new boops, etc

this little booger is SO MUCH FUN these days. what did i find entertaining before she came along?

laurel got some new pink "boops" last week and she's obsessed with them. mommy thinks they're pretty cute, too!

laurel loves pushing her baby in her stroller and loves to carry around her purses. she looks so big in these pictures!

playing with play-doh, helping mommy cook, and just being silly!

there are so many things that this little girl does everyday to make us smile. here are a few that i can think of at the moment:

+ when pat gets her up in the morning, she immediately asks for her micky (milk) and repeats this 3 times during the day. she LOVES milk.

+ she says "okay" as much as she says "no." which one do you think we like to hear?

+ she has switched from "mama" and "dada" to "mommy" and "daddy." i love hearing her call me, usually...

+ she loves to talk about "abbi-bops" and "tissy-buh-dee." how blessed is she to have 2 sets of grandparents who love her to pieces?!

+ she loves to say "pop goes da WEE-ZEE." don't know where this came from...

+ sometimes when we're out and about, she'll look up at me and say "home. daddy."

+ she is a terrific nose-blower

+ she can (sometimes) feed herself with her spoon without making a huge mess

+ she LOVES cheese. wants it all the time.

+ i can't believe i haven't written this one yet. she spends most of her day opening and closing doors. i don't understand the fascination. she has gotten in trouble a few times for slamming doors in our faces.

+ she still loves her books. her favorite book AND video is "Goodnight Moon" also known around our house as "moo moo."

+ she loves apache - from a distance. she'll soon have to get used to him being around more when he becomes more of an inside dog in colorado. i hope they'll be big buddies!

+ she can tell which of her books are bibles. she'll bring one to us and say "bibee!" and every baby right now is "babee jeezee"

that's all for now. i need to go squeeze and tickle a precious little girl. i cannot get enough of her laugh. thank you, Lord, for this gift, this miracle, this blessing.

new toy

BLUTTER - BLY!!! still my favorite word...

nursery duty. this is one of laurel's boyfriends, eli bowling.

success

our house hunting weekend was long and had several ups and downs, but we found the one! i think it's really quite funny that the neighborhood is called charleston place - you have to turn onto hampton park drive to get to our house. (for those of you who don't know, the last house we owned was one block from hampton park in charleston, sc.) ha!

the view from the kitchen window/master bedroom. hello pikes peak!

camp tupelo

while we were in colorado, laurel got to spend time with both sets of grandparents. my mom sent some pics...

she got to hang out with her tupelo cousins (maury, lucy, and rebecca), too. what a treat!

hangin out with "bops"

big week!

a couple of weeks ago, pat successfully defended his thesis. way to go, p!

he did a great job. you can tell by the smile on that face!

hmm, i'm a little under-dressed... but VERY proud. :)

these pictures are a little better. the day after pat's defense, we flew to colorado springs, our soon-to-be new home, for the weekend. i was blown away by the beauty of the academy and its surroundings. it made me start to get excited about the move. by the way, isn't p handsome in his uniform?!?!

crash

this morning our little climber flipped over the back of a chair and hit the window sill HARD. it was frightening, to say the least.

the photos really don't do it justice. she has a HUGE bump on her head and a little strawberry by her eye. i know it could've been much worse.

she's fine now, of course; it didn't slow her down much. thank you, God, for taking care of us!

covenant child, marion harris curry

yesterday we celebrated with our good friends, wes and marion, for the baptism of their daughter, harris. we love this precious child already!

don't forget about big brother, burn! we love you too, big man.

a gorgeous Sunday afternoon with great friends. perfect.

trouble

daddy's girl

and maybe mommy's girl

hub city friends

saturday night we got to go over to the atkinsons' to watch the ole miss game.

gracie is always so sweet playing with laurel. you like the ole miss outfit i came up with?

emma and gracie are just two of the friends we will miss when we move away from hattiesburg.

practicing for cold weather

it's gotten "cold" here in the pine belt. are we ready for colorado????

choo choo!

last monday morning, laurel (the baby girl) and i took the amtrak train to laurel (the town).

we had so much fun on the train. daddy was jealous he didn't get to go. he had to stay home and work, work, work.

we had lunch with meme, julie, and uncle/cousin will, then got to spend the afternoon with meme. we also got to visit with B and mamaw before we headed home. we are so blessed to live close to family - for just a little while longer...

fun with warner in clarksdale

pat and i went to oxford to celebrate his birthday and watch ole miss get killed by alabama :( meanwhile, laurel got to stay in clarksdale with buddy, kissy, ginger, chris, warner, and baby jackson. we had a fabulous time in oxford (with zero pictures taken), but laurel just may have had a little more fun than we did! it's a toss-up.

i think she likes popsicles now - what do you think? double-fisting even!

thank you for the photos, ginger. how did we get such cute kids?

can you tell how hard they're laughing? i love it!

thank you buddy and kissy and livelys. we love y'all so much.

rayner reunion 09

two weekends ago we were in starkville with (most of) the rayner clan. we certainly missed ginger, chris, and jackson!

these two are so much fun to watch.

so are these two!! yes, that's an MSU outfit on my daughter. she is half bulldog, afterall...

rayners + rowells = a fabulous time!!

(i won't talk about how both of our teams performed that week. ugh.)

my buddy, betsy

laurel and i got to go visit eleanor and her kids a couple weeks ago. betsy is exactly one month older than laurel - they were SO CUTE together, as you can see.

seriously? does it get any cuter?

mini-ellie and mini-gib

betsy has 2 big brothers. this is precious palmer. i can't believe i didn't get a picture of william! sorry, buddy. you'll get double coverage next time...


here's a look at betsy and laurel when they were 3 and 4 months old. they look HUGE now!

B.F.F.

labor day beach trip 09

well, the first night of our beach trip was NOT what i had imagined. laurel and i (and sometimes mom) were up from midnight to 4 am due to her ear infection. YUCK! but the antibiotics did the trick and we had a fabulous time.

i didn't get many photos, but here are a few of all the girls - lucy, caroline, maury, lizzie, and rebecca. laurel LOVES watching every move they make and they are incredibly sweet to her.

laurel thought it was a topless beach... and you see in the bottom right picture what she REALLY thinks about sand. me too, baby girl, me too!

last beach pictures of the year, i promise. thanks, pops and abbi! we love you.

way back in august...

we got to hang out with maggie, gracey, robert, robb, and fran in brookhaven. i loved catching up with fran and loving on her precious kids!

pat had a fun guys' night at adam's house with erin, jay, everitt, and sam. we got to help celebrate wes's birthday in new orleans, and we've gotten to see baby jack riles a couple of times...

a special welcome to jackson mccraw lively, aka "warner's little brother." we're so glad you're here and healthy! can't wait to watch you grow up. we love you.

daddy's been working on this...

to whet your appetite...

one point five