A bit starstruck…

BUT I remained composed, I think. So, we have certain shows at my house that we do NOT like to miss and one of those being Biggest Loser (sometimes DWT does get in the way, but not usually). LOVE Biggest Loser. I feel like a proud mom watching those folks lose all of that weight and return to a healthier way of living (you would think it would sink in at some point, huh?). It’s amazing. There has been many a tear shed over Biggest Loser (on both of our accounts, thank you very much). With that being said, remember when Roger from Alabama was on the show?

Before

After

Well, he was and he did SO well and made it to the end. We LOVED Roger and I cried when his former teammate got sent home (they used to play for Alabama and went on together so they could return to their healthier lives like when they played ball). Of course, Jason took an IMMEDIATE liking to them and we pulled for them the whole season. LOVED THEM.

Look at them!!

Today APC was apart of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s "National Walk @ Lunch Day." My sweet coworker, Hallie, got some of us to go and walk with her. Sure, the walking was great (I love to walk, remember), but the best part was….. drum roll…

HB II, Roger, HB I, LW

WE GOT TO MEET ROGER! I was almost giddy. Don’t think I didn’t ask for a picture IMMEDIATELY!! I did.

We agreed to walk for 30 minutes while ol’ Rog led the way….

BUT, he couldn’t really “lead the way” b/c our APC group held him back and made him talk to us the whole time. L-Dub, you got ANYTHING else you can pull out of your hat to ask him? We covered all the bases, I think. I mean, there are no longer any Biggest Loser secrets, we LW uncovered them ALL!

Impressed, LW?

Lovin’ the Courtyard…

So, I’ve mentioned my LOVE for our neighbors- I have the BEST neighbors in the world and I’m CRAZY about them. We have come to all know and expect what we lovingly call “Driveway Time” at my house. Jason and I have a bunch of camping chairs, but that isn’t to say that you can’t bring your own, we just have LOTS! So, we pull them out on the driveway and all sit out there and banter back and forth while the kiddies+Gus and Jag romp and play. I mean, it’s the best and it’s right up there on my list with my most favorite things. BECAUSE…my neighbors are AWESOME. It’s mostly the same crowd, but on any given day there’s a myriad of characters that partake in DWT (driveway time) it’s just downright fun, folks.

ANYWAY.

So, I’m warned Friday morning on my way to work that at 5 p.m. Mr. Jason has promised a water war to our beloved little Livingstons… I laugh b/c 1. I do live with a 12 year and 2. He’s NEVER home at 5 p.m. so he is just setting the scene for some heartbreak. LOW AND BEHOLD, that man pulled in at 4:50 and while he “loaded his guns”…eh…distressed from the day, I saw/heard this commotion:


Ok, does he not steal your heart? How could Mr. Jason shoot him with water….. Well….

A little smack talk with the boys (look at Cole..LOVE THIS)….

This is the next thing I saw…. OPEN FIRE…

So, this goes on for a while. What are the lovely ladies doing, you may ask (after us moms were yelling ‘DO NOT WET THE BABIES’)??
Look at this child? I could eat her with a spoon! She is this sweet ALL the time.

Then, there is this child who pitched a fit b/c all she wanted was some shut eye (like I tell her, stop getting up at 4 a.m. and you wouldn’t miss the party, Miss PRISS! She does sleep with her eyes open).

Back to the war.

Is this a surrender I see…..

OF COURSE NOT..MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!

Gus Black watching it all on the front row.

As the white flag was raised, I was DYING to get a picture b/c this was the BEST afternoon so far of the warm weather. UM… to say I got what I wanted is an understatement….. I was the IDIOT that squatted down in serious photography mode in front of the armed water warriors…. (they were scheming… why did I not catch on?)
and I got doused.


You think DWT is over…HARDLY! Everyone dried off in cozy clothes, a variety of dinners were ordered (unfortunately ours took 2 hours) and we partied on….

Look at these sweet brothers.


Still sleeping….

Here we all are!! Well, not all of us because there are lots of fun neighbors missing, but this was Friday’s crew. SO FUN! You should bring your lawn chair..or sit in mine... and come hang out with the Courtyard gang. We have LOTS of fun.

I love these people!

Don’t give me a challenge….

So, did you hear about Stadium Fest or get stuck in the INSANE traffic on Lakeshore from the event? Rick and Bubba along with Scott Dawson ministries (I don’t know all of the details, so don’t hate if I have it a little wrong) and some other groups planned this HUGE [REALLY HUGE] event where they brought in speakers, musicians and all sorts of family activities to Samford’s campus, who agreed to host the masses. The intent, from what I gather, was a day for families to have fun, relax along with enjoying a day of worship. There were activities for children in the mornings and then concerts and speakers that evening for adults.

To say it was a success may be a bit of an understatement. I’m a huge Rick and Bubba fan and I vaguely remember them saying they were expecting maybe 10,000 to show up….Um…. 25,000 was the count at the end. Anyway, since Jason Black works at Samford I remembering hearing some odds and ends about SF and how they were gonna pull this off, etc. Then last week JB came home and said he was asked to speak and give the welcome. He, of course, downplayed it (in typical JB fashion) and said there would hardly be anyone there when he did his welcome at 3. “EXCUSE ME…have you heard all of the advertisement on Rick and Bubba?? You best be ready, buddy!” was how our conversation went. Not to mention, I thought it was such an honor that they asked him. I was so excited- I had a post already in the making- to go and be a part of it, but with it being so hot and EB still not feeling well (and me too, for that matter) we decided to not go and battle the crowds and we became JB’s personal chauffeur. All Saturday morning he made notes, scratched out notes and prepared his little “ditty.” As I dropped him off I was SO sad to miss it, but had ONE plea… PLEASE GET A PIC OF YOU WITH RICK AND BUBBA, PUH-LEASE. However, he’s way too cool for that and didn’t follow through.

I emailed him this morning and asked him to send me any pics that came across his desk. His reply “There won’t be any b/c it wasn’t that big of a deal… I wasn’t that important.” Mr. Black, OHHH CONTRAR… I got on Rick and Bubba’s Web site and what to my wandering eyes should appear??? Well, a picture of JB doing his welcome, of course. Don’t give me a challenge, people…..

It’s Monday all over again??

(taken all the way back in Feb in an attempt to get a Valentines pic)

Reasons for tears:
1. I left my camera in EB’s diaper bag (proof of a post in waiting) and can’t update like I wanted!
2. EB turns 5 months this week….
3. Still battling a cold. It’s ok though, we can see the light…albeit WAY far in the distance, but the glimmer is there.

Until tomorrow...Have a good Monday.

The afternoon recipe for good moods

When all things are properly aligned- we can all breathe normally, the weather is right, we get home in time, dinner can wait, JB is still working and won’t slow us down with his SLOW Sunday-type saunter etc- I love NOTHING more than a good ol’ afternoon walk. We (meaning the pup and I) used to do this daily pre-EB and it was like a detox session from the day. My intentions to walk daily are still there and I miss it, but things happen…LIKE BEING SICK FOR OVER A MONTH. So, I hooked up my oxygen tank yesterday and decided to man up and walk…. While it wasn’t a speed walk like I like (gotta lose the EB weight), we had a nice, adventurous afternoon. Here’s how it’s likely to happen on any given day:

The participants....

My view of the road less traveled. We have this great parking lot for walking b/c I let "the wanderer" off his leash and he can roam and run as his little heart desires.

Sometimes we see one of these.....


Which makes Gus revert back to somewhere in his lineage (he's a mutt,remember) and he does this....

He REALLY thinks he'll catch it... and will pursue the "scent" FOREVER.

So, in the meantime, I MAY stop and wait for him. While waiting, we take cute pics on the camera phone.

Home again, home again jiggity jog.. We go on walks because it makes us all have this type of attitude...

All in an afternoon's walk.

Dull times...

Well, I have little to discuss. We’ve all officially been hit AGAIN with colds/sinus infections. Really, I feel as though it will NEVER end. N-E-V-E-R!

So, here are just a few pics from the past couple of days since I have us quarantined in the afternoons. Nothing exciting…. We do have some fun stuff coming up with some of the students that I’m excited about and another reason to get us all well. I’ll have to post about it and introduce them on the blog- WE LOVE THEM!

Getting ready for "school."

Sometimes this babe wants love and attention too. You used to be the center of attention, didn't you Gussy!?

Don't quite be deceived... She isn't as close to sitting up as this may lead one to believe. Ironically, she won't roll over, but she's ALL about trying to sit up.

Ok, I have a nice video camera that Santa brought me for Christmas with GREAT footage on it....yet, I'm not smart enough to download it to the computer, so you'll have to enjoy this via my digital camera video option. P.S. While it may appear that EB will later suffer from Shaken Baby Syndrome, let me assure she won't. I was SUPER zoomed in.... (I kinda felt bad when reviewing the video).

It was a bust...

Sadly, I don’t get to write about the fun-filled Fairhope weekend with friends that I had planned on, laden with pictures of all the goodness. Sigh… Granted, we did have a child-less weekend, but against my wishes and not what I had envisioned. Evie so graciously bestowed her funk to the entire house and while we were supposed to be Fairhopin’ it, we were under house arrest and she was with the grands. WILL IT EVER END?

I did drag myself out of bed on Saturday to visit with her briefly- I felt like I was fulfilling my court-ordered visitation rights and it was sad! I wanted to run away with her and bring her home (thanks mom and dad for keeping her. Let’s just hope they don’t catch the funk now), but we HAD to get that house cleaned and well before “reuniting.” So, we walked around the outlet malls and then I took her back to the grands. Sunday our house got a MUCH needed scrub down of Lysol and Chlorox- PLEASE NO MORE GERMS!!! HOPEFULLY, we will stay healthy for AT LEAST a week this time.

Anyway! That’s all I got! Is it Friday yet?

A fun few minutes with the babe. I didn't even have my real camera b/c it was still packed away with all of my luggage that was supposed to be having fun in Fairhope. Sad day.

"When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now." C.S. Lewis

In case you didn’t know, this is Jason Black (he doesn’t get much face time). Today is our 3 year anniversary. It doesn’t feel like three years, but much longer (I’m not being funny) because we’ve known each other for 10 years this fall. TIME FLIES. In those 10 years we went LOTS of different ways, became different people, then met up again on the backside and look where we are now….

He loves Forest Gump… so let me describe “us” in those terms… We are like peas and carrots (ha.. I can’t believe I just typed that). Jason, as I’ve mentioned before, is my counterbalance. When he is wired, I’m calm and vice versa. He is type A to his innermost being and it would make the sanest person nuts, but I LOVE it about him. He rarely makes mistakes (it makes me crazy), is incredibly smart, is usually always right (did I just admit that), passionate, a perfectionist and puts so much time and thought into things. I tend to be the opposite, yet we go together....

I’ll never forget on the eve of our first anniversary-this is funny, so laugh- I remember saying, “WOW! A year! Can you BELIEVE we’ve been married a WHOLE year?!?” To which I got this reply, “Yep. It’s been a long year!” It didn’t at all come out right (which contradicts my above statements about him). Jason and I make it a point to be transparent in most things. We do not pretend life is bunnies and butterflies when it isn’t. Marriage is hard and the SINGLE hardest, yet most rewarding, task I’ve ever worked so diligently on (I’ve been a parent for 4.5 months, so I can’t compare just yet). Yet, I struggle blogging about this because there aren’t quite words to describe who he is to me. He, very often, is an earthly shelter for me, By that I mean that I seek his advice and learn from it, he is such a calming force in my life and always has a logical response to my insanely ridiculous thoughts/plans. He leads our family by prayer and what he feels like would honor our God. Jason encourages, challenges and spurs me on with a perfect recipe that doesn’t hurt my feelings nor lets me off the hook. He is passionate about the students that he works with and I LOVE sitting back and watching him work. He’s truly gifted- I get to reap the benefits of always having them in our home and they are a key part of who we are, I think.

Jason is pretty much the most selfless person I know and would drop ANYTHING to help someone out- ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO ‘HIS GIRLS.’ He loves our baby girl and is a wonderful dad to her-despite my early worries when he swore he would never change a dirty diaper (he does, for the record). There aren’t many things more precious than watching your child and husband interact. It’s super special.

I really feel as though I’ve done a poor job- I could keep going….. Happy Anniversary JB! I love you more than you’ll know and appreciate every ounce of your being and what you do for our little family! We are beyond blessed. P.S. I feel like that statement is used by people too often who just throw it out there and don't truly believe it.. We believe it! We live humbled by it! All the while, undeserving of it!

Fat and happy…

Well, EB FINALLY got to go to her 4 month appointment yesterday. I’ve been excited about it simply because I wanted to hear her “stats.” People laugh and give us a hard time, but we LOVE our little chunk and I wouldn’t mind her having a few more of those sweet rolls. SO THERE! We saw a different doc yesterday (who I’m CRAZY about) and she LOVED LOVED LOVED EB’s “healthiness” and was very encouraging about/encouraged by her size (THANK YOU VERY MUCH!). We had the lovely “food” talk which I’m not looking forward too because that means EB will be a teenager before I know it. Sighhhh.

In lieu of that topic, I went ahead and tried our luck with some rice cereal via spoon on Saturday because I knew it was coming- GOOD NIGHT! If you know us at ALL, you know that we are INCREDIBLY (yes, Jason Black, I said ‘we’) OCD about certain things. Jason’s is clutter and mine is… a lot of things… but I CANNOT stand for EB to look messy or dirty. So, that little adventure about did me in. She had rice cereal in her hair, on her eye lashes, up her nose, in her fat rolls, etc. Needless to say, she got an unplanned bath. It wasn’t smooth sailing, but we’ll work on it. Be prepared for a very detailed picture report:

Bring it on...

Wait..how does this work?

Don't worry EB! Your clumsiness is natural. Wait..or was this intentional?

Do I make you proud? I can't really see you through caked eyelashes.

ENOUGH! Did you say there was a bottle at the end of this yellow brick road?

AWWW!!! SWEET RELIEF!

4 month stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 14oz- above 95% percentile for weight (no shock here)
Length: 25 ½ in.- above 90th percentile for height.
(I can’t remember any of her stats from her 2 month appt. so, I’ll have to compare that later when I find them)

**I realize you may get tired of reading this blog centered around Evie, but… well, that’s how our lives are these days. We’re fine with that. Although, sweet Jason has planned a fun weekend getaway for us, so I’ll be posting on that next week, I’m sure.

Ding..Ding.. ROUND II

So, as tradition would have it, we loaded up and headed to the grandparents/great grands house for Easter lunch. There was LOTS of lovin’ in EB’s future…. AND A SURPRISE VISIT FROM THE INFAMOUS UNCLE!

Get ready for a barrage of pics....

Aunt KK and Uncle BK.

Easter basket maker extraordinaire.

I'll take that!

Evie and the Great Grands! Do you think she's a little spoiled? Perhaps.

In G'daddy's arms where she's safe, forever rocked and he's at her fingertips.

Pappa Ron and Grandy

Gettin' some EB lovin'

Grandy/Millie whoever she was on Easter and EB. EB has about had it in her bonnet- we are on the verge of a meltdown.

One last photo opp to fully document EB's first Easter... I think we succeeded.

Then Uncle Clay swoops in and makes it all better. I wish I had captured her with the handful of beard .5 seconds before this. It was funny.

Easter is tiring...full bellies, a little snuggling and a good nap.

This is RIDICULOUS! Yes, this is a serious picture. I about died. It was Easter...not a birthday, but nonetheless the babe had a good day. Then her mom had to find room for it ALL!