Life

There are times in life that cause you to reflect on things. This month is one of those for me.  This October B and I will celebrate 7 years of marriage and I will turn the big 30!!!

Yes this month is going to be a month to celebrate.  With such big events happening I can't help but reflect on where I am. I have I tell you I love more than anything where I am for many reason, but here a few reasons why...

1.) I have beautiful healthy children which is the biggest blessing B and I have had in the last seven years of marriage. We get to watch them grow and turn into their own little beings.  

2.) My husband and I have made it to the 7 year mark. We have lived, laughed, struggled and cried together. We have lost our first baby during my first pregency, been blessed with our two precious baby girls, changed our jobs, sold our first house, built our forever home, dealt with the loss of grandparents and friends and the list continues. After all the ups and down we still love each other which I am proud to say!

3.) I have the greatest friends. I can't say enough about this. I have developed great friendships over my life. The span from childhood, college and life with kids. These girls are closer than family. They are  consistent, loyal and the best friends anyone can ask for. 

4.) And lastly I have a wonderful relationships with my family. I am so thankful for dinners with my dad, beach days with my mom and trips to the zoo with my sister Meg. 

Here are my reasons when I reflect that keep me laughing, loving and living!

Crafting Season!

I have decided that this year I am renaming hunting season to crafting season. Since the start hunting season in August, I have made matching dresses for MC and R, curtains for my master bath, 5 custom App State tumblers, custom etched pie plate, custom glass cutting board, a Halloween burlap sign and a some Christmas ornaments!

Here are the pics!

Pray for a stanger please...

I am sure each of you have prayed for a friend or a family member.  I do, everyday I pray for both friends and family.  This week I have been adding a new prayer, a prayer for a stranger, a 28 year old woman who is in the battle of her life.  

Her name is Holly, she works with two of my friends husbands at a local business.  Thursday out of no where she had a massive brain aneurism in the office.  Thanks so the quick work of her co-workers and EMTs she was transported to the hospital.  She was with our a pulse for a period of time but was able to be revived.  Since Thursday's incident in the office she has had 3 brain surgeries and as a result of the trauma her body has been through she suffered a heart attach yesterday.  

I don't know Holly from Adam.  I could not tell you what she looked like if you asked me, but I do know she needs a miracle and the only way I know how to get one is through the power of prayer!  So please I ask you pray for her too!!  She needs as much as we can get!

AMP

Being a Mom

I love being a mom, it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.  But man, let me tell you some days are just tough.  So today was one of those days.  Thank God he will give me tomorrow to try it again!

The Big # 3

 

It's hard to believe that yesterday MC turned 3!  We were so blessed to have had a great weekend with friends and family to celebrate her.  

The coolest part of yesterday for me was the MC got to see both her living great-grand mothers and all of her grand-parents.  

I pray that I will be able to know MC and Little R's children and what an amazing thought to be able to know their grand-children.

Here are to the generations of memories that keep us laughing, loving and living!

A thought from Mother Teresa...

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful 

friends and some genuine enemies.  

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. 

 Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  

Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  

Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  

Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  

It was never between you and them anyway.

~Mother Teresa

Epic that is the only word...

Well let me tell you something this weekend was action packed.  Filled with fun with the kids, great friends, good food and too much red vino for sure!!!

The weekend was kicked off Friday night with a wild rice and shrimp casserole and spending time with my friends Colleen and Mary Nelson.  MC was full of herself, starting a story to them with "One day when I was picking my nose on the sofa... (I was one proud momma for sure)!!!  They spend the night and stayed a good portion of the morning on Saturday.

Saturday brought another wonderful supper club.  Wonderful food and great company.  Jack D even was there to keep B company!!!

Sunday started early and ended late.  We had a birthday party for Clark that ended at 2:30 Monday morning!!!  The boys where in rare form for sure.  Have you ever seen 4 grown men play shirtless beer pong?  (They thought they looked amazing, not so sure if I agree).

Here's to epic weekends that keep us Laughing, Loving and Living!!!

Modern Family...

I love Modern Family!

Sweetgrass baskets...

Just a warning, I am on a soap box for this post!!!!  I just saw an article on the Post & Courier website about  knock off sweetgrass baskets and the fear of the local basket makers on what this mass produced over-seas fake will do their business.  Let me tell you one thing this makes my blood boil. 

I LOVE sweetgrass baskets (see pictures above), I have a great collection that B has gotten for me (ten years in the making).  Both girls have their own hand-made basket for their Easter basket (a start to a collection I hope).

A handmade sweetgrass basket from a road side stand is a part of my heritage! I grew up riding my bike to the four corners of justice and watching these gifted women make these baskets to life.  Each basket is a piece of living history.  A tradition passed from generation to generation.  Can you put a price on that?!?!?

Apparently Ballard Design and Southern Living thinks you can, what I have to say to that is I have canceled my subscription to Southern Living (don't think I am kidding) and Ballard design can kiss my big white fanny!  I will never buy anything from that catalog ever again!  The thought of homes being decorated with fake, mass-produced over-seas sweetgrass baskets makes me sick to my stomach.  

I encourage you to buy the real thing, a real sweetgrass basket is worth saving up for.  Ask the wonderful Lowcountry lady that made the basket to tell you her family history.  Remember that story each time you use your basket.  Ms. Jameson and Ms. Henrietta have made all my baskets!  I cherish this part of the Lowcountry and hope that everyone else who feels the same way will do their best to make everyone around them understand the importance of buying the real thing! 

Momma Time...

I love my kids they are my world (just needed to make sure everyone knows this before reading any more of the post)!!!  I am super excited thought for the first time since babies Momma is going out of town without KIDS!!!

Tomorrow morning I am packing in the car and headed to Myrtle Beach with 12 wonderful ladies.  We are all running either the Diva hlf-marathon or the 5k race Sunday morning.  Saturday will be spent going to the expo for the run, some shopping and a great dinner.  The best part is I don't have to keep track of anyone except for myself.

This is huge for me, since MC was born almost 3 years ago, I have spent 3 night away from my home, 2 of them being when I had Riley.  I am so excited!!!

Here's to the little breaks in life that keep us laughing, loving and living!

Harvest Time...

 

After patiently waiting MC got to pick veggies from the garden for the first time yesterday!  A small harvest, but soon we are going to have yellow squash coming out of our ears.  B was insistent on planting two huge rows, you can see are squash blooms everywhere!

I am waiting for our big heirloom tomatoes to make tomatoes pies but most of all bacon, avocado and tomato sandwiches!

Here's to my backyard garden that keeps me laughing, loving and living!

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!

Be Present

Everywhere I look this week, I have seen something or read something about being present in your life.  It is so easy to do, not to be mentally here even when you are physically here. 

Because I work from home I do find myself sometimes not being present to my kids, I grab my phone as soon as I get an email because I want to make sure I am doing my job because I know I could not get a gig like what I have anywhere else.  It was this week after reading a blog post that I realized that almost all of it can wait until nap time, I get 2.5 hours of quite time a day where I can be present with work and not sacrifice any of the precious time with my kids (which is perfect because with my job, I only have to work 3 hours a day to meet my hour requirement).

So today I after Little R's morning nap I took the moment to be present with my kids, like in their faces I am the coolest mom in the world.  I bolted into Little R's room music blaring from my phone, MC was already in Little R's crib with her and started dancing to Stronger by Kelly Clarkson.  Both the girls eyes got huge and then they started laughing and then started dancing too, Little R was the best trying to dance then falling down in the middle of it.  It was the best 3 minutes and 42 seconds of the morning.  MC thought it was so funny she climbed out of the crib and said "one more time we need to dance party together", so we did for 20 minutes. 

The smiles and laughter from my kids was amazing, I actually started to cry at one point because it was that awesome.  I thought to myself, this is what it is all about, the love and laughter of my kids. 

Here's to the little moments in life to be present that keep me laughing, loving and living. 

Only in the Country

I am pretty sure you can't do this in the suburbs...

Here's to the little moments in life that keep us laughing, loving and living.

Pluff Mud Living

There are certain things you learn growing up here that turn into some of your fondest memories as you look back and then even more precious when you share them with the next generation. Crabbing is one of these in my book.  

I remember countless days crabbing all around the Lowcountry with my dad, mom, grand-parents and my sisters.  I remember sitting and watching my grand-mother Nana pick a crab over a pile of newspaper telling me "child one thing for sure you leave no meat."  The taste of fresh boiled crab is something all to itself also.  

Today was MC's first day crabbing.  She was so excited.  She woke up this morning talking about it.

I sat on the top of the dock with Little R listening, watching and soaking in the wonderfulness of B showing and teaching MC the art of crabbing on the floating dock.  There is nothing in my opinion that watching a manly man softly and kindly explain something to his daughter.  I look forward to the day that Little R is right there in the mix with them.  

Here's to the little moments in life that take you back and keep you laughing, loving and living!

Pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words right? Well I think in the case of the amazing pictures taken of the girls by Chris Smith of Chris and Cami Photography, these pictures are worth a million words.

Chris has turned into our family photographer, our relationship started over 6 years ago when I first booked him to shoot our wedding.  My bridal portraits, rehearsal dinner/party, the wedding, my maternity pictures when I was prego with MC, MC at 3 months, MC at 6 months, MC at a year, now Little R as at 3 months, Little R at 7 months and cameos of MC during Little R session.  

Two weeks ago we met at Charles Pinkney Place in Mount Pleasant and had a great session.  It is amazing how Chris is able to capture the personalities of the kids.  I truly believe he is preserving memories for not only myself & B and the girls but for generations to come.  

Check out Chris' website at www.chirsandcami.com.  Also seriously consider using them, you will not regret the decision at all.  

Little R

This week and last week we broke out somethings that have been in storage for Little R. It is hard for me to believe that she will be 7 months old on Saturday. Where does time go?!?!?

The first thing she got last week was the Jeep walker. She loves it and has not really even figured out how to cover ground with it yet. MC loves pushing her in it!

The next huge step was yesterday. I pulled out the good old high chair. She looks like such a big girl in it.

Both of these bring back so many memories of MC. Makes me realize how fast it all goes by.

Here are to the little milestones in life that keep us laughing, loving and living!

One of those days...

Have you ever had one of those days that when it is all said in done you are just drained. That was today for me for sure. I pretty much flunked this Monday. My kids, husband and everything else today tried me and I gave them my all but still managed to get an F when it was all said in done.

I am exhausted and border line sad, but tomorrow is a new day right?!? I sure hope so! Send positive thoughts my way I am in need of them and a big glass of red wine!

Watch out Target...

Yesterday started out with a great trip to Target! We were out of food for the cats, big dogs and puppy.  We needed some other things as well.  When I pulled into the parking lot, parked right in front of the spot where I parked was the buggy pictured below (please ignore MC's finger in her nose).  I thought this is a sign, this big thing was what I needed to push to make sure I could get all I needed with both of the kids.  In a regular cart there is not a whole lot of room left over if I take Little R in her bucket.  

So I load both kids in and head towards the front of Target.  As I start to push this "super cool buggy" as MC was calling it, I say man this is a huge shopping cart.  That is no exaggeration, I really felt like I was driving an 18-wheeler through Target, and thanks to the addition of groceries to the Mount Pleasant Target, I have not clue where anything is, resulting in lots of u-turns which was a little challenging.  Please keep in mind the whole trip about every 45 seconds MC is going "Momma this is a huge buggy" or "Momma is this the hugest buggy her?" It was pretty darn funny, I think every other shopper we passed got a good chuckle out of it for sure!   I felt like a needed a bull horn announcing "wide load coming through, watch out!"

Here are the trips to Target with kids that keep us laughing, loving and living!

Fun with Daddy

I know I have said this before but I love living in Huger. There is good quality family fun to be had all the time! MC had so much fun with her daddy this weekend, I think Little R is still getting use to the thought of tractor fun!