Try Not to Fall Out in Shock, Ok?

Yes, I am actually posting.

Shocking, I know.

Don't get too excited, though - it ain't a long one.

I'm simply here to give you your smile of the day.

Ready?

Straight-up glam, yo! Straight-up glam.

Coming Up for Air

It's officially been more than a month since I've updated this little log-o'-life.

A month.

And you know? I hadn't even noticed.

Meagan told me a story this week about how life is what happens when we're planning for the next big thing, and I think she's right.

The past weeks have been filled with changes.

This little man officially graduated from Mom's Day out:

After the program during which he sang "Wheels on the Bus" and "Jesus Loves Me", we had a little reception. Dawson loved his teacher, Mrs. Carmen, and is even spending two days a week with her this summer.

He is learning so many things so quickly - he can sing most of his ABC's, count to 12 without help, identify shapes and asks hilarious questions like, "Mama, what you doing??" and says stuff like "Hi, honey!" and "Good job, Mama, good job! Proud of you!!" He loves to "pway cars", slide, play with Play-Dough, puzzles and blocks. He's just amazing to me.

What's also amazing to me is the legacy my family has left for me. My late grandfather, Benny, was honored at Silverdale Baptist Church by having a scholarship fund established in his name. Our family and his long-time work family at East Brainerd Lumber Company founded it. The scholarship will be given every year to a deserving high school graduate at that church. My Papaw was funny, cool and generous; he called me "his little sweetheart" and instilled in me a love of Vols football, Krispy Kreme donuts, Krystals, swimming, train rides, Chinese checkers, Cadillacs, hard work and the smell of lumber.

Let's see. My grandfather has a scholarship named after him. My dad has a football field in his name. I wonder if anything will be named for me? Here are some ideas:

1) The Diet Coke aisle at any local Kroger.

2) The cosmetics section at Target.

3) Any New York and Co. store.

4) The clearance section at Gymboree. (Small, but it exists).

5) The Fudge Round/Swiss Cake Roll aisles at the Little Debbie Thrift Store.

Someone else who's also amazing to me is my littlest brother, Brandon. He graduated from Baylor School in Chattanooga, and we're really proud of all he accomplished there. I actually attended Grandparent's Day there with him (I was told I was one hot grandma! Word!), and by going to his classes with him, I learned:

- why surgical scrubs are aqua

- how the next Dalai Llama is found

- why calculus really is completely useless.

My parents hosted a graduation party for him after the ceremony, and Dawson, Zoey and the rest of us had a blast.

Dawson kept trying to blow out the tiki torches...

...and found sheer bliss in the chocolate icing on the cupcakes.

My ever-creative mother had a bouncy at the party, and the kids loved it.

Uncle Brandon and some of his cousins, niece and nephew.

We also celebrated Jason's birthday, Zoey's birthday and Father's Day in one day...

Zoey loved her cupcakes, and we decorated for two parties. One end of the table was camo for J:

The other end was Disney princess for Zo-Zo:

Dawson decorated his face with some icing. Again.

Speaking of princesses, Zoey is quite the little girly-girl (yay!) and is hilarious. The older she gets, the more she looks like my mom, and the more she acts like a combo of me and J. I LOVE IT!!!

 What I don't love is saying good-bye for an extended amount of time to my brothers. Brandon left yesterday to officially become a cadet at the Airforce Academy.

Huge honor? Check.

Big-time scholarship money given? Check.

Congressional recommendation given? Check.

No see him til THANKSGIVING? Check.

Xanax? Double-check.

Jason leaves for Afghanistan at the end of July.

Lauren leaves for Worriers Anonymous stat.

Just kidding. (?)

On the flip side, I have plenty of work to occupy my mind. More people are buying homes since mortgage rates are low and the tax credit was extended, so that's good. I also have 43 rental houses to lease between the second week of June and the first week of September. Red Bull, I shall invest in ye.

To leave you with a laugh, consider this:

That's right, ladies and gents. AQUA subway tile. Smashing.

So, What's Your Life Like?

B-to-the-Izzy.

For those of you who work and have more than one child:

I don't know how you do it.

We are rapidly approaching the end of May, and while I can say that we have a lot going on,

that also means we have a lot to be thankful for.

I will be back soon to show you:

Easter

How am I one hot grandma

The meaning of hysterical

The sweetest art collaboration you've ever seen

Money, honey

Baby love

and much more.

For now, I need your help in poll form:

My 10th high school reunion is at the end of July.

I am trying to decide whether or not to go.

Nevermind it's during the busiest month of the year as far as work goes.

Nevermind I'm really not feelin' it.

But I'm open to considering it.

My question for you:

Did you go to yours?

Did you have fun?

If you did go, why?

My former Rachel-from-Friends-hair-style-sporting, President-of-Future-Homemakers-of-America-presiding, Prom-committee-chairperson self thanks you.

Dawson and the Four-Letter Word

That's right, y'all.

It's happened.

He's said it.

A four-letter word.

If I've heard it once, I've heard it 20 times in the past week.

"Mine!"

Wait - what did you think it was going to be?

A New Beginning

I am very happy to tell you that Beckett is out of the hospital and at home.

He made amazing progress over the past week and a half...

and now, since he can breathe and eat on his own, he gets to be back in his own little bed.

This is a new beginning for Patrick and Amanda because the six-month-old baby they knew and had grown accustomed to caring for is now, once again, behaving just like a newborn.

As if they had never brought him home from the hospital before.

So now, maybe more than ever, they need prayer to deal with this new reality.

But how awesome that God's grace proved the doctors wrong: Beckett is alive.

In other news,

I got to be a grandmother this week.

Stay tuned to find out just what that means. :)

Beckett Update

Never underestimate the power of prayer.

According to the Facebook page that is updated often by Amanda and Patrick, Beckett is off the ventilator and is breathing on his own.

It was, however, a very rough night, and so I would guess there are many long days ahead.

What's amazing is how many people are praying.

Thousands - and those are just the ones that have identified themselves on Facebook.

The verse that keeps coming into my head is this one:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.

                                                                        Isaiah 55:7-9

Thank you for praying!

I Hope I Never Write a Post Like This Again

If you're reading this, I need to you to stop whatever you're doing and pray for this baby.

This is John Beckett - he is the son of a couple that we've met several times before through my best friend, Meagan. Their names are Patrick and Amanda.

Earlier last week, Beckett was put down for a nap by his sitter in a bed instead of a crib.

He became trapped between the mattress and the headboard and was without oxygen for quite some time - he was alone in the bedroom for about 45 minutes before the sitter checked on him.

He is currently at Vanderbilt, waking up from a medicine-induced coma.

He is six months old.

If he fully wakes up, this baby will never be the same.

He will never be normal; the doctors have assured Patrick and Amanda of this.

I need you to pray for a miracle.

Pray that God proves the doctors wrong.

Pray for Patrick and Amanda.

Pray for John Beckett.

And pray for that sitter.

So, When I Was Born, He Was...12?

I married an old man.

I am so kidding.

David turned 40 at the end of last month, and I am still ribbing him about it.

What's a young(er) wife for, eh?

David's not a big party person,so we celebrated in the way he wanted to - spending time together and with Dawson.

We traveled to Chattanooga and stayed here:

The Bluff View Inn in the Historic Art District. It's beautiful, old and right on the river.

There are several houses that make up the inn, and we stayed at the Maclellan House; it was built around 1892. The furnishings are all antique and the art is amazing. It's by far one of the favorite bed and breakfasts we've stayed at.

This piano had real ivory keys - so neat!

We took breakfast in the dining room...beyond those double doors is a wide balcony that hangs directly over the river.

This was the view from our room - we actually stayed in the same room that we stayed in on our wedding night.

Getting ready to go out...we went to see "The Bounty Hunter" and ate at Tony's, a really good Italian restaurant in the District.

When we got back, this was waiting on us!

The next morning, we headed to my parent's house to pick up Dawson and take him to the Imagination Station...

...he had a blast on the "swides" and swinging for the first time!

This was the expression I got when I said, "Honey, you're 40!!" It was not about the pie, Mom, I promise.

Dawson loved helping him with the candle and with his gifts. My parents made a wonderful steak dinner, and we were joined for dessert afterwards by family, including these two hilarious boys:

Eli and Easton were so sweet and so funny - Dawson loved being right in the middle.

Happy Birthday, David! We love you!

Seriously Lucky

I was very excited to be a part of the Junior League committee that planned Luck O' the 'Boro this year. It's a St.-Patrick's-Day-themed party complete with live music and a silent auction, and we had a blast planning it and hosting the event. All of the money we raised from ticket and auction sales go to agencies that help women and children here in Rutherford County.

The LOB committee: Jenna - auction, Beth- chairwoman, Yours Truly and Meagan - decorations and Megan- logisitics. We did a pretty outstanding job if I do say so myself (and I do).

The Three-Leafed Clover:

This year, we were excited to add something new to the event: The Man Room. Pool table, high-tops, Golden Tee and flat-screens tuned to March Madness: what man wouldn't love it? The event was held at a local golf course's clubhouse, and the men even a had a view of the greens. Coincidence? Me thinks not.

Our fabu silent auction tables - we had a lot of really cool things donated for party-goers to bid on.

MTSU came through for us and donated tickets to a football game, and one of the agents in my office who's also a pilot donated an aerial photograph of the MTSU stadium. I love generous people!

The band ROCKED. Magnolia is fronted by two awesome ladies who are extremely talented. They played everything from Pink Floyd to Aretha Franklin. Considering that they've shared a stage with Lynard Skynard and are regulars at the Wildhorse Saloon, we were thrilled when they agreed to play our event at a discounted price. Again, LOVE GENEROUS PEOPLE!

Pretty sure the crowd liked them, too. :)

This is the event staff at Indian Hills Clubhouse who helped us pull it off - I cannot say enough good things about them.

This is my sweet friend Kristin and her husband, Blake.  Kristin and I worked together at the real estate office before she launched her super-successful career as an interior decorator. I can't tell you how talented she is. Blake and I discovered through conversation that his family and my extended family in Manchester know each well - small world!

Meagan, me and Kristin...

To leave you with a laugh, I have to share a conversation that Meag overheard in the ladies' room at the event. The Luck 'O the 'Boro event...the St.-Patrick's-Day-themed-event...the event whose decorations and advertising featured shamrocks and made the room look like a leprauchan threw up in it.

Girl 1: "So, are you having a good time?"

Girl 2: "Yeah! It's great...I love the band."

Girl 1: "Yeah, me, too...they're great."

Girl 2: "I don't...I just..I'm not sure about something though..."

Girl 1: "Oh, really? What's that?"

Girl 2: "Why is everyone wearing green?"