During this hectic week of cleaning and packing up the house, I made updating my blog a priority on my "to do" list. It is now early Saturday morning--at the end of the week--and I find myself in an antebellum home, lying underneath a beautiful rose-colored canopy. The house is cleaned, packed away, and ready for potential buyers. My blog, on the other hand, is unattended. So, before I partake of a delicious breakfast, I will fill in the details of the last month.
Since my last entry we have celebrated Independence Day by eating Voo Doo BBQ one last time, watching "A Capitol 4th" on PBS, and enjoying the neighborhood fireworks.
We celebrated Lilah's 3rd birthday on July 7th. There is a funny story related to this particular day. The night before I began to bake Lilah's cake, quickly realizing that I did not have eggs, cooling racks, measuring cups, etc., as they had all been packed away. So, I made a quick call to my dear friend Jeni who has a cake business. She agreed to do a layer cake for Lilah. She made a beautiful cake to my specifications, then disaster struck. While transporting it to my house, she was nearly hit by another driver. In her evasive driving, the cake was destroyed. She was a true professional and managed, with the help of Lisa, to patch it up. With the addition of the music box (as the third layer of the cake) and the Tinkerbell dolls, it turned out beautifully! Lilah absolutely loved it and we had a wonderful little party. Jeff and I were there, of course, along with Adam, Seth, Noah, John John, Luke, Alana, Dayna, Leonard, Sarah, Lisa, Jeni, and Sissy. It was truly a fun party. Lilah received fairy wings, a fairy book, Silvermist, My Little Pony, a Tinkerbell outfit, pajamas, a monkey book, a Tinkerbell placemat, a little outfit, and the music box. So much fun! And Lilah looked so sweet in her birthday dress--a peach and pale green confection that I bought in Iowa--long before I even had a little girl to wear it!
In mid-July, we took a little mini family vacation to see Grand Isle before we moved. We drove down to Grand Isle on a Wednesday afternoon. We walked the beach and let the children play for a little while. Then, we packed everyone up in the van and headed toward Gulf Shores. We stopped and stayed in a hotel in Biloxi. This was not fun! Lilah and Luke kept each other (and us) awake for a couple of hours. Before too long, it was time to wake up and pack the van again. On the way to Gulf Shores, we visited Bellingrath Gardens. I highly recommend this. Bellingrath is a beautiful home surrounded by acres of gardens. It was so beautiful and the children were very well behaved and really enjoyed this as well. We then caught a ferry to Dauphin Island. The children loved this as well!! It is a very pleasant way to travel to the beach.We arrived at a duplex we had rented in Gulf Shores. This is a very good way to do family vacations. We didn't have to worry nearly as much about the noise the children made, and having two bedrooms made the stay much more pleasant. We spent two fun-filled days at the beach playing in the sand, splashing in the water, and swimming in the pool. We also had lunch at Lambert's--and the children LOVED it. What a nice tradition!
After the beach, we drove to my parent's house. We stayed Saturday night there, attended church with them the next morning, and then dad drove Jeff and me to the Amtrak station in Tuscaloosa. We left the van to be repaired in preparation for our next trip. Lisa picked us up in Slidell and the crazy week of packing the house began. Th
is last week has really been a blur. Cleaning/packing/cleaning/packing with a couple breaks to get my hair done, watch Harry Potter 7 (fantastic, by the way), and have my very last nail appointment with Debby. I love her and will miss her so much!!! After my nail appointment yesterday, I picked Jeff up from his last day at work and we drove to beautiful Nottoway. It is so lovely and relaxing--and how I ended up updating my blog 'neath a rose colored canopy...
