Easter 2013

Apparently someone stole my idea and already filed an indictment against Punxsutawney Phil for his false prediction that Spring would come early this year.  Lucky for Phil, his handler has chosen to take the fall and is now claiming he "misinterpreted" Phil's prediction.  What Phil really meant to say was that we would have 6 more weeks of winter.  Stinking groundhogs.

I really hate winter.  For about two weeks I enjoy having a fire in the fireplace, drinking hot tea and hot chocolate and wearing comfy sweatpants with tall socks and using a blanket as a poncho whilst in the house.  After those two weeks I become very cranky.  I think I have that disorder where lack of sunlight seriously affects me.  You know the one.

Mostly I hate to wear jackets.  And layers.

So this past weekend while we were in Texas for Easter (and the weather was in the 60's and 70's) was awesome!  My toes saw sunlight for the first time in months, and I didn't wear a jacket once.  I also got to meet the newest baby donkey at my mom and dad's.  Collin thought he was super soft and my niece, Tinsley, told me he gave good kisses.  They were both right!

My city-boy checking out the donkeys.

Collin and Tinsley are so precious together now.  They talk to each other and play together and it makes my heart melt.  I wish they could see each other more often.  Collin has been pointing at things since we've been back home and saying, 'Dat's Tinsy's'; he misses her!

My brothers were obsessed with shooting crows while we were there, and now Collin thinks that's what you do.  He keeps saying he wants to 'go soot birds', and if we see a bird he'll make a gun with his hand and say, 'Pow-pow!' 

Collin got to hunt Easter eggs at my parents' house.  He wasn't very excited by this process, and enjoyed petting the dog afterward more than hunting the eggs.



Her name is "Little Ann", from Where the Red Fern Grows, but Collin told me, 'Nuh-uh, dis BIG Ann'.

The weekend went by too fast, but I'm super thankful we had a chance to visit.  Jarrod and I both say there is nothing we look forward to more than being able to sit on the porch at my parents' house and do nothing.  I took this place for granted growing up and now that I live so far away I miss it tremendously.


I wish I had realized sooner that not everyone can have a view like this from their porch.





SC Part Two - The Food!

Here is part two of our vacation in Charleston, SC last week.

Sunday morning we woke up on Folly Beach and took in the breathtaking scenery.  My father-in-law was able to snap a few pictures of us all pre-coffee/pre-shower and very tired.  We lost an hour traveling from one timezone to another, and then we lost another hour due to Spring Forward.  So after soaking this all in, we were headed to brunch!

I am a big fan of breakfast foods, and I love a good brunch so much.  My sister-in-law made reservations for us to have brunch at a place called High Cotton.  It was delish.  My sister-in-law bragged on the shrimp and grits at this place.  Well, I love shrimp and I love grits, so before our vacation I had made it my mission to enjoy this dish sometime while in Charleston.  Four out of five of us ordered shrimp and grits, and it was wonderful!

After brunch we walked a few blocks to Waterfront Park and enjoyed the scenery. 

That night we had our beach photo shoot that sadly didn't include much of the beach because it was so chilly!  After pictures we decided to stay on Folly Beach instead of driving back into Charleston, so we ate at Taco Boy.  It was really good - tacos with every kind of filling you could want.  I had a grilled chicken taco and a carne asada taco.  We all split the nachos as an appetizer, and I wish I would have gotten them for my meal, because they were that good!

Monday morning we woke up and my father-in-law got brunch to-go from The Lost Dog Cafe on Folly Beach.  We thought we'd get a couple of things to tide us over until lunch, and we got enough to pretty much sustain us through lunch!  The fruit parfait was in a Solo cup; there was no way I could eat the entire thing but it was fun trying.

After letting Collin play at the beach for a while, we had lunch at Rita's on Folly Beach.  I was still full so I only ordered an appetizer!

Monday night we had dinner at Hominy Grill.  

Let me just say we are all still dreaming about this place.  It was the quintessential Charleston restaurant.  Cocktails had southern names, people had the most syrupy southern accents - it was sublime.  My father-in-law ordered ribs and after we all tried them Jarrod won't quick talking about paying whatever it cost to have some overnighted to us here in Arkansas!  I had a salad that was simple but yummy and definitely included fried green tomatoes; it doesn't get more Southern than that.  For dessert we split a dish of chocolate pudding.  Not the instant kind.  The kind that is made from scratch and includes more than three ingredients.  Jarrod and his parents wanted ribs and chocolate pudding the rest of our trip!  I also discovered my new favorite cocktail here: the John Daly. 



And amazingly, after Hominy Grill we headed to dessert.  We had been told to visit Kaminsky's for dessert and coffee/dessert cocktails, and while exploring Charleston our first morning we walked right by it.  One look at their dessert case and we knew we had to come back!  Jarrod and I had apple pie and bourbon pecan pie.  This place is open until well after midnight.  We were there around 9pm or 10pm and it was hopping! 

Tuesday morning we grabbed a quick breakfast of smoothies and pastries from Black Magic Cafe on Folly Beach, and we headed to the South Carolina Aquarium so Collin could finally say he had seen sharks in Charleston.  This was a really nice aquarium, and Collin really enjoyed it!

After the aquarium we had lunch at Five Loaves Cafe.  We thought we were going to get a light lunch with soup, sandwiches and salads but again, we got a lot more than we imagined.  It was yummy!  I had half a salad and sandwich, Jarrod had the other half of my sandwich and a cup of soup.  Our sandwich was chicken salad, but it also had avocado and bacon on it.  Ahhhmazing!

After the aquarium and our not-so-light lunch, we went back to Folly for naps.  We still hadn't been down to the end of Folly yet to see the Morris Island Lighthouse that is off the coast, and we realized that afternoon would probably be our last chance.  So, we woke Collin up from his nap and hurried down to the end of Folly.  After parking the car, we had to walk a little while down an old asphalt road and then over some sand dunes until we got to the beach.  Once we got down to the beach, this is what we saw -

So cool and so beautiful.  Collin kept calling it the "Itehouse".  He loved it!

We had dinner reservations at Poogan's Porch that evening, and my poor mother-in-law had already changed the reservation once so we had to run back to our condo to clean up for dinner.  We all could have spent a lot more time down here at this end of the beach looking at the lighthouse and playing in the driftwood and sea shells.  We ran to get ready but it wasn't looking promising so Jarrod's mom had to call and bump our reservation AGAIN!  We made it though, and I am so glad because it was yum-O!

I was still so full from everything we'd been eating so again I just ordered one of their "starters".  I had Mac & Cheese, which is also very popular in the South and so much better than anything you could get out of a box.  This was made with country ham and aged, smoked gouda.  Yes, please! 

Wednesday morning we had to be up and out of the condo early.  We went back to The Lost Dog Cafe on Folly and ate breakfast there before heading to James Island to a really beautiful park.  I had ordered a kite for Collin before our trip and shipped it to Jarrod's sister in Charleston, but we never seemed to have the time to fly it until this last day.  We went to the park and tried for a while, but there wasn't enough wind to get the kite up and keep it up.  This is about all the kite flying that Collin was able to do!

We hung around Charleston for a little while that afternoon and spent some time at Jarrod's sister's house before heading to the airport.  We were ready to be back home, but I think this is one of the vacations I have been saddest to leave.  I love all things Southern and Charleston was just beautiful.  The architecture, the food, the marshes and the ocean were all so beautiful.

The Folly Beach pier is iconic and rightly so - here we are loving South Carolina!

Back from SC & the Things I Learned About Traveling with a Toddler

We are back from our South Carolina vacation!  We got home last night a little after 9:00 pm and were all in bed before 10:00 pm!!  Four airplanes in five days and one toddler made this family very tired.  We survived it though, and we had a wonderful time.

Things I learned about this type of traveling with a toddler...

* It doesn't matter if I whisper in his ear while disciplining him in public because he will shout out whatever it is we're discussing for the whole flipping world to hear.  I had to tell him countless times on the plane to keep his seatbelt fastened because it was the rule, but he didn't care.  I tried telling him it wasn't a toy, and all that got me was him yelling when I went to mess with the air vent above our heads, Mommy dat's NOT A TOY!!!  And when I would lean in to swat him as discreetly as possible or try to correct him, he would shout, I TOLD YOU!  And of course there were also the times when he would just meltdown and cry for the entire plane to hear.

I know, he looks so innocent.

* If you introduce a toddler to PEZ, he won't care that there is a certain way to work the dispenser, and he won't understand why the dispenser is no longer producing them after he's eaten them all up.  All he'll care about is that you give him more Shark PEZ a.s.a.p. 

* Telling a toddler not to lick the airplane window because it's gross will only cause him to do it again and then shout, Dat's gosss!

* Sometimes people will give you free things because your kid is cute.  This is obviously fantastic.

* Taking pictures on the beach in 60 degree weather, plus a windchill, will not work out so well.  Adults can suck it up and carry on with a smile.  A toddler can't.  He will cry and make his lips quiver in the cold so you feel like an idiot for trying to plan such a thing.  It's a good thing God invented Papas, because Collin's saved the day during our beach photo shoot.

Poor baby finally getting some dinner after a cold evening taking pictures.  He's still glassy-eyed and snotty-nosed from all the wind.

* There is nothing better than handing a toddler something *new* and watching them be obsessed with something they love, but you better be prepared for how quick the *new* wears off.  I was so proud of my bag of tricks I had put together for the airplane rides and they worked wonderfully on the way there, but they were all old news on the way back. 

* Having a woman who could pass for Paula Deen's cousin declare (in Paula Deen's accent) that your boy is gorgeous and should be on the cover of a southern gentleman's magazine can almost make you forget about all the naughty things he's done in the past 48 hours.

* If you give a toddler a kite, he won't care that it takes some effort to put it together and he won't care that it takes a minute to get it to fly.  He will just want. it. right. now.


"Helping" Daddy put the kite together.

This is all he wanted - to hold the kite string and feel like he was in control of it!

But really we had a wonderful time!  We ate so much amazing food that I think I will do an entire post on the food alone.  In fact, I'm still full.  Seriously.

I thought I could sit and look at the ocean for hours and now I know I can.  My mother-in-law did a wonderful job locating an awesome condo to fit us all comfortably.  Every morning, all I had to do was open my eyes, turn my head and I could see the ocean. 

The view from my pillow.

Grandma Shirley

It has certainly been a tough year with regard to grandparents at our house.  Just as I am gearing up for our semi-beach vacation, I find out we are about to have to head to freezing temperatures, rain and snow in order to say goodbye to my grandmother.

Grandma Shirley passed away Saturday night.  She was not in very good health, but her passing was certainly sudden.  So quick that it didn't seem real for quite a while and maybe if I'm honest, I still haven't wholly realized it.

My mom's family lives in Illinois, for the most part, so growing up I had a long-distance relationship with that side of the family.  Since Jarrod and I have lived in Arkansas for the last two years, and are actually about 5 or 6 hours closer than we've ever been before, we've been back twice now to visit my grandparents.  I am so thankful for those visits. 

My grandma was a character, and to know her was to love her.  I have said before that my grandparents remind me of Marie and Frank Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond.  They could bicker like nothing else, and my grandma would not hesitate for a moment to tell you what she thought of something.  But she raised four children of her own, cared just as much for two sons my grandpa had from a prior relationship and she took immense pride in how large their family had grown with all of us grandkids and great-grandkids. 

I've learned a lot about my grandma since becoming an adult.  I've learned that she was an incredibly loyal person.  She would do anything for a family member, and she only wanted to see each of us happy and successful.  She may have told us how the cow ate the cabbage, but she did it out of love for each of us.

How deeply she loved is evidenced by her marriage to my grandpa.  She and my grandpa would have been married for 60 years this November.  To be with a person for that long is mind-blowing to me at this point in my life. 

She told me at the rehearsal dinner for my wedding that marriage was really hard.  She said it was work every day.  I think she and my grandpa could bicker with each other because they both knew that neither of them was going anywhere.  I'm thankful for her example and for her love.

 My grandparents when they were young and starting a life together.

My grandparents 10 years ago at their 50th wedding anniversary.



Thankful Tuesday

Things I'm thankful for today include (but are certainly not limited to):

* New experiences with our boy, like a Harding basketball game.  Collin said it was "too yowd", but he got over it pretty quick!

* Presidents Day and Henderson County for making it a holiday this year!  It was super rainy and dreary here, but I got to drop Collin at daycare and spend the day being incredibly productive.  Like shopping for our upcoming vacay :)


Collin Henry, ready for family pictures at the beach!

* For funny debates with a 2 year old.  This morning he was playing with a toy dinosaur while I got ready and pretending to bite me with it.  I asked him, "Who has scarier teeth - a dinosaur or a shark?"  The reponse that one question elicited was to die for.  He began a 3 minute long speech about how sharks have scarier teeth and can eat a dinosaur.  Duh, mom.

* For rainy days followed by sunshiney days.

* For dear friends receiving answers to prayers - the hope and joy an engagement brings to life.

* For the band Young Oceans.  If you don't know them, you should. 



Breaking Up is Hard To Do

In case you want to know what I've been doing on this lovely day before Valentine's Day, I'm about to tell you.

I have been breaking up with photographers all day.  Yep.  So awkward.

Our family is taking a trip to Charleston in about a month with my in-laws, and I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to have those family photos taken that we're always talking about.  I'm also super excited about this trip.   Read: I took the bull-by-the-horns and reached out to several photographers in the Charleston area. 

I realize photography is an art-form and therefore very personal to those who do it for a living.  I have also learned over the past few years that not every photographer is the same, and while you do get what you paid for, sometimes people are deluded when it comes to what's reasonable.

I corresponded/spoke with 5 photographers.  One was simply not available during our vacation (although she took her sweet time letting me know this), but her prices and her work were really great.  The rest communicated with me in a really timely manner, but two were simply too expensive and two were basically tied in terms of style and cost.  It came down to me choosing the lady who happened to be a little less expensive and had also been communicating the most with me.  I really like her work, and I already feel so comfortable with her because of all of our correspondence.

So what happens once you choose someone?  Well, since I had been communicating with all of them and first and foremost just needed to know if they were available for the timeframe in which I needed them, I felt obligated to email them all back and let them know I had chosen to go with another photographer.  Thank you very much for the info, but we've decided to go with someone else.  I realize people need to work, and I thought it would be rude for me to keep them thinking they might have a possible job lined up with me.

Like I said before, one wasn't available and I chose one, so that left three I had to break up with.  Two handled it very well.  They were mature about it.  They knew we weren't meant to be.

One did not.  Oddly enough I had an inkling she wouldn't go so easily.  She's that girl in the back of the limo on The Bachelor who has barely met the guy and is already heartbroken he didn't want to marry her.

So maybe that was a little harsh, but here's the thing...  When someone asks, "Would you mind letting me know why you didn't choose me so I can market better", just run.  Pretend you didn't get that email.  Say your husband made an appointment with another photographer without talking to you.  Whatever you do, don't dare tell them the truth!

So yes, on this day before Valentine's Day, as a woman who has been married for over five years, I'm wishing I could have used It's not you, it's me or  We just want different things or God told me to.

Silliness

My boy is just plain silly.  He never ceases to amaze me with the bright, witty things he says!  His newest thing has been to tell me in the mornings this week, "I TOLD you!"  Usually this comes after I tell him to stop doing something.  So for instance, I told him this morning not to hit the wall with his toys, and he comes back at me with a very stern, "I TOLD you" and a finger pointed in my direction.  I can't help but crack up.  I will just laugh and say, "No.  I TOLD YOU, we don't hit the wall!"  Then he starts giggling and repeats it all over again.  I don't think we really use that phrase around here ("Collin, I told you to stop doing that", etc.), so I don't know where it came from!

Last Friday, we skipped our coffee date and went to visit a small business here in town that is having a contest to find local children to be in their ad campaigns.  I entered Collin's picture in the contest, and everyone who entered got to come by and pick out a little prize.  Well, my child picked out the Disney princess coloring set.  He was super excited about it too!

Sunday night we went to a Super Bowl party with our Community Group and had a blast.  Collin loved it because his friend, Amelia, has really good toys.  At one point, Amelia brought some hairclips over to Jarrod, and Jarrod took it upon his self to put them in her hair.  ALL of them.

Of course, who couldn't stand to be left out?  Collin!

Silly boy, to the max.