Surprise!

LOVE these helpers!

Wow, times have changed since college :)

My girls!

The partners in crime... this party wouldn't have happened without my sweet family!

I certainly wasn't expecting this one! For a girl that can sniff out a surprise quicker than a reporter on a scoop, I did not see this party coming. Mark REALLY got me good. I had absolutely no idea that he and his family had been plotting and planning for months. Thinking I was attending a welcome home party for a friend, Wyatt and Mark escorted me to our neighborhood clubhouse Friday evening where I was greeted by dozens of my favorite people, a sea of hot pink and multiple collages of super embarrassing photos courtesy of my mom. :) 

I was blown away by the amount of work my family  put into this celebration. From logistics,  invitations,  decorations, the cake, flowers and everything else... wow. It meant the world to me to celebrate with so many special people- some who traveled very long distances to be there. To simply say thank you would not be enough. I was beyond touched. What a GREAT way to ring in the big 3-0 :).

Kick Start to Summer

Me and my sweet Lily girl :)




I hope that you all had a wonderful Memorial Day! I am so grateful to all of those in uniform, and overwhelmed by the sacrifices that have been made to secure our freedom. My daddy is a veteran, and I am thankful for his service to our country.

We had the kind of weekend that made me never want to return to the 'real' world. Mark smoked his famous boston butt, we enojoyed our new patio furniture (thanks, AL state tax return :) ate a ton of amazing food and spent the rest of the holiday with the Bufkin's on the lake.

Food, family and good friends is a great way to begin the summer, don't you think?

Wyatt's 3rd Easter - Part 1

I hope you are all having a blessed weekend! We have been B-U-S-Y. In typical Olis fashion, we definitely have tried to squeeze in three weekends worth of activities and household "to-do's" into two days :)

Knowing full well that most of you are the exact same way, it brings me comfort that I am not the only mom out there who is running around trying to pack in 9,000 things into one day.

We are looking forward to celebrating a beautiful Easter tomorrow, and so I have posted some "trial run" egg hunt preparations from Palm Sunday. Thank you Heidi and Anna for hosting such a fun hunt! Wyatt, Delaney, Steph and I had a blast with our little friends and their Momma's- and it was exciting to be there for Delaney's very first hunt- boy did she love those eggs!

I look forward to seeing everyone's pictures from this weekend, so keep 'em coming :)

March Madness

I promise this post will not mention sports. Actually, I am referring to the crazy weather in Alabama. It is always a toss up as to what March will bring, and this year is no exception. Yesterday, I hosted a small thirty-one gifts party at the house (I love any excuse to get out serving pieces, bake a cake and have girlfriends over :) I purposely scheduled it at four, because it is after nap time, and Wyatt is typically in somewhat of a calm mood- plus it would give me all day to turn my house from dismal to decent ;)

James Spann, Birmingham's most sensational meteorologist had been reporting in my living room all day, but come 3 p.m., with no rain or hail to speak of, I turned off the T.V.

Needless to say, when only half my guests had arrived, and the skies turned black, I checked my phone. I had a dozen text messages telling me there was a tornado spotted in Calera- about a mile from my house. One of my friends was stuck at Walmart waiting for it to pass (no sirens in this town so we had no clue about the impending storm- if the mayor happens to read this blog, all I have to say is ahem).

Anyways, it worked out and we had a great time-- we just had a bit of a scare and missed a few folks. The lemon white-chocolate cake was AWESOME I might add. You can get the recipe here.

In other news, tonight was our first family dinner at the same table. Wyatt has graduated to a booster (I got really tired of cleaning the tray to the high chair three times a day :) and I was actually able to fend off his hunger until I could get food on the table. Usually we are all eating at different times- evenings are incredibly chaotic at our house. I grew up on family dinners, and I have been determined to have the same in my own home.

I have also attached a picture from last week's Fairhope trip, and some that we took at the railroad museum a couple of weeks ago.

Such a precious, precious boy-- we are enjoying every minute of him... and are so grateful for this sweet life.

Weekend Whirlwind

Wyatt and I made our very first trek to Fairhope this weekend with some of my very best girlfriends and their children. We had four moms and five children between us, and it was a blast! Between feeding and potty breaks, we toured the town and attended the annual arts and crafts festival. The weather was beautiful and I even managed to score a few cute things for Delaney, Wyatt and the house. Upon our return, I did inform my husband that we are packing our bags and moving South (my argument: Lots of land for you, lots of shopping for me)

I was exhausted after chasing Wyatt around for two days, but we made it to church and to Hudson's third birthday party yesterday- we wouldn't miss Build-A-Bear and carousel rides for anything :) Hudson is one of my good friend's little boy, and we were so excited to be able to celebrate with him! We don't get to spend enough time with the Hollis' but Wyatt thoroughly enjoyed himself- especially after two pieces of cake, haha.

Here are some pictures from the big day- thanks Erin for the pics!

In other news, Wyatt is in UNDERWEAR. I have ditched the pull ups completely (besides bedtime) because I just feel like they might as well be diapers. I am so over changing them, and even if he has accidents (which he has- thankfully, only #1)- I had to rip the Band Aid. Hopefully, he will get the hang of it at some point. Please pray for patience for me! I keep telling myself that he won't be going to Kindergarten in diapers, and we will get through this. One day at a time...

Gasparilla 2011

Most.fun.girls.trip.ever. That's all I have to say about that :) Well, and it will take me a week to recover. I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful friend- even though she lives so far away, when we are together its as if no time has passed at all. Shannon will be my friend for life, and these kinds of weekends where I can take a small respite from the daily grind make me appreciate my husband and little boy all that much more. Taking a weekend off every now and then makes me a better momma - and where better to do it than sunny, beautiful Florida?

I had a wonderful surprise when I returned home... my sweet husband and son picked out some beautiful roses, cleaned the house, did all of the laundry and Mark had gone to the grocery store. He even made a little menu for me to order my dinner off of- and then he cooked it to perfection!
Can we say husband of the year?! This girl is blessed beyond measure. It is so good to be home!

Rachel, the OCD artist

We are iced in today, (roasting Duck :) as is most of the state is right now. I am so excited about the game tonight- I literally cannot wait to see our boys take on the Pac 10! I so wish we were in Arizona, but it didn't work out this time, so we will be watching it from our couch.

We literally did nothing this weekend- it was so nice just to chill out and relax after such crazy holiday season. I did have the most.fun.girls.night.ever!

Before you go thinking I was hanging from a chandelier, let me just say that I did not spend the evening in a bar (shocker, I know!) anyways, a bunch of my friends and I decided to check out the local sips and strokes... so I spent the evening with some of my best girlfriends, attempting to conjure my inner artist. An artist, I am not, which I found out very quickly. My OCD-self had a very hard time with the "manic" brush strokes, and my second attempt at an "office-worthy" piece did not come out the way I had expected.

My red tulips were not red, and my image looked absolutely nothing like the pictures that surrounded me... in fact none of ours looked the same. When I took it home and showed it o Mark, I was pleasantly surprised that he liked it so much-- even remarking that it was beautiful. Certainly not the reaction I expected, but I 'll take it!

It struck me all of a sudden, that isn't this exactly how life is?

The lines get blurred. Things get incredibly messy. Frustration mounts at times.

Anxiety builds. You have a few laughs along the way... and, voila! you right smack dab in the middle of a beautiful mess called life- which is nothing how you expected it to be, but it is beautiful all the same.

and, without further adieu...

My not so "red" tulips :)

Hope everyone is staying warm, and WAR EAGLE!!

I'm Back...

This has been a very tough week- I traveled to Atlanta to say good-bye to my best friend's father. His cancer was extremely sudden, and he passed just three short weeks after his diagnosis.

This goes back to the age-old question- "Why do bad things happen to such good people?"

We will never know the answer on this side of heaven... but, it hurts me so, so bad to see people reeling with grief.

My second close friend to lose a parent so young--- and it isn't any easier the second-go-round.

I thank you a million times over for all of your thoughts and prayers, what a blessing to know I have so many friends who think about me when I don't even realize it.

And... the good news is... I got to come home and celebrate my 28th birthday with my favorite boys in the whole wide world... and my precious extended family.

Here are some pictures from Sunday...

Hope you are having a great week!