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!

SHOW US YOUR SINGLES! Kelly in North Alabama-Come on DOWN!

So I am catching up on some reading after knocking on deaths door with the flu all week (that's all you need to know about that) and came across SHOW US YOUR SINGLES at kelly's corner and decided that I HAD to throw my sista up there!

My sister, Kelly, is the most amazing lady you will ever meet!


She is hardworking, loyal, smart, gorgeous, sweet, and most of all TONS OF FUN!
She is the most dedicated single mom I know. You can see her with her precious 6 year old daughter in the two pictures above. She works full time, is a mom, goes regularly to the gym, attends church with her daughter on Sundays, and somehow manages to find the time to run a small handmade jewelry business on the side.
SERIOUSLY??? Yep...she's got skills!


This is a favorite shot of mine of her with my son Jack. He loves his "aunt KK"

We always have fun with KK. She is my best friend and trust me, she is quite a catch!

If you want to know more about my sister, please comment here on the blog!

oh...She lives in North Alabama so I must also include, she is an Auburn fan- WAR EAGLE!

This CRACKS ME UP!

For a girl who cries at marching bands- this overwhelming show of emotion really spoke to me!

Made me tear up a little- but it is HILARIOUS!

Snowmageddon 2011

We got some snow this past week. I mean...the kind of snow and ice that we only see around these parts about once every decade or so. Dan and I were out of work on Monday and Tuesday and the little man got to enjoy some sledding. He had so much fun!

We did not get a chance to build a snowman. We tried, but we just couldn't make it happen because of the thin layer of ice that coated the snow. I think we got about 7 inches at our house. It was something to see! I did not leave the house until Thursday morning. I went to work a little late and left a little early- just to be safe! I got a lot of sewing done, including an order for Pirate Valentines T shirts for a boutique in Tampa. They wanted them to do double duty for the Pirate Festival and Valentines Day. I don't think I would have gotten them all finished if it weren't for the snow! I also made a LOT of progress on my mural.

I hope to get it finished tomorrow so I can get back to the business of enjoying my weekends with my boys!

Grandma and Grandpa are coming to day for the boat show this weekend. Jack can hardly stand it he is SOOOOO excited!

YAY for weekends!

It is going to fast....

I usually try to savor every moment. Even though I am totally guilty of always being in a hurry, always rushing from one commitment to the next; I am usually proud of how I conciously appreciate every special milestone and moment with Jack.
This one slipped up on me. Hit me like a ton of bricks. I never even saw it coming...oh it was there. It has been right in my face for the past week, but I have been too sleep deprived with a nightmare stricken little boy, a full time job, a mural and an etsy shop that is apparently doing wholesale orders, that I just did not appreciate what was happening.
The crib is gone. I mean....the crib got converted to a toddler bed a few days ago, but that just didn't cut it either. Ever since Jack had the first nightmare last Saturday night, he has slept either in our bed or in the guest bed. He was terrified of his bed. The dream had his bed in it somehow. There was a tractor coming after him or something. SOOOO, sometimes he would even walk by his bedroom and shut the door as if the sight of the ROOM scared him.
Well today, Dan and I bit the bullet and bought a twin bed. I took Jack to help me pick out the bedding. Jack helped me wash the bedding. He helped us make the bed. He is asleep in the bed.
It was not until the bed was made and I stood back and looked at his little room that it hit me and the lump in my throat and the tightness in my chest was like something I have not felt since mom was sick.
I cried. I cried because my little baby is surely a little boy if he is sleeping in a big boy bed. I cried because I have been so busy...I am afraid I have missed something else that I JUST DID NOT NOTICE. I cried because I am exhausted.
Well...tomorrow is another day. A special day in which I anticipate I will be granted a snow day off work. I plan to make snowmen and drink hot cocoa and watch movies and snuggle as much as possible!

More Christmas and Pining for Alabama

So I did a TERRIBLE job with my camera at Grandma and Grandpa's on Christmas Day. I think it was the combination of the white knuckle drive, late night, early morning, I think my blood pressure was through the roof headache that I had going all. day. long!
Luckily, Grandpa is getting pretty good with the camera! He sent a few pictures. A few of which I will include here. The others did not make the "this doesn't make me look too fat cut!"


The snow was still lingering as we got ready to pull out of town. Jack LOVES his new tractor....
I was afraid that we were going to have to strap him on and let him ride all the way to Georgia on it!

He keeps asking...where are my cousins? Where is Grandpa? Where is Great Grandma?
Where is Uncle John? Aunt Sally? Emily, Sidnany? Where is KK, Grace, Josh, Jay-rah, Leah, Sophie, Nanny? I wanna got to Memaw's he says....
As always, I tell him...they are in Alabama. He has heard it so much, he just answers himself now.
The other day, I snuck in the answer "they are in Alabama" and his response was.....
"why"?
Lawd...how am I supposed to answer that when I don't quite know myself????
Happy New Year!

Don't miss out on this! Engagement Contest!

The Pickle Tree is proud to be a part of an amazing contest being promoted by Chuck Williams Photography.
Beverly, the driving force behind the marketing of her family's busy photography business, has put together a contest that will blow your mind!
If you know someone who is engaged you definitley don't want them to miss out on this opportunity!
Go to this link to get all of the details!
You won't believe all of the awesome giveaways including a personalized half apron from me- The Pickle Tree, as well as some amazing crystal earrings from my talented sister at Pretty Little Things also known as Kelly Brown Designs.

White Christmas 2010

In Alabama....on Christmas Day! Unbelievable!
I have been taking pictures in a much lower resolution on my camera to satisfy etsy's size requirements, and I forgot to take it off for a lot of my pictures, but here they are anyway!
I will let them speak for themselves! We definitely had ourselves a Merry Little Christmas!

My handsome man! Braving the wintry conditions to help Jack try out his new John Deere tractor!

Sweet cousin Emily...Jack has been asking about you and Cinnamon (Sidney).

Before the madness broke out!

Nana and Aleah and Susan and Sophie!

Dear Husband,

A baby girl looks good on you!

Love,

Melanie

Family shot on a timer- didn't turn out so great, but oh well....

Waiting for Santa

My handsome boys. I am looking forward to a wonderful New Year with you!

You are my greatest gift!