Surprise for mom!

Well, I posted that b'day shout out to my mom to continue throwing her off...I traveled to surprise her on Sunday night! It was a lot of fun - I drove into Franklin and went straight to Rochelle to help her with the twins and we took off to Em's house to surprise mom. Rochelle couldn't have gone without help, so mom thought the dinner was only going to be she and dad with Em and Jonas, so it was a big surprise to see me walk in the door with Jesse and Rochelle behind me with Levi.

Of course mom loved seeing the twins and enjoying her b'day night with them but I'm sure she was glad to see me a little bit too.

If you don't know, my sister is a FABULOUS cook - she is amazing! She was totally reminding me of Monica on friends with all her cooking endeavors this weekend. Here's the pretty table with the pretty cook...

Em cooked a mustard and wine marinated pork tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, fried zucchini (mom's favorite from Maggiano's) and rolls. She topped it off with a home made apple pie recipe from Southern Living. Everything was amazing and of course cooked to perfection - I'm so jealous of her ability! Jesse and Levi were of course angels - here are some pics of them goofing off on the couch...

Jesse's big foot...

I love how Levi is cracking up in this one, he is such a happy baby!

Had to get a pic of the birthday girl, dad and the joys of her life...

I enjoyed my very quick trip to Nashville, especially to bring a little birthday surprise to my mom. She surprised me on several birthdays with unique gifts or cakes and always made them special, so I am glad it worked out that I could surprise her this year.

Happy Birthdays

So, I feel like a bad wife...I didn't blog about my husband on his birthday. Not that he would know the difference, he is hardly ever on a computer and would never "blog-surf" but I thought it would be something I could write about. Well, October 23rd came and went and of course, no blog post from me, so sorry Matt! His birthday was on Thursday and poor thing had to work from 4 AM until 8 PM - that is a lot of hours on your birthday. He came home to a carrot cake, home made pizza, and a couple of fun birthday gifts.

I got him some sort of HD recorder thing for the TV (not sure what it does but he wanted it) and Elle got him a new golf club. He was excited about both. We had dinner, watched Grey's (I can't believe I'm admitting that) and then just went to bed. He had another early morning on Friday. Here's a picture from LAST YEAR's birthday gifts - this year there are no pictures and no documentation of his b'day because I left my camera at work - again, I feel like a bad wife!

So the title of "birthdays" is plural because I need to throw out a birthday shout out to my mom. Her birthday is tomorrow and unfortunately she's only going to see one of her kids on her actual birthday! I couldn't get up to Nashville this weekend because I was supposed to be housesitting so I told Emily she had to take charge as the baby of the family for mom's birthday celebration. They will have a very yummy meal at Em's house tomorrow night but with Brian being in Mexico (for a visit) and me in Birmingham, mom's birthday might be a little lonely this year. Love you mom - you are such a wonderful mom to us and we don't tell you enough how much you mean to us. I'm so thankful you are my mom and my friend. I'll see you as soon as possible! Happy Birthday from Birmingham!

Babysitting Weekend

So this weekend I had the honor of babysitting two of my friend's baby boys. Friday night Matt was on call so I told Meg I would be able to watch Charles if she and Ty needed to go out or had plans. Turned out they did have plans to go bowling and grab a bite, so I got to keep this cutie...

If you know Meg and Ty - he looks just like his daddy! He does have Meg's coloring though. He was perfect! Charles is really wanting to walk, so for a little bit we watched him "walk" around the living room passing from me to Ty to the coffee table, he will be on his own soon - I can't wait to see it! Charles also went to sleep like a dream! He took his bottle in like 5 minutes and was out like a light. The rest of the night I just hung out with Otis - thier chocolate lab.

On Saturday monring, I told Jenny and Zack I could keep Conner before Miss Sally (Nana) got in town to keep Conner for the day. Jenny and Zack got to go to the Ole' Miss - Alabama game on Saturday so I was happy to be able to keep Conner for a few hours. I have to say - he was SUCH a great baby! We played with all of his toys and he especially loved the bouncey seat thing (not sure what the baby lingo for that thing is yet) and he also enjoyed his choo choo train. Look at this adorable little boy:

I'm so thankful for my time with Conner and Charles this weekend. My friends have the best kids and I can't wait for them to have more.

I'm in full babysit mode (b/c Matt is working so much!) so if anyone needs a sitter let me know!

Weekend O’Fun

This past weekend was extra special b/c Matt didn’t have to work at all! What a treat! It worked well that Emily and Jonas had to be in Birmingham for a wedding shower and for work last week so we had a nice weekend enjoying them back in Birmingham. We realized how much we miss them! They also brought their four month old puppy with them so I had this going on in my living room all weekend:

Friday night we shared a great meal at Cocina Superior then took Em and Jonas over to Brad and Elena’s apt to check out their digs. After that we decided to put our real talents to work and this is what we came up with…

Spann-Nation in full effect…

Elle hates Rock Band so I had to document what she does each time we bring it out…off to her safe haven – the bed! She always blinks at the flash!

Elena has mad skills on drums AND guitar and Brad is unbelievable on guitar. Jonas fared better on the microphone and Em…well…let’s just say this was her best instrument…

Saturday was full of football and relaxation which was much needed. Em and Jonas left Sunday after church then we decided to go play golf and walk w/ our friends, the Smith’s. Meredith and I thought it would be a good idea to walk the golf course Matt and Jared would be playing – little did we know it would be a 7 hour venture to Oneonta, Al. Here are a few pics from our afternoon w/ the Smith’s…

Don't be jealous of my grey leggings...

Sunday was a perfect ending to this weekend – we all had a great afternoon being in God’s beautiful creation and enjoying some play time. Thank you Lord, for a very fun and relaxing weekend!

Entrance to blog world

I joined! After thoroughly enjoying many of my friend's blogs I decided to start my own. I'm not much of a writer but I do like the idea of having a way to remember all that is going on in this phase of life and the next. Matt and I are enjoying the recent life changes that come along with him starting residency. We are very thankful for his placement at UAB and look forward to the next five years in Birmingham.

I'm going to go ahead and admit, I have a very unhealthy obsession with my dog, Elle. I might as well go ahead and get that out of the way because her picture will be frequently added to the blog. She is our three year old Rhodesian Ridgeback that we got our first year of marriage. She is my buddy - a very loving guard dog for me! This is her picture as a baby...

This is a more recent picture of our 105 pound dog!

Like I said, I have an unhealthy obsession and yes, that is her pillow and blanket!

Ok, more to come...