Lake Memories

Our friends Jake and Katie graciously invited us to their family's lake house last weekend.  We became friends with Jake and Katie in 2005 when we all lived in Birmingham.  Jake and Raleigh (and our friend Ara) all met in graduate school at UAB.  After graduation, all three guys got hired by the same company for positions in Atlanta.  It has been fun to make memories with them over the years and watch our families grow together.  Jake and Katie have two adorable kids...Charlie is 3 and Mary Fields is 9 months.

 Beau and Charlie had fun throwing water balloons off the porch! 

 Beau wasn't too fond of the life jacket! 

 Beau and stayed back while the others enjoyed the boat.  The life jacket just wasn't a battle worth fighting. 

 He was happy to look at the water and drink gatorade! 

  Jake and Katie even brought their new bouncy house and that was a hit! 

Fun at School

Date Night

Two weekends ago Raleigh and I enjoyed a really fun night out! We headed to Nashville for the weekend to spend time with my parents and Sunday night we enjoyed the Carrie Underwood concert!

We had great seats! We were not on the floor, but in the first level up.  You really could see the stage well.  It was fun seeing what everyone was wearing to the concert! LOL!  Imagine lots of short skirts paired with cowboy boots and you are on the right track.  And there were tons of elementary school aged girls that knew every word to every song!

Growing up in Nashville I feel like I went to a lot of concerts, especially in high school.  There was always some type of concert to look forward to.  Since living in Birmingham and now Atlanta, we really have not been to many concerts so it was fun to get out and enjoy some music.  Obviously Carrie Underwood is not necessarily Raleigh's favorite musician but he knows I love her so he gave me the tickets for our anniversary earlier this year.  Funny story....there is a huge advertisement for ZZ Top on the tickets, so when I first opened them up I thought he gave me ZZ Top tickets.  Which I thought was strange.  LOL! Thankfully they were Carrie Underwood tickets instead! 

Oh and Brad Paisley made an appearance too!  He came out to sing "Remind Me" with Carrie.  I love Brad Paisley but I love him even more because his wife was in one of my favorite movies, Father of the Bride.  

I didn't take my camera in and I couldn't get a good picture of the Carrie on stage, so I will just show you this picture instead.  

My cousin Sarah (on left) ran into Carrie at Whole Foods a few weeks ago! Apparently she was really nice!  

And she hires believers to be in her band.  Isn't that cool that she surrounds herself with other musicians who love the Lord?  Her bass player and musical director is my parents' neighbor and he is always really nice.  And his wife Ivey makes delicious cupcakes if you are ever in Nashville! 

Thanks Raleigh for a fun night and thanks Nana and Pipi for watching Beau so that we could enjoy the concert! 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Aren't my parents so cute?!  Happy Birthday mom!! I love you! 

Week Two

Last week was the second week of preschool for Beau.  It has been a growing experience for all of us! It has been growing my prayer life because I pray for my little guy the whole time he is there.  I mean so far I haven't done anything "productive" while Beau is in school because I am so focused on praying that the Holy Spirit would capture his heart and fill him with joy! (I know that praying is actually the most productive thing I could ever do in terms of raising Beau, but you know what I mean.)

Beau still cries at drop-off everyday, but he doesn't hang on to me.  He does go to his teacher.  I just drop him off and leave right away.  I know from my time as a teacher that it does no good (in most situations) for the parent to linger.  Usually the teacher is better at distracting the child once the parent is gone, and this is what I hope happens.  I always tell them to call me if he is still upset after 30 minutes and so far they haven't called.  He does like to sit with the teacher some, but I am totally ok with that.  Baby steps is what we are going for! Here are a couple of pictures the teachers shared from last week.  (I know he isn't smiling all the time at school and the teachers obviously share the "happy" pictures, but it is still good to see a smile while he is at school!)

Two Sides of Beau

Isn't it so cool that God gives each of us lots of aspects to our personalities?! We are each so complex and that makes life so fun!

I love watching Beau's little personality develop! Here are some snapshots of his all boy side and his sensitive side.

 Last week we were exploring our playground and Beau discovered some rocks.  He had fun collecting them in his water bottle.  

 Looking around for treasures! 

 Hmm, what else can I collect in this bottle?! 

 At the far end of the playground there is a baseball field and Beau loved walking around on the red Georgia clay! 

 This little guy has an "all boy" side that loves rocks and dirt and exploring! 

 And now for a look at his softer side.  A few mornings ago I glanced up to find Beau reading to his puppy.  Bless his little heart!

 He loves this page of Goodnight Gorilla! All of the zoo animals that snuck into bed are saying goodnight! 

 He loves to give his puppy a kiss on the nose! 

 Hmm, what should we read next?

We love you so much Beau! 

Going to the Chapel

Over the weekend I was honored to attend a bridal shower for my sweet friend Amanda.  Do you remember this song...

Make new friends, but keep the old
Some are silver and the others gold

Well Amanda is one of my golden friends.  We have been friends since middle school and now she and her fiance live in Atlanta.  So fun how our paths are crossing again!

I have many wonderful memories with Amanda in our younger days and now that we live in the same city again it will be fun to make some new memories!

Amanda's shower was hosted by three of her college friends at a lovely restaurant.  We were treated to a delicious brunch and and fun fellowship.

 my best attempt at  a picture of the table

 Amanda and her younger sister Lauren...unfortunately I did not get a picture of her other sister Jessica

 Aren't the hydrangeas beautiful?

 The roses were gorgeous too! 

 The customized menus were such a fun touch!  I chose the omelet and it was yummy! 

 Amanda's mom received a gift for winning the trivia game! 

 I am so happy for you Amanda and can't wait to celebrate with you at your big day! 

Day 2

Well, day 2 of preschool wasn't quite as perfect as day 1, but Beau did stay the whole time so I count it as a success.

His teachers said he cried about 30 minutes at the beginning.  When I dropped him off, about 1/2 of his class was crying and so I was pretty sure that he would join the group.  The problem is that once he gets himself worked up about something, it can take a little while for him to calm back down.  So I guess 30 minutes isn't terrible.

They said he didn't cry anymore after that, but he did stay close to one of the teachers the whole day except when they went to the playground.  They said he loved the playground.  So at least there was one part of the day he seemed to enjoy!

We made it through week 1 of preschool! Yippee!

First Day of Preschool

Today was Beau's first day of preschool!  We spent the weekend talking all about school and telling Beau how fun it was going to be.  We told him that he would love it and that teddy could go with him.

Well, today came and Raleigh and I were pretty nervous, but we didn't let it show.  We walked Beau into his room and said our goodbyes quickly and said we would be back.  Then we left.  I almost teared up, but Raleigh told me to pull it together! LOL! I had told his teachers to call me if he was still crying after 30 minutes.  The great news is that he never cried! If you know Beau, you know that this is huge!!! What a brave boy! These are all pictures that the teacher shared with us.  Although he is not smiling in any of the pictures, his teachers said he laughed and smiled a lot during the day.

Beau will go back to preschool on Thursday.  Hopefully he will have good memories from the first day and he will be happy to go back!  I think we will let teddy go with him for a while.  Everyone loves to have a comfort item, and he is only 2 so if it makes him feel safe to have teddy there, then I am happy to let him tag along.

We know that all the glory belongs to God!!!! God alone made this day such a success for Beau!  We were praying the whole time he was there and lots of our family was also praying with us.  Little Beau is an instrument that God is using to display His splendor!  We praise God tonight for comforting Beau's heart during school today! Thank you Jesus for a great first day of preschool!  We celebrated with lunch at Chick-fil-a!

We love you Beau and we are so proud of you!  Even if you didn't like preschool, we would still be proud of you! :)