Good deeds

Yesterday 100 LIVE bullfrogs were delivered to Kingsbury for the purpose of dissection in the Biology class. However, my good friend and co-worker, Herb ordered preserved frogs and not live ones. So, when he called the company to request dead frogs, they advised him that if he sent the live frogs back, they would all die. They told him to set the live frogs free do whatever he wanted to with the live frogs and they would send him 100 new dead preserved frogs free of charge. BTW~that was $500 worth of bullfrogs!

Herb was going to take all 100 frogs and set them free in a location not to be disclosed so I offered to take 50 to my house and set them free in a nearby lake~meaning Andy would take them somewhere and set them free. :) I called Andy on the way home to tell him of his new task and needless to say, he was not at all happy. I was confused because I was under the impression that I was doing something good. Well, he pitched a little fit. I get home with the frogs taped up in a box in the back of my car. I rush in, get LG ready for choir (Wednesdays are always super busy because I go straight from work, get LG, give her a bath, and leave to get to church by 5:30 with NO time to spare). As she and I are getting ready to leave, we go out in the garage to move the frogs from my car to Andy's and what do we see? A cute little schnauzer who seemed to be lost. She and I try to get him to come to us but he trots off down the street, all the way down to the other end of our street. He finally stops at this door and we are able to corner him. I was scared to touch his collar for fear that he may bite my hand off. I mean, for all I know he has the teeth of a pit bull. ;) He was scared and cold and so were we. We rang the doorbell at this house, thinking it might be his or they could help us but no one was home. After trying to decide how to get him back to my house, I get LG to run home while I watch her and get her daddy to give her a leash. Let me just say, I would never have even thought about bringing another animal home at this point but he had a tag with an ID number on it~you just call 1-866-60-FOUND, tell them the # and they tell you the owner. We get the dog home and Andy says, "Why do we have a dog in our house?" I explained that all we had to do was call the # on the tag and we could find his owner. No big deal, right? Wrong! We called the # and they said that the owner had set an account up but had never registered the dog. Oops~and now it was past time for LG and I to leave to go to choir. As we are walking out the door Andy says, "So you're leaving me here with a baby, 2 dogs, and 50 frogs?" and as we are driving off he hollers, "DON'T DO ANYMORE GOOD DEEDS TODAY!!!!!!" (I had to put it in all caps so you could get the gist.) I then noticed that the garage of the house where the dog ran to was open. LG and I went down, knocked on the door and asked the lady if she had lost her dog. She looked around and realized that she had indeed misplaced her dog~Charlie. I was so relieved in an "I was right" kind of way. I called Andy and let him know that Charlie's mama was on her way to get him and that if Karma is a real thing, I hoped we would get ours back based on the things I do and not him!

And when we got back from church, the frogs were happily living in some new habitat. 

All's well that ends well! 

NOLA~take 2!!

I went to New Orleans with Andy and some other couples a few months ago for a friend's 40th b-day. This time I went with 4 other girls for a "bachelorette" weekend! We had a blast! One of the girls is from NOLA so she took us to the locally loved places. I ate soooo much and everything was so yummy! I'm not the type to take pics of my food but I assure you it looked as good as it tasted!

 We rented an 8 passenger van and drove down Saturday morning. We left at 10 am and arrived in NOLA around 4 pm after stopping in Jackson, MS at Hooters :) for lunch. This was the MS river as we drove over that huge bridge whose name I'm not even going to try to spell out but you know the 30 mile bridge I'm talking about.

We stopped at a local hole in the wall food place, Kimmer's, as we drove in to NOLA. We got some crawfish and shrimp. No one seasons food like the Cajuns. :) We then went by my friend's aunt's house on the way in to town. She lives about 5 miles from downtown NOLA near the levees that broke. Her home was destroyed. She and her husband rebuilt their home after Katrina and it is beautiful. It was interesting to see a life that was actually touched by Katrina after having heard so much about it. She made us red beans and rice (one of my favorite foods) and I devoured it. It scratched my throat because I was eating it so fast. 

Aunt Gail and Bradshaw

 We got to town and got caught in a parade so it took us about 1 hour to get through downtown to our hotel~Crowne Plaza at the corner of Bourbon and Canal~yes, it was super nice and right in the middle of downtown~yet, well priced ;)

We put our stuff down and went straight out to Bourbon to see the "sights." It is Mardi Gras season so there were quite a few sights to see. Here we are posing for a pic and some random dude stuck his head in the pic and then apologized afterwards. LOL!

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 Bradshaw and I on the dance floor at Razoo's

 Still on the floor...:)

 The next morning we got up and went walking and shopping all over downtown. We made Garrett wear a "Bride to Be" sash and some body part beads. ;) She was such a good sport.

 We ate lunch at the Riverwalk

Bradshaw, me, Garrett, Hady, and Teresa

 We shopped at the French Market.

The weather was amazing! It was 60 degrees and sunny during the day and 50's at night. It couldn't have been better.

We went to dinner at the Grand Isle restaurant where I ate the best gumbo ever in life! We slept in on Monday, watched a little of the Inauguration and checked out at 11 am. We got back to Memphis around 4:30 pm. The weekend was so fun and special and great bonding time between some lifelong friends!

14 months, a little sick and a little play

Carson will be 14 months old tomorrow! I took him to the dr last Tuesday for several reasons~1. because he was wheezing, 2. because he was super fussy, and 3. because he hadn't really eaten in two days! Big red flag!! Not that I have to tell you but he eats All.The.Time! So needless to say I was concerned. We waited in the lobby for 30 minutes and then back in the office for another 30 minutes. Right before the dr walked in, Carson got out of my lap and lay down on the floor with his lovey in one hand and his two fingers of the other hand in his mouth. I grabbed my cell phone to take a pic and the dr walked in! 

BUSTED!!!! Mom of the Year taking pic of son laying on germ infested clinic floor!

Even though he didn't eat for 2 days, he still weighed 30 lbs, 1 oz!! Dr. Lacy said if he had to guess that Carson probably had RSV. We kept him home Monday thru Wednesday until his wheezing was pretty much gone. He has been on breathing treatments twice a day for about a week.

Andy sent me this pic on Wednesday when he was obviously feeling better.

 Carson and LG play so well together. I love it! If he cries, she comforts him. They can sit in his room and play on the floor for hours. He will play in her floor in her room while she draws on her easel. It makes my heart smile to see how their relationship is growing.

A few Carson stats before I forget: He is walking very well, he says Hi, Pep~for Peppi, Pup~for his lovey, Puppy, Boo, pretends to sneeze by saying, Ahhhhhh, Boo! It is so so so cute! I caught it on video so if you're ever around me and want to see it, just ask and I'll show you. He says, Mama and knows he's talking to me! He says Daaaa whenever he sees Andy. He says "Ta" for Lilley Grace because we call her "Sista" so for him it comes out "Ta." He says, "Chloooo" for Chloe and leaves his mouth in the O position for like 3 seconds after~caught that on the video too. So stinkin cute. He is pointing alot. My mom taught him to point at lights and say "light" but it sounds more like tsssssss~don't really know what that's all about. She also taught him to point to his and other people's noses. He says Uh-Oh and purposely throws things on the floor over and over and over again just to watch us pick it up~I remember hating this stage with LG. He ALWAYS kicks off his left shoe and pulls off his left sock so much that they call him "lefty" at daycare. You will almost never see him with that shoe on. As soon as I put it on, he kicks it off with his right foot. His two bottom molars are coming in~that's been a real joy on top of the illness. :) Size 24 month clothes, size 5 diapers and size 6 shoes~Shaquille O'Neal ain't got nothin on this baby.
I think that's about it for now. I will be taking him back to the dr for his 15 month check-up soon so more stats to come.

Playing catch up...

Wow! The Holiday season has come and gone and I tried to enjoy EVERY moment of it. I took a blog break so I could focus on family and friend time which is going to make for a very long "returning" post. :)

We had an extremely busy December. We spent time at church, with friends, and just enjoying the time off from school and work. I captured some of the activities on my phone but I was so caught up in Christmas Eve and Day activities that I neglected to take pics. I know, I suck!

I took LG to "PJ Story time" at our church on Dec. 20. All the kids wear their pajamas and our pastor tells the story of Jesus' birth.

 I wanted LG and I to take some time during the holidays to "give back" to others. We were given a wonderful opportunity to serve dinner at LeBonheur with the Go Lucy Go Foundation on Dec. 21. BTW~Andy keeps Carson at home while LG and I do most activities that occur either late afternoon or at night because Carson goes to bed at 6 pm and is a complete mess if he doesn't. Didn't want you to think the boys did not want to be involved. ;)

 There was so much food and we were able to provide dinner to almost 200 people~parents and children who were staying at LeBonheur during the holidays.

 These are all the toys that the children got to pick from for their Christmas gifts.

 LG spent most of her time helping another little girl fix the drinks.

 She took a picture "riding" a reindeer that was a decoration in the hospital's lobby.

 One morning we all went to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. Yes, Carson ate an entire box of cinnamon roll bites.

 We visited my best friend, Caroline, who has been sick with kidney disease for quite some time and while we were there, her parents gave LG a small guitar. She loves it so much~she sleeps with it, takes it everywhere, plays it in the car and wherever she can play it. She also got a keyboard from my mom for Christmas. We may put her in piano or guitar lessons at some point because she loves playing instruments so much.

 Our close friends, the Davenports, came down from Burlington, Vermont for a couple of days during the holidays. We had dinner with them and some other friends and visited for a while. LG got to see her buddy, Taylor.

 Also during December, Carson started sleeping on a cot at daycare. Is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen?! How do they keep him from getting up? It's a Christmas miracle...

 Andy's sister is getting married in November '13 and asked me to be her Matron of Honor. She asked me by leaving a bottle of wine on my counter. It had a sticker on it which read, "Michelle, will you be my matron of honor? Love~Sarah" So thoughtful and sweet!

We celebrated a good friend's birthday at the Silly Goose downtown.

On New Year's Eve we went to dinner with some friends at a great restaurant in Southaven~Wadford's. It is a deceiving little place~kind of looks like a hole in the wall but has excellent food and a cool atmosphere.

Later we went to The Boiling Point to hear a fun 80's band and dance. We had a good night and were in bed by 1:30 am.

New Year's Day we had a lazy day, only getting out to go get lunch at Hooter's~one of our favorite places to eat! I wish we had gotten a pic of Carson with a Hooter's girl. Next time for sure!!

Overall, our holidays were busy, fun, and filled with those we love~we couldn't have asked for a better season. 

Happy New Year everybody!!!