Picture Day!

As a little girl, I LOVED picture day!  It was a day where my Mom took extra time to make sure I looked extra special.  As the years passed by, I began planning my outfits and fixing my on hair, but Mom always gave her approval.  One of my favorite pictures is from second grade at Leinkaulf Elementary in Mobile, Alabama. I wore a beautiful ivory dress and my Mom rolled my hair on pink sponge curlers the night before.  My Nanny gave me one of these pictures several years back (ours were all lost in the flood) and I hope to have Caroline a dress like this one day!

Wednesday was Austin Kieff's Picture Day.  He was very selective with respect to what he DID NOT want to wear, ha!  We did settle on khaki pants, his yellow button-up shirt (with the sleeves rolled up and ironed down) and Sperry's:



Today is Caroline's Picture Day.  She is not as easy to please, but finally chose a dress her cousin Lily gave her.  After searching for 15 minutes for a hair bow that did not make it back to the bow holder, we found it and she was ready to go:

A few cute/not so cute pics from this morning:

Prissy

Really Mom???

I am done smiling

Have you taken enough, yet?

 

And We're Back...

I am not sure why I have not posted anything since November.  Possibly, the ease of putting pictures and quotes on Facebook...especially during the first three months of this year!  Some pretty big events have not been covered-Thanksgiving and Christmas to name a few.   Perhaps, there will be time to catch up or perhaps we will just start fresh!  Only time will tell, ha.

Whichever it is, I do hope to keep this little blog alive.  It serves as my baby book for the kids and scrapbook of family events.  I have tons of supplies to do the pages to document our family history, but it seems this electronic medium works best for now.  Maybe one day, right?

So, look out for plenty of baseball posts in the next month or so and a catch-up birthday post for sure!

David Update

10/24/2012

So I just realized this was still sitting in draft! I will now add that this morning, Austin Kieff commented as we left our home for the first time in almost two months (post on this later!) that he sure hoped that November 2 came fast and the way he wanted it to. I questioned him as to what he was talking about. He let me know real quick that his Daddy goes back to the doctor on November 2 and he will be coming home with no crutches. “He will be almost normal again. I have been waiting on this day forever.” Love this kid.

David had his follow-up appointment on Friday, October 12, 2012. It went far better than we had ever hoped. Dr. Brooks came into the exam room after David’s x-ray was ready and said how proud he was of David’s leg. This has been a recurring theme in our visits. David’s leg apparently was a bit of a twisted mess with lots of bone shards and fragments. He actually still has a very large “butterfly fragment” that was not repaired. Dr. Brooks said he was very pleased with the way the bone was healing and said some almost magical words…”you can begin to put some pressure on it…” Of course there were stipulations like start of at no more than 25 lbs and don’t put any pressure on the leg at all without the boot on. We go back on November 2nd and David will have more x-rays. Dr. Brooks will check and see how the bone is healing and how the introduction of weight has affected David’s leg. Hopefully, there will be no setbacks. David is more than two months ahead of our initial timeline. That is amazing. He has a fabulous physician, but he is in the hands of the Great Physician…

We are so thankful for the prayers of our friends and family. We ask that you continue to pray for healing.

Mini-Vacation

The kids and I left this past Friday to go to Pensacola.  We spent Friday night with Nanny.   It was almost 10:00 when we arrived and the kids were live wires!!  All the pictures from Friday are on my cell phone and I am having trouble posting from my phone (they are on FB!).  Austin Kieff and Caroline were all over Nanny...hugging,  kissing and saying "I love you."  It was late when we finally went to bed, but both kids were up super early!  Nanny cooked bacon, sausage, eggs and biscuits.  Austin Kieff was in heaven and Caroline enjoyed her favorite food (eggs) even more so because Nanny cooked it!

We left Nanny's and made a quick trip to Wal-Mart for snacks and drinks.  Then we drove over to Aunt Sue's and Uncle Bob's house.  We were excited to see them and the kids were surprised because I had not told them that Uncle Spencer and Alison were going to be there!!  We followed Aunt Sue to Joe Patti's where we bought some beautiful tomatoes and Georgia peaches (which were delicious!!).  Austin Kieff and Caroline were not too impressed with the seafood market, but the big boats outside were a hit!  Captain Joe's boat had two little dogs aboard which we watched for quite some time.

The trip across the 3 mile bridge and over to Ft. Pickens road was definitely a walk (or drive!) down memory lane.  I have so many fond memories of staying with my Grandparents in Pensacola as a child.  Aunt Ann always took us to Pond Creek which I have always thought was the coldest, most refreshing water around.  Aunt Susie usually took us over to the beach.  We had such fun summers and weekends with our family and cousins!

When we arrived at the Beach House both kids were asleep!!  This was perfect because I was able to unload my car and help unload Aunt Sue's car before waking them up and taking them inside (yes I kept a watch on the temperature inside the car...).  Bedrooms were on the second floor and the living rooms and kitchen were on the third floor.  The views were amazing!  Out the front was the beach.  Out the  back was the canal.  "Water everywhere" according to Austin Kieff!   The kids did great going up and  down the stairs.  They both loved the room we stayed in and had a blast in the HUGE shower.  The outside shower was also a hit for both kids...neither has one ounce of modesty right now, ha!

Sunday morning I had grand plans to take pictures of Caroline and Austin Kieff. Needless to say, it did not happen as I had hoped!  Grady, Mary Margaret, Jacob and Lily arrived around 4:00.  Aunt Sue had prepared a yummy shrimp boil.  My kids were super excited to see their cousins!   We spent Sunday night and Monday night at Aunt Sue's and Uncle Bob's house.  There is so much more to tell, but  these pictures will have to do for now!!

My camera fogged up and most of the pictures are blurry...not to mention Caroline did NOT want

her picture taken at all!

My sweet boy!

Beautiful

Spencer's Boat

Getting ready for a boat ride!

Alison

Captain Spencer

Sweet Caroline

Aunt Sue waving goodbye!

Beach Time!

Austin Kieff LOVED "sliding"

Sliding-walking to the water's edge and running/sliding back before the waves knock you down

Beautiful Sky

June 8, 2006

Five years ago today, I had a doctor's appointment. I was a little concerned because the little one growing inside of me had quit moving. At first the doctor was not concerned, but when he had trouble finding a heartbeat, he immediately sent me over to the hospital. After the results of the biophysical profile, a non-stress test was ordered. I wasn't sure what to think ...do I call David? My mom? Am I overreacting? Once the contractions were intensified with the help of a little medicine, a sweet nurse told me I might want to call someone. She saw a c-section in my near future.

Needless to say my mom and David had already been calling each other because my appointment had lasted much longer than expected. They were by my side in a matter of minutes. This was definitely not what I had planned for the day...

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Cullman Visit

We finally had an opportunity to go to Cullman a few weeks ago.  We left excited to be on our way only to have to take a VERY LONG detour.  What should take about 3.5 hours took over 5 hours!!!

We woke up early Saturday morning and Grandmother made the kids' favorite: homemade biscuits and scrambled eggs. Uncle Chris and Hunter joined us for breakfast. We were just missing Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Lindsey, Ella Grace and Major. Caroline looked all over for Major and Ella Grace. We toured the tornado damage before spending a wonderful afternoon at Smith Lake...correction at "Granddaddy's Lake." There was swimming, fishing, baseball and delicious grilled chicken, fried dill pickles and so much more (okay, for everyone other than me the focus was on the fried crappy caught by Chris and Hunter...my understanding is that it was WONDERFUL...I am taking everyone else's word for it!). Sunday we went to Church with Granddaddy and Grandmother and met Chris and Hunter at Casa Fiesta for lunch.  Caroline enjoyed her new favorite dish from Mexican restaurants: hot dog and french fries, ha!  Unfortunately she was a little sick that afternoon.  She had fought a fever since Saturday morning and really did not feel well the rest of the weekend.  David, Austin Kieff, Chris and Hunter went fishing Sunday evening before we left early (make that VERY early) Monday morning.  Here are a few pictures  from the weekend:

Caroline loves to see her hair in pictures

Caroline playing with Uncle Chris

I  think she is having a  really good time...

I am not sure that Uncle Chris is enjoying the workout, ha!

The next pictures are of some the damaged areas we "toured" on

Saturday morning. 

Uncle Chris and Caroline

The beautiful lake

Hunter and Austin Kieff playing baseball

David and Austin  Kieff  fishing

A little love between siblings