-like environment that was just -eh. It was too hot for the animals, they were mostly in their little sheds trying to keep cool. But we did see some cool animals.

The better part of the trip was the drive-thru safari. We rented one of their slobber-mobiles so that our cars didnt get all gooey with camel slime and bought a few too many bags of their food to feed the animals.

Maddie LOVED the fact that she didnt have to be in a car seat in the van. I think she thought that was the best part. Mr Lanny even let her drive. And yes, she wanted to sit on Jims lap for the ride home (thank you Lanny).

We saw camels, lions, tigers, giraffes and LOTS of deer and boar. By the way, I think that like 75% of the animals looked pregnant to me. I guess there's not a lot to do around the ole ranch... that also explains why they had so many "ligers" at this place.

And we saw this guy. Im not exactly sure what he was. Bull I guess? Look at that tongue. Grody.

Maddie would want to feed the animals herself, but once they got close enough to feed she'd say, "no, no, no" and give the food back to one of us. I dont blame her. Those tongues were big and slimy. She said she'll stick to giving Tuck his treats when he brings the paper in.

Daddy sat in the back, Steff and I in the middle and Lanny and Steffs mom in the front. She loved going back and forth between all of us. She'd say, "Daddy's turn" or "Steffs turn" when she wanted to move to another persons lap.

Here she is walking holding Mr Lannys hand. Isnt that the cutest?

I think she's moo-ing here. Or making some other equally cute animal sound.

The group... minus the photographer of course. We had a great time! I hope if/when we go again that the rhino will be up and will eat out of my hand (HA - who am I kidding, thats scary).

do you hear what I hear?

We love Decatur so much. One of the many reasons why is the arts festival they have downtown every year. There are tons of local artists and a really cute childrens festival on the library lawn. There were face painters and balloon artists and even a turtle from the zoo to pet. I thought the best part was the drumming area set up for kids to go wild. Maddie being our little timid one, didn't quite get into it like the other kids. She eventually gave a few pats on the drums, but she mostly just did a lot of watching.

Not quite sure what to make of all this

Getting closer...

Maybe I'll just rest my hands on it

She didnt want her face painted, or a balloon, or to touch the turtle... so we just walked around and enjoyed the weather and the scenery. She's still cute even if she's just being a quiet observer. :)

we survived...

our very first yard sale.

Made $160.00.

One mans junk, another mans treasure.

Too tired to write...

the milton boys and the closest i'll ever get to being martha stewart

We had a really fun Memorial Day with the Miltons. They have a fabulous screened in porch (that really really made me wish we had a screened in porch) and treated us to yummy kabobs with all the fixins.

Maddie loves Carter and Noah. She sees them at school and church and out to dinner... and well, we hang out with them quite a bit. What was great was that their house is kid proof and full of toys that Maddie had never seen or played with before! She had a blast. We could barely keep track of her while we were there. She spent lots of time in Noah's cool toy-filled room.

So I decided to make one of those jello flag cakes to celebrate Memorial Day and try to be domestic-y. I had never made one bfeore but who doesnt love fruit, whipped topping and jello, right?

It didnt come out quite as well as I had expected (the story of my life). I think the trick is to use small and thin strawberries as the stripes (which might be hard to find, especially in strawberry season) and make sure you wait until the jello is hardened a little bit (they recommended 10 minutes in the fridge which wasnt enough) so that it doesnt soak into the sponge cake. It tasted great- it was just pretty messy to eat. Also, make sure you buy two tubs of whipped topping instead of the one the recipe recommends. You'll need it.

mmmmm.... yummy

Here's a picture of Ivey and Carter. He's a cutie and I cant believe how fast he's growing up! The poor kid fell on his head 4 times while we were there... boys! He is a man of steel and bounced back every time.

Sweet

We had a kids table out on the porch for Maddie and the boys to eat dinner on. It worked out great. Ive decided we really need one of those little tables at our house for Maddie to eat on, color, play with play-doh, etc. Not sure where it will go... but once I figure that out I'll be on the hunt for one.

Noah teaching Jim which Transformer does what

How cute are they? And yes, Noah's eating with chopsticks. He's very cultured