Sincerely Fro' Me to You

This week's fro-tastic pictures go out to my good friend and old college roomie, Leesa, who's had a long week. I know these pics will make her laugh, because they made Wes and me laugh a whole lote! So Leesa, these are for you - hopefully we'll find time to get together again soon, and take some updated pictures ;-)


I know you remember this...our junior year with you dressed up like the soccer manager that we all knew so well!


Sophomore year in our wonderful room...I shadowed it out because it was a little messy this day, and that was such a rare event, seriously, it was.



Freshman year in the basement...


Freshman year again, obviously around Mardi Gras time. Remember how many times we rearranged our room - I think this was about take 4 or 5 :)


New Year's Eve - the night of the infamous 4 more hours at Tammy's.

Hope these pics made Leesa and everyone else out there smile. It's so funny to look back 10 years ago (AGH!!!) to our freshman year and see how much we've changed :) For more FRO action, head over to We Are THAT Family and join in the fun!!!

Time Out Magic

Sunday Jackson performed some magic for us. He was spending a few minutes of alone time in his playpen to settle himself down after crawling repeatedly behind a chair. I left the room so he really would be alone, and Wes was outside working in the yard. Jackson will usually fuss if we leave him alone without toys in the playpen, but for some reason he was quiet...I looked back in at him, and he was holding his pants in his hand, playing with them. I have NO idea how he got them off, but he was having a ball, lol.



But really, how could you be mad at this face!!!

Goodness from the Garden

We've had a great garden, despite it being the first year we've done one here, and still working out a few kinks. Lots of tomatoes have been harvested, as well as zukes, squash, peppers, eggplant, basil and parsley. Tomorrow I'm planning on spending the afternoon making salsa, fresh tomato spaghetti sauce, and pesto - YUM!!! Hope everyone's having a great weekend :)

Sincerely Fro Me to You

These pictures don't go very far back, but I'm hoping they'll help the Braves snap out of the funk that they're in...maybe more for next year than this year though, lol. Any of you who are Braves fans know what I'm talking about. Maybe a little reminiscing will bring some luck to our favorite baseball team! About this time 3 years ago, we were preparing for Wes to be deployed overseas, and we got a phone call saying we'd won 2 tickets to a Braves game, with a tour on the field and vip seats in the Fox SportsSouth box! It actually ended up that the weekend the game would be, was the weekend before Wes left, so we decided someone was wanted us to have some fun before Wes left and we made it a full weekend in Atlanta. We got to the stadium early, and we were able to go down on the field:


This is a picture of us with one of the old FSS broadcasters. Although it was so fun being down there, it was blazing hot...I'm not sure how the guys stand it. The game the night before had gone late and since this game was a day game, we unfortunately didn't get to see batting practice close up. But they let us go into the deep dark depths of the stadium...not in the locker room , but outside of it, and we saw some players come through. We have a few pics with a couple of players, but none of them play for the Braves anymore :( Then it was up to the box to watch the game. Wes and I sat inside in the air conditioning and had a great time. If you've ever been to a game, you know how they have the crazy wild people who pick fans to play games and win prizes in between the innings. Well, since Wes was getting ready to be deployed, he was picked from our group! Here he was on the big screen:



Of course, he got the question right, and we won a prize pack that included a $50 gift card to several local restaurants - woo hoo - supper was paid for!!!


We just hung out the rest of the game, then picked one of the restaurants to go eat at. It was a great weekend that we spent in Atlanta. We try to go to several games each year...Jackson has already been to one, don't you worry :) But this game will be hard to beat! Go Braves!!!

For more Fro Action, head on over to We are THAT Family.

Back to the Beach

The Beach Baby returned for another trip. This time we went to the condo that we and some other friends bought together. We had a such a great time. Jackson got to see Grandma and Granddad and the pool and the beach - what could be more fun for a 9 month old!?!? The only problem was that it was too short, but we'll be returning next month for some more R&R. Jackson still loved to crawl all around the beach and went in and out of the water again and again. He's so funny to watch and all the people who walk by comment on how much he loves the beach and the water (as if we don't know, lol) :) You can still see the fading (slowly) remnants of the black eye...


Wes could pour water from a toy for an hour and Jackson could just sit there and watch the mini waterfall. He's mesmerized by it.


Smiling with Daddy


This is the view from our condo. We know we'll have so many good times there in the future, we already can't wait to go back!!!

First Shiner

This was Jackson's eye Sunday, a few hours after he fell and hit his face on his exersaucer. He was trying to take a step from the wall to it, and just missed. It didn't stop him from anything though, he was right back up on his feet. But within a couple of minutes, a red goose egg popped up and within a few hours was already darkening. I'm sure this is just the first of many...


This was Jackson earlier today, smiling big with food all over his face, lol. His bruise has now turned into a rainbow of colors.

Mama Monday - Travelling

Today's Mama Monday is about travelling with kids. Even though Jackson is still young, we've already made some big trips and learned a lot about how he is in the car. The first 3 months or so, we thought he would be the best car baby in the world...he would sleep, wake up and eat, look around for a little while, then sleep some more (even for 6 or so hrs!). Then things started to change. The older and more aware he got, the less he would sleep in the car. Once he started to crawl, it was all over. He hated being in the car seat!!! So, here's a few things that we've learned.

1) When to leave- I know some people say leave when it's naptime, but Jackson just doesn't sleep well in the car anymore. So we leave right after he's eaten his breakfast (or other meal). This way he gets at least 30-45 min or awake (and happy) time before he takes his nap. His cartime naps are much shorter than his usual nap at the house. This is probably due to the fact that he usually wakes up 45 min to an hour into his nap, flips around for a few minutes, then goes back to sleep...something you can't do in the car. After this short nap, he's usually able to amuse himself with his toys or babbling to us for about 30 min. This has taken us 2 hrs into a trip. At this point, we usually have to stop, get him out, stretch, change, make a bottle. We know people who do most of their travelling at night. We haven't had to try this yet, but if we had a 12 or more hr ride, we would definitely try it.

2) Entertainment in the car - Jackson has several toys that he does well with in the car; toy keys, a toy phone (noisemakers, yes, but they make him happy, which makes us happy). There's also little things that I wouldn't thing would be fun, but he just loves - empty water bottles (make noise and can be chewed on), plastic Easter eggs (yep, still playing with them months after Easter), burp clothes or bibs (fun to chew on). An important thing for us is trying to find toys that we can attach with clips to his carseat beacuse he likes to throw them off onto the seat at some point. Some toys have straps attached to them and some you can add them to, but I higly recommend them if you've got a little one who drops/throws things. I have to agree with Erin, I didn't think we would want Jackson watching dvds in the car, but we've decided if he'll watch it, we're good with it :) We tried this the last leg of our beach trip to Cape San Blas, but he was so ready to get out of the car, he wasn't going for it. I loved the idea someone had of buying little gifts at the store and having them for the child to "open" along the trip, keeping them guessing and entertained.

3) Food - Now that Jackson's eating well with finger food, I'm all for giving him things in the car. Eating one bit at a time, keeps the clock ticking, and us still riding. We try to stop as littel as possible because once we get out and moving, Jackson doesn't want to get back in his carseat, and he cries for a couple of minutes until we get back on the road. Once he gets older and we take long car rides, I imagine we may have a special food treat for later in the car ride.

For the most part, Jackson has been great in the car. I can't wait until he gains a couple more pounds and is three months older so he can sit forward. This will have more advantages than disadvantages I think. Right now we struggle with him facing backwards b/c I get carsick, so I can't get back there with him. So he can't see us well, and he whips his head side to side trying ot see us when we're talking. We'll see what happens when we take a plane ride somewhere!

For more Mama Monday fun, click here, and feel free to join in and add your own comments or buddy post :)

Sincerely Fro Me to You - Jackson's 9 month Checkup

This week's nostalgic moments won't go too far back...just a little over 9 months to be exact. That's when we were so blessed when Jackson entered the world. He was 7 pounds and 7 ounces...at least for a little while (he lost 1/2 lb that day!). We took him for his 9 month checkup yesterday and he now weighs - 18 pounds and 1 ounce! Sounds like a lot, but really, it's on the small side (15th percentile), but he's a little tall for his age (65th percentile), and if y'all have watched the videos, you know how active the little one is! Nonstop!!! Where do you think he gets that from??? Jackson is in perfect health, and we don't have to go back to the doctor until he's one year old. He told us to keep feeding him different foods. A couple of weeks ago we introduced J to meat - he's had ham and chicken. He liked the ham, and we're working on the chicken;) Here's a look back at the little man his first week on earth:


Less than a day old at the hospital...his eyes are half closed. It's hard to believe that he's already 9 months (I know those with you who have 9 year olds are probably laughing, but you remember being here, lol).


Five days old here...your Uncle Noel taking pics of us in the house. You were so calm and quiet... my how times have changed! This is and always will be one of my fav pics of us... in your scrapbook I put "She's got the whole world in her hands!"


And the next scrapbook will have this pic and say "He's got the whole world in his hands!"


For more Fro Me to You fun, visit We are THAT Family :D

Fun on the Fourth

This is what we did as much of the weekend as we could...relaxed in the pool. Jackson has just really taken to the water; he's not scared of it at all. We headed to Anniston Thursday afternoon after I left work and spent the weekend with family. Wes' parents have a pool, so we got in several times each day to beat the heat. And of course, we had great food! Jackson turned 9 months that Thursday!!! The time has flown by...Saturday he took a step away from the couch, then plopped to the floor and crawled off. We are NOT ready for that walking business young man!


Swimming around the pool with Pops. He would actually kick his legs, and he put his face in the water a few times.



We got Jackson this great little float that is a "car." It has a top that velcos on to keep the sun off his head, too. He loved it. We had him in it at least 1 hour out of each day (broken into 2-3 segments), and y'all with kids know how long that is for someone his age!



See how intent he was, lol. And he's even holding the steering wheel ;)


I just love the way the bottom of the pool looks in black and white for some reason.


As usual, J laughed at everything all weekend. He's such a fun loving, laid back guy, and we can't wait to see what month 9 brings :D




And after all the fun in the sun and water, we had a very sleepy baby on our hands. Each night he crashed and woke up refreshed and ready for more action. We will definitely be getting him into the water as often as we can!

Zukes and Celebration

We had a big surprise waiting for us in the garden when we got back - lucky for us, our friend who watered the garden while we were gone wasn't looking for our zucchini, so here's what we had when we got back (and there were more than this!!!):




So that you can compare this to something - here are the zukes next to a magazine, making them about a foot long:


And, they've been delicious to eat. I've even gotten Wes to eat some of the squash and zucchini :) Speaking of delicious, we found a new recipe Sunday when I was making dessert to go with the chicken Mary and Chris were grilling for us: brownie cookies - YUM! Once they were done, I topped them with glazed melted chocolate and some pecans :D



Now to the party; a group of friends from work all went out to celebrate my birthday since we were gone last week. We went to a Mexican restaurant. Who wouldn't want to celebrate with Mexican and margaritas???

Brian holding baby Hannah, who's making her intro on the blog. She's so adorable!!!


Proud parents, Leslie and Lee, Deanna and Michael, whose b'day was also celebrated :)


Collin, Lisa, and Leslie


Mary, Chris, and us


Apparently, it's Mexican tradition to get scared to death, have a sombrero put on your head and whipped cream spooned into your mouth by the waiter. Don't worry guys, you only took a year or so off my life when they dropped that tray.


June birthdays rock!


Me and Ashley - thanks for putting it all together, it was sooooo much fun :D