Fall Facelift

In the process of giving my blog a Fall Facelift.....

Baby Sister's Birthday

On September 5th, 1989 God gave Elizabeth and me our baby sister, Erin. 21 years later she is still our same little Poochie that we love more than anything.

The older we have gotten the more of a best friend she has become....

....therefore when she turned 21 I knew I had to get to Birmingham.

Looking back I cannot believe I pulled it off but I was able to surprise her with the help of my sweet sister-in- laws, M'Leigh and Amy. I had so much fun getting to spend time with her and all of her friends!

Getting ready to go to her Birthday Dinner at Cocina

Her Friends eating ice cream outside of Mt. Brook Creamery

I could have not asked for a better weekend and am so glad I got to go visit her!

Welcome Back

Last time I blogged Summer was just beginning, John wasn't a practicing physician just yet, I was 100% jobless, oh and I had a tan. My how things have changed : ). I know this Summer I have really slacked on my blogging (and picture taking), but as of now I plan on being more prompt with my posting(s). Let me catch you up a little bit...

1. John is now a first year intern and loving every minute of it (well most minutes). He loves the people in his program and gets to work with some really great doctors. One of the most exciting things about his year so far is the opportunity he has been given to be a team doctor to a local high school football team. He and two other guys from his program cover an awesome team who is actually really good this year. The games are a lot of fun even for me because I get to stand on the sidelines with him. Although this sounds kind of gross to me, last week he got to pop a player's shoulder back in place.....apparently this is something very cool to do. With all his busyness this year he has still managed to pickup a new hobby: cooking. He made jumbylya the other night which was really good, however probably the best thing he made were these chocolate chip cookies. I mean they were so good I had to take pictures...

2. I now have a job! I am a full time nanny to two precious children named Ben and Naia. Ben is 5 years old and is a kindergartner this year, and his little sister Naia is 17 months old. Their parents are so kind and great people to work for! I'll try to post some pictures soon of the kids.

Overall both of us have been very blessed to have such a great transition to Winston-Salem and are excited about our year ahead of us : )

Family Lake Weekend/Father's Day

For the past week John and I have not been living in reality. We have been living at the Lake. We were fortunate enough to spend a week before he begins life as an Intern with members from both of our families. Since not everyone is jobless like me and John right now (which hopefully for me will be changing sooner than later) not everyone was able to be there. So naturally we were only able to have a good time, because a great time can only had if everyone is present : ).

Reese and Allie Rainbow

Merrell, Reese, Emmy, and Jack eating pizza

It's really sad how Allie gets NO attention from her Aunt....

Merrell was surprisingly one of the bravest children! She even loved being pulled on the Tube!

Push Pops seem to be for children of all ages

All the kids together

Father's Day

Erin was really sneaky and drove up on Friday night after work to surprise my Dad for Father's Day. When I asked her what she got him, she typically replied, "Um..I thought me driving up here could be his gift." She just happened to be right because luckily for our Dad there is no new Alan Jackson CD or ipod case that is better than just having all his girls home.

Touch is not really Poochie's Love Language...

Jackson LOVED riding on the pontoon boat every night. I guess it's the wind in his face that he loves because we could never get him to look at the camera...i.e. the picture below.

Settling In

After all the unpacking and unloading we are finally settling in to our little house on the corner. On Saturday night we went to the neighborhood block party where we met a lot of nice people. There were about 40 or so families there, and the majority were either young couples with little children or elderly people. Everyone was extremely welcoming and friendly so it was a lot of fun. There was even a band! However since I am in no position to scare potential friends away I didn't break out my dancing skills just yet. I did make my Mom's Chocolate Chip Pound Cake though, and that seemed to be a big hit since there was none left over to bring home.

The past couple of days we have just tried to get our house fixed like we like it. It has been a lot of fun and almost kind of like a second honeymoon in a way. We've never really had time like this where we were both off of work and had nothing to do but whatever we wanted. We're trying to not take it for granted either because come July the party is over. John starts his intern year July 1st, and from what I hear he's not going to be around much. Good thing we brought Jackson with us : ).

Here are some pictures of what we have done to the house so far:

Patriotic John made sure we had our flag up for Memorial Day

The Living Room

This is right beside the backdoor in the Kitchen

Lake Weekend

Last weekend Erin, John, and I went to Spartanburg to see my family and stay at the lake. My parent's lake house is one of my most favorite places to be. There are so many things I love about it that it is hard to decide what I love the most. For starters, I love the beautiful, detailed yard that my Dad always makes sure is filled with lots of bright colors each year. I even love that it's smaller size always forces you to be around each other, and that it's front porch is just perfect for drinking coffee and family morning talks. I also really love how when we are there in the evenings we always take an after dinner pontoon boat ride while drinking coffee and listening to Alan Jackson hymns. In conclusion, I guess you could say that I just basically love being at the lake. Here are some pics from the weekend:

Brittany Came to Visit!

Typical Joy Pose

John turns 26

Personally I don't think you are ever too told for a birthday party. Even though John's opinion on that is a little different than mine, he did agree to do a birthday cook out with his family. So on Sunday night, April 25th the Mader's had everybody come over to their house and party. The weather was perfect for all of us to hang out on the patio and for the kids to play outside.

John's Cake

(just excuse my jank writing)

John with 7 of the 9

Classic Picture of John and his Parent(s)