I Want To Win...

I want to win this awesome new computer from Kelly's Korner. To get an extra entry all I need to do is blog about it and link it to Kelly's comments. I don't know a ton about computers but this Touch Screen looks awesome and I would love to win it! So check out Kelly'sKorner to try and win one yourself.

Almost Thanksgiving...

It's almost Thanksgiving, which means yummy food and lounging around for a long weekend. We are going to visit my PaPa in Alabama, my younger sister will be joining us along with Ian and Mackey. I am excited to see them, even though they were just here. I will try and take lots of pictures with my new camera to post about Thanksgiving weekend. Eat lots of turkey and have a happy 'slapsgiving'.

Meeting MckMama

Today I braved the cold and rain to meet a famous blogger from somewhere called the Frozen Tundra. (I should probably know where this place refers to, but I don't. If she wanted the world to know where she lived, she would just tell us.) This was soo far out of my comfort zone, but I did it, and for that I am a little proud of myself. My inner-self is super outgoing, but my real life self is much more recluse. I am a homebody, I don't to do things out of my box, I should, but I don't. So I went, it was crowded with lot's of people flocking to see this famous blogger: MckMama and her sweet MSC. While there I discovered that her daughter and mine have the same - unique name. What a surprise! MckMama was actually quite nice, much as I had expected her to be from her blog - I stumbled across her blog back in the summer and I have been reading it from time to time. When she announced she was having an Atlanta meet up I thought, why not and I 'm glad I did. I didn't take any pictures to prove that I was actually there, but I was. It was kinda weird to take pictures of a family that I don't really know, so I didn't, but I am glad I went. Happy Sunday!

Catch Up...

Since I haven't blogged in a while, I have some catching up to do. I have been inspired to 'try' and blog more frequently, so we will see how that goes! Here are a few pictures from Halloween and the Corn Maze!

M and mommy after carving our Halloween pumpkins. Daddy put

stitches in one to represent grandpa's head. Not funny!
Our little pumpkin!

This is so heavy, mommy come help!

M and J at Jaemore Farms on a hayride.

Upside down with Daddy inside the corn maze.

I plan to do a better job blogging. Hopefully with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, I will have something worth while to say. I am going to work on editing some recent photos and try to get a good picture of M for our Christmas cards.

George is still in the hospital, but today he actually seemed a little more himself. The antibiotic must be working, he had a little short term memory with is awesome. God is at work in a big way, I just can't wait to see the outcome.

Blogging Stall

Welcome bMack to the blogging world. I took quite a break to enjoy my summer with M. I didn't want to miss a thing since I have to go back to full time teaching in August. That's now only 1 full week away - sadness prevails! We have had an amazing summer of fun. Here are a few pictures from the beach. M and daddy at Fort Morgan playing in the ocean. She is a FISH! Loves to swim and play in the water.
M and daddy.
Mommy and M.
M taking a break from all that ocean fun. Relaxing in her beach chair with a yummy snack.
Walking through the sand was tough work.

We had a wonderful time on our annual family vacation. We stayed in a house in Fort Morgan, Alabama. All the kids had fun playing in the water and driving truck through the sand. The kids all play well together. This year M loved playing in the water, she didn't care too much for the sand, but man did she enjoy the water. I can't wait until next year, hopefully she will still like to play in the water.

Flamingo Fun! M's 1st Birthday!

My little girl turned ONE on Tuesday. I can hardly belive it's been a whole year already. It seems like just yesterday we were getting the call that our birth mother had said yes she wanted us to be M's adoptive parents. God has been so awesome this past year, blessing us with a child and seeing us through our ups and downs. It was bitter sweet celebrating M's first birthday - she is no longer my little baby, but a little person, a toddler, and growing up too, way too fast.

M didn't really like the birthday cake. She took one swipe at the icing and smashed it all in her fingers, but didn't even taste it. She doesn't know what she is missing!

Here is a picture of the cake, it had a flamingo on top and flowers all around. We also had fun colorful cupcakes with flamingo straws poked into the top.

My water baby! M LOVES the water. She actually had fun at her own birthday, swimming around and playing in the fun float.

A fun baby stroller walker from Nona and Papa Bear. She really liked it, she pushed it all around the pavillion and the grass.

All in All the party was a success. Everyone had fun and enjoyed a peaceful night of swimming, eating, and playing. Hopefully this next year with M will be as amazing as the first.

Show us were you live Friday: Nurseries

I waited a long time to have a nursery in my house. After years of infertility, we adopted last summer. Our amazing M was born on June 2, she will be 1 in just 5 short days. What an amazing year it has been, God is Good ALL the time! Her room was originally blue and green, when we found out she would be a she, we painted 3 walls pink! We worked on her room up until the night before she was born. The night before she was born, I thought her room needed something else, so we painted a big tree that matched her bedding, I think it turned out well. We were up until past midnight with a few Wal-mart runs for paint and sharpie markers. The bedding in her room is from Pottery Barn. Ryan and I said, she might be our only child, so let's get what we want, and that's exactly what we did. I love the white crib, especially since it was free! We didnt' want to buy furniture incase something happened and we didn't get to bring M home with us, so a great friend, who had twins gave us this beautiful white crib. Letters from Pottery Barn. Got them on clearance! And part of the tree we painted, with birds.

Awesome surprise glider from my parents. It's a Best Chair and is super comfy. They surprised us with the chair and some how snuck it into our house when we were not at home.
This is just one of the flower wall lamps from IKEA, they make great nightlights. The picture on the side wall is from M's 'Welcome to the World Party' (in lieu of a baby shower). We had everyone sign and write a little message/prayer. I think it's a great idea, many of my friends have done this; good keepsake with a newborn photo.
The top of M's dresser/changing table. I love the baskets, they hold diapers and lotions.
M's dresser/changing table. Also from IKEA. Hopefully it will be good for years to come.
Here is the tree we painted the night before M was born. It has the same birds that are on the bedding, we just made a stencil and painted them on. Then we sharpied the beaks and legs.

A Week Full of Fun

It has been a fun week since I last posted. We spent Sunday at the Zoo with grandparents. Monday we went to the lake and M loved it, she seems to be quite the little swimmer, kicking her arms and legs. I guess we will be spending a lot of time at the water this summer. My sister came into town for M's first birthday. We went to a Gwinnett Braves game with the whole family, and today is my 10th wedding anniversary! We don't have anything planned for today, we might just have dinner and go to a new comedy club that opened here in Buford. It looks quaint.

M and daddy with a big hippo!
M at the Atlanta Zoo, checking out the flamingos. Looks like she is getting ready for a Flamingo Birthday Party!M and the Gwinnett Braves Game. She had a lot of fun.

Schools Out for the Summer!

Today was the last day of school: Yeah for summer! I am looking forward to spending all day with my lg. Hopefully we will have a fun summer spending our days walking, going to the park, and learning how to swim. I don't want to waste our time together becasue sadly I will be going back to full time teaching in the fall. I am already thinking about how much I will miss M when I am working all day. This past year has been wonderful. God provided me with the opportunity to work part time and I am very greatful for the the time I had at home this year watching M grow and change. Last year at this time R and I were putting finishing touches on a nursery and awaiting the birth of our adoptive daughter and on our knees praying that God would regin superme and continue holding us through the journey of adoption. I am sitting here remembering that weekend before M was born and everything we were thinking and praying and stressing about. I was not only preparing to bring home a little baby girl, I was also teaching a staff development to about 100 fellow teachers. STRESSED OUT is all I can remember. It was great for my figure, but that was about it. Looking back through journal entries where I prayed that our Loving Savior would not forsake us has been emotional. God took care of us from beginning to end and continues to hold us in His arms.I am sitting here greatful for the year God has given us. Until next time...

Just an ordinary day

Today was just an ordinary day I enjoyed spending with my lg. We had lunch then went to visit my mom at school on her last day of school. She still needs to do a lot of packing, and I thought we could help, but mostly her kids just wanted to play with M. That worked out well becasue then she was very tired on the way home. We made a pit stop at Wolf to pick up some pictures I am working on framing. They look great, as soon as they are finished I will post pictures.

11 months old!

Wow, how time flies. My amazing lg is 11 months old. She is getting so big, and learning a million new things. This month you have:
1. Learned how to walk, almost!
2. Made music.
3. Decided that bubble wands don't taste very good.
4. Grown about 1 inch, you are going to be tall.
5. Fallen about 10 times trying to walk.
6. Gotten bug bites all over your chubby little legs.
7. Eaten dog and cat food - Yuck!
8. Learned how to crawl down the stairs.

First time blogger!

So, I am finally joining the 'blogging' world. It looks like fun, but who even knows if anyone will read about our life here in Buford, GA. I plan to use this blog to record our daily musings with an almost one year old little girl, so I don't forget anything.