Believe it OR Not...

Yesterday morning I got up about 7:30. Beth and John Luke were coming, so I poured some coffee and was going to straighten up my living room. All of a sudden, I saw something huge running through my backyard. When I looked, it was none other than a big deer. I ran to the front window, and it stood still across the street for a minute. OF COURSE, I wanted to get a picture of this deer, so I ran to get my camera. As soon as I came back, it ran away...I did see it cross back over the road in a few minutes though.
Anyway...I was excited! I knew Walker would be too, so when he got home last night, I told him the story. Walker, Sawyer and I had to go see if we could find the deer tracks that it left. We walked around a good 15 minutes looking for a track. We didn't see any, so Walker (very lovingly) KEPT telling me that I'd made this whole story up.
Well....probably about 30 minutes after we had rewalked the deer's path, Sawyer was in the pool and Walker was playing basketball with their backs to the woods. I was sitting under the fans on the back porch (like a lazy pregnant girl). WHEN....ALL OF A SUDDEN...That deer hops over the fence in our backyard. I told Walker to look-and sure enough-he and Sawyer saw it too! It quickly jumped back over...but it was exciting while it lasted. Sawyer said, "more-more!"
Now I didn't actually grow up "in town" but we NEVER had a deer, turkey or armadillo in our backyard. So, all of this is a little exciting to me! :)

John Luke and Beth arrived about 8:30. WE HAD A FANTASTIC TIME with them! Her camera is about 50x's better than mine, so if you want to see all her pictures, CLICK HERE. I'll add a few of these sweet friends. Sawyer and John Luke are SO SWEET playing together! They are both such fun, sweet boys! I'm glad they have each other! Just wish we still got to see them all the time!



Don't they look like they love each other?!?!

Playing Basketball & Pirates

We got our new basketball goal set up last week, and it's a hit with Walker and Sawyer. When Sawyer wants to shoot, Walker lowers it with the broom handle and lets him. He's a sweet daddy, because so far that basketball goal has been lowered and raised about 500 times! Thought I'd share a few pictures.




Saturday was Little Mikey's 4th birthday. He had a VERY FUN, pirate birthday party at Granny Beck and Papa Pitt's gazebo and pool. All the kids got swords and eye patches. Sawyer and I enjoyed the pirate cake and the pool! He loved all those kids being in the pool and didn't stop smiling the whole time.

Risdon & Sawyer with the Birthday Boy

Sawyer Jumping In! (He'd say "more-more")

Risdon doesn't like the pool as much as Sawyer :(

A View of the Pool

A Party for 3!

One of the many reasons that I love my sweet, crazy husband is the fact that he can sing every word to Shania Twain's song, "A Party for Two"! AND not only does he sing it-but man please, he gets into it as much as ol' Al Brown would...and that's a lot!
Yesterday my dear husband turned 31 years old. He had already found a DQ cake with his name on it Tuesday night. He NEVER looks in the freezer, but of course, when there was a surprise inside, he found it...so anyway...he knew a party was in the works. Here's the email I got from him yesterday while he was at work....

We're havin a party.......lalalalalalala..........and I think I can come. Gonna be lots of cake and surprises.......lalalalala.......sure sounds like fun.

I'll be there a little after 5:00

Love,
the b-day boy


He had a couple of presents to open yesterday morning, and his big one, which was a basketball goal, when he got home from work. His dad asked him if he was turning 2, because he got a big toy for his birthday. It TOTALLY suits him though, and I'm glad about that! I do enjoy playing myself, and I'm thankful for a husband that likes it at least equally as much (Probably More)!! Thought I'd share a couple of pictures of the big day!



In case you can't tell, Walker's holding up the 3 and Sawyer has up the 1 for 31. Walker's parents took a picture like this with him every year. :)


On another note, I have my very own first testimonial of being in "The Grocery Game" to share. I went to Walgreens to do a little discount shopping today. I bought a pack of pens for 9 cents and 4 packs of batteries for 99 cents each.
I got lots of other stuff like 2 bottles of ammonia, 2 packs of fruit cups, 2 cans of starch, 2 bottles of Dawn, plus more. Anyway, I spent $25.07. My total savings was $16.72, and I'm just in week one. That was just with the Walgreens coupons out of this Sunday's paper. I could have saved a lot more if I'd had been doing this longer. I'll have to share more as my savings increase for those interested.

Eli's Shower

Have I ever mentioned how nice my friends in Andalusia are? They had a diapers and wipes shower for Mendy Clark and me last night at Kristen Wiggins' house. When I got home last night about 10:30, Walker's reaction to the loot in my car was, "I've never met so many generous people!"
IT WAS SO SUPER NICE! Thank you girls! Little Eli got lots of CUTE things and lots of practical diapers and wipes! I didn't know he was going to have much with HIS name on it, but my sweet friends have now made sure he will have things that are just his own too.
I had a fantastic time seeing all my "old" friends and getting to chat! Going back to Andalusia sure made me miss it! I hated to leave, and I am so thankful for them! I had a blast! Thank you so much!
"The Honorees" Me and Mendy (who's due the beginning of September)

"The Hostesses" Lyndsay Elliott, Shonna Reeves and Kristen Wiggins

Enjoying ALL THE GIFTS! :) LOTS OF DIAPERS!!!

Mendy, Shonna, Heather & Rachel, DeAnne, Suzanne, Allie & Sara Beth

Sara Beth, Kristen, Lyndsay and Sandra

To see all the pictures from the shower, click here.

A View of Eli's "Stuff" in the Closet! What a good feeling! :)

Things I Don't Want to Forget

I just read my friend Amber's blog. She made a list of things that she didn't want to forget that her son does now.
These are reasons why I have the best job in the world! I am so thankful I'm able to see this little boy grow and do everything that he does! It's AMAZING to me how much I love him! These are things I never want to forget....

1. When I go get Sawyer from his nap, he SMILES and then will run back and forth in the crib, then lay down and cuddle with his blanket before he gets up again.
2. how he lets me rock him if he wakes up at night with a blanket over my shoulder, his little legs straddle me, and he puts his head on the blanket
3. how he leans over in his high chair to play with me-so I lean over, then he leans over, and then we do it over and over again
4. how he smiles ALL THE TIME!
5. how when I ask him a question he shakes his whole body yes!
6. how he SHARES everything he has!
7. how he helps me put the clothes from the washer to the dryer and is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PROUD of himself
8. when he does something he's proud of, he claps for himself
9. how we'll say "Love Dadddy" or "Love Mama" and he'll lean over and lay his head down on my shoulder or Walker's shoulder
10. how he pats my big, growing belly
11. how he pats his big, growing belly-HE LOVES HIS TUMMY!
12. how he neighs like a horse-(he doesn't say "neigh" like most kids, he actually sounds like a horse)
13. how i say, "1, 2, 3" and pour the bath water over his head-and he looks at me through the water-and SMILES! he LOVES to have water poured on his head
14. how he lays back on my hand in the bathtub to "float" and he kicks and SMILES
15. how he waters the plants-He would like to water them all day! he'll take anything that will hold water and go to the outside faucet for me to turn it on for him, so he can water the plants-Then, he claps for himself!
16. how his favorite "toy" right now is my '95 Accord Walker drives to work. He loves to "drive" the car and peek through the windshield at us!
17. Lately, he's into turning the radio on in our room, and he just dances. Then, he gives me the sign for "more"-like let's do this all day! :)
18. how he likes to be scared-Walker will hide, so Sawyer will run and try to find him, and Walker will jump out and scare him....He loves it! :)
19. how he thinks Walker Williams is the greatest thing in the world! AND he wants to follow his daddy wherever he goes


This post makes me realize I need to get out the video camera a lot more! I am so thankful to be this little boy's mama! He is such a JOY!
I am so glad we're going to have another little boy to love! How can I love him as much as this one? I don't know, but I'm sure it will happen! I am so looking forward to Sawyer having a little buddy to play with, and I can't wait to see them play together and get to know little Eli like I know Sawyer.

The Grocery Game

There I am with Sawyer at the grocery store! :)

This post is dedicated to my friends who have a little time on their hands to clip coupons and shop around. I know some of you don't have to worry about grocery money that much, but some of us do! So, if you're interested....keep on reading!

I was telling Walker on Sunday night about how I wanted to become a coupon queen. I was explaining how I feel so smart when I use coupons and am able to save money. Well, yesterday (low & behold) my smart friend, Suzanne, who always has something fun going on told me about the grocery game. I'm IN!!!
Suzanne just joined 2 weeks ago, but a friend of hers has been doing it for 2 years.
Listen to this! This will get you excited!!
Suzanne (who lives in Hartselle) said she went to Kroger last week. Her groceries rang up to $175 (which is what mine have been lately), but after she gave the girl her Kroger card and coupons, she only had to pay $105. WHAT?? How fun is that!!
So, anyway...there are 2 websites that you can register to play the grocery game. One is www.couponmom.com (which is FREE) and the other is www.thegrocerygame.com.

The Grocery game has a fee, but you can sign up for a free trial for $1.00, and then, you can cancel if you don't want to continue. Suzanne told me she liked that one best b/c it was easier, so I registered, but so far...I like couponmom.com-just b/c I'm limited to Wal-Mart, Piggly Wiggly, and Winn-Dixie for a grocery store. You can check them both out! thegrocerygame.com is COLOR coded with things you get free, things you should stock up on, and then-things that are on sale that you can buy if you really need it.

Anyway...the general idea is that you go on this website and save coupons. Then, it tells you what's on sale in the store and how to use your coupons and where to use them.
IT'S CRAZY!
RiteAid, Walgreens, and CVS also have fantastic deals.
She said her friend that has been doing this for a couple of years has so much FREE shampoo, deodarant, and toothpaste that she just took a load of it to the Christian Service Center to donate it, because she would never use all that she had.

I can't wait to share my own personal testimonial. I don't currently subscribe to the newspaper, but I'm going to start buying the Sunday paper to get the coupons. Then, you file away the coupon books. (Suzanne suggested an accoridan folder and labeling the coupon magazine with the date). The website says it takes 12 weeks to take FULL advantage of all the deals, but Suzanne's big savings is enough to encourage me do it! :)
I was telling Walker about it....He said if you can save that much, it'll be like a part-time job! Sounds good to me!
If you're interested, the website is kind of overwhelming, but if you want to call me-I can explain it the best I know so far!
I thought this was TOO GOOD not to share! :) Hope y'all enjoy!

PS-Suzanne, if you want to add a couple more examples of good deals you told me about, add it in the comments. I can't remember the exact details enough to share, but you know! :)

PPS-If you want to use me as a referral...my email address is ashleyb306@Hotmail.com, but I wouldn't mind if you used Suzanne either. Hers is suzanne.mizell@hcs.k12.al.us. I think you get months free for referrals.

No Rest for Auntie Ashley...

So, today was Allyson and Wes's big day to find out what they're having-Boy or Girl...An OVERWHELMING majority of you voted on my blog that they are having a girl, but were you right?

I didn't sleep too well last night. I had a hard time falling asleep due to the anticipation, but when I finally did, I was dreaming. I had 2 dreams about them last night.

In my first dream, I went with them to see the ultrasound, which revealed it was a girl. I dreamed Allyson cried and cried sad tears, but I assured her that we would love that little girl and it would be good, and she'd be so happy to have a girl!

Then, in the second dream, there was some kind of high-tech gizmo you could hook up to a tv to find out boy or girl. We were in Hartselle to see the results, watching on my dad's humongous tv. Right when it was time to see the result, my dad walked in and covered up my view, so I had to knock him out of the way! The baby wouldn't cooperate though, so we were all disappointed and learned nothing in dream #2.

The real-deal appointment was at 8:00 this morning, so I thought by 9:00 I surely would know whether I should expect a niece or a nephew. However, I waited and waited and waited by the phone. Finally, around 10:00, Allyson calls to tell the news.

I, personally, have thought all along that they would probably have a boy. Walker thought they'd have a girl. So....was he right? Was I? Were you??
Well, Allyson told me I couldn't post the answer on my blog. She told me to direct you to hers. She has one now. So, click here and you'll see the fun news! :)
I AM CRAZY EXCITED TO MEET THE LITTLE HARPER BABY! It's AMAZING how much I already love this little one! I love you, Al and Wes and am so happy for you!