We had company

This sweet little face was with us for a couple of days. She belongs to Steven's sister and husband and she has the biggest and brightest smile. It's been a long time since we've had a baby in the house and it was fun for everyone! She just turned 9 months old and was crawling and pulling up like a champ. {Check out that toe point!}

During 95% of her waking hours, she had at least two, if not three, faces in hers constantly, making sounds, calling her name, playing peek-a-boo. She was precious and smiled and laughed and never got upset with her overly-excited cousins. Her parents were just as gracious.

It's funny how I still thought of Reese as my "baby" but he was huge in comparison to Andi. I helped her drink her bottle one time and remembered how sweet it was to have one in your lap, snuggling, filling up that tummy with good milk. I think Reese would have made a great big brother too:).

I had high hopes of a family trip to a local pumpkin patch, but the weather did not cooperate with my plans. So instead, we treated Andi to her first ever experience at a mall food court. We like to treat our out of town family in style. They left us for their home this morning and five minutes after they pulled out, Grady said, "I miss Andi already." We are excited that we'll get to see them again in a couple months for Christmas at Callaway Gardens. Thanks so much for making the trip Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Luke and Andi! We loved every minute!

Mostly about Food

Most weeks when I get ready to go to the grocery store, I ask the members of my family if they have any requests or ideas for meals for the coming week. I usually get the following responses:

Elle: "Breakfast casserole!"

Grady: "Corn dogs!"

Reese: He'll just repeat whatever Elle and Grady say.

Steven: "Cheese."

And those are the same responses I get every week. You can imagine there could be opportunity for frustration when you have had breakfast casserole, corn dogs, and cheese for several weeks, not to mention the strain on our digestive systems if that was all we ate. So when our meals get a little stagnant, I like to get crazy, pull out a cookbook, pick several new recipes from it and not consult my family at all:). Last week was "Paula Deen" week. Here were a few of my choices:

Sausage Balls {Mine were a little on the giant side, but that didn't deter Elle!}

Oven Fried Chicken {Very delicious and the kids loved it.}

Piggy Pudding {How could you not be excited about trying something with a name like this?}

Spinach & Artichoke Dip {Steven's personal favorite}

I do love having our cookbook weeks. It helps break up the monotony and encourages us all to try new and different foods. And speaking of food, yesterday was the annual Phillips' family reunion. Steven and I decided that people should try to crash family reunions instead of weddings. We think reunions would be easier to blend in to because nobody knows who anybody is anyway:). What's a couple more strangers? We did have a good time, ate some delicious food and saw most of my Dad's immediate family. The kids got to play outside and it was a beautiful day. We met at the church where my grandfather is buried. I had not been back to his grave site in at least 15 years. I couldn't believe it's been 20 years since he passed away from lung cancer. I was glad to be there and for Steven and the kids to see it as well. That beautiful lady in the pink is my grandmother, who will celebrate 88 years in a couple of weeks!

These pictures have nothing to do with food. The kids found this caterpillar earlier in the week and were so excited about it. They requested pictures of their little friend.

Can I have a "Thankful Tuesday"?

I'm thankful today turned out the way it did. Grady has had a cold for a few days. But last night, he didn't sleep well and we were up a couple of times. By the morning, he was extremely short of breath. His heart was racing and he was wheezing some. I called the pediatrician's office and they were able to see him at 9:30. They gave him a nebulizer treatment and Grady said as soon as it was over, "Man, I feel so much better!". The doctor wanted him to have a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia {and that if it was pneumonia, they would admit him!}. Steven brought him home from the appointment and I took him to the hospital to have the x-ray. That sweet little boy was a trooper. He did everything the tech asked him to do and didn't move a muscle. He was so excited about "getting a picture of his bones". We were able to get a dose of antibiotic and steroid in him by lunch and he took a nap. The nurse called in the afternoon and said he did have some "infiltrate" in his left lung, but that the steroid and antibiotic, along with an inhaler every 4 hours, would hopefully treat it and get him well. No hospital! He is already feeling much better. Still coughing, but not struggling for breath.

In other health news, my aunt has her last chemo treatment on Thursday. It's been about 7 months since she was diagnosed with breast cancer and I have lost count as to how many chemo treatments she's had in that time. But I do know it's been a lot. I can only imagine how excited she is to be finished with this phase of treatment. She'll have surgery with in the month. All of my mom's sisters have played significant roles at different times in my life over the years. She helped me through some monumental stages when I was a teenager. For instance, she used to buy tampons for me and leave them on my back porch because I lived with my dad and brother and when you are 15, it's just too hard to add that to the grocery list. She saved me multiple times from having to throw tampons in the cart when I thought my dad wasn't looking and then go read magazines while he checked out, although that might have happened a time or two.... Anyway, I'm thankful to have been in Dothan and close to her for this time and to be able to see her as much as I have. She's been a trooper too and her positive attitude has been an encouragement to me.

Just so I can remember

Elle and I were doing school work this afternoon and she commented on a big pink marker line on her arm: "I'm never going to wash my arm." And I immediately thought, uh-oh.

me: "Why?"
elle: "Well, I kind of don't want to tell you because it's my secret."
me: "Did someone make that mark on your arm?"
elle: "Yes, Gabriel."
me: "Who's Gabriel?"
elle: "He's just my best friend in CBS."

Family Vacation

It's been awhile, but we had a wonderful family vacation at the beach. The water and weather were beautifully perfect and although the purple "dangerous sea creature" flag was flying the entire time, we only saw two jellyfish. We did see an amazing amount of crab, live sand dollars, dolphins and the tiniest hermit crabs ever. This was the first time the kids enjoyed the beach more than the pool. I think maybe because it wasn't the kind of hot where you can't breathe.

The kids did a lot of drawing in the sand. What a great place to work on your letters. They were having so much fun and so proud, they didn't even know they were learning! Grady has been especially proud of working on his name. Can't you tell?

One of our favorite things to do when we are there is to eat at the Donut Hole. Steven insisted we go the very first morning and no one objected. They have the most amazing donuts as well as what I like to call the "clog your arteries" kind of breakfast: biscuits, gravy, eggs, sausage, hasbrowns, bacon, etc. I commented on how I liked their coffee mugs and Steven went to pay our bill and came out with a mug for me. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I went back a second morning and brought back a dozen donuts. It was vacation after all.

We love September at the beach. It really does feel like you have the whole beach to yourselves. We joked that it just might be enough reason to keep homeschooling a few more years:).

Another great check up

I took Grady to his 4 year old check up this past Friday. The doctor said he looked great, even after Grady asked him why he didn't have any hair. I was a bit surprised that he is a little above average in height and weight (64th percentile). I'd been thinking he was on the small side, but maybe not so much after all. Or it could be that I compare him to Reese, who's almost 2 years younger but about the same size. I've never thought Reese was on the "small" size.

We waited a pretty long time in the exam room. Of course, in an 8 x 8 room with three children, 5 minutes seems like 30. And you can only play "I Spy" for so long, since there was nothing but the biohazard sign on the wall. And the goldfish lasted about 3 mintues. Anyway, Grady said, "Mom can we go yet? I'm kinda finished." I was kinda finished too, but we had to wait for the doctor to tell us when we were finished. The boys got the flu mist vaccine {Elle can't have the mist} and that was enough to set Grady off. I opted to put off the rest of the shots until next summer and hope Steven can take him then:).

I have not yet mentioned that I have a new part-time job. I am glad to be helping out a friend, earning some extra money, and doing something new and different with my brain. Now you  know that when you buy shirts from Darby, you are not only helping support her business but me as well:). That's in addition to getting some really cool kids tshirts.

We are off the the beach tomorrow!!

Super heroes

We took a trip to Greenville to see Steven's parents.

Grammy had gotten some gifts for the kids. The super hero capes were a huge hit!

Reese fought the bad guys on his own for a while. But then reinforcements showed up. Don't be fooled by the flowered parasol. She is a super hero who means business.

There was to be a super game of hide-and-seek, but first, Flash had to get the rules straight with dad.

You were obviously allowed to shoot your pursuer.

We had a fun day there with them and enjoyed lots of good food and time outside playing and exploring. My mom also celebrated a birthday milestone {she might not want me to say which milestone!} over the weekend and we are looking forward to celebrating with her in Atlanta in a couple weeks. 

But first, we are going to do a little fall clothes shopping over the weekend. My friend's post about this made me laugh this week. I hope we'll find some suitable things that aren't diva-fied or skull and crossbone-ified! Hope you all have been enjoying this beautiful, cooler weather!