Gordon/Charnik Wedding Teaser

Here are just a few pictures of the beautiful wedding I shot out at Evins Mill in Smithville this weekend. Congrats to Mary-Gray and Andrew! More to come on Facebook...

Gotta Paint This...

I need one for every room in my house. :)

The Morning After

Yes, this post is a little late. Or alot late, seeing as how this occurred about a month ago. Our little European excursion will have to take the blame, but I figure it's better late than never...

Big Girl Baby as she calls herself (because a baby is obviously the thing to be at our house) had her fourth birthday party, completely with cookout, cake, ice cream, and a whole slew of presents. (This whole foods market birthday cake is absolutely delish might I add...)


When it was all said and done I was just too pooped to clean up, and when I woke up the next morning to assess the damage, I thought... what a fun house we had last night. :)

Here's what I saw...

Judging from that last shot, I'd say the day was a success. :) Now someone please get that girl a cup of coffee...

1, 2, 3, 4

I love being a Mama... I really really do. There's truly absolutely nothing else I'd rather do with my life than raise my babies. Don't get me wrong... like all moms, there's not a point in every day of my life where my kiddos aren't driving me absolutely insane and I long for a few uninterrupted hours of quiet to myself... even if that only means I get to clean up my kitchen without being nagged for something that will cause me to have to mess it up again. Even with that said though, I wouldn't trade a single day of the past four years.

My Reese Cup made me a Mama exactly four years ago today. Seems I can't have a kid without there being some kind of dramatic story that goes along with it. For this one, it was the eternity that it took to get her out. Already four days past her due date, sunny side up, and she. wasn't. budging. From the time we showed up for our scheduled induction (8am August 29) to the time she finally showed herself to the world (11:27am August 30) 11+ people in both of our families had spent the night in the hospital waiting 27 1/2 hours for her to arrive. She finally did so, when she wanted, and without anyone telling her how she was gonna do it.

If you know Reese, then you know that not much has changed in four years. :)

Now this beautiful girl of mine (who I can barely claim as my own to look at her) is one year away from Kindergarten and I really can't tell you where the time has gone. Her imagination keeps me in stitches. Her brilliance and intelligence, well it shocks me so often at what she's able to comprehend. (The girl can spout off verses and chapters of scripture without blinking an eye.) I would be absolutely beside myself without her help each day now living with and taking care of two babies. She is responsible and able beyond her four years, and I'm so grateful to have her as my daughter. All that to say, she's still four... and the things she comes up with and says sometimes (insert story last week from April Willett) well, let's just say Lord knows I need a reminder every once in a while that she really is only four... :) I get really excited to think of how sweet I know our relationship can be as she grows older, and pray to God he gives me the wisdom to guide her little heart to love Him well as she matures. Oh how I loooove my Reese Cup. Happy Birthday sweet girl! I'm so grateful that you're mine!

Thank You, Mr. Craig

Dear Mr. Craig. Not exactly sure of your last name, but I would love to meet you, shake your hand, and tell you how much I love that list of yours. I'm not quite sure why anyone would ever buy retail again after truly experiencing what you have to offer. You see, patience is not always my forte, but when it comes to you and your list my friend, you have always delivered. Every time. And at this moment I am enjoying the cool night air from the comfort of the loveseat out on my deck. As much as I love to be outside, and as the mornings and evenings eventually become cooler and cooler (at least I think they will... they have to, right?) I'm sure I'll be spending many of them right here.



I would be remiss however, if I didn't give a huge shout out to this guy right here...


without whom, none of this would've been possible, seeing how he was so generous to lend me his truck. Thanks Bobby Billy. I owe ya man.

Those TSC staff peeps really blessed my socks off that day... cause on top of the wonderful truck lending generosity of our middle school pastor, a certain preschool ministry assistant who caught me in the act of trying to load carseats into the back of said truck came out to my rescue and suggested that instead, I let 'em hang out with the awesome ladies in the office for a bit...

Really? Do you know what you're saying? I mean, we're talking about these sweet adorable little faces right here...

Before you agree to this, please believe me when I tell you- you won't get anything else done while I'm gone. Here's your chance to totally back out on your offer. But you'd better hurry, before I run...

But she didn't. Wow. And it was suuuuch a treat to handle this without kiddos in tow! So thanks a MILLION each to Amber, Alicia, Christy, Angela, April, Joanna, and anyone else that I'm unaware of and unintentionally leaving out for keeping my kids out of the heat and out of my hair while I fetched up my latest treasure. Y'all absolutely made my day. An invitation to lunch on my deck sitting in my new furniture will be extended to y'all hopefully very soon!

Happy Weekend Everyone! Enjoy it!

A New Face

So I've been wanting to re-enter the blogosphere for quite some time now. Turns out, this afternoon's naptime demanded absolutely nothing of me but two and a half glorious hours of whatever the heck I wanted. After 45 minutes of craigslisting and searching every store's website known to man trying to find patio furniture that I wanted and could afford (to no avail, might I add) I became extremely frustrated with the amount of money someone thinks they can charge for CUSHIONS (for crying out loud) and decided I needed an avenue to vent my frustration. This led to a visit to my very outdated blog, and then the decision that it was indeed time to say hello again.

But first, a facelift...

A new title, (because since I stopped blogging I have gained two more children and lost all sense of quiet, control, and time to myself) and a new look (since I have become slightly obsessed with DIY, turning someone else's junk into something beautiful, and "cottage white" and would cover every wall in my house in white beadboard if I had my way.)

So here it is. And speaking of facelifts- what I did with my weekend...

Before: Found on an obliging curb awaiting a trip to the dump

After...

And my favorite part about this little project was the cost. $0.00 Absolutely zip, zero, zilch, nada... you get the picture.

The shelves were leftovers from my garage in our former home, and the paint was left here by the former owners of our new home.

It's sheer therapy, I'm telling you! Didn't even mind looking down at my feet in church this morning and admiring the white speckled skin on my toes from the splattered paint. :) Marks of a great weekend. Now if only I'd take the time to make the paint on my toenails look half as good...

And just as an added bonus...













Sweet girl sleeping off the Cowboys defeat in her Romo jersey. :) Love her...

Another run-of-the-mill, ordinary day

Every once in a while, you have one of those monumental moments in life. The kind that just sort of stop time for a split second. The Lord does something in your life that changes it forever. You ask yourself if you're about to be a guest on the SNL sketch "Really?!? With Seth and Amy" And you just keep asking yourself Really?!? Really?!? (haha- I just love me some good weekend update...)

Well, welcome to the past four days of my life. And let me tell you, past experience tells me that God is about to do something really HUGE here.

I am Mama to a handful of a 3 1/2 year old girl, and a precious 9 1/2 month old boy who is just starting to come into and show us his adorable little personality. If you're reading this, you probably are already aware that said 9 1/2 month old boy was a hefty 11 lbs 1 oz at birth. Recovery took quite a while after delivering him, and getting rid of the extra "love" I've been carrying around has proven to be quite a task.

I really got motivated to hit it hard after Christmas, though, showing up at the gym 3-4 times a week for the past 6 weeks, and feeling great. After the first month, however, I was becoming increasingly disappointed and discouraged at the lack of results I was seeing- in fact, I felt like I was moving in reverse.

After a great run this past Monday, Valentines Day, and going through my routine on the scale and kinda trying to scope things out for any changes in things, I'll just be honest- I was ticked and just decided it was time to have a heart to heart with God. I'm working so hard. I've changed so much about my diet. Why are you not blessing my efforts?!? Augh!!! Am I doing something wrong?

And then, a thought that had vaguely crossed my mind a few times over the past couple weeks, occurred to me again... Could I be? No, I'm still nursing Ty, and frankly it just doesn't add up...

Then a thoughtless Mama remembered that she had not purchased any Valentines for Reese's party the next day, and a quick 9:45pm trip to Walgreens was in order. Just as I was about to head to the checkout counter, the thought occurred to me again. Ah, what will it hurt. Just buy one. What the heck, buy two. Put your mind at ease.

And then...

Happy Valentines Day, Dear

R- "What is that?"
H- "What does it look like?"
R- (smile and a chuckle...) hug your wife and say "We're gonna have a baby..."
H- "No, we already have one- he's across the hall!"

But just wait- it gets better...

Fast forward to Thursday. Sweet little face pops up on an ultrasound screen. Holy cow. It's really true. And then the doc confirms even crazier news...

"You're 5 months along"

Congrats. You've missed the first half of it. Feel free to submit your story to one of those Lifetime "I didn't know I was pregnant" shows...

So there you have it folks- we are pleased to introduce Wagoner baby #3... Due Date, July 12... give or take a week... who can really tell... But hey, we'll be able to tell you if it's a boy or girl in 2 weeks! And when you finish picking your jaw up off the ground, you can come help me with mine. I think it may be there for a while...