Muffins with Mom

Last Friday, Jones' school hosted a Muffins with Mom breakfast in honor of Mother's Day. It was such a sweet time to eat with Jones before school and see him interact with the other kids.

Sweet card he gave me at breakfast.

 I love his school so much. He has learned an incredible amount since starting there in January. He knows his colors, animals, some letters and numbers and is such a social little man.  I love seeing him love school and I love that he gets excited about going.

I am sad that he will be leaving this school next month, but I am so looking forward to the next chapter in our life.

His next school is a great one and I am so happy Trey will be right there, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous and sad. Jones has wonderful teachers and wonderful friends at his current school. They will be missed. I pray his next school will provide him with sweet friends and caring teachers, just as this one has.

I am trying to focus on our blessings and the new adventures coming our way. You would think I would be used to change by now.

Jones gave his two teachers and the school director each a rose bush for Teacher's Appreciation last week. 
He loves them so!

Keeping it Real Friday - Mother's Day edition

I am not sure sure why I have been a touch more emotional this Mother's Day than the previous.  So fair warning that I have no idea how this post will turn out.  I am just writing.

When Jones was just a few days old, I celebrated my first Mother's Day.  Being a mom was so new to me (in ways, it is still so very new). I was just beginning to grasp the idea of motherhood.

 This was also my Nana's last Mother's Day with us.  My sweet, sweet Nana.

4 generations. Mother's Day 2010

Last year, my parents made the trip down to Gulfport to spend Mother's Day with us. 

And this year.  This glorious year.  2011 was not so great. For lack of better words, it sucked. (sorry, mama.  I know you hate that word.)

But 2012 -  Things are looking up in a major way. 

Trey is doing what he has been called to do his whole life.  And it is a beautiful thing to witness. We are happy and content and totally satisfied knowing God's purpose in our lives.

So maybe it is because this is the first holiday celebration since this new life, but for whatever reason, this Mother's Day approaching has made me sentimental, nostalgic, and ever grateful.

Sunday we will celebrate mothers. And I am feeling - now, perhaps more than ever - more thankful for my mom. 

Mother's Day 2011

My mom and my two grandmothers, one who is with us still and one who has already left this life: I can't thank them enough for showing what it means to love.  And for showing us what it means to be a mother. 

I can only hope I am half of the mom as those three women. 

From Jones - Mother's Day 2012

 And for this little man.  The reason I am a mama.
 Sweet love of my life. 

A lot of people in my life are struggling to have a baby.  And some have lost pregnancies.   I think about how I am quick to say I am ready for another baby, and how I often get impatient at the thought.  If only I would slow down more and appreciate the blessing I already have.  How precious is he. 

I will never again, I pray, take my mother for granted.  I only wish I could take back some of the ugliness in my life during a few teenage years.


If this past year has taught me one thing, it is this: love.

Show the ones you love that you love them.  And learn to love those who don't.

We get by with the help of those we love and who love us. Love can sustain us when there is nothing to offer and nothing to give. At the end of the day, regardless of where you are and what you have, if you have love you have everything. (sorry for the Hallmark-ness of it all)



I don't know about you, but I am going to spend this Mother's Day loving on my mama.  And my sweet baby.  And my sweet baby daddy. 

And I hope you spend yours loving on someone you love.  Regardless if you have a mom or not and regardless if you are a mother or not, I hope you feel loved this Mother's Day.

Easter Morning

I do love a baby in a bonnet. Sweet Noelle Adams looked like a baby doll on Easter morning!
Our best picture after about a million attempts of getting a good of of the grandparents with the kids. Wild, I tell you!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
1 Peter 1:3Trey and I were both able to get individual pictures with Jones at our house before church. No smile from the little man, but documented at least!

We had a wonderful Easter!

Although Trey declared this the year Jones refuses to be still for a picture, we were able to at least get a couple of half way decent shots. Most of the pictures we have include him running away, climbing a tree, fighting to be let down, picking the flowers at the church, digging in the dirt, or trying to tackle Henry. I gave up on trying to get a group picture! He is one wild child.

He was delighted to see the Easter bunny came by that morning. He carefully examined each little gift with a WOW! before placing them all in a perfect line on the couch. Funny man.

My parents are remodeling their home, but their kitchen was declared "cookable" so my mom cooked an Easter feast for us after church. The dining room is still under construction, but we were happy to sit outside to eat - thankful for gorgeous weather! After dinner, the boys hunted eggs. I laughed at Jones' basket. Not only did he find eggs, but also sticks, grass, and dirt!

Easter weekend

After traveling for work some last week, I was more than excited to have a long three-day weekend with both of my boys. The weather was gorgeous, so outside we stayed! Jones had his first snow cone, which, naturally, he devoured. We grilled out with the family, went on long jogs, dyed Easter eggs, and played hard! And sweet Noelle Adams was right there along the ride for everything. During one of our many outdoor festivities, she was missing her sun hat, so I went in and retrieved one of Jones' baby sun hats. She is already a trooper putting up with so many boy things!
It was a wonderful weekend that somehow, even though it was longer than most, went by at record speed.

Luck of the Irish

Our st. Patrick's day included a cook out with the family at our house Friday night.
The kids, of course, were dressed the part!

We have loved the weather here lately! We spent all weekend outside. I love this time of year. My allergies, unfortunately, do not. I am suffering from a double ear infection and I sound just awful. Here's hoping I am better next weekend - 5K race, baseball game and family coming into town!

Celebrating life

One of the lasting impressions my sweet Nana left on me is the art of celebrating. The lady knew how to celebrate. And not just the big life moments: Nana celebrated everyday miracles and seemingly ordinary events.

This past new years day marked the one year anniversary of her passing. It also marked the beginning of a new year: we got to say bye to a very, very bad year and say hello to a fresh start in 2012.

One of my life resolutions I made on January 1 was to be more like Nana - celebrate whimsy and celebrate living. As a simple part of that goal, I made a vow to decorate for every holiday. This year I was able to use some of my mom's and my Nana's decorations to get ready for Easter.



Seeing the decorations in my house makes me smile. And they make me think of my sweet Nana and her quirky "sit-arounds" she placed all over her house.

Happy Easter, indeed.

{I snapped these pictures of my work-in-progress using my phone}

Valentine's party at school

I loved seeing Jones interact with the other cuties in this class at their Valentine's party. I was amazed he sat in that little chair without getting up. Peer pressure, I guess.

For Jones, the party was all about the food. And the balloons.

dinner date

I used to think Valentine's Day was a super cheesy made-up holiday. I guess it kind of is.

But my view of this holiday has changed drastically over the years. Maybe it's because I am older now. Maybe it's because I have a child now. Or maybe it's because I like any excuse to celebrate seemingly otherwise ordinary days. At any rate, it is nice to actually set aside a little bit of time and effort and show those you love that you, in fact, love them. Effort, people. It's all about effort. And celebration. And candy. So really it is all about putting effort into celebrating with candy.

It is far too crowded to go out to eat on Valentine's night and I didn't want to cook so we decided to order take-out after Jones went to bed. We ate on our fine china and lit candles and had the rule not to talk about money (or lack thereof), how dirty the house was, or work. So basically we talked about Jones and football. It was nice.

My plate had enough food to feed a small army. It was delicious.

My gift to Trey was concert tickets to see one of his favorites: The Avett Brothers. In Trey's words, paying for memories is far better than paying for items. I agree. Sometimes.

Here is the card I made him letting him know what his gift is. I am glad he gets my humor.

Thanks, pinterest

Thanks to other people's creativity, Jones will be handing out these cuties at his school's valentine's party tomorrow.

Kiss me, I'm Irish!

My friend, Hope, and I took our boys to Ocean Springs for their first St. Patty's Day parade last Thursday. The two daddy's were still at work, so we ventured over to my favorite Mississippi coast town alone with Jones and Hayes. It was a really cute, but small, parade. Like really small: I think there were four different groups in the entire parade. But it was festive. Great crowd, a high school band, horses,a fire truck and beads. What more could you want? And the boys laughed and smiled throughout the entire thing. Except when they were eating the beads. Cute boys.

The Clydesdales were the main attraction. They were beautiful!

1st Valentine

This is how Trey and I spent our Valentine's Day:

Both sick. Both Still kinda sick. It appears Jones generously gave us his cold.

What's not pictured is the Benadryl we were taking. I saw today that it expired in 2006. It's no wonder we are not yet feeling great. Needless to say, I tossed it this morning. Also needless to say, I am cleaning out my medicine cabinet tomorrow.

So while Trey and I were no fun this Valentine's, little man had a great first one. The weather here this week has been be-a-utiful. I strolled Jones for literally 3 hours. Thank goodness he loves being outside and in his stroller. I was strolling him for that long for selfish reasons - it takes less energy to walk than it does to chase him around the house. Terrible, I know. I just was really not feeling well.

But look at that smile! I can't feel too guilty. He was so happy.
Here is the Valentine that Jones made for his Daddy. Isn't he creative?


This picture cracks me up. Jones got a Sesame Street DVD as a V-day happy from Trey's parents. I popped it in while I cleaned the kitchen. He was occupied for about 5 minutes. Not a TV guy, although I am not complaining. (I mean, we don't even have cable. Did you know that?) But he looks so festive sitting there with his balloon from his grandparents tied to his chair all under a terrible excuse for a homemade banner. I had to take a picture.

And here is Jones playing with his Valentine train from Lita and Grandaddy. Throws it off his chair, waits for me to pick it up, throws it off, picks it up....fun little game he plays with most anything.
Here are pictures taken Valentine's night. He has been showing interest in feeding himself with a spoon so I let him try. I was feeling wild I suppose. He was so proud of himself. Messy, but proud!

(I love how wild he looks in this picture)

So that is a wrap-up of our Valentine's Day 2011. Romantic, huh?

Jones' First Christmas

Trey played the guitar at the Christmas Eve service at our church. Afterwards we went to his parents house for soup, then on to our house to wait for Santa!

Christmas morning the three of us woke up to see what Santa brought then we headed out for brunch and more presents. After we stuffed our faces and opened lots of fun things, we headed to Starkville...where it was snowing! Jones' first Christmas was a white one! It was pretty much melted by the time we got there, but it continued to come down the entire day and night, it just wouldn't stick. We opened presents from my mom's family Christmas night since we weren't able to have Christmas this year. Then we woke up the day after Christmas to have Christmas with my mom, dad, Kristen, Laura, Rob and Henry.

The three of us stayed in Starkville until after Nana's funeral on the 4th. I was so happy to be able to go to the hospital every chance I got and be there with the family when she passed. What a blessing to be there on not 4 hours away. You need family during those times.

Whew! Busy (and emotional) Christmas.

(We still have my Nana's Christmas left with my aunt, uncle and cousin. That will be next weekend in Starkville.)

Christmas Eve

(This is the only picture I have from Christmas Eve, and it is from my phone. Shameful.)

Santa Came! (bright and early...)

(Uncle Adam giving Jones hair tips.)

Christmas in Starkville with my family

Sweet cousins.
We can never get them both to pose at the same time!Loving from the aunts!

Look very, very closely...there's snow. Promise.
Jones made all his grandparents a hand print ornamentSeriously. This was the best family picture. We gotta do better next year.

Christmas 2010 was definitely one I will never forget!