Fun In the Sun!

Well summer isn't officially here yet. But Caroline has gotten her swimsuit out and is ready to go! Today, after the parade and nap time, we decided to take Caroline outside so we could take advantage of this insanely hot muggy weather. She did so many things! She took a dip in her pool, she ran through her whale sprinkler, and she got to swing! She even got to hang out with her daddy while he cooked the ribs for our Memorial Day Feast--which included BBQ ribs, mashed "tatoes" as Caroline calls them, peas and corn, and biscuits! Caroline's favorite was the biscuits with lots of butter. Yes...she has a new love in her life...butter or "bubu" as she calls it.

Caroline's Day at the Parade

We love love love holidays around here. It's an extra day we get to spend with Caroline! What could be better! Today, Craig decided to put Caroline in her first parade. The Memorial Day Parade was taking place in Cairo, and we decided to make it a family affair. But we couldn't just stand along the side and watch...we had to be in it! So we piled into the fire truck for Caroline's first parade!

Caroline and her daddy driving full speed ahead in the fire truck.













Caroline and Daddy standing on the fire truck.











Now they've jumped over to the ambulance!









As you can see, Caroline had a fantastic day at the parade. We are so proud of Craig for being a fireman. He makes huge sacrifices constantly for the well being of others. Though we do miss him terribly and say our prayers every time he gets called out, we are so proud of the job he does. When a home is saved from a fire, or when someone's life is saved, we are so proud and blessed to say "Hey! That's our daddy!"

THE FIREMAN'S PRAYER
When I am called to duty, God,
Wherever flames may rage,
Give me the strength
to save some life,
What ever be its age.
Help me to embrace a little child,
Before it is too late
or some older person
from the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert
and hear the weakest shout
and quickly and efficiently,
To put the fire out.
And if according to your will,
I have to lose my life,
Please bless
with your protecting hand,
My children and my wife.
© A.W. "Smokey" Linn 1959

Wonderful Wedding Day

Saturday, May 21, 2011, we got to celebrate the marriage of two of our best friends...Aunt Stephanie (or "sheshe" to Caroline) and Uncle Rob. It was such a beautiful and blessed occasion for celebration. The flowers at the reception hall were one of my favorite decorations...yellow and purple flowers gathered together and place in watering cans. The perfect touch to the perfect country wedding. The food was great too! Caroline really enjoyed her ox roast sandwich and scalloped potatoes...and we know Aunt Sheshe enjoyed her pile of green beans LOL It was such a blessing to be able to celebrate with our friends and family on this fantastic day that we have been waiting for! It was such a gift to be able to see two of our best friends begin their lives together and we look forward to what blessings God has in store for all of us!








This is our friend "Dr. Mandy" and her
daughter, Abbagayle.










Our beautiful little cousin, Adelyn, came to town for the big event, too! We were so excited to get to play with Addy and Aunt "Hee Hee" (Aunt Jill).



"And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry." -Luke 12:19

Happy Mother's Day!

Chives from the front herb garden!

I don't consider myself to be a conceited or selfish person, and I hate saying a certain day is "my day." Even on my wedding day, I hated it when people said, "it's your day." No day is my day. However, on this Mother's Day, it sure felt like it was my day. It just a fantastic blessed day. It started kind of rushed...waking up late, making breakfast for the fam, and scooting off to Sunday School and church. Then, we came back, rushed around to get lunch ready, watched Caroline eat some "tatoes" as she has started calling them, cleaning up, and then putting Caroline down for her nap. Before this point, the day didn't feel any different than any other day of cooking, cleaning, and taking care of my family. After Caroline went down for her nap, Mimi, Papi,Craig, and myself went to work outside getting my gardens ready for the season. It was fantastic! We'd gone the day before to get plants, and Craig had gotten a truck-bed full of mulch a few days before. So everything was in place. A couple of hours later, we were done and everything looked wonderful. All the plants were planted right where I wanted them and everything was freshly mulched...I know it sounds weird, but I love love to mulch. My front flower bed is now the herb garden I've been wanting for two years! Love it! I have a beautiful lilac bush in the back that my very own mother talked me into getting, so I can't wait to see what becomes of it. I also got a few more gifts from my loved ones!

So all in all, it was just a fantastic mother's day. I got to do exactly what I wanted to do. I know it seems like on Mother's Day I should want to lay back with a glass of something and read a good book or sink down in a hot bubble bath, but I wanted to bring my garden to life...and with the help of my awesome family, that is exactly what I did! Thank you to my parents and my husband for making my Mother's Day exactly the way I wanted it to be. Love you all!

Pictures:
-Top Left: My lilac bush I'm so excited to smell!
-Top Right: The lemon balm I planted last year that did nothing then, but look at it now!
-Bottom Left: This is our back flower garden that I dug out myself the spring after we moved into our house!
-Botton Right: A beautiful little angel enjoying the sun in her shades and ready to plant!

"...She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed;her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things,but you surpass them all.” -Proverbs 31:10-12 and 25-31

Another First...

When I went back to work after Caroline was born, which was well over a year ago, I regretted the fact that even though I was working to provide for the needs of my daughter, I was going to be missing out on a lot of time with her. I believe that any good parent will agree that spending time with your children is as much of a need as ensuring there is food in their little bellies. Since I would be missing out on a lot of time with my daughter, I made two promises to myself: #1 I would never leave Caroline when she was sick because I figured if I can't be with her as much as I'd like, I'm at least going to be with the kid when she is sick. And #2 I will witness all firsts. As a rule of thumb, and Caroline's babysitter and loved ones will attest to this, nothing officially happens until I see it. Caroline didn't take her first steps until I was there to see it with my own eyes. Caroline did not cut her first tooth until I saw it breaking through the gums. And I definitely wasn't going to miss her very first haircut. She did fabulously! I didn't trust that she would sit quietly and patiently on the big black box they have for children to sit on when they are getting their hair cuts. So she sat in my lap instead. We chatted about several things...what she would do at the babysitter the following day, who she would play with, what she wanted for dinner, etc. All the while, her little blong flakes of hair falling to the floor and in my lap. It was an excellent experience, and another excellent first! My favorite part was that after it was all over, I could see my baby's eyes again!

Priddy-Mullen-Stauss-Bona-Mishoe Family Easter Weekend 2011

The biggest and brightest event in April was Easter weekend...which I like to call "Priddy-Mullen-Stauss-Bona-Mishoe Family Easter Weekend 2011." It was awesome! Though everyone couldn't make it...and believe they were missed terribly...we had an incredibly blessed weekend spending time with family. Here are some day-to-day play-by-plays of the weekend:

FRIDAY:
Everyone arrived Friday afternoon and evening. We inhaled some pizzas, and then the adults went to the Good Friday service while the kids stayed home and got Baby Carowine through her evening bedtime ritual. But before that, we just had fun smiling!

Aunt Suzy-Q got to help Caroline with her favorite time of day...bath-time!

SATURDAY:
We started Saturday with an awesome breakfast...big, beautiful Belgian waffles and fruit...and lots and lots of coffee. As you can see, Uncle Wayne is really enjoying his breakfast!

The Mullens and the Bonas took a trip to Target for some last minute Easter items. Aunt Suzy-Q and Uncle Jeff bought Caroline some really cool blocks and a "Fancy Nancy" book. Caroline is playing with Aunt Suzy-Q and enjoying her new blocks!

Sometime Saturday, it got hot and muggy so we decided to let Caroline run around in just a diaper. But we ran into one small problem...she kept taking her diaper off! So in an effort to keep
her from doing this, "Engineer Papi" was on a mission...and he succeeded!

Another bath-time...this time with Aunt Nancy and Aunt Pam!

























EASTER SUNDAY!
Easter was fantastic. We all went to church together and took up two pews! Then, we came home and ate a big Easter dinner...ham, turkey, two kinds of potatoes, rolls, and all kinds of great stuff! Then, we watched as Caroline found what the Easter bunny had left her! The weekend was absolutely wonderful and we will never forget it. Even though we don't live as close to each other as we'd like, I thank the Lord daily for the family he has blessed me with. We love each other and genuinely enjoy each other's company. I know it was a long blog posting of the weekend, but I wanted there to be plenty of memories for everyone to share and enjoy, and I wanted the Mishoes, Priddy's, and Andrades to feel like they were part of the weekend as well! God bless my family! Miss you all!

Abby the Tabby Cat

We've been having some issues with our "sweet" tabby cat, Abby. Over the last couple of months, she's turned into quite the high maintenance little feline. In addition to multiple trips to the vet for urinary tract problems and special food, she also happens to be quite the noisy cat in the middle of the night...beating on doors, slamming doors, fighting with the other cat. She's pretty much a nocturnal nightmare. So we finally wised up and decided to let her spend her nights in a pet taxi in the living room. Now before any of you start calling PETA, the cat carrier is about four times her size so she has plenty of room to stretch out and be comfortable. The first night, however, I wasn't smart enough to put a small litter pan in the cage. When Abby strolled out of her cage the next morning quite dirty and smelly, her grand prize was a bath! She did remarkably well, but I'd forgotten how small she actually is, and how incredibly pitiful she looks when she is wet!

Yummy Treats

Every year, our ministerial association has a dinner and pie auction. Last year, I didn't get a chance to participate, but this year boy did I ever! To your left, you will see a very chocolatey, very rich candy bar pie. I originally thought it was going to be a disaster because my pie crust totally dropped over the sides and looked terrible! But once I over-filled the crust and over drizzled the chocolate, it turned into my favorite mistake! Not sure how much it raised, but the chocolate drippin' off the sides tells me it's priceless!

Catch-up Blogging

Okay. So it has officially been four weeks since my last posting, and I've missed blogging terribly! But unfortunately, finding time to do it is sometimes just hilarious to even think about. At any rate, here I am back to blogging.
The Mullen Family has been very busy in the last four weeks...making pies for town auction, going to Mimi and Papi's for a big Priddy family weekend, first haircuts, and of course celebrating Mother's Day...which is now one of my favorite days of the year! I've got pictures of just about everything, so we'll do a little catch-up blogging so everyone can see what we've been up to over the last month! And of course...there are plenty of pictures of Sweet baby Caroline! Enjoy!