screen porch & an auntie visit

here is a picture of my big lots find for the season. i have dreamed of having a screen porch... now thanks to big lots i kind of do... the only difference is - elisha can very easily crawl in and out of this one by simply ducking his head under the tent wall. but if i can keep him entertained inside then we are out of the sun and away from the mosquitoes. certainly can't complain about the extra 120 square feet of livable space!
notice how elisha and his auntie mary are matching in their madras plaid patchwork shorts! so hip!

tagged again

i was 'tagged' again to share some info about myself.
so lb this is for you:
10 years ago i was:

i was probably going through my first breakup... my first boyfriend and i dated for 9 months and didn't go on any dates by ourselves... we did however take an art class w/ another friend at the local community college... a very formative time for my artistic career.

5 things on my to-do list:

1. get the house picked up(always on my list b/c thanks to all the boys i live w/... ok- and myself- it doesn't stay picked up for more than 5 minutes.
2. go to the grocery store.
3. make a beautiful brown linen baby sling for my mother in-law to give as a gift to a very lucky girl in al... i'm telling you if you have got a 'babe-in-arms' it is even better than sliced bread!
4. get some birthday goodies in the mail.
5. hhhmmmm making some rice krispie treats would be a nice thing 'to-do' !

5 snacks i enjoy

1. see above= rice krispie treats
2. good old fashioned plain lays potatoe chips
3. homemade chex mix(i make mine w/ pecans, cheerios, and stick pretzels)
4. hummus on homemade pita chips
5. party food... more specifically- shower food... you know all the yummy things i refer to.

5 things i would do if i were a billionaire

1. i would enjoy finding places to give money away... and be really involved in the process.
2. i would buy a house conviently located in atlanta with room to entertain and house guests as well as lots of children... plenty of yard space and even a greenhouse and studio out back.
3. i would adopted some children to fill that big house.
4. i would hire some help to take care of that big house and help me stay sane while raising all the children.
5. make that an even bigger estate and have an organic garden on it that we could live off of and maybe even have a classical christain school on the grounds(we would hire tobias to teach ;-)(ellie- if you are reading this you can tell him to be hholding out for this great job!... and of course all your children would be there too!)

5 bad habits

1. not following through on big projects
2. feeling guilty about not doing things i set out to do
3. being completely lazy w/ my typing/ spelling!
4. letting the dirty dishes pile up
5. not planning/ making good dinners for my family

5 places i have lived

1. macon
2. auburn
3. greenville, sc
4. atlanta
--- i can't believe i haven't lived in 5 different cities!

5 jobs i have had

1. chick-fil-a employee
2. youth intern at mitchell road pres. church
3. ceramic studio tech
4. art teacher
5. mother/ sling maker

bath time

i thought i should post a little elisha tidbit for the fan club out there.
these are some shots of him during bath time. he loves his bath--- he is a wild man about it though. you will notice andrew's hand... it definately takes both of us to bathe him: one in the tub holding him still(keeping him seated, from sticking his face under water, from crawling across the tub etc.) , and one of us to do the actual cleaning part. i wonder how long it will be like this? i am literally out of breath when it is all over... i guess it's a good work out!

botanical garden

this is a shout out for the atl botanical garden. andrew and i lived within walking distance of it our first year here and regrettably never went. well, during the gray winter this year when we were so tired of living in this concrete jungle we took a family outing to the gardens and were so thrilled to be surrounded by green life we joined for the year! when e can walk it will be even more fun. they have a really cute little children's garden in it that is complete with mr. mcgregor's garden and peter rabbit's watering can hideout.
i love the orchid house... breathtaking!

springtime babies

this year i have left my christmas wreath on our door longer than normal b/c it has become a home. when i went to take it off quite a while ago i noticed some of our rosemary clippings from when we pruned had 'somehow' gotten lodged in our wreath... we as you can see a little bird(probably a wren) made a nest... i left it alone but figured the bird would know better than to actually lay eggs in that nest since it gets jolted a swung about from time to time... well it looks like this bird was daring enough to put it's little ones on our front door. imagine my surprise when i informed a friend that i didn't think it was actually going to have eggs in it--then peeked in and saw this scene!
i think these tiny birds are actually quite scary w/ their giant eyes... but so amazing!

fun w/ avery claire

these are some pictures of brooke and john's(one of andrew's groomsmen) baby girl avery claire with our little man. they had fun w/ that wagon last weekend! they kept running it in to each other... does flirting exist this early on?

little friends

elisha has some friends that he has 'played' w/ from time to time since he was just a few weeks old. as his first year draws to a close i wanted to share some precious pictures of them as they have grown together... it is so amazing how quickily they get to an age where they can actually play!
these pictures are elisha with his friend machen who is a month older.

another fact

i didn't really think i would, but i do use cloth diapers most of the time. most of the ones i use are bum genius. for those of you who are not familiar with the cloth daipering world- there have been a lot of improvements. the ones i use most of the time are all in one piece... they are easy to put on (which is important considering i have to do it on a quickly crawling baby most of the time) with velcro. you just wash them (in hot water w/ a couple extra rinses and a little bleach to be sure they are clean). they cost more than the old fashioned kind (i use those some too)... but in the end you still save money and you are not throwing away loads and loads of daipers every week. i hate throwing things away!
so now that i have confessed it you know why my sons butt looks unusually big most of the time ;-)

#83-100 facts(continued)

i couldn't handle all 100 facts at one time so here are the last ~20 {if you are super interested in me you will have to see the previous post to read the first 82 facts i posted}
i am looking forward to finishing this and tagging other people... you know you want to share!

83. i was a vegetarian for almost a year (vegan for most of that time period)
84. i had serious chocolate cravings when i was vegan
85. i still do... i love the darkest of dark dark chocolate
86. having chocolate at night keeps me up and then gives me weird dreams
87. we used to get a baskin robins ice cream cake for birthdays growing up (vanilla cake w/ mint chocolate ice cream) i lllooovvveee them!
88. at one point we(my 3 sisters and i) had over 60 barbie dolls... and maybe 4 0r 5 barbie vehicals... maybe more
89. my second toe is longer than my 'big' toe... so really i have a fat toe and then a tall toe, not really just one big toe per foot
90. dancing on pointe during my ballet years was a little complicated for that long toe.
91. i love mint and lemon in my sweet tea... and i make mine out of earl grey tea
92. we had a mama cat who adopted us when i was growing up... she had four litters of 7 kittens each before mama took her and her kittens away :-(
93. i love camellias... something that blooms in the winter is always welcome
94. i think the smell of gardenias and magnolias will always remind me of waiting for my son to be born
95. i really do drive over a river(creek) and through the woods to get to my grandmother's house.
96. i want to have tons of grandchildren(which is why i guess i need to have tons of kids?)
97. i was engaged for 4.5 months before i got married--- i think short engagements are best
98. i used to dream of having a really old vw van... now i drive a fairly new vw wagon.... not quite the same
99. i can eat a pan of rice krispie treats by myself in a day.
100. i ate at the waffle house all dressed up before my senior prom.

there now, i get to tag others to do this daunting task. faith- you acted interested so you are up! i know you probably have better things to do while in paris.... but you can do it in short installments.
i also tag christy mobley... i know you did 5 a while ago, but it just left me wondering what 95 other interesting things there might be.
i also tag leslie (used to be prouty) steele(sp?)... i know you don't have one yet... but you want one, you know you do... and what better way to start?
have fun ladies!

100 things

i have been 'tagged' to post 100 things about me ... wow- thats alot of things... i didn't know there were that many things... maybe that can count as fact #1
well, read if you want(and have the time)

2. my middle name is McRae
3. i used to wish it was something i could go by instead of 'jane' ---
4. i hated being 'plain jane'
5. i have now embraced the whole 'plain jane' thing
6. i grew up in otis redding's hometown
7. i have a dog named otis
8. my cousin has bought shoes from otis redding's mother's shoe shop in macon
9. i am #2 of 4 girls
10. i have a laid back husband
11. i have a fairly dramatic son
12. my son has had a great sense of humor from just a few months old
13. my favorite color was yellow when i was little
14. then my favorite color was green
15. i wanted to name my child (boy or girl) green
16. i didn't
17. when i was ~ 2 1/2 i told my mother that God gave me a new heart
18. i was baptized on the grand opera house stage
19. my mother says that is way i love to dance and sing and entertain
20. that and the fact that she listened to pavarati the whole time she was pregnant w/ me
21. i took piano for ~ 4 years and still can't really play
22. i hate to practice
23. i took ballet from the time i was 4... my mother begged for me to get in before i was really old enough
24. i was a cheerleader through jr.high and high school
25. i was captain of our soccer team... only b/c i hassled our boys coach to let us have a girl's team... i played like a girl, which considering the fact that i am one can't be such a bad thing!
26. i met my husband at auburn university... at 'the strutting duck' (ok, so-- i actually had met him before...but it makes a better story)
27.i am never going to cut my babies hair again, then i can at least blame someone else for how it turns out!
28. i used to cut my hair all the time... it was almost always a mistake
29. i have always wanted red hair.
30. i had a pair of seafoam green coolotts(sp???) that i loved and wore almost every day when i was about 5.
31.i LOVE the beach... especially ones w/ spanish moss draped oaks nearby
32. my parents made us watch a movie about preventative forest fires when i was 10
33. my husband loves burning preventative forest fires, sometimes even with my parents
34. i love the store 'anthropology'
35. i love having roses to cut and bring inside.
36. i love daffodils
37. i went to la merida, mexico in 8th grade on a missions trip... we slept in hammocks
38. i tried to sleep in my hammock when i got home, but woke up on the floor(i didn't hang it well)
39. i was valedictorian of my highschool class.
40. my graduating class had 13 people in it.
41. my parents help start the classical christian school that i graduated from
42. i taught art at a classical christian school in atlanta... k-5 through 7th
43. i am fascinated by birth... and was dying to have a natural childbirth.
44. i had natural back labor(if you don't know what that is... be thankful) for ~10 hours after a weekend of 'pre labor'... then a cesarean birth
45. i think breastfeeding is vital... worth fighting through those first weeks-- it gets easier.
46. i LOVE to dance... any kind of dancing
47. i LOVE to sing my heart out to loud music while driving down country roads
48. i have really enjoyed a few clove ciggarettes... but only a few.
49. my husband would die if i became a smoker. he hates nothing more!
50. i love the smell of my baby's breath... i wonder when that will change?
51. i think my baby's bottom is THE cutest thing in the world!
52. i love the feeling of warm sand between my toes.
53. i love to sit under an umbrella at the beach and read all day
54.teeth are very important to my family
55. my grandfather was a dentist
56. my uncle is a dentist
57. my mother is a dental hygenist
58. my cousin wants to be a dentist
59. my father is an orthodontist.
60. i had braces twice
61. the 2nd time they were clear
62. i was in jr. high
63. i had a huge crush on a guy named josh snaderson in jr. high as well
64. he didn't like me back :-(
65. my favorite friday night activity for most of highschool was going to tacobell w/ my bossom buddy -emily
66. if she lived closer i would still like to... even though i don't really like taco bell
67. my husband loves to hunt for deer and turkey.
68. i tried but my feet got to cold.
69. i hate being cold!
70. the winter makes me depressed...
71. i have SAD - seasonal affected disorder
72. i just made a reaaly cute skirt w/ yellow birds on it.
73. i am really into bird parephenalia
74. my sister is in paris right now
75. i went to paris and italy when i was pregnant
76. i was sad to be pregnant in tuscany... it sort of changed our plans
77.i actually enjoyed being pregnant
78. and i kind of loved wearing maternity clothes
79. i HATE six flags
80. i don't ride fair rides
81. i am worried about how this will work as i raise a boy
82. i am not good at completing big tasks... i have to break them up so as not to get overwhelmed...

to be cont... mybe

10 month album

i am going to be so proud if this works! i have dreamed of getting a photo/ slide show thing on my blog and i think i have done it: here are little lige's 10 month pictures. if you look close enough you can see his new tooth in a couple of them. enjoy fan club!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

garden update

i wanted to have a before picture of my herb garden... it tends to get pretty wild during the summer and it's so hard to remember it's tame winter self. i have added much more mulch this year with great hopes of taming some of the weeds that attack it. i have also made a new fence around it with branches from our crepe myrtle. i haven't tied it together yet... so it looks a little messy.
i cut the lemon balm back to the ground as well as the mint, back in january. it is already coming back in full force. perhaps i should have listened to the wise gardener's advice and put them both in pots, as they are very invasive. at least i love mint!
the chives have held up well since i started this garden in april 2006. i split off a few pieces and planted them about 6 in. out.
the lavender is going strong as well. the first year it didn't bloom... but last year it did and it was wonderful! i remember my mother bringing a vase of oakleaf hydrangea, gardenia, and lavender blooms when i first got home from the hospital with elisha. it smelled so good! i cut it back this winter b/c it was leggy. now i'm afraid it won't bloom this summer... i'm crossing my fingers! i rooted some cuttings and planted them 6-8 in. out. i am rooting some more cuttings-- so if you are in the area and would like one, drop by.
the oregano is still there as well as the lemon thyme.

i assume the bee balm and salvia will come back again as it did last year. i will be planting more basil for sure... maybe two varieties. i'm not sure what else.
the sculptures in the back of the garden are from my senior thesis show in college. they are abstract pieces informed by nature. a little odd. very organic. i certainly have no room for them in my house!
during all the yard work we have been doing the past few weeks we have discovered that otis has a favorite spot beside the house. he has made a little burrow under the azalea bushes next to the fence. it must be cool and i think he likes to spy on the neighbors through the fence! it is so cute! it warms my heart and i think it is b/c we had a play house-- well, i think we actually played like it was a hotel-- in the azalea bushes growing up. i spent countless hours sitting in the bushes making mud pies and decorating them with the blossoms from the bushes.
here is a picture of elb for the fan club... he crawling into one of his own little hideouts under the chair. he kind of blends in with his wagon since he wearing red pjs.

belated family wedding post

here is the groom (andrew's brother thomas) before the wedding.
elisha is wearing a cute outfit that my grandmother helped me pick. she said to get something that will show off his cute knees (she had knee replacement surgery this year, so i think she has a special attraction to young healthy knees ;-).

e and his cousin in their cute matching outfits!

it takes a lot to even get everyone in the same picture frame! -- this is nana ann and papa john with their two grandsons

here is katie -andrew's sister- w/ her husband, kris and her son micah

here are the prophet cousins playing at the front before the wedding started....
here is micah-the ring bearer- shortly after the service. he fell asleep just as the wedding got started... he may not have walked down the aisle, but he sure did look cute!

this is me with andrew's grandmother. i'm wearing the dress and shoes her husband picked out for her about 40 years ago!

it's official

if you have been reading this blog and have a good memory, you may recall that i said months ago that i thought elisha was getting his first tooth. i was wrong. but today is the day! it is pretty wild(and oddly exciting) to watch a little bulge on your baby's gum split open and the little tooth start to peek through. i may have grossed you out. sorry. it is kind of gross. but it does make a parent proud!

--ps. andrew saw my blog today and made fun of me b/c i had spelled blog 'bolg' in the title of my other post. i have corrected it now. i promise, i'm not a big idiot-- just a busy/distracted mother.
(and maybe a little bit of an idiot too)

*i'm trying to post pics w/ each post to appease elisha's fan club -- this is one taken at my college roomie's house w/ her dog elle. they were fast friends

a few randoms

i tend to post in clusters... things have been crazy busy and full of travel and sickness. now that we are home and on the mend i have time to think and blog... and andrew is away for a couple days on business, so with evenings alone... i should definately be going to bed early instead! this is a funny one of the two prophets (elisha w/ his cousin micah). i am going to post more of the pictures from andrew's brother's wedding weekend soon. this is just a teaser. you will get a better view of the cute matching outfits that nana made them.

here is a pic from our beach trip

this is my little egg carton with billions of tiny poppy seeds sprouting! it is so amazing to see the smallest dot fluff out and have little hair-like stems grow out. i have great hopes for summer flowers... we'll see

blog etiquette???

well, i guess it is not just blog etiquette that puzzles me, but most all techno communication...

take text messaging for instance-- all the tricky abbreviated lingo aside... how does a conversation end? do you answer the question asked and thats that... or do they send a thank you text... do you then send a bye talk to you later text.... it could go on forever. so i generally don't respond unless specifically asked for. but i wonder if i am being rude?

back to blogs--- i guess my main question for the blogging world is this- what is the comment section etiquette? do you respond to comments on your blog? which ones? what should you put in the comment section and what should you email instead?

and another issue-- blog stalking. you know you have done it... and you probably wonder who maybe doing it to you. i've been mulling over this issue of blog socializing for a while and this is what i have come up w/ (feel free to add your own input in the comment section... especially you blogstalkers). if you happen upon someone's blog (usually by following the links off of someone else's blog) -you may know this person, you may kind of know this person, you may not know this person at all... but if you only stumble on it once or very rarely, i think it is ok to just go on about your merry way... but if it is a blog you begin to read regularly i think it is probably good etiquette to leave a comment(it can be about anything). it just lets the blogger know that you are out there... a part of their little storytelling circle around the campfire/computer. it is nice to know who is out there... after all alot of us (the mother bloggers out there) find blogging to be a way to connect w/ people other than the little person pulling at your leg as you type. maybe it is something we do to make up for the fact that we can't walk next door and share mommy stories and other odd tidbits over cheez-its with our neighbor mommies. there really aren't all that many of us out there it feels like... when you look out your window.... but when you look at your friend's friend's list of favorite blogs you start to realize that you life is not so nuts after all... or if it is you aren't the only one... you aren't the only one who thinks a 20 month old's vocab list is fascinating... or a puddle splash worth documenting.
so, now that i'm going for with a late night dramatic tone (i'm thinking of "delila").... thank you all you 'mother bloggers' out there who make up my neighborhood pack.

swirl

this is one of my most treasured things in all of the world!

so much potenial

we are tree people. for so many reasons we love trees. what a well of a symbol... along those same lines... it amuses me that i became so drawn to acorns when i became pregnant....
i have realized that this time of year is no longer miserable for me (well, maybe some of january still is) andrew and i got married during my most dreaded time of year.... late winter. but now i have an appreciation for it and i like the symbolism of it for our marriage. late winter of all times of year is a time of so much potential. everything is at a pause of potential energy until -boom- the kinetic energy of spring washes over everything and stirs up a frenzy.

andrew and i went on our mini getaway trip sat. night to serenbe... it was such a treat, and less than an hour outside of atl! we enjoyed a long uninterrupted conversation on a deep porch swing as the sun set (reminded us of the deep porch swing at greyfield on cumberland island where we honeymooned). we took a 2 1/2 hour walk in the woods ... a couple of deer went tearing through the woods right by us. andrew stopped them in their tracks by making some deer noises and i told him that probably less than 5 % of the people that come to serenbe could do that (everyone was from some part of the atl area). ...mmm...so manly, that husband of mine ;-)

all in all the trip seemed like it was sooo much longer than 24 hrs. it was so great for us. and it has been so great to be home w/ our darling. big mama told us that he said mamamama and dadaaadadada some when he woke up sunday morning and looked around the house for us... but on the whole it sounds like he did just fine w/ out us (but the milk was running out so he would've started missing me soon -- big time). it's a good feeling to know that your child can be ok without you... but you also want to be missed... such a funny complexity!