Long time, no blog

And I don't have any really good reasons, except trying to keep up with Andrew. I may go back and blog about our wonderful trip to the City of Children in November, Christmas and a fun weekend in San Antonio, but for now I'll just talk about how great my husband is.  


He was asked to speak to Lipscomb's Presidential Scholars this past Friday night, so we got to dress up and have a nice dinner at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Being the irresponsible wife that I sometimes am, I forgot my camera, but Daley snapped a shot from afar (which I will try to add later).We had a really good time and I know James enjoyed reminiscing about his days at Lipscomb and studying abroad in Vienna, and bragging on all his successful friends. 


I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day. James is off tomorrow so we will be enjoying some family time and possibly snow??!! Not gonna lie, I am pretty ready for some warmer weather and excited about hanging out at the beach next month with the Wrights and Tucker Bear!

Fall So Far

September started out hard for the little man. On Labor Day, Andrew slipped and fell into the end table in the den resulting in a trip the ER. He had on some hand-me-down pj's (don't get me wrong, I LOVE hand-me-downs) and the grippers had lost their grip...lesson learned for the mom. He was a champ though and stopped crying before we even left the house. I called James until he answered which took three tries and we made a stop by the adult ER so Doctor Daddy could confirm my fears...he needed stitches. We headed over to children's and went straight to a room...thanks to James' higher-ups :). I was handling everything fine until it hit me that Andrew would likely have to be sedated...I mean how else are you going to put stitches in a 15 month old's face? And he had just eaten...so they initially told me it would be 4 hours, which I understood. Fortunately they were able to just give him oral medicine to sedate him, i.e. make him drunk, and the plastics fellow happened to be in the ED for another consult and fixed Andrew right up. And James made it over just in time to be moral support for me :). Poor little guy! Hopefully the scar will fade with time. 

Waiting on the Versed to work it's magic...

Now we're feeling good :)

Good as new and enjoying a popsicle.

We also celebrated my 10 year high school reunion in September. Now that is an event that will make you feel old! I really enjoyed catching up with everyone and dinner at Maggiano's never disappoints! I am sad though that I did not take a single picture!

Andrew LOVES to be outside and has been having a lot of fun "helping" James with yard work.

We spent two weeks at my parents' house while James worked at Sumner Regional for his community rotation. It was a good change of scenery for all of us. Andrew chased my parent's dog around everyday yelling, "Cat, cat, kitty cat!" Very entertaining. 

We are looking forward to going to the City of Children in November. I haven't been since 2006 and that is way too long! I hope everyone is enjoying all the things that make fall my favorite season!

August

Decided to do a little catch up blogging. In August, James and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and James' 28th birthday. We are now the same age for a few short months :). James chose the Gerst Haus for his birthday dinner, claiming that he has wanted to eat there since he returned from Vienna in 2003. We had some hits and misses in our ordering and would definitely know what to order if we ventured back there.

We had some fun in Ripley visiting Nanny and Gandy. These pictures were taken when they were still in the hospital, but they are BOTH at home now! Praise the Lord!

And the cousins had a photo shoot in hopes of getting a good shot for Nana's birthday present and it was a success! Here are a couple of the rejects.

I am obviously biased, but these are three good looking babies!

And Aunt Meggie came before the Katy Perry concert, but Andrew was a little unsure of her wig.

Knoxville

James and I made a quick trip to Knoxville last weekend for the wedding of one his high school friends. You might not know this about James, but he was Mr K.H.S. That's Karns High School. (He was also the middle school mascot which is a beaver- I'll try to locate some pictures of that). And the lovely Allison Clark was Miss K.H.S. so of course we wanted to be there to celebrate.

We drove down Saturday morning in time to share a burger at Litton's, one of our favorites, and then off to the wedding we went. James enjoyed having a mini class reunion a year in advance.

The good looking Karns crowd.

My handsome date rocking the bowtie.

 Andrew had a big weekend too hanging out with Nana and Grandaddy. I don't know exactly what they did, but I'm sure it involved blocks, Andrew saying "cat" 1000 times, and probably him handing them a book to read him over and over :). 

Deep Fried

Last Tuesday night, some of James's food dreams came true. We were in Jackson hanging out with Craig and Anna and the boys thought it would be a good idea to deep fry some different items. It started when the deep fryer came out to cook some tater tots and it was all downhill (in my opinion) from there. 

 The battering.

The frying.

And the finished products- Oreos, Almond Joy, Twinkies, Snickers.

They both agreed the Twinkies were the best.

Can you see their arteries clogging?

Anna mixed these Oreo Brownies up earlier in the evening (courtesy of Pinterest) and they were delicious! Brownie batter+Oreos+brownie batter=pure yumminess.

And I can't write a post without including this guy. He LOVES corn and he prefers to eat it off the cob. What a guy.

Paris

So this is my shameless attempt at trying to win a trip for me and James to Paris. He's been to Europe and I never have so this would be awesome. I asked him to think of 5 things we must see or do if we won and this is what he came up with:


1. Dinner overlooking Paris near Sacré-Cœur Basilica.
2. A day at  the Louvre.
3.  A trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
4. Window shopping along  Champs-Elysées
5. Multiple bowls of French Onion Soup along the way.


You can enter by clicking here or visiting ohhappyday.com. 

Here they are...

So this is Nanny and Gandy. It has now been a little over a month since the car accident and I am in awe of the miracle God has worked before our eyes. This photo was taken last Tuesday. It had been nearly four weeks since they had seen each other and at this time, Nanny was still in the ICU.

Gandy is doing really well with physical therapy and is gaining strength and more mobility every day. Andrew and I visited him last week and I knew he was feeling better because his sense of humor seemed to have returned to its pre-accident level :). He got a good report yesterday from the orthopedic surgeon and will hopefully be able to start putting weight on his leg in three weeks.  

Nanny is now out of the ICU, off oxygen, and had her trach removed today--praise God! She has one remaining surgery on her left ankle in about six weeks and will probably be discharged later this week to some sort of rehab facility until it's time for surgery. One of her docs told us two weeks ago that when she arrived they did not expect her to make it longer than a week. I understand that physicians have to be realistic, but I am glad they didn't tell us that. And my response to it is...they didn't know my Nanny (she's very feisty) and they didn't know how many people were lifting her up in prayer to our Mighty Father. 

I am so thankful for all the prayers lifted up for my grandparents and my family. I am also thankful for every physician, nurse, therapist, tech, etc, that has taken care of them. They have received excellent care. 

And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Exodus 34:10