Thoughts In Albany

Well, I am sitting here in Albany a.k.a. Agony, Ga., and I thought I would write a few of my thoughts and going ons. Hopefully after this trip I won't have but one or two more to go. For those of you who don't know, this is where I am from, and last year I was FINALLY able to get my mema and papa moved up closer to me so I could watch over them.

Papa has Alzheimer's and I am pretty sure mema has it to. They were like a mom and dad to me growing up and now it is my turn to take care of them. They are such a testament to life and marriage and I am so lucky to have them. Just a sample of their sweetness.....For Valentines Day I bought a dozen roses and a card and took them to papa. He doesn't even know what day of the week it is, let alone V-Day. I took them in his bedroom and told him what day it was and that these were for him to give to mema. His smile was priceless and even though he has a hard time remembering most things, he filled out the card by himself and wrote the same thing he has for the last 50 years, "To My Little Lady, From Your Man". How awesome that he still remembers that! He came walking down that hallway into the living room holding the roses and card so proud, and with the sweetest grin. I thought "man they can drive me crazy sometimes, but moments like this make it worth it!!"

Anyway,I have finally gotten the house (45 years of never throwing anything away) cleaned up, and tomorrow I am meeting with another realtor to get this house on the market. Kind of bitter sweet....ready to get it all over with, but sad to see the house I practically grew up in sold. I wouldn't have it any other way though because I finally have them near me!

So, as much as I say Agony, Georgia, I really can't complain to much. It was where I grew up, had and still have great friends, and met the love of my life! For that, I am grateful for this little south Georgia town. I may bid you farewell for good soon but old Albany will always be in my heart! Till next time.....

Man, I Stink!

So, I started this blog and have gotten fussed at because I haven't blogged since Thanksgiving! I stink... I know! I am going to try my best to stay on top of this though!

This year has already FLOWN by. It is now the beginning of February and it is so crazy to me how the older I get the quicker time goes by. I am currently sitting on the couch looking at Tucker with all his stuffed animals under the blanket with him. Out of all the boys he is the only one who has always, since the day he was born, gotten so attached to a stuffed animal. He takes them with him everywhere he goes, adores them, talks to them, fusses at them, and makes sure every night they are cuddled up under the covers for the night. I LOVE it....it is just sweet to see it.

Ty and Tanner are busy busy. Tyler got accepted into the gifted program at school, which was exciting for him because Tanner has been in it a few years and Ty now can experience the excitement Tanner gets from it. It amazes me the things they are learning and the difference it is since I was in school. Ty in 4th grade is doing things that I did in 7th grade and Tanner in second is doing things I did in 5th grade. It also amazes me the things I have forgotten :) But I won't get into that!

Matt and I have just been riding out this thing we call life. The ups and downs and everything in between. It is such a blessing to have a partner and best friend that I adore to experience the ups and downs of life. Of course, I must brag! We flew to Disney for Matt to do the half-marathon. He did a great job! Our whole family went and his brother did the full marathon. We all had the best time. Matt and his brother have already signed up for the "goofy" challenge for next year, which is the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday....yep....I think they are crazy! :) But I can't wait to root them on!!

Anyway, my goal is to not let so much time go in between blogs this time. I hope you all are doing wonderful and are enjoying your new year so far! Until next time....

Things I Am Thankful For

Tomorrow is Turkey Day, and as I sit here getting my recipes together to start my cooking I thought I would blog about things I am thankful for.......

-first and foremost my family and God
-sweet stinky snotty kisses
-great friends
-my home
-this awesome little town of Jasper
-my church
-chocolate
-cozy socks
-nights at home with my husband doing nothing
-fingerprints on my walls
-slobbery kisses from Millie
-coffee
-the mountains
-having the best neighbors in the world
-walking outside and seeing the cows right at the fence
-fall
-winter
-snowmen
-snow days at school when we cozy up and make hot chocolate
-having the sweetest, most loving, and unselfish husband
-knowing that every morning when Matt leaves he wakes me up to kiss me bye
-vacations
-life
-my neice, Caitlyn's, prayers
-having my grandparents close by and knowing they are happy
-sitting on Aunt Lu's front porch
-Miss Lynn's words of wisdom
-shoes
-peanut butter and jelly
-my boys getting mad if they are going to miss church
-Tyler taking his money to Atlanta and giving it to homeless without me even knowing
-Tanner's freckles and sweet smile
-Tucker's red hair and personality that keeps us smiling
-and again GOD and My Church, Revolution, where I have learned so much in the short time of going there

Hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving!!....now I am off to cook

Priceless

A few weeks ago Tucker went from saying his prayers to singing his prayers. His own tune and all. Every couple of days he changes the tune up, but the other night I caught it on video. Enjoy!

Living In A Small Town

So, it has been forever since I have blogged, and I remember standing on Main Street during the marble festival parade and thinking I have to blog about this. As I get older I realize how much quicker life seems to be going by. So, I am trying to consciously "take in" the little moments.

Every year, the first weekend of October, Jasper has the Marble Festival. They start it off with a 5K in the morning followed by awards ceremony and then parade before the actual festival begins. As the morning started I had reminder after reminder of the reasons I love living in this place called Jasper, the First Mountain City. Here they are....

- I love the marble festival-I love getting up early and going to root on my family and all the runners-I love that I know almost all the people
-I love the cool morning-I love the "competitiveness" of some of my friends and who is going to beat who
-I love Coach Morris, Tyler and Tanners P.E. coach, pumping the kids up and hoping we have the biggest turn out of all the elementary schools
-I love Main Street-I love walking to Main Street after the race to see the parade
-I love that I am so blessed to have Aunt Lu with us every year to enjoy these things with
-I love the excitement of all the kids waiting for the parade, mainly just for the candy that gets thrown
-I love the "small town" feel PERIOD!

I could go on and on about why I love it here. This to me was just a reminder that we made the right decision a few months ago when we made the decision to not take a job 5 hours away! So that is all for now....I will blog again later about Ty's surgery and our beach trip!

Kodak Moment

I have a really bad habit of forgetting my camera and not having it with me at the right time. This weekend was no exception. We were on our yearly extended family trip and I remembered my camera, but I left it in the car the whole weekend. So, needless to say I missed out on alot of pictures of the whole family together. The last day we always go to this Apple House place for breakfast and I DID remember my camera! I believe I got the best picture of the weekend! The picture above is of my sweet little niece Molly and Tucker. They are two peas in a pod and have the neatest little bond. I love having them together! They are so much fun and this picture is the best picture I think I have ever gotten of them and I don't think I will ever get a better one! They are about 6 months apart and at the funnest age. I wish I could just put a pause button on the two of them and keep them just the way they are right now. So, even though I forgot my camera for most of the weekend, this picture says it all. I got my "Kodak Moment" :-)

We had a great time as always. The boys really look forward to this trip because they get to see their cousins. I think there were 22 of us in all. I think we were all a little worried that the hurricanes may dampen the weather, but it turned out to be beautiful weather the whole weekend. We had an awesome time and are so blessed to have such a good family that we can enjoy these times with.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well....until next time....

Tuck's First G.T. Game!

Thursday night we took the boys to the Tech game. It was fun getting back into college football mode and all the excitement that goes with it. The boys were so excited (matt wasn't at all) :) It was Tuck's first game and he did SO good. We were a bit concerned on it keeping his interest, but he literally sat there the whole time! Must be a boy! His only concern was the noise. He spent alot of his time with his hands over his ears worrying that there might be fireworks. Other than that I think he enjoyed it as much as the rest of us.

The boys are truly die hard GT fans. GT fans are few and far between and it makes for fun when we get around family on Matts side and mine, who are all HUGE bulldog fans. I am afraid no matter how hard people try to waiver them, they won't budge AT ALL! Even this weekend we were at Uncle Danny's house and he had out his Georgia chairs while we were cooking out. Tyler came to sit in one and said "I don't want to sit here, I am afraid I will get contaminated", so he goes out to Matt's truck and gets his own chair. This is a child who at 3 could sing the WHOLE GT fight song. I think they just look up to their dad so much that at this age they want to be "just like dad" and go to Tech like he did. Wonder how long that will last! Anyway , below are some pics from the game...Enjoy!!