Date night

Another wonderful thing about visiting Charlotte is built-in-babysitters!

David and I got to enjoy more than one wonderful night out.  Just the 2 1/2 of us.  

Sticker Face

Our cabinets have these little brown stickers to keep them from slamming shut.

But Grace found another use for them.

She put them on her face, of course.

And now she really has freckles.

Grace's new Graco ride

Faith absolutely despises her carseat. She kicks and screams every time we try to put her in it. So we decided to let her try out one of Grace's car seats. Grace is currently using the Eddie Bauer Deluxe convertible 3-in-1 car seat. 

We actually have two of these carseats - 1 for my car and 1 for David's car.  So we took the one from David's car and put it in the Jeep rear-facing.  And it worked!  Faith adores her new car seat! She doesn't kick or scream.  In fact, she just sits there so sweetly and smiles.  Amazing.  I guess she just wanted to sit up like a big girl. 

But with Faith using the second Eddie Bauer seat, we were then presented with a problem.  David no longer had a seat for Grace and therefore couldn't take her to school in the mornings.  My solution?  Order Grace a new car seat for David's car.

And $47 later (including shipping), here it is!  Grace's new Graco Highback Turbobooster car seat.  I'm sure you can tell that Grace loves it.  She insisted on sitting in it while she watched Jake and the Neverland Pirates this afternoon.  Now I wonder how she is going to react to still using the Eddie Bauer in the Jeep...



Good morning, little girls!

Good morning little Bee.

 Your hair is getting nice and long.  And wet. 

 Grace said it is, "Doo drops!"  (dew drops) and she is correct.

Then Grace tried to convince Faith to go and look at Bee's dewy hair. 

But Faith wasn't even remotely interested. 

And yes the girls are wearing coordinating outfits.  I made Faith a little capri set and Grace a matching "long dress."  Grace really likes wearing dresses and insisted she didn't want "long pants."  Which thankfully made my job a little easier.  The girls' outfits turned out okay I suppose.  The first set of capris didn't fit Faith.  I forgot to account for her chunky little legs and her junk in her trunk, if you know what I mean.  Baby has a booty!  and she looked like a little sausage stuffed in its casing.  As for Grace's dress, the neckline wasn't exactly what I was going for, but Grace likes it and that's all that matters to me.

An inherited trait

I walked into our family room and saw Grace asleep on the couch.

She looked so sweet.

And innocent, too.

Just like an angel.

But then I noticed her looking at me.  In her sleep.  That's kind of weird.

Especially after her eyes rolled back into her head just leaving the whites of her eyes staring back at me... 

Grace received this particular trait from my mother's side of the family.  I still remember my uncle Don doing the same thing after a big Thanksgiving meal.  I never could tell if he truly was sleeping in the recliner or just keeping a close eye on us kids...

Boo-hoo!

Faith always pokes her bottom lip out before crying.  My mother tells me I used to do the same thing...

...And I still do...

Smiling baby

Faith smiles so easily.

She laughs now, too.

She's growing up much too fast.

A sick puppy

Poor Chloe.  She's sick.  We came home from church yesterday and saw bloody urine on the tile floor. 

So I called the vet and he said she has a urinary tract infection.  I took her in to see him this morning and he confirmed that she has a UTI.  He gave her a shot and me a bottle of liquid antibiotics to give to Chloe 3 times a day.  The vet said her infection was caused by her licking her hiney.  That's my fault because the last time I cut her hair, I practically shaved her bottom and it apparently itched thus leading to her constantly licking her bottom.  Apparently Chloe's "vulva" never fully dropped like most adult female dogs hence making her more prone to urinary tract infections.  The solution?  We need to wipe her bottom after she goes tinkle to keep it nice and dry.  Oh, and we shouldn't let her lick her bottom.  Unless we're willing to dry it afterwards. 

Lunch with Nanna and Gran

Today Gran had a doctor's appointment in Mobile, so Grace and I drove across the bay so we could see them.

We decided to eat at Chick-fil-a, one of mine and Grace's favorite restaurants.

We traded Grace's kid's meal treat in for an ice cream cone.

Needless to say, she loved it.  In fact, she may have gotten a little sugar high from it.  Lunch was fun and we had a great time with Nanna and Gran and can't wait to see them again.

Our final evening alone

Today was our last day without Grace at home.  While it's been wonderful getting some alone time together, David and I (and Chloe, too!) miss Grace terribly.  I'm driving to my parents house tomorrow to bring her home.

In the meantime, we spent the afternoon at the pier.  It was a gorgeous day outside.

We fished, but all we caught was this stingray.

My sweet husband, a talented fisherman, removed the hook and let the stingray go without getting barbed.

Then we headed home and watched another beautiful sunset from our balcony.

Each sunset we watch seems to be more beautiful than the last.  Sigh.  I love living on the bay.

The sunset of date number three

After the great entertainment at the restaurant, we headed home for an early evening.  When we got home I noticed that our lemon tree had even more blossoms blooming, so of course I had to take some pictures of them.

I love this picture.  Do you notice the little stem that is yellow on top, pinkish-purple in the middle, and green at the bottom?  That's a teeny tiny baby lemon!

Like I said earlier, there are many flowers that have opened up.  I wish you could breathe in the fragrant aroma coming from our balcony.  You can smell it all the way up the stairs.  It's heavenly and I just can't seem to get enough of it!

I'm so excited that there are literally have scores of more blooms just waiting to burst open!

But of all the pictures I've taken of our lemon tree, this is by far my favorite.  I caught it just as the sun was starting to lower in the sky.  I'm enthralled with the way the light is streaming through the petals.  I'm thinking of framing this one...

After a few moments, I headed inside to share a glass of wine (okay grape juice in wine glasses, but I can pretend right?) with my gorgeous and wonderful husband as we went upstairs to watch the sunset together.  We snuggled on our swing off our master bedroom and watched as the sky changed colors.  And we talked about how much we enjoyed our weekend together.  And how even though it was wonderful having some alone time, we both really missed Grace.  Home just doesn't seem the same without her.

The sunset was beautifully spectacular.

But sharing it with my husband made it even more enchanting. 

Dinner and great entertainment

Today was a pretty low-key day for us.  We slept in until noonish - what a wonderful luxury!  Then we went shopping around town and finally out to an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Original Oyster House.

While eating our meal, David looked out the window and noticed two kayakers paddling our way.  We watched them as they came closer and closer to the restaurant.  We were casually talking about how funny it would be if one of them tipped a kayak over.  Then the guy capsized his kayak right in front of us!  We couldn't help but giggle like school kids as he thrashed around in the water and watched his kayak sink.  Soon everyone in the restaurant was standing up to better view the spectacle.

The lady kayaker tied her boyfriend/husband's sunken kayak onto hers and then started paddling over to the guy who was floating on his life jacket.

He was just hanging out enjoying the water while she worked away towing a kayak full of water along.

Then he started swimming and abandoned his life jacket.  Apparently he told her to come back and fetch it so he could swim to shore.

He splashed around quite a bit while she returned to rescue his life jacket - all the while still towing his sunken kayak around.  David casually asked me what I thought the guy would do if he yelled, "Gator!" out the window.  I think the poor guy would have drowned himself.  By this time I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face.  Half the restaurant was, too.  Not to mention all the photos people were taking of the couple.

After the girl captured the life jacket, she had to turn around yet again - this time to give her poor guy a break.  He had exhausted himself splashing about in the water and didn't make much headway.   Being the good woman that she apparently is, she then paddled herself with all her gear, towed a sunken kayak full of water, and her boyfriend/hubby to shore!  What a workout that must have been!

By the time we finished our meal - and dessert - the couple had finally reached shore.  They managed to unload all the water from his kayak and paddle off into the sunset.  Sigh.  I just love happy endings!

Date number two

David took the day off today so we had the whole house and day to ourselves.  We started the day off by sleeping in until after 10.  What luxury!  Then we got up, got dressed, and drove over to Pensacola for the day.

Once we arrived in Pensacola, we went straight to the boat show.  It was interesting looking at all the different boats.  There were pontoon boats, ski boats, fishing boats, yachts.  You name it and they had it.  We enjoyed window shopping so to speak.  Then we went to McGuire's Irish Pub for an early dinner.

It was a really interesting restaurant.

Inside there are signed dollar bills everywhere you look.  I read plaque on the wall that there are over 900,000 dollar bills inside the restaurant.  Wow! 

The food was excellent.  David ordered a corned beef sandwich and I got a burger.  The burger was so big I had enough for three meals.  We finished our meal with some Irish bread pudding.  It was delicious!  Then we headed home for the evening.  What another fun day!

Thank goodness for waterproof mattress pads

Tonight we grabbed a quick meal of pad thai before hunting for the local Mardi Gras parade.  After about 45 minutes of driving around a town that is only 14 square miles, we decided that the parade apparently wasn't happening tonight.  Grace had fallen asleep in the car so we went home.

Once we got home, Grace woke up for about an hour and then it was time  for her to get ready for bed.  After brushing her teeth etc., I tucked her into bed and laid down beside her as usual, until she went to sleep.  Just as she dozed off, she threw up in my face.  Literally.  In. My. Face.

So I followed my instincts and yelled for help.  David came running and, wonderful man that he is, grabbed Grace and took off for the shower.  Before they made it out the bedroom door, Grace splattered him with pink pad thai.  I still don't understand why it was pink!  Pink as in baby lotion pink.  And before you ask, no Grace hasn't eaten any baby lotion.  And not only did she douse David, she managed to drench the bathroom door, too - all seven feet of it.

So David took care of bathing Grace and I took care of cleaning up the pink vomit.  First, I stripped the bed and started a load of laundry.  Then I pulled as many chewed up noodles off the floor and door as I could and I flushed them down the toilet.  Next, I grabbed our carpet steamer and steamed the carpet.  After that I got my trusty Hoover Floormate out and cleaned the tile floor in the bathroom.  Finally, I cloroxed the door so it wouldn't smell and the paint wouldn't corrode away from Grace's stomach acids.  By this time, the first load of laundry was washed so I moved it to the dryer and started the second load with the bathroom rug and towel that had been sloshed with Grace's pink projectile puke.

As I finished all that, David finished bathing Grace and put a fresh pair of pajamas on her.  We made the decision to let Grace sleep in the bed with us in case she got sick again.  So  after brushing her teeth and getting her some water, we put her in the bed between us with Chloe at her feet.  Then just as we dozed off, it happened again.  Grace vomited on my face.  Again.  Seriously.  Vomit.  On.  My.  Face.  Twice.  In one night.  

This time I didn't have to yell for help.  The smell alone woke David up.  As he was grabbing an empty plastic bin I made it to the bathtub with Grace.  One more time, pink noodles were spewed all over the place.  So I held Grace and got into the shower - clothing and all.  This time, David took over the cleanup detail.   He did a great job  - he started yet another load of laundry and found clean sheets for our bed.  Meanwhile, Grace and I both washed our hair and got all cleaned up.  Then out we went for another fresh set of pajamas. 

After all this, I decided Grace and I would sleep on the couch downstairs.  It's a leather  sofa and thus easy to clean and it has a washable slipcover.  Plus, this way David could sleep tonight and take over in the morning.  Most of all, I just didn't want to take the chance of waking up to vomit in my face for a third time. 

So downstairs Grace and I went.  I grabbed one of the few vomit-free pillows, a clean sheet, and the plastic bin.  I brushed Grace's teeth and gave her some Gatorade to drink.  Then I tucked her in on the couch, sat beside her, and showed her the bin.  I told her that if she thought she needed to throw up to let me know and I would hold the bin for her.  She said, "Oh-tay" (okay) and reached for it.  And then threw up again.  Poor baby.  Luckily cleanup was super fast this time.  She drank a little more Gatorade and then fell asleep. 

So now it's after 2am and Grace is sleeping so I plan to do the same for as long as I can. Hopefully, she's thrown up whatever made her sick and will feel better in the morning.  If she continues to throw up like she has been, we may take her to a clinic.  

Internet, interrupted

David and I are flying to Omaha later this afternoon to meet our movers first thing tomorrow morning.  We will be busy all week long packing and moving.  Unfortunately, we will not have internet access unless we go to a Starbucks or somewhere which is unlikely.  Therefore, I will be unable to post pictures from our cruise or Halloween until we get back home Saturday.  Hope you have a great week!

Love and best dishes, y'all

Today I went to a local bookstore in Fairhope, Page and Pallete. 

Guess who else was there? 

Jamie and Bobby Deen. 

The sons of this lovely Southern lady and Food Network star, Paula Deen.

The line waiting to meet them started at the front of the store, wound all the way to the back, out the back door and

down the street, and finally back around the building. Outside it was 3-4 people thick. 

.

Luckily, I arrived early so I was behind only 20 people or so. 

.

In fact, I was standing in front of the bathroom when Jamie Deen walked in looking for the bathroom.  His mama did a great job raising him; he came out and told us all that he remembered to put the toilet seat down and wash his hands.

While we were waiting inside some workers passed out church fans to keep us from getting too hot.  There's nothing like Southern hospitality in the middle of a hot, hot day.

We also got to try some of the recipes from the cookbook.  Yum!

They signed a cookbook for me.

 And one for Nanna, too.

They even offered to take a picture with me.  Isn't that sweet!

They really are nice gentlemen and I enjoyed meeting them.  Most of all, I can't wait to try some of their recipes.

Now, I'm off to the kitchen!  Love and best dishes, y'all!