walking, walking, walking.

enjoy this progression of henry's walking ability ... little ones sure change every day.

for auntie deirdre and uncle joe

Henry sends a special message and we can't wait to come and visit this weekend!

happy birthday, savannah.

last saturday was savannah's ninth birthday. where has nine years gone? really.

I remember the day I brought savannah home with me from a farm in west point, ga. it was right before the 4th of july in 2000, which was the summer before my senior year of college. she was one fluffy fuzzball and so darn cute. she cried the entire drive back to auburn. she's seen a lot of life changes in her nine years ... there are times I wonder if she misses the days when it was just she and I, and she slept in the bed with me every night. now she shares her toys, a home, a yard, my love and affection, and a place on the floor with two more two legged family members and three other four legged family members. Through all the changes, she has lived up to the typical Golden Retriever personality and is one special dog. She is/was my first "baby" and will always have a unique place in my heart. But if you've ever had the pleasure (and it truly is a pleasure) of having more than one pet, you know what it means for each of them to be uniquely special. they each capture your love in their own way, and so it is with our other four legged babies.

happy birthday, big one. you are my red dog and I love you.

more little ones ...

from last sunday-some of us threw a baby shower for katherine (due mid July). baby bentley will be here soon and we can't wait to meet him (and find out his name, which is a secret)!

congrats to Lindsay and Adam (friends from college), on the birth of Caroline Claire Draney, 7 pounds 11 ounces.

also, congrats to Stephen, Tina & Jon Tyler on the birth of Savannah Grace Pritchett, 7 pounds 7 ounces. I'm sure Stephen will posting pictures soon if he hasn't already. He is one proud and great Dad!

so far all mothers and babies are doing fine.

also from saturday

more pics from saturday ... in front of jordan hare and at the baseball game.

I love this photo of them walking together!

H watching the "big boys" play ball

funny guy-he would put his head to the side and laugh and smile at us in the front seat. then he would straighten up again. then repeat steps one and two.

touch a truck

last saturday (for those of you not in Auburn/Opelika), the City of Opelika had Touch a Truck ... where kids could drive, honk the horns of and play in various trucks. There was an ambulance, a firetruck, a mail truck, army trucks, a tractor, a UPS truck, a dump truck, an 18 wheeler, a school bus, you name it. As Henry's latest and greatest love is cars/trucks, he had a blast. It was so fun to watch how excited he was at each stop. Surprisingly he did not cry once when we took him out of the truck ... this is contrary to what happens at home when we take him out of one of our cars! Phew.

roll on 18 wheeler, roll on.

its not Newman, trust me.

honk honk

the city of opelika did a marvelous job! great event.

silly sixteen

sixteen months I turned this past week!

playing the wagon ... and when you play in a wagon, you gotta have your trusty hoze nozzle and some good tools in tow. never know when you might need them.

helping momma wash her car ... she kept asking me to help but the wagon was of more interest. I tried to avoid sunlight the whole time so that I could maintain my status of the ultimate fair skinned toddler. my swim trunks are pretty cool though, you have to admit.

daddy jim came to visit. he took me to chick fil a where I ate my first waffle fry and then to marble clab where I had my first taste of strawberry ice cream.

touchdown auburn!

I like to cheese it up for the camera sometimes.

I also like to pretend I'm a clown and put my measuring cup over my nose.

sixteen months is great so far!

plethora of photographs

grab drink and a snack and settle in for this post, its a long one.

last week we had our Lee County Auburn Club annual dinner meeting/fundraiser. nancy and I chaired the event this year and it was a lot of fun. Coach Chizik was our guest speaker; he did a nice job. Below is a picture of our board for LCAC:

Gary having fun with Aubie balloons ...

It was a long week last week and I was anxious to spend the day with Henry on Friday since I was not able to see him much last week with various volunteer and work related happenings. we had a lovely day together!

cuteness.

what a ham!

on friday we went to brusters and shared some ice cream. normally henry has not been a big fan of ice cream, but this time he actually wanted more and was signing "more" and "please" over and over. funny stuff.

we went to see my nephew in his mother's day plays and he did an outstanding job! he is quite the budding actor. I was so proud of him, as usual. he is one fine young man.

I took Henry out to our land to explore and see what we could find ...

... a snail, lots of ants, some tall grass ...

a bench ... for those of you that don't know, this bench was transported from gary's house where he grew up. on this bench, gary proposed to me. when his dad sold their house, we moved the bench to our land and there it sits until we move out there one day hopefully in the near future.

... we also found a stick, some rocks, a pond, and some nice leaves.

Moving on to the weekend, we helped host a wedding shower for Chad and Melanie. they are getting married June 6th.

chad and mel

emma, melanie, katherine & me

gary's mom graciously came down and kept henry for us during the shower and we ended up going out for a bit afterwards.

moving on to Mothers Day ... what a special day. Henry and I spent Saturday morning with my mom and took her to lunch. We spent Sunday morning with Gary's mom and took her to lunch as well. the rest of the day was spent hanging out as a family and it was a good day. henry was somewhat of a grouch most of the day, but it was fine. he's entitled to a few grouchy days every now and then, right?

two amazing women! where would we (and all of us) be without our mothers!?!

I've said it before and I'll continue to say this, but being a mother truly is one of life's greatest privileges. I always anticipated enjoying motherhood because I've always loved being with children. But I am reminded every day that being a mother far exceeds my expectations. It has its challenges and its rewards, but the journey is so worth each step, big and small. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to and responsibility of raising a child.

Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers and mothers to be out there!