Callen's Baptism

This morning we witnessed and celebrated Callen's baptism. It was such a special day--made even more special by having all of our family there to share the special occasion with us. We were married at Canter.bury, Carter was baptized there two years ago, and now Callen has been baptized there. It is truly a special place for our family for many, many reasons.

Callen did really well. She looked lovely in a gown that was handmade by my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and has been worn by all of the grandchildren on the Willis side.

Mom and Dad with Callen

The whole Willis family--this is the ONLY picture we took of the four of us. Carter was not into taking pictures and it was a battle I didn't want to fight today.

Carter and Callen {think I need to have her ears checked out?}

After the service, we had a fabulous luncheon at our house. I have to give credit to Debbie and Nicholas for their tireless work to make the luncheon so yummy! They whipped up delicious chicken tetrazzini and salad with lettuce from Popsy's garden. I think everyone left more than satisfied!

We finished off the meal with my absolute FAVORITE cake--Olex.a's. If you've been around a while, you know we had this disaster to contend with at Carter's baptism luncheon. I am happy to report that this is the state Callen's cake was in when I opened the box after getting it home:

There were three children {and a number of adults!} who yummed it right up!

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for Callen's baptism and luncheon. We are so blessed with a loving family, a wonderful church family and beautiful children that the Lord has entrusted to us!

Ten Years!!!

Although it is hard for me to believe, this month marks 10 years since I graduated from college. My pledge class decided to try to get together to mark the occasion, so Friday night I headed to Tuscaloosa to spend the night here:

As folks arrived and got ready for the evening, this is what the refreshments looked like in the TV room:
Quite a bit different than the study snacks we had there when we were in school! The house has definitely changed. It has been updated quite a bit and while I was really a fan of most of the updates {especially the nicer bathrooms!}, I have to admit that I thought they went a little overboard with all of the composites everywhere. I mean a few would be okay, but they covered just about any open wall space on the second floor! One thing hadn't changed, though, and that is how the house smelled. I know that sounds weird, but there is just a distinctive smell about the house that was still there. It isn't a bad smell; just a smell that I remembered from 10 years ago!
We had some time to catch up at the house before heading out. Mary Ruffin and I were excited to be back in the room we shared for the two years we lived in the house {but we were both glad we were only in those twin beds on the sleeping porch for two nights!}.

roomies

After a yummy dinner at Chuck.s Fish, we decided to go out for a little while. It had been a LONG time since any of us had had something like this on the backs of our hands:

What started out as going out for a few drinks, wound up keeping us out entertaining the piano players at the piano bar until the bar we went to closed at 1:00! At that point, it was way, way past my bedtime so I opted to go back to the house with a few of the girls, while the rest made another stop!
I headed back home on Saturday morning after a relaxing few hours at the spa with everyone, so I missed many of the girls who came just for Saturday night. I hated to miss seeing folks, but I loved getting to catch up with those I saw! It's amazing to me how much and how little can change in 10 years!

It's been busy around here

I'm not kidding. And the funny thing is that there hasn't been much out of the ordinary going on. Everyday life these days just seems to keep us hopping! I have grand plans of posting more frequently, but I find that time tends to just slip away from me!

Anyway...this weekend we took Callen to meet her great-grandmothers. We waited so long because we had some hesitation since they are both in a nursing home. In most circumstances, a nursing home wouldn't be somewhere I would take my {almost} 9 month old and 2 and half year old. BUT...I have a smart husband. As we were discussing this, he said "I know it isn't a great place to visit, and you don't have to go all day, but if you don't go, you'll regret not having pictures of Callen with your grandmothers." And as he often ishe was right.

So, Saturday was the day. Maybe they aren't the best pictures in the world...but I am glad to have them, and I hope Carter and Callen will also be glad to have them one day!

Me, Mom, Callen, Carter & Gran (4 generations of Lockett ladies!)

Gran with Carter and Callen

Me and Callen with Maw-Maw (my dad's mom)--not really a great pic of any of us...but, hey, we got one, right?

It must taste good

Carter {May 2008}

Callen {May 2010}

THE BEACH!!!

We took a quick little trip to the beach for a long weekend last weekend. We had a friend from college {one of Nick's best friends} who was getting married about 45 minutes away from the beach, so we decided to take the kiddos down and make a fun beach trip of it. We stayed with my parents and had a great time {and we are appreciative of their keeping the children while we participated in all of the wedding festivities}.

We had lazy mornings, with Callen helping Dad read the newspaper.

Although we didn't have the most fabulous weather while we were down there, we didn't want for things to do. Big Pat and Carter did some fishing...

while Bamma and Callen posed for the camera.

We also went to a very nice park to let the kiddos play for a while. Callen loved the swings!

After our trip to the park, we went to Tack.y Jack's to eat lunch, where Callen gnawed enjoyed her first french fry.

On Sunday, although the weather was still overcast, it wasn't raining, so we ventured out to the beach. Both children really loved it! Carter wasn't so sure about the sand on his feet last summer, but he never slowed up this time. All he talked about while we were down there was how he was going to dig in the sand. In addition to digging, he also felt obligated to dive into and roll around in the sand. And, why not, really? Nothing a little bath can't help with...

Callen loved exploring the sand, too. They were precious to watch together, and Carter was more than happy to show her shells and pour sand in her hands.While we were out on the beach, Carter walked over to me and said, "I like the beach!"