Hooked!

Today we went to spend the day with my parents while they were camping and Lawton even ended up spending the night. A very excited Lawton and Dandy are off to go fishing . . .

Dandy was trying to show Lawton how to hook the worm and attach the bobber. Lawton just watched. :)

He had a hard time being patient . . . thrilled, huh?

But, oh, look! Carolina is excited about something . . . GO BROTHER!

A fish! Lawton (or his pole) actually caught a little blue gill! He was pretty excited!

Dandy and the proud fisherman (who also managed to hook a weed and Dandy - twice.)

And wouldn't you know? I just happened to catch it all on video if you really want to relive the exhilarating moment. ha!

Kelly's Korner - kids' rooms!

It's another Show Us Where You Live Friday over at Kelly's Korner! This week it's kid's rooms, and so I jumped in! Warning: there are lots of pictures . . . but after you skim these, go check out some more at Kelly's!

Lawton's room

This is the view to the left when you walk in his room. A man at the flea market custom made this and a changing table/dresser for cheap! I love the distressed look!

My sister cross-stitched this for Lawton. She spent hundreds of hours on this meticulous work! I will always treasure it!

This grain bucket came from the flea market as well. Would you say he has too many stuffed animals? How do these things accumulate? I think WE only actually purchased ONE!

This is the view that you see when you walk in the room, straight ahead/to the right a little. I got a lot of grief from my helpers when we painted this room when we moved in. I was a little anal . . . but so glad because these stripes are completely straight and perfect! :) His nursery was cowboy, too, so I just had to make an extra curtain when we moved and the pillow shams. The comforter was actually mine in high school (pretty girly, huh?) and the bed was also mine growing up. I painted these for his room to hang over his crib, and now over his bed.

When he was a baby, I saw these sheets (behind the shams) on clearance at Target and snatched them up! They match the print of his curtains/shams perfectly, just a shade or two darker!

My sister-in-law made this cute box tote! She is so talented!

The cowboy hooks were a baby present . . . and we write on his calendar every single night to recap the day with him.

This is the view to the right when you walk in his room. (This is the other piece the man from the flea market made for us.) The scrapbook on top is from his first year. I have also done his second year, but have no idea where I should put it. . . I haven't even started Carolina's and haven't done anything else on Lawton's since his second birthday party . . .

Carolina's room

Here is the view of Carolina's room when you walk in the door.

I made her bedding (I'm crazy . . .) and her name on the wall as well. I bought the letters (MDF maybe?) at Michael's and then Mod Podged scrapbook paper on top of them.

My sister cross-stitched this for Carolina. Isn't it awesome?! She actually bought the kit this way (colors and everything) and it matches perfectly! She even did Carolina's before Luke's, her first, who was born eight weeks before Carolina! I love it!

This dresser was my mother-in-law's when she was little. Notice the cute little highchair she got for her birthday! :)

This is the most comfortable chair EVER! There is no telling how many hours I have sat in this chair nursing two babies and reading thousands of books to my kiddos! The Snow White bear and doll were gifts from Lawton for Christmas and her birthday respectively. I'm not sure why he has insisted on Snow White! Oh, and the circles on the wall? Each circle took five coats - BY HAND. I think I was smoking something when I decided to do these. . . ha!

This chiffarobe was also in Chad's family. Love it.

These are the newest additions to the room - she got all of these for her birthday! :)

To the left of this picture is the door to her room and to the right is her closet. I love that it is so close to her changing table. I snatched this changing table (already this color) and the smaller baskets up at a consignment sale. Score! I made the wall hangings above, too.

I also made this bow holder to match her room. Lucky for me, I have a friend who gave me the three left rows of bows for Carolina to grow into! Score again! :)

Thanks for touring my kid's rooms!

Please Pray . . .

Tomorrow my cousin, Mary Anne, is having a double mastectomy for breast cancer that she found a month or so ago. Please pray for a successful surgery and quick recovery and then strength, peace and hope as she starts chemotherapy. You can check out pictures and follow her story at her new blog she just started - A Journey of Hope and Peace.

For all of you that regularly read my blog, I have petitioned you to pray for baby Jacob, baby Reed, and baby Harper, and God has blessed these sweet babies in unimaginable ways. Please pray for Mary Anne, encourage her if you can by leaving a comment on her blog, and . . .

WEAR PINK TOMORROW!!!

A visit to sister's

Last Thursday we headed up to Kentucky to visit my sister, Kathryn, Andrew and Luke's new place. We spent the day checking out their new town and just hanging out! Here we are on a walk around downtown Russellville. Their old historic house is right in the mix of everything! The square is just a block or two away, the library, post office and bank are a short walk, too! She is able to load Luke up in the stroller and run most of their errands! How nice . . .

Here's Lawton on a cannon in the square. . .

Carolina kept on hiking up her leg and crawling up on the wall. She is going to be our climber, I think!

Luke and Carolina were fascinated by the fountain

And the best thing they are close to? This ice cream dive THREE houses down from their place! I would be in so much trouble . . . We pooled together our change and got milkshakes at the end of our walk! :) I don't have a picture of this, but I gave Carolina a sip of my chocolate peanut butter shake. She looked at me with wide eyes, like, WOW! and then jerked the straw away from my mouth and literally drank about half the shake! She's gonna have a sweet tooth and love ice cream like her momma!

Roots

Roots. Today we headed up to Tompkinsville, Kentucky to visit the family farm and some of Chad's family for Memorial Day. I love going up there because of the intense feeling of roots. The land has been in the family for at least 120 years - maybe more, I'm not quite sure. Our first stop was to an old family cemetery on the farm, well, actually now on a neighboring farm. Here is the sign identifying this family cemetery.

Lawton and Papa J are holding on for dear life as Uncle Jimmy drives us all through the field to get there. Lawton adores his Papa J!

Chad and Junior weedeated the cemetery which had just been intensely cleaned up over Spring Break.

Lawton, Carolina and I hung out in the truck until all the weeds were chopped down. The grass around the cemetery was up to my waist! Heather, Lawton and Papa J are trying an experiment to kill these massive clumps of a different kind of grass with garbage bags while Lance looks on and texts. ha! He really did help out - I just happened to capture this shot and thought it was funny. I can't talk because I didn't help out at all . . . I was on Carolina duty!

Lawton and Papa J work hard to preserve and upkeep our ancestor's resting place.

Here is just one of the gravestones . . .

We ate a quick lunch outside at Sonic :) (I forgot to document this part . . .) and then we headed over to the cemetery where Chad's grandfather (Papa J's father) is buried. There is a large number of the family buried at this church cemetery as well. I thought this was a pretty neat picture - Lawton is tending to his great-grandfather's flag (who fought in WWII)

Carolina was busy walking and stumbling on the uneven ground all over the cemetery. She was such a trooper today - she only took a thirty minute nap in the car on the way home! (and was not fussy!) She is a dream baby . . .

Our last stop was at the nursing home to visit Granny, Chad's grandmother (Papa J's mother) who suffers from Alzheimer's. She was drawn to Carolina (as was every other resident there!) Carolina lunged to sit in Granny's lap and I was able to get a few sweet shots. Granny sure was tickled about something here!

I'm so thankful that I married into a family with deep roots - and I hope that Lawton and Carolina will grow up to appreciate that, too, one day. May you all be blessed with special memories of any loved ones that you have lost on this Memorial Day!

Sweet Moments

Ahhh . . . if I could only remember sweet moments like this one when I experience the true "joys of motherhood" like this recent post. We enjoyed a fun afternoon at a local park and Lawton decided to share his snack with a begging sister . . .

See any resemblances? :)

Just chillin' . . . he sat like this and let me push him for at least ten minutes.
Oh my. She was NASTY when we left . . . but she loved every minute!