Playdates

These last few weeks while school has been out during the holidays we have planned many playdates to keep ourselves busy. Jake gets bored real quick at home so we go out a lot. 

I'm so fortunate to have friends with kids the same age as Jake. 

We met Andrea, Knox, Keri & Sam @ The McWane Center to play & have lunch. 

We had fun!

We got a special treat when my good friend, Brooke Kitchell & her newest addition stopped by to visit while they were in town from Charleston for Christmas. Thorne is now 5 months old. 

It was SO good to see them. Brooke & I became very close friends back several years ago when we worked together @ Sprint Nextel. She is a very good friend who I miss dearly.

And yes...thoughts ran through my head getting baby fever while holding this bundle of joy!

One of my friends from back home that I'm so happy we keep in touch has been asking us to come for a playdate with her son Bryson who is 2 & her daughter Ansley Kate that is 4. We woke up early to head home to see them & boy was it a blast! Jake had so much fun! Katie in my book is the ultimate super mom! She is a special ed teacher @ Gadsden City & works full time. She always has the smartest parenting ideas. I learn a lot from her. She's amazing & beautiful on the inside & out. Katie was so sweet to host us at her home. She made all of us homemade chicken noodle soup. We will definitely be back again to play.

Oh yeah! We sang karaoke! Get it Katie! :-)

Ansley Kate had two of her cousins over & they put on a show for us! It was so much fun!

This next picture was the last time the boys played together @ Bryson's 1st birthday!

Here is now.....

Thank you Katie for having us & loving on my sweet Jake!

I think Jake enjoyed himself & Bryson!

White Christmas

How special this Christmas was.......

1 Year

Today - December 20th. 

1 year ago today, I lost someone very close to me.

Jerry Taliaferro was my mother's father. He was my papaw Jerry. 

He taught me many life lessons, sometimes without even saying a word.

I miss him. I miss him with my grandmother. I miss that he isn't here to see my son & nephew. 

I hope he knows how much I miss him. 

I hope he knows how hard I try to be a good person & live this life fully. 

The last time I saw him we spoke back & forth on a white board because he wasn't able to talk.

Jake & Sam were 4 months old at the time.

I'm so thankful God gave my papaw the time here on this earth to see Jake & Sam being born.

Today I celebrate the life of Jerry Taliaferro.

Thank you for being a part of making me the person I am today.

Running for a Cure

Many men & women in my family suffer from arthritis. 

I'm on my way to being one of them.

I came across a billboard advertising a fun 5K Jingle Bell Run to help raise money for arthritis. 

Jake & I walk/jog a few times a week. Since we have started, I've been wanting to participate in a run. Once I saw the advertisement for this run, I had to sign up.

I was a little nervous taking my 15 month old with me in the weather but I bundled him up nicely & he was good to go.

We tied bells to our shoestrings & put reindeer ears on our head & ran for the cure!

I must say it wasn't as hard as I was thinking it was going to be.

Surrounded by that many people running for the same thing you are sure was encouraging! 

What about a home project?

A few weeks ago, Jared & I were sitting on the couch after Jake went to bed discussing upcoming plans & things we needed to do around our home.

For the longest time now I've wanted to paint a room in our home since we didn't get to choose any colors when we moved in.

We looked at each other and said "what about a home project, let's do something - just us without having to hire someone". It would be our little project.

We decided to paint our powder room & give it a little update.

Here is the before shot of our boring powder room.

Here is after. We darkened up the room and changed out the accessories. 

Visiting Daddy at Work

Jake & I went to visit Daddy @ work today to see what he does during the day!

Jared bought out his grandfather's Salvage business & works very hard to keep clothes on our back. I give him big time credit for all he does. 

Jake was super excited to see daddy....

Daddy even took Jake on a forklift ride.....weeeeeee

"Come on dad, let's pick up a car!" weeeee