whoever said....

IGNORANCE is BLISS

must have know my middle child. 

 Daddyc quoted that saturday at our out of town wedding festivities.... with a large crowd, A CANDY table, doors open to the main street..... i totally 100% agreed ignorance of what that child is doing is PURE BLISS.....to us anyway...not the ones watching. wink wink

the wedding reception was located on this small town's SQUARE, that the MAIN area for you non-knowers of small town lingo.  My mom's baby sister worked hard on this cafe, event location and i overheard they may sell??????? hard for me to grasp, she only spent years in the works.  She is a HUGE boys and girls club person and the proceeds go straight to the club, the kids can work there, and a whole bag of neat cross overs for the children and club in general.  what a great thing!  if you are ever in Athens, AL i for sure think you need to stop in.

this was the view right across the street.  BEAUTIFUL old courthouse with details to the nines on the architect end.

i could not help but notice this painting right inside the door....THIS is the actual club, the one here in athens anyway.  THis club has changed the lives of many and continues to bring great joy to numerous happy homes!!

dear aunt vickie,

while it seems like a good idea to place loose big gum balls on the table. 

My middle baby thought it be best he put them on the floor and KICK them as far as the eye could see.

sorry!

XOXO,

Amy

lucky for me and daddyc, my cousin saw this happening and rescued him for us. thank you!

and when he wasn't stealing candy, he was up in the window display of the cafe....with what appears to be a bag of cookies....see where i am going with ignorance is bliss.  You CAN enjoy yourself if you don't wATCH him. wink wink.

notice the detail in desserts, heart shape.

arrival of my hard working aunt

and the arrival of my mom, thats right, she was NOT missing this wedding for anything and she surprised herself and did GREAT! next event please.

escorted by my older wiser brother, no less.. Our big daddy was a wee bit stressed.. He is an organized person and today just wasn't organized and that equals stress in his book!!!

my mom did pull a MOM on me and say "Amy, get him out of the candy, i want the bride and my sister to see the food before he DESTROYS it all"

i don't know what made her say that....maybe the fact when she pulled up my middle child was in the window display with what looks like a handfull of lime green candy...BUSTED!

and this little hornet ran straight to lolly's lap EVEN after she busted him on his candy stealing, he wasn't about to miss the attention of anyone as you can clearly see..... those are mom's sisters- they thought they may be getting a family photo until they could not pull their older brother from the bar. NEXT event i feel for sure we will get one!

my politician greeted anyone and everyone he saw.

while my aunt fed my littlest lamb PURE GRAIN SUGAR....

he liked it

lolly and miss caroline herself

my little hornet LOVES baby caroline and was too excited to see and touch her.

as you can see, everyone was eager to get their hands on this bundle of joy looking like a beautiful princess in a gown adorned with lace that just wouldn't quit....i wanted to take her home!

but her own daddy held tight to her hand.

close up of the cake and fun details

mom's other Nashville sister and family MINUS the college son who seemed to FORGET about the wedding a form other plans..... we all understood and didn't blame at all

mom and her high school bestest..... they were gossiping with the best of them, i tried to snap their picture, while they look innocent. DON'T believe the hype!  just as catty as the next girl. kidding.only kidding.

my boys set up shop outside on a park bench

with a great view

and if we lived here, we would own smiths, right? same name, its a given.

what appears to be a sweet baby above....was acutally a HUGE fit of rage throwing himself onto the sidewalk.....isn't he a doll? and YES you can take him home (for an hour or two anyway...no, your right, he would cry when i left and i would snatch him back quickly....we are tight like that!)

and i don't know if you call messing with your i-phone good parenting because when i came to check on everyone.... My oldest two were having their FIRST taste of what appears to be REAL COke.  Score.  Daddyc paid dearly for the screaming ALL THE WAY home unfortunately i did too.

and then what seemed like a fist fight.... Who left daddyc in charge again?

i know what your thinking...... i did let my monkey wear his flip flops over his white shoes.... some things are just easier when you give in....

mom still chatting with old friends

and me STILL snapping photos of details.... i love the old ceiling tiles, don't you?

and family STILL feeding my middle baby chocolate....

mom's baby sister and her happy family

EEEKKK! lipstick was no where near?

GOd only knows what these two boys were chatting about.... 

God, keep that to yourself please, moms don't need to know everything. And where are my monkey's shoes?

uncle letting the boys climb to high dangerous places AGAIN.... he is fun like that!

while the girls in HIS life posed for me....so sweet!

a good photographer would have ask you to move out of the shadows.....next time!

And on another beautiful sunday.  i attempted a family photo of my own......

littlest lamb has a mouth FULL of lunch, a fake smile and a "new" smile for middle boys

and just like that i was DONE & DONE....

and so were they

and i took to lolly's to get her and we SHOPPED for FOUR HOURS.... we enjoyed it so much! lolly did great, she shopped for her, for others,  and of course BIG DADDY (always thinking of him, she is thoughtful like that) We people watched, drank homemade lemonade, and just enjoyed our day.....to come home to my older wiser brother, and my wrecking crew too for a fun mexican dinner.  It was a good day!  

I am off to a hoyty toyty luncheon today, wish me luck. wink wink.  while i may need luck in a swanky environment my littlest lamb will NOT he will be with his mimi....thanks mimi, i am looking forward to my girls time more than you know.....

always and forever!

as we finish up our week of celebrating daddyc's birthday, we are all exhausted and have attended some really fun parties be it adult OR handy manny parties with tools (so cute!) and i have hung the camera up for just a minute.  Last night we had a table for TWO, Martinis for ONE, bourbon for one, FOOD for twelve, and a year of good times reflected together!  Good stuff.


HAPPY BiRthDAY!!!
i love you to pieces daddyc and YOU ARE OLD as dirt...
grow old along with me the best is YET to be! (i can't remember who quoted that, sorry!)




some reasons why:
i love my coffee EVERY morning that you never fail to deliver
i love that you love playing with our boys,really really love playing with them
i love your zest of life even as we get older
i love that we can act our AGE or NOT 
i love how you help me out when i am on the brink of breakdown whether it be taking the nightly book reading over, doing the dishes, etc. so that i can engulf myself in sex in the city RE-RUNS intently
i love that you want to take me to italy SO BAD but i just really want to go to the beach instead (i will work on that!)
i love that you don't judge ANYONE and that we can befriend any living thing and just enjoy the company and the funny thing is we do just that....really enjoy them!
i love you for seeing the looks on the boys faces when you pull down the street, bikes and chubby cherub legs go as fast as they can to get to you....is it YOU? or the chance to drive the car down the street? you decide. i think its YOU
i love that you LOVE to take CARE of us and provide....i hate that sometimes it stresses you but your comfort, strength, and love are endlessly over pouring and we, all 4 of us, feel so safe and taken care of. thanks for that x 4.

i love that you always open my door, pull out my chair (be it on the patio, front porch, fancy dining, office meeting), offer my drinks or re-caps AND all the lucky girl/girls i am chatting with too, always pick up the check with no mention of the cost of our enjoyment (as if we are on our first date), hold my hand going down stairs as if i am 82 (no offense you 82 year olds), and how you truly TRULY believe i deserve the moon and back (when secretly i probably don't....although you'd have to give up a good fight against my mom&dad on that one) and mostly how i always feel like the most important thing in the world....be it running clothes with NO shower, or dressed to the nines for a black tie event.....

most of all i love YOu for LOVING me so openly, honestly, whole hearted-ly, with all of your being.
OH by the way. You have a birthday TOdAY.... so fun.
Happy birthday lovey dove and i can't wait for our honeymoon-ish vacate later this month (meaning no kids)!

surprise! surprise!

we hosted a surprise birthday party for daddyc last night! it was a success, i on the other hand will NOT be successful TODAY by a long stretch..... but will head over to mom's when i get a couple of the boys off to preschool to help her switch her closet out from winter to spring/summer..... wish me luck!

LOOK at that pollen on the table.... GROSS! and about 20 minutes before hand i hosed it off....

mom, are those not the cutest little wagons EVER?  I know you would appreciate a cute place card holder.....

the oreo truffles that are NOT so pretty....must learn to bake and make cute things....its on my LONG list, not the short list, but somewhere on there!

yes, my middle child is ONTOP of the darn countertop AGAIN.... dishing out the cookies

the look of his aunt and then the look of his dentist and friend= PRICEleSS!

bbq sliders

some balloons made it until party time, most did NOT and that was just fine.....

Mom, these are the table throws i made and the lime green runner....impressed? ALL with OUT needing to know how to sew!!!

i love these, i wish i could leave them out year round!!!  And its safe to say they are Pollen free after the rain storm we got last night!

the cups and napkins had some cute quotes about getting older....

Margarita Granita & Whiskey Sours= a good time!!

i just wanna know, who is about to make my baby cry? 

dear friends, next time let a friend know.... a sports bra does NOT work well in some cases...

the birthday boy and his mama

some of our dearest.....with not ONE but TWO babies on the way....SOON!   i can't wait!

cutest pregnant person ever! agree?  and its TWO.  Dear friends, thanks for coming early last night and sorry i put you to work.... only these friends will come, wash dishes, feed & dress your kids, change diapers, re-fill sippy cups, and set food out and go next door to retrieve the cocktails. Y'all are the BEST!

who can resist a chubby cherub giving away his kisses?  NOT ME!!

you are right, i COULD HAVE put away the plastic riding toys but wanted to make daddyc feel at home!

balloons are ENDLESS amounts of fun!

and without these two God given angels, my life would be very stress filled....

Dear Caroline & Allie, we owe you the WORLD and are forever in debt.  

lots of love, all FIVE of us

these two smokn' hot things talked a couple of us old gals into a night on the town.... I don't think they even had to finish saying "lets go" we were in the car on our way! Good Times.

Happy Early Birthday Charles.

i love you!

countdown is ON....

like the break of dawn (yes, i did just write that!)

3 days until my better half turns 3-0.... While we have NOT had much time to talk about it due to LIFE...must take break, must take break..... we are not forgetting about him in the least, even if we have opened all his presents for him...... 

we love you daddyc!

Yesterday we loved you for......

ME: for finding the safe's lost key on your lunch break, for looking for the sprinkler key (we have a key thief who is around the age of TWO), for filing away all that important stuff i left out for all to see and enjoy, for meeting the air condition-er man while was running errands, for making some phone calls FOR ME, for my morning coffee, cleaning up after dinner, never forgetting to kiss me good-bye and seeming so excited to see me whenever you come home, when sometimes i know my finger nails are OUT and my hair is standing straight up (due to THREE boys i love), for calling me asap to see how charlie's first teacher meeting went, for washing the pollen off my car, AS IF i will have something on worth staying clean. wink wink.  

CHARLIE:  for turning on spiderman first thing when he got up, for fixing him flat cereal With milk (just like you have), for letting him shower with you (his favorite part of the morning) and helping him wash his hair, for rushing home and helping him find a GOLF shirt so that the two of you can b-line to the golf course before dinner, for helping him with his jammies, teaching him how to hang up his golf shirt on a hanger, and for reading him his bedtime books.......

SAM:  for rescuing him when he awoke when his mommy was out running, for fixing him milk and breakfast, for turning on his ANIMAL show and watching a second or two with him, for retrieving his lambs when he dropped them from his chair one hundred times plus one, AND for letting him stay up WAY past his brothers, for reading books to him, and most of all cuddling just two of you when all other household members went to bed.....

WHITMORE:  for fixing him milk and breakfast so his mommy could run, for rescuing him before he nose dived out of his highchair, for letting him DEStROY your closet while you got ready, MOST OF ALL, he thanks you for greeting him EACH AND EVERY on your way home from work out on the street and allowing him to drive the car into the driveway.....(whit absolutely LOVES to do this!)

DOGS: for feeding and playing with them

And just like that i feel totally WorTHLESS........what the hell was i DOING?

29 and holding

My significant other is turning the big 3-0 this week.  He is not sad nor is he staying at the ripe age of 29.  His true birthday is April 10th, this Saturday.  He is one of those....who likes to celebrate for quite some time.  i don't blame him, i lean that way too!  The boys and i got him some surprises last week.... Croquet Set was one of them.  we almost got it inside before we opened it and enjoyed..... He understood!