Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Long time no see!

It has been quite some time since I wrote......and, as promised, here are some new pics! My friend Megan came over and took some gorgeous pictures of Rylie in her "element". This went over significantly better than the previous 3 tries at Portrait Innovations and the results were absolutely fabulous! She did such a great job with Rylie, who is not your easiest subject. June was a busy/crazy month for us. My grandmother found out she had an aneurysm and they had to do major surgery to correct it. Praise the Lord! The surgery went well and she is recovering as we speak. She has not been released from the hospital to come home, she will have to stay a few weeks, but she did well and continues to recover. Thank you for your prayers:) On a sad note, my great aunt Marge lost her battle with cancer and we will be traveling to Charlotte, NC for her memorial service this weekend. The family has dubbed it "Marge's Celebration" because she was a person who liked to celebrate all things in life and lived life with vigor until the end. She was a lovely lady inside and out and will be missed. I know that she loved the Lord, so we celebrate that she is in His presence. On a less important note, Houston "McGyver" Fox strikes again. We took him to the vet just under 2 weeks ago to see about a mass on his leg and the Dr. seemed sure that it was a cancerous growth and had to be removed promptly. $$$ later, we picked him up, heavily sedated, with 25+ stitches and a lampshade on his head and took him home to quarantine him for 2 weeks while he healed. The very next day he jumped out of the area in the garage that we had him hemmed in and by the next day had managed to bust open his sutures. We returned to the vet...more$$$...because that is what we as responsible dog owners felt the need to do and his wound was awful. They kept him, removed the sutures and cleaned the wound, gave us antibiotics and sedatives and sent us on our way. A few days later, after borrowing a kennel from Skyler, I opened the door to give him water and he barreled out, knocking me backwards and breaking my tailbone in the process! Curses! The next day was the 4th, so we went out on the boat and came home that evening to find that he had McGyvered his way out of the kennel (not through the door, mind you, but somehow got the side of it off....what dog does that?) and defiled our home once again. If you missed the first episode of Houston ransacking our house, go back to older posts so you can appreciate this. It will be the one with his picture. Anyway, at least the pantry was closed this time, so he only ate what was on the island and in the trash. Fun times! If you are thinking of getting a weimeraner, here's my advice: Go buy one of those cute calendars with the weimers dressed up as people in the photos and save your hard earned cash on the actual dog! I love Houston, but he is HIGH MAINTENANCE!!!
I will leave you with a brief anecdote: Rylie and I went for a walk to Dollar General, which is a couple of miles from our house, just to pick up a few items and get some exercise in the process. At dinner that night, Stewart asked Rylie what she did today and she told him about seeing turtles in the creek on our walk and she said "...and we walked to Dollar Genital"! Stewart and I laughed so much and that made her say it more. The things 2 year olds say without even knowing...hysterical!
























































Thursday, April 9, 2009

Happy Easter!

Rylie & John Gavin watering ALL of our tulips! I bought them watering cans & I have never seen anything hold their attention so long! What a great investment:) They literally played in the yard for HOURS! It was so cute.

Here is my little Easter bunny posing for a pic.

So cute! Rylie & Stewart were sitting in the garage, whiling away the hours while it rained.



I told Rylie to pose for me.....sometimes she can be a ham! I have about 7 more after this, each with a different expression!


Just in case you forgot what I look like......JK! Stewart took this one.


I told you we had lots of tulips! My dear sweet husband planted hundreds of them, red, white, yellow, orange & pink! Tulips are my favorite flower...he is really such a romantic guy:)


Tip-toeing thru the tulips!


She was probably getting so tired of me trying to get her to smile & play in the tulips! She was a good sport, though!




One more!




Checking out the inside!


“He is not here. He has risen from the dead as he said he would.” Matthew 28:6
“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

(Praise, God! Don't forget to stop & thank our Lord for his sacrifice and his continuing mercy & grace! God is so good & we serve a risen savior! Thank you, Jesus!)
Have a Happy Easter, everyone!





Thursday, March 19, 2009

Spring is here!

What a beautiful week it has been! Such great weather! Tuesday we went to the St. Patrick's Day parade with Kaylen & Andrew. The kids had fun and got to see a green dog! They walked their little legs off to get to the parade and then we went to the park and saw the ducks afterwards. While we were still at the park, the Harlem Globetrotters bus pulled in across the street at the Holiday Inn, so we ran over & got our picture taken with some of the extremely tall players! (The picture is still on my phone). Anyway, here is a shot of the awesome tulips in our yard! We have hundreds of them, ranging from pink to red! Stewart planted them...he knows tulips are my favorite! They make for great spring pictures. This is Rylie's favorite baby, who we named Theo originally, but she has since started calling him "Leo" and insists that he wear dresses.....we now refer to the baby as "she" and we will say Leo is short for Leona!

Wow.....what a toddler can get into in the time it takes you to call the dentist! I got off the phone & she had crawled back into her bed (a dead giveaway that something was up). She turned to look at me & her face was covered in lipstick! She is quick, & had returned the evidence to my make-up bag in the bathroom!

This is Stewart & Rylie re-enacting the previous night's sleep! He told me he literally woke up the night before like this, with his little "backpack" on... I laughed so hard I cried! WE have a king sized bed!!!


Here are the girls painting outside yesterday at the Wilson's house. Andrew was there too, but he took a fall & skinned his nose up. He was o.k.....back to playing soon after! He is a tough little boy:)




A shot of the flowers & ladybugs on my mom & my grandfather's birthday cake....they share a birthday. Rylie helped me make the ladybugs.




my mother & "Pop"



Rylie & her grandaddy during an intense fishing lesson......she learned how to reel'em in! A Mexican family walked up behind us on the pier & she said "What are they talking like???" really loud! I told her they were talking like Dora, and she said "oh".


I love this picture of my sweetie!




She caught one! She did not want to touch it though.



Snow in Alabama.....my snow bunny doesn't look too happy in this pic! She perked up when we made a snowman & gave him m&m eyes and an almond nose!









Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Stinkin' Cute

Let us begin our blog today with a short story: You all recall the quaint childhood story of Peter Pan and his beloved Tinkerbell....Rylie is really in to the Disney classics these days & I love to watch & reminisce with her. I guess that may be the inspiration for her lovely spreading of pixie dust in Daddy's office....only it is not pixie dust. (Imagine a screeching sound as the story comes to an abrupt halt). Instead of pixie dust, there is a substance of green, red & yellow color & smells a bit like shrimp & squid liver meal (whatever that is), because it is not, in fact, pixie dust, but FISH FLAKES!!!! The office has been christened by a fairy who could only be thinking of Nemo's wish come true....yikes! I am still not sure who did this random act of vandalism, because I was babysitting John Gavin also & the two of them cannot be left alone for a second...(case in point!) Now, on to our pictures.....
These are cookies that Rylie & I made for Valentines day....

You make them with heart cookie cutters. Rylie helped with the eyes & noses!

Rylie enjoying a cookie!


Here are Jonah, Kaylen & Rylie playing on the bunks at our Gatlinburg cabin. (Yay, the camera is working again & we salvaged some photos!)



Rylie & Jonah before hitting the tubes!




Rylie, Kaylen & Jonah playing in the snow!






Rylie , Katherine & Jonah






The three musketeers!







The Fox family in Gatlinburg. (Stewart HATES my sunglasses in this pic! HAHAHA!) I do look a bit fly-like:)








Monday, February 16, 2009

A pictureless blog...(sigh)

O.k.....so we just got back from a lovely romantic getaway in the Smoky Mountains for Valentines Day. We went with Keith & Holie Carlisle & their kids & Dawn & Allen Wilson & their little girl. The kids all had a blast playing together. We stayed in a beautiful log cabin overlooking the Smokies, and you could see the slopes from our balconies. The cabin had 3 floors & was equipped with an air hockey table, pool table, hot tub & loads of movies! It had a great fireplace & 2 balconies with rocking chairs. So relaxing! Anyway, we had a great time tubing in the snow & the guys went skiing one day. We all visited the aquarium & went to the Dixie Stampede on Valentines Day. We put all the kiddies in the Jacuzzi tub one afternoon & I got the cutest pics of them dumping water on each other....but this is where our story takes a turn south. Alas, my camera was resting on the vanity & I went to get my brush & the camera fell into the bathtub with the kids! It was like slo-mo....Dawn & I both watched in horror as it bounced twice & landed right in the depths of the tub! So sad! I hope I will be able to salvage the pictures from the card, but I fear that my camera has suffered a worse fate! Oh , well...material things can be replaced. Other than that, we had a wonderful trip (with the exception of Rylie's bout with carsickness upon leaving our cabin the last day...poor child.) So with that being said, I may or may not have pictures to post at a later date! I will have to scrounge some up from Hollie & Dawn!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Last Disney Post....Part 3!

Finding Nemo....we had to fight off the other kids to get inside the shark!

Epcot.....can you guess the country?? We tried to get pictures in every one.....

France....note Stewart's expressions as we move through the countries! Priceless!



Where's Waldo, I mean Emily & Rylie???? This is Morocco, by the way!


When we got to Germany, she spotted Dopey & was so excited! Perfect photo op!



Ahh, Italy!




Any Karate Kid fans out there? Yes, it is Japan. (The real crane is in the background)





Please, I beg of you, double click this one to get the close up!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!

La Cuccaracha.....


LOVE the expression! This was in Asia, at the animal kingdom after a tasty lunch of Kung Pao beef & Shrimp Lo Mein! Yum!


" I miss the rain down in Africa.....dum, dum, dum, da dum dum dum....."


This was on our safari. I have many, many pictures of animals much more interesting than this, but I didn't want to get all Geographic Explorer on you & bore you any more than I already have. I thought you might especially appreciate this one because this Wildebeest was practically IN the jeep with us! At least it wasn't a rhino this close, and the lions were sleeping.....a-weem-o-way...a-weem-o-way....


This was at our fabulous hotel...the Animal Kingdom Lodge. There were animals all around hotel...so cool! We loved it! It was rich with African culture...from artifacts & tribal music in the lobby, to the food & fire pits inside & out that simulated the Savannahs of Africa & the animals that you would see there. They had parades through the lobby that African women, dressed in their native colorful headdresses & wraps would lead & you could listen to an African native talk about their country & where to go when you visit or go on safari. They also had a very talented African artist doing demos of his artwork & selling his art. Lots of cool things to see & do...we especially liked the night vision glasses you could use to spot the animals at night...really a neat experience!


Our Cinderella playing dress up at home


Princess Rylie