My Cowboy

My little boy is no longer a little boy!  Yesterday he wore a shirt with a tractor on it and we talked about it ALL day!  When Jonathan got home he wanted to put on his wranglers and boots like daddy and go outside - so I grabbed my camera (that seems to have been lost lately) and took some shots of my little man.

Here's a few of what I got - Can't believe he is almost 20 months old!

Wearing daddy's old hat

They match!

I love that they are both wearing wranglers, their tucked in shirts (of course Jonathan tucked his shirt in),  and cowboy hats - Tucker just needs a belt and it would be perfect :)

Picking the bark off of the tree and throwing it - determined face!

Love this expression on his face.

Daddy started the tractor and he was yelling for him not to leave him!

Little boy loves his daddy!

"hey mom, look."

Might I just say that every little boy needs a daddy that lets him be a little boy.  I have been the protective mamma  but I'm REALLY trying to let him be a little boy and adventure where he wants, and get filthy dirty and fall and scratch his knees and so on and so on!  I'm so thankful that my little man has a daddy who  and lets him ride on the tractor, and "work" on the cars with him, and doesn't care that every tool that he owns is scattered throughout the yard because Tucker needed to use it.

Thank you Lord for a daddy who loves his little man and would do anything for him - I can only imagine how close and what great buds they will be when Tucker can start hunting - I better take it up if I think I'm going to get any time with either of them :).

The World Lost an Amazing Woman this week

This is a sad post, but I want to preface this by saying that I am documenting our life and this is something very big that has happened in our world this week, so I want to be able to look back and see my thoughts from this week.

My grandmother Gilland passed away on Thursday.  The funeral was held at Memphis Funeral Home in Bartlett, TN on Saturday, September 8th - just six days after her birthday.  We celebrated her life at 10am with a visitation, 11am with the funeral service, and buried her beside poppa by the end of the day.  Their bodies may be there, but their souls are in heaven - I'm imagining grandmother singing in the choir and poppa is sleeping through it.  I'm sure he was standing at the gate when she arrived and he was wondering what took her so long, and she probably wanted to know why he left her so quickly!  

I love these two so very much and cannot have asked for better grandparents.  I can't believe that I was lucky enough to have them for 24+ years of my life.  Thank you Lord for giving me the best grandparent's in the world.  

This is the Gilland Crew Grandmother left behind this week 

The great grandchildren - 15 of them - "Be fruitful and multiply" 

All the cousins and their spouses

Our little "Golding" crew

Love my boys.

My grandmother is a woman beyond explaining.  She was the most Godly and God Fearing women I've ever met.  She gave me determination like I had never had, and she loved each of us unconditionally.  There are so many great memories that I have of this sweet lady, and so very many include poppa as well.

* Grandmother was an incredible woman who shared her life with each of us.
* It's funny how each of the grandchildren thought we were her favorite - that takes a pretty special person to be able to pull that off.  She was that kind of a person thought - she was an amazing wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, friend, and teacher.
* She took SO much of her time to spend with each of us (as a group and individually)
* We had cousin sleep overs when we were young and would catch lightening bugs, eat our weight in brownies, and sleep in pallets all throughout the house.  We always woke up to pancakes cooking in the kitchen, and she would make the best nuts and bolts for us to snack on.
* I also remember all the many hours she put in helping me memorize scripture and drill me religiously until I had it right - all for Bible drill competitions.  I always knew everything I needed to because she would persist until I had it all.
* I used to bite my nails and she would always say "Some day some boy is going to come along and want to give you a ring and you are going to want to wear it won't you - so don't bite those nails!" - and she was right - I eventually did meet that special someone and he did give me a ring to wear - and I don't bite my nails (much) anymore.  :)
* She also sang to us - all the time!  My favorite was "I love you a bushel and a peck - you bet your pretty little neck I do!" - I now sing that to Tucker every night when I take him out of the shower to get his pj's on for bed.  He smiles and giggles each time - making memories!
* She drove me all over town to and from basketball practices, and she and poppa were always in the stands cheering us on. I can't imagine how many thousand's of games she attended between the eight grandchildren growing up- not to mention her own boys.
* She taught me what it means to be a Godly Woman, how to be wise, and how to love the Lord with all your heart.
* She has read her Bible more times than she could count - her Bible is tattered and warn, literally falling to pieces, but written throughout the entire thing and it's obvious that she was absorbed in the Word daily.
* She was a servant for everyone she came in contact with.
* She was a prayer warrior like no other.
* She set family values in each of us and really lived out the values she taught daily.
* Family lunch on Sunday's were so much fun - Poppa had made a table years ago that held 25 people - we had to add another table at the end a few years back in order for everyone to sit at the same table.  Grandmother never sat down until everyone was through eating, but it was so much fun sitting around that table and sharing time with our family.  Precious memories were made.

Poppa passed away October 2009.  We honestly didn't know what to expect, but knew that Grandmother was a fighter and we all thought she would bounce back, but little did we know that was not what the Lord had in store for her.  We had no real understanding that when we lost poppa, we lost her too.  We slowly started realizing that she was not as healthy as we thought.  Early signs of Alzheimer's was inevitable.  She had feared this her whole life, and her fears came true - she quickly began declining, and next thing we knew she was at Ava Maria in Bartlett.  The nurses there were incredible, and she was cared for wonderfully, but she continued to digress and she took her last breath on Thursday, September 6th around 11am.

I was fortunate enough to have a little bit of a heads up that things were not going well and spent several hours just me and her on Wednesday afternoon.  I read to her from her Bible, which was special for me.  I also had the chance to share my heart with her one last time.  There is no doubt in my mind that she knows how I feel about her, but I didn't want to leave anything out or regret not telling her one last time, so I made sure to get that quality time with her I desired.  I'm so very thankful that the Lord blessed me with that small window of time - I'll always be so glad for it.

As I read her Bible to her, I realized how special this book was - not just the Bible, but HER Bible.  She had notes all throughout, and it was so neat - her Bible did not capitalize "he" when referring to Jesus or the Lord, but she had gone through and capitalized He in EVERY PLACE - Literally the entire Bible had been corrected.  How neat to see how many times she must have read her Bible, but also how she corrected it because that's what it should have been in the first place.

I love this woman more than words can express, and I'll miss her so very much, but I know she is in a better place and that she arrived at the gates of Heaven and was greeted with a "Well done, good and faithful servant" from her Lord.  Thank you grandmother for the values you instilled and the time you spent with each of us.  I pray that we can carry on that legacy for many years to come.  I Love You!

Here's a few photos from over the years:

This was taken after Poppa's funeral in '09

These are just a few of the lives that Grandmother and Poppa have affected over the years - this is just family.

Photo from our wedding - the Gilland's side - we now have 15 grand grand babies (plus one one the way), 11 grandchildren.  So thankful for the values those two set for our family.

My sweet grandmother with Kassie and I at Christmas '07

Grandmother and Poppa with our family - this was right before we got married in January.

Kitchen Make Over!!

Once Upon A Time a man and woman bought a house...this house was in need of a lot of work, but the man could do anything he needed to in fixing the house.  The woman agreed to the purchase of the home on one stipulation - the kitchen needed a MAJOR overhaul before they moved in.  Well, the work ensued, and they were very close to having a baby, so in turn, the kitchen did not get taken care of.  This is how the story begins, but...not how it ends.

I finally convinced Jonathan to let me paint our cabinets!!!  This was a HUGE deal and he was o.k. with me doing it, but he didn't want to be involved - at. all.  I agreed and went to buy the paint...I was nervous as could be that I would do a bad job, but I was SO determined to get them completed. So here's the over view:

Pre-Make Over:

These Oak Cabinets and the color of them has been driving me CRAZY since we first saw the house.  

See how dark the room is.

Day One:  (Wednesday) Taped up all around the cabinets an also took off all the doors - I did not take everything out of my cabinets because I didn't have anywhere to put it and I also had no interest in painting inside all the cabinets.  I also took all the cabinet doors outside and sanded them down, then sanded down the frame of the cabinets.  After sanding, I cleaned with TSP cleaner, which was amazing at pulling off the old grease and goop on the cabinets that forms over time.  These cabinets are 14 years old, so I wanted to make sure I had them as clean as possible before beginning.  Since I'm pregnant I couldn't use liquid sander, but I had planned on doing this as a final step but left it out and it turned out fine.

 Day Two:  (Thursday) Once I had everything cleaned and ready to go, I primed my cabinets along with all the doors - I did the doors on the back first so that if they weren't 100% dry and I flipped them, the damage was on the back of the cabinet instead of the front.  My mother in law helped me both Thursday and Friday to prime and paint my first coat - along with entertaining Tucker when needed - she was a life saver!  I painted the door backs, then the cabinets, and then went back and flipped the doors back over to prime all the fronts - I wanted to have everything primed and ready to paint for Friday.

 Day 3: (Friday) I thought we were going to need 3 coats without a doubt, but actually I only did two.  I probably could have done three, but I wasn't really concerned because I plan on antiquing them in a few months. Three coats also added another day of work and with everything everywhere I couldn't take it much longer.

 I took a break on Friday night and we went to dinner - as you can see my kitchen wasn't really easy to work in.  We went to dinner with a couple friend to a restaurant in Somerville that was closing that night.  It was a fun night and I was so happy for a break.

Day 4: (Saturday) I painted the second coat on everything Saturday - I noticed that the wood I had the doors set up on was loosing some of it's dirt onto my nice and clean cabinets, so I added wax paper to the bottoms of them and that took care of it like a charm :).  I was worried that the coat wasn't completely dry on my doors, so I waited to paint the front of the cabinets until late Saturday night and decided to make sure they were completely dry for putting them back up on Sunday.

Coat #2

 Tucker was making crazy faces at me while I was painting and I had to snap a few photos.  Crazy boy.

 Cabinets taking over my bottom room  - Ignore the mess - it was crazy around here.

Day 5: (Sunday) I realized that I had forgotten to spray paint my hinges (I was cheap and didn't want to buy all new hinges, so I figured out how to spray them - I primed the hinges and screws with a metal primer, and then sprayed them with Rustoleum Hammered Black paint. They turned out great - not sure how well they will do over time, but for now they are looking good.
 
Hinges ready to prime and paint

I went ahead and added the drawers Sunday night as well - I was just so ready to have everything back to normal!

 Day 6: (Monday) - FINALLY FINISHED!!  I hung all the hinges back on the doors and then put everything back up - I'm thrilled with the final outcome.  I can't believe how much it brightens the space and it doesn't look anything like it did before.

 I'm sure that one thing sticks out to you in this photo just like it does to me - the cream vent-a-hood.  I plan on either replacing it or painting it black until we can replace it.  This will be completed hopefully by next week. After that I plan to paint my counter tops - yes that's right - I'm getting rid of the green, but I can't afford to replace the counter tops yet, so for $150 or less I can paint them to look like granite - yes please!  I'll come back with updates once I'm finished.

Loving my new kitchen!  This DIY woman is more willing to try more things now that I've conquered this crazy mini-kitchen make over.  This cost me right at $100 and my kitchen looks like a whole new place to me - I'm so happy every time I walk into the room. :)

A Whole New World...

This week has been a huge change in Tucker's speaking.  He was speaking only a few words just a week ago, and now he has seemed to have added words like crazy.  Here's some of the words he can now say:

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. Ball
4. Papaw
5. Poppa
6. Tractor
7. Bus
8. Plane
9. Boat
10. Truck
11. Book

And he also can moo, meow, oink, neigh, broom broom (truck/car noises), crow like a rooster, cluck like a chicken, bark like a dog, and he has a few other animal noises. He also seems to mimic several of the words we say, just not stuck in the vocabulary yet.

I know this doesn't really sound like a lot, but it's usually pretty quiet around the house except for me talking to him, but he has been talking NON-STOP even though I can't really understand it, he has sat down with me and had several "conversations" with me.

 I know this isn't a great picture, but this is a photo of Tucker playing at the playground at McDonald's in Oakland.  He had the best time.  This was the first time that we have actually played at a indoor playground.  I called JenaBeth and we met up with her and Fisher to play.  Our electricity had gone out so I had to come up with an idea of giving Tucker something fun we could do.  It was a blast and so good to see them.

I went against my norm and bought him a biscuit and he LOVED it.  We don't really let him have just whatever, but he hasn't missed out and he is so healthy - his favorites are bread and crackers, but if he has to choose his next best option is fruit or veggies - he loves them and I am so thankful for that!

Last night started a new tradition around here I believe...

Tucker taking food to feed Avery

He almost got it to her bowl - maybe next time

Tucker feeding the chickens

Pouring out the chicken feed.

 And this melts a mamma's heart - little man brought his first artwork home from Sunday School yesterday.  He brought it to me this morning and we read over the story they learned about and talked about it - he was telling me all about each of the cut outs that were glued on the paper - I LOVE THIS!  So excited to see what this year holds with his new class.  I think he is going to learn a lot.

On a side note - and not one I'm really proud of, but when we got to the nursery to pick up Tucker, we were told that he bit a girl during the Sunday School hour.  This was such a shock to us - and honestly I have no details other than that he bit a little girl but was great the whole rest of the time he was there.  The little girl was still in the room, so we stayed and talked to her mom and apologized and I told her how very sorry I was and that he has never done this before - she was very sweet, but I still feel TERRIBLE about it.  And how do you go about disciplining an 18 month old when they don't even remember doing something 2 hours ago.  We have spoken to him several times about biting and how it is wrong, so I'm desperately hoping this was a one time thing and it doesn't happen again.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Our Weekend and a Few Favorite Fall and Winter Recipes

Friday night Jonathan and I went to the Brad Paisley Concert at Snowden Grove on the Lawn in Southaven.  I was really excited to see The Band Perry, who opened for him.  They were great.  Well, Jonathan wasn't really feeling well when we headed that way and just got worse while we were there, so we left right before The Band Perry went off stage - so we never saw Brad Paisley, but that's ok!  Poor guy has been sick all weekend.

Waiting on the concert to start

Tucker stayed with my parents and she sent me this photo from him eating dinner- little stink pot! :)

 When Jonathan doesn't feel good, his favorite food to eat is Chicken Rice Soup, so Saturday I went to the grocery and got a full hen to stew, carrots, and celery.  This is one of my favorite recipes during the winter months, so it was a little treat to get it early - we don't have ANY soup during the summer time because Jonathan works outside every day all day, so he doesn't want to come home to hot food - I completely understand....

So Here's the recipe for Chicken Rice Soup:

2 Cups of Rice - Cooked
3-4 Stalks of Celery
1/2 bag of Carrots
Full Chicken

Cook the Chicken, then add the cut up celery and carrots to the chicken broth and shred the chicken.  Allow to cook until the celery and carrots are soft.  Spoon the broth mixture over cooked rice and sprinkle celery salt over the soup and enjoy.  So Delicious!!

The Chicken Rice Soup seems to last us a very long time, so I was trying to think of a way to put what was already cooked into another recipe and came up with a Chicken Pot Pie - I know that celery isn't really included in most pot pies, but we don't like peas in our pie, so I thought it might be a good substitute.  I just drained off the chicken broth, added all the chicken, carrots, and celery to a pot with 1/2 a cup of remaining chicken broth.  I also added one can of cream of chicken soup and some fresh corn- you could use anything - it's just what I had in the pantry :).  I made two pie crusts (you could use the pre-made ones at the store), and then layered it up - crust, filling, crust.  I was so excited to use all of this instead of letting it go bad. Cook at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. It was so yummy!

Ready to pop it in the oven!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Catching Up

We went to Macaroni Grill to celebrate Grandmother Whiteside's birthday a little while back.  Here's a few photos post lunch.

Tucker and Aunt Sarah

Tucker and Mommy

Our Crew

Granny, Grammy, and Tucker

 We went last Saturday to Nashville's Hunting and Fishing Extravaganza.  Jonathan got him dressed for the day - I had shorts and a nice shirt picked out, but daddy wanted him to match himself, so he put him in Wranglers, boots, and his ball cap.  They were pretty close to matching.  My sweet boys :)

All the guys rode the John Deere ATV test track.  They had fun - Jonathan is looking at me in the picture and Nick is in front of him and you can't see Mark, but he is in the one behind Jonathan.

 Here we are having our first gun lesson at our house.  Tucker was so excited about getting to hold daddy's gun.

He kept saying "boom" "boom"

This is our serious talk about how dangerous guns are and how you can only hold it when daddy is there and showing you what to do...we don't play with guns.  I think he completely got it...

We had a complete melt down after this picture because Jonathan put the gun up and Tucker was very unhappy with him about this.

 First time to paint - I had finger paints, but gave him a paint brush because I was unsure how he would feel about it, and I was pretty right - he hated getting his fingers in the paint.  This kid is all about some dirt and playing outside for hours, but hates getting his fingers dirty in paint - crazy!

His masterpiece.

Avocado Face Boy

"O" Face Avocado Boy

So that's pretty much all we have been up to lately...

On A Side Note:
I went to the doctor on Wednesday for an ultrasound.  She said everything looks great and I actually measured at 10 weeks instead of 9 weeks.  They didn't change my due date from March 19th, but I'm personally thinking it has moved to March 12th :).