fairy godmothers come to town

Amanda named us Kate's fairy godmothers.  I like it.  I think it will stay. We had the best time last weekend in memphis. The three of us made the trip from south Mississippi to meet our new friend.  It is so wonderful, first of all, to see old friends, but I added a new friend this weekend! I was so happy to meet precious Kate. She is gorgeous.  Lindsey, Tricia and I agree that the pressure is really on to have cute kids in the future.  Thanks alot, Amanda.  

Anyway, lucky for the three fairy godmothers, Amanda left us alone with the babe for a few hours.  She and Luke had weddings to attend and entrusted the three of us to care for precious Kate. 

The moment she left, we knew a photo shoot was in order.  Kate was a really great sport, that is until we tried to make her wear a bonnet for an extended amount of time.  We dressed this child up like a doll.  And when she fell asleep? Well, we put her in props.  It was wonderful.  She slept like, well, a baby after the photo session.  

I have to shout out to Tricia's photography! She took so many pictures.  I resisted from putting them all on here!  She is so fabulous - Check out her stuff here.

So now the goods: the pictures.  She is so precious.  It was love for sure.  And I am pretty sure the feeling is mutual. 

Me and the new mama - my roommate for two years in college. My how times have changed!

We put her in a bonnet and gown. and when she fell asleep - props!! We put her in her Easter basket. ADORABLE.  You're welcome, Amanda. 

And, finally, the creepiest picture ever.  We found three bonnets. There were three fairy godmothers.  It just added up.  Please look at Kate screaming.  Bless her.  I promise we picked her up right after this picture. (only to put her in a basket!)

Thank you, Amanda, for sharing her with us! I loved every minute of it.  Beautiful baby - and beautiful mama! Love you dearly

Wickles. A happy day by any means.

So my not so great week turned out pretty sweet after all.  I was at the Corner Market getting the usuals - bread, cereal, hummus and grapes - when I spotted them. Wickles.  Do you know such a treasure? 

Let me explain. 

In October, Trey and I, along with my fabulous parents, went to Highlands, North Carolina for a little R & R.  There, I discovered a fabulous find at a farmer's market: Wickles.  The most perfect spicy sweet pickle in all the land. 

I thought this to be a rare find, and thus stocked up with a few jar's while on vacation, thinking I would not find this commodity in Mississippi. 

Wrong, friends, wrong.  It is in Mississippi. Hattiesburg,

 to be exact.  When I saw the jar of Wickles looking directly at me, it was a like a light at the end of a dark tunnel.  I have been to the Corner Market how many times? too many to count. Yet, never saw the most perfect form of the cucumber until this week. 

I have since made myself sick off of Wickles.  Trey doesn't like them.  Which is great news for me.  At $7.00 a jar, it is necessary for me to be selfish. 

So go find you some Wickles, you will be glad you did. 

To only add to my shopping pleasure,  Abita Sesonal Strawberry Ale is now is season.  

Wickles and Abita Strawberry.  What a perfect dining experience. 

On the house front, we made offer on house number 4 tonight. Cross your fingers and say a little prayer for us.  And when I say this house is polar opposite of the house we almost bought before the crazies took over, I mean it.  But I love it.  We shall see. 

Gotta go.  In need of some Wickles. 

hippity-hoppity, and a couple of prayer requests!

I love Easter. I am sitting in Clinton with my family, minus LT, who comes tomorrow, and minus Kristen who is on a 48-hour shift at the hostpital (bless her). Ok, so really not the whole family. Today was a great day. the boys - my dad, Trey and Rob - played golf while Nana, mama and I played outside ALL day with Henry. Now it is nice and quiet with most people asleep in the house and Trey, Rob and i are watching movies. Good times. Nice break. Looking forward tomorrow when everyone will go to church (laura is coming into town and kris gets off an hour before church!) and then we will go to Rob's mom and dad's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Henry is the only 'child', but I was told there will be money in the eggs - a trick to get the 'adults' involved. I would have done it for jelly bean-filled eggs, but money? Bring it.

I hope you all have a very wonderful Easter and rejoice in the reason for the celebration!

Few other things / prayer requests from the week:

1) I know there are many praying people out there, so I am asking you to please pray for my fabulous brother-in-law, Adam, Trey's little brother. We found out Wednesday that he has cancer, but a very curable kind and we are all so positive. He will be in surgery on Tuesday, so please think of him, if you will. I know he will appreciate it. It is a scary word and there are still a lot of unknowns right now, but we know that the Lord's hand will be on him and he will be just fine!

2) And secondly, and so secondary to the first request, our home situation went from great to bad very quickly! we were supposed to close on our new home on Thursday, but on wednesday about an hour after the news came about Adam, we found out that the sellers/builders of the home we were buying had not been truthful during the process and we lost the house. Basically they were in the middle of a family dispute and while the home was listed as 'new construction', it came out that the title had actually been switched three times between fighting family members, so all the appraisals/warrenties were wrong. Then one brother came forth on Wednesday and said that he still owned the property the house was on, while the other brother owned the house! What?! I am confused. It was a mess. But it is funny that after the news of Adam, this news really didn't affect me much and seemed so minor in comparison.

But I do miss Sophie, who has been living with my parents in S'ville since dogs aren't allowed in the family campus apartments on campus. But we are still very thankful our house sold three weeks ago, thankful for a place to live in the meantime, and very confident we will find something soon! But it is stressful, and my life feels very unorganized living in temp. housing with my belongings in a POD.

But with all the 'news' that came at the end of this week, what a great weekend / celebration this has been. Life is put in perspective during times like this!

HAPPY EASTER!
(and thanks for the prayers)