Tennessee Trip

This week Bronson had to spend several days in Clarksville, so Jack and I took the opportunity to visit our former home-state.

Yesterday we made the trip from Clarksville to Waverly to see my friends, former colleagues, and even some of the students I taught stopped by to say hello!

I first must say that everyone at Waverly Central High School holds a special place in my heart. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of everyone, but here are a few.



Scott, a former student, is now a police officer. Humphreys County can now rest a little easier!!! :)





Corey and Emily (also former students) dated in high school and are now married! They are perfect for one another and couldn't be any more sweet!





We also got to spend a lot of time with my "Tennessee Mom". Debbie is a wonderful lady who was there for me every step of the way. She gave me all the advice a new teacher needs and became one of my closest friends!





Also, Jack managed to con her into watching "Thomas the Train" during one of her Spanish classes. And yes, the whole class watched "Thomas" with Jack. I don't think they expected to watch cartoons in class, but it was precious. They were all so good with Jack.








One of the first faces we saw was Nancy. Nancy works in the front office and is honestly one of the nicest, most caring and patient individuals I have ever met. I miss her terribly!





Mary is another very good friend of mine and one of the most giving and thoughtful people I know. As a perfect example of typical Mary behavior, she bought this toy for Jack so he would have something to play with when he arrived! Can you believe that? What a thoughtful person!









After we left the high school, we headed to The Board of Education, which is where Mr. Rawlings (he was the principal that hired me and that I worked for at WCHS) now works. We were able to have a nice conversation while my no-nap having son ran around Mr. Rawlings' office like a banshee. Thankfully he's a grandpa and understood my that my son's erratic behavior was the result of over stimulation coupled with no afternoon sleep.

All joking aside, I have so much respect for this man I cannot put how I feel into words. He gave me my first real job, hired me straight out of college and often times believed in me more than I did myself. He made Waverly a great place to work and an even better place for students to attend. I could go on and on and on.....but I'll stop with that.





After we left Waverly we headed back to Clarksville to visit a former professor of mine at Austin Peay State University. Again, Dr. Stewart is one of those amazing individuals that I have immense respect for. He was the principal at Ft. Campbell High School for many years before he left for APSU, but was the best teacher, mentor, and friend a person could ask for. Just to brag on him a little, he is now the Graduate Coordinator for the College of Ed, soon to be an Associate Professor, and recent recipient of the prestigious Socrates Award! The man is a true treasure and I miss him and love him dearly!!





Even though I am not from Tennessee and Illinois is technically my home, as soon as I crossed that state line I got the warm fuzzies! Tennessee will always be my home too! I miss my friends, the wonderful southern hospitality and manners, and the simpler way of life!

Party Recap

Melissa did a lot of party planning for the big reveal last night, and as you can see, all her work paid off. It was a wonderful evening of family and friends celebrating our newest addition.....Baby GIRL Farley!


Here are a few pictures of the spread. We had BBQ sandwiches, chips, veggies, and the most amazing pasta salad.











These are the famous cupcakes. No, we didn't make them, but we made the little bees on top. If you look closely, it is black and yellow M & M's held together with chocolate with almond slices for the wings. They were FANTASTIC and a huge hit! And yes.....they tasted as good as they looked!








Melissa also requested that everyone wear either pink or blue in support of the sex they thought Baby Farley might be.


Team Pink





Team Blue





Jack and I, of course, sported our blue....we're a little biased!





This is Melissa's BF from college, Michelle, who drove 4 hours from Indiana to surprise her! Needless to say, she was touched and couldn't stop crying for 20 minutes!





Maddy (Courtney Church-Dunning's daughter) putting some blush on Jack. Wow.....the things he is already doing for some attention from the ladies!





Melissa and the moms





Melissa and her sisters






Then it was time for the moment everyone had been patiently waiting for!


Ryan with the top secret envelope!





I don't think this picture sequence needs words! It speaks for itself!















Thank you, Ryan and Melissa, for choosing to share this special moment with all of us! I was honored to be apart of such an intimate, live changing moment!

Love you both!!



*If you are interested in seeing a video of the reveal, click on Melissa's blog to the right (Confessions of a Martha Stewart Reject) for the link.

It's a Girl!!!

...but stay tuned for many more pictures!

Meet Olo

(Pronounced: Oh-Low)





This is the cucumber from Veggie Tales that my Aunt Susan sent Jack for Christmas. We have never really watched Veggie Tales before, but we're not opposed, just stuck on other videos like Thomas the Train, Shrek, and of course, Nemo.


So several months ago Jack started carrying around the cucumber and calling him Olo. I have no idea where he got the name. The cucumber's name in Veggie Tales is Bob or Larry or something like that.


Now our nightly equation goes something like this:



Olo +
ba-ba (his pacifier) +
na-na (his blanket) +
ju-ju (his juice) +
Llama Llama Mad at Mama (his favorite book) +
Rockabye Baby CD (our current fav is Journey's renditions) =

one happy camper!

Which One Will It Bee?

Melissa goes for her 20 week ultrasound on Monday. That means, we also find out the sex of the baby! So in celebration, Melissa and Ryan are throwing a party so we can all find out together. She is having the ultrasound tech put the baby's sex in an envelope and we will be opening it at the party.


The party theme is bees and let's just say, Melissa and I have some Martha Stewart style stuff going down on Monday night. So stay tuned for some pictures to highlight the party and of course, the biggest news.......Which one it will bee!

Taking Orders from a 21 Month Old??

I think I have mentioned before that Jack is very verbal. He is quite the chatterbox and is very capable of speaking complete sentences. Although it isn't on a regular basis, nor has it ever really been directed at someone, he says things like "Daddy's big truck all gone." Technically it has a subject and a predicate, so it's a complete sentence. That has been pretty common since he was about 19 months.


So the other day instead of pulling on my leg or holding his outstretched arms in my direction as he usually does, he looked up at me and said, "Pick me up". I have to say I was taken a little off guard. He had never actually directed such verbiage toward me or to my knowledge, anyone else.


But the icing on the cake came this morning. I made him some french toast for breakfast and cut it up into little pieces and put it in front of him. (And no it wasn't made from scratch french toast. I'm not that kind of mom. I work a full time job. I'm a straight from the freezer to the microwave french toast kind of mom!) So then he looked at me like what am I suppose to do with this? Eat with my hands? He then proceeded to say, "Give me a spoon."


That is no exaggeration. My 21 month old son said to me, "Give me a spoon." I of course was again taken by surprise. All I could say was, "How about give me a spoon please". He then repeated the sentence with "please" attached and I did as he asked. I'm not quite sure where he gets this stuff, but as I've stated before.....he sure is a little boy who knows EXACTLY what he wants!

Spring Pictures

When nice weather hits, I get an overwhelming need to take LOTS of pictures. But don't worry. This is just a sampling and you can expect many more great pictures to follow in the next month or so.


I spent this beautiful day driving around Southern Illinois (for work, unfortunately not for fun) taking in all the sights and I didn't even have my camera to snap a single picture. (By the way, there is a beautiful covered bridge in Chester that I have my eye on, so I hope I can get some great pictures there soon).


So when I got home today, Jack and I headed to the ragweed field that has been wreaking havoc on our sinuses for the last several weeks. I understand that taking my allergy prone son to a field full of weeds for some pictures probably wasn't the best of ideas, but he had had his daily dose of Zyrtec and I thought.....what the heck! The weeds actually made for a nice backdrop for a few spring pictures.

My Mini Mozart

Jack loves to sing "The Wheels on the Bus". He can sing it for 20 minutes straight and he likes to change it up a little too. Like "The Wheels on Mommy's White Car" and "The Wheels on Daddy's Brown Truck" Although his version goes something like this:


"Wheels bus round round all daw looong"


So yesterday I caught him in the piano room putting a little music to his words. I just caught the end of it with the video, but I think you get the gist. I think he enjoyed giving his little concert as much as we enjoyed hearing it.

Hangin' with Nina

Jack goes to Nina and Bumpa's (a.k.a Suzanne and Doug's) house two days a week. He is usually up to no good whether it be chasing the cat, throwing balls off the pool table, or in this case, getting feisty with the bubble wrap. But regardless of what he's doing, he's ALWAYS having fun!

Jack's Bedroom Makeover

One thing I'm doing for Jack's birthday, is a bedroom makeover. I'm keeping the nautical theme, because to be honest, I still LOVE it! However, since he's going to be two, I think it's time for an update. The major update being the big boy bed. I know it might be a little premature, but I think he will be able to handle it by the fall or winter.

So with a big boy bed, comes a big boy quilt. I just purchased this set from PB Kids last week and I can't wait to get it! I think it fits perfectly into the nautical theme.






My dad is also making Jack's bed that is based on this one. It's a boat bed! How cool is that? For all that don't know, my dad is a master woodworker so it will no doubt be fantastic! I can't wait until it's finished!






I plan on doing some storage totes or buckets too. I'm also repainting which is going to include some chalkboard paint and a navy blue color. I can't wait to post pictures of my progress. Although, it might be a little while with other projects going on, but I can assure you it will be before June 24th!

The 30 Day Shred

There are certain products that I come across from time to time that I feel are too great to keep secret....and Jillian Michael's 30 Shred is one of them.

Suzanne actually introduced me to this DVD and I wanted to share it with all of you. It is truly a 20 minute workout that includes strength, cardio, and abs. I like to supplement the workout with some brisk walking too, but the workout just by itself is totally kick butt! I mean that literally. You may not be able to walk for several days after your first workout. But who can't spare 20 minutes a day? I feel better, I'm toning up, and it's easy to fit into my working mommy schedule!

More Easter Pictures

Sorry it's taken me so long to get these pictures up. I literally have so many pictures on my little laptop that my C drive was full. I had to clear them off to an external hard drive and I was procrastinating (insert gasp)! I know....the "p" word is not in my vocabulary. Sorry!


As I said in my earlier post, after breakfast at our house, we headed to Tracie and Stacy's for lunch. As you can imagine, the Easter bunny also visited Nanny and Poppy's house too! Here are a few shots from the afternoon. I think it's safe to say, Jack had a GREAT Easter!