I'm the proud aunt of a brand new, chubby, precious baby girl!  Alexandra Dianne was born today and she weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz.  Congratulations Josh and Alaina!

A fun day at the Phoenix Zoo

 

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Sadie said her favorite animal is the "raffe."  And she really wanted to see "a baby raffe."  And sure enough, they had a baby raffe!  She loved petting the goats at the petting zoo too. 

Sibley made me this cute wreath, and I love it!

She's taking orders if any of you are interested!

I found the perfect painting for Sadie "Cake's" room!

Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar
but never doubt thy love.

-- William Shakespeare

It's been a wild ride.  Thanks for hanging on.
I love you, Bryant!  Happy Anniversary!

Dear Sadie,

One night last week I was getting ready to go to the movies with your daddy.  I was in the bathroom putting on my makeup, when you came in and said, "Mom, sometimes your's butt looks big."  I replied, "That's not nice to say."  Then you said, "What?  Sometimes your's butt's not look big?".

Why oh why did I listen to my "friends" in my CVID support group when they told me it was so much easier and less painful when they do their infusionsin their stomach?  It hurt like the devil!  And it's so red and  swollen and sore.  Lesson learned.  I'll stick to my thighs and butt.

The Benjamin Fitzpatrick House

Yesterday I fell in love!  Lately there have been these incredible old photos of Wetumpka on facebook.  (I shared one earlier of the Bibb Graves Bridge.)  I noticed yesterday that the old picture of the bridge and some of the other great old pictures I was seeing on facebook were coming from "Yesteryear in Elmore County."  So of course I went straight to "Yesteryear" and I got sucked in and stayed for hours!  Some of the houses and buildings I saw, most of which burned or were razed, were the most beautiful I'd ever seen.  I'm sure I will spend many more hours carousing the pictures. The true gem, in my opinion, that caught my eye is the Benjamin Fitzpatrick House.

Benjamin Fitzpatrick was the 11th Governor of Alabama.  When he married Sarah Elmore, he inherited this plantation in Elmore County.  The pictures here were taken in 1935.  I'm not sure exactly when it was built or when it was razed.  In the pictures you can see overwhelming evidence in the entry hall that it started out as a dogtrot house.  [If you don't know what a dog trot house is, then you are really missing out.  You should google it.]  I do know that Governor Fitzpatrick moved to the house in 1829.  Planting was profitable for him, because the records show in 1830 he owned 24 slaves and in 1850 he owned 106.

 

 

 

I will share a picture of Governor Fitzpatrick.  He also held many other offices, including president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate.  And he was nominated to be Stephen Douglas' running mate in the election of 1860, but he refused the nomination.  He withdrew from the Senate when Alabama seceded on January 21, 1861.  I will also share a picture of another Fitzpatrick house, the house of Governor Fitzpatrick's descendants in Wetumpka, known as the Kelly Fitzpatrick house.  (Governor Fitzpatrick and his wife had six sons.)  Sadly, the Kelly Fitzpatrick House was also razed (1955).  The Kelly Fitzpatrick House is a bit more fancy and ornate than the Benjamin Fitzpatrick House.  The Benjamin Fitzpatrick House is an earlier example of Southern frontier territorial architecture.  In fact, it reminds me a lot of Benjamin Martin's house in the movie "The Patriot."  I prefer the earlier house for its simple lines and utilitarian style.  When I win the lottery, I will build a house that looks just like the Benjamin Fitzpatrick House!

Sadie saw this cute dinosaur potty and had to have it!  Now...who wants to pottytrain her?

A Family Fun Day

Since we were too sick to go to the mountains and play in the snow during the holidays, we decided to go out and have a family fun day.  We went to the Superstition Springs Mall and had a blast! 

When we got there, someone had rented one of those awesome racecar strollers and they were leaving, so they just let us have it...Score!

First, we rode the carousel.  Sadie wanted to ride the elephant, but it was taken, so she chose a white horse instead.  She was a little scared at first, but I held on to her and that made her feel better.

Then we ate at the food court, which was perfect because we all got to choose the restaurant we wanted and then we just sat down together to eat at Sbarro's.

We went to the Picture Show and watched "Here Comes the Boom."  It was GREAT!  We love Kevin James!  It was so funny.  Everyone enjoyed it.  Sadie even stayed in the theater almost the whole time.  I promised her that if she was good, I would let her buy some toys and balls out of the vending machines.  She got a Sponge Bob sticker and a bouncy ball.

After the movie, Sibley wanted to shop around the mall a little more, so she and Skyler ditched the parents and baby sister and had some big girl time together while Bryant and I took Sadie to one of the mall's indoor playgrounds.

Then we all hooked back up and rented some of "Those Animals."  I had never seen them before yesterday and they were so cute!  They are basically big stuffed animals with scooters inside.  Sibley picked the ape and the girls rode around on it for 10 minutes.

By that time we were hungry again, so we went to one of our favorite restaurants, "Ono Hawaiian Barbecue."  The service is slow and crappy, but the food is good.  After we ate, we were worn out.  Sadie fell asleep on the way home.  We got home and the girls wrestled around for a little while and watched "Percy Jackson."  I'm not sure what happened after that, because I was sound asleep.  And thus concluded our first family fun day of 2013.  It must have been epic, because it's 11 a.m. and Bryant and the big girls are still in bed!