Just for Daddy

We have not seen much of Cliff in the last couple of weeks. He has been at the state tournament at East Mississippi Community College all week (Go Lady Wolves!) and won't be home until late tomorrow night. Since I don't have any cool features on my cell phone to send stuff like this, I recorded a random video of Amelia to make him feel better since he is missing her so much.

It's not our best work, but I don't think he will mind. Mimi misses her daddy even if she wouldn't tell you on video. Come home soon!

Tights and pigtails from Angela Furr on Vimeo.

A happy birthday for mama

So yesterday was my birthday. I have officially entered the stage of life known as late twenties. But I don't really want to talk about that. What I do want to talk about is the fact that someone thought that it was her birthday instead and came home and plopped herself in the middle of the couch to enjoy an after-school cookie and a little Dora.

She wouldn't even let me change the channel or have a bite of her cookie, even on my birthday!

Then Aunt Katie came over to bring me a present and to eat some Mexican take-out with us, and Mimi had a little fun playing dress-up with her glasses.

She even thought my gift was for her. I don't know what gives her the idea that every day revolves around her. Oh wait...

Anyway, it was a perfectly pleasant, low-key birthday. Cliff had planned to take me to eat at my favorite Italian restaurant in Jackson, but he's been away so much I knew he missed Mimi, and I wanted to be with her too, so we just hung out at home. But I do have to brag on him a little bit. He got me the sweetest, most thoughtul gift- a necklace with Amelia's thumbprint on it.

Isn't it precious? I can't give him all the credit for thinking of it. I saw my friend Misti's back in December and told him that I wanted one. But I had forgotten about it, so I was definitely surprised that not only did he remember that I wanted it, but he actually took Amelia to Jackson to have her print taken, and then went all the way back there to pick it up the morning after he had come home from a recruiting trip in Memphis. Good job, Cliffy!

While I'm bragging on him, I might as well tell y'all that instead of the customary roses for V-day, he actually gave me a collage frame filled with pics of me and Mimi together for my office. Swoon! That guy knows I enjoy a thoughtul gift! Note to anyone ever getting me a gift: Anything to do with my baby's face or hand prints gets me every time.

I had such a nice birthday just hanging out with my sweet family, and lucky for me the fun is not over yet. Mimi and I will be spending the weekend at my parents' house while Cliff goes back to Memphis looking for players to sign. I predict some delicious food cooked for me, some relaxation, and maybe a Hobby Lobby gift card in the mix. I am so blessed!

A white Valentine's

What a fun weekend! Thursday we received the best news that people who work in education can ever hear- we got a snow day! Even better, we got a Friday snow day, which made for an excellent weekend. It's so hard to believe that I have experienced only a handful of snows in my whole life living in Mississippi and Amelia has already seen snow three times in her short little life. It's funny that young kids around here think snow is normal since we've had so much in the last couple of years. Bless their hearts when it takes another ten years to happen again.

It started snowing late Thursday night and when we woke up Friday morning, this is what we saw:

(Katie took this sweet pic. I don't think I have to tell you which of these I jacked from her and which were taken with my point and shoot cam. As always, thanks to Katie for being the official family photographer!)

We were excited that Aunt Mare also got a snow day from Southern Miss, so she came to see Mimi after having been away for a few weeks. They were pumped to see each other and Mimi was spoiled to get to play with her aunts and all of her grandparents this weekend. She is one loved little girl!

Yes, Cliff tackled me to the ground almost immediately after getting outside. We had fun throwing snowballs and Amelia had fun being pulled in her wagon since she was kind of grouchy and wasn't really feeling walking in the snow as much as last time.

We tried to smile and pose for a pic, but it was too bright.

Cliff is hiding around the corner to hit me with that massive snow ball after I went in to get a bowl to collect snow for my snow ice cream. He was such a 7-year old the entire time we were playing outside!

Speaking of being childish, I am also guilty. My parents came over to play with Amelia and I couldn't resist hitting my daddy with a big snowball and then he slipped and fell and got all wet. I felt kind of bad, but still laughed my head off about it. Oops.

Am I the only one who gets totally depressed when the snow starts melting? Saturday after I finally got over myself, I was able to dress Amelia all Valentine-y and snap a couple of pics outside of her and her daddy before they headed out on their shopping day together. I think it's totally cute that Cliff takes Amelia with him to help pick out gifts for me. And a gift in itself was the fact that I got to spend some time alone, including a glorious hour and a half spent at the fabric store picking out fabric for our new bedding all by myself. It really doesn't take much for me.

Later that evening, Mare and Justin came over and Cliff and I got to go out on a date. Nothing special, just Mexican and a movie, but it was a great ending to a great, great day. Thanks for babysitting, guys!

Today was spent at church followed by lunch with friends. I almost let it get dark before I realized I had not taken a photo of Amelia on her second Valentine's Day, so outside we went for a couple of quick snaps.

Is it bad that I adore Valentine's Day for the sheer fact that I think Mimi looks totally adorable in red and pink? That, and I also love flowers and chocolate. And cards. And chick flicks. Ok, sue me. I just love Valentine's Day!

P.S. We were bummed that Chris and Kathryn weren't able to come visit this weekend as planned because of the weather. Come as soon as you can, guys!

Creating a childhood

This post by Priscilla Shirer has made me so happy today. I have actually been thinking about how to create the best childhood possible for Amelia a lot lately. That's why my laundry has been piled up, and I can't remember the last time I cleaned out the refrigerator. But I did take a 30 minute bath with her the other night and we played and giggled and had so much fun. Then we snuggled in bed together and giggled some more. It was past both of our bed times, but it was fun.

The smells of my childhood are so vivid in my memory today. Like the smell of chicken fajitas on my brother's birthday, or barbecue chicken on mine. (We were not hard to please!) The smells of fried chicken, cornbread and chocolate chip pound cake remind me of Cliff's mom. I want Amelia to remember the smells of goodies baking and bubble bath and the dirt that we will definitely be playing in when the weather warms up.

Little things are really the big things, and that has been so evident to me lately. So don't think I'm gross if you open my fridge. I'm just too busy taking bubble baths.