If I put a picture on my blog, maybe I won't have to buy them for myself...

How cute are these? I've never seen anything like this in my life, but suddenly I really don't know how I've lived without them until now. Cupcake stands from Olive & Cocoa, my newest favorite catalog full of all kinds of stuff.

Mulling over Multitude Monday

Well, I said that I was no longer going to comment on how quickly Mondays come around or on the fact that I am so late posting, so I won't. (See how I did that...mentioning it by saying I wasn't going to mention it? There must be a literary term for that.) I will count this, however...Number 82. I do not blog for a living.

This past month has been full of excitement. School is out (Number 83). We went to Dollywood. We came home from Dollywood (Number 84). We got a new kitten, Lucy, who is such a joy (Number 85). We went to a couple of soccer tournaments. Soccer ended for us (Number 86). The boys went to Twin Lakes (87). We had Ella's birthday/slumber/swimming party at Mom L's. We went to Flora to celebrate Mama's birthday (88). Kiper and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary (89) and got to go to New Orleans for the weekend (90), because Haley and Will (91 and 92) came to keep the children (94, 95, 96) for us. We got upgraded (97) to the Teddy Roosevelt Suite at The Roosevelt, which was Amazing. A piano in our suite! All we needed was to have a party and invite Harry Connick, Jr. to play it for us. Kiper is determined to learn to play so we can go back next year.

I want to make it to One Hundred this week so I'm going to also mention, specifically...

98. Clancy's Restaurant
99. New Orleans French Bread
100. Beignets (Yay! One-tenth of the way to A Thousand Thanks!)
101. Jazz music
102. Doctors
103. The ability to go see Goober last week on the spur of the moment.
104. An important negotiation that has worked out for Kiper's business.
105. Getting to spend time with Heather and the Starnses today.

My camera has been lost for a couple of weeks. It needs to turn up before we go to the beach on Saturday. I wish I had some photos to liven up this post.

Fullness Friday

Yeah, I was trying to think of something like "Multitude Monday" for my Thousand Thanks entry that happens on a Friday. "Fullness Friday" actually works on several levels...I am full of thanks, today was full of blessings, and I am completely full of Number 71. Fox's pizza and chocolate chip cookies...and rice krispies treats...and such.

72. Post-storm raindrops sparkling on green grass in the morning sun.

73. Children saving turtles from certain death in the middle of the road.

74. MIT, Moms in Touch, our Thursday morning mothers' prayer group at which we pray for PCS and our children.

75. Unexpected time for a pedicure with Heather on the last Friday before school gets out.

76. Words with Friends on my iPhone, and Renee' who plays with me, but almost always beats me.  

77. Our book club, flaws and all, and the fact that, despite being perhaps the least diverse group in existence, and no matter what we've read, I always hear something I hadn't thought of myself and learn something encouraging (or, at the very least, interesting) during our discussions.

78. Arthur Woods, professional car detailer, who cleans my Suburban so thoroughly and beautifully.

79. Looking forward to not having to get out of bed one morning in this busy, fun month. (I am SO staying in bed as long as possible tomorrow!)

80. Blue skies and fluffy white clouds. I can see them as I sit outside on the porch of the "Lil Tire Shoppe" and wait for my car. (Along with enjoying the sky, remembering #74 and playing #75 made the wait bearable.)

81. People who can get a nail out of a tire and plug the hole to stop that slooooow leak.

I like this

This little vase that my mother brought me the last time she came down to see us. It's called, she said, a "mommy vase," especially for those precious, tiny flowers that your children bring you when they're little. I love it so much! And what a perfect, fun gift for a baby shower.

Old Times

This old photo is from, I think, 2001. Our K-group's Christmas bonfire at the Speeds' house...that's a little Speed there on the far left. The May Baby...and the Bentons' May Baby...were too little even to be in the photo.

A Thousand Thanks

Dog tired already on Monday morning and feeling like we didn't have a weekend break. We didn't, really. It was spent mostly driving...driving to Thaxton, driving back and forth from Thaxton to Tupelo soccer fields. It was also spent watching soccer, lugging chairs, pacing, photographing, wringing hands, cheering, wondering if boys had enough cold drinks, cringing at knee injuries, being elated, being disappointed, being annoyed (there was a Starkville team there), watching out for rain.

But what fun! How exciting to see these big little boys...little big boys...in their last few days of elementary school, many just a couple of months away from being teenagers: playing hard, using their healthy bodies, celebrating each other's goals, enjoying each other's company, listening to their coaches, fighting for the ball, running, jumping, scrambling, kicking, falling, bouncing, and rolling but getting up again and still running. How lovely it was to sit with their parents: cheering, encouraging, visiting.

Man...I really hate soccer.

Just kidding, of course.

I like soccer a whole lot. It's the Sunday tournament games that kill me...the four or five games in two days. There is a good reason for having a day of rest on Sunday. I suppose that's why God told us to do it.

61. When we got home last night and the babies had bathed and we were telling them goodnight (or rather, they were telling us goodnight before going up to put themselves to bed because we were too tired to go up and tuck them in) the September Baby, the soccer player, said, "Thank you for letting me play soccer."

62. Cameras with sports mode shooting.
63. Sunday rest.
64. Suburbans with DVD players.
65. Occupied boys on a four hour trip.
66. May, who made us hamburgers to go so we wouldn't have to stop and eat on our way home.
67. A soccer field with shade trees beside it.

68. Soccer siblings sitting in the shade.
69. The end of the school year.
70. Book club to look forward to tomorrow night...and NO soccer practice!

I like...

One of my most favorite things at the moment is my little can of Nivea Creme that I keep in the car. I got it at a drugstore in Petal one day when I was too early to go pick up the May Baby. I've never seen this before or since, so I've had to buy a huge tub of the stuff to use to refill it. When I notice the back of my hands and my wrists while I'm driving, and I see how dry they are, I smear a bit of the thick white cream into my skin and make it softer. It makes me feel like I'm redeeming just a few seconds of the massive amounts of time I spend in the car.

That's me, Mrs. Efficient.

I also like the Snappy Turtle Sundae from Bop's. A vestige of that confection is the blob that you see in the lower right corner of the photo.