My Painted House

Bobby and I have been in our house for 6 1/2 years.  For obvious reasons, our descriptin of this house has evolved from sprawling estate to cozy cramped family home. 

We have done various updates over the years trying to remain current with market trends and home styles.  The house itself is probably about 16+ years old and the exterior is a combination of masonite siding, stone, and dryvit.  One thing that I am now certain has never happened is having the paint and trim work updated.  Well, guess what:  we're doing it!  I'm so excited!

Here is a slide show of before shots and why this was such a necessary endeavor:

The front of my house "before".  I would best describe my color as greige, but something tells me it is a very sun-faded version of its original color.

Then, again, on the side of the house it looks less "greige" and more "beige".  The sun has a funny way of changing paint color over the years.

Notice the rotting trim work on the bottom left of the window...

My masonite siding is showing signs of water and weather damage.  Yuck!

I love my covered back patio.  It is the location of many documented events and gatherings.  But my back doors are an eyesore!

Well, enter the painters.  The first thing they did was update caulking and start on all the trim work.  I just have to share this picture below.  After the slope of our driveway, this guy must be over 2 stories up, and he's acting like it's nothing:

Compare this above to the picture of my darling hubby below back in November 2011.  He hates, hates, hates hanging our Christmas lights.  Each year when he gets to this apex he shakes, curses, and wishes he had a much bigger life insurance policy!  

Oh, if you only knew what it took behind the scenes to get Bobby on this ladder! Ha!

Okay, so back to the painting.  Picking a paint color may just be harder than picking baby names, but we decided on a mushroomy color.  It's ever so slightly darker than in the picture below.  It dries a tone darker.  But I can tell already I'm going to love it!

I cannot wait to see and then show all of you the finished project!  It won't be long, now!

Laura became a Mrs...Part 1

Well, hello there!  I am finally recuperated from all the hilarity that ensued in the two weeks leading up to Jonathan and Laura's wedding.  As I write this, the happy couple are making their way home from a fantastic honeymoon and I am sitting on edge waiting to hear all about it.

Before Laura could get hitched, the bridesmaids and some of her closest friends threw her a lingerie/bachelorette party.  It was held one week before the wedding at the beautiful home of Bridesmaid Kendra's parents. 

No party would be complete without a bustier cake, but this one was actually red velvet.  Oh sweetnees!

Laura got some beautiful presents, but something tells me this was not something she wore on her honeymoon...

Here are almost all of her bridesmaids lined up, ready to go out:

And finally it was time to hit the road... we dispersed from the party but reconvened at the historic Tutweiler Hotel in downtown Birmingham. 

From the Tutweiler a limo picked us up and took us to some local night spots.  What bachelorette would be complete without her veiled appearance?  We were good to Laura.  We put nothing vulgar or phallic on her.  Rather, we dressed her up like the princess every bride should embody...Cinderella!

 Let me remind you, my faithful readers, that I am with child.  So it was extremely interesting, to say the least, to spend the evening club-hopping.  Bottled water and fresh air were my best friends.  Luckily we had VIP hookup and I had a place to sit down.  But forgive me for being a social butterfly.  The band was playing such fabulous music that I rarely noticed how tired I was.  Plus, it's Laura.  It was never an option to not go to her bachelorette party.

A mere seven days later Jonathan and Laura got married.  I cannot and would not spoil the big reveal of her big day, but I do have to share three images:

That's my guy in the middle and the happy groom on the right.  Love my men!

Rob (right) and Ryan R. made handsome ring bearers!

Caroline was one of two flower girls.  Once I get the go ahead to blog all about Laura's wedding, I will tell you all about how disasterous Caroline was.  But in light of how perfect the wedding was -- as a whole -- I guess Caroline's behavior was not that big of a deal.

Needless to say the wedding photography previews are breath-taking.  But just wait until you see the bride...my newest SISTER-in-law!

Some Rob-ness

Short post with a couple of Rob-topics.  First of all, is there anyone left who doesn't completely love Pinterest?  There were so many adorable ideas for Valentine's Day pinned by people that I had a hard time choosing just the right inspiration.  But here is how Rob's treats for his classmates turned out:

Tomorrow is Rob's class party.  But he won't be there.  Sad, right?  He'll be getting his 2nd set of ear tubes placed.  He had them done when he was about 18 months old, but they eventually stopped working and then fell out. Sometimes that is the end of the story, but with Rob he continued to get ear infections. 

There are times when I think Rob strains to even hear.  Dr. Boyd is an excellent ENT and when he looked in Rob's ears he equated them to the sensation when you are changing altitudes really quickly (i.e. on a plane landing).  His ear drums are thinned out and pulled back.  According to Dr. Boyd, placing the tubes will allow his ear drums to repair themselves.

This is such a mild procedure, I hesitate to even call it a surgery, but Rob will be under general anesthesia so I guess that qualifies.  Anyway, prayers go out to the doctor to have a steady hand, to the anesthesiologist to be aware of Rob the entire time, to the nurses to have a caring and nurturing spirit, and to Rob to not miss his Valentine's party too much!

National Championship in NOLA!

  
  
[Warning...this is a very picture-heavy post, but I'm cramming a wonderful weekend into just one post...plus I'm back-log blogging.]

So how y'all doing?  As I mentioned yesterday, I spent the month of January adjusting to a new (yet old familiar) lifestyle.  But too bad for me because the Morris clan had previously arranged plans to travel to Houma and New Orleans, LA for a little ol' football game.  Can anyone scream "Road Trip"?

PS: I'm not actually "showing" yet.  But with a combination of the windy day and the unflattering top...YUCKY!

Notice Lorie's black and gold attire above?  Well, on Saturday the N.O. Saints were in a playoff game.  As much as we all love the Crimson Tide (and we DO!) the Saints are like, well, saints in the area. So we spent Saturday hanging out and getting ready for some NFL.

By the way, it's nice having a best friend with a fresh seafood market in the family.  Anyone want some fresh raw oysters on the half-shell?  Thanks for that fine shuckin' Shane!!!

Well, finally Sunday arrived.  We got up super early and make the 1 hr drive northeast to New Orleans.  It was on, y'all.  Eight (8) of us piled into our Expedition and headed to the Crescent City, prepared to show them who was boss! 

In Jackson Square, this guy was playing "Sweet Home Alabama"!  Um, Awesome!!!

We ate lunch at this little cafe and I swear, I had the BEST muffaletta...ever!!!

There really is music on every corner!

Some sights and fun in the city!

Did you know that you can't just TAKE a shot in the bars?  Men have to "retrieve" the shots, and women have to go after them.  Oh well, it's alcohol, so it'll kill the germs, right?

I...uh...there are no words!

Rashad Johnson, Alabama c/o 2009 DB (top, center) and his buddies were in the city partying, too!

Finally, it was the day of the big game!  Some of us (not me) woke up feeling a little, well... But sweet, beautiful Whitney was all about her Bama Houndstooth pride! 

So, what do you do when you wake up with "your mind right" on game day but you realize you have almost 8 hours until kickoff?  Play cards, of course!

There was plenty of good ballgame food, but we were in southern Louisiana, so there was also a king cake, natch...

This poor tiger's tag says "Roll over the Tide!"  I don't think so!...

It's finally game-time!

Heck Yeah!

Look how happy he is! And check out that score...21-0 baby!

Trust me, they'll both be celebrating tomorrow!

And, that's a wrap for this fun-filled long weekend in Louisiana!  Thank you Shane and Lorie for opening your house to all us crazies.  We love you bunches!

P.S. ROLL TIDE!  NATIONAL CHAMPIONS, BABY!  #14!!!

Hey There! Have You Missed Me?

Well hello, old friend!  I must admit it's been awhile.  I really put on a spit-shine to the old blog-a-roo before making my grand comeback.  What do you think?

So, I have a couple of explanations and announcements before we go much further...

First, my last post was the week before Christmas.  For the sake of memory keeping, I will be back-posting about our Christmas festivities and you will see just how busy we are during that time.  If it weren't for the miraculous birth of Christ, I could almost hate Christmas.  There is just way too much pressure to see everyone, attend every gathering, and wear a smile at all times.  In today's world of large, extended families, that is a huge request.  But Christmas IS about the miraculous birth of Christ, and Jesus would eventually suffer much more than 100+ travel miles, so I tough it out.

Three (3) short days after Christmas, the hubs and I realized there was something very important missing from our lives...my monthly visitor!  Um, yes, we received a very un-asked-for gift...I'm pregnant with #3.  It took well into the New Year for that shock to wear off, let me tell you.  Then as soon as we were adjusting to the idea of an expanding family the nausea, fatigue, and emotional roller coaster arrived.  Let me tell you one thing.  I don't know if it is the fact that it's the 3rd pregnancy, if it's due to having two lively and healthy young 'uns here at home who still want my attention, or if it's a combination of all that plus shock, but this time around the 1st trimester was a doozy!!!

So there you have it.  After all those goings-on in December and January, here we are in February.  I'm going to get back to a fairly regular schedule of blogging about 3 or 4 times a week.  I will have plenty to tell you about, starting tomorrow with a recap of my pregnant-trip to New Orleans, LA for the NCAA Football National Championship Game!  WOO HOO!  What a great weekend!

'til then,