Where we've been

You may be wondering where we've been for the past few days, especially if you've been watching/listening to/reading/(whatever you have the capability to do) the news. Wednesday was a day that will go down in history. No one could have predicted the level of intensity of the tornadoes, the sheer number of them, or the damage they would cause. We were extremely fortunate. We had tornadoes pass by our house on both sides, but we had no damage to our house. The destruction around us is astounding, but we are safe and unharmed. I am so thankful, yet so heavy hearted for those around us. I can't imagine losing everything in just a moment as so many around us did. Whole homes were lost, even lives were lost.

For those of you that have been to our house, you know we have a big ditch that runs along the length of our backyard. We went out and took a picture of how full the ditch was from all the rain during the storm. You couldn't even tell that there was a ditch, and the water came all the way up to the railroad ties.
We have been without power at our house since the storm and don't expect to get it back for a few more days. The substation that powers our neighborhood was completely destroyed in the storm. Fortunately, my parents live on the other side of Athens (which is actually only about 6 miles from us) and they have had power almost the whole time. So, we've pretty much moved in with them for a few days. We're just waiting for them to get tired of us and kick us out. Frank even had a dream last night that they told us to leave. But seriously, my parents would never want us to leave. They are thrilled to have Little living with them for an extended period of time. This is actually the first time she has spent the night anywhere other than home, and she's doing great.

We discovered yesterday that in the midst of all that's been going on, she got another tooth. I mean, we completely missed it coming in. Tooth #7 has not just broken through...it is all the way in. Also, she has truly become a good little walker. It's safe to say that walking now trumps crawling. It's so fun to see her walking around because she's just so little. I can't even believe how grown up she is. She's been having a great time at Momma J and Daddy J's. And Momma J made her a bunch of new bows for her hair. I really should have brought my sewing machine over here (random thought).Here she is cleaning up after playing outside before dinner.We will continue to pray for those who have been affected by the storm and for safe travels for those who have left the city or are coming back. I am certain that we will be rebuilding our state for some time to come, and some people will be completely rebuilding everything they lost. Please keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers.

Easter Sunday

What a very special day this was as we celebrated our Risen Savior! Jesus is Alive! In church today, we sang one of my very favorite songs, In Christ Alone. It was so powerful as everybody sang on the third verse, "Up from the grave He rose again!"

My mom made a gorgeous dress for Little for Easter, but it was hard to get a good picture of her in it because she is always on the move. I managed to snap a few shots before we left for church.She sure does love her sweet daddy. And I do, too!

You can see Mollie enjoyed the Easter eggs, too.

We tried to get a family shot after Sunday School.And here are some of my girlfriends looking beautiful on this special day.

Little and Aidan were having a good time waiting for us to leave for lunch.

This year, we had the pleasure of having some great friends over for Easter lunch at our house. Jon & Anne and Brian & Natasha came over for a huge lunch. Everybody brought something to contribute to what ended up being a huge meal, perfect for preparing us for a long nap to follow. Little actually ended up taking about a 2 1/2 hour nap, and the rest of us slept almost as long. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of everybody. I only managed to get this picture of Little cornering Aidan, which was a very accurate representation of the afternoon. She chased him all over the place. Poor Aidan.And for dinner, Momma J and Daddy J came over to visit Little and help us eat some of our many leftovers from all the festivities of the weekend. What a special day and a wonderful way to end the weekend! It has certainly been a busy few days, spending time with family and friends. We are truly blessed.

Easter Cook-out and Egg Hunt

My parents' church puts on a big Easter Egg Hunt every year, complete with the Easter Bunny, inflatables, coloring contest and lots of eggs! We decided to take Little this year, and we invited one of Frank's coworkers, Joe, and his family. We've been wanting to hang out with them for awhile, so we decided to have a cook-out before the egg hunt. It was really a great time! Though it was my first time meeting them, it felt like I'd known them forever. They are a lot of fun, and Little just instantly loved their little girl, Sable, who is 4 years old. Sable brought Little a sweet Easter surprise.And Sable was so sweet to let Little just hang all over her. Frank's parents were also visiting for the weekend, my parents came, and Tamatha's dad was in town, so we ended up having a big crowd for lunch. We had tons of food and lots leftover. My motto is: Better to have too much than not enough. I always want to have enough for no matter who shows up. Good thing we love leftovers!We ate way too much and then headed to the egg hunt. It was packed and there was so much for the kids to do. Of course, Little was too small to do a lot of the activities, but she loved the stickers they gave us when we registered and she was just happy people-watching, in particular, kid-watching. She also had a good time hunting eggs, with a little help from Daddy. You can see here the sea of eggs and the crowds just waiting to break through that tape to trample them. And here are the girls checking out their loot. I'd say they were pretty satisfied.
I can't wait to hang out with Joe, Tamatha and Sable again. We had a great time!

Little's Mail

Little was very excited to receive an Easter card in the mail from Momma J and Daddy J!

Pictures of Garden Progress

I mentioned in a previous post that the garden is doing really well. Here are some pictures so you can see the progress.

All of the seeds Frank planted previously have sprouted. He has since built a few more boxes and planted another round of seeds in those boxes today. We should have corn coming out of our ears...literally.We have lots of little mandarin oranges growing...and strawberries.We even have some wild strawberries growing alongside the square foot garden boxes.

Playdate dos

Today we had another playdate at our house, and the babies were in high gear! We didn't manage to get a group shot of everyone, but here are a few of us. Pictured L to R: Sandy & Anna Cate, Kristen & Jason, Joy & Caroline, and Mandy & Amara

And the Joffrion girls:
Sweet Friends

And here's an action shot. This was the only shot I got of Big Jen and Amara's man, Isaac, who by the way turns 1 in just a few days. Woop woop!

We played and played until it was time to rest. Of course, we mommas probably need naps just as badly as the babies. See you at the next playdate!

A Few Updates

I thought I'd post a few updates for those of you that are keeping up with the blog.

First of all, our garden has sprouts! We can actually see sprouts for cabbage, beans, corn, brussel sprouts and spinach. Our orange and lemon trees also have lots of little fruit on them. The orange tree has so much fruit that we will eventually have to remove some of the oranges or the limbs will break off. They are really loaded up. The herb garden is also doing great, except the basil which is being eaten by something.

Second, I go back to the rheumatologist tomorrow. I don't really know what to expect with this visit, other than hopefully I'll find out some results from all the labwork they did last time. My medicine still hasn't started working, and I've been in some pain the past few days as the weather has been so unpredictable. Hopefully I'll get some good news tomorrow.

Third, I've sewn yet another piece of clothing. This is clothing #5 for me. I went back to my trusty first pattern ever, but instead of doing a dress, I made a top for Little. My mom had some fabric leftover from Little's Easter dress (pink seersucker with elephants), so I used that to make her an Easter top for the egg hunt we'll be going to on Saturday. Here it is pictured with some of her pants (I did not make those). I am definitely getting my money's worth out of this pattern!By the way, her Easter dress is TOO cute! I can't wait to see her in it and take pictures! I will definitely be posting.

And the most important update of all...Little is 10 months old! Here is a tidbit about her that I haven't yet shared with you...She LOVES the vaccuum. How funny is that? She gets so excited when I get the vaccuum out, which happens to be almost every day. She makes me keep a clean house because she likes to inspect my floors and pick up any little speck or leaf or dog hair and try to taste it. She will even lift up my rugs and look under them. Who ever said having a kid will make you have a messy house? Those people don't live with Little.

She is still going on her Little Pea Adventures, at least once a day. Today, in addition to going on a walk, she surprised my dad at his work and then we went to lunch with him. Here are a couple of pictures of her hanging out in his office.She really is getting so big and is looking so much older now that she has six teeth. I've really got to get planning on her birthday party. I'm working on a sewing project, a banner with her name on it, for the party. I'm amazed every morning when I see her. I seriously think she grows overnight.

Surprise!

Today we threw a surprise baby shower at our house for Anne. By "we", I mean a few close friends and Anne and Jon's families. We have been planning the shower for quite some time now, and we successfully pulled off the surprise! What an accomplishment! I never realized how complicated throwing a surprise shower can be.

Here is a shot of everyone waiting to welcome Anne as she walks in:

And here is Anne as she came in the door with tears of joy:

It was so sweet, and she was so surprised. There was lots of family here.
I love these girls.

Even the guys made it, and for most of them it was their very first baby shower to attend. Clint admitted that it was all he hoped for and more, and I'm sure he wasn't being sarcastic.

Little had a great time at the party, too.

We had so much food thanks to Anne's sister and mom, Jon's mom, Leah and Stephnie. It was definitely a team effort and very delicious! Notice the gorgeous centerpiece made by Anne's mom. She is so creative!
Almost all of the decorations were homemade. I made this diaper cake and wreath (first ones ever and not too shabby, I must say).

I sewed this banner with baby girl's name on it and made this dress for her (sewing project #4). Anne got a lot of precious monogrammed gifts for Ellis. Looks like they won't be able to change their mind on the name now. But why would they? Ellis Anne...such a beautiful name. I can't wait to meet her! And I know these two are anxiously awaiting her arrival! Congratulations Jon and Anne!

87 Degrees in April!

3 posts in 2 days! Hopefully I can keep this up!

This past Saturday, we met some of our friends at our church to spend some time outside and enjoy the nice weather. It was supposed to be a picnic, but can you really call it a picnic if everybody went through the drive-thru on the way? Does a picnic technically have to be homemade food? Well, one person brought homemade food. Good job, Rebecca. The rest of us were slackers.Little was happy to see Leah, even if only for a minute since she couldn't stay.We took Little to the playground, but she's still a bit small to do a lot of the activities. She enjoyed the tunnel, though, and I think she's starting to understand the idea of sliding. She wouldn't let me rub in all of her sunscreen, which is why she looks pale white. And she's decided that she no longer likes hats (with the exception of toboggans), so we also had to rub sunscreen on her head. Her hair was a mess! But you gotta do what you gotta do. Momma knows best!And you can see in the pic that Little's BFF made it to the picnic.

The ladies chatted and supervised the babies in the nice shade while the guys played bocce ball in the toasty sun.There's my big girl socializing with everybody. She made her rounds going to touch all the girls' shoes and purses. All I can say is Frank better get ready for her. Between the two of us, he's going to have a lot of shoes, purses and jewelry to buy.