Never A Dull Moment

I'm sure you are dying to know how our weekend as "parents" went. It was actually quite uneventful (Praise the LORD!), fun, and further assured us that we will be able to handle a baby when our time comes. Now, I say that also knowing that Reid and I will have to figure out all the things that come in the first five months of our own child's life. We had it really easy when you think about it like that. Harper is five months old, sleeping through the night, taking a bottle, and on a great schedule! Her mom and dad have clearly spent the first five months of her life getting all of those things (and much, much, much, much more I'm sure I didn't mention) in place. It certainly shows how much work goes into raising a child, but seeing Harper's sweet face as we were caring for her this weekend made us realize its all going to be worth it! Playing on her activity mat! She was only happy to play there when both of us were sitting on the floor watching her. If yo...

A Grandle Family Vacation! Reid and I are going on a trip with his parents, brother, brother's girlfriend in October. Since going to Austria and Switzerland I have been dying to travel more around Europe. After looking at many itineraries , e v e r y o n e f i n a l l y d e c i d e d o n a E u r o p e a n c r u i s e . Reid's brother Trevor and his girlfriend, Cori, can only join us for the cruise. After we disembark in Barcelona, Reid and I will continue to travel with his parents for another week. We haven't decided where we will go - Morocco? Other destinations in Spain? Back to Italy? I don't know. I do know I am excited to research where we should visit that second week! Now... If only I could afford to have Rachel Zoe style me for my European vacation. ;) CRUISE ITINERARY Day PORT 1 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 2 Portoferraio, Elba, Italy 3 Porto Vecchio, Corsica, France 4 Alghero, Sardinia, Italy 4 At Sea 5 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 6 Port Mahon, Menorca,...

This post is loooong overdue. Four months overdue, in fact. Brayden was born in April and is getting big too quickly. Reid and I made a trip to Fayetteville at the beginning of June to visit the new family of three and had such a fun day with them. I can't wait to go back for a longer visit. Lindsey , Brayden's Mommy, and I have been close friends since I was in sixth grade and she was in eighth. She has shared so much wisdom with me over the years through her actions and words. It has been so special to remain close after all these years and experience different seasons of life together! Here are some pictures that she has sent over the past few months. I look forward to getting picture emails from her almost every week - such a treat since "Aunt" Mare lives so far away.

I drove home on Saturday morning to see Reid who flew into Dallas for a quick weekend home before his last week of the case. The case was originally scheduled to end this past Friday, so I had planned to possibly be in Dallas this week and made a few doctors appointments. I have been going back and forth about whether to cancel the appointments and go back to Little Rock or stay here for the week. I had just about made up my mind until I had to tell my parents goodbye. I was convinced I was driving back to LR Monday. Then I got to thinking I have at least 52 weeks of traveling back and forth! So, final decision is I'm in Dallas this week. I'll let you know what I decide to do while I'm home!

Harper just found out her Mommy called and asked Mare and Reid to also keep her overnight Saturday while they celebrate their anniversary! That's right... we'll be keeping her for two nights! I'm going to spend this week reading "Babies for Dummies." Oh, I'm only joking.

Tonight I took the blanket to show my mom. I sat and sang the song to her as I showed her the embroidered words. My dad took pictures of our moments together. Showing her the words. Getting her to hold the blanket. Now she's looking! I love this picture! -- Post From My iPhone

Being home always brings reminders of how much things have changed. I'm reminded when my dad goes to bed alone. I'm reminded when I drive to the nursing home. I'm reminded when I see her pictures around the house. I'm reminded when I see her dressing table, not much different than when she left in December. The clothes she doesn't need are still in her closet. Many of them remind me of what she was like before she was sick. I don't think we'll ever be able to get rid of these reminders, even though it's now been years since they've been worn. I can hear a song and it reminds me of watching her raise her hands in worship at church when I was just a little girl. Today I stumbled on a little reminder of what my mom was like when she lived at home. I was organizing some cabinets in my parents kitchen and found this serving dish: My mom always loved it. Since the kitchen hasn't been used much in the past four years I decided to check inside it to see ...

Yikes... Nearly a week since my last post? That hardly ever happens. Maybe it is because I'm now retired and haven't figured out a good groove. HA! Let me start with last Friday. It was my last day with Luke and Emerson. I miss them, but know they are having so much fun with their Nana this week and with their new routine with their mom! I'm old news to them! ;) As my little parting gift for them I gave them each a framed picture of the three of us that my friend Lauren took. Last week I also got to spend some time with Harper Pardue . It was my first official night to babysit and we had a lot of fun getting to know each other better. You know, to be honest it was more of my awkward faces and noises and the baby just staring unamused. She loves being outside so we made a little pallet. This girl goes 0 to 100 in a hurry! Inside we went for funny faces and noises. And she's thinking, "Mom and Dad are letting YOU keep me overnight?" That's right everyone......

My bathroom drawers were getting out of hand. Way out of hand. I mean, have you ever seen me title a post anything that obnoxious? I really should have taken "before" pictures. Oh well, maybe next time. I had been living in fear of my drawers for months. The relationship wasn't healthy so I bargained that the next time I bought a product I would host the clean out. Lucky me tonight was the night. I came home at 10 pm armed with new organization accessories (I love the Container Store) and determined that it wouldn't take more than an hour. I am glad it is finally done and I know where everything is! I have been working the last two weeks to clean out our apartment and this was nearly the last of everything. I'm glad to have a clutter free home! -- Post From My iPhone

If you remember a while back I wrote a post about giving a baby blanket from my mom to the first child we have. Well, after deliberating what exactly I wanted it to say I ordered it a few weeks ago and it arrived in the mail yesterday! I wanted it to say something sweet, song lyrics from a lullaby or hymn, but I also wanted it to be something I had never seen or heard before. I had looked all over the Internet and couldn't find anything I liked. One day Emerson and I were singing songs from her Children's Hymnal and I came across a song I didn't know the tune to, but I instantly loved the words.  Chorus All night, all day Angels watching over me, my Lord All night, all day Angels watching over me I made note of the song, but not knowing the tune there wasn't much I could so we moved on. A few days later Emerson was persistent about singing that particular song. She would open the book to that page and just stare at the picture that went along with it, pointing at it fo...

Reid is finally home this weekend and we were both so excited to see eachother yesterday morning! He woke me up at 6 when he got in and we hung out until it was time to head to work. I wanted this weekend to be a really special weekend for us and full of special "thank you" surprises for Reid. He works so hard for our little family (just the two of us) and I am so proud at how well he has done at O.W. It is because of his hard work that I am retiring in a week (he is the one that calls it that!) and am able to spend such precious time with my mom before the next chapter of our life begins - business school or starting a family. So, for this weekend, I planned tons of surprises for Reid! Last night we went to one of our favorite spots to eat called Terilli's. Then we went home and I had season two of our Everest show waiting for us. Sadly, Reid was a bit jet lagged and fell asleep at 8:30, but I really enjoyed the show. This morning I took him to get a massage! He loves th...