Happy Easter (recap)

I feel like it's been much longer than a week and a half since Easter!  I think it's because last week was Spring Break and that threw us off our routine (that I love so much) and it just makes it seem like a long time ago.  Nonetheless, I wanted to share some pictures of my handsome men in their church attire.

The serious side.

The silly side.

The happy family - quite possibly one of the only decent family pics we have had lately!  We can thank Wes' iphone and Facebook loving sister for her mad camera skills :)

Wes and I - another rare shot that actually is decent!

Wes' family, his brother's son, and us.

All the kiddos.

And this shot cracked me up too much to not include.  I actually had to crop out Sawyer because he was on the move and was a blur.  This is what I was left with.  Doesn't it look like a Glamour Shot (or an Olan Mills picture for those of you from around here)?!

Blueberry Patch

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Blueberry Festival has become an annual event in our house.  This year, we decided to get there as early as possible to try to beat the heat.  No such luck in that regard but we were able to snag some pretty good berries because we were some of the first to pick!  If you've never experienced fresh blueberries from the vine/bush, you are missing out.  As Wes said, "Now this is how blueberries should taste!"  I couldn't agree more!   Here we are about to set off on our exploration.  Please note, it is not easy to push or pull 65+ pounds in a wagon, uphill.  

Let me show you how to do it, Bubby.

Colin learned from last year and now understands that we only want the blue ones, not the green ones.  So he studied each one before it made it to the bucket.

Others are still learning.

But he still had fun.

We're already looking forward to next season!

Cousins

After missing the chance to spend Easter weekend with Wes' side of the family, we were all finally well enough to go for a visit this past weekend.  Colin started the countdown on Monday and continued to ask every day when it was we would be leaving.  Friday morning he woke up early and came running in our bedroom - lately this is out of character for him, as we've had to wake him up for breakfast/school.  He thought we were leaving that morning.  It broke my heart to tell him he still had to wait one more day!  He didn't seem phased and was excited to know that the "next day" was Saturday.  (He refuses to learn the meaning of the word tomorrow for some reason.)

Colin has a bit of OCD.  One of the biggest things he's obsessed with is food!  He is constantly talking, thinking, and/or consuming food.  He recently asked me how to make oven-roasted broccoli (and later cupcakes) and once I told him, he asked if I would write that down for him so he could make when he was older.

His obsessive behavior doesn't end there.  He's like a dog with a bone when he gets an idea in his head.  Ever since Easter, his focus has been on egg hunting.  We've had no less than 25 egg hunts and Wes and I are to the point where we pray for rain so we don't have to hide those darn eggs!  He is a good hunter and he gets it honestly, I love it too.  My mom hid eggs for me not too many years ago (:  But it was 1 time, 1 day, not 47 times for 15 days!

I say all of this to say, we had to take the eggs with us so that he and his cousin could have an egg hunt.  Colin even painstakingly combed through the playroom to find toys small enough to put in the eggs for prizes.  I was proud of his generosity and unselfish heart.  He was so anxious for his cousin to find the treasures and excited that he could tell him that he could keep them!

Sawyer had to get in on the action too.  Wes' dad holds his bucket while he snatches eggs out of his brother's basket.

He and his cousin are only about 8 months apart, so they are at the same stage developmentally.  They both love action figures and Colin thoroughly enjoyed getting to play with a room full of 'new' toys.  I was proud to see how well he interacted and behaved with his peer.  He played fair, shared, never hit or argued, and did a lot of studying.

Little Sawyer is not quite to the same level as the older boys.  He wants to run with them and do what they do but he gets frustrated (read: anger management issues) and ends up spending most of his time in my arms, lap, or feet (but that's a story for another day).

That's Colin's Bumblebee mask on top of his head.  He can't wear it on his face because he can't see to walk.  

Colin had a great time and played his little heart out.  He was wiped out on the way home and welcomed the chance for a little rest.

Post Christmas Wrap-Up

Another Christmas come and gone. I love the Christmas season, the buildup, the anticipation, the lights, the smells, the hustle and bustle, but I hate how quickly it's gone! I hate when that last gift is taken from under the tree, when the last bite of Christmas breakfast and/or dinner is eaten, or the bareness that comes after taking down the decorations. We spend weeks getting ready for one day and then it's gone quicker than you can say ho, ho, ho!

I can't dwell on the negative with the new year quickly approaching. It's time to focus on a clean slate. I'm not one to make resolutions - you know, the ones that people make and break within the first month of the year?! I choose to make the most out of each day and hopefully become a better person along the way.

I do try to set goals for myself, not necessarily on January 1st but all throughout the year. One goal I'd like to attain is to give more to others. Wes and I took a goody bag to a needy new mother at the hospital on Christmas Day. Although I was nervous for some unknown reason, I was overcome with emotion when the nurse told me that there was a new mother who could use it. Wes and I both agreed we need to do things like that more often. It was a very humbling experience and there are people in need everyday, not just Christmas day.

I'd be remiss if I didn't post a few pictures of the Christmas festivities at our house. Colin isn't quite old enough to fully understand, although he does know Santa goes, "Ho, ho, ho"! He was confused that he was actually allowed to rip the paper. He kept looking up at us as if to say, "Are you sure it's OK?" We tried not to overload him with toys and presents. Wes' family more than made up for our slack!

He did great at Wes' parents house this time and slept better than we could have ever imagined. We've discovered the key is to wear him out and then he'll basically collapse when it's bedtime. Wes joked that we needed to adopt some kids to wear him out! It was refreshing to see him interact more with the other kids and not just cling to my leg. He's coming out of his shell a little and I think "school" has been the driving force behind that. He also loved the cat and dog but he can just keep loving them from afar because I don't need something else to keep up with right now! I failed to take my camera with me to Wes' house so the pictures below are just from our house on Christmas morning.

Colin with his new ball that sings and moves on it's own.

Colin giving his gift to Granny. He was really good at delivering the gifts.

Colin helping Grams by standing on her present!

Colin enjoying Daddy's gifts of hot chocolate and chocolate covered pretzels - might have know he'd find the food!

My Dad and Wes

My Mom and Granny

Black Friday

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it, there's no shopping to be done by me today. Thanks to the NASD, the bond market is open today, thus I'm at work! Yippee! I suppose it's just as well because if I was at home, I'd probably feel some internal nudge to get up early with the other crazies, er people, and fight over a $9.99 Christmas tree that was regularly $10.49. That's a saving of nearly 50 cents that I wasted my precious sleep hours to get? Are you kidding me?! Who does that and more importantly, why? I realize there are better deals out there but those deals will be even better the day after Christmas when the poor-economy-stricken stores have blow-out sales to get rid of the merchandise they didn't sell. Now those sales I'll eagerly take part in! Am I a contradiction? Maybe but that's just how I roll.

I wanted to share some pictures from our Thanksgiving celebration. It was a long day but seeing family and having a great meal made it all worthwhile (at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself!). Colin must have been eager to get a start on Thanksgiving because he woke up bright and early at 6:15, after having cleaned out his system to presumably make room for his feast! Thanks, babe. Going back to sleep was not in the cards for this one. We were on the road by 9:30 and arrived to Wes' aunt and uncle's house a little before 1. Lunch was at 2 and we were back on the road a little after 4. Colin did sleep most of the way there but was past exhausted on the way home and decided to cry most of the way. Poor kid, he wanted out of the seat he had been sitting in 3/4 of the day and just wanted to lay in his own bed! He did go to sleep about an hour outside of Lexington and went to back to sleep once we got home. Based on the amount of driving, he was a trooper and did quite well.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too. I'm sure many of you are at home putting up your Christmas tree and other decorations. I'll be right there with you when I get home. I'm fearful of how Colin will react to the tree and specifically, the ornaments (all of which are breakable). I'm thinking my tree might have a 3 foot border at the bottom with no ornaments! That should look nice. I just pray he doesn't pull the whole thing down on top of him!!

Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends!


Anna (Wes' sister), Colin, and his cousin, Reese







Colin and his cousin, Keaton, riding the horsey. Shaina (Wes' other sister) is supervising.







Wes' dad holding his 2 grandsons, Colin and Keaton.






My big kid riding the horsey!

Happy Birthday Mom!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Sunday was my Mom's birthday! I asked her where she would like to go for dinner and she said, "Does it have to be somewhere out because my first preference would be for you to cook?" So of course I obliged and thus the cookout. For her cake, she suggested something along the lines of an orange dreamsicle. I had no idea that orange cakes required so many eggs but every one I came across had at least 5! The one I tried was from Southern Living, and while it was good, I prefer my cake layers to be light and moist and these were more spongy and dry. The filling and icing more than made up for the cake though. Here's the link to the recipe again (Orange Chiffon Cake with Orange Icebox Pie Filling), as well as some pictures of my Mom opening her gifts (the up close and personal one is one that Elise took!).




Happy Birthday Mom, I love you!

There's No Place Like Home!

Although we had a wonderful trip, it's still nice to be home and sleep in our own bed. Colin obviously echos that statement because he slept better last night than he did most of the trip. How he knows one crib from another I don't know, but he must. On the way down we stopped in Asheville, NC. Colin actually did quite well there so we were optimistic. The next morning we were off to SC. We arrived too early to check in so we went into Charleston for lunch. The only lunch place I could think of that was generic enough for everyone was Joseph's. My friend Toni had suggested it for breakfast or lunch because she had eaten there after seeing Rachel Ray eat there on $40 A Day. The food was really good and I'll expound upon that later. It was time to head to our rental house. WOW! It was amazing. The pictures didn't do it justice. We felt like we were living like the rich and famous for a week. I don't have pictures to share because we recorded it on our video camera to get the full effect. I really don't think pictures would do it justice. The girls were a little sad because the pool wasn't huge but they adjusted just fine and were perfectly content by the end of the week. Colin enjoyed the pool, while floating away in his little inner tube. He was fine with the beach too until a wave crashed against us and splashed the salt water in his eyes. He was none too pleased with that and was quickly ready to exit the beach. It was cute though as we were walking up to the beach, he reached his hand out towards the water and gave his "I want that" grunt. Mommy will have to work on that one!

We ate at a lot of great restaurants and I'll post those in mini posts later. For now, here are a few pictures from the trip.

It's good to be home and I look forward to catching up with all of you soon!

Deskins/Ellison Summer Vacation

Here we go, we're off on our first family trip. We leave Friday for Folly Beach, SC (Charleston). It was supposed to be a family vacation, but unfortunately my sister won't be able to join us. The girls are going, as is my Dad's sister, and of course my Mom and Dad. I'm not sure who is more excited, Wes and I who haven't had a vacation in 3 years, Elise who will get to spend an entire week with her Grandpa, Kiara who will get to go swimming every day, Margaret who will get to be away from school for a week, or Grams who will get to enjoy all of her grandkids!! I know there will be some trials and tribulations with Colin and the drive down there, but we'll make it and have good stories to tell afterward. I'll be back in about 2 weeks with stories, restaurant reviews, and lots of pictures. Enjoy the beginning of your summer! And we're off...

Here's a picture of the house we're renting. Hopefully it will look something like this!

Happy 94th Birthday Granny!

Man I hope I inherit some of her genes! Granny, my mom's mom, turned 94 years young on Saturday. She still lives alone in her little yellow house on UK's campus, with her poodle, Zachary. She gets around pretty well and is pretty self-sufficient. She does rely on my Mom a lot for her errands and groceries, since she doesn't like to leave her house. The one exception to that rule is Christmas. All year she looks forward to Christmas morning and coming over to my house for breakfast and the ensuing festivities. This year Mom suggested that I invite Granny over for her birthday to see if she'd come. I asked her a week or so ahead of time and she said as of then, yes, but she'd have to wait and see how she felt. Well as the day approached, she was getting more and more excited so I knew she'd come. She requested a yellow cake with caramel icing and of course I obliged. Yes, a chance to make a cake, of course I'll do it. This cake was outstanding - outstanding cake for an outstanding lady! Granny truly is an inspiration and has a heart of gold. I cherish every moment that I get to spend with her and I'm so glad she and Colin have got to spend time together too. Here's to 10 more Granny!