adventures in june

look at alfalfa showing off his six teeth. he loves to give grandma cox a big smile esp. when she has her camera. this is will in the church nursery. he has a blast there because it's a big room of different toys.

we spent a lot of time at church last week because i was helping out with Bible school. so will went to his first Bible school - he's growing up so fast! sniff sniff :0)

a few weeks ago, will and i spent a few days at nana's house in sc. here is will with nana looking at the flowers. will really wants to totally demolish mom's plant, but she tries to teach him to smell it instead. he kind of caught on.

we got to see some friends and family. i treasure each moment - it's hard being away from old friends and family esp. when you're a stay at home mom. here will is with one of my aunts. she is showing him a rooster and a few hens. he was happy until the rooster crowed a few times.

reduce, reuse, recycle.

a friend recently made me realize that these should go in order. i need things spelled out for me sometimes. we are pretty good about recycling. but really that should be your last option. reduce first, reuse when possible, and if you have to, recycle.

what i learned at cvs last weekend

the cashier at cvs had a different kind of accent, so i asked him where he was from. i thought he might have been from brazil. he was from ghana. he asked me what i knew about ghana - i said not much - so he began to give me an education about his country. very interesting. i guess this is what happens when you run errands late at night. people aren't in a rush. there was nobody in line behind me, and a bad thunderstorm going on outside, so i just stood there and learned about ghana. world geography and history and sociology is so much more interesting outside of a book.

there's gold and diamonds there.
it's on the western coast of africa, so that's where a lot of the slave trade happened. he said it's very hard to talk about there. he says he might see one of his relative here in the states, but would never know because families were separated. sometimes when a child was misbehaving very badly, the parent would sell them to the slave trade. wow! i wonder if they knew what they were really doing to their child.
it is a democracy.
they like the British because they brought the Bible to their country and because of that, there are many Christians there.
they learn the Bible in school and have signs on storefronts that say Jesus Christ Saves, so that no one will have an excuse when the end comes.
many of the surrounding countries were (colonized? i guess) by the French - they did not have a Christian influence. on the weekends, they drink a lot of alcohol.
then he said something interesting - that those people from the other countries know that the people in Ghana are wiser than they are.

so there's a real life perspective from Ghana.

ugly doll

i keep seeing these everywhere. go to uglydolls.com. there are many different varieties. they're so ugly they're cute! i can't afford one, (lee told me i probably should edit this - we could afford one, i just can't justify paying that much for something like that with all of our other expenses, kind of like a pedicure, even though it is stinkin cool), but maybe i could make one. will seems to like them.

three years ago today

the reception in my parents' backyard. what a hot day - don't even remember how hot it was - definitely mid 90s. we had an awesome time getting to see so many friends and family members in one place at one time.

aren't we cute?

Finally, we're married!!!

Vowing - sorry these pics are not chronological.

one of my favorite pictures - me and my flower girl (my cousin, Grace) and our beautiful dresses.

first shoes

he's on the move...

and very happy about it!

car for sale

i can't believe i'm actually doing this. letting go of my dream car. but, if there is a buyer out there, i think it is the wise thing to do. if anyone's interested, please post a comment on this blog or contact me otherwise if you have my information. please note - it might be a few weeks before it is ready to sell. we are replacing the tint on the passenger side window.





2005 Toyota Celica GT
59,000 miles
air conditioning
dual front airbags
power windows, door locks
am/fm stereo, single cd player
cruise control
tilt wheel

Good Condition - according to Kelly Blue Book's rating system

$11,000

bye-bye playpen

on tuesday, i had to accept the fact that there will be no more playpen time. this was a sacred period of about 15 - 25 minutes every morning (almost) when will would play in his pack and play while i cleaned up the kitchen (wash dishes from night before) or started laundry or ate breakfast - whatever. now, he is almost 11 months old, and becoming very mobile. bye-bye playpen. hello kitchen cabinets!

"my one outfit"

i know we've all heard stories like this before, but i know i always need a reminder - a good dose of reality to recognize a need vs. a want.

"Esther Dania, 52, single mother of six, lives with her children in a 12 foot tent the International Red Cross gave her last September. Hurricane Gustav and other storm-related floods killed more than 800 Haitians and left over 1 million homeless. Today the tent is her only possession, along with the clothes she is wearing. 'When my one outfit is dirty, I take it off to wash it and then wear it again.' Dania said."

World Magazine

Ludacris

on our road trip this past weekend to visit some of my old friends from college days, lee tells me, "so, i was listening to (mumbled a band's name) the other day". "Ludacris?" i say, because i think that's what i heard. "no, hahaha," says lee. "i said Black Crows. i can't get Round Here out of my head". i am very confused. "do you mean Counting Crows??" "yes" he says.

a week of will

reading sweetly in the front yard (granted this precious moment only lasted for a minute or two - but i'll take it!)

last tuesday he figured out he could stand in his crib. this is him wondering if this means he will not have to take naps anymore. nice try. we went through 3 or 4 trying days of lots of crying during naptime. look at that tired face. he was also cutting his fifth tooth at the time. we're doing a lot better this week!

will LOVES bathtime. except i'm bad about getting soap in his eyes. any tricks? right now i have to lay him down in the tub on his big sponge to rinse the soap out of his hair.

hey, look at us! this was yesterday. we met daddy at the park for lunch.

will's crawl

will has become very mobile in the past 7 days. this video was taken about a week ago. he still crawls like this, he's just faster now. he prefers cruising along anything he can hold onto, including walls and unstable rocking chairs.

i love you through and through

will really does love books. (aren't you proud, grandma brown?) he loves pictures. you can see him flipping the pages for me in this video. lately, he's gotten very serious about his job of flipping pages that he doesn't give me time to read what's on the page.

baby einstein joy

will gets so excited everytime he hears the baby einstein jingle and sees that caterpillar move across the screen to smile at him.

will loves his naps - NOT!

this is how i found will yesterday during his morning nap. at least he was sleeping. yesterday afternoon, he figured out how to stand in his crib - no sleeping then, but there was lots of crying!

mommy's day

my first mother's day - see me with my chunky monkey standing behind my first mother's day gift - a 12 ft. long picnic table built by my dear hubby. how am I gonna top that on father's day? we had some family over for a spaghetti picnic. the weather was gorgeous. nothing like eating on china outdoors - makes the food taste so much better.

he decided to start moving a little. he liked it.

this is one of will's funny grins - just love it.

life is beautiful

a few nights ago, lee and i watched Life is Beautiful. we didn't know much about it before watching it. i don't want to spoil it if you want to watch it yourself. what a movie

it's interesting because we watched half of it one night and the last half the next night. it was like watching two different movies. i laughed the first night. the second night i could not stop crying. i almost could not finish the movie i was that upset. i came so close to walking out of the room. i don't think i've ever cried so hard in my life.

this movie made me realize how good i have it and how spoiled i am. it is a reminder of the evil of the holocaust and a great picture of sacrifice and love. get your kleenex for the last half.

mmm...books

Will loves to "read".

Apparently, he likes to eat books too.

those teeth are sharp.

my little ham

these are my favorite will pictures to date.
we had fun outside today in our front yard.
i love the way he smiles for the camera in the last shot - he's my little ham.