Weekend recap - Keywords: Food and Baby

We have had a FUN weekend. As you probably picked up on from my previous 2 posts - there was a really cute boy at my house all weekend. And that boy and I are in love.

I got off work late on Friday, but I headed straight home because my cousin was hosting a jewelry party at our house! She sells Lia Sofia jewelry and a bunch of ladies were gathered to empty their wallets for the sake of style.


We had a really fun time at the party and everyone got some really great stuff! The babe was there but was perfectly content hanging out in his jumper thingy. I know my constant visits to grab his legs while he jumped helped pass the time, but really - what one year old is just content hanging out, laughing, and never crying?? He is perfect.

After the ladies left, the executive decision was made for Big Al to be in charge of supper (imagine that).


He ran to the store and then started patting out some burgers while we entertained the genius baby who showed us all his sign language while simultaneously wowing us with his great sense of humor.

Pajama clad babies with pudgy little diaper booties are the cutest.


Jayce played a little while longer with expensive educational toys like gift bags and tissue paper.


Then his Jenn ("Den") read some books before heading to sleep.


Den looks rough on Friday nights after a long work week, but Jayce didn't seem to mind.

As soon as he went down the food was ready!

YUM! (Never too early to bust out the Christmas plates! We live in the spirit.)


Mama was excited about the burgs.


We put it all on the table real klassy-like and dug in.


I wrapped mine up in a tortilla because sometimes I am just crazy like that.


I am noticing a trend in the remaining pics for the weekend. Food and baby. I am no longer perplexed as to why this was like my favorite weekend ever.

Saturday Ris and Jayce made some visits around town, and I hit up Barberitos with Marsha and Jake. I do my best work with beautiful salads at Barberitos. Pretty enough to eat!


Did ya'll know La Berry is right next door to Barberitos? What are the chances??


I know there is yogurt under there somewhere. I get the same toppings every time, but I did throw in a new flavor (Pomegranate) this time and it was quite refreshing.

Jake shared with us that there have been times in his life where he had gone to La Berry, gotten yogurt, finished the yogurt, and then gone back through the line and purchased a whole new cup full of goodness.


I hope to one day follow in his footsteps.

I went home to find someone ready to go for a walk around the neighborhood. And by that I mean about 1/10th of a mile up the street and back because we can't take the heat.


Jayce holding his pinestraw and rock. We always try to make it educational for the children and get them familiar with nature.


Jayce no doubt telling Deb about his walk.


Before we knew it, it was time for bath and bed.


But no bedtime routine would be complete without ample reading time. We laid on the bed and I learned about this caterpillar that was REALLY hungry, and then Jayce chose a book about colors. Each page of the book was dedicated to a color and also had the Spanish word for the color and all the things that were that color (el co-LOR).

Jayce was not very impressed by my Spanish but when I got to red and very enthusiastically pronounced, "ROJO!" (RRRRO-ho) the child started laughing hysterically. Apparently it was the funniest thing he had ever heard - Spanish or otherwise.


So of course I said "ROOOO-JO!" like fifty more times in a row.


This child is so smart, he can read upside down.


After the babe went down, it was back to the food.

Alan was back in the kitchen that night and had prepared quite the feast.

Chicken on the grill, baked potatoes with his famous rub (I heart potato skins with this secret concoction), corn on the cob (organically grown and bought by Al at the Farmer's Market - he would want me to mention that), and green bean casserole.

Lest you think Alan is going all organic/healthy on us....fear not. The fried zucchini and the tub of butter balanced it all out.




I am still full.


Sadly, Sunday came to quick and it was time for my beloved babe to go back home. I did bestow upon him one milestone on his way out. His first Honey Buzzah.


He was a fan, just like his godmother.


But his godmother is an even bigger fan of him....and the biggest fan of our fun weekend together with the gang!

Laughter makes the heart grow fonder

I like to make people laugh, and it seems I have a new audience member who thinks everything everyone does is hilaaaaaarious. And can I just say - that is the kind of person I like to have around.

The kind of person who, after I took his milk and pretended to drink it....


...laughed so hysterically that he had to throw his hands up over his mouth in efforts to contain himself.


But as we know, sometimes the laughter cannot be tamed. And who would want to when the laugher is THIS cute?


I am going to make it my life's work to figure out ways to make this child crack up. Then I can quit my job and just live off of the intense joy that this picture brings me.


And because it's fun, here's a look back at the most smiley boy I've ever met...

April 2010 - 10 days old


October 2010 - 6 months old


June 2011 - 14 months old


Hope you all have a funny Friday!

If I wish upon a star

If I were to ask myself - "Self, what would make you SO happy to find in your house when you get home from work today?"

This would be my answer, my dream, my wish...


And I am SO happy to say - dreams do come true! This fella (along with his Mama, Nana, and the front teeth gap that slays me) is coming to stay with us for the next few days.

I am SO happy to sticking a baby on my hip for the weekend! My hips need babies. It's how God intended.


5pm can't get here soon enough!

Catch up

Where do the weeks go, I ask you? Santa will be here before we know it.

I really had plans to blog more than once in 8 days, but I had kind of an off week last week. It seemed I had tentative plans for each night, but one by one they fell away leaving me and my TiVo as ultimate best friends almost every night of the week.

Me and my hormones were actually ok with that since, during the majority of the week, one of us was raging out of control and one of us was emotionally unstable.

I was pretty happy to see the weekend roll in, and with it brought the return of my wayward, now-turned-dark-as-night parents who had been laying on a beach all last week.

Thank GOODNESS I feel the way I do about them because jealousy can really ruin relationships if there is not a strong basis of love.

Sunday was Father's Day, of course!


I went to church with my parents and crazy Iris, and afterwards we went to eat lunch at McAlister's. My dad showed off his mad daddy skills by agreeing to go there - he is not really even a fan of McAlister's, which is beyond me.

But he did it for the women and children....fathering at it's finest.

And thank goodness for his son and new daughter-in-law for sending sweet cards in the mail (like the one shown above)! Apparently his wife and blood daughter couldn't fit getting cards into their busy beach-laying and tv-watching schedules.

But let's not forget that I DID pimp his ride while he was gone.


Anything for the man who raised me.

In all seriousness, I don't think it is a secret that I am crazy about my daddy. He is the funniest person I know and the most loving dad I could imagine. I am blessed to have him!

And here he is now with his crazy wife and his favorite new daughter!


Yes, we had a really fun occurrence of Monday - our dear Larsen threw a baby shower for a friend in Savannah this past weekend and was passing back through on her way home. She made a pit stop in the Boro to eat lunch with her in-laws and it made us SO happy.

For the record, I did NOT make them go to Subway. Contrary to popular belief, I do eat other places - the trick is that SW is basically right next door to where I work. And due to the time restraints of the lunch break, it was agreed that it was the best option. Plus, it is delicious.

This was the first time I'd seen Larsen since the wedding. I have to say - marriage looks good on her!


Yesterday after work I headed out to the Hagan's. We went out to eat and Marsha treated Marlee and me to some Buffalo's and we had a good time laughing our way through dinner.

When we got back, Jake had some friends over - one of which was having a birthday.

What other choice did we have once we found that out?


Moesha and I tag-teamed on the cupcake making committee. In the end, I received the honor of icing the little beauties (my favorite task) and Marsha was sprinkle coordinator.

I deemed this one the most beautiful of all. The cupcake/icing/sprinkle ratio was just so perfect, I couldn't get over it. I didn't want anyone to eat this one.


Jake going after the perfect cupcake with a vengeance.


After the cupcakes were done, I helped Marlee with her accounting homework.


I was a psych major who never really took any math classes after like pre-algebra - so I was the obvious choice for a tutor.


Marlee has an idea mid-lesson....


Maybe I should have been a teacher - I just lose my mind when the lightbulb goes off with these kids!

Curbs and Cameras

This past weekend started off with a little bit of a bang.

I have been driving a big bus of a car for the last 4 years, so I am no stranger to precarious parking situations. At this point, I can pretty much park that thing anywhere - and even, on occasion, places that are really too cramped for my massiveness.

So imagine my surprise when I went to work on Friday in my mother's teeny tiny mini baby Corolla and found myself just about flying through the air after I ran up on the curb in a CAR-LESS parking lot.

I mean - there is no way I was not airborne for at least 2 or 3 seconds.

I am sure if anyone from the outside saw they'd think I was just another drunk rolling into treatment. If only I could claim alcohol as my excuse....

The scene of the catapult.


(That chunk taken out of the concrete was not a result of this incident, but I did wonder when I got out to survey the damage and saw it.)

No, I had not hurt the concrete - but I did notice my hub cab was a little ajar due to the impact.

Anyways, it happens to the best of us, and I really didn't think too much of it until the next day when I walked out to leave the house and saw this.


I'm always looking for ways to appear extra cool....and I really think the ghetto hub cap situation is helping my cause.

Ay yi yi. Sorry, Mama! (Even though you don't know about this yet.)

Well, the big plan for the weekend was helping Marsha take pictures at a wedding on Saturday. I went over to her house Friday to help pack up and for her to remind me how to use a camera because for some reason it seemed like that would be helpful.


Marsha got a new wide-angled lens that rocked her world. We practiced by taking pictures of each other.

Then she took a few of the ghost that haunts her kitchen table.


We got distracted for a while with some non wedding-related pictures of a different kind. Here is Marsha pulling up some pictures of me from many years (and about 50lbs) ago that would serve as the ultimate blackmail should they ever go public.


All I can say is WOW. We laughed so much we were crying. It's not that seeing myself much heavier than I am now is all that funny (more like depressing). It's just that I've come a long way over the years and what else can we do now but laugh?

Plus all the pictures usually involved one of her children who have ALSO come a long way since the days of awkward childhood style. (Marlee, I'm looking at you babe.)

Marlee was actually out of town this weekend so - when we could compose ourselves long enough to text her - we sent her pictures of herself from the old days.

Then I sent her this one with a caption that read, "Your mom and your little sister Jackie...."


Jackie all grown up and completely unimpressed by our photographic entertainment.


I did get him to (reportedly) LOL when I texted him (he was upstairs) these.




After we had walked enough miles down the memory lane of shame, I went back to practicing. I grabbed one of my favorite subject and went to work.


Phoebes was happily playing fetch with her bff - the Iguana.


And also playing dead, although she could have been inspired by my "before" pics and decided to do some ab work - I can't remember.


Moesha continuing to test the wide angle.


We went out to eat that night and for some reason I carb-loaded like I was planning to run a marathon the next day.

Turns out it was a good thing I did, because our day lasted from about 11am to 11pm - taking pictures at weddings is like its a 12 hour workout session!

Working my biceps.....


I didn't take any pictures that day with my camera, but we had so much fun and everything went perfectly. The bride was calm and collected and kept us laughing, and the setting was beautiful and completely picturesque.

It was a little toasty (maybe 150 degrees I think?), and I believe we sat down for about 5 minutes total the whole day. But in the end I think we (and by "we" I mean 97% Marsh, 3% JT) got some great pics!

We were SO tired when got in the car to leave. But there was still one stop we had to make.


On the way home we joked about jumping in the pool fully clothed (heat-stroke induced nonsense), but we settled for this. Heavenly.


Sunday was a complete chill day at the pool, which was set to an unexpected soundtrack.


Nevertheless, it was the perfect bookend to a busy weekend!