Charlie and Riley's Puppy Love Party

Today we had a special party in honor of our sweet boys Charlie and Riley. It was a little later than I would have liked to have celebrated their birthdays, so instead I decided to have a party celebrating our love for them, and them becoming part of our family. (Charlie has been a part of our family 2 years on February 6th, and Riley will have been in our family 1 year on March 4th)

Attending the party were my cousin Donielle, her husband Brad, their precious son Ellis, and Charlie and Riley's favorite playmate Bella. I made quite a few decorations and foods for the party myself, and I am pleased to say that everything turned out perfectly. Not only that, but the weather was gorgeous, so we were able to enjoy some pleasant outdoor time too. All in all, I think the party went wonderfully. Now here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

The Pawty invitation

All the decor (along with Riley and Bella)

The cake

Cake truffles that I made on a

tiered platter that was also made by me

Charlie and Riley's favors

Bella's favor

Love Juice

Closer up of the table

LOVE banner that I made

Love Juice once it was mixed-up

Me holding sweet, handsome Ellis

Charlie enjoying his piece of cake on the patio

Riley eating his yummy cake

Bella looking for more cake

(she had already gobbled hers up in one bite)

David's Best friend's wedding!

Okay, okay! I know I've been terrible about blogging. I can't remember the last time I made a "real" blog post. It's just that there is SO much that I haven't blogged about that I feel like I need to catch up on, and every time I think about blogging I get really overwhelmed and decide not to do it at all. At this rate I will never blog again. So I've decided to start fresh, with one exception, and not worry about catching up on last years news.

The one thing from last year that I am going to blog about is pretty special to me. Normally, I would have to recall every detail of an event. This time I'm going to go against my nature and try to be as concise as possible...We'll see how that works out!

Back on December 18, David and I flew to Maryland for his best friend, Johnathan's wedding. Also, as a favor/wedding gift to Johnathan and Katie, David and I drove Katie's car back to Alabama so that they could go on their honeymoon. I'm not going to lie, it was an exhausting trip, but I'm so glad that we were able to do it.

David and Johnathan have been friends since age 5. I truly believe that David would do anything for Johnathan! When we were dating, Johnathan was convinced that I didn't like him, but honestly I was just jealous of all the time that David spent with him. Johnathan is one of the most Godly people I know, and I have always been thankful that David had such a Godly best friend. Johnathan has always been there for us when we needed him, in so many ways. I whole heartedly believe that Johnathan will always be a part of our life. Because of that, I've been a little concerned about who Johnathan would end up with, because she would always be part of our life too!

I will never forget when I first found out about Katie... It was November 2008, and Johnathan came to Birmingham to help us move (not the first time...probably not the last). The whole time he was here, he kept texting this girl he had met. She was the sister of one of his friends from Auburn, and they met when she came to visit her brother. Apparently, they had really hit it off, and were continuing to keep in touch. I was in amazement when he said that she was the girl he wanted to marry. I knew I HAD to meet this girl. It wasn't until June 2009 that we finally were able to meet her and get to know her ourselves. Since then, we've had the opportunity to get to know her even better, especially on our cross-country trip that we all made together in December 2009. She is so, incredibly sweet, and She and Johnathan have so much in common. Most importantly, she is the Godly woman I always knew Johnathan deserved. I am so thankful that they found one another and are spending their life together, and I'm so grateful that David and I were able to share their special day with them!

Johnathan, Katie, me, and David

at the beginning of our road trip

December 2009

Congratulations Johnathan and Katie!

I cannot wait to see what God has in store for the Lees and the Lanes! :)

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New Blog

I started a new blog to help endorse my Darling Doodads business. It has links to my Etsy and Ebay listings. Also, a link to my Facebook page. It will be used to show off new products and to inform customers of deals and giveaways. Check it out, Follow it, Suggest it to friends and followers of your blog!

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Decorating for Christmas, going to see Santa, and my baby's 2nd Birthday

Not sure why I haven't posted pictures of our Christmas tree until now. We'll blame my self-diagnosed S.A.D.(seasonal affective disorder). I have a feeling it's going to be blamed for a lot of things in the future. ;) I actually decorated back mid-November. I was proud of myself for waiting until then. Especially considering I had been listening to Christmas music and in the Christmas spirit since the day after Halloween. Our first tree, a hand-me-down from my brother, died last year. I am particularly proud of our new tree because I got what I think is an incredible deal on it. I bought it back in January from Hobby Lobby. It was originally a $350 tree, but it had been marked down to $70! :D

Back in September, my mom came to visit, and while she was here, I requested that she take some family photos with her super nice DSLR camera. I was hoping to use one of the pictures for our Christmas cards. The pictures turned out really well, other than the fact that there wasn't a single one where we were all looking at the camera! I had hoped that we might be able to have another photo shoot, but naturally, that didn't work out. So, I decided to go in a different direction for the cards. I chose a layout that had slots for three pictures, and chose a few of my favorite snapshots from throughout the year. One really good picture of just the boys, a really good one of David and me, and then one of us as a family. I chose the picture taken when we picked-up Riley to bring him home; the day when our family became complete (for now). I love how they turned out!

Last year, I requested that David take Charlie to have his picture taken with Santa. I was working and didn't have a chance to go with them. I was disappointed that I wasn't able to be there, but I was grateful that David was willing to take him, and we had the cutest keepsake to enjoy and display for years to come.

This year, I wanted to take Charlie and Riley to get there picture taken with Santa together. There were so many things to distract them during their photo session, but the photographer managed to get one really adorable shot of them.

While we were there, David purchased their early Christmas present, a comfy doggie bed. We love for the boys to sleep on the bed with us, but sometimes they choose to sleep on the floor instead. We thought it would be nice for them to have a soft place to lay (Riley usually lays on the pile of David's clothes he leaves on the floor). They love their bed so much! Unfortunately, I have not taken any pictures of them laying in it. Hopefully, I can remember to post some later. The best part of our outing was all the attention the boys got from the people working at PetsMart. Also, they did make a new friend, Drago, an 10 month old Doberman. :)

Today is a very special day! It is Charlie's 2nd birthday! It's hard to believe my baby boy is already 2 years old! He has brought and continues to bring so much joy into my life. It's pretty indescribable how much I love this little guy! I've tried to baby and pamper him all day today, and I plan to scramble some eggs for him for supper. He LOVES scrambled eggs! I hope to have a combined birthday party for him and Riley sometime early next year. Happy Birthday, Charlie Lane. Mama loves you!

I would like to take a moment to brag on my husband, just a little bit. He had his first final of the semester today and he made a 100! I am so proud of him! Only 3 more finals to go and the semester will be over! :)

My medical mystery

Yesterday evening, under my eye started getting a little red. A short time later, it was red all underneath and starting to itch...it looked sorta like I had a black eye. Then, a little while after that it started swelling up. I took some pictures to send to David to see if he could figure out what was wrong. While I was uploading and cropping the pictures, it became even more swollen. I texted him and told him to call me. When I told him about it, he didn't know what was wrong. He told me take my contacts out and to take a benedryl in case it was an allergic reaction. I did, and within a short amount of time I could feel the swelling and itching getting better. I can't figure out what caused it, but it was very worrisome.

Update:
A short time ago, I noticed that my eye was feeling itchy. I went to look in the mirror, and the bottom part of the inside of my eye was really red. I took a benadryl and the itching has stopped and most of the redness is gone. My poor bottom eyelid is still a little puffy and really dark from last night.

I'm back!

Sorry for the huge break from blogging. I've been suffering from what I will call my Autumn blues. I have always had a tendency to be depressed, even when I was a little girl. I've become increasingly more aware of this fact the older I get and have realized that it may be cyclic. Blogging has added to my awareness of this because I blogged about feeling down this same time last year. I hope that being more aware of times that I am more prone to feel depressed may help me combat it in the future. All that being said, I seem to lose all motivation during these times. I haven't finished my latest sewing project( a super cute apron...I should post pictures), or even attempted to work on it for that matter. I haven't been exercising regularly. Also, I haven't been blogging. I've even started a post, but lacked the motivation to finish it. ( I hope I actually finish and post this) So that's the long version of why I haven't blogged in a while!

The apron in progress about 20 days ago

(I have not worked on it since)

Now, on to slightly more interesting things...Thanksgiving....

Originally, I invited my family to come here for Thanksgiving. I didn't think they would, but I extended the invitation regardless. David was planning on working, just like he has the past two years. I didn't want to spend Thanksgiving evening alone like I did last year, but I also feel weird leaving David on a holiday. I was surprised when my mom said she would come and asked if she could bring my grandmother with her. I was very excited about having company for the holiday. Later, they backed out and asked me to come there instead. I wasn't nearly as excited about the new arrangement and was still uneasy about leaving David. Naturally, he didn't care. When I asked him if he would mind, he said that Thanksgiving was just another day to him...Weirdo! So I decided it would be better than being alone.

I had planned on Monday or Tuesday and possibly staying through the weekend. Then I got an invitation to attend David's best friend's fiancee's shower the weekend before. I really wanted to go, so I thought I'd go early and have more time to visit with the family. Then. mom and I had a tiff over the phone one day. I got upset and told her that she was upsetting me and to let me go. She kept on as if I hadn't even said anything. I finally got off the phone with her, but by that time I was so upset and angry, I didn't know if I wanted to go at all. I decided that I definitely wouldn't go to the shower. As badly as I wanted to go, I knew that spending that much time there was a bad idea! I knew I should at least go home for a day or two, otherwise I would look like the worst daughter/granddaughter/sister/aunt in world. I procrastinated and procrastinated, like I always do when I REALLY don't want to do something.(I'm so glad that I did though because if I hadn't, I would have missed out on something really important...I'll get to that a little later) I finally made it there around 5:30 Tuesday evening. True to form, Mom and I barely made it 24 hours before getting into a huge fight. I almost thought about leaving, but decided that it wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Thankfully, we managed to have a fairly peaceful visit the rest of the time I was there!

Friday, I had planned to leave in time to make it back home before the Iron Bowl started. As luck would have it, I actually left right around the time the game started. I had the DVR set to record it, and I hoped David would still be sleeping so that he wouldn't watch it without me. When I got home, about the time the game was ending, David was already awake and had the TV on. I asked him if he was watching the game without me. He said that he wasn't, and that he had just woken up. For the next 3 1/2+ hours, I was on a technology freeze because I didn't not want to know what had happened during the game until I had a chance to watch it for myself. The first part of the game was not going to well, and David and I were thinking that it didn't look too good. BUT the second half, Auburn played a great game and gave us a win! WAR EAGLE!! :)

Now, you think I've forgotten about that thing that I would have missed out on if I hadn't procrastinated leaving, but you're wrong. I was just saving the most exciting news for last...My cousin, Donielle, had her baby! Baby Ellis (aka Bradley Ellis Byrne III), was due on December 1st. I have been so excited about his arrival, but I was nervous that he wouldn't wait until his due date to arrive and instead would come while I was visiting my family, and I would miss it! BUT I DIDN'T! Early Monday morning, I got a text from Donielle saying that she was at the hospital. We waited all day for Ellis to come, but he was taking his precious time. Around 4ish that evening the doctor decided to take him by C-section. He was beautiful and healthy and a WHOPPING 9lbs. and 1 oz.!!! I was so happy that I was here to see him! :)

"Aunt" Jamie holding handsome Baby Ellis

Sorry for such a lengthy post, but this is what happens when I don't blog for a while. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it, and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!