Sunday afternoon at Nana's

Last Sunday, we all got together at Jason's mom's house at Jax beach before Jessica (Daniel's wife) and Caleb flew back to Japan.


For Easter, Nana bought Caleb and Brody kites so of course we headed to the beach to try them out. Jessica and Caleb got theirs up with no problem but Jason and I were having no luck with ours. We finally determined (after Jessica even tried) that ours was defective. Brody really only wanted to run around the beach in total freedom.

Nana and her 3 boys.

Not a very successful family shot - Brody just wasn't into taking a picture.

This was Cale's first time at the beach and he loved exploring the sand - so much for the blanket that we brought.

The weather was perfect and we had a great time. It was so good for the 3 cousins to get together one last time before Caleb goes back to Japan for awhile.

Our little golfer

For Christmas, Brody's nana bought him a set of "real" golf clubs - driver, wedge, and a putter. He absolutley loves them and everytime he goes outside he has to grab one of the clubs and hit some balls. He also HAS to have his golf glove on.

A couple of Fridays ago, Jason went to the driving range so we thought it would be good (cute) for Brody to experience the course as well, so I took Brody up to the golf course once Jason was finished. He did so good once he realized he couldn't use the wedge on the putting green - I'm sure the green would have looked great once he was done - a lot of divots. Here's a few shots of our little golfer.

Such form and concentration. Jason taught him - "back and through"

Like Father like Son!!!

Softball has begun

A couple of weeks ago, Jason started playing softball 2 nights a week. Brody and I have been able to make a couple of the games so far - the early ones. It's hard to keep his attention for the 45 min - he really wants to just run around but I don't want to chase him. Thank goodness Crystal McCall is there - last week she walked him around and even took him in the dugout. She is so used to being at the ball park - she has 3 boys. After the game (while the team prayed in the center) - she let Brody run around the bases - yes so spiritual.

Brody quickly learned about the concession stand and they have suckers. This keeps him occupied for a little while. Here's what I have to look forward to for the next couple of months.

Easter part 2

Easter Sunday morning we woke up to Brody not feeling so good. Not really a fever but just not himself. Jason and I had to be in Sunday School that morning because our copartners were out of town. We decided to take Brody into our class - I'm sure the 12th graders loved that. We didn't think he needed to be in the nursery that morning and possiby get other 2 year olds sick.

Isn't this the saddest face ever?

He sure doesn't look sick here - he handles it pretty well!

Since Brody didn't get any better, we decided it was best to go on home after Sunday School. Let me just say that I felt so unspiritual that day. This was the 1st Easter that Jason and I can really remember that we weren't in church. It just wasn't right. Anyway, Brody opened up what the Easter Bunny brought him. He didn't even really eat the candy - that's how sick he was. He loved the microphone - since American Idol is his favorite show and he loves to come out and sing for us. We also played with his new bubble machine - this things can go through some bubbles.

This is him singing "If you're happy and you know - then your face will really show it"

For some reason he loves to close his eyes when he sings.

He looks like he is ready to play some tennis.


My mom had cooked lunch for us and she called and said it would be about 20 more minutes. I thought Brody was actually going to make it for lunch but that quickly changed - within the next 10 minutes he crawled up beside Jason on the couch and fell asleep. It was so cute but I felt bad for my mom and dad who had prepared this great Easter lunch and we couldn't enjoy it with them. I did however go and get to go plates so we at least had some lunch.

He didn't quite make Easter lunch - what a sweet boy!


Showing off his big boy skills.

That evening since we didn't have church - mom and dad came over to enjoy the Wii that Jason gave me for my birthday. Mom and dad showed off their skiing skills - dad was actually pretty good. I wish I had pictures to show - I'm sure they would love it.

Anyway, overall we had a great Easter and are very thankful for the real reason we celebrate Easter - Jesus is Alive!!!

Busy yet Fun Easter weekend - part 1

The Easter weekend started out with shopping at the Outlet mall in St. Augustine with mom and Brody on Friday. It was a long day but of course as usual Brody ended up with all the clothes. As the day went on I could kind of tell Brody was starting to get hoarse so I was a little concerned that he would be sick for Easter. Later that night he did start running a fever.

I finally gave in and let Brody ride one of the cars.

Saturday was our church's annual Easter egg hunt at Paul & Lynnda Cook's house (which Brody calls them Unc Paul & LeLe). Brody woke up with a slight fever so we gave him some Motrin hoping he would feel okay to go to the egg hunt. He seemed okay just very lethargic and we assumed it would be okay since he would be outside and not really in direct contact with other kids. He was so cute with his Easter "bucket" as he called it - thank goodness I got a decent picture BEFORE we left.

When we got there we checked out the BIG horse and donkeys. Check out Brody feeding them - he didn't seem too scared at all. You could tell he wasn't himself because he didn't really run around - just walked around in la la land - it was so sad.

LeLe helping Brody feed one of the donkeys.

This year at the egg hunt, Kari brought her little girls' pet bunny - Bugs for pictures. He was so cute and all the little kids were able to take a picture with the bunny. He wasn't even scared of the bunny - the bunny had different thoughts. I think we traumitized the poor thing.

Check out Kari's blog to see some of the other pictures she took - she did a great job.


This is a good friend of mine, Clair, at work (I also went to JU with her and she was in my wedding) her little girl, Emma. Not sure what they were trying to feed the bunny.

There was a hayride for the kids, so the adults could hide the eggs while they were gone. Brody did pretty good finding the eggs, but once again he seemed in la la land.

Brody, Papa, and Sara Lynn leading the hayride.

Brody and Tyler Hodges - They are a month a part and every year they have had their picture taken together at the Easter egg hunt. It's so cute to watch them grow up together.


Brody pushing Brent Sikes around in the pink car - yes this picture will be used later in life.

We finally left around 1:15 and he passed out within 5 minutes and slept for 3 hours. While he slept, Jason and I did a Clean House act on the garage - everything out of it and put in separate piles - keep, sell, or toss. It felt so good to have this done - one of the many things on my "To Do" list before the baby comes - sorry no pictures of the finished product. Trust me though it is a 100 times better then it was.

Late that night, all 3 of us colored Easter eggs. I haven't done this in probably 20-25 years so it was pretty neat. Brody was interested for about the first 15 minutes and then he was ready to move on to something else, so daddy and mommy had to finish up. Here's a few pics and even the finished products.

Girls' birthday dinner

It has become a tradition that every March, John and Tracy Cruce, Keith and Kelly Walsky and Jason and I go out to dinner to celebrate the girls' birthdays. It happens to be that all the girls' birthday's are in March - how convenient. With all of our busy schedules, we finally agreed on the first Saturday in April and headed to Bonefish.

It was great fun to just relax and talk with close friends. However, you'll never believe what we found ourselves talking about MOST of the time - OUR KIDS!!! Imagine that. It's pretty cool that all 3 of our kids are right around the same age - Baylie turned 3 in March, Brayden turns 3 in June and Brody turns 3 in Dec. Hopefully, they'll grow up to be close friends like we are.

21 week update

On April 1, we had our 21 week appointment. Dr. McLanahan said things are going great. I haven't had any problems so far and am very thankful. The baby has started moving and actually at the doctor's office while waiting for the doctor, Jason felt the baby move for the first time.

She/He is very active in the morning and of course towards the end of the night when I finally sit down for the evening. It is such a cool feeling to have this baby moving inside of you and we are very thankful that God has blessed us with this experience again.

Recently, I cleaned out my closet to make room for the maternity clothes - what a sad day to put up the somewhat stylish clothes that no longer fit to make room for the definitely not stylish maternity clothes. Tara and I have passed back and forth our maternity clothes so between the 2 of us we have a variety - thank goodness because who likes to spend a lot of money on clothes that will only be worn for about 4-5 months. I can still wear some of my shirts but I am quickly outgrowing them. I am trying to wear them for as long as possible. I think my wardrobe for the summer will be cool cotton dresses - thank goodness for Old Navy!!

8 years and many more to come!!!

Yes, this post is a couple of weeks late, but better late then never.

I can't believe it has been 8 years since Jason and I got married. We actually dated for over 6 years and everyone ALWAYS asked when we were going to get married but we did have a plan. We both wanted to finish college and get our career started, which thankfully happened.

I remember during high school thinking that I would never find that "perfect" Christian guy that God had for me. Even in my first semester of college I dated some but it was never "right". At the beginning of my 2nd semester at JU, while Jason was home from Brewton College in Mt Vernon, GA for the weekend we had mutual friends that set us up and all 4 of us went out - our 1st date - bowling and Shoney's. Because we were both away at school we only saw each other on the weekends which is probably why we were able to date for so long.

In August 2000 he asked me to marry him while walking on the beach (yes, I know very romantic :) - just how I wanted it). I was so excited and surprised. I couldn't believe that I was actually going to get married to the PERFECT Christian guy God had for me.

The wedding was just as I had imagined and I was so happy all day - the smile never left my face. All of our family and friends were there - the church was packed. It really does seem like just yesterday.

Here we are 8 years later with Brody and another child on the way. God has truly blessed us and I look forward to what He has in store for us in the future.

Brody's new toy

While in NY, Jason and I bought Brody a couple of puppets. Of course they had to be a fireman and a construction worker with a "Bob the Builder" hat. Here's Brody enjoying Jason's puppet show.

The BIG Apple

A couple of weeks ago, Jason celebrated our 8th Anniversary and my birthday by going to New York City for a long weekend. We celebrated our 1st Anniversary in the big city (in Dec so we could see it all decorated for Christmas). We had no real agenda once we got there which was kind of nice - just a time to get away together. We flew out real early on Thursday morning and we headed straight to our hotel a block away from Times Square to unload. The weather was pretty cold which we were somewhat prepared for. It actually snowed Friday morning on us - it didn't stick though.

Rockefeller Center Friday morning

Our hotel room with all of our packages. Quite a chore to try and pack all of them to take home - thank goodness we packed empty bags so we could fill them on the way home.

The M&M store - a pregnant girl's dream.

Here are few pictures from FAO Schwartz - the BIG toy store. We spent probably 1-2 hours in this store - even without Brody :)

We did some - a lot - of shopping and even more walking. We don't take taxi's around the city because we love to "experience" the true New York by taking the subway so of course it was a lot of walking. Since it was in the middle of March madness, we ate dinner the first night at ESPN Zone right in the heart of Times Square. Quite an experience - it was PACKED!!!

Our transportation for the weekend.

Dinner at ESPN Zone.

On Friday, I got up early to try and get tickets for the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. I got us 2 stand by tickets #71 & #76. You then had to come back at 3:45 and see if there was enough room for you to get in. We didn't think we would make it so when we were still at Macy's at 3:30 we didn't rush back since we didn't think our odds were that good. We did so much walking on this day - Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, stand in line at the TKTS booth for Broadway tickets, World Trade Center site, SHOPPING and more SHOPPING. That night the Broadway play we saw was The 39 Steps by Alfred Hitchcock. It was quite funny - 4 actors played over 150 roles.

On Saturday, we did more shopping and walking. I was on a mission to try and find some maternity stores. We travelled across town to Gap where the maternity clothes were and then headed downtown to a few children's boutiques which were WAY to expensive. I just wanted to say that I went in a few. The weather was beautiful on Saturday - still a little chilly but sunny. We found a Farmer's market at Union's Square that was so neat - they had all their products out for sale - apples, fresh milk, meat, flowers, and fresh baked goods. There were people everywhere with their kids and dogs. It was so cool and I could see myself shopping in one of those. We got fresh apples and I had some HOT apple cider.

The Famer's Market in Union Square.

We then kept walking towards Greenwich Village and found a Street Fair. They had everything out there - clothes, jewelry, and of course FOOD. I of course had to feed the baby a funnel cake and buy some fresh popcorn for later. We then headed towards Canal Street to go in the "back" rooms for some great bargains on purses. This street was PACKED. Thank goodness we were asked by several people if we liked Coach, Louie and of course I said yes so off we followed to their back room. This was Jason's first experience with this but I had warned him. They have some purses out in the front of their store but the ones in the "back" room people say are better but are probably illegal or something but it is quite an experience. I found a couple of great purses which I was very excited about.

The street fair in Greenwich Village - me buying popcorn.

One thing we had never done before that I did want to do on this trip was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. This was such an experience - walking across the traffic below and seeing the Manhattan skyline behind us. It was such a nice leisurely day and we ended it with a WONDERFUL well deserved meal in Little Italy. I could eat there every night - but of course I would be way to fat.

On Sunday, we leisurely took our time through Central Park. We started at the South end and walked about half way through it. It was so nice and relaxing.

One of my favorite spots in Central Park - The Mall. This is a very famous spot where lots of movies are made - Maid in Manhattan for one.

This was such a wonderful trip and it felt so good to get away and spend quality time together with no specific agendas. I can't wait to go back!!