Happenings at 1533

New Years Resolution

heathbar44 — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 02:04:30 +0000

I am determined to live by the resolution penned by Palmer Hartsough in 1896:

I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the world’s delight,
Things that are higher, things that are nobler,
These have allured my sight.

I am resolved to go to the Savior,
Leaving my sin and strife;
He is the true One, He is the just One,
He hath the words of life.

I am resolved to follow the Savior,
Faithful and true each day;
Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth,
He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom
Leaving the paths of sin;
Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me,
Still will I enter in.

I am resolved, and who will go with me?
Come, friends, without delay,
Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit,
We’ll walk the heav’nly way.

I will hasten to him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

halloween: a retrospective

heathbar44 — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:38:05 +0000

Oh Halloween! Usually this is one of my very favorite times of the year. I love the fall, candy and dressing up. For some reason, I really didn’t get “into it” this year. I think there is just way too much going on in my life right now. But, even though I was a bit aloof, I still enjoyed the day!

We were lucky enough to spend the weekend with Savta and Paboo! It was a lovely weekend – beautiful weather and many fun memories. Plus, ALL FIVE of us kiddos were there! That rarely happens these days.

Saturday started with charity walk for the Zoe Foundation, which is an organization to help families who have suffered the loss of a child through miscarriage, stillbirth and early infant death. Having suffered a miscarriage myself, I have a personal connection to the other families who have lost babies and am encouraged by the work of this organization. I was so amazed and humbled to have my two precious, healthy babies with me that day! What a profound blessing they are! We released balloons in honor of our little angels and enjoyed a brisk walk around Forsyth Park. My walk, however, took a detour to the playground since my little blessings were again humbling me with their not-so-precious behavior.

Watching the balloons!

After lunch we strolled around town and enjoyed the pretty day! Brad and Nick went off to a car race on Hutchinson Island and the rest of us rode the trolley! The girls love the trolley – but who doesn’t? It was fun!

That evening we went to Oatland Island for some (educational) trick or treating. It was the perfect set up for trick or treating with toddlers. There was an Enchanted Forest where you could “hike” down a trail and stop at various characters who told you something about the environment and then gave you candy! At the end there were snacks, Mother Goose (who sang some fun songs with us) and a hayride that took you back to your car. Pretty awesome! Adelaide also got to ride a horse, which was the highlight of the night (maybe the year).

And since I never posted a picture of Adelaide all dressed up for her school Halloween party, I will add it here:

She is sporting the awesome Halloween mask she made. Here is a close up:

A mask by Adelaide!

And since I can’t help myself because she is so stinkin cute, here is a precious picture of Vivienne giving me her awesome grin:

pretty pictures

heathbar44 — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:30:23 +0000

Once again, Sara Randolph has taken beautiful pictures for us. Here are a few of my favorites…

You can check out more of Sara’s work here and here.

pumpkin patch

heathbar44 — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 17:30:50 +0000

My favorite time of year is upon us. The weather is not quite as cool as I like it, but we are getting closer! Regardless of the warm weather, we have had an opportunity to celebrate the change in seasons. Tonight we celebrated at church with our yearly Pumpkin Patch. It was loads of fun: costumes, games, Benny the Clown and trunk-or-treating. Fun times!

Vivienne dressed as a bumble bee (NOT a yellow jacket – though Granddaddy insisted on calling her that – the rest of us don’t like GA Tech as much as he does). Adelaide was a beautiful princess (no surprise there)! And look! Sidney was there and dress as Batgirl. We are so very happy that she is well enough to join in on the festivities!

Lily and Joey came! A sweet cowgirl and an elephant! Aren’t they precious! We didn’t get them all to smile, but we did get them all in one picture and looking in the same general direction, which I consider a success in itself!

Can you believe Vivienne is on a horse?! She loved it and Mrs. Carol was nice enough to walk along beside her. Bouncey houses, horseback riding, fun with friends and WAY too much candy! We had a great day!

its been awhile: summer recap

heathbar44 — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 02:42:21 +0000

I know, I know. I said I was going to keep a blog and then I just stopped, without warning or explanation. I am sure this crushed all of my wonderful, faithful readers (both of you). I do have a reason, but I don’t feel much like explaining myself here. Just call or email me if you really care to know. Onward.

The SUMMER was lovely and now very long gone, but I do want to recap! So, here goes:

The school year ended and we immediately conquered the pacifier beast! After three much-less-difficult-than-anticipated nights we were free of that little plastic monster and have moved on bigger and better means of comforting ourselves, such as babydolls (which we absolutely can not sleep without). We celebrated Uncle Nick’s high school graduation (which I am still in shock about)! We spent lots of time in the water – usually from the sprinkler or blowup pool.

The family sans Nathan who was (rudely) enjoying the week in the Bahamas.

I can fit in a mixing bowl!

We celebrated for a whole week at Disney World. It was a wonderful, magical experience for all of us! Adelaide discovered (and quickly fell in love with) the Princesses, but more importantly she turned THREE! Can you believe it? We met Buzz and Woody and rode tons of awesome rides! We enjoyed fireworks (except for Adelaide who is terrified of them) and celebrated Adelaide’s third birthday with a dinner at Cracker Barrel (she picked the restaurant).

We relaxed at home and spent entirely too much time at the softball fields. We discovered that Adelaide likes to bowl as much as her Mama and Daddy!

We took a trip to see the Great grandparents. First we stopped in Lafayette to see Nana and Aunt Mary. We traveled down to see Galou, Pops and GranGran. While we were there we celebrated Vivienne’s first birthday! Back at home, we had a lovely birthday party with lots of friends and some delicious cake! How is it possible that she is already one year old!

Vivienne learned to walk! It seems like she went from crawling to running. Now she is everywhere and getting into everything. We went to the beach. Flew a kite. Spent a day at WhiteWater. And abandoned the bottle! Now we are a sippy cup only family. And….we got our house painted!It is awesome! (We also got a new awning, but it was yet to be installed when this picture was taken. I know I have a picture of the house with awning, but I can’t find it. Sorry).

It was a great great summer!

car wash

heathbar44 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:00:05 +0000

Adelaide loves to do anything that Brad is doing. She also thinks she is an expert on everything he does. “Daddy does it like this,” “I can do that just like Daddy.” Just yesterday I was trying to fix something and said, “I better get a screwdriver” and Adelaide said, “Umm, you better let Daddy do that. Only Daddy uses screwdrivers.” I realize that we hold very traditional roles in our family, but I know how to use a screwdriver. Anyway, when Brad was washing his car a few days ago, Adelaide had to join in. She scrubbed and scrubbed her car and even attempted to shine the wheels. How cute is that? That last pictures is my favorite. They look just alike.

Even though Adelaide is an expert on everything Daddy does. She is showing more of an interest in housekeeping as well. She always wants to help with chores and since I know this phase will be incredibly short, I am taking full advantage. Her favorite chore is setting the table. She has her own way of doing it, but she is getting a hang of it for sure.

I am not exactly sure why we have two spoons and two forks. She can open the drawer so she just put what she thought we needed, I guess. She even gave herself two spoons. By the way, this was right after the car wash. She doesn’t always dine with no clothes and wet hair.

So maybe her interest in both mine and Brad’s chores will help her to be well rounded and not stuck in unnecessary and outdated gender roles. Maybe I should start taking out the garbage and let Brad make dinner. Or maybe I just shouldn’t worry about it.

spring break: the rest of it

heathbar44 — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:03:02 +0000

I don’t think I mentioned in my Easter post that we spent the Saturday before Easter in downtown Savannah. I forgot my camera on that excursion and I regret it because we had so many fun adventures that day! I kinda makes me sick to think about it. But we don’t have to have pictures to have memories! We visited River St., rode the trolley, ate the most amazing kettle corn ever, rode on the water taxi across the river, learned that Adelaide really doesn’t like boats, played in the sandbox, shopped a little, ate ice cream, and eventually ended up in the newest Savannah square and played in the water fountain. Adelaide and Sami were completely soaked by the end of it, so it is good we did this last. Man, I wish I had pictures.

The best moment of the day was when Brad completely surprised me with a gift. I had been visiting some of the craft stands out on River St. and found a necklace I really liked. I didn’t intend on buying it, I just mentioned that I thought it was cool and went on my way. Later that day, after the Ellis Sq. fountain adventure, we all piled in the car and Brad said, “Hey, I found this on the ground…want it?” It was a box containing the necklace I had mentioned. Of course, he didn’t find it on the ground. He had wondered off at some point to buy it…though I don’t know when that was exactly. I just started crying because it was such a surprise and so sweet. Good, GOOD husband!

The rest of spring break was full of first. Vivienne attended her first baseball game on Thursday night! Anyone who knows us well, knows this will be the first of many. Adelaide has already been to around 30. This was a night of misadventures, we had to park a REALLY long way away and we unintentionally went on two-for-one beer night. So, the crowd was exactly what we are use to being around. We decided to go home when the rain started. We were hoping to stay for the fireworks, but the rain changed that for us. All in all it was a great night!

Vivi with Savta and Paboo at her first baseball game!

During a trip to the mall, Vivienne had another first. She got to ride an “ice cream truck” with Adelaide. Fun times! On Friday night we went to see “Bye Bye Birdie” at Calvary. Nick worked backstage and his girlfriend, Lauren, had several roles. We took Adelaide and Vivienne to see the play, which I was nervous about. But, they were both great! They had a good time and I enjoyed seeing the production. We did “Bye Bye Birdie” when I was high school, so it was fun to see it again.

Saturday we had a cookout with Nathan and Chelsea. Nathan made amazing burgers! The food was yummy and the company was great. We also had another first, Adelaide gave her first haircut. Ha! My dad decided it was time for a cut and Adelaide was dying to help. Truth be told, Mom did the haircut, Sami did his beard, but Adelaide made a few snips and felt like she was a part of it all!

Before

Adelaide makes the cut!

Possibly my favorite picture of all time!

After

Maybe true love is letting your two year old granddaughter cut your hair.

spring break: Charleston

heathbar44 — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:02:34 +0000

My Mom and Dad were so kind to watch our little ones for three nights while Brad and I took a mini vacation to Charleston. It was such a great gift (and a rare treat) to get to leave town and relax for a few days. Knowing the girls were in good hands made that possible! Although, my lack of worry didn’t keep me from calling to check in on them several times a day. It was a nice break!

We spent most of our time in Charleston just walking around and looking at houses. I love to look at houses and Charleston has no shortage of interesting ones! And check out these amazing flower boxes…

The rest of our time was spent either deciding where to eat next or eating. There are amazing restaurants in Charleston and we took advantage of this! We got great recommendations from my parents and Brad’s dad. We went to Anson’s, which had the most incredible she-crab soup ever! And Poogan’s Porch for some fabulous grits. I think my favorite was the Hominy Grill. It is a breakfast and lunch kinda place and I loved it. It reminded me a place we used to go to in Greensboro. If you are ever in the area – I highly recommend these places!

We did attempt to go the beach, but it wouldn’t have us. We drove out to Kiawah Island only to find that the public access to the beach was closed. We did find a cute little planned community out there that was almost so perfect it was creepy. It kinda felt like we were at Disney world or The Truman Show or something. But it was nice and they had a Cold Stone, so who’s complaining? So – that day didn’t go as planned, but enjoyed the drive out (and the ice cream).

We have already thought about where we want to go next year. Mom and Dad, I hope you are ready!!!

spring break: Easter

heathbar44 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:00:33 +0000

I love Easter! I love spring, flowers, warm weather, and the newness all around. This year was a particularly fun Easter. Maybe because it was Vivienne’s first. Or maybe because we celebrated in Savannah, which is exceptionally beautiful in the springtime. It was a perfect way to start off our much anticipated spring break!

We spent the night before Easter dyeing Easter eggs. I say “we,” but I really only took pictures. Brittany, Sami and Adelaide did most of the actual dyeing. Adelaide was fascinated by the process. She was so excited and squeal-y the whole night. The colors turned out beautifully. Adelaide was proud of her eggs! She put stickers on all of them after they dried. It was a fun adventure for her! My mother made beautiful Easter dresses for the girls. She is so amazingly talented!! The girls were so excited that I just couldn’t get them sit still for a picture. This was the closest I got. Vivi is not smiling, but at least we can see both of their faces (and only a tiny bit of A’s undies).

Before they got all dressed up the girls discovered their Easter baskets. As if Sunday mornings are not chaotic enough, throw some toys and chocolate into the mix and it goes completely nuts. I realize that the bunny loot might look a little excessive, but it should be known that after the “Easter bunny” filled the baskets, “Grandma Easter Bunny” added to the loot. Ha!

I think Vivienne enjoyed her first Easter. She had no idea what was going on, but she was happy just going with the flow (as always). She did enjoy her Easter basket. But, I think her favorite part was chewing on plastic eggs…

After church we came back to mom and dad’s house and had a lovely lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Mr. Charles, Mrs. Shirley and Nick’s girlfriend, Lauren, all came over to join in on the fun. We had a blast. The big hit of the event was the Cascarones – or confetti-filled eggs. When you find one you run to a friend and break it over their head. Confetti goes everywhere and everybody laughs. It is loads of fun. If you have never tried this, you should! They are a blast! Thanks to Aunt B for making it possible. I think it will have to be a new tradition.

We wrapped up Easter evening with a trip to the beach. Brad, Sami, Adelaide and I went down to visit the pier. It was nice evening for the beach. Adelaide had a blast, of course. I hope your Easter was as lovely as ours!

zoo

heathbar44 — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:45:37 +0000

Brittany came to visit us during her spring break. We didn’t do too many exciting things, but we did go to the zoo in Montgomery. It was loads of fun. Brittany has a GPS, so even though we were driving through Alabama, we didn’t get lost. It was a miracle! Ha! We did forget about the time difference though – so we stopped for brunch at Cracker Barrel before we hit the zoo.

It was a perfect day for the zoo. Sunny and warm, but not too hot. Both of the girls had a blast. Adelaide loves animals, but Vivienne surprised me with how excited she got about them. She has absolutely no fear of animals, and the zoo animals are no exception. I think she would have climbed in to play with them if we let her.

Vivi pointing at a rhino.

Adelaide was thrilled about the train ride. The train went all over the zoo. We all had a blast. Notice Adelaide is holding a giraffe shaped water bottle. She saw another child with one of these and begged for one. Of course, since Aunt B was there and going to the zoo is a special occasion, she got one.

A and V riding the train!

Here is Adelaide standing like a flamingo. She cracks me up! Now I am ready to plan another zoo trip. Who’s in?

By the way, I have been meaning to post these for awhile. Adelaide has become really interested in drawing faces. They are so interesting to me. Usually they do not look very happy (though she claims they are smiling, so I think that is just a matter of hand control). Anyway, check these out:

My absolute favorite is her portraits. She picks somebody to draw – mostly family members. She adds so many details.

Here is PaBoo (my dad) – notice the beard and the legs and shoes she drew in the lower left-hand corner.And here is Uncle Nathan. Also sporting a beard. So cute!! I hope you can see these clearly enough. I need to scan them whenever I get a free minute (Ha!).