Oh Come On...

Some of my favorite blogs and many of the recent Facebook updates have talked about "a year without resolutions". Blah, blah, blah. Oh come on! I love resolutions! I love making them and breaking them. Maybe it is my obsession with making lists or maybe I just enjoy looking back and seeing what worked and what did not work with my resolutions.

So here goes, my resolutions for 2013:

1. Lose those last 10 pounds. I know, I know this is by far the most common resolution. But this is the year. I am running in the Derby Mini, I have the ability to go to the gym almost every day (thanks babe!), and I have a huge amount of resources and support that can help me.

2. Watch more old movies. Patrick and I watched Charade the other night with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. I love the simplicity and dialogue in these movies. I plan to put them on top of the Netflix queue.

3. Stop working (or bloging!) when I watch the old movies. I find myself on my computer a lot. I am going to resolve to become more efficient with my time online. It is not the end of the world if I miss the blabla kids sale. I think my boys will survive.

4. Take better care of my skin. Use hand creme (thanks Mom for my stocking stuffer!), get facials, use sunscreen. Lets just say I am not getting any younger!

5. Learn French. This makes me laugh because it has been on the list for years. We shall see.

No matter what, I know that 2013 is going to be fabulous...no resolution could make me any happier than having these guys in my life. They are what really matter.

When Life Gives you Lemons

Please know that the title of this post is a little heavy handed...I realize that I am at the beach so really how sour could life be? Let me explain...

On Sunday, Patrick and I celebrated six years of marriage. Pretty awesome right? It was also a day that I understood why people reach out to Super Nanny for their crazy, out of control children. Wip was bouncing off of the walls and could not figure out for the life of him how to use an "inside voice". Duncan could not have been more needy (clinging to my leg) or whiny...whine to me is worse than nails on a chalkboard.

Needless to say I was looking forward to a date night with my husband. We decided on Southern Soul. Really there was no discussion of anywhere else...brisket, fried green beans, corn bread, need I say more? I pretty much starved myself for the entire day waiting for this meal. We pull up expecting a packed house on a holiday weekend. We did not expect to see the lights out and a sign saying "closed Sunday". NOOOooooo. We literally sat in front of the restaurant in shock for about 10 minutes.

We settled on The Oak Bar at the Lodge. We (of course) were told an hour and a half wait. After stalking the bar we took a seat and ordered a beer. It was so nice just sitting at the bar that we ordered dinner. A-MAZ-ING. From start to finish. We wrote out our predictions for 2013 on a cocktail napkin, toasted each other on another year of marriage, and even went outside to a firepit and made s'mores. It was pretty perfect.

Of course I got home and checked in on the boys and my heart melted. Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping child?

When Wip met Thelma

Granddaddy and Mimi took Wip to the stables this morning in Sea Island. It was there that he met Thelma, and I am pretty sure it was love at first sight.

Santa Stopped By

It started with a trip to Lexington. We headed to Grams and Poppy's house to open presents, hang out with cousins, and have one cute-ta' of a photographer take some family pictures.

On Sunday we celebrated William's baptism. He (of course) was perfect and slept like a baby (te he he) through his luncheon. I was not able to get a picture of the man of the hour, but did capture what was hands down one of my favorite moments...the godfathers and Duncan having a serious talk about Lonnie's hot dogs.

Ned, Hunter, and Duncan talking life

Christmas Eve was here and after a "happy birthday" skype session with Poppy and a Christmas pageant service at St. Matthews we went to Mimi and Grandaddy's house for dinner and more gifts.

These boys loved the Halmark houses

Granddaddy and his boys

Trying to be adorable...and it is working

My hopes of a pajammy cousin picture did not turn out as I had hoped...but they are still pretty cute

Jackson Hole here I come!

Good times and good night

After much hype and anticipation Christmas morning arrived. The boys gave us the gift of sleeping until 7:30am. When I heard Wip's door open I jolted up to greet him (probably more excited than he was). He was clutching a Jessie doll, Bullseye horse, kangaroo figurine  triceratops stuffed animal just to name a few. Clearly, he did not need more toys. He looked up at me with the most adorable little boy look and said "Mommy, did Santa stop by?" Yes, Santa stopped by.

The moment has arrived

Santa stopped by!

There is no sweeter sound than your Toy Story obsessed son wearing cowboy boots and a Woody hat  flying his Buzz Lightyear doll around saying "to infinity and beyond!"

We stayed in our PJ's all day

The boys play, play, played

This Christmas season was nothing short of amazing. I received WAAAAAY more than I could ever deserve and my boys brought so much joy and happiness to my heart. Merry Christmas everyone!

Gingerbread House Party

We had our playgroup over for a little holiday fun on Friday. 

Here are the 10 steps to a successful gingerbread house decorating party:

Step 1: Create place settings for each guest

Step 2: Glue gingerbread houses with super glue ahead of time

Step 3: Put out fun props

Step 4: Have enough icing and candy for more than the houses:)

Step 5: Invite adorable wee ones

Step 6: Act silly

Step 7: Keep acting silly

Step 8: Put out yummy snacks and chocolate milk

Step 9: Open presents

Step 10: Get the gang together for a group shot

If I had a girl

If I had a girl her name would have been Edith Kate Mulloy and we would have call her Edie. Kate would be in honor of Patrick's grandmother (that he simply called Kate) and Edith would have been in honor of my grandmother, Edith (that I called granny). I wanted to name my little girl Edith because she was funny (actually, hilarious) and kind (one of the most generous people I have ever met). When she passed away, the only thing that I wanted was the picture above. She was on an airplane (heading to Vegas) with one of her girlfriends. She is holding playing cards and just looks like she is ready for an adventure.

I have been thinking a lot about my granny this holiday season. An old roommate stopped over the other day to drop of a ceramic Santa plate that she had mistakenly packed when we moved out years ago. My granny made the plate and said that she had been meaning to give it back, I am so glad that she did. Seeing that ceramic plate brought back so many memories.

Memories like when my Poppy was in the hospital and gravely ill, Granny did not leave his side. One night, we both stayed up all night while she held his hand and told me stories about when she used to work as a waitress. Maybe I was slap happy, but I remember laughing so hard I was crying at some of her tales, especially the one where the man was so drunk that he kept leaving out one door and walking back in another door asking for another drink. Clearly she had to tell the story, but it was classic.

Granny LOVED Christmas. She cherished holiday cards and I remember the arched doorway that she always displayed her collection...she had a TON of friends so the arch was always full. I think she would have lost her mind at the way holiday cards have evolved with pictures of family. Knowing her she would have kept them up all year. I can see her now sitting in the kitchen with the country radio station playing the songs of the year countdown in the background. She would always whisper "Mandy, come over here, I need to tell you something" and then quietly slip me some cash thinking that nobody saw what she was doing. She loved playing this game with all of her grandchildren...and of course we did not mind.

Recounting these wonderful memories of my granny makes me realize that it does not matter that I will not have a girl to take her namesake. I am raising two boys that will hopefully carry on her humor and kindness and that will work just as well (maybe even better!).  I know that she is taking a break every now and then from a bingo game upstairs to just smile at her great grandsons.

Flea Off Market

We went to Flea Off Market today after church. The wind was whipping, but it was such a nice day to just be outside. After browsing the booths we had a lunch at Lil' Cheezer. Yum. The sweet potato chips were served with a spicy curry bbq sauce...lets just say that if Duncan had a straw, he would have sucked it down. He went through all three of the containers making sure that every last bit was gone.  Who knew?

While browsing Wip found a booth with ceramic animal candle holders (that is the randomness of a place called Flea off Market:). He played and played with the figurines and I told him that he could come back and pick one out if he wanted after lunch. We went back and he decided on the zebra (which he later named Roger). When I was paying the gentleman for the figurine I filled him in on how much Wip loves animals, he told me that he so enjoyed watching him play with the animals and could tell that it brought him so much joy. It was a sweet little moment.

After a book club party on Friday, a day/night of nothing on Saturday, and a good ol' family day on Sunday...it was a nice freakin' weekend!

Memorized by a dog

More sauce please!

Wip give the wolf a high five

Love these ladies (they let me stay in the club even though I never finish the book:)