Going to the Beach?

My parents own a condo in Panama City Beach, Florida, and would love for you to consider renting it for your next vacation. It's on the 7th floor of a 15 story building and all rooms are oceanview. It is a 2 bed/2 bath condo with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, dining area, and roomy living room. It will sleep 6-8 as there is a king bed in the master bedroom, 2 queen beds in the 2nd bedroom and a queen-sized pull out couch in the living room. It would be great for two families to share. It is very conveniently located on Front Beach Road, where Thomas Drive intersects with Front Beach Road.

Check out the pictures below or click here for more pictures and rental information. They are offering great summer specials so I hope you will soon be vacationing at my parents' condo in Panama City Beach, Florida! And by the way, the weather at the beach stays warm until about mid October, so you may even want to consider it for your fall get-away destination. I'm sure they will be offering some specials then so if a trip in the summer doesn't fit into your plans, ask about the fall specials.

Our Little Fireman

Here's the promised picture of John David's new fire truck toddler bed.

Running My Race

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post that entitled "Sing it with me now, "One of these things is not like the other ones.", going on to say that the song was my theme song. Most of my life, I've been the different one. Now more than ever, one of these things is not like the other one...and it's me. I've made myself to fit in with different groups of people and have plenty of friends, but mostly, I feel more different from my friends and family than I feel alike.

After having the post out there for a while and re-reading it several times, I decided to delete it. The post never read like I wanted it to and even when I was writing it, I felt like I wasn't communicating effectively what I wanted to say. It was mainly concerning an organic garden that I'd like to plant and at which I'm making a feeble attempt. The idea has been met with some criticism and skepticism from people in my circle, but it's really not that big of a deal to me, nor have they made it a big deal. John was maybe a bit annoyed at first at the thought of my compost pile but now he puts the shells from the eggs he cooks for breakfast in the pail and even empties the pail for me from time to time. (He did put his foot down when I said I was going to ask our neighbor to collect their coffee grounds for me. Yeah, maybe that's a bit much to ask...) But the bottom line is, I think I made a bigger deal about it than I meant to with the writing that I posted.

It wasn't just my idea for my garden that made me realize how different I am from people around me and it's not a new realization for me. And what a relief it is to remember that life on earth is temporal and that I'm not meant to "fit in" with everyone. I know that I am running the race that God has set before me (Hebrews 12:1)and that's what really matters. I am "fearfully and wonderfully made" by a God who loves me, even with all of my idiosyncrasies. (Psalm 139:14) And God has entrusted John and me with the awesome responsibility of raising John David. It's so important for us to remember that we are making decisons that are right for our family and not for anyone else. And decisions that others have made for their families are just that - decisions for their families, not ours. It's so easy for me to get caught up in the game of comparision and that's just wrong! At the same time, I must guard myself from the sin of self-righteousness, knowing that my decisions or likes and dislikes are not any better or worse than anyone else's, they are simply mine.

So, I'm going to go ahead with my garden, and my composting, and with exploring the traditions of locovores, and with explaning intricate concepts to John David, and with allowing John David to get in bed with us in the middle of the night (gasp!), and with trying to avoid using household chemicals that may be dangerous to our health, and with recycling, and with watching foreign language films with subtitles, and with being conservative (environmentally, economically, politically and religiously), and with whatever else I might find interesting or worthwhile while I am running my race. Wishing each person who reads this confidence to seek out your course and to run with perserverence the race set before you.

What we've been up to

Lately we have...

Painted a bird house for the birds to use instead of our gas grill, which the poor mama bird, year after year, thinks is the perfect place for her nest. There are two small cream colored eggs with brown speckles on them, so we'll see if she is successful this year in hatching two little ones. Unfortunately, I know this because I lifted the lid to the grill and found them there. Hopefully I haven't disrupted things too much and she will indeed return to take care of her responsibilities. We'll see!

Picked fresh strawberries and eaten said strawberries. We passed the strawberry fields on Saturday and saw people picking, so on the way back from my friend's Thirty-One Party, John David and I stopped by and picked a half-gallon. It's only 5 minutes from our house so I plan to make this a frequent event for the two of us. And at the rate that the three of us (John joined in for the eatin') devoured the half-gallon, we'll need to go back weekly! Any of you city folks who'd like to join me on one of my weekly trips to the strawberry fields, let me know! We would love the company. I didn't have my camera with me since we hadn't planned on picking strawberries that day. But the stain on John David's chin and shirt and arms was still there when we got home so I snapped a few pics for the memories.


We had lunch with an old friend today and her new addition, Mercer. Candice and her husband, Todd, brought little M home and into their hearts in March. Well, he actually had their hearts at their first meeting in February, when he was just hours old, but they had to spend a little time in Colorado while the paperwork was filled out. They got to bring him home to Georgia when he was just over a week old. He is absolutely scrumptious!
John David (and I) painted a little "Welcome" card/sign for Mercer. It was complete with fire trucks (both green and red), ambulances (blue and green), a fire hat and the sun. John David was sure Mercer would love it and said so as we left the house because in his world, who wouldn't love a picture of a fire truck and an ambulance and a fire hat? We got in our "fire truck" and he blared (his new word) the sirens until I had to ask him to quit. So that I could think.


We went to a little league game to watch our nephews, Michael and Malachi, play t-ball. This was their last game of the season and we could see a lot of improvement from the beginning of the season.


John David loves to cheer on his cousins, even though he doesn't quite get the game just yet. He and Kara are the twins' biggest fans.

We also moved John David to a toddler bed (thanks to Grandma) and those pictures are coming soon!

Life is Good...

I may not have to give up my new Nalgene bottle after all. I received an e-mail today that warned me not to drink water from a bottle that had been left in my car, since the heating up of the bottle from a locked car on a warm day would cause the breast-cancer-causing-toxins from the plastic bottle to seep into my water. So I immediately went to my trusted source for helping me to determine fact from urban legend - www.snopes.com - and this is what I found.

Isn't this just the happiest bottle you've seen?

Not Much Time...

to blog, but I just had to post these pics. They are from our trip to the beach for Spring Break and they were taken with my camera. Yipppee! I can post my pictures again! John was able to get our desktop back up and running with a monitor that (so far) turns on when we want it to. Enjoy...

Bummer!

When we were at the beach week before last I saw a Nalgene water bottle that I just couldn't get out of my head. It is so cute and articulates just how I feel and want my attitude to be: Life is Good. It has a daisy on it and just looks and makes me feel happy. I've also decided that except when I really can't avoid it, I will not buy or drink bottled water. I just don't believe it's environmentally responsible to do so. So I worked a stop by the Life is Good store into my errands this afternoon to pick one up and was just so happy to have purchased the water bottle that had was going to encourage me to drink water with a good attitude, all the while doing my part to save the environment.

Shortly after arriving home I washed my new bottle and filled it to the brim with filtered ice water. I sat down at the computer to find a recipe online to cook for dinner and decided to read a couple of blogs when I stumbled onto a blog where the author mentions that she has decided to give up her Nalgene bottles. So I read this article that was linked to her blog this and now I'm so bummed!!!

Happy Easter, Happy Spring!

Get ready for picture overload! I'm making up for lost time here so get ready... Two cool dudes...

Doesn't he look ready for the runway? He's just as sweet as he is handsome... Three generations of handsome men...
And of course he's just as silly as he is sweet! Can you believe we've been married 4 years? March 13th was our 4th anniversary.
We celebrated our anniversary by going to the beach for the weekend. Thanks Grandma and Granny for keeping John David!

Finally, A Picture!!

Even though it's an old one, I thought I'd post this picture of John David. Last summer we were visiting John at work and he snapped this picture of John David sitting in the V.P.'s chair "talking" on Mr. Cobb's phone.

A New Pet

We have a new pet at our house. It's the best kind of pet...one that is loved, cared for, and has no fleas. If you come to our fire station, uh, I mean house, you are likely to meet Sparky, our new fire dog, the imaginary pet of my 2 year old. He rides in our fire truck and likes to sit near Fire Mommy and Fire Daddy. He even likes to go to Fire Granny's house.

P.S. Still no way to upload pictures or videos but hopefully that's coming back soon!

The Almost Famous Reindeer

Okay, so by now, you know that we went to the zoo in October. I've really wanted to blog over the past couple of months but there was just too much else to do! I was just thinking about what we have done since October and quite frankly, it's all a bit of a blur. Not a bad blur, just a busy blur! In October I launched my business as an Independent Consultant for Southern Living at HOME and in November I re-entered the world of real work on a part-time basis from home. I'm doing special projects working as a consultant from home for The Friendship Force. I get to go into the office about twice a month which is a blessing in two ways - 1) the office is located downtown which is turning out to be a 1.5 - 2 hours commute using public transit and 2) it's kind of fun going back downtown for work again. So while I don't have to go so often I do get to go sometimes. My mom has been a huge help with John David, making it possible for me to have this job. She picks him up from Mother's Morning Out and takes him to her house for the afternoon. John David absolutely loves this arrangement! I was also trying to go into John's office to help him out a couple of days a week, but by December it proved to be too much. So I was able to take almost the whole month of December off from going into his office. I'm hoping to be able to start helping him again, now that I'm getting used to having so much on my plate again.

Now on to the title of this post. John David continues to amaze us with his verbal abililty, speaking very clearly in full sentences about everything under the sun. It is especially fun to listen to him as he is playing by himself - his imagination is already so vivid at the ripe old age of 28 months. In addition to a very vivid imagination, God created in him a love of music. He loves just about any kind of music and loves listening to songs with lyrics over and over again (the same song...over...and over...and over...!) Because of this repetition, he has learned the lyrics to lots of songs. One of his favorites (and my favorite to listen to him sing it) is Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. The version we have sings "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, but do you recall the "most" famous reindeer of all? John David sings it: "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Bixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Bwitzen, but do you call the "almost" famous reindeer of all..." I viedeotaped him singing it and if I can figure out how to upload it to this site, I'll do that for your viewing pleasure!

In all the busyness of the fall our desktop computer crashed. We got it fixed but we haven't reconnected the internet. So for now, I can't post any pictures or attempt the video since all my pictures and video clips are on the desktop.

The Zoo

On Friday we went to the zoo with my mom, sister-in-law, my niece, nephews and their friends. I don't know what John David was excited about more - the zoo or being with his cousins, but I love how this picture captures his excitement.

Back Again

I'd like to say that I'm back by popular demand, but truthfully, the only person who has even asked about the blog lately is John. The break I took was due to several reasons, some too private to share in blogland, but mainly because I found I was spending way too much time on the computer. Here's what you missed, in chronological order, not order of importance:



I discovered a delicious cup of decaf coffee - at Walmart for only $2.94! (That's the price for the package, not just the cup!)



I discovered wild muscadines growing in our backyard...



And the butterflies that the muscadines attract



John David had a birthday!



We took a family vacation to Gulf Shores, AL



John had a birthday!

I'll try to post some in the next few days to give some of these events their proper mention.

First Day of "School" 2007

August 14, 2007, 23 months old
August 16, 2006 11 months old

John David started back to "school" today. Our baby is growing up! He went for the first day of his second year of Mother's Morning Out (or "school" as he calls it) and loved it! He's in the 1-year old class again because of his birthday which falls 2 days past the cutoff, but his buds from church are in the class so it will be fun for him. It's the same classroom he had last year and it's also the same room he goes to for nursery at our church. He walked in like he owned the place and then waved good-bye when it was time for me to leave. He seemed happy when I picked him up, so it was a good first day all around. It's amazing what a difference a year makes...last year when he started he was 2 weeks shy of being a year old and couldn't walk or talk. Today he ran down the hallway when I picked him up and tonight he was actually able to tell me about his day. It's so funny to sometimes what he remembers from situations. As I was putting him to sleep I asked him about his day at school and this is how the conversation went:
Me: What did you do at school today?
JD: Cooper cried.
Me: Cooper cried? Why?
JD: Cooper wanted sit in chair. Mrs. Caudle said nope (with much inflection), time go night-night (in likely the same sing-song voice as she had said it).
Me: Oh, it was naptime and he wanted to sit in a chair but Mrs. Caudle said no.
JD: Yep.
Me: Did you color at school today?
JD: No. They don't have crayons there. (Which actually is something he is remembering from Sunday. He wanted to do something in the nursery besides just play with the toys so I said maybe he could color. When we got to the nursery he asked to color and the nursery worker told him that they aren't allowed to have crayons in the nursery since children sometime eat them instead of just color with them. Wonder what he's gonna say when his teacher pulls out the crayons for their first craft time at MMO?!)
Anyway, I just can't believe what a difference there is from last year to this year! I won't even type the cliche that would fit perfectly here...you know what I'm thinking!

Beach Trip in July

We went to the beach with my family, minus Lara and Lexi, July 14 - 20. It was so nice to be away and to be with family. John David loved being with his older cousins and as always, learned some new tricks. Austin is 7 years old and is at the stage where he thinks bodily functions with noises are just hilarious. He's not an annoying kid, thank goodness! But he did enjoy trying to make noises by sticking his hand in his armpit and cranking his arm down. That's the newest trick that John David picked up. He now says "Watch me. I do like Austin." and proceeds to try to get his little hand into his shirt and onto his armpit. It was fun watching Aiden try to play with John David. Aiden makes up the rules to any game that he is playing, even those games with rules that have been established well before he was even a twinkle in his mother's eye. John David was really agreeable to whatever rules Aiden explained. Keeping in mind that John David is not yet 2 years old and Aiden was 4 in March, you can imagine how funny it was to watch them try to play Battleship or Checkers or Golf all according to Aiden's rules. You have to be on your toes to keep up when you play with Aiden since the rules often change if he is not winning!
John David watching a "moo-sie" with Austin and Aiden

Austin tried to master the art of the skimmer board and I honestly don't see how the boy could move a single muscle the day after he first discovered it. He fell down and got back up 500 times if he did it once. He was so determined! He is a great big brother and a great big cousin and such a sweet kid all around.




We missed Lexi and Lara but Lexi had dance camp that week and couldn't miss it if she wants to dance on the dance team this school year. She's 11 now which I just can't believe! This picture is from our time at the beach when she did go in February.
John David loved the water and was fearless when it came to going into the ocean. Thank goodness John loves the ocean too because I'm just down right afraid of it! Always have been! I don't like the seaweed or any of the fish that may be swimming around and I didn't trust myself holding John David with the strength of the waves. I did get in the water with them, but basically left them to bond by spending time jumping the waves.


It rained at home almost the whole week so when we got home, there was an eggplant in my little "garden" that was ripe and ready to be picked! I cooked it for supper and it was as delicious as it was pretty.
(The cucumber is also from the "garden" and the salt shaker is their for size comparison sake!)

We Went Camping

I thought about calling this post "I Survived Tent Camping" or "Three Bears in One Night" but decided to just state the obvious. We went camping...and we had a great time! I was in favor of the idea of the trip from the get-go and really did want to try camping since it always sounds like so much fun when other people do it. But my reservations were a)I'm not a camper b) John David is not a sleeper and c) I'm terribly afraid of bears and other wildlife. Much to my surprise, I am more of a camper than I realized! It really was nice to be out in nature and to be away from the normal distractions of suburban life. John David did great sleeping in the tent. John did an unbelievable amount of work to get us packed and then set-up and then packed up again. He had not been camping in a really long time either so we were both eager to give it a try. There were a total of 5 familes that went and among those families was John's brother and his wife and three kids. They are what I consider hard-core campers - Travis and Susan went on a camping trip out West for their honeymoon and this was their 4 month-old daughter's second or third camping trip. Serious campers! Travis is a chef by training and we always have fabulous meals any time he is involved. In fact, I think the smell of the roasted chicken was what attracted the bear. Or was it the rice pilaf...or the roasted vegetables...or...Yes, you read that correctly. Bear. And Roasted Chicken. And Rice Pilaf. All at our campsite! Just as we were finishing our yummy dinner, my friend Karla went to her car for something. She came running back frantically shouting about her bear sighting. He/she ran away for the moment but came back later, once the excitement had died down and most of us had gone to bed. Travis scared the bear off on the second visit but said that it looked like the bear had been back during the night to scavenge for any morsels of food we may have overlooked. So I guess it wasn't technically three bears, just one bear three times.



We had a really good time in spite of the bear's visits and in spite of the fact that there was no shower or other running water. And John David got to take his first ride on a jet ski with Uncle Travis. Even tonight as I put him to bed he was talking about riding the jet ski with Uncle Travis and how fast they went. And he wants to go camping again...tomorrow. Here are some more pictures from our adventure:


Examining some of the "wildlife" at our campsite


Said wildlife, up close and personal


Susan and baby Kara Lynn


Ready to go again!