I think I can sew

Do you know what I hear right now?  The air conditioner running and the sound of noise machines are coming through the monitors.  The boys are asleep and I have about 1 hour of peace and quiet until they wake up.  For the most part all of my household chores are complete, laundry is done, supper is made, plants are watered, dishes are loaded nicely into the dishwasher and I am sitting here in my uniform with my chap stick and unsweetened tea.  And if you’re wondering what my uniform would be, well, it consists of a t-shirt, pajama pants, my lovely full length robe, and slippers.  Things are really going my way this hour!

As if I didn't have enough to do last week panicking about John Brantley’s party, I decided I needed to sew.  Who am I kidding?  I can’t sew.  I think I can, but I really can’t.  I don’t even know how to load thread onto my machine.  So when I need to be reloaded I have to go ask for assistance.  But I wanted to sew.  I have been buying plain t-shirt at Wal-Mart for $3.88.  Good deal… and I wanted to make a cute one for Ford.  

I decided I would do a baseball on the front.  So I got a bowl and traced a circle in white fabric and then found some red fabric to stick on there.  

 After I finished with the baseball I thought I might write his name on the shirt.  Cutting out letters is a bit difficult so I opted for a bat.  I wish I would have sewn the bat down first.  All in all, my $3.88 shirt turned out ok for someone who just “wings it” on sewing!

 Friday morning I told Trey he really needed to cut the yard before he went to work.  I knew it was going to rain over the weekend and I wanted the yard to look nice for Bitty’s party.  The boys would watch him out the front door and when Trey went on the side of the house Ford would grab john Brantley and run to the hall door.  So sweet!

 Saturday night after the party was concluded we loaded up to eat Catfish at The Holiday Lodge.  John Brantley wasn't exactly easy to entertain and we were pulling tricks out of our sleeves to keep him occupied.  A bowl of lemons was the first activity we tried.  I especially love the first two pictures because Puddin looks very concerned!!!

 Even though he looks very disturbed by the taste of his first activity, he was ready for round 2!

 We tried to feed John Brantley while he floated up and down the table.  It was hard to keep his attention on his food so Puddin decided to put on a baseball cap so he’d look her way.  The child LOVES a hat!

 On Monday a RARE occurrence took place.  Trey and I had a “day date” to Oxford.  We never get to go on a date alone, much less during the day.  At 10:00 our babysitter came and I picked Trey up at work.  We headed to Oxford.  Our first stop was at the VA to see my granddaddy.  Next, we headed to the square for some lunch at City Grocery, and lastly, we spent 2 ½ hours meeting with our architect to discuss our house plans.  No one get all excited and think we are about to break ground and start building.  It won’t be happening anytime soon.  We have actually been meeting with her since last September.  We are taking baby steps on this process.

While we were gone I left my camera and was delighted to find some pictures of the boys playing on Bitty’s new water mat.

 Meal times are becoming a struggle with JB.  He doesn't particularly love table food and he slaps the spoon with I try to feed him baby food.  Neither one of my children are good eaters and it’s a challenge to figure out what to feed them that they will actually eat.  This is what I end up with….

Birthday blog below….

Bitty's Party

I planned and stressed about Ford’s party from mid-March until party day and then I was over birthday party planning.  I kind of put John Brantley’s on the backburner and decided I’d “get to it later”.  Well, later came and it was time to begin the preparations for Bitty’s big day. 

I decided this party would be smaller, Ford had over 30 children at his, and I would do it at our house.  For some stupid reason I got in my head that I needed to clean all rooms from top to bottom.  I cleaned base boards, windows, blinds, spider webs, dusted, mopped, vacuumed, scrubbed…scrubbed…scrubbed until I felt like a bottle of bleach.  When I get in one of these modes/moods you’d better just let me finish what I’m doing and leave me alone.  Now this major cleaning spree went on for about 4-5 days.  On Friday I was really in the zone and even recruited some child labor.  

 I decided to have the party around John Brantley’s nap schedule, and earlier in the day so it wouldn't ruin everyone’s entire day.  There isn't a lot that goes on at a one year old birthday party so I opted for a 10:30-12:00 time frame.

John Brantley doesn't even watch TV, but we went with a Sesame Street theme just for the fun of it!  I feel like the cake is the central part of the party and I spent several hours searching on google for just the perfect cakes.

John Brantley’s very own smash cake

 For years now Trey has complained about the hideous pictures in our dining room.  Honestly, I think they are ugly too, but I've never bothered to do anything about them because they don’t bother me that much.  I decided to put Elmo over them for the big day!

 Our neighbors, Jill, Petyon, and Micah

 Bobba giving John Brantley a bite

 John Brantley and Rowland

 Rowland and his Mommy, Betsy

 The cousins

 Miss Taylor and John Brantley.  Taylor is such a good friend.  Well, Aunt Taylor… she got aunt status when she took off of work and drove to Memphis on the day I had John Brantley.  She’s always up for a trip to hang out at the Lamar Inn and Suites in Mayberry!!!

 Bitty and Aunt Ashley

 Sidney Kate and Bailey

 Gaines

 This child LOVES a water bottle.

 BoomPa and Gran with Bitty

 Puddin and Pops with Bitty

 It’s Happy Birthday time….

 Presents…

This child has brought so much joy and love into our house that’s it’s hard to remember life before Bitty.  We all love him very much and are thankful he is ours.

(His real birthday is June 13….One year old sappy blog to come….)