Geography Rules

Hello, the world! Ok, maybe not the world, but at least hello to the handful of faithful followers I have ...

Annie is now 19 and studying pre-med at Harvard; gosh-dang we're just so proud of her! Ok, maybe not exactly. Well, we are proud of her always, but she's not quite 19. She is, however, every single second of 3 1/2 with all the stubborness, etc. that comes with the age. And yes, as I have stated before, I am for all practical purposes raising a tiny version of myself. Things really do come full circle, don't they??

I'm now working 4 days a week at Annie's pre-school and loving it. I've always loved the program but even more so being on the other side of it. It's very, very much like a family environment, and I really feel blessed to have the opportunity to be there.

Annie is now taking ballet one day a week, which is great fun, and I promise to post some pictures. Actually I need to post a bunch of pictures, but that'll take a bit of time.

Ok, so there's a tiny glimpse into our lives at the moment, but I can't go without giving out a geographical nugget of information: there is not an Australian Ocean. Not that I thought there was or anything ...

Tin Cup Chalice

So as has become somewhat of a family tradition, we spent the 4th of July in a condo in Biloxi with my parents. It was a fabulous time and a wonderful opportunity to see lots of our family and friends. But I suppose a picture really is worth a thousand words, so here goes:




With my beautiful mother:
Annie and my grandfather:

Dinner with family:
My gorgeous Aunt Mar, who you may recall was Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball:
My best friend, Teri, and her three girls came over from Mobile, and these are pictures of them:



My daddy with Annie (her beloved "Pa"):


No point in trying to stay dry in the pool, Mom! (Annie with her "Kay-Kay")


Our good friends, Jenn and Chris and their fabulous pool:
Their Great Dane, Toby, who is breathtakingly beautiful:

These Are the Days

So Annie and I returned a few days ago from our jaunt across to Atlanta to see our family ... my cousin, Kelly, her husband, Michael, their 2-year-old, Spencer and that precious new baby girl, Madeline ... it was great fun peppered with the antics of two toddlers and a newborn ...

Spencer and Annie (and Hailey the mighty dog in the background) spent most of their time right about here playing with Spencer's beloved cars or watching TV (if we were particularly lucky!)
And of course we spent a LOT of time loving on this little beauty:

And we watched this a lot:

And we spent a really cool morning with Spencer and Annie at a place called the Yellow River Game Ranch, which is sort of like an animal sanctuary where the majority of the animals just roam free:










But mostly we just hung out and had family time:

And at the end of the day (or anywhere during it) Hailey would just decide she was a teensy bit worn out from the stress of it all:


All in all, we had a wonderful visit, even if I did look around at the kids at one point and marvel at the fact that we're actually adults now with our own families! Have mercy!