Summer Lovin'

Yesterday marked a week on the road for us. We left early Sunday morning to make our twice a year trip South and arrived at Pops and Lulu's house Monday evening. We left the next morning for Orange Beach and spent the rest of the beach wrestling kids in the sand and water. Billy and I enjoyed a date night when we ate at a VERY old favorite of ours, Doc's Seafood Shack. After supper, we went to Cobalt Restaurant for dessert. It was fun night of good eats! We enjoyed a couple of other great restaurants that you should try if you ever visit the gulf coast... The Shrimp Basket (there are multiple locations and the whole family enjoyed the variety of foods we tried) and Tacky Jack's for breakfast (pancakes that hang over your plate). Obviously, I enjoy the dining part of our vacations! :)

Cooper continued to love the beach (like last year)... the sand, the water, everything. Calleigh warmed up to the soft sand, but never had any trouble with the hard sand next to the water. It was an experience that we will remember for years to come. With us being down there in early May, we didn't have any trouble with crowded beaches or party-ers. It truly was a family (and family-friendly) vacation. Hopefully next time we go, the kids will either be finished with daily naps or they will at least be taking their naps at the same time. It felt like we were spending a lot of time in the condo waiting on one of the kids to wake up. :)

One of my favorite (non-eating) memories is the time we spent at the indoor pool with ALL of the family swimming and playing. My second favorite is the nights on the beach "crab hunting" with Cooper. He was a RIOT! He would chase the crabs (with NO fear) across the sand and try to capture them with his net. Too bad it was so dark... the pictures or film would have been priceless!

Above are a few pictures from the first night. More pictures will be posted soon!

Birthdays are for remembering...

"I'm ONE!"

Today is Calleigh's 1st birthday and we have had a wonderful day. We had a small celebration for our sweet baby girl centered around the Kentucky Derby. We had traditional derby foods (Cucumber sandwiches, Chocolate Derby Pie, and lemonade) and dressed to impress. The ladies wore hats and the guys wore their hats and dressy clothes. We had a wonderful time and Calleigh got some great gifts, but most of all she loved the attention.

I found myself reflecting today on what my life looked like a year ago and I remember being surrounded by family and how excited "Pops" was to be here for Calleigh's birth. She was a chunky, beautiful girl who was a week early but a full pound heavier than Cooper. She had the prettiest complexion and she melted my heart right away. I remember Cooper coming in to meet her and how sweet he was to her. I am one blessed woman!

Happy birthday to my precious baby girl! You have completed our family and made us all so happy.

A little out of the ordinary...

So today's post won't be typical... I want to ask everyone who reads my blog to pray for Tyson Lewis. He is a freshman at YC and he is in Congestive Heart Failure. He is a VERY kind and faithful young man who beat cancer 11 years ago (he lost his leg to it) and unfortunately, they have yet to figure out WHY his heart is SO enlarged and WHY only 20% of it works. Today the doctors on Omaha are taking a biopsy of his heart (a concerning procedure all on it's own) and they hope to get results in a few days. Unfortunately, (as his dad has said) if this doesn't yield results, Tyson's options are limited. Please pray that a cause and solution are found with this procedure. He and his family have already experienced SO much pain already. I can't imagine what this scary time is like for them.

Tonight, I have organized a "Prayer Walk" at a local park for women from the college, church, and community to come and pray. It will likely be a cold night (and maybe even wet), but my understanding is that God listens to prayers no matter what the weather! :) I have encouraged the ladies who attend to bring a flashlight for the obvious reason, but ALSO because I hope that as drivers by see flashlights, they might wonder what is going on. I couldn't help but think of this as an opportunity to be "a light to the world". If you are not in York, PLEASE join us (from afar) and lift this family up at 9pm with us. Psalms 54:2

In Lones family news, we took pictures this weekend at JCPenney's and while we didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, there are a few good ones. See for yourself (customer's name: CHRISTI LONES). We ended up spending the day in Lincoln running all over town. We got a lot done and found a few bargains.

I realized this morning that in less than a week, Calleigh turns ONE. One week from today, we begin finals at the college. Two weeks from today, we will be arriving in Alabama. CRAZY!!! I just hope we have time for everything.

New tricks...

Coop has 2 new tricks. The first one I haven't caught on tape yet, but I am sure I will eventually. He is VERY much into mimicking what I do or sometimes even what Calleigh does (especially if it is something naughty that she gets away with). Our newest game is where I mimic him by doing whatever he is doing with his arms (he is VERY expressive with his arms now) by crossing them, putting them at my side, crossing again, and then holding them out. He thinks this is the funniest thing and now he has started trying MAKE me "play this game". He will grab my arms and try to put them across my chest to get us started. Today I looked at him a couple of times only to find him looking at me and mimicking ME in hopes of starting the "game". What a cut up!!!

His other new trick is in this video. He can't quite get the concept of moving the finger back and forth to make the noise, but it is still hysterical!

Calleigh is growing and learning things at an amazing rate as well. Yesterday I got her to sign "more" for me several times (at the appropriate times... eating, of course) and today she REALLY started shaking her head at me, especially when I would ask her about going to bed. Here is a video of it...

Happiness is...

Happiness is...

• a household on the mend
• a child absorbing everything and repeating everything :)
• a child who not only had gotten his appetite back, has suddenly become interested in new foods again!
• one child sleeping so I can spend quality time with the other.
• a child who's new favorite toy is "big" legos. (Coop is in his own world when he plays with them and constantly is saying "oh no" or "uh oh")
• a husband who is finally able to sleep again
• a phone call to my parents
• having sunlight lighting up my living room.
• remembering all of these things come from the Lord. (James 1:17)

Gratituesday (part deux)

Friends are something I have never taken for granted, but this week has proven a great time to give thanks for some of the amazing women in York who have been there for me in some way over the past week.

• Thank you to Sarah for always, always treating my children as her own and taking them in several times over the past 2 weeks within MINUTES of a panicked phone call from me.
• Thank you to Candi for offering several times; neigh, really, really wanting to help us with whatever we needed.
• Thank you to Lindsey for taking the kids today for the 3 hours while I covered one of Billy's classes and my own. She had her 2 kids and 3 other kids ALL BY HERSELF and she WANTED to take in my kids. Needless to say, my children loved her and all the kiddos they got to play with (Cooper cried the whole way home begging to go back).
• Thank you to Amber and Marti and their love for Cooper and their weekly playdates with Cooper. To top of that long day, they came BACK 2 hours later and kept both kids while I took Billy to supper for his birthday! They are so good to us!
• Thank you to Barb for taking my kids on Friday for several hours so I can get some work done and so Billy can get some rest.
• Thank you to Gail, Kimberlee, Summer, and Kami for the facebook "stalking" and offers to help. I particularly loved Summer's offer to go get kleenexes for us! Talk about being specific! :)
• Thank you to Becky for the offer to help and even bring us dinner, but most especially for fielding nursing questions on her day off because I am too embarrassed to call the clinic AGAIN!!!
• Thank you to Cathy for the AMAZING (I'm not kidding) supper that she brought us. YUM! YUM! YUM!
• Thank you to the nurses and doctors at the York Medical Clinic who fielded SO many calls (and visits) from me as a concerned wife and mother. Boy... I am so glad they haven't run scared when they saw my number pop up on caller ID.
• Thank you to our bosses for being so understanding and willing to work around Billy's "sick time" schedule.
• And thank you to all the countless friends who have prayed for Billy or my kids and for those who continue to ask how we are doing. I also appreciate the random visit from Rick yesterday to check on us. My son was so excited to see him because he thought Rick was coming by to take him "bye-bye". Ha!

Since I KNOW this is never a good idea to individually thank people because I will inevitably forget someone, bear with me as I add posts of those names I forgot. I think it is important enough to thank people by name and more importantly to thank GOD for these people by name. Thank you all for being blessings to my life.

Gratituesday (gotta love my man!)

Yesterday, my beloved husband turned 35. While the day came and left quietly, it marked a momentous day for him. It was at this age that Billy’s father had a heart attack and this has been a point of great concern for Billy for years. He has seen this date as a “looming, dark cloud” and he has been motivated over the last year to get in shape. I am SO proud of him… he has lost 20 pounds!

So here is my Gratituesday subject… Billy. There are so many reasons to love, appreciate, honor, and respect him, so I am going to list a few of those.

• Billy is the most amazing chef
• Billy LOVES to cook (lucky me!!!)
• Billy is a Christian man
• Billy is a wonderful provider that put family above a lucrative career

I respect Billy for…

• His keen mind
• His relationship with his parents
• His adoration for our children
• His hands on approach with our kids

I appreciate Billy for…

• All the times he has gotten up in the middle of the night with a baby
• all the meals that he cooks after a long day at work
• co-parenting with me
• loving and caring about my family like they were his own
• loving me, even when I am unlovable
• all the things I am forgetting and never giving me a hard time for it J

Over all, I am grateful for Billy being in my life and taking care of me. I am one blessed woman!