Special friendships

Ever have one of those friends that you have been friends with your entire life? One that you could literally tell ANYTHING to and never have the fear of being judged or laughed at? (Well, laughed at in a mean way!!) I do. When I was born my daddy was pastoring a church in Statesboro, GA. There was a super sweet, super special family that were members of that church at the time, the Tyson's, and they just happened to have a little girl named Emily that was my age. I don't remember a whole lot about our time in Statesboro (I don't have as good a memory has my sister!) but I do remember playing with Emily after church! Right after I turned 4, Cool Springs PB Church called my dad and we moved a couple hours away. But Emily and I stayed friends. Thru the years we became pen pals (yes, people did actually use to use the hand written word to communicate) and visited each other during the Holidays and Summertime's. Okay, she mostly visited me because I would get a slight case of homesickness when I had to spend the night away from home! Emily on the other hand WANTED to be away from home; she had 3 brothers to contend with and they knew the meaning of being good brothers, hehe!!

Thru out high school it was so great to have a friend that lived 100 or so miles away so that you could tell secrets to someone with out fear of it getting back to the person you told on! We know things about each other that, well, lets just say I hope I'm always on her good side and I'm sure she feels the same way about me! We saw each other thru the awkward years, the rough college years, and a stream of ridiculously bad relationships mixed in between! She was a bridesmaid in my wedding 7 years ago and I was the worlds largest bridesmaid in her wedding 3 years ago!! (My husband was the officiator in her wedding which made it extra special!) She and her husband, Eric, moved to Brasil 2 days after James and Audrey were born and they had their first child, Gabriela, 13 months ago while they were in Brasil but we kept in touch thru blogs and emails. They moved back to the states in December of '09 but, back to Iowa so she may as well still be in Brasil!!

But, last Thursday Emily, Eric and Gabriela came for a visit and to spend the night! They had been visiting Em's brother in Tifton and came on over our way. I was SO excited to get to finally see Gabriella in person. I had seen quite enough pictures of that little doll face; it was high time I got some in person smiles from her!

She's just as adorable in person, if not more. And she is such a happy, content child! She's just started walking but that didn't stop her from following James and Audrey every where they went. It was so much fun to watch our children play together. I just wish we were closer so they could play together all the time. But maybe Audrey and Gabriela will become pen pals one day.......if pens and stamps still exist by the time they are old enough!

Emily and Eric are expecting another little girl in just about 2 months. God bless their souls, it's gonna be a different ball game with two around so close in age (like I would know or anything!) but hopefully the 2nd will be just as compliant as the first! It was such a special treat to have the Zieser's here in our home and I wish it could of lasted longer and I wish they lived closer but at least her entire family lives in Georgia so she will be coming with in reasonable driving distance of me a few times a year!!

Making more memories

Last weekend we had the pleasure of hosting our 2nd annual Summer get together with two of the sweetest families that we have the pleasure to call our friends: the Hataway's and the Ferrell's. As expected, we had a BLAST. Kids and adults! On Saturday our husbands were sweet enough to watch the kids while they napped (hehe) so that we mother's could go eat lunch at a local deli here in town. The soup and sandwiches were delicious and the uninterrupted girl talk was marvelous!

Except for the occasional "He's playing with my toy" or "I had that first" little upsets, all the kids got along wonderfully. I think it's great that kids who only see each other a couple times a year can play so well together when they are together!

Upon arrival, Emma and James (for some hilarious unknown reason!) bonded and were pretty much attached at the hip the whole weekend. They were calling each other "my girlie" and "my boy", it was pretty funny!

Saturday night, James, Emma, Audrey and Nathan were the only kiddos that were left since Allie and Joshua had to go home and Abby went to spend the night with Claire, a little girl who goes to our church who Amber has known her mother for years. They piled up on Audrey's yellow big duckie and had a Dora the Explorer marathon! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and I hope we have many more annual weekend get together. Love you guys!

Playing catch up

We've been so super busy lately that I have not had time to update on the happenings in our kiddos lives. Last post I told you all how Audrey dresses her self these days (well, she puts clothes on about 10 times a day. she has yet to "match" any outfits yet!) and this post is to tell all of you that my son, my darling baby boy, is finally potty trained!!!!!!!! It makes me a teeny tiny bit weepy to think about that before Jon has to start back to school, James will be in a big boy bed. That's not that long people! Any way, back to James and the potty. During our annul meeting at Tired Creek, I left the house one time with out any pull ups (or underwear) and of course didn't realize this until we had gotten to the church. So, I told James we didn't have any more pull ups and he better not poop in the one he had on or he would have to be naked under his pants. Apparently he didn't like the prospect of having to go commando at church because half way thru preaching he shouts "I GOT TO GO POOPOO MOMMY" something he has never done before! We rushed to the bathroom, he controlled his bowels till we got there and we had our first successful poop in the pot. Exhilarating, I know!

For the next couple weeks he would only tell me when he had to go at church but he soon started telling me at home off and on. He came down with a stomach virus the day we left for New Orleans which caused him to have diarreah for about 6 days and, oddly enough, that is what ultimately potty trained my son. Ha!! What a great story, huh?!

Why change isn't always a good thing

Yours truly thought that it was time (and would be a good idea) to move Audrey's clothes out of the chest of drawers that her and James have shared since they were babies, and into her room in her own dresser. So, my sister graciously passed down Hannah's old bed room set which includes a twin bed (which will be set up at a much later date!) and a dresser with 6 drawers. I was so excited to finally get it and get all of Audrey's clothes moved into it (I'm weird like that) and it was a nice addition to her room. Until she figured out that she can now change her clothes AND panties just as often as her little heart desires......

Still going...

Matthew came to spend a few days with us while his mama caught up on some much needed rest. James and Audrey had so much fun having him here and I think Matthew enjoyed not having any of his siblings around for a few days! Grandaddy and Nonie were here also last week and these 3 spent a lot of time out on the porch with Grandaddy "flying in the air plane"!! And how funny is Iron Man on the far right?!

Friday afternoon an hour or two after Dad and Nelda left, the Sanders crew rolled into town for a church meeting at Trinity and we spent the weekend at church. It was another great weekend, it just went by way to fast!

Sydney is the only one who really loves us because she stayed behind to spend some time with Jon and I the kids and will be going back to New Orleans with us to babysit the children while we are at the rehearsal dinner and wedding. Everyone needs a Sydney in their lives, she is a jewel and we are enjoying every second of her being here with us.

Face #12

Jon and I are beyond tired after our busy (but wonderful!) weekend. But for some reason our children are not. They have the most energy of any two human beings on the face of this earth and I am really wishing they would share some of it with their dear mother. I figured no one would be interested in my ugly mug so, I decided to let face #12 of my daughter show every one how I feel at this hour!

A hodge podge of events

Yes, we are still alive. Yes, we have been very busy and no, it's not slowing down any time soon! Please pardon our absence in the land of blog but we've been kinda busy these last two weeks. Lets start with the illness that plagued our house for 10 days. The day after we got home from my sister's(Sunday), Audrey started running a real high fever. No other symptoms, just fever. James started running one the next day right before bed time so I figured a trip to the doc was in order. Tuesday we went traipsing to the end of the world (not really) to the ped's office and he said they had a cold virus and it had to wear off. We ended up back at the ped's office on Friday for nasty coughs and left with scripts for antibiotics and steroids because they both had the croup.

10 days is a looonnnggg time for kids to be sick so as soon as they stopped running fevers and their coughs started to sound like it was actually going to go away at some point, we packed the van, threw them in it and headed out to New Orleans for SuSu camp. SuSu camp? Well, in a nut shell Jon's mother started Aunt Su camp a few years back when her youngest nieces and nephews were young(er) to give their parents a break for a couple days during the Summer. James and Audrey were old enough to enjoy the festivities this year, so we took them. After I got them all settled at "camp", I jetted off to Hattiesburg to soak up some rays by Aunt Becky's pool and enjoy some peace and quiet and not have to hear the "M" word for a couple days! It twas very nice and I am already looking forward to SuSu camp again next year. HAHA!! BTW, my husband stayed at "camp" of his own free will. JSYK.

On Friday, everyone came to Hattiesburg, met up at Uncle Andy's house and caravaned to a church meeting at the church where Uncle Andy pastors in Mize Mississippi and where Jon was the invited preacher. We had a wonderful, wonderful weekend. Pleasant Home Primitive Baptist Church is a precious place with precious members and that meeting will always hold a special place in our hearts!! And we had a blast at the Andy Mozingo's Friday and Saturday night, thanks again for the hospitality y'all! Saturday evening after a meal of delicious BBQ chicken, we convened back in the sanctuary to sing a few songs. Andy called on each of the boys to help lead a song and this one in particular caught my eye!

Our Summer's are always jam packed, especially the month of June. We've got 2 church meetings, 2 (hopefully 3) sets of company and a wedding in New Orleans to attend, still this month so......the blog will be taking a back burner for a while. I might drop in once a week or so with some pictures, just to keep the hate mail at a minimum!