so i know this picture is fuzzy; i took it using my inferior cell phone camera. i caught laney in the middle of her little squinty-eye look, so i couldn't pass it up.

best friends

the boys played together as if they were best friends for about 45 minutes yesterday. they giggled and sang together, ran around, hugged, and more. it was awesome! and laney just took it all in... ☺

luke came up with his own version of "tag". while sam was eating a snack, luke ran from his bedroom and said "i got you". instead of tagging, he would hug sam. he did this at least 10 times, taking turns starting from different rooms in the house then "seeking" sam. it ended the same way every time; sam was in the kitchen, and luke hugged him when he found him.

Spring Break 2010

Spring Break was very low-key for us. Ron worked Monday through Thursday for a few hours each day. We planned on going to Chattanooga Friday and Saturday to enjoy the Aquarium and Chattanooga Choo-Choo. My knee had other ideas. After a few rough days due to a minor setback, we decided to stay in town and go to the local museum instead. We played in one little room set aside for younger children then tried to walk through the museum. They didn't really appreciate it so it didn't last long; we were back in the car less than an hour after we parked.

Even though the museum didn't pan out, we had a great week of good family time. Eating dinners together and spending mornings together was precious!

if i've already posted a picture of this top, i'm sorry... i made this a month or so ago from a book i got at hobby lobby, but didn't have the "complete" outfit until just now. i had these little purple teva slip-ons previously, but the little tights just came my way this weekend thanks to hand-me-downs from a fellow MDO mom. laney, you are stylin'...

Laney crawled

This morning Laney crawled. Like for real crawling...hands and knees on the floor, lunging forward, moving with determination type crawling. YEA! Check out the picture to get an idea of just how determined she was. She's looking at me like I'm getting in the way of her accomplishing great things!

i hit a deer

i hit a deer, and unfortunately for ron, was driving his car. there are deer all over old big cove rd. thursday night, a mama deer decided to jump right in front of me. i had just gone through a sharp curve and was only going 40mph, so the damage wasn't bad. the deer rolled about 7 times then ran back into the field... watching bambi with sam on friday had a whole new meaning. ☺

i LOVE his curls

laney's well visit

laney had her 9-month checkup and got a good report. other than a little cold, she is healthy. she weighs 18 lbs, 5 oz. she's in the 39th percentile for height and weight. she's on par developmentally. everything looks good... way to go laney.

this is for you, ron. we love you...

we went to the local mall last weekend to get out of the house. here's something you may not know about ron: he claims to be a homebody, but he can't sit still for very long. it only took about an hour last saturday until he started losing it. he rounded at the hospital, came home, and by 10:30 said "let's go to the mall or i'm gonna' go crazy". he definitely couldn't be a stay-at-home mom. (and for that i am grateful. because i definitely couldn't do his job!)

the cow was at chick-fil-a. sam loved it. luke covered his eyes out of fear.

here are the boys waiting their turn to jump. this was to be luke's first time and he was so thrilled.

i took this picture just in time. right after she started to clip him in he began to cry. or should i say scream... we got our $6 back and he was happy to sit and watch sam. maybe next time.

Laney at 9 months

Laney celebrated 9 months yesterday. Pops said she's been out as long as she was in. Wow, that puts things into perspective. Ron said at the rate I was going, I should already be pregnant again. Um, no thanks...

she loves to clap...

and make cute faces...

and show off those big blue eyes...

Laney is starting to get around a little better. Her 6th tooth has broken through. She's crawling around and enjoys sitting up on her own. I really think she's been content to sit and watch the boys all this time. They are definitely quite a show! I guess she's decided to start exploring the world without her brothers.

stealing the show

while taking pictures of laney, sam and luke tried stealing the show...

general cuteness

so many toys to choose from

sam and his safety scissors

luke's post-nap hairdo

hat wearing brothers

she's on a roll...literally

Although Laney has attempted to crawl just in the last week, her main mode of transportation is rolling. She gets where she wants to go so it works for her.

Before starting this next post, let me say that my Saturday shopping in Atlanta was a few weeks ago. I wouldn't want y'all to think I'm healthy enough to just sprint on over to Atlanta, especially you girls who are bringing me dinner. ☺

Now that I cleared that up, I thought I'd share some fun playtime we had over the weekend. Our next-door neighbor Natalie came over to play with Sam. They are so stinkin' cute!

Our across-the-street neighbor Zoe came over too. She ended up getting to push the kids in their swings.

Laney played in her exersaucer on the back porch

I caught Luke and Laney looking up at Zoe as she talked to them.

It was such a nice afternoon yesterday. Sam reminisced about it on the way to school. "Remeber when Natalie came over and played? That was fun", he said. I'm glad the weather will allow much more of that in the coming weeks and months.

IKEA Saturday

On a whim, my mom and sister-in-law drove to Atlanta to meet me for a shopping day. Our destination was IKEA. I also wanted to go to Atlantic Station to check out the West Elm. I saw a glass chandelier in their catalog that I loved.

So I left the house at 5:30am and was able to see the sunrise along the way. Shortly after the sunrise, I entered Georgia and was greeted by flashing blue lights. Yep, I got a ticket. I was going 71 in a 55 mph zone. But the guy was so nice; he reminded me of Bill "Bubba" Bussey. He only wrote the ticket for 68 so it wouldn't affect my insurance. $55 poorer and I was back on the road.

We enjoyed breakfast at IKEA before our shopping got started. 4 hours later, we went to a Mexican restaurant at Atlantic Station for lunch.

One of my IKEA purchases was a moon light/lamp for Luke. He loves it! I need to get a bulb with less wattage; it's a little bright.

I purchased the chandelier at West Elm and Dave installed it in no time. I previously attempted to bring a $40 thrift store chandelier back to life, but it didn't work out. My dining room will be done after I stain the six chairs. My sweet husband stained two of them for me yesterday. So we're getting closer.

I refinished a dark wood sofa table so it would fit into the black and white decor in the dining room. The boys hopped on the table so they could be in the picture. :)

a bow made me cry

School pictures are pretty stinking exciting. The one thing more exciting than picture day is when the proofs are in a week or two later. Today was my first day back at Whitesburg since my surgery. I was happy to see the kids' pictures. Sam and Luke's pictures were just what I expected: adorable! After looking at Laney's proofs I looked up at her teacher and said "What's on her head?". Her sweet teacher said "Oh, I put a bow on her for the picture." I just smiled and said "I'm not a bow girl..." I handed Laney over to her, smiled, and walked away. Then the tears began to flow.

Maybe it's because I've had a tough week. I had knee surgery. Sparing you the details, the doctor told me my knee looked really crappy for a 34 year old. In the past 48 hours, our family has had 5 appointments: Luke saw a dermatologist for his eczema, Laney got tubes, I had my post-op visit at TOC, and I went to therapy yesterday and today. I'm emotionally spent...

I can't control much of what's going on these days, and that's okay. But I thought I could control what Laney looked like in her school pictures. I dressed her in the cutest little white top and purple velour pants. "This outfit will be adorable for her first school pics" I thought to myself. And she ends up with a big pink bow in her hair? My mom told me to get over it. Christine told me I'd laugh about it with Laney some day. We'll be chatting and I'll say "Laney, did I ever tell you about the time someone put a bow in your hair and I cried?"

**just so you know, laney's pictures were adorable too. the bow wasn't adorable, but her pictures were. i would post them if i had them, but they're at the school because the secretary said they would retake the pictures.

**also, i still love laney's teacher ms. gerri. she has loved on all three of my kids and is dear to my heart.