Sunday Funday!

Wait...what?  It's Thursday?  Yes, I know this post is a wee bit late.  What are you going to do?  Not read it?

First of all, here's a big ol' shout out to Papa Joe.  On Saturday night the Morris gang went to Pell City and had dinner with him.  We were joined by Uncle Doc, Aunt Barbara, and Aunt Barbara's sweet twin sister.  Unfortunately, both my cameras were rocking dead batteries, so I have no pictures.  Boo!

On Sunday, I went to church and it was the first time in a long time I had no kids with me.  I'd love to say that the Homily ("Sermon" in Protestant-speak) was amazing, but honestly, they are probably always that good because God is great and our priest is wonderful.  I just got to LISTEN for a change.  It's inspiring how changed you immediately feel when your heart is filled with God.  I'm just sayin...

*Side note, all of the pictures in this post were taken on my iPhone, so I'm sorry about the less-than-stellar quality.  Camera batteries were still dead on Sunday...*

After church, I went home, picked up the family, and hinted on Twitter as to where we were headed by posting this picture:

Pool Day!  We ate a not-so-healthy lunch in the car.  So why, oh why, do both my kids feel the need to have a "snack" within the first 10 minutes?  That's just how they roll!

Rob is proudly showing off his snack.  In case the chocolate smears don't give it away, Caroline didn't have anything left to show off! 

So, neither Morris kid is at all afraid of the water!  For Rob, that's actually a misleading statement.  He loves the water in a cautious way.  Sort of like how some people love exotic pets.  He still knows the water can overtake him at any moment.   As a parent, I applaud his caution.  I can relax just a little bit.  Caroline is Hell on Heels, I'm telling you!  We put the swimmies on her and she took off! She immediately started kicking and propelling herself out into the center of the pool.  Then she decided she wanted to jump off the side of the pool and it didn't matter if there was anyone to catch her or not.  Bobby was A...Nervous...Wreck witnessing all of this!

This is how Bobby preferred Caroline to be...safely in his arms clinging to the stairs.  Sorry.  She disagreed.  So onto the family shot below.  Right in the heart of the action: 

Unfortunately, Bobby's scowl the dark and ominous clouds were here to stay.  We eventually saw lightening and high-tailed it out of the water.  Onto the 2nd half of our Sunday Funday...Aunt Kristy and Uncle Jason's house for some Doss-Williams-Morris family time!

Josh and Rob doing what they do best...dancing on the line between play and harm.  Don't they both look so innocent?  Yeah, don't let them fool you!

My sweet little Pool-Rat!

I said "Sunday FUNday", Jason!  Geez...

Oops!  Kristy will kill me for this one.  I caught her with food in her mouth.  And good food it was, too!  We had great spaghetti, a huge crisp salad, and dessert!  Rob made sure we had dessert.  Look at this last shot below.  Can you tell my sweet li'l 4-year-old loves cake?

 

It's been a great, albeit busy, week, so stay tuned for another fun event coming soon.  Until then,

Happy Birthday, America!

Pursuant to Helena's schedule, we celebrated the 4th of July on Saturday the 2nd.  Helena always does a great fireworks display and we definitely wanted that incorporated into our evening.  So, with no further ado, here are some images and highlights from the Morris.  We used Evite to send out some festive invitations:

Rob and Caroline were dressed in their festive best.  Okay, maybe not best, but they did look pretty cute.  I rarely dress them matchy, but today I was one proud mama...on a side note, why do I always have one child talking or one child not looking right at the camera?  Ugh.

We had some really yummy food!  I have been blog-stalking all my new friends out there and one thing I have learned is I have much to learn when it comes to photography.  So I will not be sharing my buffet pics today.  Trust me when I tell you about our succulent BBQ chicken and ribs; juicy corn on the cob; potato salad; pasta salad; baked beans; and a summer salad topped with fresh fruit, pecans, feta cheese, and raspberry vinegarette!  Delish!

The kiddos kept cool on the slip-n-slide.  Fun times!

Madison, Miles, Rob all checking out the situation...

"Cheese" Madison

Don'tcha just love this action shot?  Go Miles!

This is pretty much the bulk of Caroline's S-N-S action...

Meanwhile, the adults were having a blast with friends, family and food!

Aren't this mother-daughter duo beautiful?  That's "Aunt Khaki" and Kylee!

At any given time my back porch was full of family and friends.

Well, hello there! Kylee, Grandaddy Tony, and my sweet Bobby.

So, anywho, we had a blast.  We ate, drank, and were merry until it was dark.  Then we headed to Old Town to catch the fireworks show.  Helena really puts on a great show.  I forgot my camera, so I'm at the mercy of my cousin to email me some pictures of us hanging out waiting on everything to start.  Check back for updates if she sends them.  For now, enjoy these:

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I hope your 4th of July celebration was safe and memorable!  Have a great July.  Can you believe the summer is at its midway point?

Until then,

Emily

Nest Egg Beginnings

Is there a name for that feeling when you are so happy for a couple of people you could just burst open...then you think what you are feeling is a tinge of jealousy over their innocently optimistic happily-ever-after...then you realize the jealousy is incorrect and you know you are truly happy for them because watching their love grow reaffirms not only your love for them but also your love for your own happily-ever-after?

No?  Not a simple word?  Well, that is how I feel about Jonathan and Laura.  I am so happy for their blossoming love!  I have watched them go from this:

...to this:

Look at how heavy her left hand is!  Last week while at the beach, they got engaged!  Holla!

Meanwhile, Jonathan has also been busy working on this:

That's right!  He bought a house, hence the name of this post "Nest Egg Beginnings".  Not to reveal any details, but I will say he got a grrrreat deal on this house.  Which is good, because the house did not come with a kitchen!  I'm serious.  Look for yourself.  Below is the way the house looked right after his closing:

Also, the walls left very little to the imagination.  That's Bobby in the picture below pulling up tack strips.  There was carpet in the living room that was disGUSTing!  Woo-wee!

Don't be worried.  Very quickly the wall studs came down, the carpet was ripped out, and the floor was prepared for some beautiful new hardwood floors that I will show you soon.

With no further ado, I present to you their (almost) finished new kitchen! You can almost see those hardwood floors I mentioned...Hello, gorgeous!

New stainless appliances.  Oh, be still my heart!

 The glass-tile back splash is so fabulous!  I'm in love!

I mean, seriously.  Who would not be in love if this was your "starter" home?  It's going to be a wonderful life, Jonathan and Laura! If I have not said it enough, I consider myself blessed to have Jonathan as a brother-in-law and lucky to be getting Laura as my sister-in-law!

Stay tuned for more updates on their house.  There is still a lot of work left to do.  For starters, Rob has declared he will have his own bedroom at Uncle Johnny's house.  Green being his favorite color, he chose this one:

Can you imagine his surprise when he found out Uncle Johnny and LaLa plan to paint it?  Oh, the horror! The hall bathroom...yes, it needs some updating, too!

Like I said, there are many more posts to come soon.  Excitingly enough, there will also be wedding planning posts coming!  Yay!!!

Until then,

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

I'm currently working -- yes, I said "working" in Destin, FL right now with my mom at a Writing Conference.  Meanwhile, my baby pride and joy are staying with their sweet, sweet Mimi and Rocky.  Something tells me they are not missing me too much.  The following are pictures I was sent depicting their goings-on.  Enjoy!