blessed beyond measure

Yeah, here's some humor for you. You probably won't think of this as funny, but I am classifying it this way because, if Brandon and I don't laugh at this, our heads may very well explode. Remember this ? The New Year's furnace explosion soot extravaganza, during which our water cut off? Get ready to giggle...our water cut off again in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Praise the Lord it wasn't quite as big a deal this time around - the problem had fixed itself by later Thursday morning, but it's still not a good thing for this to keep happening. Ah, the joys of home ownership. The house has been its own roller-coaster ride this week, from the high of "Extreme Makeover: Porch Edition" to the low of being waterless. And so we must laugh. Good times, good times. Since this is Friday funnies, though, here's the real thing. I snapped a few pictures of Trey today and we were looking through them on the computer. When we got to this one: Trey ...

As it seems to every year, our Memorial Day weekend involved a ton of work around the house. On Saturday we focused on the garden and the grounds. After a trip to a local farm store, we hoed and tilled, planted and replanted veggies - corn, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash. Here is the finished product. It looks better than it has in several years. Brandon is doing an experiment this summer - we have seen on TV where you can grow tomatoes upside down. Thought it was worth a try. Brandon weed-eated (is that a word?) and planted grass, while I weeded flower beds and planted some flowers. And most of this labor occurred during Trey's afternoon nap. Sunday found us barely able to move and so we took the day of rest command literally. Naps all around!! On to Monday's work, which I have dubbed "Extreme Makeover: Porch Edition". We have a half-enclosed carport with louvered glass windows. They are old and have been rusted in whatever position they were i...

In an attempt to have a weekly feature on the blog (who knows how long it will last - maybe just today), I thought I might try to post something funny each Friday. Here's a little background: There is a book at my mom's house that Trey looooves called Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me . Giga (my mom) reads it over and over to him, and she can pretty much recite it by memory now. Trey has memorized a lot of it too. Anyway, we were at my mom's for dinner on Wednesday night and Trey brought that book to me so I could read it to him. I made a mistake and skipped a page, and so tried to go back and correct myself. But Trey grabbed the book from my hand, slid off my lap and said, "I go get Giga." Sigh. He won't let you get away with anything. (Thanks for this picture, Aunt Nene!)

Some pretty funny things have been coming out of Trey's mouth lately. The following could be overheard at last night's bedtime: Daddy: Good night, Trey. I love you. Trey: I love chicken nuggets. (This has happened many times before, by the way.) Then Brandon left the room and turned the lights out. Trey and I rocked for a few minutes as we do every night, and I sang our favorite bedtime song, "Bye-oh-bye", a family lullabye carried on from my Meemaw Margaret. As I'm singing, Trey starts talking to himself. "Time go night-night. Trey, Mama rock rock. Sing song bye-bye-baby. Get in crib. Yes." A pep talk? A checklist? Too funny. So I left and went to do some chores in the kitchen. Trey continued to babble, but I couldn't make anything out until he started yelling at the top of his lungs... "CHI-CKEN NUG-GETS!!" I promise we're not starving him - he actually ate a pretty big dinner. Anyway, he yelled this for a few minutes and then broke...

What a great day. We started out earrrrrly in the morning and made the trip to VA Tech for my sister's graduation. She graduated from the College of Engineering, and though the tons of students made for a bit of a long ceremony, it was so exciting to see her walk across that stage. Then it was time for a pig roast celebration with family and friends. Mom came up with this idea for a cake, and it turned out really well! We all had such a great time! Whitney, we love you, and we are so proud of you!!

We love music in this house. Both Brandon and I were raised in families that loved music, and it has carried through. We both spent our childhood and teen years playing the piano. Brandon still plays occasionally around the house, and I play for church service once a month. Though the skill has deteriorated some with lack of practice time, what a blessing the Lord has given us to make music. We also enjoy singing, though from my mouth it doesn't always sound great. But that won't stop me! Songs about the Lord are my avenue to worship. Music is the quickest, easiest, strongest way that I can feel the presence of God. Have you heard these?? - "Motions" by Matthew West - "You are Everything" by Matthew West - "Forgiven and Loved" by Jimmy Needham - "My Deliverer" by Mandisa - "The Only Thing Good In Me" by Michael English And these are just the newest in my long line of favorites. The music inspires me, convicts me, remind...

Hi. I Tay. Wub mommie. Tank u apple duce, dip, pies. Go shide, ride in car, car. Go Nina, Giga. Read book. 'appy mommie daaayyy. Bye, see you wayter. Translation: High, I'm Trey. I love my mom. Thank you for making me Apple Juice, giving me Ketchup and Fries. Thank you for taking me outside and giving me rides to Nina and Giga's house. Thank you for reading books with me. Happy mother's day. See you later. Thank God for a unbelievable mom (and wife). You are an incredible blessing to us. Thank you for your tireless work. You are a Proverbs 31 woman. We love you. Happy Mother's day. Trey....with a little help from daddy.

Very unexpectedly, I had to take the day off from work today - Trey's Nana, who usually keeps him on Thursdays was feeling pretty bad and we didn't have time to find a backup. Of course we hate that Nana was sick, but it wasn't a tragedy to have some extra time with my boy. So I got a taste of being a stay-at-home mom today! This time was made even sweeter as Trey seems to have gotten over his little cold from the last few days. Sad boy is now "appy boy!" We kept busy today, using our morning to run errands. This included a rare mid-week trip to the grocery store, and we got out of there for only $45 for the week!! Note to self: the checkout lines are just as long on Thursday at 10:30 AM as they are on Saturday. We also went to our area YMCA to enroll in parent-child swim lessons, which start in a couple of weeks. This is very exciting. I'm really looking forward to it and hoping that Trey will cooperate. As much as he loved being in the lake at my fol...

Not sure if it's allergies or a cold, but poor Trey. He had a fever towards the end of last week for a few days, then yesterday the struggles really began. Coughing, runny nose, lots of sneezing (and associated projectile), and every once in a while he'll have tears rolling down his cheeks from watery eyes. Understandably, all of this plus just plain not feeling good has made Trey very unhappy. He is restless at play, getting frustrated very easily. And of course he totally freaks out whenever he doesn't get his way. I've asked him several times while he's crying, "What's wrong?" He simply replies, "sad boy". You can really tell Trey doesn't feel good when he'll sit still for more than 30 seconds. We've spent more time on the couch than anywhere else today. I hate for my baby boy to be sick - we're hoping this will pass quickly.