"Hey Mom".....

...cause that's what he's calling me these days. "Mom". Which is totally understandable since he's, you know, grown. He IS a whopping 2 years and 2 months old after all.


Mom: "Yes, Carter?"


Carter: "I need medicine."


Mom: "You do? What's wrong with you?"


Carter: "I sick."


Mom: "Where are you sick, Carter?"


Carter: "The barn."


.............I'm not sure what kind of medicine would work for that, or where to put it!

AND

... yesterday I flipped over to see what was on the NBC channels as far as olympics go and there was an indoor volleyball game on.

Carter said, "They not take they clothes off, Mom?"

Darn that beach volleyball!! Could they not just wear a shirt? I mean, it would help keep the sand out, right?

Got Gold?

Update! She won! Go HERE for the info! I have no idea if or when this will air, because when I was watching her teamate Natsia (sp?) win silver on the bars in the middle of the night last night they said the competition was "tomorrow" so who knows! Anyway, I'm so glad she finally won gold!

I interupt my brief recuperation period from the 24/7 coverage of the Olympics (and working in the hay field...more on that later!) to bring you this........

...You've heard of Shawn Johnson, right? The 3 time silver medalist gymnast? Well, if you didn't think she is completely adorable before, then you must read this! (Read it even if you already thought she is adorable!) Then join me in rooting for her in her final meet! (which will probably be sometime in the middle of the night tonight....or tomorrow night...I'm not sure how the time difference will work but everything Olympic seems to be in the middle of the night! HA!)

Yummmmm!

UPDATED...SEE BELOW!

Four Months. That's when the Pediatrician recommends starting baby on solid foods. Now, by solid food I mean rice cereal, then oatmeal cereal, and stage 1 baby foods. Seeing as how Lilah was in the 80th percentile at her 4 month checkup at 15 pounds, none of us were surprised at how much she loved "solid" foods!

Normally it completely grosses me out to watch a baby learn to eat. Yes, even my own. (This may not win me mother of the year, but it IS a rather nasty process....sorry!) But she has been so comical and enjoying it so much that it's been a little less disgusting to watch!

So of course I simply MUST blog about it!

Lucky you!

Just be glad I didn't start blogging until Carter was a little older. THAT was a nasty process!

p.s.....Listen to Carter in the background. He's trying to talk Lilah into eating some of his "ice cream" which is really yogurt. Wouldn't it be wonderful if he always thought that?!

Also! I had the best trip to Walmart in ohhh, well, in 4 months, today. Check out this picture!

Mom cell phone cam

I put Lilah in the Bumbo seat down in the buggy and strapped Carter into the child seat! I KNOW! How stinkin' brilliant am I??? No more bulky baby car seat!!

Lilah totally loved her new freedom and Carter loved watching her look around and smile and coo. Of course we had the usual onlookers who chatted Carter up and talked to Lilah which she replied to with her bestest grin. Then there were the ones who looked at me like I was the most horrible mom ever. Yeah, whatever. They just wish they'd thought of it! :) It so made Walmart much more do-able with 2 babies!..........and nobody lost their pants either!

Don't Hate Me......

......because my blog is beautiful! Don't you just love it? Lindsay, at Splat Designs, has outdone herself for a second time on my behalf! I told her I wanted "Farmgirl Sheek"......and I think she's pulled it off beautifully! Thank you Lindsay!


Another thing, you may notice that I've added a category to my sidebar called "Twitter". Don't know what that is? Don't feel bad, I didn't either until I noticed it on Lisa's blog. Furthermore to say I was mule headed hesitant about trying it would be a serious understatement. But! It's fun! It's like text messaging on steroids. Try it!...oh, and add me, or follow me, or whatever it's called....I'm DeedraP on Twitter. (And you don't have to have a blog to Twitter!)

Okay,....if you haven't read it, carry on to the Scrapbook post below, I just HAD to squeal a bit about the new look!

A Hairy Week....

Carter got his first "official" haircut today! He didn't really have much hair at all until around 18 months and I have just kinda trimmed the ends because it just wasn't very thick. Until the last few months!

So, a visit to the official "P" family beautician was in order. I say this because my husbands entire family gets their hair cut here, and Carter absolutely LOVED Mrs. Crystal!

He wasn't entirely crazy about the process.....

Notice the BAG of lolli pops Ms. Gail is trying to bribe him with?

Now, all the Dum Dums in the world couldn't have gotten him to be this good for the duration of the hair cut. Wanna know what worked??

Mrs. Crystal promised to walk him down to the barn to see her horses if he'd be still while she cut his hair.....

.....how's THAT for service?

...As for the rest of the "hairy" week. Well, if you've seen me over the past month or so, you may have noticed my hair had a striking resemblance to Wednesday Adams....or maybe Elvira. It was very very very dark for my taste. The last time I had it colored I left there looking incredibly goth. I was very pale from the look at myself in the mirror,....I even had on a black concert tee...(even if it was Casting Crowns) Very Goth!

Anyway, earlier this week I decided I couldn't take that look for one more minute so I called to make an appointment. I told her (not Crystal from above, I'll leave out the name to protect the innocent!) I wanted to lighten it up. She suggested a "few" highlights around my face to brighten things up a bit. Fine by me. Go for it!

I wish I'd taken a picture. I went from Elvira to Cruella....or maybe a zebra. I had black and white striped hair! Lot's of stripes! I have no idea what happened to "a few highlights"!

My hair has been every color from blond to red to dark brown, even basically transparent once when I was a teenager (yeah, that was bad too! my dad nearly killed me!) but never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined it being striped! Also, since she had to leave the stuff she highlighted it with on for-stinkin-ever it fried my hair.

Did I mention my hair is naturally curly and coarse.....several inches below my shoulders? Can you imagine what I looked like when I woke up with that wild mess of hair??? (Bride of Frankenstein comes to mind!)

It was so bad that I literally lost sleep over it last night!...lol! Over MY HAIR!

So, I got up this morning and called the best place I could think of to try and help me get it fixed. Hair Benders International, Chattanooga. I figured we'd have to go without gas and groceries for the next month but given how my hubs has been looking at my head, I didn't think he'd mind!

I tearfully explained my horrific predicament to the girl on the phone and she said, "Can you be here at 1?" YES!!!

I became more tearful and, quite frightened actually, as the "senior stylist" I was assigned to proceeded to call over her "mentor" for a second opinion. (yes, a second opinion........on MY HAIR!) I wish I could explain the look on the mentor's face. I can't. Just imagine this below shoulder length, course, curly, black and white striped hot mess standing straight up all over my head in the middle of this high class salon as they pulled and tugged at it in disbelief. ( I was literally in the middle of the VERY busy room......I am still mortified!)

So, after a shampoo and condition, a clay conditioning mask left on under the dryer for 40 minutes, another shampoo & condition, a color weave consisting of 3 colors applied by 2 different people at the same time, under the dryer for 45 more minutes,a shampoo & condition, a color glaze, under dryer, shampoo & condition, cutting off of several inches due to the "frying" and a style..........

Here is one very happy (and relieved!) customer!

...with some VERY short hair! She blew it out straight and I am not afraid to tell you that I shudder to think about how short it's going to be when it's curly! UGH!

.....but at least it isn't black and white stripes!

Well, now you know!

I found this on a couple of sites I visited last night and theirs was so interesting, I thought I'd give it a try! Here's the link if you want to try it for yourself!

Your Brain Usage Profile:
Auditory : 58%

Visual : 41%

Left : 58%

Right : 41%

Deedra, you are mildly left-hemisphere dominant while showing a slight preference for auditory processing. This overall combination seems to indicate a well-working blend of logic and judgment and organization, with sufficient intuition, perception and creativity to balance that dominance.

You will at times experience conflict between how you feel and what you think which will generally be resolved in favor of what you think. You will find yourself interested in the practical applications of whatever material you have learned or whatever situation you face and will retain the ability to refine whatever knowledge you possess or aspects of whatever position you are in.

By and large, you will orient yourself toward intellectual activities and structure. Though not rigid, you will schedule yourself, plan, and focus on routine and continuity of operations, rather than on changes and disruptions

When changes or disruptions occur, you are likely to consider first how to ensure that such disruptions do The same balance is reflected in your sensory preference. You will tend to be reflective and measured in your interaction style. For the most part, you will be considered objective without being cold and goal-oriented while retaining the capacity to listen to others.

Preferentially you learn by listening and maintaining significant internal dialogues with yourself. Nevertheless, you have sufficient visualization capabilities to benefit from using graphs, charts, doodles, or even body movement to enhance your comprehension and memory.

To the extent that you are even implicitly aware of your hemispheric dominance and sensory style, you will feel most comfortable in those arenas which emphasize verbal skills and logic. Teaching, law, and science are those that stand out among the professions, along with technical sales and management.

Okay, so this is pretty accurate. (Nevermind that I had to look up half the dang words on here in the dictionary!) So then, if I tend to orient myself toward intellectual activities, structure and schedule, then you throw in a 2 yr old and a 4 month old, then I guess that would explain why I learn by maintaining significant internal dialogues with myself....LOL!

So! The next time you see me talking to myself in public......mind your business!!! I'm learning over here!.. :)

A Boy & his dogs....yes, dogS

....You may remember last month when I relayed the horrible news of the passing of our faithful friends, Sam & Lexie. They were our labs that we'd had for 10+ years. As you can imagine, with the 2 year old and the 4 month old, plus the new kitten that Maw Maw gave Carter, well, I just wasn't sure if I was up to tackling a new puppy so I hadn't really been actively looking for one (or two, cause everyone knows puppies are better in twos, right??)

So, when my dad called on Friday afternoon to tell me that a guy he worked with had seven 6 week old female chocolate lab puppies that he wanted to give away I wasn't in a big hurry to mention it to Kyle. It didn't matter though, when I did remember to tell him he promptly said that he didn't want a female puppy so that was that! (I did remind him that Lexie never did roam the neighborhood like every other male dog we'd ever had did though!)

So, you can imagine my surprise when Saturday afternoon Kyle pulls up to the back door and tells me to go look at what's in the back of his truck.

Dad had given the guy Kyle's cell number and when I didn't call him, he called us!

Any hesitation I had about getting a new puppy flew right out the window when Carter saw his new puppies. He was SOOO THRILLED! His little face absolutely lit up! He has played and played and played with his (& Lilah's) new puppy dogs.

Now the challenge is to name the little cuties! Carter named his kitten Floppy Cat, sometimes he calls it Flop. (I have no explanation) He started out calling the puppies Ruby...both of them, so one of them will be Ruby for sure. I'm trying to convince Kyle to let me name the other one Catherine (If you live near here, or know Kyle's family, you will so appreciate this one! LOL), I also thought about Merle & Maxie (sisters who live in our community), but when he started calling one of them Ruby that ended that.

I love to name pets after people I know! It makes it fun! We had these donkeys once named Clyde & Pearlie. So if you guys have any suggestions for Ruby's sisters name......please share!

In the meantime, Carter runs to the back door to make sure they are still there every time he thinks about it! He still asks every single day where Sam & Lexie are. I started out telling him that they got sick and went to heaven which basically got a blank stare from him, then I finally just said they are down behind the barn and left it at that. Then yesterday he surprised me.

He was saying "Thank you, God for sending the rain to water the corn and the cows." "Thank you God for Lilah, and Mama, and Dad." (He calls Kyle "Dad" lately which is beyond adorable!!), then he said, "Thank you God for sending me some puppies". Then he stopped and looked at me and said, "Mama, Sam & Lexie are in heaben with God. And Heaben is in the sky."

"That's right, baby" (through tears)....my baby is growing up!

New Pictures

Snowstorm.....

...in Alabama.




...in late July.




...in the form of Cornstarch.

This only shows half the room. The other half was also blanketed in snowy white goodness, but I couldn't breathe from the cloud of corn starch fog so you'll have to use your imagination.

It's hard to believe that just hours before this little show of the two year old terribles, my little farmboy fireman beethoven (he couldn't decide today, note farmer hat AND fireman boots!) was providing us with this entertaining piano masterpiece:

....well, I have to go now. I'm pretty sure I'll need a breathing treatment after vacuuming all the cornstarch/snow up!

I would have made him vacuum it up (mean, I know!) but he would have seen that as a total reward and not punishment at all!

Livin'on the edge.....

....yeah, that's how we roll!

(livin' on the edge, that is!)

Help me pray?

I would like to ask you to pray for my step mom's family. Her brother, Lowell (56), has fought prostate cancer for a couple of years now and has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor as well. He underwent radiation treatments for the tumor and has now completed all treatment that is available to him at this time. The treatments, and I'm sure the cancer itself, have left him so weak.

My step mom, Sharon, has 11 siblings. She has a twin sister and 10 other brothers and sisters. This family has such a close bond. I can say for sure, with absolute certainty, that I have NEVER heard one of her siblings speak a cross word about anyone or to anyone. They are some of the sweetest most caring and genuine people you will ever come across!

They are also a family of Christians. They have strong faith and know that God's will will be done.

But I know that they are sad. Sad that their brother is hurting and weak. Sad that the cancer seems to be taking him from them. And this makes me so sad.

As I was talking to my dad a bit ago, Sharon and two of her sisters had just returned from visiting Lowell. It didn't sound like he'd had a very good day. Sharon has also spent a few nights there this week to give Lowell's wife, Deborah, a bit of a break.

I just ask that you would pray for Lowell's comfort during this time, and for his family as they care for him and each other. I also pray that my siblings and I can be there for Sharon and her family as they are always there for us....doing anything that they can, never having to be asked, never expecting anything in return.

One more thing. There is another family from my very small hometown that has received devastating news the last couple of weeks. If you are local, they own the Christmas Tree Farm in Rosalie. The husband has just been diagnosed with a very fast growing terminal brain tumor. I know that this family would appreciate your prayers as well! This family also is such a good hearted family! Both the husband and the wife manned the community center for countless hours during the cleanup from the tornado.

One thing that I will never forget about them. The wife was my 5th grade teacher, and every year on their anniversary he would send her a rose for every year they'd been married. At that time it was in the high 20's or early 30's I'm guessing! I'll never forget how her face would light up when the roses arrived! I have always thought about that when I see them. I think that's just about one of the sweetest anniversary traditions I've ever heard of!

My grandmother worked at the community center most every day during the cleanup effort that has just recently ended, or at least on a 7 day a week basis. Carter & I visited her there alot during that time so we have spent a lot of time with Mrs. Joy (as all her students called her) lately. And Carter loves her just as much as every student who ever darkened her door!!

Please join me in praying for this family as well, I know that both families will appreciate every prayer that goes up on their behalf!

One more thing! A large group from our church will be leaving for a mission trip later this week. I ask that you pray for them and their safety, and that God will prepare the hearts of those who are going on the trip, and those who they are going to minister to!

Thank you!


Again,....Ya'll are awesome!

Go DRachel's Ballgame?...

Update: Rachel's team did not win at state, but we are still so incredibly proud of the girls and their coaches! Thank you all so much for your comments! I know that Rachel loved reading them!

......Go Matthew's Ballgame??

(when Carter says "Rachel" it comes out "DRachel", thus the title of this post)

These are questions I have heard soooo many times this summer! Carter absolutely loves going to watch his big cousins play baseball (or football, or basketball)! And so do I!

This year Rachel played again on the 7-8 yr old softball team. The regular season ended a month or so ago, but this year Rachel was chosen to play on the All Star team for this area! Now, anyone who has ever played ball knows what a big honor this is!

I know that when I played softball (a long time ago!) the last night of the league tournament was always was such an exciting night! All the teams would gather on the field after the championship game for the trophy presentation. First the teams who placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the league and in the tournament got their trophy, then the players who were chosen for the All Stars team were called from each team. It was such fun, and such a big deal to have your name called for that team! Then you practiced with your new teammates for a few weeks as you geared up for the district tournament. If you happened to be a good enough team and worked hard enough (and had a little good luck thrown in) to win the district, you got to go to the state tournament!

Well, on July 2, Rachel's All Star team won their district in one of the most exciting tournaments I've been to! They played 3 games to win and let me just tell you, they may only be 7 and 8 years old but these girls can play some softball! Every single game left me exhausted from the sheer excitement of it! (oh, and chasing Carter.....but big cousin Matthew helped tremendously in this area! Thanks again, Matthew!!)

Rachel and her All Star team will be traveling to Montgomery tomorrow to play in their first game of the state tournament! The girls (and their parents & coaches) have been working hard to raise money to pay for the trip! I am so excited for them! We won't be able to go that far to watch her play. Her Uncle Kyle has to work and I fear that I would never recover from a 4 hour (one way) car trip and an overnight stay with a 2 yr old and a 3 month old by myself!

So, would you please join me in wishing Rachel and her team the very best of luck this weekend?? I am praying that everyone has a safe trip there and back, and that each game is played with good sportsmanship and each player has a safe, FUN game! Oh,....and of course, that our team wins!! If they do win this state tournament, they would then go to Louisiana!

Rachel was my biggest prayer warrior when I was pregnant with Lilah. Even on the morning of my C Section she asked her parents and brother to have prayer for us with her before they got out of the car to go into the hospital! Lilah's middle name, Rae, was after Rachel (and my dad, and Kyle's grandfather) and I will never forget the look on her face when we told her that we were naming Lilah after her. She is such an amazing little girl, and we love her and her big brother Matthew, who just turned 10, so very much!!

So again, will you please join me in wishing Rachel and her team the very best of luck this weekend? I know there are alot of you who read but don't comment, but I'm asking you to comment this time! I'm gonna call Rachel later to tell her to read my blog and I'd love for her to have tons of well wishes in the comments to read! **Don't forget to leave your name so she knows who's wishing her good luck!**

Thanks! You guys are awesome!

Here are a few pics of the team from the district tournament!

and this one is from the day Lilah was born, Rachel peeking at her through the nursery!
I don't know if this was the first time Rachel held her or not ('cause I spent most of that day unconscious and don't remember much of anything!) but it's one of my favorites! They had gotten to the hospital around 5:30 AM, Lilah was born at 6:28 AM and this picture was taken at 12:55 PM. I know she had to be exhausted but she was determined to stay and hold her little namesake!

Got Warranty?

...so last week I was leaving in a big fat hurry, and as I was backing my enormously wide Tahoe(when you compare it to the VW Passat I used to drive) out of the 10 foot (my husband reminded me) garage door, I sort of tapped the drivers side mirror against the door as I backed out.....

....this resulted in a smashed mirror that was dangling by a cord from it's original position. The good news is that the blinker, which is on the mirror, still works, and I can still basically see out of it.....

...the bad news is every time I shut the door a little hard, it falls out and again resumes the "dangling by the cord position". Also bad is that I found out from the Chevrolet people that this mirror costs almost $1,000.00 to replace......

.......and to add insult to injury Carter was with me when it happened and now every time I start my vehicle he says, "Don't break something, Mama! Hold on Lilah!!"

Little Stinker!

I wish I could blame his smart mouth on his dad.

I Can't.

And you better believe my dad loves every second of it!

A Redneck Holiday...

...I have often proclaimed myself "country, but not redneck", and those of you who have lived in the country know the difference. However, after the events of this past weekend, I may have to rethink my opinion of myself, or at the very least admit that maybe sometimes I do redneck things......maybe.

On July 4th we drove the few miles down the road to the closest fireworks display. We parked what we thought was far enough away from them to keep Carter from being scared by the loud "booms" of the fireworks. We were wrong. He was terrified!

Mainly because the location of the "launch" of the fireworks had been changed from previous years. This year they were launched directly over our heads. It. Was. Loud!


That isn't the point to this story, however. The point is, I , (since, you know, everything is my fault) forgot to put the lawn chairs in the car. (I did, singlehandedly, get both kids, the diaperbag, and the insect repellent in the car).

But we saw these people near us doing this so we thought we'd do the same thing. Especially when we figured out the fireworks started at 9 instead of 8:30 and Rambo was getting restless.....

We actually took the 3rd row seats out of my vehicle and put them on the ground and sat in them.


I know!

There are at LEAST 25 Redneck jokes flashing through my mind as I type this!

I think it must have had something to do with the Rodeo we went to last weekend. All those rednecks in one place! They must have rubbed off on me a little!

"You might be a redneck if,..........."

(go ahead, finish it...I know you're dying to!)

A title escapes me......so here goes

First of all, I want to thank everyone for the prayers during the last week! We have certainly felt them, and most certainly have felt the presence of God during this time. Last week did not go well and there were some twists and turns that we didn't expect, but yesterday we got encouraging news regarding my mom, so hopefully things are looking up!

In other terribly sad news we had to say goodbye to our faithful dogs of 10 years last week. Our chocolate lab, Lexie, had been limping around for a while and a big knot had come up, so I heard her whining last Tuesday night and took her in to the vet on Wednesday. He did an xray and found that she had a tumor on her right shoulder. He showed me on the xray where the tumor was growing on the inside of her bone, causing the bone to expand, which he said had to be incredibly painful for her. The vet said that this cancer is very aggressive and terminal, so he recommended we put her down to keep her from being in such awful pain. Carter was with me, so we went in to say our goodbyes to our faithful friend, and as she always did, she wagged her tail with joy when she saw us coming. We petted her and talked to her for a little while, then we said our final goodbye. Of course, Carter didn't understand that Lexie wasn't coming with us so when we left he was saying, "Come on, Lexie...Come on, girl".

So you can imagine my surprise when later that afternoon we were outside and I heard the whining again. I knew it wasn't Lexie, so we went off in search of our other dog, Sam, a yellow lab also 10 years old, who hangs out at the barn alot chasing rats, and squirrels, and trucks, and tractors. I finally found him. He was hurt pretty bad. It looked like either other dogs, or most likely a coyote(s) had gotten hold of him. His ear was chewed up real bad, and he had several gashes on his sides and legs. It didn't look good, but Sam has survived so much! We have said several times that he has 9 lives because every time you think he isn't going to make it, he bounces back! He even survived what the vet thinks had to be a bear attack several years ago, with a minor surgical scar on his leg! Anyway, I doctored him for two days with medicine the vet sent home with us but by Friday night it was obvious even to me that he wasn't going to make it, and I agreed to let him be put down. I just couldn't stand to see him hurting like he was any longer.

We buried him beside Lexie. Behind the barn. He'd like that, this way he could oversee all the action that goes on around here. Carter doesn't understand that they aren't coming back and still insists on putting out food for them everyday. I finally hid the dog food container yesterday in hopes that "out of sight" will be "out of mind".

So, needless to say I was looking for a "getaway" of any kind this past weekend when my husband suggested we take Carter to the rodeo that was in town. Yee Haw! Let's go!

And I'm so glad we did! Carter had such a good time! At first he was all about riding the ponies, but once he got on....he wasn't so sure. He held on for dear life for a few rounds, but then once he had the hang of it, he loved it! He rode with a smile the size of Texas! Then when he got off, as the man who helped him off the pony handed him to me, I asked him if he had fun, Carter said "Mama, I go ride bull now!" Well, Okay! The pony guy cracked up and so did everyone else within earshot!

We bribed him into sitting still to watch to rodeo by telling him that if he was good, he could ride the ponies again before we left. He was good as gold!

So, without further ado, here are the rodeo pics I just know you've been waiting for!

....and, this is my favorite pic of Carter, Lexie, and Sam....he used to sit in his high chair and watch them on the back porch for what seemed like hours. They just watched him back, I always wondered what they were thinking....all 3 of them!..lol