What a MESS!!

As many of you know, we have had WONDERFUL rain several days during the past week. Today was really the first day that it was dry enough for Jeremy to cut the grass (or in our yard's case...weeds). Well, as I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the grout on our kitchen floor ( Can I please just take a moment to express how much I HATE ceramic tile! I do not understand everyone's obsession with it. It is hard to clean, and when you do get it clean it still looks dirty. If I ever have the chance to build a house it will not have one inch of ceramic tile or grout!!) Jeremy knocked on the back door to let me know that Tucker, our cute little doggie, had taken the opportunity to roll around in the fresh-cut, damp grass. What does this equal??? A HUGE MESS!!! The picture does not do it one bit of justice. He had grass wedged in every strand of fur on his body. He was actually grass stained. I threw him in the bath tub and grabbed my camera. He was looking at me the whole time like- "am I in trouble or do you think this is cute?" Well, so much for my clean floor and groomed dog (he had just had a visit to PetSmart). I guess that is just how life goes!

Congrats!!

Congratulations to our friends Will and Carley- they are getting married! They are the cute couple on the far left. We celebrated their engagement by going to eat at Basil's. It was our first time to eat there, and I highly recommend it! The food is good and the atmosphere is so fun. It is behind the old Jitney Jungle on Fortification St (I think it may have been Brent's Drugs at one time???? Not that familiar with that area). Anyway, we are so excited for y'all and can't wait for the wedding!

Happy Birthday,Dad!!

My wonderful dad celebrated his birthday on 8/8/08. We had so much fun cooking out, eating cake, and watching him open his birthday gifts. Well, actually we had the most fun playing with his birthday gifts. My mom gave him an ipod and a medicine ball (one of those big things you can workout with-since my dad works out so much). We decided to blow it up which took the efforts of my brother, dad, and Jeremy. As you can see by the picture below he found a really good use for it.

All joking aside, my dad is truly the BEST dad ever. He has always been the Christan leader of our household. I think one of the reasons we respected him so much is because he led by example and not just with words. We love him SO much and hope he had a great birthday!

To All The Teachers...

I would like to give a shout out to all of my teacher friends out there. I am thinking about y'all this week (especially Friday). May your classrooms be filled with respectful, well behaved children and parents that never complain because they realize just how wonderful you truly are! Have a great year!!

Prayer Request

My friend Cindy, who is 18 weeks pregnant, sent us an alarming text the other day letting us know that she was in the hospital and things were not looking good for the baby. I do not want to confuse details, so you can click on The Beckwith Family for the accurate story. However, the past few days have proven very hopeful and God is showing his never ending goodness. We know that HE is always in control! Please continue to pray everyday for this family.

All About Pregnancy

Warning: This may be a very boring post to most people, but I want to be able to look back and remember what it was like to be pregnant- read on only if you wish...
I went to the doctor today with my "book" of questions. He just looked at me, laughed, and took a seat. I have been very nonchalant (or at least I think I have...friends and family may say otherwise) about the whole process, but I it finally hit me a few weeks ago that we are REALLY having a baby and I have NO IDEA what I am doing! Don't get me wrong, I have been super blessed with a very easy pregnancy, but if you have ever been pregnant you know things get a little weird at the end. Here are a few fun facts about the past nine months:

1. I had NO idea I was pregnant for six weeks- I was in the mountains and thought I had altitude sickness until we returned to Mississippi where we are all aware that mountains are few and far between (I think there is actually only one) yet still wanted to throw up every five minutes. Sorry Matthew and Aimee, I don't think I was much fun on that trip!

2. For the first trimester the sight, smell, and even thought of Italian food made me so sick. I could not even watch Olive Garden commercials on TV.

3. I could not wait to start wearing maternity clothes. Funny, now I can't wait to start wearing "real" clothes. Oh, to not have to wear elastic waist pants! I hold up my old clothes and think, "how was I ever able to fit into that?"

4. It took me a while to realize that the feeling in my stomach was the baby moving and not my dinner moving (sorry I know that is kinda gross!).

5. Hormones are funny and real things... I find myself wanting to cry over the silliest stuff. The funny part is I know that I am not really sad or upset, but sometimes it is best just to let it out! I am usually crying and laughing at myself for crying at the same time.

6. Speaking of hormones...The texture of my hair has changed and I am now washing my hair with Dawn dishwashing liquid- weird, I know, but my hair is doing really crazy things. Lori, my hairdresser (I am sure there is a more up-to-date name for that, but I don't know it), suggested it, and it has worked great. It really does cut grease and it only costs 97 cents for a whole big bottle.

7. My dog, Tucker, thinks my big belly is a great pillow. I could be very wrong, but I like to think that he can hear her heart beat when he puts his head on me. He gives us a funny look when she moves-especially lately since her movements are so big.

Biggest piece of advice: Do not get pregnant during the winter, you will have to endure Mississippi's lovely summer months when you are 8 and 9 months pregnant. 98 degree weather and hot flashes do not go well together!

I could go on, but I will stop there. Pregnancy has been a great experience and I think I will be a little sad for it to come to an end, but I cannot wait to see our sweet little blessing!

What a Good Daddy

We have been working hard getting Anna Claire's room ready for her big arrival. My parents saved all of the baby furniture that my brother and I used as babies and passed it to me when we found out we were pregnant- thank you SO much mom and dad! I am so excited that our little girl will be using the same furniture, it really means a lot to me! Jeremy has been working hard painting everything so that it will look great in the baby room. Here are some before (nice 1980's brown) and after ( a fresh coat of white) pictures.

Before...

After...

We still have some finishing touches to put on the room (notice that most of the drawers do not have knobs- the store I got them from only gets a few at a time so I have to keep going back, maybe by the time she is five we will have all of the knobs and pulls on the furniture). It really turned out great and I know one day she will appreciate all of the hard work her daddy put into refinishing everything!