Under The Big Top

Andrew's school gave us free tickets to the Cole Bros. Circus, so before heading to MS for the weekend, we decided to enjoy a free show under the big top.  This was our first circus under an actual tent.  (It SO reminded me of Water For Elephants.)

 We saw some very well trained, slow moving tigers.

 "On the catwalk." I kept singing that song.

 JUMP!

 The feline grand finale

 We saw some high flyers.

 They were scantily clad! (Thank goodness for the feathers!)

 The pink poodle act was probably my favorite!

 Super Dog climbing the ladder.

Flying Super Dog!

 During intermission, you could ride an elephant.  I so wanted to, but thought I'd save my $8.

 She was no Reese Witherspoon, but she did ok. 

 Taking a bow

 This man FLEW OUT OF A CANON. 

 See...told ya!

We had a sprite and some popcorn, so for a grand total of $10, we had a pretty good time! Can't beat that for family entertainment. 

Happy Birthday Ms. Delores

Today was Ms. Delores' birthday.  (She's Andrew's teacher.)  She had mentioned that her favorite cake is chocolate.  It just so happened I had some left over chocolate cake from Carly's party.  I decided to make her some cake balls.  And what better design for a teacher than APPLES!  Wilton now has these adorable cake pop holders that you can decorate any way you please, so this is what I came up with.  *Now, I didn't have the long sucker sticks, so I had to use the short ones.  As you can see, the short ones are too short.  So, note to self: buy long sucker sticks!*

 Stems are chocolate fondant and leaves are royal icing.

Pool Progress

9/27/11

9/29 (It rained on the 28th, so no update)- Pouring the concrete floor

I Already Knew

Some of you may know this, some of you may not.  My Granddaddy, Dewayne Bearden, was recently diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer.  When I say recently, I mean recently.  This has all happened so quickly that it doesn't really seem real.  And yet it is.  A hematologist appointment for anemia resulted in a CT scan, followed by a PET scan, and a biopsy.  Crazy, I know.  


My Granddaddy just turned 86 and because of his age and health history, the surgeon did not recommend surgery as an option, so he will begin Chemotherapy next week.  His doctor is very hopeful and optimistic that he can be cured.  I hope so too!  This man is one of my most favorite people in the entire world.  You couldn't find a better Granddaddy if you tried!  Annah and I are his only Grandchildren; Andrew his only Great-Grandchild.  (Some might say they spoiled us.  Those "some" would be right.)  Sometimes I think back on all the crazy things they'd let us do and I think to myself, "What in the world were they thinking?!" Just ask Granny what happened to her marble coffee table!  (oops)  Or take a look under the coffee table in the living room.  They let us crawl under there and write/draw all over it.  There are many tales of BFF's and Boyfriends under that table.  LOL  I got my love of baking from my Granddaddy and I'm sure that many of you reading this know exactly what a "Granddaddy cookie" tastes like.  There wasn't a church function at Mt. Calvary that didn't see some of those cookies.  He even mailed me boxes of my favorites to Auburn!  When I was little, he'd let me make "concoctions" in his kitchen; mixing in whatever I could get my hands on.  Annah was my taste tester.  (Sorry, sis!)   Granddaddy has always been the cook in the family.  Every Sunday for as long as I can remember, Granddaddy has made a feast for lunch.  In high school, half of the youth group would follow us over to his house because they knew the food was delicious and that there would be plenty.  Many of my friends from Auburn also came home with me on the weekends to enjoy some of "Granddaddy's Cooking."   


Granddaddy also taught me how to fish.  I can still remember sitting on his lap out on the pier, learning how to bait a hook.  When I was older he taught me how to skin a catfish.  


Annah and I spent pretty much every Friday night of our childhood at Granny and Granddaddy's house, as well as every New Year's Eve.  We'd spend the night watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and at the stroke of midnight run out into the yard and throw confetti as we drank ginger ale out of our plastic champagne glasses.  And there wasn't a summer vacation that didn't include Granny and Granddaddy!


I say all of that just to give you a glimpse of how important this man is to me.  I've been thinking about all these things since I heard the news.  Many emotions have been stirred, but for the most part I've had to be strong for Andrew.  That is, until tonight...I was in the car all alone headed home from choir practice.  I was listening to my CD of our upcoming music and this song came on and I lost it:


I Already Knew


Unexpected tears fall down your face. 
You never dreamed life would go this way.
The winds of sorrow blow and you feel so all alone, so out of place.
But God wants you to know that He is there.
And when you call His name in prayer, he says


I already knew what you'd be going through.
And I've been here before you all the time. 
I'm no stranger to the pain
For I bore the shame and suffering for you
Your trial didn't take me by surprise 
I already knew!


You never know just what a day will bring
What lies ahead remains to be seen
Fear has gripped your mind
You just can't seem to find a song to sing
But God holds your tomorrow in his hands
Though you cannot see his veil, he'll say

I already knew what you'd be going through.

And I've been here before you all the time. 

I'm no stranger to the pain

For I bore the shame and suffering for you

Your trial didn't take me by surprise 

I already knew!

I'm the future and the past

The beginning and the end

The first and the last, I'll be there tomorrow for I have always been

And

I already knew what you'd be going through.

And I've been here before you all the time. 

I'm no stranger to the pain,

For I bore the shame and suffering for you

Your trial didn't take me by surprise.

I see you everyday with loving eyes, 

No, your trial didn't take me by surprise, 

I already knew!

This cancer didn't take God by surprise.  He already knew.  He is sovereign and He is Lord.  He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.   I know Jehovah-rapha, the Lord who heals, and NOTHING is impossible for Him.  If my God wants to heal my Granddaddy, He will!   I believe in the power of prayer, so please join me in praying for total healing!  Thank you for your prayers.  

Dig, Baby, Dig!

They have started on the pool!  In just under an hour, the back yard looked like this:

 Boy, am I glad we're doing this while the yard is already a mess.  I can't imagine doing it once we had sod and sprinklers.  What a mess!

 This is a random picture I took of the fence a few days ago. (clearly BEFORE the dig)

"They say"it will only take them 10 days to finish the pool.  We'll see!  Stay tuned for daily updates on the pool progress...

Carly is 9!

Today we drove over to Mississippi for Cary's birthday party.   She's 9 and loves the Disney show "Shake it Up."  (Ok, I confess...I like it too.)  Nana called and asked if I'd make her cake.  Of course I was honored.  I found a design online and modified it a little.  My favorite part of the cake was definitely the logo.  I cut it freehand out of gumpaste and finally got to use my airbrush that Mom got me for Christmas last year.  Let me just tell you...I am IN LOVE with my airbrush.  I can't wait to use it on an actual cake and not just a decoration!  *I couldn't find my exacto knife so I had to cut the gumpaste with a steak knife, so the edges are less than perfection.*  

 The cake on the display table.

 The birthday girl and I share the same love of chocolate, so the bottom tier is devil's food and the round top tier is white cake for her Momma. :)

 Make a wish!

 Except for food/cake time, the kiddos were in the pool ALL DAY LONG.  They were so pruny when we finally dragged them out of the water!  They had a blast, though.

 I cracked up to see Andrew in these babies!  (Sorry it's blurry...my bad!) It's hard for the camera to focus when your child runs by as fast as the Blur!  Next time I'll put the camera on my action setting!

We had a great day celebrating with Carly.  Thanks for letting me make your cake!  To see last year's Luau cake (which is quite possibly my favorite cake I've ever made, go HERE.

Our Surprise

A few posts back, I told you that we "might" have a surprise to share.  Well it's official now, WE'RE GETTING A POOL!  We were waiting for the appraisal to come back to see if it was high enough to include the pool in the mortgage....and it was!  

Mr. Manning met me at the house and marked off the future spot of our pool.  (That's it outlined in orange)

 The fence guys came out and set the posts.  They'll be back tomorrow to fence in 3/4 of the yard, leaving a space for all the heavy equipment to get through.  

 Here's the view from the back porch.  It's a little hard to see the outline, but you get the idea.

They'll be back next Monday to start digging!  Getting the pool will delay us TWO MORE WEEKS getting into the house, but we figure it's worth it!  I just hope it stays warm enough for us to enjoy it at least once or twice before winter!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Drew's parents and our nephew drove over this afternoon to spend the night with us.  Today was also Grammy's birthday, so we surprised her with a cake and balloons upon their arrival.  

 Grammy had a little help blowing out her candles.

Those kiddos were too anxious to get back to their play, so I didn't get a more formal group show.   Maybe tomorrow...we'll be spending the day at the beach!

(Not)Feeding the Ducks

Our apartment complex is within walking distance to the Cock of the Walk restaurant.  They have a huge pond complete with all kinds of critters:  ducks, fish, turtles, and chickens.  We ate there right after we moved in and there were tons of baby ducks.  Andrew even put his quarter in the machine and fed them.  (mostly the fish and turtles)  He has been talking about going to feed the ducks for a while.  I even saved some stale bread to take with us.  However, the bread turned moldy before we ever actually made it back to the pond, so we settled for cheerios instead.  We decided to have a little quality family time and walk over to feed the critters while our chicken pot pie was in the oven.  Andrew was very excited. 

I guess it was a little late in the day because the ducks were not interested in the least bit!

 We did see this guy, eyeing all the fish!  He was beautiful and really fun to watch. 

 He got brave and went after a fish.  I think he actually got a little one!

 Here fishy fishy fishy!

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits

Do you ever just crave something sometimes?  I do.  And once I start thinking about it, I just have to have it.  Well, today I was craving Hardee's cinnamon raisin biscuits.  We're trying to save money and not eat out so much, so instead of going through the drive-thru, I drove home and made some myself!

 They really hit the spot!

I'll be making them for our Sunday School social this weekend!

The Inside is Finished!

After being away for the weekend, we had to go take a look at the house.  With things being so close to completion, you can image how antsy we are.  We got there to find the cleaning lady inside, which means...aside from some last minute touch up paint and trim work, the inside of the house is FINISHED!  Woo Hoo!  Here's a sneak peek: (Yes, I know it's a lot of beige!  I may end up painting an accent wall or two...or not!  I'll just have to accent with a little color.)

Standing in the corner of the dining room looking at the foyer and into the living room/kitchen.

Play room

Half bath in what would have been the closet.  I thought a potty for little ones would be a much better idea!

Andrew's room

another angle

Office/guest room #2/future nursery (No, I'm not pregnant)

Master bedroom (I failed to get a shot of the master bath because the cleaning lady was in there.)

I did get a shot of Andrew's/the guest bath

Apparently, I was in such awe of my kitchen cabinet doors that I didn't get a picture of them either.  Oh well...next time!  :)