mother's day gift idea

I've never tried using my blog to sell anything and I don't even know if any of you that read this would be interested in these, but I thought I would put them on here and see what happens. I have made these for several people for gifts and everyone loves them. They are personalized daily Bible verse cards. There are 60 verses (for women), and each one has the person's name in them. They come in a little clear plastic holder and are wrapped in a cellophane bag with ribbon. I thought they might make a great Mother's Day gift (or an end of the year teacher gift). I sell them for $15. If you're interested, you can email me at bamalyla@bellsouth.net.
Thanks!

Happy Birthday Pop!

Last weekend we had a surprise 7oth birthday party for my dad in Huntsville. My sister and Dylan came up from Tampa to help celebrate. It was a lot of fun, and we actually succeeded in surprising him. Jon had the job of keeping my dad occupied on the golf course on Saturday so we could get the cake picked up and go decorate. I think Lilly enjoyed herself more than almost anyone else at the party--she was quite chatty with everyone. Of course, we didn't get one picture of the whole family that night, and I did a terrible job of taking pictures all weekend. The only one we got of the whole family was on Sunday after lunch and is pitiful! Happy birthday dad! You look great and you act so young, I can't believe you are 70!

My dad standing beside his "classic car" cake. He LOVES antique cars.

Some of the table decorations.

My dad and sister

Here are a few pictures from the rest of the weekend...

Dylan playing "pretty pretty princess" with Lilly.

We are a rough-looking bunch in this picture. Oh well, you can't be picky when you ask a stranger to take a picture for you. It was FREEZING outside and so windy it was miserable. I love having bangs when it's windy.

Lilly, Dylan, and Mamie. I love the wisteria in my mom's backyard.

introducing...Hollis Allen Watson

Lilly and Mamie's first little Carman cousin arrived on April 4th at 9:56 am. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and is 21 inches long. We are so excited he's finally here! He surprised everyone by coming about 2 weeks early. Kim did great and Hollis is perfect! Lilly can't wait to teach him all sorts of stuff (watch out Kim & Zach!). She got to go back to the hospital last night with me and Jon--she was so excited she could hardly stand it. She asked me all day long if Zach would let her hold him. Of course, I forgot my camera when she got to, but I'm sure there will be many more photo opportunities with their new precious little cousin.

Dr. Fang

Lilly had her first visit to the dentist on Wednesday. She was so excited. She had gone with me in July to watch me get my teeth cleaned and meet Dr. Swang. Well, she talked and talked about "Dr. Fang" after that. In fact, a couple days later at a wedding shower for Kristin and Branson, Lilly loudly introduced herself to a 90-year old woman as "Dr. Fang!" when the woman asked her what her name was. I'm sure the woman thought we were very strange. Anyway, when we went this week for her first cleaning, she loved every minute of it. I was very worried that she wasn't going to cooperate about the "thing that they put around your neck" as she calls it. She will not wear a gown at the doctor's office, a cape to get her haircut...and was seriously stressing out for days before we went over the bib at the dentist's office. But, she wore it just fine. It was truly a 3-year-old miracle. I'm glad she had fun, because we get to go back very soon. She had one little cavity. I hope that visit goes half as well...

Lilly and Dr. Swang

Getting used to the "thing around your neck"

During the cleaning--notice her hand on the hygenist's hand. She kept it there the whole time just in case she neede to push her away, I guess. We both thought it was pretty funny.

parties, princesses, and eatin' ritz

Last Saturday we had quite a day. A birthday party for Lexi who turned one, and then a baby shower for Kim and little almost-here-Hollis! We can't wait for him to get here and are praying every day for him to arrive safely and easily. Lilly is so excited--every day she asks me if Hollis is out of Kim's tummy yet. She can't wait for him to get here. I have no idea where some of my pictures have gone--I took pictures of Kim and also of Jon's grandmother and cousin (who is also pregnant with a baby boy!) with Lilly at the shower, but they're not on my camera now. Who knows? I just had to post a picture of the cake--it was adorable. We survived the day (thanks to a bag of skittles Sassy brought for Lilly) without taking naps until almost 4:30. It was a miracle (and lots of fun).

Wasn't the cake precious?

Mamie and Sassy at the shower--you can tell she is SO sleepy

Lexi with her little polka dot cake--have you ever seen a bigger smile? She loved it when everyone sang "happy birthday"

Later that night, Lilly dressed Mamie up like a princess. They were both pretty proud of themselves.

Caught red-handed!

A common occurence at our house if the pantry door is left open.

Helping herself to her FAVORITE snack. She would prefer to eat just ritz crackers and nothing else if I would let her. She goes to the pantry door almost first thing every morning yelling, "crackoo." In case you are worried, I do not let her eat ritz for breakfast.

Happy Easter!

Well, we had a busy and wonderful (and healthy) Easter! We celebrated a week early with Jon's family, and then spent the holiday in Huntsville at my parents' house. It was freezing and Lilly's lips were actually blue in some of the pictures I took that morning. I felt like a crazy person putting them in sleeveless dresses... oh well! At least we had an Easter egg hunt with beautiful weather the Friday before with friends. It is getting harder and harder to get any good pictures with both girls--practically impossible.

An attempt at a family photo--we never got a single remotely usable one with all four of us. I sort of have a "this is pointless" look on my face.

CJ & Pop with the girls before church.

Opening the big Easter package that came in the mail from Aunt Sissy, Uncle Tim, and Dylan!

The "big" kids (Cal, Lilly, Ellie, and Livi) at the Easter egg hunt we had at Ashley's and Tressa's families' farm. We knew better than to even attempt to get the little kids in it too.

Cal spilling his basket attracted quite a crowd of helpers. Mamie was pretty excited about all those eggs.

Her first time hunting eggs--she knew exactly what to do.

Dyeing eggs the week before Easter.

the sort-of snow angel and other stuff

Well, not much has been going on with us...just dying for spring to get here so we can play outside! We missed the good snow here last weekend because we were in Huntsville at my parents' house. We got a little bit there, but only enough to cover the deck and dust the grass. Lilly was dying to make a snow angel, so she had to try it on the deck. I just thought it was a funny picture of her. Mamie has been making some of the funniest faces, but I can't ever catch them with my camera. She's getting quite a personality and is into everything right now--her favorite things to do include: playing in the potty when it's accidentally left open, getting into her sister's play make-up or chapstick and eating it/smearing it everywhere, getting boxes of crackers or cookies out of the pantry and digging into them, climbing up onto her sister's bed, and pulling all 200 books off of Lilly's bookshelf. I get panicky when it gets too quiet--she's usually up to something she's not supposed to be doing. I make her sound like she's bad, but she actually minds so well--all I have to do is tell her "no" and she gets her feelings hurt.

My parents' house backs up to a land trust so the woods go on forever behind their house. I took Lilly "hiking" one day. I don't think we'll be taking her camping any time soon. This is how our walk went:

Lilly: "Let's go back to the house, Mommy."

Me: "Isn't this fun? Look, a snail shell! Do you want to take it home with you?"

Lilly: "No thank you mommy. Let's go back to the house. I think there might be wolves."

Mamie and Pop spent lots of time swinging

Mamie trying her best to sneak up on Scole. You can tell she's concentrating with that tongue out. Once in a while he lets her jump on him and sit on him like she's riding a horse. We'll never get another dog that will put up with the things he puts up with--sweet boy.

I had to have this documented. Mamie has been doing this for a couple of months now. She climbs up on Lilly's bed all the time and just rolls around on the pillows laughing, or Lilly gets up there with her and jumps. (Probably really safe...my next post will probably be about a trip to the emergency room from falling off of the bed.) She just works so hard at getting up there.

Success! (and look at the curls)

I just love her in a nightgown. She's trying to get Lilly's pez.

This is her laughing face. She scrunches up her whole face and shows those two hippo teeth.