Pray for Constance

I wanted to post a quick note about one of my best friends from high school, Constance. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor several years ago. The doctors were able to remove it, but with the prognosis that it would more than likely return. It has, and they are asking for prayers. Please remember their family- Constance, Brian, and their two little boys.

Date Night at the Warners

It's amazing how much time I've spent staring at 'html' jumble. I've finally decided that instead of risking losing all of the pictures that I've posted on this thing, I would just settle for a big-bird look. It is Chad's favorite color, so maybe it'll be our tribute to him.

Chad and I are reaching a milestone this coming weekend: we are spending our first weekend away since Caroline was born! He has a coaching clinic in Chattanooga, so we are going up Friday night and returning Sunday afternoon. I am really looking forward to our quiet time together, and know that the girls will have a great time with Big D and Poppy! I really can't imagine being away for more than a few hours, so I hope that I'm able to enjoy the time with Chad! I think the strangest feeling about being without kids, even for just an evening date, is getting to a gas station. It's so weird to remember that both people can go inside to pick out some gum...no one has to stay in the car with the kids! As a matter of fact, except for being on a date, I don't remember when the last time was that I was inside of a gas station! (what did moms do before pay-at-the-pump?) Who'da thought that a gas station would ever be a highlight of a date night! (just for the record, Chad takes me on great dates! I wouldn't want him to feel minimized to a comparison to a pack of Extra gum!)

Lizzy P. and Aly playing dress-up

Caroline standing--she took her first 'step' (more like a lunge) just a moment before this picture

Chad and the girls on "Game Day"-- Aly's favorite day of the week

These are just two funny little videos of the girls playing their favorite game: push-each other-around- in-the-baby-stoller. Caroline just beams at the fact that she is able to actually walk when she's pushing Aly...
...and then there's Aly pushing Caroline. (You can see that Caroline is directing Aly down the hall!)

Blog Under Construction

I wanted to change the background of my blog...I've done it before, and it was simple! Wouldn't you know that I've spent ALL of today's 'naptime' trying to fix it, and now it's TOTALLY messed up!! I'm trying to learn and follow all of the blog lingo, but I am now in "widget/ gadget overload". My intention was to post new pictures for Nana and Papa in NY, but now I just have a boring white blog. I guess I will try again next naptime...

By the way, does ANYONE know what this error message means?:

"Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly.
XML error message: The markup in the document following the root element must be well-formed." (Is this even in ENGLISH?!)

I PALE in comparison!

John McCain picked his running mate for the campaign, Sarah Palin. All politics aside, I sat in disbelief as this woman--a mother of 5!--made her acceptance speech. The thing that gets me is not just that she has 5 kids, but that the youngest is only 4 months old! I will make no bones about the fact that the transition from 1 to 2 kids rocked me; it was much harder than I had anticipated! I honestly stayed hibernated in our house for a good majority of the first 8 months just getting used to all of that multi-tasking! I still have a hard time putting together a cohesive conversation when I run into people at the grocery store, and this woman is taking on the campaign to be Vice President...OF THE COUNTRY!! I can't help but wonder if I am just a wimp for being exhausted by the end of the day, or if she is just an unreal superhuman. It definitely makes me think that getting myself to MOPS this fall should be more of an attainable goal!

Oh Olympics, where are you?

We got so spoiled. Every evening we would turn the t.v. on in anticipation of watching some good, quality programming. No other time but the Olympic games would we be interested in Men's Sychronized Diving, but even that kept our attention! We stayed up until all hours of the night watching swimming, beach volleyball, and gymnastics; Chad was even able to watch the basketball team win gold sometime after 4am! So, back to regularly scheduled programming. For the past two nights we've flipped through the channels and channels of reality shows, game shows, reruns, and convention coverage...blah, blah, and blah. Where is Michael Phelps when we need him?!

The Evolution of a Student

8:15 am: Cool, calm, and ready to go


8:45 am: Good-bye at Car-line


1 pm: "I LOOOVE School!"


1:05 pm: SOUND ASLEEP!!

Special Time

It's hard to believe, but Aly will be at her little pre-school in just 12 hours from now! She is attending school at our church two mornings a week starting tomorrow. We went to the orientation tonight where she played in her classroom while the parents met in the chapel. She cried when I left, but I was thrilled that she had stopped by the time I came back! To make the evening special, Chad's parents took Caroline so that I could spend a little 'special time' with Aly. We went to the shoe store and picked out new white Keds (and fancy lace socks!), ate dinner at her favorite: Chick-Fil-A, and then headed over to school.

Oddly enough, this is (I think!) the first time since Caroline was born that I had time out and alone with Aly. It was wonderful, and something that I need to make a much better effort at. Chad has done a tremendous job of getting time alone with her. They love to go out to the front porch swing and talk, which Aly always refers to as, "Special Time". Also, for the past few months, he's been taking her on 'special dates' several nights a month: they talk about it and build it up all day, eat dinner as usual at home, take a bath as usual, and then go for a special treat...in her pajamas!! She loves it, as will Caroline once she's able to do it too.

I'm looking forward to some of this much-needed 'Special Time' alone with Caroline while Aly is in school, and am really wanting to make an effort to not always use those precious hours with her for running errands (because I KNOW that will be a temptation as running around town with one is so much easier!!) I guess that tonight was the first time that I've realized just how important "Special Time" is...for all of us!

Aly in her new room at school