NYC

My trip to the Big Apple did not disappoint.

There was plenty of sibling bonding to be had just as I suspected.

Lots of walking...

Sightseeing...

And of course my personal favorite, shopping!

I really enjoyed this trip for multiple reasons. Not only was it great spending quality time with my siblings, but this was the first time after past trips to NYC that I was able to participate in "non-touristy" activities. Of course I'm a geeky tourist at heart (my one exception includes no fanny packs) but I enjoyed just walking around neighborhoods I've never seen and attempting to blend in with the locals.

We spent the first day just walking around the city. Throughout neighborhoods, beautiful parks, and famous attractions.

We loved dining at local hang out joints and eating oh so yummy food. (I meant to take pictures of most of my scrumptious meals but my mouth wouldn't allow me to get out my camera fast enough...)

It was good to have a sister with us that has lived in NY for the past year. Carla taught us how to quickly weave in and out of crowds and jab people with our elbow. ;)

On Sunday we were on the go again and had the priviledge of seeing a Broadway show (thanks to our mommy dearest). They said no pictures but I just couldn't help sneaking out the camera during the intermission. :)

After our fabulous show we caught a cab to Redeemer Presbyterian church to hear Tim Keller preach. I loved it! What a gifted preacher and precious church body.


Cameron and I spent Monday morning exploring the Museum of National History due to constant rain outside. We spent well over 2 hours walking through exhibits. This is definitely a must if you go to New York....very kid friendly as well.

My all time favorite exhibit by far was this one in the hall of Indian artifacts. You would think all Indians are dark skin and dressed a certain way, but I spotted one that looked a tad bit different...

Huh. Looks like someone I know but can't put my finger on it (no pun intended)...

After seeing the albino Indian, we met Carla for a quick tour of her school.

I was hoping there would be a huge pastry there to greet me but I witnessed a sparkling clean kitchen instead. Here's the room where all the cooking magic happens...

See all the chocolate creations in the window? We were hoping to see Carla's, however it broke before we were able to get there. They were each assigned to make a creation inspired by their favorite childhood movie. Carla picked The Never Ending Story of course.

I sure hate I missed her version of a chocolate covered Valcore...

One of our most memorable moments of the trip was when we were shopping in Century 21 (now my favorite store in the world by the way) and my brother discovered he had been accepted into UAB's medical school next year. It was great to all be together in that moment. We definitely forced him to buy a cashmere sweater after that... :)
Congrats Cambo!!!


Well, I think that covers it. Whew...this blogging stuff makes me tired.

Lately Part 2

Three sewing classes down and one to go. So, does this mean I'm on my way to being an award winning seamstress? Hardly.

As of now I despise the people who say "sewing is so relaxing." Um yeah, if you call a knot in your shoulder blade area and tense body muscles for two hours relaxing I might have to change my domestic aspirations. Hopefully once I get used to it I'll feel more relaxed... Am I right all you sewing women? If not, just lie to me okay.

Here's what the romper looks like now...

Here's what it will look more like in the future...

Remember it will be reversable.

I even had a friend monogram the brown gingham side for an added touch of boyish cuteness.

Speaking of cute baby clothes...

Like I told you in my last post, my friend Lauren gave birth to a beautiful, healthy, baby boy last weekend. I couldn't get enough of holding this sweet bundle of joy. Take a look at how precious this little guy is...

I could just eat him up I tell ya.

Lauren, of course, looked fantastic and will be a superb mommy.

Speaking of babies, let's talk about really small animals for a sec.

We've had a problem with grubby little mice getting into our garage lately (yucky) so the bug people were kind enough to give us an easy solution. Mr. Bug Man gave us a few sticky pads to lay on the floor...we've already caught plenty of bugs and one mouse (ahem...rat). Disgusting much?

However, the other morning I noticed a different creature gracing our presence with his stuckness.

**If your not a fan of creepy crawlies or things that make hissing noises you may want to avoid the next picture.

Here's the beauty we caught...

I know he's not the biggest snake in the world...but seriously, just having one in my garage makes me squirm. Steven claimed it was poisonous too due to the arrow like head. Hopefully, mother snake is not too close by.

You better believe I'll be watching these bare footsies a little closer from now on.

Speaking of catching things...

I'm catching a flight this weekend.

On Saturday you can find me on this...

Bound for here...

With him...

To visit her...

It should be delightful sister and brother bonding all around. :)

And of course you can bet I'll take the trusty Canon with me...

Lately

What have we been up to lately? Oh, a little bit of this and that really.

We've been doing a lot of watching for airplanes (Isaac's big obsession right now).

"Oss" he says when they fly by. We aren't really sure why he calls them "Oss"....Steven thinks he may be saying "ass" for the "A" in airplane...but just in a British accent of course.

I feel like things have been pretty busy for us--I'm sure most people can say the same with the fall approaching. Football takes up much of our weekends and Steven has been quite busy with work even starting to moonlight on some of his off days. Thankfully, with the ER schedule we still get to see him pretty often and at least every day. I'm so glad he went into Emergency Medicine!!

Steven and I enjoyed a nice date last weekend to the Alabama vs. Penn State game. I didn't take my camera due to the possible bad weather forecast but wish I had. The new addition to the stadium was unbelievable and the historical ambience surrounded us everywhere. We always love going back to T-town and feeling reminiscent about our college days...

During the week I've continued meeting with my college girlfriends on Monday nights for a little Bible Study. It's always an encouraging time of fellowship. And congratulations to one of my fellow bible study friends (a.k.a. Lauren!) who had her baby just today!! I was able to host a fun baby shower at my house for her just last weekend along with some friends.

On Wednesday nights I'm back at the wheel again traveling to my beginner's sewing class. Yes, I've finally decided to bite the bullet and learn to sew. It's been fun so far. I mean it hasn't made me want to throw curse words around as much as the blue bird cupcakes so that's a good sign.

There sure is a lot of pinning involved...

I've enjoyed creating a little jon jon for little buddy. I'm making it reversable so he can get double wear out of it for the fall.

I was so excited to learn to sew that I orded a few fabrics online and plan to make pants for his winter wardrobe. I'll let you know how they turn out.

I really haven't done much picture taking these days. We did go to the Botanical Gardens recently for a quick walk in the beautiful nature. I happened to bring my camera along...

Pay no attention to the dried gunk on his face. :)

I love this one of his little finger in his mouth. This is the exact expression he makes when he's feeling shy...

I love my sweet boy. And gorgeous flowers to take pictures with. :)

By the end of our journey through the gardens I'm not really sure who was more ready for me to stop with the photo session.... Isaac or my husband. Steven's not terribly fond of pictures you see.

Not to mention, I think little buddy was shooting me the bird right before we left.

But he sure is cute doing so.

Okay, okay, I'm just joshing with you. But really he seriously uses his middle finger for everything especially spinning wheels on little matchbox cars.

Speaking of mathbox cars... he LOOOOVES them!

Well, that's all for now folks.

Big Feet = Velcro

Gone are the days (for now) of cute little lace up shoes. I took little buddy to the shoe store today and found his foot has grown two sizes in the past five months. Not too shocking for a growing child of course, but not the news I wanted to hear at the moment. You see, I came to buy adorable colored lace up keds. However, I got worried when the lady doing his measurments looked as if she wanted to say "are you nuts?" when I asked about the cute little shoes. She assured me (in a nice way of course) that I can throw that idea out the window. This fat foot of his will only take velcro and an extra wide shoe size at that.

We ended up settling on some stride rites and (thankfully) some Keds too...but just the velcro kind.

So, here's to two sizes bigger (size 8) little buddy!

And really BIG big toes. :)

(feel free to overlook his dirty footsies :) )

I assured him that no one would notice his whopping shoe size this fall, but only his cute face.

We hope everyone enjoys their last summer days of barefootness...

We sure are.