Me.... and ...... You!

LOVED THIS! I am me and you are you, and everyone else is taken. SO TRUE! A blog post is coming soon.... just enjoying my fabulous trip in Gatlinburg with our little family of 3. This is true relaxing and amazing! I have caught up on sleep, come up with new recipes (because I discovered PB cheerioes last week and I have been off of baking since Christmas), and enjoyed doing nothing!!! Pictures will all come tomorrow. Until then, one more night of doing nothing!

Roll Tide!

My baby girl is sporting her red and white for Bama. She was NOT a happy camper in this picture and refused to smile. Now she smiles for me much easier than she has in the past, but I was giving her what she wanted at the moment. LOL

Notice she got a gingerbread cookie here. She is starting to "perk up and smile" now!

I love this little Juicy skirt, but these silver UGGS are a favorite of mine. I want them to fit me!

What an exciting exciting day for our STATE on Monday!!!! Of course, as a ROLL TIDE fan we were super excited but definitely a big thing for the SEC and for Alabama! Jeremy, my dad, and Michael had a blast. I am so excited they were able to go and be a part of the amazing win! I was telling my friend Jenn, that the comparison for Jeremy's excitement of Bama winning is like me scoring a new handbag, LOL. Those little things don't really matter, but are exciting when they do happen. She was laughing with me on that one. Jeremy comes home tonight and we are so ready for him to be home. We are also so ready for the 3 day weekend and some relaxing time away in the Mountains! Sooo.... ROLL TIDE and have a super week!

Weekends come and go too fast!

What a great weekend! It was a cloudy one, but productive one. The best part was the Race I participated in for the Ronald McDonald House. I ran 13 miles, but was SO MAD I didn't have a shirt saying "Running for Hunter". I will next year for sure! What an amazing resource for people who need to use it! I know Kevin and Kelly were so grateful when they had to have it in St. Petersburg when Hunter was in All Children's. We plan to do several things to help out this charity here in Birmingham and I will have my shirt for next year's run! I enjoyed the race and I was able to walk to it and walk home because it started in the SOHO square in Homewood. So much fun! Jeremy and Charlee Kate were there to cheer me on at the end. LOVED IT!!! Did some good cleaning and running errands afterwards, but I was POOPED by night time! My super woman mode wore out, LOL.

I am very much in the Valentine's Mood. I hated to see Christmas go so bad so we have lots of cute Valentines things going on in our house. I will try to post pictures soon. I did a preliminary Valentines Tree shot, but it has changed lots since this picture. My mom came over Sunday so she helped me find some things I have been looking for in decorating! We did have to take CK in to the doc on Sunday and yes she has ANOTHER ear infection. Seriously????? So we now have an appointment with an ENT doc in 2 weeks. I am not a tree hugger by any stretch of the imagination, but we do not like her on antibiotics this much, so we are working on that. Our baby girl was NEVER sick in FL so we don't like these sick visits. We need to figure out these ears for sure! Anxious to see what the ENT says.

Jeremy is in New Orleans with my dad and Michael. They are having a blast! Of course, the real fun will be if Bama wins. I think it is going to be a big game for sure, not as easy as the Rose Bowl 2 years ago, but I am so glad they got to go and they are having a blast. I have been so lucky to have my mom here and Jeremy's mom is here tonight. I am not used to having extra help when he is gone, so it has been really nice especially since he is gone 5 days!

So we had a great weekend, on the way to getting baby girl WELL, ready for a SUPER BUSY week, going to finish up my Valentine projects and Birthday projects (yes I have started 2 for her birthday b/c I have big birthday party plans from here on out), and then looking forward to a long weekend get a way! Happy Monday!!!!! and for sure................

ROLL TIDE!

Her cute new Dylan's Candy rainboots from NYC! Ella and CK have matching ones and she loves them! They are perfect because her Hunter Rainboots are still too big!!!

Here I come, running as hard as I can. LOL

I survived!

Yes getting back into the swing of things/routine is never easy! Especially when you just came out of a fabulous break, lots of resting, lots of shopping, lots of doing what you want to, lots of time to spend with family, lots of sleeping in, etc.... but somehow you do have to get back into a routine. I always dread getting "back into the routine" and then once I am in it, I am good to go, so now I am "in it" and it should be easier, LOL!

I am super thankful for Friday! For not being back at work a full week, I feel like I have been back forever. No sleeping in tomorrow though! I have my big race, but will be nice to know I am all done by 8:30. Lots of fun things planned and we head to Gatlinburg next weekend, WOW. Jeremy heads out for the Bama game in a couple of days. He is super excited and I am just nervous about the game. My mom and Jeremy's mom are both coming at different times to stay a night so that will be something to look forward to and CK will be so excited! She loves having company and always thinks it will be Ella and Hunter.

So.... January is in full swing now and so is 2012. So far, I do believe this is going to be a great year. Lots of wonderful things coming our way. Happy Weekend!!!

Enjoy these blurry pictures! All the cute ones she was smiling in turned out blurry so this is all I had. SO MAD! Time for the new camera!

Getting ready for School! At least it was Friday!

I was taking her to the yogurt place at this moment and so taking a picture was not number 1 on her excitement list!

Eating breakfast before heading off to school! She had some cute tights with this. I loved it, but you can't see them! She loves to eat breakfast and watch her show. Doesn't happen very often b/c she is usually eating at the table with daddy, but sometimes we let her : )

Very well put... Simplicity should sum it up!

A few things I really want to remember through 2012 and beyond. I have accomplished a lot over the last couple of years, but I have said numerous times that 2012 needs to be a little more relaxed, but the word SIMPLICITY is better. Which those of you that know me, know that Simple is not me in a lot of ways, but I am becoming that! My house is for sure, not so crazy, I like simple, clean, and pristine. Clothes are still far from Simple, but that part is okay in my opinion, LOL. Now seriously, this year, I am trying to focus on a few other important points. Jeremy is good at a majority of these already (he is good at a lot), but I am working on them as well!!!

• Slow down. Rushing is rarely worth it. Life is better enjoyed at a leisurely pace. I seem to rest more during the week!
• Goals aren’t as important as we think. Try working without them for a week. Turns out, you can do amazing things without goals.. You’re less stressed without goals, and you’re freer to choose paths you couldn’t have foreseen without them.
• The moment is all there is. All our worries and plans about the future, all our replaying of things that happened in the past — it’s all in our heads, and it just distracts us from fully living right now. Let go of all that, and just focus on what you’re doing, right at this moment. In this way, any activity can be meditation. FUTURE is so hard not to worry about, but I am home, have a healthy family, I want to just enjoy every moment and second and live it up, JUST like we did during the holidays. That is probably why they were so amazing!!!
• When your child asks for your attention, always grant it. Give your child your full attention! I am so lucky to have that angel and I try to give her "me" when she wants to spend time with me. It won't be long and I won't be her center of attention, so I want to soak it up now.
• You can’t motivate people. The best you can hope for is to inspire them with your actions.
• If you find yourself swimming with all the other fish, go the other way. They don’t know where they’re going either.
• You will miss a ton, but that’s OK. We’re so caught up in trying to do everything, experience all the essential things, not miss out on anything important … that we forget the simple fact that we cannot experience everything. Learn to enjoy the slice of life you experience, and life turns out to be wonderful. LOVE IT!!!!
• Rest is more important than you think. People work too hard, forget to rest, and then begin to hate their jobs. In fitness, you see it constantly: people training for a marathon getting burned out because they don’t know how to let their straining muscles and joints recover. YES THIS WILL BE HARD FOR ME! I am a "go getter" and go non-stop, but after resting and enjoying my family so much in the last week, that is a goal of mine! I may be reading this post often to remind myself too!!!
• There are few joys that equal a good book, a good walk, a good hug, or a good friend. All are free. ****Love this and YES, YES, YES, to this.
• The destination is just a tiny slice of the journey. WELL SAID, after I stated many times that I would not have appreciated being back in Birmingham had we not experienced such an amazing adventure and journey along the way.
• A good walk cures most problems. Want to lose weight and get fit? Walk. Want to enjoy life but spend less? Walk. Want to cure stress and clear your head? Walk. Want to meditate and live in the moment? Walk. Having trouble with a life or work problem? Walk, and your head gets clear..
• Life is exceedingly brief. You might feel like there’s a huge mass of time ahead of you, but it passes much faster than you think. Your kids grow up so fast you get whiplash. You get gray hairs before you’re done getting your bearings on life. Appreciate every moment.
• I look forward to life! Learning, living, and loving!

These words above are from the works of Leo Babauta (only edited here and there to suit my own life and are public domain).

So here is a little bit of a start to "simplicity". One of our leizurely days off at the park. SUPER SUPER cold this day so we didn't stay long. She loved every minute of it though and sang all the way to the park. We walked and it was about a mile away and she sang at the top of her lungs there and back. I loved it!!!

D

A little more simplicity and not setting a goal. Gingerbread house did not get made over Christmas. No worries at all! The stomach virus took over so it just didn't happen, but we just did it when we found time, stopped in the middle for dinner, which is why the last part of the pictures are of her in jammies. Then we finished up. We still had a blast and that was all that mattered. I even wanted the cute Dylan's Candy Bar Gingerbread house kit from Neimans. SUPER CUTE, but I forgot to go back and get it at the mall. No worries, the Sams kit did great!

She concentrated so hard and some of the pieces went "missing". There was a Santa gingerbread cookie, but it disappeared into someone's little belly. The snowman also lost his head somehow, LOL. She loved those cookies.

And.... our fabulous picture of the 32 family members at my grandparents' house

Sometimes.... AND.... Happy New Year

Our New Years Day! Sleeping in, eating a late breakfast, heading out to a few stores, then just relaxing at home before I cooked a yummy vegetable New Years Day dinner. It was so nice! The cold weather is coming in and I am so excited. I haven't had enough of winter yet.

Well it is a new year, 2012! I am so excited and so blessed to have had such a wonderful 2011. Every year, I think there is no way for us to be so blessed, yet every year we somehow are. We were blessed BEYOND, BEYOND our dreams, thoughts, and everything imaginable last year. We made sacrifices that I NOW realize were really not that big of a deal at all. It is amazing how God allows you to think "his way" and you give things up to make everything work out. We did that some in 2011, but I think God made more sacrifices and gave back to us way more than we could have imagined! I am looking forward to 2012, being back home, and what this year has to offer. We still keep the roads and the "air" busy so we hope to see as many people as we can this upcoming year and it looks as if we will be traveling to new places. Happy New Year! Looking forward to the new year! Here are some updated pictures from the last few days, which were totally just wonderful! We lived it up after our stomach virus and had the best week, really it was so nice!!!!

ATLANTA......One of my fabulous friends hit the nail on the head when I ask him what favorite thing I might be doing that involves MY spare time and he said.... shop, run, or eating. Well the next 3 pictures sum up those things, LOL. Some birthday fun!!!! Shopping in Atlanta. This was after Jeremy made some trips to the car. One of the last stops... lulu lemon outside of Lenox. I have to admit, Birmingham's is a better one! We were able to eat lunch with some childhood friends that live in Atlanta. We try to meet up with them as much as we can and now that we live here, we hope to see them more.

Eating at Flemings. Oh it was such a yummy dinner! They brought me a cake for my birthday.

The Flemings Cake

A few of the things from Jeremy. Super cute purple lulu matching outfit with matching shoes

Heading to dinner, it was COLD but I survived in heels

I have been in a bright colored "mode" for awhile now... bright blue being a favorite, with pink, green, or yellow following up, LOL. However, this style of Frye is my favorite and these are distressed, hard to tell, but they are. I wear this style all the time!

New Years Eve... heading out to the Park. Baby Girl was sooooo excited! We enjoyed about 2-3 days of just hanging out at home. Sleeping in, meals as a family, some good runs, then of course me making sure all is cleaned out, organized, cars washed, etc... It was a good feeling! Boy I will really have the "blues" when I go back to school b/c it has been nice having Jeremy home and all of us doing whatever.

We took her car to the park so she could just ride around, but she wanted to go to the playground instead.

She was saying "bye Daddy!"

Homewood Park is gorgeous, but always packed! She had fun though

NOW FOR THE "SOMETIMES" NEW YEARS POST....

Did I mention what a fabulous holiday season it was this year? It has been so wonderful! Jeremy and I did finally get to watch "The Holiday" one of my favorite Christmas movies and we watched it while taking DOWN Christmas decorations, not putting them up, LOL. We let it play over and over and I even caught him stopping for a second to watch it, even though he claimed not to love it. It was nice. SOMETIMES..... we don't get to everything we want to do during the holidays, but even if watching a Christmas movie after Christmas takes place, that is okay!

SOMETIMES bad things bring on good things... the stomach virus brought on lots of rest, which I never get enough of!!!! As a matter of fact, 18 hours of sleep in one day!!!! Even Charlee Kate's sickness reminded me of how much I enjoy that singing voice of hers, that laugh of hers, and watching her play by herself! When she was sick, she was just whiney and did nothing! It was so pitiful, SO when I saw that energy come back to life in her, I was reminded of how much I love to hear that sweet voice playing and singing!!!!

SOMETIMES it is OKAY to see Christmas go, even though I get so sad and depressed. I am NEVER ready for the joy, excitement, decorations, music, "feeling", and hustle and bustle of Christmas to end, but it has been a BIG year for our family and I am looking forward to a little more of a relaxed 2012!

SOMETIMES I think Jeremy is not listening when I randomly talk, which is quite often, but really he is and he knows exactly what to do for me. He thinks of everything from the perfect "time away" or the perfect thing to add to the house to make it more like a cottage or the perfect gift or the perfect thing to say or the perfect way to help me. He is a smart guy OFTEN, not sometimes.

SOMETIMES I think CK and I don't need anything for awhile, especially after NYC, Christmas, and Birthdays. Actually need is definitely not in the vocabulary.

SOMETIMES Jeremy does enjoy shopping. He is actually a really good shopping partner and really doesn't mind it but especially on my birthday. We spent 2 days in Atlanta shopping everywhere imaginable and he never said "lets go" or "are you done" but just goes with it. He is such a good shopper and does it just for me sometimes.

Sometimes I have to watch out with what I put on my blog. I don't put a lot of stuff on FB for lots of reasons (I have a love/hate relationship with FB and more of a hate, but that is a whole other post...especially when family members talk to each other on FB in the same house, LOL), anyways..... amazing how people really think our life is interesting, more so than I would like, so I don't always post as much as I would like.

SOMETIMES I get confused about decisions for our future, which route should we take, good things that we need to decide on, then I am reminded of how God lead the path this past year, then I just pray and stop worrying!

SOMETIMES I wonder... what did I do when I didn't have my ways to escape with my fabulous elliptical (of 5 years now) to figure out what to wear for the day, watch the weather, read a magazine, or just "not think at all", or running to clear my mind. I love those days in the mix of craziness.

ALWAYS, NOT sometimes.... I ALWAYS realize how truly blessed I am. Number one... the most amazing husband and daddy to my child, along with my precious healthy baby girl!!! To have our health, our family, our friends, the amazing jobs that Jeremy and I both have, the amazing place we live and the adventure that feel into place for us to get back home, The Christmas Season, and the many many blessings that God showers us with every day! I ALWAYS remember that and I am ALWAYS thankful for it!!!

Here is to an amazing and I mean AMAZING 2011. I have said it more than once in the last year, but WOW, what an amazing and very blessed year! 2012 has a lot to live up to!!!

What does January hold??? Of course number one on the list is the Bama National Championship!!! Jeremy will be making that trip with my dad. Then there is a little family get a way to Gatlinburg! We plan to meet my dad's side of the family in Atlanta one weekend, then I think January is over after that. Starting the year off busy, but family busy is worth it!

My Final Christmas Post

So here are the rest of the Christmas pictures. It sort of stopped after I took a few on Christmas day b/c the virus was in full blown by then. I am sick too b/c she had on her cute red minky pants with Santa on the bootie. Charlee Kate and Ella matched of course so maybe Kelly has some pictures. A New Years Post is ready for tomorrow : )

Santa did come to see Charlee Kate and I actually put out more than I planned. She doesn't get the whole Santa thing and I haven't pushed it b/c that is going to come soon enough, I just tried to focus on the real Christmas meaning. We haven't done HUGE Santa presentations the last few years because she doesn't know any different, but we put several things out this year. She was so excited to see it all, it was hard for her to understand what was going on! Hunter understands though and he was there so we have to make sure the girls have plenty of "santa" for his sake too. She has a stocking at Mom and Dad's too! Mom has one for everyone there.

I was in this picture, but that was a scary sight considering the circumstances, LOL. This was the start of the 3 day cycle of showers, but no make up or fixing hair.

Presents EVERYWHERE!!!

This was the Wilson Pile!

Wrestling with Hunter. One of her favorite things to do!

Christmas Eve night we went riding on the Golf Cart (mom, dad, the kids, and me and Kelly) to look at Christmas lights. It was fun! Here are the kiddos before heading out.

Happy Birthday Jesus Cupcakes!!! She loved the cupcakes! I think Jesus would like Pastry Art cupcakes next year, haha! However, I thought of that way too late this year.

Our Christmas Eve celebration with the Joneses. We have been doing this for 25 years every single Christmas Eve morning we have breakfast together. That is pretty impressive considering the roads we have all traveled, the adventures we have been on, yet we all come back together every year. I would not miss it for anything!!!! Funny thing is, this year about 9:30 that morning we wondered where the Joneses were. (we flip flop houses each year). Well comes to find out they were sitting in Birmingham with a full table ready for everyone to eat breakfast while we were in Jacksonville with a full table ready to eat breakfast. Considering we were an hour away from each other, we all ate breakfast and then got together. Kind of funny now, but I bet it doesn't happen again!

And this was the start of our goofy pictures.... it took lots!!!

This was our end result, LOL!

Sweet girls! Mom got the girls matching monogram dresses. So sweet!!!!

Can't wait for Christmas next year!