We've been trying to soak up friend time before I go back to work. I only managed to remember pictures from our time with sweet Meredith and AJ, though we've had many more engagements since then. We've seen our "soon to arrive" friend Henley's nursery, lunch and sprinkler park with Colt and Lydia, swimming with Meredith and Walt, Thomas' big boy birthday party, and a cookout with friends Lilly, Noah, and Sophie and neighbors Molly, Emma and Britten. I feel so blessed that Nora, at such a young age, will have lots of choices when it comes to friends in her life.



Nora loves AJ and cries everytime he leaves. I'm not talking normal fussing here, she cries and says "nooooo, A Shay" like someone's trying to hurt him. It's pretty cute. Here she is trying to put her bow in his hair.





Meredith and Nora after a day of swimming. After a chorus of mine's and no's, they actually started getting along rather nicely.



Finally, just a cute picture of my little corn lover at our neighbor's.

100 Things. . .

Because I have insomnia at the present and because Casey tagged me. . .

1. Last night I was up for hours in the middle of the night scratching my mosquito bites.
2. I had to look up how to spell mosquito.
3. I pop my knuckles all the time.
4. I think I have arthritis because of it.
5. For some reason Kevin and I call it Arthers.
6. Kev and I nickname every member of our family and never use real names.
7. Daisy: Buddy
8. Denver: Denny
9. Nora: Cubby. Sometimes Cubby butts, cuddle bums.
10. I'm aware of the dorkiness this will create in our child.
11. I'm the most pasty I've been in my life right now.
12. Really don't care, either.
13. I have a hard time with casual conversation.
14. I usually need my space after a social outing.
15. I must have down time or I malfunction in a big way.
16. Don't handle stress very well.
17. Explains why I need down time.
18. I've never been more spiritually fed at a church like I am currently at our church.
19. Once in college my roommate's boyfriend stole all my clothes and locked them in his car for two days.
20. He also turned the flashers on in my car and put a for sale sign in the window. (I hope you're reading this Trey Thompson)
21. I love a good prank war.
23. I usually win them, except for the aforementioned prank by my roomate's boyfriend.
24. I pranked my aunt the best of all.
25. It was a doosie.
26. She got me back on my wedding day.
27. I have four football coaches in my family.
28. I can throw a mean football.
29. I think all my coach family members were quarterbacks which resulted in much teaching on throwing.
30. Explains #28.
31. I fell running hurdles in junior high and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital.
32. I had a concussion.
33. I used to play softball.
34. My position was first base.
35. My nickname was Stance because of the way I stood while batting.
36. I think it was also Stretch from stretching to catch all the crappy balls Candice and Tammie threw to me.
37. Just kidding.
38. I also played basketball.
39. I've never hated a sport so much.
40. I ran track, too.
41. My hobby is cooking.
42. I'm so thankful I didn't marry a meat and potatoes guy.
43. He'll eat anything I cook.
44. We cancelled cable several months ago.
45. I've been reading, alot.
46. No cable= less distractions.
47. I think I'm finally understanding what it means to serve our King.
48. I've never been able to say things like that without feeling funny.
49. I've never been good at sharing the gospel with others.
50. I'm growing more and more comfortable every day.
51. I'm excited about the possibility of having another baby.
52. Not any time soon.
53. Kev and I follow Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace.
54. It's changed my life.
55. I struggle with anxiety.
56. Mostly around finances.
57. I have my sister to thank for getting me hooked on the cash system.
58. I'm not as good at it as she is.
59. Plus she's loaded and has more to work with. :)
60. I hate when people use the term "I'm poor".
61. Most of us don't have a clue what poor is.
62. One of the most important issues to me is helping the poor.
63. Jesus commands it.
64. He talked about it all the time.
65. Our friend, Steve Holt was a big player in opening Kevin's eyes to poor people.
66. When I come home from work, I immediately put on sweats and a t-shirt.
67. I stay like this most of the time.
68. I had a roommate (you know who you are) that used to stay in her work clothes until bedtime.
69. That same roommate is still a very good friend.
70. Who just had a baby.
71. That I really, really wish I could see and hold right now.
72. I'm obsessed at the fact our grass won't grow because of our trees.
73. I mean, where will Nora play?
74. Or do slip and slide?
75. We're saving up for sod.
76. We plan to go to Europe next summer.
77. I hope it works out.
78. I'm not looking forward to leaving Nora for that long.
79. Two weeks ago I was stuck on a plane or in the airport with Nora by myself for 12 hours.
80. At one point during that time she fell headfirst out of her stroller.
81. We both cried for a long time in the middle of the Atlanta terminal.
82. If there was a bridge, I would have jumped.
83. I've never felt like a worse mother.
84. I'm insecure sometimes.
85. But at work I'm usually very confident.
86. I love being a guidance counselor.
87. I have the perfect setup for a working mom.
88. Nora will be right down the hall from me this year at our Early Childhood program.
89. I can sneak a peak whenever I want to.
90. Believe it or not, I love entertaining people.
91. And cooking meals for them.
92. There are many of my friends whom I have great respect for.
93. My friendships that I have are very real and give/take.
94. I can't stand having an unequal give/take friendship.
95. Some people aren't capable of giving, but you just love them anyway.
96. I've become less judgemental once I passed 30.
97. I'm trying to accept and celebrate people's differences.
98. Everyone is unique and special in their own way.
99. People probably think I'm unique.
100. Or boring once you finish reading this.

Ok, I tag Tammie, Candice, Julie K., Julie B (wherever you are) and Sara M.
Come on, girls, don't let me down!

I've noticed Nora's been getting into everything lately and the other day, she was playing with a teething ring. We realized we need a serious upgrade on toys. So mom hit the consignment sale this weekend and brought home lots of new goodies. So now, with her new, older toys, here's a day in the life of Nora:



First, we must take our baby for a walk around the house. Who cares if we are in pajama top and no bottoms, and haven't eaten breakfast yet. Baby's needs come before anyone's.





Next, it's time to take care of the puppy and clean him up in the new pet salon. This is usually when she brushes her own hair with the same brush she used for the dog. Don't worry, it's a stuffed animal dog. (still gross, though)



Gotta vaccuum up all that dog hair then go get dressed.



Not before she takes a rest in her new chair.




I must say, we sure do have a neat freak on our hands. Poor baby's been hanging around her aunt tammie too long.


One last rest before naptime.

I have to mention, first, that one of my best friends, Laurie, had her first baby today. I'm so happy for her and can't stop thinking about how happy she must be to be holding her little baby right now! I wish I could put a picture of her, but my scanner is broken. Just imagine a beautiful blonde and you've got it. I'm so thankful that God helped her through a healthy delivery. Gosh, I love the whole delivery and being in the hospital part. Makes me want another one!

Secondly, I'm whipped. We have been going nonstop since I started my vacation, and now it's more than halfway over. :( Here's what we've been up to. Kevin took Nora to Houston (by himself!!!) while I morphed into Nanny Angie to keep my sister's kids while they were in Hawaii. The following are pictures from their trip. My sweet nieces and nephews really took care of her. I'd like to say I wasn't nervous about him making that long trip by himself but I'd be lying...seriously very badly lying. But..I will say this: not all dad's could drive to Little Rock, fly to Dallas, then drive to Houston by themselves with a 16 month old. Much less take care of them for four days without mom. Kevin did it like a champ and it only confirmed to me how proud I am to say he's my baby daddy. :) Anyway, here's some pictures of Houston. I can't remember if I've blogged this or not, but Nora is a major performer. She gets on the fire place (wherever she is) and sings happy and you know it. On the "face will surely show it" she puts her fingers on her cheek. See below. It's the cutest thing ever.










Here's what we were up to. I only had the boys one day before Nora joined us, so they got some good cousin time in as well.









I'll try to put some video up as well. They had a great time. We had our own Luau (I've never spelled that word before) so it took a while to prepare for that. We were all beat by the time we were at the Luau that we barely took any pictures of it. Just imagine three little kids running around in homemade grass skirts, dancing to Hawaiin music. It was funny. Tammie's pictures are on her blog if you're interested. We also just returned from Nashville. We tagged along while Kevin had a seminar and got to see my friend, Candice, and her kids. Candice is a childhood friend and one of my closest friends. We are very fortunate to have daughters six days apart, so they are destined to be best friends. I asked Candice this weekend if she ever wondered if they would really be friends when they grew up, Candice's reply was "we'll make them be". I couldn't agree more. Below are pictures of the two peas in a pod, plus Candice's other two very cute, very sweet, most well behaved girls I've ever seen.





Alright, last but not least, we finally got around to taking pictures of Nora professionally. Here's the link.
Tindall got one of her doing the happy and you know it face. It was so funny, she just started singing that song to get Nora's attention and Nora put her hands up on her face. So cute.

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This time my mom came for a week to help out while I was finishing my last week of work. Now I'm off for a month!! I feel so blessed to have a job where I get such great vacation time.

The video above I just thought was cute, no paticular point to this blog. Nora loves to pull the cushion off the trunk and lay on it. This time she became a bit more daring. I love her grunts!



Nora sporting her new outfit from Mamaw.



Apparantly Nora prefers to eat like our dogs. They are named Daisy and Denver (or Dadie and D). You can see Daisy's eyes on the right. She so proud of her little sister, she knows she taught her well.

Of course I didn't take near enough pics of my mom, but I'll just say that the past two weeks have been like a vacation for us with Kev's mom and mine here. We don't get a break very often since we live 8-10 hours from our fam, but it is so nice when they come help out! We love you both.

Other exciting news, we applied for our passports this week. Our trip is not planned for another year, but we wanted to make sure we'd have them since all the passport slowdown is going on. We plan to go visit our good friends in Europe next summer and I can hardly wait!

That's it for now. Just gearing up for a trip to Texas for some cousin time and enjoying my month off!