High School Reunion

Last week, I spent some time with a few friends from high school and their little ones. It was so fun to see each other and let the "next generation" play together! (Although Lily did not go because she was sick.) If our kids are anything like we were at old McGill-Toolen, we are in BIG trouble!!!


Sam adores Savannah.


Savannah knows how to make baby Ann and baby Ella laugh. She's a pro!

"Miss Mah-go, you gots too many kids!"

When we were little, a friend of ours said that to my mom and she got such a kick out of it. Well, now she "gots too many grandkids!" This is an updated photo of the gang. From left to right are Lily, Maggie, Will, Charlotte, Molly, Claire, Sam, and Evan.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Life at the beach is very tiring!

Spa-tacular!!!

For Mother's Day, Sam and Lily gave me a gift certificate to the spa at the new Renaissance Hotel downtown. I went tonight for a deep tissue massage and it was fabulous. The spa is on the rooftop next to a beautiful pool with lots of lounge chairs and an outdoor bar. It has a gorgeous view of the Montgomery skyline (stop laughing, I didn't say it was an expansive one). If you should ever need (want?) to visit Montgomery, you should stay here! Okay, I didn't even go into the hotel part but I am sure it's nice. Just go for the pool! And, what the hell, while you're there take a trip to the spa too. It's worth it!

This will come back to haunt him someday

For those of you who don't already know, in Andy's pre-attorney, pre-law clerk, pre-engineer days, he was a singer and songwriter. (Yes, he is a jack of all trades.) Perhaps you have had the good fortune to jam to his album, Twelve Tight Tunes. If not, please enjoy this cover of My Girlfriend (one of Andy's signature songs) by the ska band Actually Women, which happens to be fronted by his cousin PJ. We are so proud that his musical legacy lives on.

www.myspace.com/actuallywomen

Check it out!

Five gutwrenching years

Happy Anniversary to us!! We were married July 19, 2003. It was an amazing day and our fifth anniversary hasn't been too bad either :)
Andy surprised me by taking me to the opening night of West Side Story at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival last night. He told me all week that we were going to see Dark Knight. It was a lot of fun! My favorite character is Anita, the saucy Puerto Rican gal who is also Bernardo's girl. (Must be my Latina roots...) My favorite song is America (aye-yi-yi-yi!) but I cannot get this out of my mind: "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette to your last dyin' day..." I loved the singing but especially the dancing. MAMBO!
Okay enough West Side Story speak.
Today we took Lily to get her three month pictures taken (she was not happy about that at all) and had a family portrait made too. We managed to get a few good ones so I am glad. We had a little champagne (Korbel- nothing but the best for me and my man!) and some steaks tonight. A great anniversary!
Wonder what the next five years will bring?

Aaawwwwww......

Look how cute these two are together!

WOW MOM

So the other night I was making dinner in the kitchen and Sam was in there writing at his easel. It went something like this:
Sam: Mama, I write M. I write O.
Me (not really listening, thinking: Whatever.): Oh honey, that's great. (Real attentive, I know.)
But, lo and behold, I walked over to the easel and he had written M and O! I was surprised; I had never taught him to write any letters.
So I said: If you write another M, you'll spell Mom, M-O-M.
And he did! We were both very excited.

Of course, he also wrote DAMN too, but I am sure that was just a coincidence :)

Happy Birthday Sister!

Our Lilybug is three months old today! She is constantly growing and changing. Lily, in your short time on this earth, you have already brought us so much joy. We love you baby girl. XOXOXO

Mr. July

Get your copy of the "Montgomery's Hottest Firemen Calendar" while supplies last! Hubba hubba!

B-I-N-G-O

Mister loves to sing and his new favorite song is Bingo. It goes like this:
"Old MacDonald had a farm and Bingo was his name-o! B-I-N-G-O...", etc.
I like to call it the remix :)

Long time, no blog

We have been crazy busy travelling, dragging the kids to Rockford, Atlanta, and the beach, and we are starting to feel the effects. Lily is rolling with punches pretty well but Sam is having a hard time. He is so confused about where he is going (always thinking he is going to the airport), where he lives (new house, Atlanta, Montgomery), and who will be there. This past weekend we went to the new house in Atlanta to set up some things we need to do around the house before we move (August 23- yeah!). We got to spend some time with family and Vandy friends we haven't seen in a while, which was great. Sam was a handful but everyone, thankfully, was very nice about it.
Sam was convinced his friend Savannah was going to be in Atlanta, or was Atlanta...He kept talking about Savanta and Atvannah.
"Where Sabanta?"
"Where Atbannah?"
"Honey, Atlanta is a city. Savannah is a girl. New house is in Atlanta. Savannah lives In Mobile." and on and on.
He wasn't having it. Poor baby. He doesn't know which way is up. We decided we are going to stick around here and lay low for a while so we can try to recuperate. We all need some downtime.
Sooo, time to go to sleep!

Future babysitter?

Jaedyn, showing off her mad big sister skills, holds Lily.

Lookin' good...

Guess who dressed himself today! His ensemble consisted of a pajama top, swim trunks, and fireman boots. Yes, we went out in public like this.
"Lookin' good, Louis."
"Feelin' good, Billy Ray."

Rockford fun

Jay, Katie, Hazen, Billy (now affectionately known as Uncle Beep, thanks to Sam), and Teresa at RCC for the Fourth of July carnival and lunch.



Sam trying to dive directly into his snowcone



Lily meets her Great Grandma Van.



Poppie had his hands full with Trey and Sam at the playground.



Whoa Bumbo! Not too sure about this...

Turf Tykes...ugh

So Sam has been taking indoor soccer lessons this summer. It has been, um, interesting. Today a new coach, one who had obviously never spoken to a 2 year old before, announced we would scrimmage at the end of practice. Say what?! What is this man thinking? I knew this once was not going to end well.
Bless his little heart, my darling son is NOT going to be an athlete (for those of you not from the south, you can say anything about someone as long as you preface it with "bless his/her heart"). He is a bright friendly boy and I love him with all my being but, Lord have mercy, he is not going to get a $280 million contract to play for the LA Galaxy. He is a little uncoordinated, has trouble listening and following directions, and is basically on his own planet. He would not listen to ANYTHING the coach or I said at soccer practice. During the scrimmage (I use this term loosely), he spent his time with his head on the turf and his behind up in the air. He flopped on the floor like a fish out of water and tried to run off the field repeatedly to steal a giant soccer ball in the equipment closet. He got himself tangled up in the net behind the goal (more than once). It made Ben, who used to practice his taekwondo moves during games while playing goalie, look like Pele. Need I go on?
To top it off, I did not wear the best soccer attire today. I had on a scoopneck knit dress (laundry piled up to my elbows at home- no other clean clothes) which was a bit revealing when I bent over. So now I am not known as the mom with the spacey kid, I am known as the mom with the spacey kid who shows her boobs. Great. At least now maybe some dads will want to come back next time.

Next we go to swim lessons. I am sure there will be more good stories from that. Hopefully none of them will include the word "resuscitation". Until then....