Happy Birthday it was...

I had a great birthday today - Thanks to all my family and friends who made it special. I was treated to breakfast, a yummy lunch at Chili's - Thanks Don and Darla! Roses from my Mama, a pedicure from Rachel, lots of sweet and special cards, a nice dinner out with my sweetie and a great cake! I also managed to fit a mini-shopping spree at Old Navy in there too which was wonderful!!! I am so blessed to have such awesome family and friends.

Also want to send out a special birthday message to my niece Olivia --- HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you too Sweetie!!! Hope it was a great one! ;)

A Visit With Stephanie and Hayden

The kids and I headed down to Athens, Tennessee to spend the afternoon with our friends Steph and Hayden a couple of weekends ago. It was good to see Stephanie and catch up. We try to get together when we get the chance, but it seems to be too long between visits. The last time the kids saw Hayden, he was just a tiny newborn, so they were surprised to see him up and walking around and playing. We spent the afternoon at the local park (okay, so it was really a school playground- Why does Athens not have a park?). The kids had fun and it was cute to watch Stephanie and Hayden together. =)

5 Months Old

Kate is five months old and it is so hard to believe that that much time has already gone by. She is doing great - smiling, laughing, rolling over, working on sitting up, teething for sure and getting a very sweet little personality in general. She weighs around 13 pounds, is wearing 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers. She nurses every 3 to 4 hours and will sleep 10 to 11 hours a night without waking up. She is very mellow and happy most of the time although here lately those two front bottom teeth have given her more than enough reason to fuss - but she just smiles and chews on what ever happens to be near her face. She loves to watch the kids play, have them talk to her and play with her and she has even started to take intrest in Phoebe-dog. She loves sitting in her bumbo seat and being a part of what ever happens to be going on. We're working on sitting up, but not having much luck as of yet - still a little too top heavy. She has gotten very good at reaching out and grabbing things - especially hair. She still loves her mobiles and playmats and now her exersaucer and rattles. She still sleeps quite a bit during the day at least one nap between each of her feedings. She's still sleeping in the cradle at night but naps in her crib during the day. We all adore her and watch and wait to see what she'll do next.

Cutie

A few shots I got of miss Kate when she was 21 weeks - one week before she turned 5 months old. Such a little cutie!

Alcoa -vs- Maryville -- A House Divided

Alcoa beat Maryville (HUGE rival teams for those of you from different states!) for the first time in years tonight with a score of 41 - 24. Yay!!! Doug graduated from Maryville High and I graduated from Alcoa. After a trip to the local sports shop to purchase team shirts the girls of the house were dressed in the winning colors tonight! Go Alcoa! We were happy to have our good friend Marshall from school (who actually introduced us way back in the day!) join us for the game. It's great to catch up and hang out. =)

Also an extra big thing happened today with Miss Kate -- She has TWO NEW TEETH!!!! They just poked through today. Wow!!!!

Stephanie & Elise

I was so happy to be able to meet up with a good friend of mine from high school while she was here visiting with her family. Stephanie moved to Georgia during the early high school years and we haven't seen each other in about 15 years. One of the great things about the Internet is how you can find people (and they find you!) and you can reconnect with them. We got together with our girls and had lunch at Hana's. Rachel discovered just how much she likes edamame watching Elise eating it. Then we took the girls over to Sandy Springs park to play and run around a little while we sat under a tree and talked. Even though we hadn't seen each other in 15 years, it was easy to talk and catch up and much like old times - only better. I'm so glad we got the chance to get together and really hope we get the opportunity again soon! Steph, it was truely great seeing you and meeting Elise - She is absolutely adorable! =)

Chopstick Cutie

One of our favorite resturaunts to eat at is Hana's in Maryville. They have some of the best Sushi we've had and we tend to indulge ourselves when we get the chance. Rachel discovered that she very much liked edamame when we had lunch there with my friend Stephanie and her daughter Elise. It's cute to watch her eat with chopsticks. She even likes to feed her daddy with chopsticks. When the waitress gives her the 'kiddie' chopsticks she has no problems feeding herself with them. She even had a piece or two of our crunchy shrimp roll. I know these pictures are blurry, but wanted to get this memory down - they were just too cute not to include! =)