All the Troups

Taking a break

2009-08-19T19:30:00.001-04:00

Obviously, I haven't posted in a while. I plan to return to my blog when I find a little time. Keep checking back. Thanks!

The Return

2009-07-10T16:39:00.002-04:00

My days are quite different now. I had spent the last 5 months on contract with a publisher working on book promotions with some very talented publicists in an office setting. My contract was up June 30, so now I'm back home on contracts with various publishers and clients. Working from home is a blessing. I was thrilled to be full-time there for the last few months, but I sure did miss my double life as a mommy/promotions consultant. The kids have been great! I love being back home with them. Some days are challenging, but I'm able to get my work done and I'm getting used to balancing it all.

As an extra added bonus, I'm relearning how to do laundry and dishes and cook for my family again! The things you take for granted...

Chad and I had a date last night. Tori came over to put the kids in bed for us and hang out while we were gone. (It's so frustrating to have to pay a babysitter to literally just sit in your house while your children sleep. At least we love her!) We grabbed dinner and headed to The Basement on 8th Avenue to see FLOREZ. We got there at 9, but the guys didn't go on until after 11. We're almost too old for that! Regardless, we got to see a great show. Alex Florez is an incredibly gifted guitarist. He, Erik and Justin blew us away. They'll probably have another show there next month, so PLEASE plan to be there with us. We promise a great night!

Here's hoping my life becomes blogworthy again. Hang in there with me! Much love...

I'm hoping that this little life will become blogworthy again!

Finally -- an update (especially for Mary Alice)

2009-05-12T21:46:00.008-04:00

So the slacker finally got around to posting an update. We've been busy! Once we survived tax season, we zipped off to Chattanooga to welcome our friends Za and Krishon. Za, Chad's best friend, and his wife Krishon moved to Chattanooga from Los Angeles. We're SO EXCITED that we don't have to hop a flight across the country to see them any more! Hooray!

We settled into our hotel, grabbed coffee with Za and Krissy, and crashed for the first night, but we were up bright and early for a huge breakfast at The City Diner Cafe Restaurant (no kidding, that's the whole name!) Stuart really loved eating anything within reach.

We had an awesome Saturday trotting around at Lookout Mountain, Ruby Falls, and an awesome water park downtown. Here's Michael Jackson, I mean Chad, dangling the children over a waterfall. (Just kidding. It's a decorative fountain.)

This is proof that I was actually there. Avery and I were staring directly into the blinding sun, but at least we captured the moment.

Avery and Stuart couldn't get enough of these huge wooden chairs. Unlike Cracker Barrel (or Barrel Cracker, as Avery calls it), these aren't for sale.

BEAUTIFUL view!!!

You can see 47 states from this viewfinder! (Okay, not really--but maybe 7, I think.)

Avery didn't care how cold the water was. She was in the middle of it.

Stuart, on the other hand, screamed like a girl.

Stuart loved the back of Za's car. There's so much fun to be had with a bag of softballs.

Stuart is pretty infatuated with Krissy.

Avery, too.

Aren't they handsome!

I've tried to forget the rest of the weekend because it was spent hovering over a toilet. The stomach bug got me. It only lasted a few hours, but it took 2 more days to recover. Let's erase that from memory. Delete!

A bunch of my college girlfriends came to town the following weekend to catch up before Lindsey and her family move to Portland. It's quite a task to wrangle all the children, much less photograph them, but we did it. Sort of.

These two are my favorite. .I'm a little biased, I know.

Papa stayed a night with us when he was in town for a funeral. We were just glad to have a little time with him and shower him with attention.

And in the latest news....We went to the beach. No, not all of us. Just Chad and me! It was the best ever! We were a tad bit crispy by the end of the weekend. It was the first time we'd been away from the kids for more than a day since before they were born. Hooray for vacations.

Dear readers (all 2 of you), if you're still hanging with me, I sincerely appreciate it. Till next time...

Mercy!

2009-05-06T14:44:00.002-04:00

Please, please, please extend mercy to this woman! I'm so sorry to have gone so long between posts. I definitely haven't lacked things to post about. We have so much going on in our lives right now that I'd like to share. I've just been focused on work and Chad's been dominating the computer (we just survived tax season, so he gets forgiveness.)

Stuart has started taking steps. That's the biggest news in our house. He's also mastered several words. Fun kid. We are so lucky to have such laid-back, easy-going children.

Pictures and videos to come. Hang with me.

Stuart's Birthday (aka "The one with all the pictures"

2009-03-21T22:21:00.005-04:00

On Stuart's actual birthday, we let him open a few presents. He was thrilled to add a few more bouncy balls to his collection.

He just looks so big!

He got his first taste of a cupcake, too.

At the actual party, the kids were content to scoot around on riding toys and play with balloons and balls.

I don't think he was even reaching for anyone in this picture. I'm pretty sure he was just celebrating.

Stuart loves his Uncle Shawn.

Can't tell by his expression, but Stuart was thrilled to get to eat pizza. We couldn't keep him from shoving more in his mouth before chewing and swallowing.

He got one good look at his cake and then...

He started digging in.

He had an audience, too.

He decided not to use a fork.

Stuart wasn't taking a break from eating just to get his picture taken.

These kids are up to no good!

Can you tell it used to be a cake?

We had to drag Stuart away from the cake. He would have eaten the whole thing if we'd let him. But he thought it was hilarious that Daddy was showing off his mess.

Had to throw the poor child in the bathroom sink to clean him up.

Stuart is 1!

2009-03-11T22:46:00.004-04:00

My precious baby Stuart is a year old. I can hardly believe it. This last year has been a wild ride, but we've been so blessed by his addition to our little family. We've come a long way.

Stuart crawls around this house like he owns the place. He's FAST! (as was his labor!) He is such a laid-back, go-with-the-flow child. He takes life in stride and thinks just about anything is hilarious. I doubt he'll walk any time soon, but he's quite content to get around at his own leisure.

Stuart loves his big sister, even though she sometimes pesters him. One day (not too far from now) he'll be bigger than her and put her in her place.

We're a lucky family and can't wait to see what the next year brings for our sweet one.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Working Girl

2009-02-28T09:29:00.004-05:00

We've had a few changes in our house in the last couple of weeks. Those changes have kept us quite busy, so please accept my apologies for the delay in posting.

I run a marketing and PR consulting firm with my friend Lola. We work on contract with companies to book media, write press material, and train authors how to blog and work with social media. I was approached by a former colleague a few weeks ago who asked if I'd be interested in putting my contracts on hold and work full-time with them through the end of June to get through a heavy spring publishing list.

It was good timing. I was craving a little break from my stay-at-home mom status and this position allows me to get the corporate life back for a few weeks. I worked out full-time childcare for the kids and committed to working with Hachette Book Group through the end of June. I've got traditional work hours and go to an office every day. I even had to go out and buy some new work clothes.

The change of pace has been refreshing for me. However, there's a bit of chaos in our house sometimes. Wednesdays are a nightmare. I drop off Avery and Chad drops off Stuart. We both work full days. Chad picks up Stuart and heads to church and I meet Avery at church. We eat dinner there (if there's a Wednesday night meal) and I have to dash upstairs to get my kindergarten class ready. It's 8:30 before we're home. We have to lay out clothes for the kids for the next day and get them into bed (hopefully before 9.)

I hope you don't think I'm complaining. This job is a huge blessing in the middle of a recession where people are being laid off left and right. I enjoy what I do and I honestly appreciate my kids and husband more when I get home.

So if you see us looking a little harried and hurried, please forgive. We'll either get used to this schedule soon or be done with it at the end of June. Thanks for checking on us!

Ten Years Later...

2009-02-07T09:37:00.003-05:00

Ten years ago today, I was hit head-on by a drunk driver.

I'd just had a great weekend in Atlanta at Kimme's house and was not looking forward to being back to reality. I'd turned down an offer for a ride to Nashville Christian School because I was going to be late getting back into town. The Lipscomb University Acappella Singers, in which I was singing alto in college, was about to give a Sunday evening concert at NCS and I was a little grouchy about cutting my weekend a bit short to sing there.

I changed into my black dress, grabbed my music folder, keys, and driver's license and jumped in the car -- my mom's hand-me-down Volvo. (Side note: Over Christmas break, I'd contemplated bringing my old purple Camaro back to school instead of the Volvo. That probably changed the course of my history.) Since I didn't have any pockets in my dress, I'd been balancing my license on top of my folder, but it slid off on the way out the door.

I wasn't incredibly familiar with the route to NCS, but I knew where I was going. I was on Charlotte Pike in Nashville, where it's two lanes. It was straight, wide, and flat. The weather was perfect and it was still daylight. I was going slower than I cared to because of the traffic.

All of a sudden, the Jeep Wagoneer in front of me swerved and took the ditch and that's when I saw him. His Ford Econoline van clipped the back of her and hit me head on. I don't remember the impact.

The next thing I can recall is a rescue worker outside my shattered window reassuring me that I was okay, but that he'd have to cut my door off to get me out. I remember telling him (screaming at him) that I was fine and that he just needed to get me out. There was blood everywhere, but I had no idea where it was coming from and I couldn't move my arm.

Then I remember the lights inside the ambulance and the light above my bed in the trauma unit at Vanderbilt. Doctors were coming in and out and asking me the same stuff over and over, but I don't think I was giving them good information. Since my driver's license wasn't in the car, I was unidentified. (They named me "El Paso, El Paso" because I was the fifth unidentified person admitted that day and they were using cities in Texas to name them.) I'd give them parts of names and parts of phone numbers and they finally pieced together enough information to get in touch with my family.

Whomever called my mom should win an award. They called her at home. My brother answered and they started giving him information until he said something like "Whoa. You need to talk to my mom." Very calmly they told her that her daughter Laura had asked them to call her and tell her that she's okay, but that she'd been in an accident and wanted her to come." I had no idea they'd called anyone. She was 6 hours away, so she called Grandma and told her to hit the road since she was only 2 hours away.

My uncle (Russ, I think) took Grandma to Nashville to be with me and as soon as she saw me in the trauma unit, she passed out and had to be admitted. Evidently, I looked pretty bad.

I was still covered in blood. The driver side window had shattered and was in my face and arms. The airbags had burned my hands and left forearm. My right humerus was completely snapped in two places. (It had been set and put in a gravity cast.) My legs were deeply bruised from the engine impact and I was swollen all over. I had a reaction to the pain medicine they'd given and had thrown up all over my hair, so they wrapped it back in gauze. (What?!?) My clothes (every stitch of them) had been cut off and I was only covered by a sheet -- at least that's what I think, because I was freezing. However, even just that sheet was killing my right foot. That was the only body part I was worried about because it was hurting so bad. Yes, I had my arm dangling beside me in pieces, but I was concerned about the foot. (Another side note: The trauma team didn't even check my foot. A week later at my first ortho follow-up x-rays, I forced them to x-ray the foot and they determined that it was broken in at least 4 places!)

My family finally all arrived. Dad had been out of town on business, so he hopped on a plane as soon as mom called him and dashed to my bedside. I was only in the hospital 2 days. Mom and Dad took me to Steve and Susan's house (mom's college roommate) to rest and recover. They bathed me and scooped the rest of the glass out of my ears, nursed my wounds, and put me in bed.

That afternoon, my dad went to the lot where they hauled my wrecked car to retrieve my belongings and assess the damage. When he returned, he sat down in front of me, held my hands, and cried. I had no idea what he'd seen. (Mom and I can't find the pictures, but once we do, I'll be sure to post some.)

What they explained to me that day is that I shouldn't have walked away from that accident. If I'd been in any other car, I'd have been killed. Upon impact, the airbag deployed, the steering wheel popped off (probably what broke my arm), the engine dropped down and when the van went over the top of me, the windshield cracked without shattering and the roof buckled on the "B" pillar, creating a safety cage.

I don't know all the facts of the guy who hit me. I know his name, but I'll keep it to myself. He was 49 years old. I'm told he wasn't wearing his seat belt, but survived anyway. His face was shattered on the windshield and he was in the hospital for 3 months. Instead of a simple misdemeanor of DUI, he was charged with the felony of vehicular assault, which was violation of his parole -- for murder. Yep. He'd evidently killed someone more than a decade before over drugs.

He went to prison. My source told me he'd be eligible for parole in 2008. So at the end of 2007, I wrote the parole board and received an unfortunate response. They told me he'd been released a few months before. I'd been told wrong about his parole. They assured me that I would be added to the list of people they contacted if he were to be arrested again. I sincerely hope he does not get arrested because that would mean that he'd done the same thing to someone else.

I'm pretty passionate about alcohol awareness. And I'm definitely a serious seatbelt advocate. I think Volvos are great, but I don't drive one now. I give credit for my survival to God. For He alone can give life or take it away.

It's hard to believe that I didn't even know my husband ten years ago. I can barely imagine that he is such a huge part of my life yet he has no idea what that season of my life was like. I stayed in school that semester, only having to drop one class. I learned to write with my left hand (not very well, but it did the job) because my right arm was immobile for two months. I pledged a social club (for all you non-Lipscombites, that's like a sorority in Christian schools). I wore overalls a lot so I didn't have to constantly ask my fellow dorm dwellers to fasten my pants for me. I learned how to tie my hair back with one hand. I moved on. But at the end of that semester, I had to be at his hearing. I had to look at him. I had two of my best friends beside me in the court room that day and I was strong.

I remember my accident every day. I still have scars on my hands. I feel the weather change in my shoulder, knees, and right foot. It doesn't go away. But I don't want it to. That terrible event is part of who I am today.

I know I shared a bunch of information with this post and I don't expect my writing to win any style points, but I thank you for reading it and for letting me get it out. Today was a big day.

Stuart's first haircut

2009-02-06T17:53:00.004-05:00

Before:

After:

And everything in between! We started by putting the long patch on the top of his head into a ponytail and cutting it off. It was easily an inch and a half longer than the rest of his hair anyway!
Stuart was a very well-behaved little boy during his haircut today.
His expression seems to indicate that he's a little disturbed, but he was happy as a lark the entire time.

Almost done...

Our little guy was happy to be able to see out from under his hair again!

Dying to get out of the house!

2009-02-04T22:42:00.002-05:00

We've been suffering from cabin fever. After 2 weeks of colds, ear infections, pink eye, and a little pneumonia, we were itching to see the light of day this week. However, with high temperatures in the teens and twenties, we only got to see the light of day through the car window or the glass ceilings at the galleria. Yep, we met Heidi and the girls at Cool Springs Galleria so they kids could run off some energy at the indoor play area.

After some fun time, we headed upstairs for lunch. Macy decided she wanted to hitch a ride in Avery's lap in our double stroller.

The girls are probably smashing each other, but they didn't seem to care.

Stuart and Harper seemed happy to just get to be riding shotgun.

At lunch, Stuart used no restraint with my waffle fries.

The not-so-little guy crammed as much food in his mouth as would fit at once.

What will tomorrow's adventure be?

Slumber parties, pneumonia, and getting older

2009-02-03T19:44:00.004-05:00

Our friends, the Houstons are expecting their third daughter, so we offered them a break from children overnight before the chaos. Macy and Harper spent a Friday night at our house. I actually wouldn't call it a slumber party because not much slumbering occurred. Avery and Macy slept in the same bed and Harper kept escaping from the Pack 'n Play in the guest room. (We all thought she'd be the easy one.) Nevertheless, we all survived.

Avery and Macy settled in for bedtime stories.

All the girls got musical Saturday morning and entertained Chad and me on the piano.

Don't let her fool you with a sweet face. Avery's full of mischief.

The following week, we started dropping like flies. Stuart went down first with a high fever and was diagnosed with an ear infection and pink eye. My symptoms started then, too, but I powered through. Avery started coughing on Tuesday night and her nose and eyes started running Wednesday. We went to the doctor first thing Thursday and she was also diagnosed with an ear infection and pink eye, but she also had pneumonia. Lovely. Chad and I were both put on antibiotics for ear infections within a couple of days, but after 14 days of being sick, I was SICK of being sick. I returned to the doctor for a cortizone shot and an antibiotic switch. It worked!

Poor Avery had a TERRIBLE hair day before we went to the doctor with her. We have no idea how she slept rough enough to wake up like this.

Stuart thought Avery's hair was hilarious!

Avery managed to get well enough to go out for pizza with friends on her birthday at Joey's House of Pizza in Brentwood. We closed the place down.

Avery probably only had one bite of her pizza. She was more interested in running around in circles and having cake.

Avery was thrilled with her Tinkerbell cake. It was almost too pretty to eat.

She seemed so timid while we sang to her.

Yes, she is dangerously close to the candle!

Obviously, she decided that while the cake was beautiful, it wasn't too beautiful to eat!

Daddy brought a balloon home for Avery on her birthday.

She got a TON of mail, so we stayed up late opening all the fun birthday cards.

The highlight of the day was Avery's new SUV for her dollhouse. She (and Stuart) can't get enough of it!

Catching up

2009-02-02T11:55:00.008-05:00

At a Super Bowl party last night, I was asked if my mom was mad at me. Confused, I said, "I don't think so. Why?" The response I got was incriminating. "Because you haven't blogged in so long." Yikes. I'm in trouble.

The last few weeks have been VERY FULL. I'll have to start with Christmas and catch up. I'll apologize in advance if you're overwhelmed by the photos and multitude of posts in one day. Deep breath. Here goes...

Avery left out cookies, one of the brownies she'd made for baby Jesus's birthday, a glass of milk, and some carrots for the reindeer. She was very proud of herself.

Avery and Stuart had matching snowflake jammies (or "jammas" as she calls them)

Stuart just seemed overwhelmed on Christmas morning. Eventually, he got into the festivities.

Avery showed Stuart how to play with his little tikes sports center.

Stuart really enjoyed the wrapping paper.

Avery got to play Santa at the Troup Christmas and was THRILLED with her Alabama cheerleader dress.

Chad's grandmother ("Mom") was happy to get her hands on the great-grandchildren.

Stuart was right at home in Mom's lap.

After heading back to Nashville to wash clothes and repack, we hit the road to NC to see my parents. Papa is just happy to get the kiddos for a few days.

Uncle Ben (a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill) got Stuart a Hansbrough jersey so they could match on game day.

Chad and I got away for a couple of days and headed up the mountain for some skiing and relaxing without the children.

On the way home, Avery showed off her Magnadoodle skills. This is her first freehand cat. How 'bout that?

On the drive back to Nashville, Stuart popped the lenses out of my old sunglasses and Avery thought they were way cool!

The scissor incident

2008-12-29T09:50:00.005-05:00

We have a junk drawer in the kitchen. I'm not embarrassed by it. Most people seem to have one somewhere in their house. By most standards, it is very organized. I even have a divided tray with sections labeled for certain items. I typically know exactly where to find buttons, safety pins, batteries, post-its, matches, tape, pencils, scissors, and any number of other random necessities.

Avery also knows where to find things. Trouble is, she's not quite tall enough to see what she's grabbing for. She found my scissors. We've caught her several times cutting paper into little strips and have sternly told her that scissors are only for mommies and daddies to use and that she may only touch them if we have told her it's okay.

(Side note: Don't panic. She did not cut her hair. We're very lucky. Stop freaking out.)

Lately, Avery has been waking earlier than we care to, so we send her downstairs to play with her dollhouse or watch a cartoon while we get a few extra winks in. Yesterday, Chad got up and headed downstairs to check on her and found her in the kitchen with the scissors. She had raided the refrigerator and found string cheese snacks. But she couldn't get them to tear apart on the perforations, so she employed the use of scissors to cut them apart. The best part? When Chad asked her what she was doing, she said, "I'm cutting the cheese." Priceless.

Reminds me of one of the funniest commercials I've seen. I don't support beer sales, but the folks in the advertising department at Budweiser are comedic geniuses. Enjoy!

Run-in with Santa

2008-12-22T12:09:00.002-05:00

Friday night, our little family ventured out to Wal-mart to make an exchange and gather some Christmas items. While circling the parking lot looking for a space, Avery spotted the Salvation Army bell-ringer dressed in a familiar red. "Santa!!!!" she screams. We told her that it might just be someone wearing a Santa hat and she calmed down. We parked and unloaded. As we approached the door, she saw that the bell-ringer had a beard. He let out a deep "Ho, ho, ho!" and she KNEW it was the man himself. He offered a bell for Avery to ring and I don't think she even noticed that he was missing a couple of teeth. Lovely.

We headed inside and did our shopping. After several minutes, Avery stated quite loudly that she needed to go potty. I asked if she could hold it, but she screamed that "my pee pee's coming out!" (That's her new way of telling us that she really needs to go.) Chad offered to take her so I could finish shopping. In a bit, they returned and Chad was grinning from ear to ear. He said, "Avery, tell mommy who we saw in the bathroom." She said, "Santa." Great. Chad again said, "What was he doing?" Avery smiled, "Going potty!" Evidently, when they entered the restroom, Santa had been standing at the urinal. Guess she needs to learn that Santa goes potty too!

Family Christmas Breakfast

2008-12-10T10:11:00.004-05:00

I'm just now getting around to posting pictures of the Otter Creek Family Christmas Breakfast. We had a great time. This year's festivities were so well organized. I was much more comfortable this year, too, because I wasn't large and pregnant. Hooray!

Avery and her friend Fenley were showing off their Christmas dresses for us.

Stuart loves Miss Betty!

Avery wrote a letter to Santa Claus. She wants a dollhouse, a bus, a train, a bicycle, and a guitar.

Avery mailed her letter in the North Pole Mailbox.

After two visits to see mall Santas, she was finally comfortable with Mr. Claus and jumped right into his lap for a photo.

Stuart was also quite comfortable in Santa's lap.

Stuart liked the balloons -- and there were PLENTY.

We managed to get a pretty good photo of our life group (sans Kim and Kevin). Amy actually Photoshopped their faces onto Santa and Mrs. Claus and added them to her picture.

Our little family photo may make the Christmas card this year!

Our last stop was the craft room where we made Christmas trail mix and a Christmas tree ornament.

Still giving thanks

2008-12-03T13:55:00.006-05:00

Our little family spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Huntsville this year. We trade out Thanksgiving and New Year's each year in either Huntsville or Hickory and then we spend Christmas at home in Nashville.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Chad's aunt Elaine's house. She always has a beautiful, festive table.

Stuart got to enjoy his first Thanksgiving meal, too. Elaine had a special bib ready for this special meal.

He enjoyed bouncing in Mom's lap (Chad's grandmother). She always gets a kick out of the kiddos.

Avery and her cousin Caroline had a ball fooling around together.

Papa John was helping Stuart stand up. Doesn't he look so big?

Avery made herself comfortable in Elaine's massage chair. It took no time at all for her to figure out which button did what. She'd disappear for a while and we'd find her in the den by herself, getting good back rub.

Weather was amazing on Thanksgiving day, so we spent quite a bit of time outside on the back porch before the sun went down over Monte Sano Mountain.

We managed to get a family Thanksgiving photo on Elaine's sofa. Stuart stopped screaming for a brief moment so Jim could snap a shot.

Our holiday was very musical. Avery enjoyed helping Jim play the guitar. He also played a little trombone for us.

Stuart was a whiz on the maracas!

Bebe (Chad's mom) also pulled out the guitar so the kids could make music.

Our whole family was full of spirit for the big Iron Bowl game. Roll Tide Roll!

Chad's sister Julie, her husband Shawn, and their daughter Caroline came over to Chad's parents' house for the game.

Avery and Stuart have been extra sweet to each other lately, so it's pretty easy to catch them loving on one another.

Elaine and Jim joined us for the game, too, so Avery wallowed all over Jim as usual.

Stuart loves hats these days and got pretty attached to this one that goes with Bebe's rocking horse.

Papa John took Chad and Avery for a ride in the T-model. Avery begs for a ride every time we come for a visit.

Caroline and Avery camped out at this little table and had tea parties all weekend.

The kids and I are in North Carolina this week, so I'll have many more photos when we get back to Nashville. Till then...

Troup Update

2008-11-26T14:04:00.005-05:00

I've been scolded by my mother about not posting frequently enough. I'm trying to keep up with the service blog as often as I eat out, but our family blog has fallen by the wayside.

I'm cursing under my breath today because I finally blew out a knee in my favorite old jeans. I've had them since college. They're a little tighter than I should wear them, but they're worn and comfy. I'm mourning. I'll keep them around for wearing in the house, but they need to be replaced.

We're cooped up at home for a bit because Avery has pink eye and a double ear infection. Fun! She completely perked up yesterday morning, so we took the whole family to the Predators game last night. The kids were great and our seats were awesome! We were 11 rows off the ice behind the goal. Too bad we blew it in the shootout.

We're spending the day packing for our holiday with the Troups. We'll head straight to Huntsville in the morning after the Thanksgiving worship service at Otter Creek. While I'm really looking forward to some good food, I'm dreading blowing my diet. Nursing is winding down, so I'm getting serious about finally shedding the baby weight.

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. You don't have to worry about buying gifts that people don't really want or transporting too much stuff in the car. You just get to celebrate being a family and counting all your blessings. Oh, okay. Yes, I love the food!

I wish all God's blessings on you and yours this Thanksgiving holiday! I leave you with photos of our activities over the last couple of weeks.

Here's Chad accompanying Avery on the carousel at the mall. We took her to visit Santa, but she wouldn't get her picture made with the poor ol' guy!

Stuart loved watching the animals go around and around.

Stuart loves feeding himself. Most of the food ends up in his lap or on his face, but it sure is fun!

Za and Krishon made an oh-so-brief visit from California, so we stopped in to eat at the Loveless and shop at Hams & Jams market.

I was afraid Krissy would try to sneak Stuart into her luggage.

Avery is quite fond of her new elephant jammies. Makes bedtime MUCH easier.

Papa stopped in for a couple of hours on the way through town to play "Ride a Big Horsey."

Stuart was showing off his clapping skills for Papa.

The Other Blog

2008-11-05T01:09:00.003-05:00

I started another blog. I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with two, but I'm gonna try! The other blog is www.theserviceproject.blogspot.com. It's dedicated to my reviews of restaurant service. What???

I know it sounds completely off the wall, but I've always had a strong passion for good restaurant service. We've all had bad restaurant experiences. It's hard to forget them. My plan here is to critique restaurant service with the ultimate goal of having restaurants improve their service. I've been writing training material for years now--assembling notes from my various experiences along the way. This new blog is going to be my sounding board and my storage unit for all the notes to come.

I'd appreciate if you'd bookmark the site and share it with others. I plan to make it interesting and I promise to share the funny stuff along the way. Thanks for your support!

Panhandling

2008-10-31T23:09:00.004-04:00

Halloween is nothing but legalized panhandling. Our neighborhood has no street lights, so it isn't exactly ideal for trick or treating. We headed out tonight at 6, trying to catch the last little bit of daylight. However, most of our neighbors closed their blinds and turned off the porch lights. A few left bowls of candy on their doorsteps--a welcomed opportunity for Avery to hoard extra sugar.

Nevertheless, we ended up with too much candy. And, of course, since the local kids have figured out that our neighborhood is sub-par for trick-or-treating, we didn't get many visitors. Therefore, we have tons of candy left over. I have exercised restraint and avoided it so far. I'm still holding onto a few pregnancy pounds and Halloween candy would be the death of me.

We let Avery stay up a little late to watch Little Monsters, but she seemed to get a little freaked out by Howie Mandel in costume, so we switched over to a little Dora On Demand before bed.

By the way, Stuart was a chicken. He had already outgrown his size 9 months lobster costume, so we let him borrow Avery's costume from 2 years ago. And Avery was a pink dog -- again. She has been begging to wear the costume again ever since she took it off last year.

I leave you with a few sweet pictures from our fun family night.

Up to no good

2008-10-30T17:39:00.002-04:00

My little fashionista has a newfound interest in hair curlers. We found these soft ones at Target. They roll like a sponge roller, but they twist closed so they are easy to sleep on. (We haven't convinced her yet that she should sleep in them. Stubborn.)

Another favorite pasttime is dressing herself. This kiddo can be caught in all types of getups. Never a dull moment in our house!

Monday Night Football

2008-10-29T09:44:00.003-04:00

We spent Monday night cheering on the Titans...from LP Field! Normally we'd be planted on the sofa, but Bob and Shannon Barrett invited us to share their tickets. We dressed in our Code Blue apparel but prompty covered it up with layers of sweaters, coats, hats, and gloves. It really wasn't as cold as I expected, but I think the cold spurred on my cold. Yep, I've gotten Avery and Stuart's colds. We've been practicing the art of sharing with Avery, but she hasn't quite figured out that you don't share everything -- namely, germs.

Ideally, I'll rest today and get plenty of fluids and then be back to my old self in no time. We're going to try not to pass this cold in circles.

A special shout out to Becca and Nathan Daniel for inviting Avery to sleep over with Fenley and to Jay and Melanie Brown (and Tori and Abby) for giving Stuart his first sleepover! We couldn't have a life without you all. We owe you a big one for our NFL date night! Thanks!

Becca, the saint

2008-10-21T17:25:00.002-04:00

I had an appointment this morning that I wasn't exactly looking forward to. (Ladies, can I get an "amen"?) Avery has school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I make all my appointments on those days so I'll only have Stuart in tow. However, today, she was on day 5 of a cough and I felt pretty guilty about exposing her to other vulnerable kiddos.

My precious friend Becca had offered to meet me at the doctor's office to hold Stuart in the waiting room. She also got stuck with Avery. Not normally a big deal, but today Avery was bound and determined to wear her big girl panties. Before we went into the office, we stopped off at the restroom. But the kid doesn't perform under pressure. So I warned Becca that she might need to make a quick trip out to take her to the potty.

When my appointment finished up, I came out to the waiting room to find Avery in different pants. Becca told me that Avery had made a face, so she asked her if she needed to "go." However, she'd already peed into her shoes. Poor Becca. She is a true friend for putting up with me and my potty training child. I love you, Becca!!!

Diaper woes

2008-10-17T17:05:00.002-04:00

I just made my daughter change her own diaper. Not kidding. I just sat on the edge of the tub next to her for an hour and 3 minutes waiting for her to go to the potty. She gave up and asked to put on her diaper. Then she promptly peed in it. So I sent her upstairs to change herself. Tough love.

Family night out

2008-10-16T17:36:00.005-04:00

Normally on Wednesday nights we go to church. We are blessed to be part of an amazing church family and look forward to meeting with that community multiple times each week. However, last night, our plans changed at the eleventh hour. We took the kids to a rock show!

Our friends Alex and Erik are in a band called FLOREZ and they had a show at Belmont last night. We found out that the show was going to be fairly early, so it was a prime opportunity to let our little ones see them live. Avery loves to listen to FLOREZ music in the car and she's constantly hounding me to let her listen when I'm on the computer.

The show was fantastic. They even threw in a couple covers that were awesome! The guys really put on a great live show.

We got to see Alex's sweet wife Michelle (who is expecting their first baby in January) and Erik's fiance Jaime (who he met on CBS Survivor: China). Erik and Jaime are in the final days of a wedding contest. They're hoping to win a dream wedding in Charleston. Go online and VOTE for them!

Can't be mad

2008-10-15T16:07:00.003-04:00

I needed to be talked off the ledge this afternoon. My stubborn kids didn't want to take a nap. This is nothing new for Avery, but Stuart is usually out like a light as soon as I put him in his crib. Not so today. So he's in the living room with me.

Avery begged to go to the potty. She's been getting better. She went last night before bed (after sitting on the pot for 10 minutes -- no exaggeration) and did the big #2 this morning after about the same amount of time. However, this afternoon, it was simply stall tactics. She sat for a good 20 minutes with no activity, just so she didn't have to be in her bed. I finally forced her to put the diaper back on and put her back in bed.

Every few minutes, she'd be at the door whispering for me or jumping off furniture in her room. I heard her moving around in there a couple of minutes ago, which obviously means she's not in the bed I told her not to dare get out of. I headed upstairs to tell her to get back in bed, but she was huddled in the corner by her nightlight reading her picture Bible. Can't be mad at her for that! At least she's quiet!