visit back home...

Last week we made a planned trip to Birmingham for the weekend to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Mary Rebecca in Pine Mountain, Ga. Sadly, we also spent a few extra days in town after the tornado swept through Birmingham and a friend of mine passed away. As shocking and heartbreaking as it all has been I was so grateful and thankful to be able to attend her funeral while back home...Carrie will be missed by so so many people, which was evident by the crowded church, testimonies and tears.

here is a link to the local news story I saw while sitting on the couch over the weekend in Birmingham

the story of Tucker's rescue

And this is my beautiful friend Carrie - her husband Josh - and sweet baby Tucker

It's baffling to watch the local news and see all of the devastation. You really can't wrap your mind around it all. A friend of mine and I were talking about how we have this one connection to the storm, this loss of life, and to think that there are hundreds of others missing, killed, injured...it's overwhelming. Keep them all in your hearts and prayers.

Our trip to Georgia started bright and early so we could make it to the Country Store in Callaway just in time for breakfast...or so we hoped! With time change and a long drive included we somehow squeezed right in the restaurant just in time!! We even had almost 5 whole minutes to spare before breakfast was over...  phew. 

Since we had the afternoon free we went to see the butterflies in Callaway Gardens, walked around a while and got to visit with our family (which was so nice :) )

Mary Bec and Jason got married at the cutest chapel, on a hill, in a field, surrounded by nothing at all but grass, trees and hills. It was beautiful!!

My dear sister and Patrick used their fans the entire service to keep the pregnant chick from having a melt down. A for real one. My body temperature felt like it was 1000 degrees... but thanks to my dedicated fan waving sister and husband I survived :)  -- we were reenacting as you can see...

Here's Mary Rebecca and Paw Paw, aka the dancing machine.... ;)

 Pat got Gee Gee out on the dance floor too - all I have to say is that I was sober -- but 99.9999% of the rest of my entire family was some form of sober-ish. 

Pure. Entertainment.

And this is a must...

Here's Emily's dog.

I want him.

He is a mastiff basset hound mix.

I love this dog.

Eloise is being replaced. 

just kidding...maybe...

And last but NOT least

Look at my little Callie, all bundled up in her red puffer suit...my all time favorite picture of her

ps. please dont kill me :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLIE

 to my BFF of ohh you know, a measly 20ish years ;)  you are fabulous. I don't know what I would do without you. I must agree - you are my soul friend - as always it doesn't matter how long it has been since I have seen your face or even heard your voice - it's like we just fit together. Through all of these years, I couldn't have asked for a better person to be by my side - you're so special to me - I LOVE YOU!!

And maybe...if everyone is lucky...I will post the pictures of our photo shoot at her house from the weekend. It will give you a glimpse inside our friendship and either make you wonder what goes on in our heads, or it will make total sense to you and you will not be surprised by our beautifully posed pictures.

For now - pictures from our trip to the oh-so-delicious Doodles

me - aka the doodles double fister

callie - with the 'big boy' doodles (to her defense it was not actually for her)

emotional...

I am still sticking to the fact that I have not been an 'out of control pregnant emotional crazy chick' (so far) - though we have had many emotions around the past few weeks!!

Lets start with Peter Cottontail. As you may have noticed - we have no Peter updates. That's all I have to say about that...and that many many tears were shed (from me, of course)

Here is a picture of me. The first word that comes to mind when trying to describe my facial expression is disgust. 

Why the face??

Because Patrick and I were venturing into Babies R Us for the first time. I had this overwhelming fear of going into that store!! I sat for 10 minutes -fo real- with my seat belt on, car turned off, staring in disgust, making observations of all of the people coming and going, asking Pat over and over if something is wrong with me considering my strong aversion to going into a store to register for baby stuff. Needless to say, 4 hours later (3 of which were spent with Alison on the phone, getting expert advice ;) ) we are registered...and most of all - I SURVIVED!!!! Of course Patrick was his normal laid back self about it all and handled my fear perfectly - lucky me! Not so lucky him...

(he took this picture without me knowing - this really is the facial expression that I had for a good 10 minutes)

Hair cut style #452 for cats!!

The fresh and freeing summer 'cut'

Fab tail, Miss Mophie.

And then we almost died. 

At a Cardinal's game.

With good friends.

And an all you can eat buffet and all you can drink beer (or coke for SOME of us).

A terrible storm ripped through St Louis while we were at the game, but we hunkered down at a table, held onto our plates and cups (literally) and watched the storm attack the stadium. That is until HUGE hail started smacking into us and chairs started blowing towards us...then we decided to huddle together for safety.

We survived - see!?

Funny...

Bunny B!!! haha...

And exciting!!! 

We bought nursery bedding! I got over my fear of all things baby after our registering extravaganza and took the plunge into bedding!

It's Pottery Barn Sweet Little Lambies....and LOVE it.

Random...

Eloise got a bed!!!!

We decided maybe, just maybe, she was ready for a bed. Let's place bets on how long it survives!!

Last but by far not least...

Pat is SO excited about his new St Patty's day attire!!!!

They are fabulous...

phew...

Guess we put the sign up just in time!!

The sign is covered in grass, but if you can tell the grass is high right around the rocks - and the bunnies are all cozy and alive!

*bunny update*

So I have spread the word to our neighbors, made a barrier of rocks, and stuck a sign in the courtyard to save the bunnies from the lawnmower! 

We think there are 5 in there. I took all of these pictures on my phone and realize that you can't see them very well, but they're all crammed in that tiny hole together!

peter cottontail

Here he is! Peter Cottontail! It's a tee-tiny one. I had Monster out the other day, she was sniffing around and didn't even see the baby bunny. There were 3 of them! We have been extra careful, keeping Eloise on the leash, since I found Peter x 3 in the courtyard.

Then....last night....

Patrick took Monster out when we got home from dinner. There is a shallow hole she has been sniffing for several days now, I usually just try to drag her away because we're out there with a purpose and I get sick of waiting around for her to 'do her thang' if you know what I mean.

She got one good sniff in last night and came out with what Pat originally thought was a squeaker toy because it was making weird noises. Then he quickly realized it was a SUPER tee-tiny Peter Cottontail! Of course he got her to drop it...it squiggled and crawled back into the grass. He said Peter's momma was near by trying to help the baby bunny so they went inside. Pat went back out to check on Peter, and momma bunny had covered him with a leaf, so he picked him up with a towel and set him outside his little home. This morning he checked on Peter again and there are FIVE babies in the little hole!!! Now I will be making a barrier around the shallow hole so no one cuts the grass right there - I just love these little bunnies!

doggy devastation

Have you ever had your favorite store close? Your favorite restaurant stop serving the thing you crave all of the time? Cancelled plans that you were so looking forward to? ....

devastation.

That's what you felt.

 This is doggy devastation. The picture sums it up.

Eloise and I went out to enjoy the beautiful weather together yesterday - and that means one thing. A trip to heaven... also known as, the dog park.

Oh but wait. There are no fences around the dog park...?! And construction workers, cones, trucks allll around..!?!?  What is happening!??!?!!!

Today we knew what to expect. Well, I knew what to expect. This poor pup still hasn't quite gotten it. She longingly looked across the street at her heaven. Those big brown eyes with her expressive little eyebrows would then turn back and look at me, wondering why we weren't crossing the street to play??

Change of plans. I packed treats galore and off we went to Forest Park to do her 2nd favorite thing. Swimming!

And it was followed up with some fetch on the tennis courts - I think I made up for her deep, empty pit of devastation. We will see if the dog park gets destroyed or spruced up!! Keep your fingers crossed for the latter!

scatterbrain

I feel like lately there have been SO many different things going on at once that I have completely lost my mind. Maybe that's nothing new...

This is late, but must be shared! Patrick was interviewed about a patient on the local news several weeks ago (or months!?! I don't even know anymore - life is flying by!) - here is his T.V. debut!

Patrick's Interview

Next...

did I post this already? I am honestly not sure, but here it is again if I did - 

BUY OUR HOME PLEEEEAAASE

We went to Birmingham this past weekend for Amy and Wesley's wedding. They got married in Marion, Alabama on a farm and it was beautiful! Both Pat and I took some pictures (with our phones....slackers - we never have a real camera with us) and love the hipstamatic app if you can't tell.

the "children" in the back of the car

There are a LOT of these pictures of rural Alabama...

I was the on the road photographer so my sister can have some new things to draw for art shows

Stephen couldn't come along for the fun because he was holding down the fort at an art show for my sister. I am secretly okay with the fact he wasn't there because he made me a loaf of homemade bread!!! 

De.licious.