Good Times

Life is moving along nicely down here. Jack is settling in amazingly well. He has had no accidents and has shown that he knows where the back door is to go outside. Not bad for only being here a few days. His crate-training is going well, too. No accidents in there either. Although he doesn't go in willingly yet, he sleeps all night in there with no whining (except a little bit right at first). Tiger and Bear don't like him at all, but we knew that was going to happen. They pretty much leave Jack alone, but when he tries to play with them, they get extremely upset and bite him. If only they would realize that Jack's just playing. Jack's only hangup is that he has to bite and chew on everything! That's typical for a puppy, but it means we have to watch him constantly...not easy with a 2 year old and infant. All in all, it's going great and we are absolutely loving our new puppydog!!

As for the house situation, it's still going well except for the tornado/hail storm we had last Friday. Our realtor suggested that we get the roof checked out. It passed the inspection last week beautifully but after the storm, she was concerned there was damage. Someone came out today and said it definitely needs to be replaced. This is frustrating, considering we have a deductible with our insurance company that we'd have to meet. We're waiting on a quote and then we'll see if the buyers will pay for it. Stay tuned.

Home Sweet Home

We're baaaaaaaaaaaaack!! It's great to be back in The Great State! We arrived in Texas and were greeted with the sweetest faces in the car. I sat in the back with Carlee Scott and Owen on the way home and loved every second of it. Oh how I missed them terribly. On our way, we picked up Jack and what a fun night it has been! Tiger and Bear are adjusting well. Tiger couldn't really care less. Bear seems to think he's a big dog and keeps growling at Jack, as if to warn him not to mess with us. Jack is super playful and so much fun to be with. Carlee Scott is just smitten with him. She can't leave him alone and has actually been super helpful. Her favorite part was when he galloped after her in the backyard. Too much fun. Enjoy all the photos below!

Free Internet

The Jacksonville airport is now one of my favorite airports. Why? They have free WiFi! I am addicted to the internet. That sounds really bad, but it's mostly blogging and email. If I don't check them at least once a day, I get the shakes. I just got off the phone with Kerry and we agreed - what would we do these days without the blogs? Speaking of Kerry, please pray that Lindley Kate can come home soon so the family can be all together.

So we're sitting here, waiting for our flight. We arrived early to avoid the rush and to just relax together. What a wonderful weekend we have had. We didn't end up sleeping in at all, but we were able to go at our own pace, without arranging our day around feedings and naptimes. It was delightful yet incredibly strange. When we're at home, we often talk about how great it would be to take a short vacation and get away from every day life. However, after doing it for three days, I can confidently say that everyday life with our babies is exactly where we'd rather be. Our vacation has been amazing and we've enjoyed some special time together, but our hearts aren't settled without those little ones in our arms. We have missed both Carlee Scott and Owen terribly. Only a few more hours until we reunite!

Wedding

Well, were back in our hotel room after a fabulous wedding! Friends, I am SO proud of my husband. He did a fantastic job during the wedding ceremony. His message was profound, humorous, and thoughtful. On top of that, he looked confident and delivered his words perfectly. I could not have been more proud of the job he did. The bride and groom looked stunning and the entire event went off without a hitch!

Here's the ceremony. It was an evening, candlelight ceremony. There were TONS of candles. I was a nervous wreck and wished I had a fire extinguisher on hand.This is the reception. They had a live band and TONS of flowers. Check out the enormous flower arrangements hanging from the chandeliers.

Christian and Will. Christian was Will's Rat at VMI.

The three of us.

My handsome hubby and me.

The bride and groom, cutting the cake.

Last dance.

It didn't occur to me to video Will's message/homily during the ceremony, and I am kicking myself for that. However, I did video just a small portion of the vows. Please ignore the shaky quality of the video. I was in the far back and zoomed in. Also, at one point, it gets really shaky as I was answering a text message from Will's momma. I had texted her about the wedding and she was responding. Fun!

We will be back in Texas tomorrow evening, where we'll pick up our puppy Jack! Check back tomorrow night for his coming home pictures.

Wedding Day

It's wedding day! Will and I are gearing up for the big event, which is later tonight. Everything else has been spectacular, so we expect nothing less for tonight.

The only event that has been less than stellar was the rehearsal last night. Oh my goodness, I don't think I've ever seen such an unorganized and chaotic rehearsal. The wedding coordinator, bless her, wasn't actually a wedding coordinator, but a family friend who was helping out. She was as sweet as pie, but really didn't have a clue how weddings go. Those of you who know me well are probably laughing right now, because you know I was at my wits end listening to the madness. I could have had the entire rehearsal done in 30 minutes. Instead, we sat there for over an hour, deciding on where people should stand. At one point, I got so frustrated that I just walked out. Since I was really just a fly on the wall during the whole thing, no one noticed (thankfully). Finally, it all came together, Will blew through the order of service, and we were off to an amazing rehearsal dinner. It was at a club on the beach and wow, was it beautiful. The actual dinner was outstanding, complete with 5 courses and a beautiful view of the beach from our table.

This morning, we got up and went to a wedding day brunch. It was at a super nice house that even had a pool in the backyard. The food was delicious and we were just so relaxed and happy with all the time we're getting to spend alone with each other. We were a tad bit unsocial at this brunch, but that's okay. Everyone else was visiting and we were happy to be alone. Now we're back in our hotel room. We have the balcony door open and I can hear the waterfalls by the pool, as well as a steel-drum band playing music.

As for the babies and Gamaw, they are doing well. They survived a tornado yesterday. Yes, that's right, a tornado. We have lived in Texas for 6 years and have weathered some very strong and scary storms. We have had tornados come very close to our town, but none right through it…until yesterday! I’m glad I didn’t really know what was happening until well after the fact because I would have totally freaked out. Apparently, the tornado siren went off, so Mom gathered both kids, both dogs, and her cell phone, and went into the hall bathroom for an hour. A whole hour! Owen was crying out of hunger, Carlee Scott was a little scared but doing well, and one of the dogs got so scared that he went to the bathroom on the rug. Poor Gamaw!!! She said it was all really loud and frightening. I can only imagine how scary that was. I’ve heard that the tornado hit a few miles from where we live. Good job, Mom. Way to protect the babies AND the dogs!! We’re so glad you all are okay. The good news is that Carlee Scott used her time locked up in the bathroom to go pee pee in the potty. Great job, sweet one!

Here are a few pictures from last night and today. The first is at the rehearsal dinner during cocktail hour by the beach. The second is the table at the rehearsal dinner. The third is this morning before brunch. That is our hotel lobby. We are off to spend the rest of the day rehearsing Will’s message for the wedding.

Happy Arbor Day

Picture this. You go on your first vacation alone since you had kids. One of the things you're looking forward to is sleeping in past 7. Your kids are good sleepers but they wake up at 7 and so your sleeping-in days have been long gone. So you see your hotel room with its huge, plush king size bed and you're giddy. You even stay up later than usual, just because you know you can sleep in as late as you want. You go to sleep and it's wonderful. Suddenly, the sun comes up and you are awakened by a strange sound. It sounds like a weed whacker. Who could be weed whacking this early and somehow near the 6th floor of the hotel? You get out of bed, mutter a "what the heck?", and stumble to the balcony. You open up the curtains and see THIS...

Seriously? I mean, I know it's Arbor Day and all, but do you have to be working on the palm tree RIGHT beside our hotel room?! Oh well, no sleeping in for us today. Maybe tomorrow.

After our rude awakening, we went downstairs, got some Starbucks (my favorite, as you all know), read the paper outside near the pond, and then enjoyed a lovely walk around the hotel grounds. Here's a little picture we took of ourselves a few hours ago. Ignore my lack of makeup and Will's unshaven face. We'll post better pictures later. We clean up well. I promise.

P.S. Grandma is doing well back home with the babies. Her shoes are missing (thanks, Carlee Scott) and she's already been pooped on (thanks, Owen).

Another P.S. The realtor called! The inspection went great and the buyers aren't asking for ANY repairs! What a change from the last time! There's still a septic tank inspection but so far, so good!

Florida Greetings

Hello from sunny Florida! Will and I are currently enjoying a weekend getaway sans kiddos. We are here for a VMI friend's wedding, where Will will officiate on Saturday. My mom is home in Texas with the babies and they are having a ball. We are staying at an absolutely gorgeous resort and spa (thanks to the groom!) and I have posted a few pics below. The first is our room and the second two are views from our balcony.

It was so strange to travel without the children today. We haven't been childless travelers in a few years and boy was it a weird feeling. We only had two bags to check. We got through security in record time and I think we only filled up three bins with our things (last time, it was eight of them). We didn't have to find a play area. We each had a free hand that wasn't filled up with bags or stroller handles. We even got to hold each other's hand while walking around. Speaking of walking around, we enjoyed an aimless wander throughout the terminal, even stopping in the bookstores just to see what was for sale. That is unheard of with small children by our sides. If all that wasn't enough, there were no last-minute diaper changes, no sippy cups to fill, no mouths to wipe, no discreet nursing sessions, no toddlers to chase after while they squeal in delight after escaping our grasp, and no crying. We just sat at our gate and read books and magazines for over an hour. You would think we greatly enjoyed it. We did, but most of all, I couldn't stop missing Carlee Scott and Owen. My heart hurt terribly and I missed them more than I could describe. I still do. They're having fun with Grandma, but I can't wait to get home on Sunday. I'm counting down the days already.

Don't worry, we are definitely enjoying our little vacation, despite missing the babies. It has been quite the evening. When we arrived at the airport, we went to pick up our rental car. We had reserved a compact car but when the Enterprise rep saw us, he upgraded us to a bigger vehicle for our comfort. We were pumped, until we saw that it was a Mercury Grand Marquis. Have you seen those things? They are enormous! The rep said that it would age us 40 years but we'd be much more comfortable. While we were loading up the car, the rep pointed out which compact car we would have been in and I am so very glad we got upgraded. Have you seen the movie Just Married? You know the car they rent when they arrive in Europe? The tiny one? Yep, that's about what this one looked like. It would have been hysterical (and awful) if we had ended up with that one so we were thrilled with our police cruiser-looking car.

So we finally arrived at our hotel and this place is amazing. It's where The Players Championship (golf, for those of you who don't know) will be played next month. WOW. Our room and view are amazing! The only problem is that all the food is super expensive. We decided we couldn't eat here and that we'd just hop in the car and look for a fast food place. After a brief panic attack due to the realization that I left an important piece of the Medela pump at home, we headed out to Target (where a replacement part was found - whew!) and to McDonald's. Not quite four star eating, but our tummies were full and happy. We're now back in our hotel room, relaxing and enjoying our little vacation. Tomorrow we'll sleep in and do nothing until the wedding festivities start. Can't wait!

Grandma's Here!

Happy 29th Birthday, Will!

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Carlee Scott's Birthday Song

Answered Prayers

You all won't believe this (or maybe you will!) but we received another offer on our house yesterday just before Will's birthday dinner. How's that for a birthday present? We're doing everything we can not to get too excited about it, since we know how let down we'll be if this person backs out. However, the deal is better than the original one and if it all moves forward according to plan, we will be more than thrilled. We meet with our Realtor today at 3:00 to sign the paperwork. This will begin another 10-day option period. We cannot thank you enough for your prayers. Our hearts were hurting when the first deal fell through and you all lifted us up in so many ways. We love you!

Birthday Surprise

I surprised Will with dinner tonight, in celebration of his birthday this coming Sunday. Thank you to our friends who got babysitters (there are 16 children between us - wow) and helped us celebrate! Will was surprised and really appreciated the effort! It was a great time.