Ups

Jack's got the ups. (Beware: I'm going to be a proud mom in this post and brag about Jack)

He loves more than anything to chase a soccer ball. He will run and run for as long as you will kick the ball. I get tired chasing it just once, but not Jack. He also likes to try and either "chest bump" or eat the ball mid air if Chris throws it up. I tried to capture a few of his high jumps. I'm pretty impressed with his abilities.

After playing, he guards that ball with his life

Until someone comes close enough that he can give lots of kisses to :)

My Best Friend

I'm sure from the title you're thinking this is going to be some sweet post about Chris, but I found a different kind of best friend today; one in the kitchen. I was doing some chores around the house and realized our kitchen sink was super dirty. I mean it looked gross. (I know that's sad to say, but it's honest). So I pulled out Bar Keepers Friend.

My mom told me to get some of this stuff several years ago. Boy, does it work! I should use it about every 2 weeks, but I don't really like the way it smells. So I wait until I can't stand it any longer and then wish I didn't let it get so bad. But no matter how dirty, Bar Keepers Friend works like magic. All you need is a sponge and some water.

If your sinks need a little cleaning, go out and get some magic. While I was cleaning, my plants were getting some MUCH needed sunshine. It has been a little gloomy here lately, so I know they soaked in all in.

And here are two pictures of our new bedroom furniture. Clearly, I need something above the bed and we need bed-side tables, but you know we just aren't there yet :) I'm sure you'll notice the bed is a little high. See, when I bought it, the bed only had a mattress on it, not a mattress and box-spring. Can you sleep on a bed with no box-spring? It's really not a big deal to me, but I do wish I could see the headboard a little more.

I am loving the dresser too. I haven't had a dresser since high school, so it's nice to have one again.

I would like to not have the TV on the dresser, but there's really no where else to put it and I like to watch the news while I get dressed in the mornings! P.S. Our walls aren't white, they just look that way in the pictures.

2012 thus far

It's been busy, but so fun! We finished out 2011 watching Auburn win the Chick-fil-A bowl and then fell asleep by 10:30 pm. We did have to work Saturday and Sunday, the 31st and 1st, so we thought it was ok not to stay awake and welcome in the new year! :)

We bought a new bed and dresser as a Christmas gift to each other, so we've been rearranging our bedroom and adding some wall decorations. I was so thankful to come home from work one day to see that Mr. Linton, Chris's dad, had come up to help him put together the furniture! Yay! We're really enjoying how the room looks.

The first weekend in January we headed to Atlanta to one of my college friend's wedding. Chris and I loved seeing college friends and catching up. Lauren was a gorgeous bride!

White house girls minus Julie and Ali

(Please don't pay any attention to how white my skin is in these wedding pics. I look like a ghost!!! Must visit the tanning bed before I scare away children!)

"singing" to Lauren

Courtney, Chris and I stayed with Mark and Kristen Saturday night!

Leaving after a fun night of dancing!

Courtney, Kristen and I did make a stop by to see Julie and Kyle and check on baby Abbie's progress before the wedding. We knew the next time we saw Julie, she'd be a MOM!! This past week, I went to Atlanta for a quick trip to shop at market with my mom and Miss Pam. I had so much fun with them and had to perfect opportunity to go and meet Miss Abbie for myself. She is absolutely wonderful! Beautiful and perfect! I had to take a quick picture on my phone of the precious little one! It was a blessing to see Julie and Kyle as new parents. They seem like they are naturals. Can't wait for my next visit to see little Abbie and mommy, Julie!

That about catches you up! Chris and I are just working, working, working. Oh yeah and he is driving me crazy with his new hobby: learning how to use a mouth call for turkey hunting. :) He recently bought a few calls and then my dad gave him a box call and one other kind of call that I can't think of the name of...I'm already not liking it and he's only had them for less than a week!

Merry, Merry Part 1

We were fortunate again this year to be able to go to Sugar's for Christmas Eve lunch and dirty Santa. It's so fun to be with aunts, uncles, cousins and of course, Sugar. This year we moved our meal to lunch time instead of dinner so everyone could get back on the road if needed.

A bunch of the girls in the Gentry family

After lunch, we sang Christmas carols to the lead of Uncle Buddy and Drew. They were singing at their church that night for the Christmas Eve service, so it was good practice :)

We mix up the style of carols sung each year. This year's included Little Drummer Boy, Away in a Manger, and Jingle Bells. Here is Sugar singing Jingle Bells!

After carols, Papa always read the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Since his death, the sons have taken turns reading. This year Uncle Jim had the honors.

After she helped Sugar open all of her presents, Emma Cate posed for a picture!

We missed the family members that couldn't be there, but as always we had such a fun time. Family is so special and I am so thankful for everyone on the Gentry side.

We left Sugar's and headed home to have present time and Christmas dinner with my parents. It was a special treat to have a nice dinner on Christmas Eve at home with our immediate family. We've always been at our grandparents during dinner time, so this was a new tradition, but one that I liked a lot. Emma Cate was so fun to be with while opening presents! She loved tearing off the paper and once one was opened she couldn't wait for the next one. We were surely blessed this Christmas and had a great time with everyone!

All the kids gave my dad a new pair of waiters for duck hunting

Emma Cate and Jane (her baby doll) got matching pjs :)

Thanks Big Daddy and Nina for a wonderful Christmas!

Hope your holiday was wonderful this year too!

Merry, Merry Part 2

Part 1 (Christmas Eve) will come soon, but I've got to get a few more pictures downloaded.

Christmas morning we woke up in Aliceville, packed up our stuff and headed to Cullman to spend the day with the Newlin family.

We had a fun time in the kitchen getting all the food ready for Christmas dinner and Mike, Lindsay, J and AP got there that afternoon in time for presents and a little relaxation.

J and AP loved opening their presents and all the paper that comes along with the gifts! :) J loved helping us open our presents too!

J and AP told me uncle Chris is so fun to play with!

Family dinner was fabulous and we had a good time sitting around the table. Sadly, Chris and I left soon after due to the working world and having to be back in reality on the 26th. Thanks Momo and Popo for a wonderful Christmas day!

Jack's Christmas

We celebrated Christmas a little early last night at home, just the 3 of us. After dinner, we opened presents and finally after 4 years, Jack learned how to help open presents. He likes lots of tissue paper!

But then got a little tired and had to rest.

But quickly regained his strength and wanted to play and pose for the camera!

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come: let earth receive her king!

Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing."

Merry Christmas!

82 years

This week my grandmother, Sugar, is celebrating her 82nd birthday. I've written about Sugar before, but I believe my words never give her enough praise because she is such an amazing lady. My family jokes about how her prayers go higher than the rest of ours, but honestly I think sometime it could be true! She is such a Godly woman and a true prayer warrior.

I went to Aliceville last week to spend some time with my family while Chris was out of town for a whole week at a pharmacy conference. I had a great time Christmas shopping with my mom, playing with Emma Cate and spending some quality time with Sugar. As her multiple sclerosis progresses, it's hard for her to even talk. She's lost all of her hand/arm movement, so really all she has left are her facial muscles and head movements. Her voice is also really soft, and it's hard to hear her when a crowd is around. (She always has some words of wisdom though!)

I went over to visit around lunchtime and had some good one-on-one time with her. We caught up on everything while I fed her the last bits of lunch. Ever since Papa passed away last fall, it's hit me that I might not have her around too much longer either. (That's sad to say, but they loved each other so much and were so devoted to each other that I know she wants to go and be with him in Heaven.) I've been trying to learn more about their life as children, their families and the time when they were newlyweds. Papa and Sugar were/are so special to me and I want to learn about the important details in their life, so I can tell my children about them.

Papa and Sugar truly lived out a Hollywood love story. Once they realized they wanted to get married, Papa couldn't wait for them to have blood tests done and the results to return, so they drove to Mississippi (where that law didn't exist) and got married over the weekend with only a couple of dollars to his name. For their wedding dinner they shared an orange drink and a pack of crackers! Papa left to go to Korea a mere 19 days later to serve for an entire year. Sugar finished college at Judson, then moved to New York city for a job. When she heard news that Papa was coming home, she hopped a train to meet him. They drove home to Alabama and a few months later returned to NYC for Papa to serve for the Navy there for another year. They then finally settled in Alabama and worked on having a house-full of kids. Originally they wanted 12 children, but ended up with 6 little ones equally spread out by 2 years.

I learn something new every time I'm with Sugar. And I know I could learn a whole lot more about marriage seeing that she and Papa were married 60 years! Hearing her talk about Papa is just so sweet! I truly cherish these times with her especially being one-on-one. Growing up I was always close with my grandparents, but being 1 out of 18 grandchildren, you rarely got a lot of time by yourself with them. I guess I'm just more thankful that she is still here when I am more aware of how important grandparents are! I loved my mom's parents so so much and think about how much I wish they were here to get to know Chris and our kids one day. I don't think I knew just how important they were though while they were still alive, so I'm trying to spend as much quality time with Sugar as I can while she's still here with us.

Happy birthday Sugar! I hope your 82nd year is as amazing as you are!