Tuesday

was a long day.

Because Monday night was a long night.

Reason being, this precious, adorable, most sweetest boy of mine woke up in the night not only once, not twice, but three times. He was in fits, screaming fits.

I still don't know what it was...his teeth? a nightmare? his appendix?

He still hasn't told me.

All that to say, Tuesday morning I threw away my mental to do list all in the name of recuperation and lack of sleep.

I declared it a "fun" day since that's all I was good for. My "fun" consisted of sewing these 12 burp cloths for future baby gifts. 6 boy, 6 girl.

Little in this life gives me more joy than a completed sewing project and a stack of cute fabrics.

Come 2 o'clock (still in pajamas) I felt a desperate need for a sugar rush. So with no chocolate on hand I opted for my cousin's most perfect sugar cookie recipe.

It ended up being a good day. A long day, but a good one. And thankfully all slept well last night.

Good Lighting and Decorating

Our newly renovated sun room, wreck room, teen room, toddler room (whatever you want to call it) has excellent lighting. With windows covering nearly 2 full walls I know I can capture lots of great photos in there at all times of the day.


Now I just need to get the room spruced up and decorated. I went with the neutral wall approach which was hard for me since I'm a colorful gal. But I have watched one too many "Designed to Sell" shows lately and I chose a neutral white-ish color. Not that we are selling our house anytime soon, but I hate to paint! And I don't want to regret painting a room Persimmon Red in 3 months (or 3 weeks). Plus I've learned you can get your color whims out in accessories.


Two of my favorite decorating blogs are At the Walker House (my friend Sara, LOVE her style!) and the very well known Little Green Notebook. Wish I could borrow these ladies brains while I shop for a rug, chairs, and fabric for pillows. I confess I am NOT a decorator. I do appreciate a beautiful room and recognize what I like. However, I really struggle in putting it all together over time. Decorating is a process.


I'm just excited to have a room that's a blank slate. My goal is to make it comfortable, fun, & budget friendly. I'll let you know how it goes! All decorating advice is welcomed.

Catching Up

Since our river trip, we've had quite a full week. Long days of work, home renovations, swimming, exercise, a dentist appointment, and lots of meal planning and cooking have occupied our family life.

Today I want to do a little look back through June since I've been so negligent in documenting this month.

After I left my friends in Memphis and swung through Mississippi to see family and pick up Stephen Small, my brother accompanied me on the long trip home to Alabama.


We stopped at a roadside fruit stand to buy some peaches and tomatoes, definitely one of the many highlights of our trip.

I was so grateful to have my brother along given that toddlers get pretty restless on 6 hour drives. Thanks George!

Once at home we spent many afternoons swimming at Aunt Lu's. Brother George stayed for several days. Stephen Small especially enjoyed bonding with his Uncle Tater.


Teaching Stephen Small to eat ketch up was one of Tater's contributions during his visit.


Other happenings in June...

I've taken full advantage of a near by Farmer's market. Its a great outing even on these 100 degree days. One of my favorite things to do is take my camera and get some good photos. I love all the color in one place!


No matter what we end up doing during the day our mornings consistently begin with a cute earlier riser sitting on the couch with a cup of milk and a graham cracker.


Most often, couch time is followed by breakfast and then a trip to the YMCA. Can I just say I love the Y! I love getting out of the house, I love the childcare there, my gym friends, and the fans you can angle directly on you when you work out!


Many of our (I mean Stephen Grande's) nights and weekends have been occupied working on our new room. And I'm proud to say it is 98.5% finished, all but some paint touch ups and electrical stuff. Stephen Grande has lovingly labored to give us this new space and we love him for that.

The new floors don't match our original hardwoods, but the flooring was FREE from my parents. They had it leftover from re-doing the floors in all their bedrooms. We plan to put a transition strip down and much of the floor will be covered by a large rug. We are going to love this extra space!

Lastly, I've been fervently working on meal planning and grocery shopping this month. I want to get better at both. This venture has inspired me to try some new recipes. I posted 4 of them on literally, a spoonful. Check them out!


Well, I've hit the highlights as best I could. June has flown.

Come on July!

The River

Hello everyone! Happy official first day of summer!

I feel that I've joined the ranks of bloggers who feel the need to apologize for their constant lack of blogging. Life is very full around here lately. All good, but full.

Stephen Grande spent the majority of the weekend working on the new room that is scheduled to be done NEXT WEEKEND!!!!!! In case you don't already know, we have been working on a sunroom renovation project since February. It's been a slow process, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

By late Sunday afternoon after all his hard work, we were ready for some serious recreation. Since the Alabama river is a mere 15 minutes from our house AND since we are the owners of a really awesome boat named Dumbhead, we ventured to the redneck riviera for some sun and swimming.


Dumbhead pictured below, in all her glory. Many of you might not know, but this boat was given, yes, GIVEN to us by some dear friends of my family. When they learned of Stephen Grande's passion for all things boat, they thought he would be just the right owner for their unwanted and neglected piece of aluminum.

We have loved it to say the least....all but the sitting in my side yard part. To be honest when we moved to our street we were a little concerned about the neighbors. You never know who is going to not mow their lawn or keep junk in their yard. Well...he who is without sin cast the first stone. Those neighbors with the unkempt yard and not only 1 but 2 boats in their yard/driveway would be none other than little ol' us, the Spooners.

And as if we weren't rivertastic enough cruising along in Dumbhead yesterday, we were escorted by our relatives in this fine piece of aquatic machinery (see picture below).

This would be Lucy and Nick's boat, also a gift, given to them by my aunt and uncle. If I remember the story correctly, they (my aunt and uncle) saved up one of their salaries their first year of marriage to buy it. When I first heard this story, I thought..."don't tell Stephen." I don't want him to know there are women out there equally committed to buying boats. I fear he will regret that he married the wrong woman.


I will admit that compromising our curb appeal is all worth it when we find time to take these family river trips.


Stephen Small had the largest time. He played so hard and we all know what that means: a good night's sleep for mama.

We even convinced some of our friends to join our redneck fest.

And I brought along a little picnic snack-supper. We still went to Moe's when we got back to town.


Aunt Lu took a family photo for us.
That's pretty much it. A perfect way to spend Father's day.

I'll conclude with our family's finest display of class, Uncle Nick drinking a beer while skiing. Our hearts were so full of pride.

Hope y'all are having a great start to the week. This river rat will be back soon (hopefully).

Summer Reading

Just thought I'd give you a look at what I'm planning to read this summer. There is no guarantee I'll make it through all these books as I am a very slow reader, but I do have high hopes.


I finished Real Love for Real Life a couple of weeks ago and I LOVED it. I came across it on a friend's blog and the topic intrigued me. It is about care giving, not the nursing home kind of care giving, but care for all those around you throughout the different seasons of life. I highly recommend it to any person who has responsibilities of caring for others, which is basically everybody. It is beautifully written. I found it so inspiring and encouraging.


Here's a little peak inside.

What is on your reading list this summer? Have you read any of the books pictured in the top photo? If so what did you think?

A good friend is hard to find.

It's true, a good friend is hard to find. (I have found that) friendships seem to take years to solidify in adulthood. Busy schedules, husbands, children, doing your taxes, and other grown up responsibilities all slow down the pace of getting to know people. When you are younger and have less attachments it seems easier to make fast friends.

These three ladies in the picture with me are my college roommates. We all became instant friends our freshman and sophomore years at Auburn University (with the exception of Lindsay and I who have been best friends since 7th grade).

Left to right (Bob, Nell, me, Leslie, Lindsay). This was Bob's first reunion. And for the record, he did not go to Auburn with us.

This past weekend was our third annual reunion. Nell hosted us in her hometown. Her parents were out of town and they kindly allowed us to stay at their house with a pool, outdoor room, screened in porch, and plenty of bedrooms. It was glorious. The weekend was perfect with no children, best friends, divine food, and plenty of diet coke for all. I'd be a liar if I claimed we did anything but eat and talk. But that's all we wanted to do.

We all arrived on Friday afternoon. Nell prepared a classic summer meal for us, grilled pork tenderloin and salad with strawberries and a vinaigrette dressing. We dined on the screened porch and enjoyed every bite. Both the meal and the conversation nourished our souls.


Saturday morning we awoke at 7 am. We are all consistent early risers. And as we do every reunion, we donned our tennis shoes and set out for a 3 mile walk after eating "first" breakfast.

We then went to the most quaint little restaurant (for "second" breakfast) where I got the mother of all cinnamon rolls. Afterward we drove over to Nell's house since a couple of us have never seen it. She has the most charming style and it was so fun to see how she's decorated her place. Nell, I love your taste! Please come help me.

After "second" breakfast and the stop by Nell's, we were back to the house and into the pool. There is nothing I like better than sitting in the pool all day. We broke for lunch and a fun visit from Casey C, one of Nell's hometown friends that she introduced us to years back.

She brought us these yummy cupcakes and took the picture of us at the top. Thanks Casey!


Saturday evening came too fast. We dressed for dinner, but first we had to make a stop by the Pottery Barn Outlet. No one bought anything, but it was fun to look and get inspired. We then went on to dinner, Mexican food, of course. It was SO good. It wasn't your average Mexican restaurant. It was definitely a step up. As we wrapped up the meal, we could feel our reunion weekend slowly coming to a close. We went back to Nell's and stayed up as late as we could stand it. Sunday morning came and we all began parting ways. I must say it was a let down coming off the "high" of such a fun weekend together. Every year we start making our reunion plans in winter and early spring. Every e-mail and phone call is ended with "Can't wait till June" or "I'm so excited to see y'all in 2 months." Anyway, this year was perfect and it will just have to tide us over until next summer! Thanks Nell for hosting. Thanks Leslie for driving the furthest as always. Thanks Lindsay for bringing petit four cookies. Love you girls!

Until next year....

Still Here

Hello all, I'm still here in the blogosphere. But I've been traveling. In fact I've become a road warrior. Last week Stephen Small and I set out toward Jackson, MS to spend the night with cousins. Thursday I headed north to Tennessee where I thoroughly enjoyed a weekend with college roommates. No children. It was such a treat. Sunday, I hit the highway again and made my way to the Mississippi Delta (where my parents live and were babysitting Stephen Small). My mom, dad, and brother kindly put him up for 2 nights while I was off having my fun. It was so good to get back to his adorable self. He held his little arms around my neck for no less than a full five minutes when he saw me for the first time in 48 hours. Precious. We plan to eventually make our way back home to Captain Steve. My brother will be joining me for the trip and I'm thrilled. I love having company in the car. We plan to make yummy sandwiches for the 6 hour drive and listen to Laura Bush's biography on audio! What fun! I'm sure we'll stop 10 times (since we're traveling with a toddler), and I really hope to find a roadside stand with perfectly ripe tomatoes. George (my brother) and I never travel together just the two of us, so it will be a blast to catch up and be silly with the person who has the most strangely similar sense of humor as I do.


I hope to be back soon with more updates on my travels, but in the meantime, I'll keep on loving summer! The heat, pools, fresh vegetables, good books, old friends, cousins, and afternoons spent watching Little House on the Prairie.

Oh summer, what a joy!