Toomers Corner Oaks

I cannot beleive it. Who would do such a thing?

Toomer's Corner Oaks were deliberately poisoned?

What an embarrassement to the entire state of Alabama.

ONE MAN, robbed my children of a tradition that I cherished at my beloved Auburn University.

He won't bring us down. These types of senseless acts are exactly the types of events that bring families closer and Auburn is Family.

I find myself staring at the live webcam hoping to drink in EVERY LAST BREATH of these precious memories.

*picture is my sweet brother, Josh and his girlfriend Jarah and their twin girls from this past fall

Ruffle Pants

Well I attended a little baby shower last night, so I decided to use the gifting opportunity for a "trial run" of the baby ruffle pants.


They turned out so cute with the amy butler soul flowers collection fabrics.
Of course I made the matching onsie, burp cloth and bib. A gals gotta have accesories!


These will be a bit big for a few moths, but will probably last well into the fall and might even be a cute "capri" next spring once little Zoe is toddling around!

Of course, I had my ever present and faithful assistant with me at the photo shoot:)

Who by the way, has been talking about his little sister...hmmmmm....wonder where he gets that???

Random Phone Pics and the Stories that Inspired Them!

Just when I thought I did not have pictures to share...boomama had to go and inspire me!
Of course I have pictures! These days, there are always those random pictures that you take on your phone and then what???
Why not email them to yourself and recall why you took them in the first place?
Like the picture above. It shows one of my favorite things of late.
Justin, our neighbor is 5 and can fit into Jack's Jeep unlike Dan or myself.
Unlike Jack, Justin can drive the Jeep! So, when Justin comes to play, I get to watch them ride in the Jeep instead of hunching over trying to steer while Jack puts it in high gear down our steep driveway!
And BONUS! Justin is SOOO good with Jack! He totally lets him drive most of the time and he tries to teach him to steer! Such a good egg!



Random phone picture of Jack eating noodles at his first hibachi Japanese dinner. It was pretty much a disaster and since I picked the place, Dan had fun railing me all night about it. I am still hearing about it actually. Jack was not in the best mood. We get in there, and they do not have milk. Okay, we will give him water. They have no cups with lids. Okay, I will hold the giant glass while he drinks. Jack was not cooperating. Okay, I will take him in the bathroom and spank him. But in the end, he was pretty impressed with the fire!



Too cute! I finally caved and bought a "blow up doll" for the yard!
It was such a hit with Jack, I had an easier time then I thought over-looking the deflated Santa in the yard during the daytime.



THIS...
THIS is a surprise!
At the Frye's Superbowl party, Jack discovered Tucker's big car with doors and a hood that open.
When I saw this a Target the other day, I could not resist! This little 1967 Ford Shelby GT-500 came home with ME and it is gonna make a SUH-WEET Valentine's Day gift for my boy!
(I took the picture to send to Dan because I was so excited about my find)!


And this little picture....
well I think the picture says it all.
Melt.
My.
Heart.


I love my boys!

He is so smart

I always think I will remember every little detail of the clever little things that he says.

I don't.

I always forget.

I have little mini posts planned in my head of things that I think would be cute to share, but then
I never have a picture to go along with it, so I don't post.

Shame on me.

He is the smartest little 2 1/2 year old I have ever met....of course I am bias.

He is starting to get clever in ways that make me nervous.

Such as when he gets in trouble.

Last time he got into trouble, he said, "I have an idea". "Mommy, I have a surprise for you"!

He had no surprise.

He has just figured out how to use my famous distraction tactic!

six

Our Sweet Grace is 6 years old today!


Jack and I are SOOOO glad that we got to be in Alabama to celebrate with her!

And celebrate, we DID!

It was such a beautiful day! We got to have all of the festivities outside.

This party was fun for the kids and the adults!

KK and TC looking good for the camera!

Jack was the only little boy there, but he did a nice job of jumping right in with all of the little girls. I was very proud of him.

Anna is having fun with her "crown cookie"

The birthday girl in all her girlie, precious adorable glory!

I made the aprons for all the girls as favors. I made G's different since she was the birthday girl. On the day of the party, she lovingly laid the aprons all around the house for the girls to pick up when they arrived. She took special care to tell me thanks for making them all. She even said, "and thank you for making mine special, I can't believe you put all of the colors on mine"!

Faith is one of Grace's friends from dance class. She was party hopping on Saturday and arrived late, but had fun decorating her cookie, too!

I keep racking my brain and I cannot come up with any other ways that we could have possible pumped these children full of more sugar than to give them cookies, bags full of icing, beautiful vats of colored sugar, and star shaped and polka dot sugar sprinkles!

Lucky for KK and I ( the after party cleaning crew) it was a rare and beautiful January day so we were able to keep all the sugar outside AND let them run it all off in the warm sunshine!

Precious Lauren- Love her!

Check out this group! Aren't they just adorable?

Grace has a trampoline...that is why you see little toes out of their shoes in January...plus, it was a blistering 65 degrees outside, so why not?

Cake time..because, you know, the cookies just did not cut it in the sugar department. I mean, COME. ON. This is a birthday party people!

Sweet Anna- she is such a great little helper.

KK and Anna's mom, Brandi, have been running around together ever since I can remember!

One of the cool perks that I miss about not being in my hometown. My kids playing with people's kids that I have known since I was a kid, you know?

Cute little Emily is a new friend and from what I could see, she is a little firecracker!

Speaking of old friends and still being together...these lovely ladies have been buds since they were Grace's age. Jenny and Candi both grew up in me and KK's hood.

More new friends and CUTIES! Emma and Ava and their sweet mom, Rebekah.

Brandi patiently keeping up with the jumpers on the trampoline.

BTW, I love this trampoline. It is itty bitty. Only about 3 feet off the ground. It is perfect for all of the little ones!

Starting to

slow.......

down.....

Aprons were made to work hard. I think this one had enough in one day to last a life time!

Happy Birthday to my sweet sweet niece! I love you to PIECES and I cannot wait to see you again! Thank you for being sweet little spunky you!

If you do not already know what I am talking about then you are missing out!

Know someone who is engaged? Are you engaged?

This contest by Chuck Williams Photography is rockin' for brides to be! There are so many cool things to be won and the deadline to enter is 1/31/11! The Pickle Tree is proud to be a part of it.



Check it out!



CLICK HERE

My Cup Runneth Over and the Toes are Covered

This kid MAKES. MY. DAY.
Every day. Some days he makes my day hard, but mostly, he just makes it!
He shows me every day how no matter how you might be sad to see him grow so fast, that the next age is even more fun and full filling, so just enjoy the ride.


If you have been around here at all, you know that he loves his accessories. Well, shoes are no exception. He loves to wear his boots. He can put them on himself. He has never been one to wear flip flops, though. In the summer he has been a croc kind of guy. This is mainly due to the fact that his foot has always been so chubby that he could never fit into the flip flops.
Lately, (I have NO CLUE WHY) he has been asking about them, talking about them, wanting them ( and goggles). So, I saw some cute little flip flops on the cheap at Old Navy yesterday and I bought them.
Took them home.
Showed them to Jack.
The showing them to Jack part was a mistake.
Not because he did not like them...oh NOOOOOO. On the contrary. He loved them. He cried uncontrollably through his entire bath because he could not wait to get them back on his little tootsies. I finally pried them off his feet for bedtime (yes he had them on OVER his footie pajamas). When he woke up this morning, he immediately got out of bed and peeled off his pajamas. He walked around in his diaper and his flip flops while I finished getting ready.
The conversation went something like this:
"I wear my flip flops, mommy you want some too?"(the inflection at the end of all of his sentences lately is priceless. The little voice always goes up an octave in a questioning tone)" I want some MM's ( no and- just MM). And a poptart, with sprinkles. My curtains are like daddy's curtains. They are not a toy. I cannot touch them. They are dangerous. Mommy, (as he puts my slippers on my feet) you want some too?I want some MM's."
I interrupted him to start the battle. Jack, we can take your flip flips to school, but you cannot wear them. It is too cold. Your toes will be frozen.
He proceeded to walk around talking about his frozen toes. He had accepted it. He was going to take the frozen toes in the name of all that is flip flops.

We got as far as the door before I finally told him he could not have any more MandM's if he did not get his socks and tennis shoes on, so he played along. I mean, we had to take the flip flops to school of course, but at least we had the toes covered for the trip!