Lots to celebrate!

Last night my family got together to celebrate so many good things! No, I'm not pregnant...my family thought I was making an announcement last night, but that would be a negative!

First we have the matriarch of the family:

Mimi turned 91!! Doesn't she look fantastic? Let me brag on Mimi. She still lives in the house where my mom and uncle grew up. She goes to water aerobics 3 days a week (she is so funny, she says that everyone should put on a bathing suit first thing in the morning because your day can only go up from there!). She paints with one of her best friends every Tuesday (she is an amazing artist). She is the most amazing cook? She even keeps Lucas for me during the day if daycare is closed or I need to run some errands. What 91 year old do you know that can do all of that?? She is so funny too! I want to be just like her when I grow up!

The next celebration is for Briana!

She just had a birthday and has a new job! We are so proud of you Briana! Bri was my maid of honor at my wedding and is so much more than a cousin. She is my sister. She and I have our own language almost. We laugh practically the entire time we are together. I love you Bri!

Next on our list of those to celebrate is John

This is him and his girlfriend Colleen. She is fantastic! We have already told John not to screw this up :) The reason we celebrated John is that he has a new job! He recently graduated with his Master degree in Social Work from Alabama. We are so proud of him! He is going to be working with foster families and children/teens with behavioral and emotional needs. He is going to do a great job!

Last, but certainly not least we celebrated my mom's good news that she received from her doctor.

Her CA125 (cancer marker) is down to 17! This is amazing! Below 35 is considered normal, so 17 is incredible! She had surgery a few weeks ago to keep fluid from building up around her lungs and she has been recovering well and it appears that the surgery did its job. Dr. Yeilding said that when the fluid stops completely he will consider her to be in remission! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! My mother amazes me every day. She is an incredible woman of God and has never lost sight of His grace and promises!

As you can see we had a lot to celebrate and we had a great time celebrating!

Briana and Peck

Bob and Bobbie

Bobbie and John inspecting Lucas' bellybutton

How cute is my mom in a hat?

Even the accordianist (is that a word?) helped us celebrate!

Fourth of July and Papaw turns 85!!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you enjoyed your day celebrating our Independence! We had a great time with family. We started off our day at my parents' house. Mom had surgery a few weeks ago on her left lung to keep fluid from collecting in the plura surrounding the lung, so she wasn't able to get out and about yet, but we had a good time visiting with my parents and John.

Pop and Lucas

GG and Lucas - I love this picture!

Dad, don't try to contain me!

Uncle John helping with eating some Jello.

Talking with Meme Jack on the phone

For Mother's Day my dad bought so many flowers for Mom to enjoy as she recovers from treatments. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Around lunch we headed over to the O'Neal's. Buddy and Cheryl put together quite the spread!

We also added to our celebration with Papaw turning 85 years young on the 5th. He is amazing! He can do anything! I love his hands. They are hands that have worked hard to provide for his family and yet he is one of the most gentle and kind men I have ever known. He has such a servant's heart and will do anything for anyone. We love you Papaw!

I mean, how cute is this couple?
Julie (Eric's sister), Hannah (our niece), and Lucas
Hannah and Lucas - Lucas LOVES him some Hannah!
Yum!



Very impressive Buddy!

Cheese!

Lucas has gotten to be such a cheese for the camera. It of course takes me MULTIPLE attempts to catch a picture that isn't blurry from him moving. Thank goodness we have a setting on the camera for fast shutter speed. I believe a mom came up with that idea!

Fun times with the Farley's

A few weeks back we went to visit Melissa and the kids. Keith unfortunately was out of town, but we had a great time playing in their pool. I can't believe that I didn't take more pictures. Shame on me! Lucas was adorable/hilarious in his swimsuit/PFD. I will have to get a picture of it soon and post.

In the office

He is going to disown me for this one day...

Memorial Day 2011

We celebrated Memorial Day this year at our house. My father-in-law, Buddy, came over to celebrate with us. Buddy supplied the ribs, which Eric did an amazing job grilling/smoking, and we supplied the baked beans and corn. I also made a delicious dessert that was SOOO easy even I couldn't mess it up! I got the dessert from, Cheryl, my mother-in-law.

I forgot to take pictures of the meal (sorry Eric!), but I did get a pic of the dessert:

Here's what you do:

Ingredients:

1 packet sugar free vanilla pudding

1 Sara Lee frozen pound cake (you could make your own I suppose) cut into small bite size squares

3 Tbsp orange juice

Strawberries sliced

Blueberries

1 container Cool-Whip

Directions:

Make pudding according to package

Put pound cake squares into a bowl and add orange juice. Toss to coat and allow pound cake to soak up the juice.

Once this step is complete alternate layers of pound cake, pudding, strawberries, blueberries.

Top with Cool-whip and berries to your heart's desire!

Lucas played hard outside with his Poppa and this is how he fell asleep. Too cute!

LOTS of Updates below

OK, I caught up until the beginning of May. That is 13 posts. Ridiculous! I had fun updating and now that I am able to put pictures on here it is much more interesting. Have fun reading!

I. Love. You.

Before Lucas was speaking well enough for us to understand that he was saying "I love you" Eric taught him some sign language. Granted you may not find this in the American Sign Language Dictionary, but it works for us.

I

Love

You!

Zoo

We went to the zoo in May before it became unbearably hot here in Alabama. Lucas loved seeing all the animals. I think the cutest part was watching him make the noises when he saw a particular animal. He was too precious!

We actually got to watch them train, feed, and bathe the lions. It was pretty cool. Basically they would do anything to get some raw hamburger meat.

Alice

This is when I looked up to the heavens and thanked God for opposable thumbs that allow me to hold a cup!

Cool dudes in their shades. Never mind that Lucas wasn't wearing them on his ear correctly. It's how he rolls.

Eric said this reminded him of someone. I couldn't for the life of me figure out who though.

We of course had to get our picture made with the gorilla cut out