family visit

we were all so proud to witness Alexander catch his very first fish!

mom eventually won the battle w/ the fish hook

Alexander telling his dad he caught a fish

the Bit's not quite sure

My childhood came rushing back to me as I fearlessly worked to get that hook out of that fish's lip

Susan was ok w/ Abigail feeding Madeline the left over fish bait, luckily it was just bread. She was.....very into it!

my poor mother getting absolutely and wonderfully worn out w/ these two

it's Sue and mini-Sue!

For some odd yet obvious reason all the kids (minus mine thank goodness) prefer to pick the nastiest blue ice cream at Maggie Moo's

the proof is in the tongue

ultimate joy there Mi-Mi

Abigail wanted so badly to do everything Caroline did. Half the time Caroline didn't even notice she was following her around. :)

is it just me or do they really look related in this pic!?

Sweet Ben enjoying his birthday treat which he later shared w/ anyone who wanted a bite, I love that kid!!!

me and my Ham

raisin these boys up right, you'd never know thier mom's were bloggers.

Pa-Pa was the sport of all sports to work so hard out there on a cold June day to catch something for his grandkids. :)

She could eat up baby Madeline!

Only Mi-Mi will let these toddlers get hard core into paints. Sue and I agree we don't dare attempt this in our dining rooms!

Well it was a wild but fun week last week. My sister Sue was in town so you know we ran like crazy to keep up w/ her and her crew for 3 days. We had a blast and the Tate gang joined in as well for a trip downtown to the science museum. The kids had a ball together as always.

Thanks everyone for an awesome visit!

whew, sorry for the delay

I know it's kinda hard to see but this is our first photos of little Chloe at 17wks. My brother in law said it looked like she was trying to tell her loud family to quiet down a little w/ her finger over her mouth like that. :)

Abigail enjoying her buddy Elle, but I'm not sure if Elle was enjoying her at this moment. :)

she loves playing her "tar"

beautiful sunset made for some sweet pictures

It was a beautiful Memorial day weekend down there

Our bellies full of grilled burgers Dad and Brian got into discussing who knows what.

Well it took my hubby Master Yoda computer guru some time to fix our jacked up computer. We got something funky in it and it wouldn't read my pictures from my camera card among other problems. Needless to say this DiDN'T make for a happy Alli. So he backed our photos and important docs onto an external hard drive and striped this thing down to nothing on the hard drive and reformated the whole thing from scratch. Now she's working like a charm and back to normal. Go Brian! So I have some fun new lake pictures I've been wanting to share and even a new one of our sweet little 2nd girl miss Chloe Brianne (named the girly version of Brian after her sweet daddy......we will forever remember this big year for the both of them). :)

So, quick update, we are doing great. A good nibble on the house this week, time will tell. Trust me a breaking news report blog will go out if this woman who's seen it now 3 times will actually come through with a proposed offer. Please pray that would be so fabulous. And little Chloe is getting bigger, doing good. Brian is doing wonderful, less dizziness, more energy and sleeping better. The Bit is our joy as always and getting more brilliant and beautiful every day. She is thrilled with the onset of the summer (as I am!) so she can hit the lake and the pool. She is even more fearless then last summer and will be swimming w/o a life jacket for sure by the end of the summer. I had to just watch her and let her walk right down the stairs to our pool yesterday (w/in arms reach) she hadn't put her swim ring on yet and she just went on in the pool w/o hesitation. Of course her little body just sunk to the bottom and I promptly fished her out w/ a big fat reminder "sweetie, you WILL sink if you don't wait to put on your swim gear". An "Oh, yeah mommy where is it" followed.

Well I'll do better now posting the cuteness and ok, some of the mommy chubbyness I am undergoing now. God bless the summertime!!!

Happy mommy's day to me!

could be wrong but I think that little girl loves her mommy and daddy! :)

just hanging out being precious in the warm spring time.

Abigail at her favorite park

We had such a great mothers day weekend together. Brian's getting out and even made it for a few hours at work some this week. Here are some park pics from getting the Bit out of the house w/ some ice cream the other night. On mother's day Brian got Abigail and I matching pajama gram PJ's (not photoed but we look pretty cute) :) and we had a good day back to our sweet church w/ a million babies being dedicated and a great burger lunch w/ Christine at Red Robin. But the truth is my best mother's day present ever is just my babies themselves. Abigail is truely my joy of all joys and this #2 already has such a special place in my heart I can't wait for the grand arrival in November. I love my sister Ame's post w/ all those touching stories and photos of her kids growing up and the crazy things they've done. Maybe next year I'll have the energy for a sweet long post about it all. Not this year. This year Im just too chubby and pooped. But go read Amy's cause it's just darlin!! I Love my fam and thanks for an awesome mothers day!!

a morning out...

Little Katie being the perfect hostest to helping Abigail and I have some playtime and fun in the sun. Although Abigail wasn't quite as into the mud bath as little Katie was she still looked adorable all messy and muddy.

The Bit helping to entertain and amuse little Anabelle while she dried off in her birthday suit. The cute little dance had that baby giggling!

I mean....she got into it didn't she!?

Abigail's been ready since January to put her bathing suit back on, she's such a summer bunny

She didn't look that happy in these pics but she really was having fun.....until mommy and Mr. Chris chased her down w/ the hose. :)

Well we've had a good week. Brian's doing well, still taking it slow and having some trouble w/ vision and tasting. His energy is slowly improving but we have a way's to go. He's not in any pain which is wonderful! No more head aches!! And off the percocet, which had been entertaining and made for some....interesting conversations let me tell you!! My boy's a wee bit of a cheap date. :) Abigail and I are still just trying to help him w/ the little things and keeping the house quiet so he can rest and relax. Soooo, er go the out side pictures at "Kayyydee's house" to get us out into some sunshine and playtime this past Sunday. Chris and Natalie let us come up and relax on the old porch for a few hours which just felt good to us both.

We are getting there...

Well Brian's doing remarkable still. He has been up a couple times this morning, even a little walk to the mailbox to see the beautiful flowers that welcomed us home this week. His incision looks great and we'll get those stitches out on Sunday. Folks have been wonderful to help us out with the Bit who is having to be more quiet then she's used too. This morning she tip toed around like Ace Ventura through the den while "Daddy [was] sweeping!". She whispers like a sensitive adult and I just can't believe how she's both grasping and helping with this process. Her first words this morning were "Mommy how's Daddy doing this morning??". She's so sweet.

As far as how is systems are doing he's about the same. Some sweet taste buds are firing slowly again. So I've loaded him up w/ little kid cereals and Deana brought over donuts this morning. We'll give him what he can taste if he'll eat it! Hearing about the same and vision about the same. If the vision isn't better beginning of the week next week we'll use our prescription for some occupational therapy to help him adjust and adapt. All in all we're doing good. Our jobs, families and church friends are bringing us meals which is really helping. And like I said folks are helping by taking Abigail out of the house for a few hours each day just so she can be loud and be a kid. Today her Aunti Dee is treating her to her first professional pedicure! All I asked is that she get pictures. :) Thanks still for your continued thoughts and prayers. They are working!!!

An unbelievable week...

there's daddy's little helper w/ our first dressing change

sorry I know it's a little gory to look at but man oh man is that impressive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hadn't seen this yet so you can imagine it took my breath away when I removed the dressing. It was Bri's idea to take the pictures.

Thank you all so much for all your words of love and encouragement on my blog. I've enjoyed reading all of them to Brian over this recovery period. We are home now, which is just incredible I know! But the truth is all they were doing in the hospital was oral medications and allowing rest. I can do that here and keep him much cleaner and at less risk for getting an infection. The more time he spent in that busy unit w/ MRSA patients everywhere the higher risk he was to pick something up. All in all though we really had incredible care at UVA. We couldn't have been more pleased w/ the hospital and it's staff. Every nurse, aid and even our docs were just so sweet and compassionate. The neuro surgeon came around eventually and the truth is we really don't care about his bedside manor, just that he's good w/ a knife inside the skull right?!? Brian's up and recovering because he's a skilled surgeon and God was with him in that OR. Sooooo, Brian is loving his new staff of "the best looking 2 nurses he's ever seen" w/ me and the Bit taking over his care. :) We got home yesterday afternoon and had an uneventful commute which was a God send. He slept for most of the evening and has been comfortable on his own couch ever since. His pain's doing great, his vision is slowly improving but will take time and his taste buds are well still about the same. He's just learning things that have some flavor. He has said he has some fleeting echo sensations in that left ear which we are encouraged by that he's hearing some voices at all although distorted. We'll see, time will tell. They told us at least a week for the swelling to go down and we can have any idea what may be left. His spirits are so much more up now then before and as we speak he's answering a morning assessment questionnaire w/ a Bit on his belly and watching what he can see of Fox News. Good mental picture huh!? I'm enjoying it too. :) Abigail is being so precious and gentle w/ him. She just loves to sit and snuggle up next to him. She'll bring him his little cup of meds and a drink when I hand them to her. And in a minute we are going to do her first dressing change. What a nurse she is already! So thanks again for all of you who have carried this with us. It's meant a lot to read your thoughts and know we had so much support through this. Brian and I love you all lots and want you to know we thank God for our sweet friends and family!!!!!!!

Boy does God work fast!!

can you believe this guy!?!


Well we not only are enjoying our private room now but my incredible husband walked to it himself!!!! He not only walked to it himself he stopped just short of his chair to do the conga dance the last few steps. And yes I bawled like a baby from the shock. I can't believe how well he's doing, it's just amazing. His vision is improving through the morning. He is just going to have to retrain his brain from the difference in his visual acquity on right side vs his left. They said occupational therapy is going to come by to talk to him about some therapy he can do now and maybe see someone back in Roanoke when we get home. Well we feel like a new family from 8:30 this morning to now. Brian's had a bed bath and a change into normal clothes. He's looking and acting like his old self again. We are much happier now so thanks for the morning prayers. They worked!!! Love you guys.