Stella & Dot...Oh, My, & Goodness...

Have you heard of Stella & Dot?

I first heard of Stella & Dot when my friend Lacy had a party one Friday night. As it turned out, my precious friend Tammy was going to have a party in her store the very next Sunday! I am such a lucky duck; I got to go to two jewelry parties in one weekend!

 

I took the girls with me. Hadley had a ton of fun trying everything on!!

 

Ella wasn't quite big enough to enjoy the party though. She needed more children her age there!

 

I Am Not a Crook...

My sweet boy is still doing the Nixon pose. I think that's what I'll call it. The Nixon pose. Do any of your children do strange things in pictures?

Hadley in a Tree...

This one might be self explanatory...

A Night on the Town...

Jay and I had a night on the town recently. The children were all snuggled in with grandparents, so we had the whole night to ourselves.


This is where we went to eat.
I love Grille 29. The food is really, really good. And, we all know that I have an unhealthy relationship with food...I can't get enough of it!!

Grille 29 is located in Providence. I'm not entirely sure what Providence is. It's an area that has really nice restaurants and exclusive housing. It's like a small city inside of a big city. One day I will figure it all out...

We went in the corner market after we ate. Kalou's has a wonderful selection of wine. I'm not much of a drinker, but I do enjoy a nice glass of Riesling from time to time.

We finished the evening at the Village Pizza in town. It was a lot of fun!!

Hadley...My Sweet Girl...So Grown...

Hadley's class presentation was earlier today. She did a wonderful job and sang her heart out! We got to visit with her on the courtyard after the play. She's getting so grown up! More pictures to follow...

Gator....Later Tater...

We have nicknames and pet names for all of our children. Sometimes Layton is referred to as...Later Tater. Some day, he'll hate me for revealing that on the Internet!

I just thought it was funny that Ella was stuffed in the back of the Gator. She's the oldest of the three playing on it!!

I had to chase them down for this shot too! Layton was driving like a maniac, and Nathan (cousin) was enjoying every minute of it!!! Layton is a year older than Nathan, but because Layton's birthday barely misses the cutoff for starting school, he'll be in the same class as Nathan. They are getting to be thick as thieves....I'm a little worried about high school! HA!

Vulcan...Does Anyone Know CPR?...

On the way home from the zoo, we decided to stop and see Vulcan Park. Here's Vulcan...

He's a ridiculously big statue that overlooks Birmingham. You can buy a ticket to go up to the top and lookout....

Do you see the figures in the picture? Ella, Layton, Mimi, and Mama Kaye were looking down at Hadley and me. Hadley is not too fond of heights and immediately wanted to come back down after the elevator ride to the top. I came down a gazillion stairs with her. The elevator is glass by the way. I thought she was going to have a heart attack.

Inside the museum at Vulcan park, there is a cast of Vulcan's foot. Here are all three of the children on his foot. Clearly, he's a big fellow. In fact, Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world.

The whole museum was very interesting. One of the things I found really interesting is that Birmingham was considered to be hit harder by the Great Depression than any other city in the country. 100,000 of the 108,000 laborers had no job...that's a 93% unemployment rate.

Shower Me Any Time Baby...

Some of the girls planned a baby shower for my friend Elizabeth. I took fruit. Fruit is easy. :) Everything turned out so nice though. I had to share some pictures from that morning...

The cupcakes came from GiGi's. If you want to eat a little bit of heaven, go to GiGi's.

The shower was at 10:30 in the morning, so there was a table consisting of breakfast foods. The egg casserole was so delish!! It was all so good!! I want all the recipes...and I'm going to get them too! I hope!!

I loved this framed monogram that Carla made! I am not a good photographer, so this doesn't do it justice, but it is the baby's monogram and was to die for!!

If I should ever find myself pregnant again, I want a shower just like this one!! Ha! If I did get pregnant again, I'd have to have a shower...we've gotten rid of all our baby supplies!! I never say I'm done having children because the last two times I said I was done, I had two more children!

Come On Man...

Because no week is complete without one of Layton's crazy poses.....

Just be glad your child isn't doing this in public...

Relay for Life...

Last Friday night, I participated in the Relay for Life in my community. Remember me mentioning that a while back?

The high school ROTC presented the flag, and a young woman sang the national anthem. The event is kicked off by a survivors lap. I was unexpectedly sad during the survivors' lap. I started thinking about how badly I wished my dad were able to walk it. He's been dead a number of years, and sometimes the sadness sneaks up on you when you least expect it.

And, amazingly enough, I finally met @bamaboywill and his mother!!! Yes, that's right; I joined the team of someone I didn't know in real life...we met on Twitter.

His mother is absolutely precious!! She has pancreatic cancer, and she has a phenomenal attitude!! She treated me like she had known me my whole life!!

Overall, the event was a success. The goal was to raise over $94,000. I'm honestly not sure of the final amount raised. I will double check the figure and blog it later.

As I was walking out the door that evening, I said to Jay, "I'm going to hang out with some dude I met on the Internet." HA!

So, I Live in Alabama...Obviously...

We pass this on our way to the farm. There is actually an association for people who hunt raccoons. The building is surprisingly nice too. Do you have any coon hunters in your neck of the woods?

Jay Will Skewer You...

One day I started craving some kabobs. So, I took a trip to Publix and picked up lots of fresh vegetables and meats. This is what they looked like before Jay put them on the grill.

Jay did a fabulous job grilling these kabobs! They were so tender and juicy!

I love kabobs because they are so colorful and tasty. Seriously, these kabobs had steak, chicken, red onion, potatoes, green peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers, and mushrooms.

Kangaroo...This Requires a Helmet...

The first thing Ella wanted to visit at the zoo were the kangaroos. We all agreed that she should get to pick the starting point since it was her field trip and all.

The kangaroo exhibit had helmets for the children. Of course I made them all put the helmet on and pose for a picture. No, I'm not a crazy mom blogger at all....insert sarcasm here...

Crazy Bird Lady...

Scary Homeless Guy has nothing on Hadley. She is Crazy Bird Lady.

While at the zoo, we went to feed the lorikeets. Ella and Layton had a hard time with the birds. I think they were a little scared by the flapping of the wings.

Hadley was right at home though.

The birds covered her up! At one point, she even had one on her head too!!

Like I said....Crazy Bird Lady...

Camels and Children...

The zoo has camel rides!! Yes, camel rides!!!

Waiting for the Zoo...

Ella's class took a field trip to the Birmingham Zoo. I did something I have never done before. I let Hadley skip school to go on the trip with us. So, all three of my children, my mother, and my mother-in-law loaded up in the Volvo early one morning to head to the zoo.

The worst part was the waiting. Waiting to leave. Waiting to get in. Waiting.

They seemed to have held up okay though! Be on the lookout for more pictures from the zoo trip. I took over 200 pictures that day, so I don't think I can smash all the good ones into one post.

Frog and the Farm...

At the farm we saw a big frog!! I had to post a picture of it!!

Birthday Babes and Baby...

Last night I went to Sakura with a group of girlfriends to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday. She's on the left, and Ellie is on the right.

Tomorrow we are hosting a baby shower for her too! That's right, she is nearly 35 weeks pregnant, and you seriously can't even tell from certain angles. I was never that lucky while pregnant. Especially with Ella. I was pregnant from the eyes down. It was ugly. I have pictures that would make you close your eyes. No joke. I looked awful!!!

Here are Carla, Leslie, Laura, and Meredith. Carla is a wonderful photographer, and I'm going to have her make some pictures of my three this summer! I am so excited about that!!!

Amanda, Kate, and Clay. Clay and I ordered the spicy tuna rolls, edamame, and the shrimp tempura rolls. We really wanted some sushi! I wound up barely touching my hibachi chicken since I filled up on sushi, so Jay made a huge snack out of my leftovers!!

Here is the entire group! We had to get a waitress to come take our picture all together. I kept telling the girls to just let me take the photo because I am so "not picture friendly." HA!!! I'm glad we did get a shot of us all together!!

Hibachi...

We took the children to Sakura a weekend ago. They positively love the hibachi grill. I can't say that I don't love it because the truth is, I ADORE it!! Sakura has the best sushi too. The shrimp tempura roll....Oh my...it is so good!!!

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Layton always has a blast. He even loves the soup and salad, which I think is a little odd for a child. He uses his chopsticks too!! If I hadn't been so busy cramming my mouth full of fried rice, I'd have taken a picture of my little man using the chopsticks. Better luck next time...