captured at last

The journey to getting the photos I'm about to share has been a nightmare.  I scheduled a session with a local photographer for the last weekend in September.  I planned our outfits, rearranged our schedules and, most importantly, made sure our hair was cut and colored.

Then our photographer cancelled.  At the last minute.  I was irritated {though my irritation paled in comparison to Lofton's}, but she offered to reschedule for a weekday afternoon a few weeks later.  Fine.

Then Reese got the stomach virus the day of the rescheduled shoot.  Sigh.  I called and emailed.  She later facebook messaged me that she wouldn't be able to reschedule us until after the New Year.  We were furious.

I called around, did more research and stumbled upon the amazing Jamie Burnett.  She was super sweet and super accommodating of my desire to get these done ASAP.  My heart was set on fall photos.

Our first scheduled date was a failure.  Rain and the time changing busted our plan.  But finally, last weekend, we actually had pictures taken.

These are only the ones she sent me as a preview... there are lots more to see.  And I am so excited.  Like if I was the kind of person who typed in all caps to show excitement... I would do it now.

Enjoy!

I die.

turkey day 2011

Long live five day Thanksgiving breaks.  Is there someplace I can teach were five days off is a regular occurrence?  It's been delightful.

Sure, there's been lots of driving to and from LG AND there was that game yesterday that we'll just gloss over, but otherwise it's been just delightful.  We've had lots of family time, lots of relaxing, and lots of house projects.

Drywall has been hung by my handy husband, so my parents are well on their way to having a new bedroom by Christmas and I even got a start on Christmas decorating.

I will admit this is probably the first time I've felt sad about not being in the old house.  Something about a historical home decorated for Christmas always felt so magical.  Now I'm fumbling around trying to figure out where to put things in this new place.  I'll get there.... right?

And now we start the push toward Christmas.  I know the next few weeks will go really fast.  There are lots of things going on at school and at home {-- can we say six years of wedded bliss!!}.

He can't believe it either...

And now I'm off to enjoy my last few hours of break. This rainy weather calls for some chili making.

thankful for ducks

As part of my embrace life as it is attitude I've tried to really reflective on the things I'm thankful for at all times, not just here at Thanksgiving time.  With that being said, today I am especially thankful for having a long break from work to enjoy this boy--

We've spent today baking, running errands, cleaning and, of course, having a lunch date with our favorite daddy.  

My child may be sassy and temperamental at times, but he is, without a a doubt, my most favorite person to spend the day with.  

Case in point: 

On the way to Target this morning we passed Cock of the Walk, a local restaurant that we drive past at least once a day.  In the Spring, we became particularly attached to a flock of ducks that inhabited their parking lot.  The ducks would alternate between Cock of the Walk and the field directly across the street.  We saw their babies grow bigger, and often traffic would come to a complete stop as the mama's and babies would cross the road. At the end of the summer the ducks moved on.

Today, even though the ducks have been gone for a long time, Reese asked about them when we drove past.  He wanted to know where his duck friends had gone and I told him that they were somewhere warm, that ducks don't enjoy living in places where it gets cold.  Sweet boy, with his child like view of the world, said, "Then we need to get the ducks some jackets at Target, Mama.  Do they have little duck jackets there?"

And that is why I adore him so.

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.  Safe travels!

here we go again

We have a bit of a mess on our hands...

Ignore the toddler and look into the actual bedroom.  That's the real mess. Although I would characterize Reese as a "hot mess" a majority of the time!

Here is a better view of our current project; the back bedroom, otherwise known as Emo's room.  

As you can see, there is was lovely black and white striped wall paper scheme going on.  Kind of like being in prison.  The original plan was to strip the wall paper BUT three hours later-- and three layers later-- we abandoned plan a for plab b: new sheetrock.  Here's were I say again that it is pretty amazeballs to have a handy husband.

And so, we have grand plans to get this room in tip top condition before my parent's come for Christmas.  And by we, I primarily mean Lofton.

say it ain't so...

At 1:33p.m., my sweet baby brother becomes an adult.  It’s hard for this big sister to believe considering in my heart he’s still a gap-toothed little boy; with big round eyes and pants pulled up so high they almost touched his armpits.

The towering teenager who hugs me now is still pretty adorable, though.  And he makes me proud, every single day, to be his big sister.

And it doesn’t hurt that he stills calls me Lizzie.  Look how handsome!

Happy Birthday, baby brother.  As a gift to me I'd like to you NOT to grow up.  Thanks.

and then it was over

Why is it that three day weekends fly by extra fast?

Sigh....  It's almost Thanksgiving, it's almost Thanksgiving....


We headed home Thursday after work so that we could wake up rested Friday morning and ready to hit the air show.  There was a brief detour through Evergreen to have dinner with my favorite long ago neighbors, the McMillan's.  You know how in your perfect fantasy life you would have an amazing best friend neighbor, who every afternoon you'd share your day with while having a delightful cocktail or glass of wine?

That's my Melissa.

It was so random when they happened to move in two houses down from our Auburn house, but also so perfect.  I miss her dearly and every time we see them I'm reminded of that fact.  And I cry when we leave.  And then beg Lofton to get a job with Rigby so we can move next door to them again.

Rigby pretty much put it perfectly when he said, as our three children and a hodgepodge of dogs ran around, "I love that we always pick up right where we left off.  It's like we've never been apart.  Which is weird since we've added three kids to the mix."

Drying my eyes and moving on...

We made it home around 11:30 Thursday night.  Mama was up waiting and Daddy drug himself out of bed to greet the now wide awake toddler.  Reese chose to sleep with his Emo so Lofton and I made a hasty escape.  Six hours later we were all up!  Cause that's how we roll at the Buckley house...

The Blue Angels show was amazing.  Even more so since Lofton had never seen them fly.  The benefit of the homecoming show at the base is that there are planes flying all day.  We spread out our blanket and enjoyed the beautiful weather, air show and some snacks.  Corn dogs, funnel cakes and cheese fries oh my!

And then after a few hours there was napping-

Reese was not surprisingly underwhelmed by the Blue Angels.  I've learned not to expect much from him because he is typically underwhelmed by most things I think he will be super excited about!

Saturday morning was filled with some unfortunate stomach problems from our favorite toddler.  We aren't sure if it was a touch of a bug, or an over indulgence in corn dog the day before.  Regardless, Mama flew into our bedroom at ten to six requesting new underwear for Reese.  He had gone potty... on her feet, I think.  And then he threw up.  In my hands.  It was delightful.

Lofton and I decided to relish in a rare opportunity to pass the sick toddler off on someone else for a few hours and hit the mall.  Boo needed some pants {and shopping options are non existent in O-town}, and Lofton and I both were coveting new shoes.  Success was had on all fronts.  

We rested the remainder of the day. With our rosy cheeks.

Because stomach problems are the pits :(

One more thing before I let you go--

My very favorite friend in the whole world is having a baby all of her own.  Cassie and Hugh are going to be delighting in my favorite adventure come April.  I'm just over the moon with joy!  And to make it even better, they found out Friday that Tiger Baby {as Reese has affectionately named it} is going to be wearing ruffles, polka dots, and pearls.  I die.  Side note: Reese on the other hand is a tad bit disappointed because he thought Tiger Baby was going to be an actual tiger.  Hells bells.  Oh to be a toddler again....

Happy week my friends!

 

nemo

Hells's bells, {as my dear Cassie likes to say} this nasty little cough Reese developed about two weeks ago is still hanging on.

And so, after listening to him hack {and wheeze} day and night AND then noticing that what he is hacking up is a lovely shade of greenish-gray we headed back to our doctor this afternoon.

Introducing--

Nemo.  The silly pharmacist called him Bubbles, but all the cool toddlers know that fish are Nemos.  

We have our finger's crossed that a few days of treatments combined with some good old fashioned Incredible Hulk roids will knock this frog out for good.  Reese is beyond tired of ribbiting.  

Cross your fingers too, will you?

someone missed the memo

So much for gaining an extra hour of sleep.  The toddler clearly missed the memo-- as in he's basically gotten up around 4:30 for the last two mornings.  I mean, really, can we please get some sleep around here? He even fell asleep for nap yesterday at 10:30.  On the couch.  Which has never happened.  Ever.

Sigh.

Needless to say my Monday started much earlier than I would have liked.  But, on a positive, it means we are much closer to Thursday.  Yippee!

I love a day off, especially when it falls on a Friday.  The Beasley family we'll be making the pilgrimage to Pensacola for a weekend of family time.  Pretty sure it was June when we last went home...

first time for everything

Boo has his first cold.  Kind of hard to believe right?  Really though.  He's never really had a hacking cough plus runny nose.  Mundane illnesses aren't really his style.

He is pretty pitiful.  Coughing is obviously painful and it also makes it hard to rest.  For all of us!

I took this right after he told me that he was tired of the frog living in his throat. Doesn't he look pissed?

Ribbit.

And shh! Don't tell our pediatrician who told us specifically NOT to give him cough medicine BUT I gave him half of a children's {four to six years old} dose before nap.  And he is sleeping.  Without waking up to cough.  Hallelujah.  I mean, really, at 40 pounds Tank Beasley is surely the same weight as most children four to six year's old.

Just this once Mama trumps doctor.