Things That Make Me Smile

Last week, Amy got some of their winter clothes out of the attic.  Eamon put on one of the hats and asked if Brady had one like it.  Amy told him no, so he asked her if she could get him one.  Then he said, no, call Mama Marie, she'll get him one, she buys me lots of stuff.

Sunday, Eamon was with Aunt Jen and he noticed he was getting holes in the knees of his pants. He told her to call Mama Marie and let her know. 

As we were walking into church on Sunday, we were walking alongside of a lady we didn't know.  In the time it took us to walk 10 feet, Eamon had told the woman that his daddy is a fire fighter and he helps people and he plays softball. 

A PIRATE AND HIS PARROT

Eamon wanted to be a pirate for Halloween, so Amy decided Brady should be a parrot.  She tried to get a picture of them sitting or standing side by side, but once again, that attempt was futile.

Oh, those wiggly boys!

Oh, and yes, I made both of their costumes.

A TALE OF TWO FROGS

I bought the Boyz some frog pajamas recently.  They put them on after their baths Halloween night and I asked Amy to get a picture of them together wearing them.  Well, she tried and this is what she got.  Not exactly what I envisioned but by far, much funnier.

 Oops we're missing one.

One up and one down.





One down, one sinking.

Sit up, Eamon.

That's better, but we can't see your face.

Somebody sit Brady up again.

No, Brady, stay on the chair.

This is better, but we can't see Brady's face.

One pretending to be asleep,the other on trying to get away.

Brady still trying to escape.



Hold on to him, Eamon.

Ok, I guess we're done.

A Wedding

Ok, so I haven't posted anything in a long time and I'm trying to catch up, so some of these things will be out of order. 
Last month, Ely was in a wedding.  His friends, Ashley and Jason got married. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. 

Ely and his friend, Rachel. 

Walking down the 'aisle'.

During the ceremony.  They little girl is Jason's daughter, Kaylee.

Ely and me

Lee and Ely

Ely looking pretty sharp in his tux.

A fantastic reception followed the ceremony at B&A Warehouse.  It was one of the best I've ever been to.  Food and music were outstanding. 



Brady's Birthday

We celebrated Brady's first birthday last Saturday with a costume party.  Amy had the house decorated for Halloween and had lots of yummy food. I contributed a couple of snake cakes. 

Brady wore the parrot costume I made for him.

Pretty cute,huh?

There was bobbing for apples.

There were balls to jump in.

There were cupcakes.

Another, please.

There was a pumpkin.

A mad scientist.

A poodle and a turtle.

There was a gheko.

A grandma.

A papa

A leapord

The weather was gorgeous and the kids got to spend a lot of time playing outside. 

FUNERAL EXPERIENCE

 

So, I attended a funeral in North Louisiana this week, very sad.  However, I do like to see the humor in situations where ever I go.  In this case, I was struck by the casket flowers that contained deer antlers and turkey feathers.  This is not the exact one, I thought it would be tacky to take pictures at the funeral (yeah, I know when did I start worrying about being tacky.)  Anyway, when I got back home I decided to search the internet to see if this was a one of a kind item of if this is something that goes on in other places.  Voila!  I found one.  Do you find this as strange as I do?

Oh, and there was a picture of a deer on the inside lining of the coffin lid.  I guess this all makes since to someone since the deceased was a hunter and fisherman. 

Note to my family:  Do not put needles, thread, measuring tapes and or fabric in my funeral flowers. 

Memorial Day, 2011

All the kids (except Nick, who had to work) came over for a Memorial Day celebration on Sunday.  Ed went with Lee to Home Depot to get us a new grill, as the old one was falling apart.  When they got back Ed finished cooking a brisket he had brought.  I had fixed a layered salad.  Lee boiled some corn and potatoes with crab boil.  And, we had some baked beans and brownies.  Alan and Kim got back into town from their vacation trip to San Francisco a little while after we ate and joined us with Emily.  She is starting to walk now and Brady is getting ready to crawl.  They are growing up so fast.

Eamon played in the sprinkler.  I bought some cheap thing at the dollar store that fell apart early in the day.  We pulled out a couple of regular lawn sprinklers and one of those did the trick. 

Today we just sort of hung around.  I sewed some.  Ely left around 2 and then Lee and I ran some errands.  Can't believe the weekend is almost over.  Well, at least, it will only be a 4 day work week.

Ely

So, Ely went to Washington DC on Tuesday for the tests/interview for a job with the Foreign Service, his dream job.  Well, he passed and got a conditional job offer.  Next he will have to go through a medical screening and a in depth security check.  The government actually sends agents out to interview Ely and relatives and friends.  People he has come in contact with over the past 10 years.  If all goes well with that, and I can't imagine it wouldn't, he'll be put on a list.  He'll be something like Information Systems Manager, doing IT and communications work in embassies or consulates around the world. 

Initial Foreign Service training would be in DC/Virgina area for 16 weeks.  Then he would have 6 months of additional IT training. Then, he'll be assigned to some country.  His assignments would be anywhere from 1 to 3 years. 

HOLY CRAP!  This is real.  Ely was so shy and timid as a child, it so remarkable to see the man he has become.  Backpacking for 5 months in Australia, backpacking in Europe, sea kayaking in Chile, 500 miles on the Appalachian Trail. 

I'm hoping he gets some nice assignments like Ireland, England, France, Italy.... You know, those places where they don't eat strange food and don't want to kill Americans, so I can go visit him.  He really doesn't care, he's up for anything. 

Church Picnic and other things

Yesterday morning I got up early and did some sewing.  Jenni and Lovie have both asked me to make dresses for them to give as gifts.  Jenni's is for the granddaughter of a co-worker and Lovie's for the bank teller at the bank where she has her account.  I'm making each of them a smocked day gown. 

After sewing for a while, I went to an antique store near the house, that I've never been in before.  Looking for some pictures for my bedroom wall.  They had some fun stuff to look at, but alas, no pictures for me.  Next, I went to Thimbles, my favorite fabric store because they were having a sale on material and some other things.  Got some real cute stuff, including some Cat in the Hat flannel to make jammie pants for Eamon and Brady. 

Next I went to a paint store to find some paint to finish painting my spool holders for my sewing room.  I had started them with a can of paint I've had for years, but ran out before I finished.  They didn't have Dusty Rose or anything except black, red and white.  Then I remembered that I probably bought my paint at Hobby Lobby or Michael's.  I'll try one of those this week.  Probably won't find Dusty Rose again, because it's been quite a while since I bought it, but anything in the pink range will do. 

We watched Brady yesterday evening so that Amy and Eamon could go to a crawfish boil at a friend's house. Ed was at the fire station.  Brady is such a sweet little boy.  Aunt Jen came over and played with him for a while.  Amy said Eamon didn't eat any crawfish, but did eat a piece of 'chicken' (fried alligator!) 

So, today is our church picnic.  Some people probably wouldn't call it a picnic.  We eat our barbecue in the gym and then play bingo in the gym.  My kind of picnic!  No heat, no bugs, no sitting on the ground.  Of course, there are other things going on like the cake walk. And, there are bouncy things for the kids to play in and face painting and some kind of pretend train thing for the kids to ride around on.  Maybe I'll remember to bring my camera and take some pictures.  I know Eamon will be playing hard all afternoon in the bouncy things. 

MORE SEWING

Amy is great at finding things on the internet that she wants me to make. Recently, she saw some t shirts with pictures of dinosaurs on the and kids names like 'Eamonosaurus'. She decided I needed to make some. So here is my version of the 'MamaMarie Osaurus' collection:

Eamonosaurus

Emilyosaurus

Bradyosaurus

DO THEY LOOK ALIKE

People tell me all the time that they think Brady looks just like Eamon. I see it sometimes, but not very much. Amy posted some new pictures of Brady today. So, I went back in her blog and found a picture of Eamon from when he was about the same age, and I'm not seeing that they look so much alike.

So, what do you think?

(Hint, Eamon is the blond.)