Great Companies Run by Mommies

I will admit that when I found out we were having a little girl I was THRILLED!! I think I started collecting dresses and bows immediately after that ultrasound appointment and much to Duke's dismay - I haven't stopped.

Check out this amazing store I found about a year ago:

http://www.edensbouquet.com

I just love the clothes this lady Jen creates and I love the fact that she is a normal Mom (well - I'm not sure about "normal" because I am normal and couldn't even dream of designing things this beautiful) but either way, she's a Mom and I love that!

I just got Addison the Eden Ruffle Jeans and can't wait to get them! Don't worry..I will post pics of her in them soon! :)

Happy Saturday!

With Fall Comes Football!

Fall brings a lot of things into our house but the biggest thing is FOOTBALL! Football on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and lucky for Addison and I...even Monday nights! That leaves two days that I get to watch T.V. without having to worry if a particular game is on. I will admit...I happen to like football but only when a team that I know something about is playing. Actually, even that might be pushing it a bit. I like to GO to games but that's about it. Being at a game is completely different than watching (or trying to watch) a game while stopping every 15 seconds to tell Addison to stop doing something, refill a juice cup or change the clothes of one of her baby dolls. Yep...actually going to a game is MUCH more fun!

Saturday was the first home game for Georgia so we packed up early Saturday morning and headed to Athens. It was so much fun to see everyone and the weather was great. Even better, the Dawgs won so everyone came home in good moods. :)

The guys...James, Duke and Kris

James with his favorite women ;)

The Skalons

"Cheese!"

Just in case you wondered how the guys felt about all the "posing"...here's what most of my pictures look like!

Blanott with his wonderful grill!

Bart and Chris Johnson

Jess and I

Yes, going to the game with these wonderful people is MUCH more fun than listening to Duke scream at the T.V. at home. :)

Better late than never!

At the beginning of summer, my sister-in-law and I took the kids up to the Frances Meadows Aquatic Center in Gainesville and had a BLAST! Since I am SO behind on this post, I wouldn't even bother posting it if I hadn't gotten the best pictures of the kids together. It really is the neatest place and has a little bit of everything for every age group. Logan and Nolan had a blast on the "big kid" water slide and were so sweet helping Jake and Addison in the wave pool. Jake and Addison are about 6 months apart and it's so fun to watch them together.

Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed the day!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

P.J.'s and Story Time!

Sharon and I took the kids to "P.J.'s and Story Time" a few weeks ago and the kids had a BLAST! Sharon has a little boy named Gabriel that is about 6 months younger than Addison so it worked out great. Addison did great during the story time and thought it was even better that she got to pick out books to bring home with her. Duke's Mom had given her these adorable ballerina P.J.'s and even though they were suppossed to be saved for the Fall - she HAD to wear them. We even ended up coming home with a few ballerina books which just might feed my fire to enroll her in dance sooner than later!

Here are a few pictures I snapped of the kids throughout the night:

How cute are they in their P.J.'s???

Our super inteligent kids "reading" their books! ;)

Leaving the library with their new favorite books!

It was such a fun night with the kids and Addison can't wait to go back. Now if I could just get her to understand that we have to RETURN the books....I might take her back sooner!

Happy 4 years to us!

Duke and I were married for 4 years August 20th! Wow! Some days it seems like we've been married for 14 years and then others it seems like we've only been married for 1 year. Either way, it's been a fun 4 years!

Yes - our anniversary falls two days after his birthday and No I didn't pick our wedding date around that, although, looking back, it was a pretty good idea. I guarantee you, he'll never forget our wedding anniversary!

I love looking back on the day we got married. We were married at Chateau Elan on the HOTTEST day of 2005. We had such a fun wedding and everything (other than the fact that my flowers showed up wrong) was perfect. We had such a good time that when the limo driver showed up to "take us away" - we sent him away. He was nice enough to sign our wedding photo and include his phone number on it. Nice! Maybe we should try and cash in on that ride one day soon?!?

I also love looking back on how far we've come together as a couple. Most of you know the story of how Duke and I met and how we had met years before when we were both really young (one of us younger than the other!). HeeHee! We are a perfect example of when something is meant to be...it will be and I LOVE that. I thank God everyday that he let us run into each other again that night. We've come a long way together...From a young couple excited about buying a house, trying to juggle stressful jobs and the promise of a new company, to two people committed to our future together and our amazing daughter.

Thank you honey for four fabulous years! Thank you for loving me even though I can be messy at times. Thank you for loving me even though I don't cook every night and thank you for loving me enough to let us keep Belle even though you can't stand her. :)

I can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

Finally...Mr. and Mrs. Skalon!

Our amazing wedding party!

Nicole's daughter Halie, who was one of my flowers girls.

Mom surprised me and had Lena sing, "In My Daughter's Eye's" to me.

My two favorite men in the world!

Happy Birthday Duke! (And lots of new posts below)

August is FULL of birthdays for us!

My handsome husband turned 32 this year although I wished him a very happy "33" birthday in his card! Oops! Got to love the wife that adds an extra year to your age! ;)

Although it is his birthday, I feel like I am the one that gets the gift each day. I am married to a wonderful man and I feel so blessed to have him as my husband. Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father! I love you more than you'll ever know.

(And just for the record...Addison snapped this photo. Not bad, huh?)

Happy Birthday Mom!

I have always said how blessed I am to have such a fantastic Mother but I don't think I ever TRULY knew how blessed I was until I had Addison. There's just something about becoming a mother yourself that completely opens your eyes to all of the sacrifices your own Mother has made for you over the years.

I don't know what I would do without my Mom. She is truly my best friend but yet has managed to remain my Mom, all at the same time. I can only hope that Addison and I have the same type of relationship that her and I do when Addison gets to be my age. Just let me say...I've got some HUGE shoes to fill when it comes to the Mom department.

Thank you Mom for all of the sacrifices you made for me and still continue to make for me each day. Thank you for loving Duke like he is your own son. Thank you for loving Addison more than should be allowed. And last but not least, thank you for loving Dad and always providing a good example of what a loving wife and mother should look like. I love you more than I could ever tell you and I hope you had an amazing birthday weekend!

Happy Birthday Maw-Maw!

I am SO behind on wishing all the wonderful people in my life HAPPY BIRTHDAY so the next few posts will be my attempt to try and catch up. We celebrated Duke's Mom's birthday with some yummy Hibachi food and as you can see...the grand kids had a ball! We managed to get all of them to look at the camera (well sort of!) for a fun shot. The only one missing is little Kami (Jennifer and Brent's little one) who will arrive in November.

After dinner, Addison and Jake ran off their extra energy but stopped long enough to pose for this picture. How cute are they??



Happy Birthday Ruth! Thanks for raising such a wonderful man for me to call my husband and for loving Addison and I so much. I hope you had a wonderful birthday! We love you much!