Random Acts of….Birthday Weekends

April 19, 2010 Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

Fancy pink cupcakes, ribbon adorned flip-flops, thirty birthday candles, and a plate overflowing with fried shrimp. Yep, all part of a weekend filled with birthday celebrations. Apparently July is a popular month for making babies!

And luckily for us three of those babies are growing up to be good friends of ours or our children’s. The fourth birthday belongs to “Baba” as in Tom, as in Joshua’s dad who was Grandpa until the girls shortened it. And we’re lucky he’s around too!

On Saturday morning we jumped for joy (literally-we couldn’t get them off the trampoline) at the Fancy Four party for Hailey Reed who is one of Annabelle’s bestest girlfriends. It was girly and pink and fancy and just perfect for the six little divas in attendance.

After rest time that same afternoon we headed back out for the party of Princess Abby who is also an Annabelle bestest friend. Many of those same 4-year old divas gathered for pizza and high heels and more dress up than the Princess Boutique at Disney World.

So how did we get the girls away from that party and on to another one? We promised them hotdogs and cake! Then we headed to Shelter Cove to celebrate our friend Noelle joining the 20+10 in 2010 Club.

It seems the majority of our Sunday School class is turning 30 this year and we’re having a good time celebrating this milestone with many friends and their sweet families. At Noelle’s we enjoyed classic cookout food and had to designate a corner of the room for the baby carriers. Amelia, Sam Garrett, and Chandler McKay were quite well-behaved at their first “adult” party. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures!

Finally, today after church we spent some time with Baba whose birthday is still a week away but whose request for a trip to the Harbour Inn Seafood restaurant in Anderson had to be honored today. So we headed a little north and ate enough fried shrimp to carry Tom through to next year since it will probably be his birthday again before my mother-in-law allows him another meal like that.

It was a fun and exhausting weekend but we’re glad to be blessed with more celebrations than we can schedule. And I haven’t even got into Aunt Calley turning 22 last week or plans to love on Marmee when her birthday comes at the end of the month. Good thing I’ve still got maternity pants in the closet since all this cake isn’t helping me back into my pre-pregnancy jeans!

Happy April Birthdays everyone!

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Random Acts of….Daddy

April 15, 2010 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

I’m sure that most are assuming this post will be about the Daddy of all my sweet princesses.

Well, Joshua is a fantastic daddy who possesses the all important “Daddy-voice” that is often employed at moments of crisis, such as Belle is out of bed for the third time or Madelynne has rolled her eyes in a move that is far too teenage for her five-year-old self, or Amelia is refusing to go to sleep before 11 p.m.

Just kidding…stern Daddy voices don’t work on newborns so he just tries to talk sweetly and reasonably to her. That doesn’t work either.

But this post isn’t so much about Joshua as it is about daddies in general. I’m watching Gilmore Girls while I’m playing with my blog template and it’s that episode where Rory gets in a car accident with Jess and Lorelei flips out and calls Chris and he swears he’s going to rip off the head of that kid who messed up his daughter.

And while that may not be the best solution to every problem, it is a Daddy’s perogative to feel that way. Because after all, we’re talking about a daddy’s little girl.

And no matter what, it is a daddy’s job to protect his baby. I’m glad my life has been blessed by a Daddy whose first concern is always for his girls safety and protection.

Followed by a concern for where the guy is so he can rip his head off.

And speaking of Daddies head over to Annabelle-isms for the correct theology on the most important of all fathers.

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Random Acts of….Home

April 13, 2010September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

There’s a For Sale sign in my yard. With my agent’s name and number and everything. So, it’s official. We’re FOR SALE.

I dream of the call where Kathy says, “We got an offer. Asking price. Close immediately.” And of course we say yes, yes, yes! and pack up and move on to a new phase in our lives that may or may not include pink countertops and hardwood floors. (Hoping for one, can do without the other.)

But, let’s be realistic. Or maybe not. I mean, after all, we’ve done the house-on-the-market-forever deal so it’s our turn to get a little bit of luck, right? If only life worked that way and you really were rewarded good for bad in even doses. But so often (to modify a Little Dreamer’s phrase) you “get what you get and shouldn’t pitch a fit.”

So, I’m going to hold onto Hope (literally because it’s Amelia’s name and so fitting for right now in our lives) and make peace with understanding that the sale will happen when it happens and God’s timing on it will be as perfect as He desires it to be.

In the meantime, our agent asked me to list all the things I like about our house, so the other night at our dinner date, Joshua and I did just that. I think we were both surprised by how long our list was.

We love our backyard. It’s a great space for the kids to play and it’s fairly level with enough woods to make Joshua happy.

I love our hardwood floors. If I had my way there would be no carpet in any house I own, ever. Wood has so much personality AND is easier to clean when juice gets spilled. Ours are wide planks of honey gold and make our house unique. In fact, it was what I fell in love with when we first saw the place.

We love that even though it’s small, we have 4 bedrooms. Until Amelia, we actually had an office AND a guest room which seems like a luxury.

I love my big tub. It has jets which I can take or leave, but it’s huge enough for me at 9 months pregnant! The girls love it too. It’s like a mini-pool. I love my kitchen sink for almost the same reasons, except I don’t fit in it. But Amelia does. It’s deep and cast iron and can hold a LOT of dirty dishes.

We love our location. And that’s something no amount of HGTV can change. This end of the county is fantastically rural and charming, but still captures the small town suburb feel. There are lots of friends nearby, the church and my school are both 5 minutes away, and we are just that closer to other NE Georgia places I love like Unicoi, Hiawassee, and Anna Ruby Falls.

It is a great little house for a little family. But our family is growing and then there’s extended family and new friends and the girls want an inside pet…..It’s time for more. Square footage that is. I’m not sure any house can top the friendships that we’ve found and the memories we’ve made on this little road in northeast Georgia.

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Random Acts of…Time Out

April 7, 2010 Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

Sometimes Mommy needs a time out too. And after a busy weekend and a difficult Monday, I decided this Mommy definitely needed one. However, it must be understood…

Mommy timeouts are not like children timeouts.

When you are a child, you are put in time out for calling your Mommy a “meanie” for the third time after she has taken a whole afternoon to let you play in the creek at the state park. This is also after she spent the few precious moments the baby wasn’t being fussy that morning packing a lunch for you.

When you are a Mommy you are put in timeout for wishing you had stayed home and kept the children corralled in their room all day rather than attempting to be a nice mommy who takes them places like state parks and Chic-Fil-A.

When you are a child, time out consists of sitting and pouting. You cross your arms and scowl up your face and glare because the world (i.e. Mommy) is SO UNFAIR.

When you are a mommy, time out means you send the children over to Mimi’s house for the afternoon and you engage in such stress releasing activities as a pedicure or a nap.

When you are a child and time out is over you exuberantly return to the world of play and before you run off to engage in some other activity that might return you to the time out position, you hug your Mommy. Because time out’s not nearly as bad as thinking Mommy might still be mad.

When you are a Mommy and time out is over you return refreshed and rejuvenated to that most important task of being a mommy who gets called a “meanie” for teaching your child right from wrong and good from bad.

So, yes, sometimes Mommy needs a time out too.

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Random Acts of…Spring

March 29, 2010 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

There are so many wonderful things spring ushers in. Little league, daffodils, flip-flops….and the annual swapping of the clothes. You know what I’m talking about. Those days when you decide you can endure the possibility of a morning in the high 30’s without your favorite cable knit sweater. Unfortunately, spring is a reluctant arrival. Like a sleep-deprived mother who can’t decide what the baby should wear for her first portrait, spring changes her mind often. One day will be beautiful 70 degree weather and the neighborhood yards teem with new bags of potting soil and young children in short sleeves. The next it’s 50 and rainy and your 4 year old is crying because she can’t wear her new capris. Or maybe it’s not that spring can’t decide when to stay, but that winter isn’t ready to leave. So, how do you get rid of a guest who has overstayed it’s welcome? Subtle cues of course. And that’s where the clothing swap comes in. Remember Field of Dreams? “If you build it, they will come.” Well, if you wear it, spring will come. Right?

At my house there are currently 4 large boxes in my living room. One contains all the heavier winter clothes (or pants that are too short) I have cleaned out of the girls’ room recently. One contains last year’s summer clothes that are still in good enough condition to save for Amelia. One contains clothes for Amelia that are a variety of sizes and season, none of which are appropriate for right now. And one is clothes to be donated next fall when others are willing to embrace winter again. Oh, and there’s a laundry basket in Amelia’s room full of summer clothes for her sissies. So, what’s left for them to wear?

The clothing swap requires that certain items be re-categorized into that ambivalent “Spring” category. These items include short-sleeve shirts that can easily go over or under long-sleeve shirts that were light enough to make the cut. Capri pants are acceptable, but only when the weather is also warm enough for flip-flops or Crocs without socks. Jeans make any cut, any time since my mama said you should always keep a comfy pair of jeans in your drawer. Now, the closet is another delicate matter altogether.

This manic weather requires that church wear also be given careful consideration. So last week I cleaned out the closet of all dresses in velvet or corduroy with appliques of snowmen, snowflakes, or figure skates. I folded the tights and put them in the winter box. I left out the black shoes because it’s not after Easter yet. I washed a stack of gingham smocked dresses bought for a steal from a friend at the bank. I ironed dresses with crinolines and big pink flowers. And guess what?

On Sunday it rained. A chilly, don’t wear open-toed shoes kind of rain. And now we come to the most important addition of the spring wardrobe.

The white sweater.

Moms of girls know what I’m talking about. A sweet, deceptively warm, button down sweater that can be paired with any spring dress of any type at any time. The kind of sweater that you won’t find on the Saturday before Easter if you wait until then to realize you need one.

So, here’s my advice if the end of March, beginning of April, and hidden rainbow colored eggs have you thinking it’s time for the swap. This week is going to be beautiful by Wednesday. Warm temperatures and sunny days. But come Sunday it’s going to be cloudy. And probably chilly. So, go get a white sweater for yours or your daughter’s Easter dress. And hide a sweatshirt on your bottom drawer next to that cute tank top you bought on sale at the end of last summer. Chances are you’ll need both in the coming weeks.

Happy Spring!