Around Here

I know it's been a long time (7 months... oops), but aren't we supposed to be busy living our lives instead of posting about them?  That's what I'll tell myself ;)

Some of the goings-on since I last posted:

Chris and I, and our friend Drew, participated in the Color Run.  It was a blast, even though I ended up with PINK hair.

I performed as a parent in Tuscaloosa Community Dancers' performance of "The Nutcracker."

Onstage at dress rehearsal

With sweet Abbey and Katie backstage

I played the lush, Margaret, in the Actor's Charitable Theatre's production of "9 to 5." And my friend Mary Lane and I choreographed the show as well.  See the review here.

With Daeon after the show, "sober"

I dyed my hair brown for the show, but I decided to keep it!

Looking a little more "natural"

My friend Victoria and I started planning our trip to Europe!  We are going in August.  Victoria has a friend who is getting married in Vienna, so we'll go there first, then we're going to Italy to visit our friend Jamie (whose little girl, Lorelei, is due any day now!).  Check out Jamie's Blog here. While in Italy we plan to visit Venice and some of the other small towns near Jamie's home.  We're going to spend the weekend in Budapest, Hungary, before heading back home.  I am SO excited to take my first trip to Europe, and I can't wait to meet baby Lorelei!

Chris is right in the middle of tax season, and it looks like he's set to far surpass last year's billable hours.

Other than all that, we're just enjoying being boring!

Love,
Jill :*

In other news...

I know it's been awhile, but we've had a busy summer!

I had a blast in The Actor's Charitable Theatre's production of The Wiz!

Me with the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, Alisha, our director, a munchkin, Dorothy, and the Tin Man

With the Scarecrow

Mary Lane and I in our Poppy outfits

Chris and I celebrated our first anniversary!  We had dinner at Kozy's, and then came home for year-old wedding cake and presents.  The staff at Kozy's did such a wonderful job of helping us celebrate!  Our waitress brought us a glass of champagne and dessert on the house.  I highly recommend Kozy's for any special occasion.  I followed all the rules for proper wedding cake preservation, so our cake tasted pretty good, even though it wasn't very fluffy anymore.  The traditional gift for a first anniversary is paper, and the modern gift is clocks, so I gave Chris a watch and a Prince Charming card.  Chris gave me a gift card for a massage, which I still have to use!

One of the best meals I've ever had!

My sweet mama gave us flowers and a card
Front view of our top layer of cake

Surprisingly still tasty!

Paper and clocks

Chris went on a golf trip with Ben and several of their friends to La Quinta, California.

Ira, Ben, Gregg, and Chris

And in unphotographed news: Chris bought a new white Toyota Tacoma.  I tried to potty train Atticus, but that didn't work out the way I hoped.  Russ recently started med school at UAB. Alex started the athletic training program at UA and is working with the football team. My favorite JAG officer, Jamie, is in Alabama training, so I've gotten to visit with her a couple times. Victoria came home from Vienna for a visit a few weeks ago, and she's coming home for good (well, until her next adventure) very soon.  

All is well at the White House!

Love,
Jillerina : *

Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me? M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Last month, Chris and I went on a trip with his family to the Happiest Place on Earth!  Disneyworld is one of my absolute favorite places, so you can imagine how excited I was to go.  I made out an elaborate itinerary with options for different days, restaurants, rides for the kids, anything you could think of!  And then I left home without any of it.  We still managed to squeeze in pretty much everything we wanted to do--ESPECIALLY the PINEAPPLE FLOATS!  We went to the Magic Kingdom on Sunday, Epcot and Hollywood studios on Monday, SeaWorld on Tuesday, and Animal Kingdom on Wednesday.  Here are a few photos from our trip:

Headed to Downtown Disney for dinner

Ben, Lu and Chris golfing

Rocking our Minnie Mouse ears in the Magic Kingdom

Don't you just want to pinch them? Alayna's cheeks, not mine. At Turtle Talk in the Seas at Epcot.

My favorite princess!  So glad we ran into her in France in Epcot!

We had a glass slipper proposal in Epcot! The newly engaged couple, Michael and Sissy.

With Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater in Hollywood Studios

Me feeding the stingrays at SeaWorld

Tired after a long day at SeaWorld

Roll Tide! Early morning safari at the Animal Kingdom

Baby gorilla and his mama at Animal Kingdom.  He was my favorite!

With Minnie Mouse at Animal Kingdom

The Finding Nemo show at Animal Kingdom.  Just keep swimming!

Completely worn out in front of Cinderella's castle in the Magic Kingdom

Next time, I'm making Chris take me to Harry Potter World!!  Imperio! (that's for the Harry Potter nerds)

So you wanted to meet the Wizard

The Wiz is this weekend, June 1-3!  We have been working hard and rehearsing long hours to make this a spectacular production.  The talent in this cast is incredible.  I don't know why these people aren't auditioning for American Idol and signing recording contracts.

My friend and fellow lawyer and dance teacher, Mary Lane, asked her brother to come and video our rehearsals, so he put together a couple of highlight videos to build some hype for the show!  Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/43118825

http://vimeo.com/42851773

For tickets, go to www.theactonline.com.

The strawberries taste like strawberries!

Chris and I went up to Murfreesboro to visit with Ben, Daeon, Kaelyn and Alayna last weekend.  We had a great time!  Kaelyn graciously allowed Chris and I to sleep in her bed, although at first she said only I could sleep in it.   We got there in time for pizza Friday night, and then Daeon, Kaelyn and I went to the store to get ingredients for a peaches and cream pie (Yes, it was as good as it sounds.  recipe here: http://www.lemonademakinmama.com/2012/04/there-is-no-finished-product-because-my.html) and then picked up The Iron Lady at the redbox.  It's no wonder Meryl Streep won the Oscar for Best Actress; she was incredible!

On Saturday, we all went to Valley Home Farm to pick our own strawberries.  Daeon and I did most of the picking (Kaelyn did a lot of eating), and the boys looked after Alayna and watched.  There was no way they were getting down those narrow rows with Alayna's stroller without mashing a few strawberries along the way.

Working hard!

Our bounty

After we were done filling up our baskets, we went into the store for some sweet treats!  Chris had strawberry ice cream and I had a frozen strawberry-honey pop.  It was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth--it was cold, sweet and tart with lots of fruit--and it was perfect after picking strawberries in the warm sunshine.

Kaelyn had strawberry ice cream too!

I also bought a couple loaves of strawberry bread.  They were still warm from the oven!  We opened one up and gave it a try, and it was delicious by itself, but I can't wait to have some with a little bit of cream cheese on top.

Loving on these sweet girls

After we finished our treats, we drove to an old town called Bell Buckle, and we had a late lunch at a meat-and-three called the Bell Buckle Cafe.  

These girls love Uncle Twis

Sitting outside the cafe, plucking the petunias

After lunch, we were all so tired from strawberry picking we went home and took a nap.  Later on that evening, we went to church with them (they have 4 services--2 Saturday night and 2 Sunday morning).  Their church is doing a very interesting series right now--the pastor is preaching through the Bible, starting in Genesis.  I don't think anybody would argue with me when I say that the Old Testament is hard to read and understand, especially with all the begat-s and thou-s.  The pastor made it easy to understand the chronological events.  I thought the sermon was great because it went sort of like a history lesson, with the pastor emphasizing certain themes and lessons.  For example, when he spoke about the Israelites asking God for a king so that they would be like other countries, the pastor talked about adult peer pressure and being content with what God has given us.

On Sunday, Chris and Ben went golfing, and Daeon and the girls and I spent some time together at the house.  Daeon and I finished our movie while the girls napped, and then Daeon made a delicious lunch of pasta carbonara with thick-cut bacon and lots of fresh black pepper.  With our bellies full, Chris and I headed home to see our babies.  

Sweet Catticus snuggled up in the crook of my arm

Family Time with the Whites

This past weekend, Ben, Daeon, Kaelyn, and Alayna came down to Alabama to visit.  Chris and I (and Mother!) spent the entire week before scouring every surface in our house to get rid of all the cat hair because Ben is allergic, but I guess that's good because our house is cleaner than it has ever been. Poor Atticus was banished to our bedroom for the weekend, but he thinks that's where he belongs anyway, so I don't think he was too traumatized.  I was very proud; Ben didn't even get sick (the Benadryl might have helped a little).  Ben and Daeon and the girls got in late Friday night, so we got to visit with them for a few minutes before bed.  Daeon brought me a really cool gift--one of our wedding photos printed on posterboard--and I gave her a really homemade gift--an art project made out of Kaelyn's scribble drawings (post to follow!).  On Saturday morning we went down to Centreville to spend time with Mike, Sissy, Makenzie, Payton and Bailey.  Chris's parents, Dave and Lu Ann came down too!  Sissy has a trampoline, so I think everybody took a turn, even Dave! Chris and Ben played crack the egg with the girls while I held my breath, afraid that somebody's skull was going to get cracked.  I have always been just a little bit afraid of trampolines, and Chris should be, considering that the scar across his chin was the result of a trampoline accident!

Chris, Kaelyn, Ben, Lu Ann, and Me

Mike, Kaelyn and Ben

Makenzie, Payton, Bailey, Kaelyn and Alayna

Kaelyn and her Pawpaw

I picked up my favorite strawberry cupcakes at Celebrations Bakery in Northport, so everybody had a cupcake.  They are absolutely amazing cupcakes--not too sweet, a fresh strawberry taste, and a little tangy flavor from the strawberry cream cheese frosting.  Daeon and I are going to try to figure it out, so when we do, I'll post the recipe!

This girl loves pink cupcakes

Mike bought a big piece of land in Centreville a while back, so the boys went out to ride around and do some work on it, and then they played golf together.  All the girls went fishing near Sissy's parents' house.  It should be noted that this fishing expedition required Daeon to drive the minivan up steep muddy dirt roads for about an hour on 1/8 of a tank of gas.  We thought we were going to have to turn back a couple times, but we eventually made it to the creek.  Kaelyn was the most successful fisherman; she caught 4 fish!  

Sissy gave her the secret to catching fish--you have to spit on the worm!

Payton impressed everybody by taking the fish off the hooks and tossing them back.  I hung out with Alayna in the back of Sissy's car and we watched all the girls fish.  

Me and Alayna

After a while, Kaelyn was hot and tired and in a foul mood, and Alayna was so hungry she was all but gnawing on my hand, so we decided it was time to go back to the house.  When we got there, Mike was busy whipping up dinner.  He cooked a chicken pasta dish for an appetizer that was delicious, and then he smoked chicken breasts.  We also had mashed potatoes, baked beans, and barbecue bread toasted on the grill.  After dinner, everybody watched the final four basketball games and caught up with each other while the little girls took baths and put on their pajamas.  

Me, Daeon, and Sissy

Dave brought me, Daeon, and Sissy some blackberry preserves (which are my favorite!) from a shop in Georgia, so I'm going to have to learn how to make biscuits so we can try them out.  All in all, we had a good time catching up with everybody, and I loved having some time to pinch on Alayna's sweet cheeks and play with Kaelyn since we don't get to see them very often.  Kaelyn invited me to come up to Murfreesboro to go shopping, so maybe I'll get to see them again soon!


Love,
Jillerina :*

The Adventures of Atticus the Cat: Atticus and the Wily Water Glass

If I could just... get my head... a liiiitttle farther down.  Mama, I'm thirsty!


Have you ever heard of the Bad Kitty books?  Check out their website: www.badkittybooks.com.  Atticus IS Bad Kitty.  I'm a little disappointed that somebody has already staked a claim on my corner of the children's book market.  On the other hand, my books would be nonfiction, so maybe that gives me a leg up.