MFY

Yesterday (August, 26, 2010) was the BIG DAY!! We found out that our third (and last) baby is aGIRL! We are just thrilled! Her name will be Mary Flynn Yates.  

Mary, who is Rob's paternal grandmother, is such a special lady and so very dear to both of us. Rob told her we would like to name our baby girl after her, and in Mary Yates fashion said, "Well, it's about time after all these grandchildren and great-grandchildren...you would have thought there would have been a Mary Catherine, or Mary something by now!!" Rob said, "You finally got one!" We hope that our Mary has all the spunk, sweetness, and loving spirit that this Mary does, as well as her strong faith!

Flynn, who was my maternal grandmother, was one of my best friends. Not only was she a grandmother,she was such a good person who was loved by everyone. She served the Lord every day of her life (and always make sure I put Him first in everything) and was an extremely talented pianist who played the piano in her church for over 60 years. She was a wonderful cook, bridge player, and loved to travel.
Both of these women are so special to Rob and me and both hold many of the same values, beliefs, and interests. Had they lived in the same town, I know they would have been great friends. Our hope is that this little girl has all these characteristics and then some! I can't think of two better people to be named after...what a blessed little one!?!?!

And one more thing...this may not be my first sewing project for this little sister, but it is definitely on the list. I found these embroidery alphabet patterns on the Etsy store Penguin and Fish!  I am going to change all these colors to pinks, turquoise, oranges, and yellows!!!

K4!!!!!!

Does this look like the face of an apprehensive 4 year old! It was his birthday and we're on our way to 4K open house at our church, FUMC Louisville!

I didn't get a good picture, but they were so sweet to sing Happy Birthday to him and he loved it. The above picture was taken right after he found out Ms. Ming was his teacher!! 
We were so excited!

And we were also so excited to know that Hayes Caperton was in his class. Hayes' dad, Roger, and I have been friends for year and hopefully Reed and Hayes will be too!

Here he is in his seat in Ms. Ming's room!

And (tada) here he is: 1st day of 4K, August 16th, and SO SO excited!

...new backpack he got for his birthday (which, by the way, that has been filled with the most precious work). He has learned a nursery rhyme every day: Little Boy Blue, Little Miss Muffett, Mary had a Little Lamb...and the amazing part is Reed can say the whole thing when he comes home each night! AMAZING!

Such a proud mama...and boy did I cry when we dropped him off. I never cry...I guess it's hormones. I just can't believe he is old enough to start 4K!

Daddy couldn't resist a picture either!
It was such a great day and I know it will be such a wonderful year filled with so many fun memories. We didn't live in Louisville when I was 4, but everyone I graduated with talked about how 4K at FUMC was one of their favorite memories of growing up! 
I just know it's going to be the same for Reed!

A four year old has a party and it rains...

...and what does the four year old do, parties on!! Rain was NOT going to put a damper on the gigantic water sliding fun we were going to have Saturday morning. Not even when I looked out the window at 9 a.m. (party started at 10 a.m.) and it was dark as night. I told Rob, "Check the radar, pronto!" And after lots of prayers, there was a 4 hour window of no rain!

So what did we do...

...set up that slide and slid in the rain.

...and slid...

...and even Luke got in on the action.

Needless to say this was his only venture down the slide!! He was going to have a fine time, thank you, in his baby pool with the water hose.

Reed's awesome (as always) cake made by Hailey Peterson, of Cups -N- Cakes in Starkville.

Not only was it too cute, it was so delish (you can't beat cream cheese icing)!

All the dad's "enjoyed" standing in the rain watching the boys have a ball!

Time to blow out the candles!!!!!!!

Brothers on Reed's birthday. I kept calling Luke "the lifeguard" because he stood there almost the entire time (that is, when he wasn't in his baby pool...still obsessed with it)!

And here were his party favors!! I found these balls at Tarjay on the $1 aisle! I attached some Toy Story gummies and this card and voila -- cute favor!

We had so so so much fun and are still sorting through and opening up all the toys! 
Still can't believe he's 4!

Kitchen and fabric favorites

I follow (and frequently visit) the sew mama sew blog and web site and they are having a sale. I think if I had 1 million dollars I would spend at least $100,000 on fabric...I am obsessed. 

I have been dreaming lately of an all white kitchen accented with turquoise and a little bit of red thrown in there--i.e. bright red Kitchen Aid mixer (and we are having a little trouble with an air-conditioning leak so I'm hoping the "paint the kitchen" project will happen sooner rather than later)!! If it does, I LOVE this fabric for new window treatments (I am dying to try this roller shade tutorial from Design Sponge found here):

Marnie from the Poodle fabric collection by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit.



with these shelves

(from Ballard)

and we are in desperate need of this bench (below and also from Ballard Designs) to collect all of our backpacks, shoes (it seems like the BBs take of their shoes as soon as they walk in the door...I counted 6 pairs in our kitchen floor the other night!)

(also from Ballard)

Here are a few more of my favorite fabrics that can be found on Sew Mama Sew:

Once we find out what this baby is (TOMORROW!!!), I may want to update some of our nursery bedding with this!!! Perfect for boy and girl...and I just L-O-V-E the name!

Grandma's Pearls from the Party Dress fabric collection by Mo Bedell for Blue Hill Fabrics.

This would also be an option for the kitchen!

Circles from the McKenzie fabric collection by Dena Designs for Free Spirit.

What a Whooooot!

My favorite: so fun and whimsical! Gotta love that round little owl!

Opal's House from the Opal Owl fabric collection by Tina Givens for Free Spirit.

Can I just say that Free Spirit is one of my favorite fabric companies! 


Anyway, I am saving all these ideas for my all new kitchen!

Friday quote...

Found this today on another blog...love it:

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde

4 years ago today...

...we got this...

 ...which made this (terrible pic of me)...

...and now we have a precious, sweet, tractor-loving, beach bum, deer hunter wanna be, and starting Monday will be starting K4!!!  

It is funny, because we have been watching home movies over the past several nights...Reed calls them his "baby" movies and it's hard to remember back to when he was a baby, one, and even two (which he refers back to A LOT, "I did that when I was two"). I know I'm going to wake up one day and he will be grown...I just hope time moves very slowly, because I don't want to miss one minute!

Our weekend -- to the coast and back!

We had a wonderful, yet busy (and lots of driving), weekend on our Kelly's Kids tour. My mom, Reed and I headed down Friday after work and Reed couldn't WAIT to get to "the coast." It's been so fun seeing friends and family AND seeing all the precious clothes they have picked out for their children!

First stop -- OCEAN SPRINGS, MS and the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a Kelly's Kids party hosted by my good friend Vicki. Our boys are two weeks apart and could be brothers (twins if you are looking at them from the back!). They were quite the models too! They had so much fun playing together -- too bad we live so far apart! Reed LOVED the ocean and we ate lunch at the harbor in Ocean Springs and got to see LOTS of boats going out to sea! The waters of the Mississippi Gulf Coast just reopened over the weekend so there was LOTS of activity while we were eating. We braved the 100+ degree but enjoyed the ocean breeze and especially the visit!

Reed and Will

Boats at the dock -- I think they are so pretty!

...and look what we found a -- Taylor Machine works (based in our little home town) fork lift they used to (and our eyes were glued to) get the boats out of the boat storage warehouse located right behind us! Wonder if this is a Charles Bond design?! Reed LOVED it...of course he loved anything that has wheels, lifts, moves, pushes, pulls, digs, etc.

 

 

 

 

Me and Vicki -- I sure do miss you!! It's always like just yesterday in the DG house -- some things never change and I LOVE THAT!

After lunch, Reed was dying to go to the beach and "put his feet in the ocean" -- and why shouldn't we since we were so so close! SO we did! And boy was it hot, but the boys LOVED IT!

 

 Below is the AWESOME playground that is across the street from the beach. It's a giant pirate ship. It is such a lovely area with an amphitheater and little pavilion right next door that was rebuilt after Katrina. There is also a little "splash pad" that the boys enjoyed after our jaunt to the beach!

Reed (and Will) loved playing together!

And I think Reed was a little sad to leave! He loved "the coast!"

My sweet mama was SO SO excited to see her best friend Bebe who lives in Gautier and welcomed us into her home Friday night. We lived on the coast until I was 8 (mama for 17 years) and it still feels like home to her! Bebe was/is her bestie and they always have so much fun together!!

Our last stop was Shearwater Pottery, Peter Anderson's pottery place. He is the brother to Walter Anderson -- one of my favorite Southern artists. Their little "compound" is directly across a little inlet from where we ate lunch!

Mama bought me a little "souvenir"to commemorate our little trip and I love it! 

Next, on to Hickory Hills Hunting Preserve and our little cousins Will, Ben, and Charlie! Reed couldn't wait to see some deer and boy did we! I couldn't get a great picture, but there were whitetail EVERYWHERE! Reed told Shannon that he was going to hunt this year with a bow and arrow (Rob are you hearing this? Better be getting that lined up)!  

Here we all are in Shannon's truck -- a fun (and funny) ride!!!!

We had so much fun visiting with them and hated to leave right as my Aunt Laura (my mom's sister) was getting there, but we had to get home to Rob and the little BB! AND, all the Kelly's Kids parties went great! Orders are already shipping! Till next season!!