30 in my 30's: Be Our Guest? Why yes, yes, we will.

This past weekend I was able to scratch off yet another item from my 30 in my 30's list.

This time I went for #1:

Take Libby to see a play.

And so see a play we did.

And we picked a good one....

Beauty and the Beast to be exact.

Lib, my mom, and I got all dolled up and headed to Memphis.

Theatre was my favorite thing to be involved in in high school,

and I have a feeling the Libster is going to love it too.

So far we're off to a great start, seeing as how she said she loved every. single. minute of the show.

She was mesmerized by the costumes, the dancing, and the singing.

In fact, I caught her singing along on more than one occasion.

And she's already asked what we are going to see next.

And if you are thinking about going to see it, I highly recommend.

 It's very similar to the Disney movie (many of the songs are identical),

 and the kept the scare factor to a minimum.

Are you a theatre lover?

What's the best show YOU have ever seen?

For me, it's a tie between Phantom of the Opera (which I saw in London, btw)

and Wicked (be still my heart).

What shall we see next? 

Hmmmmmmm.......

Happy weekending to you and you and you. 

Mine will be spent hoping to hear that our appraisal came through

and that we will in fact be able to move and helping my mom with a garage sale.

Good times are bound to be had by all. 

Coming soon:

*updates on Kristen's Africa trip

*more on Hollyn and the onset of the terrible two's

*my newest painting adventures

She's the Bomb like Tik Tik

Bloggers, meet my precious friend, Casey.

If you've been around a while, then you probably recall me talking about her here and here.

Casey is seriously one of the most precious, loving, crafty people I know.

She is the definition of Southern, and I could not possibly be more crazy about her.

And this girl has gone and gotten herself a B-L-O-G.

I'm so excited I could scream....and I may have done just that...just a little... when I first found out she was embarking on this new adventure.

Her love for life and sweet, sweet spirit will inspire you in ways I could never possibly dream of doing myself.

 You can check out her new, super adorable, bound to be amazing blog here.
And if you stop by, hows about you leave her a comment telling her I sent you or congrats on the new blog or something along the lines of 'hey'? I know she would really appreciate it.

And I have to ask, what is the ONE THING you are itching to do this summer?
I'm currently working on planning a mini-canoe trip for me, the Libster, and Kristen.
If I can get my ducks in a row, you can guarantee there will be more to come on this soon.

Happy rainy Wednesday to you and you and you.

Chasing the Dream

Today I am desperately wishing I felt the way this picture looks to me, lazy with a dash of hopeful anticipation. It was taken Saturday by my fear Rachel who was watching Hollyn (and Doc) while Libby and I were scratching an item off my 30 in my 30's list (more to come on this very soon), and basically I'm in love with it.

Instead, I'm way too anxious and up to ears in too much to do. We have a contract on our house and on the house we hope to move into in two weeks. Oh, you heard me. I said TWO WEEKS. And seeing as how we are still waiting on our appraisal to make sure we can sell our house for what we hope to sell for, I haven't packed a thing. This is so going to be interesting, especially considering my dear ole' back won't allow me to lift anything. Fun times, I tell ya.

Also, the reality of going back to work next year has started to sink in, and while I'm excited to be back in the classroom, I am not excited about giving up time with Hollyn. Oh, that baby. I am so madly in love with her, and it kills to me to think of all the time we've missed out on this year because of my back.

More to come very soon on house selling, packing, granny yard sales, Libby's reading adventures, Doc's chewing habits, and whatever else manages to happen between now and then.

But for now, it's raining, and I'm going to sit and pretend like I don't have 1000 things to do and instead try to enjoy it.

Happy Tuesday to you and you and you.

Splishin' and Splashin'

Not sure about where you are, but where we are, it is nothing short of H.O.T.

And you know what that means.....

a $12 pool to entertain my kiddos and keep them from melting..... cause that would be messy for sure.

Pretty sure this one thinks it's a new found heaven on Earth.

And while Hollyn wasn't too sure of it at first, she and the pool have now bonded quite nicely.

If we only could teach Libby the proper pool hair etiquette, then I'm pretty sure all would be right with the world.

But that messy hair sure did make for one cute baby......

....and some quality sister time.....

.....and one amazing photo.

Thanks, new cell phone, for capturing some precious moments of my girls this weekend.

What are YOU doing to stay cool this summer?

Here's what worked for us in 2010.

And here's hoping your weekend has been nothing short of ugh-may-zing.

KRISTEN IS HOME!

Yesterday brought two bigs things:

* a nerve block, which minus some pretty harsh bruising, seems to be somewhat successful thus far

and

* a phone call from Kristen saying she was HOME from Africa!

I am so thankful that she got to go and serve, but I have seriously been missing her.

We're going to have a long, long chat very, very soon, and I promise to post more then.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for Kristen and supported her throughout this journey

 (and Lenzie and Allison- love you girls!).

Happy Thursday-ing to you and you and you.

Somethin' Serious

Words simply cannot express how much I love this little girl....or how serious she is about her food.

For those of you wanting an update, I will have nerve block #3 on my back tomorrow. For those of you wanting more info. on a nerve block, YouTube offers some lovely videos. By lovely, I mean they kinda made me want to throw up, so watch at your own risk. To say I'm dreading it is the understatement of the summer. However, I am thankful that it's my last one. All we have left is the thrilling nerve BURN. And don't be fooled by that catchy name, it's not going to be fun at all. Basically, you can sum all this up with four simple words:

I. hate. my. back.

In other news, we have a contract on our house. Please pray that all works out, and the paperwork can be completed in a timely manner. That would be great.

Happy Tuesday to you and you and you.

Tomorrow there will be Starbucks with a side o' nerve block.

Who's excited?

Come One, Come All

The carnival is in town, and Libby literally could not wait.

She is such a daredevil, despite the look of fear on her face before riding her very first roller coaster.

Thanks again, Miriam, for being brave enough to tackle this with the Libster.

My back thanks you.

I have to admit, as a mom I was a little hesitant to let my child ride something that is assembled in under an hour.

Fortunately, fun was had by all.....

despite the rather rough crowd and semi-raunchy music.

And thanks to Rachel, the evening even included jazz hands.

And if there's ever a potato sack race, my kid will be all about it.

Happy weekend-ing to you and you and you.

Well Hello There

Contrary to popular belief, I am in fact alive.

Thank you to all who e-mailed, facebooked, tweeted, and sent carrier pigeons to find me.

I can honestly say these last few months have been hands down some of the most stressful and busy months of my life to date.

Here are a few updates:

* I've had my second nerve block, and it seems to be helping. However, I am having some potentially serious complications. Prayers would be greatly appreciated,

 and my third (and final) nerve block is scheduled for next Tuesday.

*We have a family who is seriously interested in purchasing our house. More on this to come soon, I hope.

*My grandmother moved into an assisted living facility.

*Libby is now officially a kindergarten graduate.

*Hollyn's new favorite saying is 'Hey baby'.

Not enough to bring you up to speed?

I can fix that.

*We've been doing any and every thing to stay cool. This includes ingesting what can only be described as gluttonous amounts of ice cream.

*This past weekend was Libby's Peter Pan gymnastics recital.

 I'm not biased or anything, but she pretty much stole the show.

*Rachel and I have been walking our duffs off, and we're not sticking to the main roads here. I about died two weeks ago when we attempted a trail here in town. I mean, seriously, does this look like fun to you?

Negative, Ghost Rider.

*Kristen has arrived safely in Africa. While I'm itching to hear about it, I've been getting updates from her mom.

She'll be back next week, and I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

*Now that school is out for the summer, Libby has been entertaining herself by entertaining her little sister.

This usually goes pretty well for a bit.....

...and then turns out something like this.

P.S.) For the few of you out there who I have still fooled into believing that my house is always clean, please take a peek at that table in the background. Let me know when you're ready to eat those words.

*This stinkin' baby somehow manages to keep getting cuter.

I'm seriously not sure how she does it.

She must have mad skills, yo, like her mom.

*Libby and I had the most awesome lunch date with the most awesome group of girls.

See the girl on the end in the pink? 

She's headed to Malaysia this summer to do mission work.

Prayers for Emily would be greatly appreciated. More to come on her soon.

*Libby got feathered for winning the state reading fair.

*And she enjoyed a date with her aunt and uncle while Mom got a nerve block.

*And then there was this.

Please don't give up on me. I'm hoping to get back into my blogging routine very, very soon, and already have my next entry planned.

Love me still?