I need an old priest and a young priest

This past weekend, I watched my sister's kiddos and tried my hand as a mom of three. I think it went pretty well.

How could it not? Look at those sweet faces...

E

G
The three cousins (it was super hard to get them all in the same picture frame!)
There we go...at least all of their faces are in the picture. Look at G's awesome bed we made her. I'd like to sleep on it.
Saturday, things took a turn for the worse. At first, it seemed things were fine. We went to Payton's 2nd birthday at the Little Gym and it was great. C-Note loved it, even though he was too little for a lot of the activities.
The birthday girl wouldn't stand still long enough to get a pic...but this is her. Happy Birthday, Payton!
Climber.

Crawling
Chewing (this was the first sign that things were taking a turn south)

After the Little Gym, we (me and C) met Daddy and Uncle Jay for a little dinner. C started getting pretty fussy and we headed home. Since that time, I have become more and more convinced that my sweet baby has moved out and Linda Blair has moved in. As I mentioned in a previous post, C has FOUR teeth coming in, all at once. It hurts. I get it. Poor mommy C-Note.

Saturday night, C established his dominance as master of this house. If CB doesn't sleep, no one sleeps. As much as I love my baby's sweet gummy smile, I am ready for these dang teeth to come in so that Linda can leave my house forever.

Note: CB has been really good, all things considered, but any fussiness and bad sleeping behavior is totally out of character for him.

Happy Hour

We've had a tradition of happy hour for several years now with my family. When it started, my sister (and brother when he was in town) and I would head over to my parents' house on Friday afternoons for drinks and weekly work stories before heading out for the night. Sometimes, dinner was included, but mostly we had a drink or two and chit chatted before heading our separate ways.

Since my sister and I have had children, however, happy hour has changed a bit.

First, we've added a few participants. Second, happy hour is no longer our first stop. It is usually our only stop. We've realized that Grumpy and Geeze cannot say no to these faces, so dinner happens more often than not. Score for the free dinners.

We still have drinks, but they are not the same.

The most important thing about our happy hour remains. The hour is still happy (even more so, I think).

E agrees :)
TGIF.

The Most Magical Place on Earth

As children, we all had places we felt were special, even magical, that will forever hold places in our hearts. Mine is my grandparents' house in Greenfield, Tennessee. My grandfather, Daddy Judge, still lives in this gorgeous, big, old house and I love everything about it. We went there this weekend so that the youngest generation could enjoy the wonders of Daddy Judge's house.

Awesome hiding places...
Books galore

Cool and unique furniture

Old keepsakes...

(This is my great-grandmother's college diploma. I swear, it looks like it was printed on fabric. It's from 1907!)Amazingly detailed architecture...
But the most magical thing about Daddy Judge's house is the LOVE.

It's a place where wonders never cease...

And the memories will last a lifetime

And so will the love.