What's been going on....

**Just FYI: I can never think of good blog post titles...and this one made me start singing that song!!**

Anyway, this is a very quick recap as to "what's been going on" in the past few weeks.  Seeing as how it's almost 1 am, I will be a little less "wordy" than normal. :)

Lauren has been.....

eating lots of ice cream

 Playing at the park

 dancing and dancing...

 sleeping :)

 chatting on the phone

 making crazy faces

 being a sweet, sweet girl!!

 playing Candyland

 over and over and over...

 having Saturday breakfasts at home....

(daddy makes the best scrambled eggs!!)

 Having picnic lunches on the living room floor..

.in our pajamas! 

coloring while mommy cooks supper

I will be back soon to post more pictures...gotta get some sleep for my extremely busy day tomorrow!!!!

ABC's of me

One of my mommy friends sent this survey to me and I thought it would be fun (and quick) to do here on the blog.... and let's face it, I am still not blogging as much as I would like to, so maybe this will give me a little "push". :)

Age: 30 (and 2 months)

Bed size: Queen (unfortunately). I have missed our king size bed every single day since we sold it with our house!!

Chore that you hate: cleaning toilets and emptying the dishwasher (I love to load it though, is that weird?)

Dogs: nope- but we did have dogs growing up.  I'm more of a cat person myself.

Essential to start your day: Plenty of sleep! 

(or coffee w/almond joy flavored creamer... yum!) 

Yes, you read that right- Almond Joy flavored coffee creamer. It is so good, I should do a post just on it's wonderfulness.  

Favorite Color: Anyone who knows me would say "RED" but I have been leaning towards turquoise/robin's egg blue lately. 

Gold or Silver: Definitely silver.  I only own a few pieces of gold jewelry- my engagement & wedding ring plus 3 more.  But I prefer silver. :)

Height: 5'7" (hope letter "W" is not weight!) 

Instruments you play: A little bit of piano- I can read music and play a little by ear.  Other than that, I play a mean kazoo and tamborine in Lauren's Melissa & Doug band set. :)

Job Title: Wife to Jason, Mommy to Lauren, Domestic Engineer- the pay is pretty lousy, but it has a great benefits package. :)  

Kids: Lauren Grace.

 Although sometimes Jason acts like a big kid. :)  

Seriously though, we are hoping God will bless us with 1 or 2 more babies.

Live: In Tennessee currently.  And I hope we will be here for a loooong time!

Mother's Name: Judy (that's a random question....)

Nicknames: "Sarah Lee", "Sarah Wibbus", "CC", and "Sistor".  Jason just calls me "babe."  :)

Overnight hospital stays: Other than my own birth- just when Lauren was born. 

 I've stayed in the hospital overnight with my mama several times- but she was the patient! 

Pet Peeves: Hmmm.... people who drive down the interstate with their turn signals on, irresponsible parents, whining, and losing things!!

Quote from a movie: "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it." (Anne of Green Gables)

Right or Left Hand: Right. But I used to wish that I was left-handed. I think just because I wanted to be different. 

 I also used to wish my name was spelled in a not-so-boring way...

like "Serra". 

 I was a strange child.

Siblings: Susie and Ryan (I'm the oldest) plus step-siblings and brothers and sisters-in-law!

Truth or Dare: Truth- I always pick truth :)

Ultimate Vacation: Traipsing around Europe and seeing England,Scotland, Wales ( I want to see the castles!!) and then a few weeks in Italy just for fun.

Vegetable you hate: radishes and turnip/collard greens

What Makes You Run Late: It takes me forever to pick what I want to wear, fix my hair and makeup... I need to get a better system- because I hate being late!!

X-rays you've had- I think just dental xrays.  I've never broken any bones.

Yummy Food that you Make: Stuffed Bell peppers, carrot cake or coconut cake

Zoo Animal: I like the lions the best!

This was a fun little "survey" to do! If you decide to take 10 minutes or so and do it on your blog, feel free to comment with the link- I'd love to read more about you!! 

Martha would be proud....

Ok, I'm going to go ahead and let any of you reading know that this is going to be my least favorite type of post- one with NO pictures!!

That is mostly because 1) I am doing my first ever post from my laptop (which I got for my bday almost 2 months ago!) and 2) I still haven't installed my camera software to the laptop, so I can't upload any pics anyway.

But other than that.....today I have fully embraced my inner "Martha" (Stewart)

I did 4 loads of laundry, emptied and filled the dishwasher twice, did some "fall" cleaning (like spring cleaning, but in the fall :) Ha!)  which included majorly cleaning out Lauren's toys in order to decide what to consign/pass down to younger cousins/send to Goodwill.  Lauren has been busy "undoing" all my cleaning..... (she didn't have "school" today, so she was "helping" me!)

I also cooked a yummy chicken casserole for supper and then put roast, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot for tomorrow night.  I have officially declared Tuesday nights as "Crock Pot Meal Night" since Lauren has to be at ballet at 5:45; it's just easier to have something cooked for everyone to eat when they are ready.

Tomorrow is our first MOPS meeting and I am excited and sort of nervous at the same time.  I was asked to be a discussion group leader for one of the tables this year; and I'm praying for God to help me with that.  I love to talk, but I don't know if I'm great at getting others to talk as well. :)

The steering team is bringing breakfast for the meeting tomorrow, so tonight I also "whipped up" some applesauce bread, overnight french toast and chocolate chip pumpkin "muffins".  (notice a theme- all sweet stuff- oops!) 

 I promise to be back tomorrow with some pictures and (more importantly) recipes! 

Oh, and I thought I should share that Jason's transmission went out on his truck Saturday morning (joy).  So we had to have it towed today and I will be driving him to and from work until it gets rebuilt/replaced.  Nothing like a surprise repair that costs thousands of dollars to start the week off! :(  But I'm thankful that my Tahoe is running fine and that we live only about 20 minutes from his job....it could be much worse!

I'm off to bed for a whopping 5.5 hours of sleep before I get up and start our crazy day! Praying it goes well!! :)

First Day of School

Good grief! I said that I was going to blog more often, and here I am, 2 weeks later, and haven't blogged once.  I apparently need to schedule it in on certain days of the week or something.  How do these moms that blog every single day do it?  I have no clue!

So I will post a few times this weekend to catch up on the past 2 weeks.

  First, Lauren started her "Mother's Day Out" program at a church here in town.  She was so stinkin' excited to go, and I was so dreading it.

I did take her for a quick hair cut trim the day before school.  She told me she needed her "hairs" cut before she went to big girl school.  Here she is before the cutting of the "hairs".  

You will notice I didn't take an after picture- because my hairdresser just barely trimmed the ends.  Seriously.  You can tell no difference.  She only charged me $5. Probably because we were in and out in less than 5 minutes! But Lauren was excited, and she felt important!

(FYI- I would have had her cut it more, but she needs to wear it up for dance!)

Anyway....we had already picked her backpack and lunchbox out and ordered it several weeks ahead of time (ok, maybe I am a little bit of a planner...) But I almost had a heart attack when PBK emailed me to let me know that both the backpack AND lunchbox were backordered until September 12.

  Her first day of "school" was September 7.  

However....by the grace of God (and He knows I am NOT a go-with-the-flow kinda girl), both items arrived before the first day! Yay! :)

I fixed her a special breakfast on her first day (and one of the few that I knew she would eat.  Girlfriend is just not a "breakfast" person.)  She was so excited to see it when she came downstairs!

 Cinnamon rolls +  (not pictured) turkey sausage and canteloupe. :)  Breakfast of champions, right?  

Then we had to do some posin'.... (thanks to my SIL, Kelli for inspiring me to make a banner- although all I did with this one was print, cut and hang it up!)

Can you tell she's lovin' her shoes?! 

($7 consignment last spring....

and yes, they are puddle jumpers- 

which are $43 retail- woot, woot!!)

Her poses make me laugh!!

And...I have no words.

Ready to go.... (I was holding the matching lunch box, don't worry!!)

I drove her to "school"- where we were almost 15 minutes late because I could.not.find.her.classroom!!!!!!

Then I saw a mommy friend from MOPS who was getting in her car after dropping of one of her littles.  (And was 39 weeks pg with #5, I might add)

I stopped her and said, "please tell me where to go!!!) :)

The good thing is, the teachers are very laid back, you can basically drop off and pick up anytime you want- they totally" go with the flow". Ha!

And, Lauren's teacher is one of my friends that I taught with before Lauren was born! Yay! Could that have worked out any better?! I think not!

Lauren walked right into her classroom, found her hook to hang her backpack and lunchbox and then walked away from me without even saying goodbye!  

Thanks, Lauren. Thanks a lot. 

When you are 18 and leaving for college I will remind you of that.

So I went and hugged her goodbye (she was busy playing with the dollhouse) and then proceeded to Cry.My.Eyes.Out the entire way home (thank God it's only 15 minutes down the road or I never would have made it).

Side Note: As a stay at home mom, the only time that Lauren is ever away from me is when I go to MOPS (2 times a month for about 3 hours) and on Sunday mornings when she goes to Children's Church (1 hour).  Sooo...other than that & 2 overnight stays with the gparents; we are pretty much like peas and carrots. 

But I pulled it together, because I had a MOPS steering team meeting to go to.  Again, God set that up just when I needed it; because I would have been wallowing in guilt and sadness if left home by myself all day!

I also realized that the fact that Lauren could walk right in and start playing without crying or worrying about me was probably a good sign.  When I used to teach, I can remember the first day having moms who were crying, while their children were crying...it was not pretty.  I had to literally send the moms out the door and tell them that their child would be ok! (and they always were!)

I took it as a sign that Lauren was well-adjusted (or something) and knew that she was loved and that I would always come back to get her.  

So that made me really feel a little much better. :)

When I went to pick her up, she was so excited to see me and we had hugs and talked the whole way home about all the fun she had!  Then we both a 1.5 hour nap followed by dinner at Cracker Barrel with Daddy that night to celebrate!!

Plus, many of my mom friends have advised me that the 5 or so hours of free time that I will be getting 2x's a week will be a blessing! I guess I didn't think of it that way...maybe I could blog on school days!! 

Labor Day Weekend

Friday Lauren and I did our weekly Target trip and had a yummy lunch at the "Target Cafe'" (Lauren's choice, not mine).  She gets the same thing every time- hot dog (no bun) and pita chips w/roasted red pepper humus + a  juice box. 


Sometimes I get a "mommy" drink from Starbucks.  

It depends on what kind of day we are having....  
This particular day I was having caffeine, without question!
 I won't go in to details on the blog,...but suffice it to say; after her little "incident" in Hobby Lobby, Lauren is lucky I took her anywhere but straight home!! (or to boarding school- because that thought also crossed my mind.)

Saturday morning started off with Jason getting up early and beginning to plan his "game food" for the Alabama game later that morning.  He had the nerve to discuss this game food with me while I was trying to sleep past 8am! :)

I spent the afternoon getting my hair cut and colored; I can't help they scheduled the football game at the same time as my hair appointment! Normally I wouldn't miss an Alabama game, but my hair took precedence since it hadn't been done in 2 months.  It was not lookin' lovely.

I did take a few pictures of my little "tailgaters" before I left....

**Lauren's outfit is from Lolly Wolly Doodle...I think maybe someone asked me that? (Suz?)  If you don't follow them on facebook- you should! They have great deals on custom kid's clothing and smocked outfits!!**

(too bad they aren't paying me to endorse them...)

And this picture totally cracks me up- Lauren was sitting on the couch and I said, "Lauren, let me take a picture of you really quick....."

And no joke, this is what I get.  She "poses" like this?!  I mean, who taught her that?  Good grief.  I was sort of shocked, but started laughing at the same time.

And on a side note, does anyone notice that hairdressers seem to always be having some sort of personal crisis?  I mean, I love mine, she's been doing my hair since before Lauren was born, but she has some issues. (and so did the 2 I had before her....)

While I was waiting for my color to do it's thing (develop?), my hairdresser proceeds to catch me up on her life, since I hadn't seen her in almost 2 years.  Apparently, the man she was dating before had a heart attack and she found him dead in her living room.  Her oldest daughter just had a baby after miscarrying twins and her middle daughter is pregnant and in jail.  

Wow!

  I mean, I'm not trying to make light of her situation at all, I feel bad for her; but it seems like regardless of who does my hair, there is so much drama.  Anyone else?  

Anyway....

Thankfully, Alabama won their football game, so I had one happy husband.  I got to watch the end of the game, and am looking forward to the rest of the season....ROLL TIDE!! 

Sunday, Jason decided we should take a little trip up to Tellico to see the waterfall again and let Lauren play in the water.  (I think he was trying to make up for watching 12+ hours of football the day before!!)

We hadn't been up to Tellico since Lauren was little, so I was excited about going back.  It is soooo pretty up there and aside from always getting car sick on the drive up, I do love going.

I took a ton of pictures; sorry if anyone's eyes start to hurt.....

the view was gorgeous!!

This is the same spot that we came to a few years ago....

Me with my sweet girl 

 this view wasn't bad either :)

 Lauren LOVED putting her feet in the water

 I was trying out the black and white setting on my camera

 love this of Jason and Lauren


I'd say she's grown a little bit, though!

 then my 2 daredevils went rock climbing....

 see how far they went?!

 All to find Lauren a little "waterfall" to put her feet in!!

she splashed and played and was so happy!

We stopped by the visitor's center and museum, browsed around the antique store and then came home.  We managed to do our grocery shopping for the week before it started POURING down rain.

And then it rained and rained and rained all night long and all the next morning....


We are renting my mom's condo right now since we just moved back to Athens.  


Side note #1: We knew that her porch had leaked a little in the past; but didn't really think about that last night when the monsoons came in.


Side note #2: In an effort to clear boxes out of my living room a few weeks ago, I had put several out on the   enclosed porch; and was planning to go through them later this week.


Big mistake.


When I went out to the porch this morning to check on the water, I could not believe the amount of water sitting on the floor. Guess what else was sitting on the floor?  Our boxes.  Yes, cardboard boxes.  Which don't do well sitting in couple of inches of water.


We had a disaster!!  The porch does NOT leak from the roof, the water actually comes in from the ground outside the porch because the foundation is not level or water-tight or something. 


 We had no idea. 


Side note#3:
 Obviously, now we do.


The really bad thing about all of this was that 2 of the boxes that got the wettest (is that a word?  it looks weird...) were the one containing our files for the office area and Lauren's baby book (!!!!!!) plus, Jason had a box of Alabama memorabilia that he had collected from their 2009 championship.


 All of this stuff was PAPER. 


 Paper + Water = not good.


All of Jason's Alabama stuff was ruined- newspapers, Sport's Illustrated magazines, his collector's edition book that I got him for Christmas, all soaked.  We had to throw it all away.


Lauren's baby book (scrapbook) survived mostly- THANK GOD- because it was in plastic page protectors.  


I had to sort through 2 whole boxes of wet paper this afternoon, while Jason moved everything else into rubbermaid containers and then used the shop vac to suck up most of the water.  


It really was a disaster; and I'm sure it was not the way he wanted to spend his day off work! But we are thankful that it was not worse than it was. I'm glad we were home and not at his parents' house like we had originally planned, because we never would have been able to save the papers that were still dry this morning.


The one thing that I am still trying to figure out is our taxes. Yes, all of our taxes were in the box as well (it was the contents of our filing cabinet) and they are wet.  I don't even know what to do with all those wet papers. I know one thing- if we ever get audited, it's not gonna be good.  I'm planning to make some phone calls tomorrow and find out what to do.  


Whew! Well, that is a loooooooong post, and other than the crazy water disaster today, we did have a really good weekend.

 Hopefully this week ahead will be better!!

and...we're baaaaaack

Ok, after a 6 month-ish blogging hiatus, I have realized that it's time to get back to business. 

I've missed blogging.  

I actually had a friend ask me at Mom's Night Out one night, "WHY do you blog, anyway?!" And that made me kind of stop and think.... (mostly because I have not been blogging!)  So why DO I blog?  Here are a few reasons...in no particular order

 (not to be confused with the Letterman top 10 or anything)

 1) Memory Keeping.  I started blogging when Lauren was 5 months old.  Although I was not as consistent as I could have been; being able to look back on those growth updates, milestones and pictures of Lauren are priceless to me.  It also takes a heck of a lot LESS time for me to type out a blog post and add pictures than it does to make a scrapbook page.

(Thank you Mr. Grantham for those 8th grade typing classes- my speed typing would make you proud!)

2)Updates.  Having a blog allows my family to read about what Lauren has been up to.  We have never lived closer than 4.5 hours to Jason's family in the 10 years we've been married.  When we were in KY, we were almost 10 hours from my family in FL!  For them to be able to click over to my blog and see pictures of what we've been up to is great- and a picture is worth a thousand words, truly.  I can talk on the phone all day long about what we did that week- but seeing it is better, I think!

3) It's an outlet for a "wordy" girl like me!  I love to talk and write and read.  Blogging allows me to express myself and I've also "met" several other moms online who have children of similar ages/stages as Lauren.  It's been great to make connections.  I also keep up with friends from college through their blogs and facebook.

4) Purpose.  I have been encouraged in many different ways by other bloggers in the past few years.  I am sure that they will never know this, seeing as how they are women that I do not know in real life.  I often think that if I have been encouraged by others, maybe (just maybe), God will want to use my blog as a way to bring glory to Him and use my words to encourage other women as well.

Whew.  With all that being said, if there are any friends out there still following my blog, you can expect to see more frequent blog posts from me in the coming days/weeks/etc. ( I need to be held accountable, but haven't figured that part out yet!)

And because I strongly dislike blog posts without pictures....here are a few random ones of my cutie-pie.  She is growing so fast!

**In my next few posts, I plan to do some SERIOUS catching up from the past 6 months or so...they will be very condensed versions of what we have been up to, just so I can keep a record of it here!**

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; 

He has risen!"

Luke 24:5 & 6