Wacky Wednesday

Ummm....It's not Halloween; however, I think I spotted a

Tom Cruise look alike in Wells' nursery. 



Friday Night and a Wedding Dress!

It was just a typical Friday night in our house...Graham and I snacked on chips and french onion dip before dinner, we gave Wells a bath, finished up some odd and end chores to prepare for our Saturday morning trip to NC, and I put on my wedding dress!  What, did I type that right...I put on my wedding dress?  I guess that's not so typical huh?  Well, I did!  My sweet cousin Whitaker plans to wear my veil in her wedding this summer which was preserved with my dress, so I figured, what the heck the box is open, let's see if that puppy still fits!  And....

It did! :)

 So I twirled with my littlest prince!  My big prince was behind the camera...still as precious as the day I married him!

And I posed for another picture!  If I am being totally honest I did not want to take it off!  I mean, it was the dress I wore on one of the most magical days of my life!  So, minus the wrinkles (in the dress that is!), and the sports watch, the lack of makeup, and the toddler playing at my feet I felt just like a princess! 

Hope you had a royal moment last weekend too! :)

Right Now!

RIGHT NOW, Wells is almost 18 months old!  As he was eating his snack after Mother's Morning Out this week, I said to myself, "I have to take a picture of him RIGHT NOW!"

And RIGHT NOW as I look at this I can not believe how big he is!  You see, we are in what seems to be the stage of RIGHT NOW! 
Wells- "I want to play with your phone RIGHT NOW!  I want to get out of my high chair RIGHT NOW!  I don't want to stop screaming RIGHT NOW!  I want to eat everything in the grocery cart RIGHT NOW!  I'm not ready to come inside RIGHT NOW!  I would actually like to live outside RIGHT NOW!  It's 6:30 and I am up and at 'em, get up RIGHT NOW!  I can say "Hola!" one hundred times in a row and I'll do that RIGHT NOW!  But you ask me to say it in front of your friends and I just can't do that RIGHT NOW!  I can open the kitchen cabinet so I would like a snack RIGHT NOW!  I know I just ate breakfast but I would like some cookies RIGHT NOW!  You said not to turn off the TV but I do think I will do that RIGHT NOW!  And you said not to put my finger in the electrical outlet but I think I will do that anyway RIGHT NOW!  I am going to eat dirt, rip your magazine, pull Lucy's ears, throw my toys when I am mad, and put my entire hand in my yogurt over and over again and you know what Mommy...I am going to do it all RIGHT NOW!" 
And, well, RIGHT NOW I don't think I could possibly love him anymore!  RIGHT NOW I can't imagine being anywhere else than here with him!  I look at him and sometimes feel like my heart might explode!  Heck, it could explode RIGHT NOW as I type!  RIGHT NOW at times I feel challenged, frustrated, excited, happy, exhausted, and completely in love!  But mostly I feel pretty darn blessed RIGHT NOW! 
Oops, I hear a loud "Ma!" coming from his room which means nap time is over!  And you guessed it, he is ready to get up RIGHT NOW!

Here Comes the Bride!

Well, more like "Here Come the Pictures!"  Finally, I have some pictures to post from Kat and Johnny's wedding!  Enjoy!

The groom's cake..complete with a personalized liscense plate! :)

 Family Pic #1(Mom's side)...the photographer was trying to make Wells laugh and apparently I thought it was funny too!  I laughed in every picture!  Way to go Mare!

 Family Photo #2! (Dad's side)

There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times, and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you!

And that's just what we did! 

Mixed Tape

Last week I had the best time in NC with my sister, Missy.  She and her sweet family are moving (houses, not cities) and she recruited me to come and help her "purge".  You see, my dear older sister is a bit of a hoarder and she needed a strong, honest, and tough voice to say "Heck no, it can't go!"  She's a hard one to crack seeing as if she can find sentimental value in almost everything she owns but I had to lay the law.  Which brings me to the topic at hand...the mixed tape!  You see, as Missy and I rummaged through her attic we actually found an entire box full of them.  She had saved them for years, shock of shocks but was finally ready to throw them away.  But before we did we couldn't resist looking through them and boy did the memories come flooding back. 

Image courtesy of GRAPHICS HUNT.com!

Remember the days of making the mixed tape?  We must have made hundreds of them growing up!  We made tapes for our friends filled with Debbie Gibson, Wilson Phillips, TLC, and Salt-N-Pepa just to name a few!  Then we would make tapes for our boyfriends at the time and I must say I am a little too embarrassed to name some of those songs!  And this was long before the days of iTunes or even Napster.  So, if you didn't have a tape or a single of your favorite song you would have to listen to the radio and hope like heck that you caught it in time to record it!  And I can't lie, there were times I would record a song even without the first verse because I had to haul tale from another room to hit record!  Ah, the good ole days! 
What are some songs that you would listen to the radio for hours on end to record right now?  Here are just a few of mine:
Grenade - Bruno Mars (I love it!)
Forget You - Ceelo Green (I like the clean version...It's really more my style these days!)
Boondocks - Little Big Town (I'm not ashamed...I was born and raised in the boonies!)
Raise Your Glass - Pink (Here's to you Pink!)
Anything Justin Bieber (Judge me if you will, I am not even going to pretend like I don't have Bieber Fever!)
Desert Song - Hillsong (I sing ridiculously loud to this in the car!)
Empire State of Mind - Jay Z. and Alicia Keys (The big lights inspire me, what can I say!)
A Little Bit Stronger - Sara Evans (Love love love a country girl power ballad!)
Something Beautiful - Needtobreathe (Been rocking it for months and months now....Love it!)
American Honey - Lady Antebellum (Anything by Lady A. honestly!)

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Take just a little time today to rock it out to one of your favorites! :) 

A Day at the Park

These pictures are a few weeks old but with the recent warm weather I couldn't resist posting!  Here's a little preview of what these warm months will most likely look for this crew!

Ready to play!  The hat was just a prop that lasted about 2 seconds!  (Just long enough for this picture!)

 Having so much fun playing with Daddy!

 That's one sweet face!  Even with the mystery bloody nose!

 Hmmm, what can I get into next?

 Pure joy! (for all 3 of us!)

As Wells stopped to look at the older kids playing he had such a look of awe and wonder.  And little did he know, the woman behind  the camera was looking at him the exact same way! 

Poop or Perfume?

"For out of the overflow of your heart your mouth speaks."

Luke 6:45

Last week in HomeGroup we took a little break from doing an actual "study" and had a movie night instead.  It was fun, relaxing, and encouraging.  We watched Facing the Giants and being as it is a football movie is was a great break from March Madness! :)  One of the best scenes from the movie is when the coach is talking to his football team about their attitudes, words, and actions being a true reflection of what is in their hearts.  The message was that our hearts have an aroma...good or bad people can tell what is in your heart by the way that you live.  I loved the scene and loved the message but had not thought much about it until this morning when our pastor referenced the above verse.  So, I sat in church thinking "Mary Lanier, poop or perfume?  What does your heart smell like?"
And, that's just the question that I would like to ask you?  As we head into this week ask yourself, poop or perfume?  When something doesn't quite go your way this week and you want to react...poop or perfume?  When the world isn't quite meeting up to your standards...poop or perfume?  When your children, co-workers, family, friends are making you a little crazy...poop or perfume?  
When picking perfume I prefer a light and airy scent that's fresh, sweet and undeniably pleasant.  Actually when I pick a perfume that I like I usually stick with it for years and years, it's something that I don't get tired of!  It doesn't give me a headache or knock people down.  It doesn't warn people that I am coming from miles away but when I am gone people can tell that I've been.  It's one that I hope my family remembers and smiles when they smell it!  It makes me feel pretty and girly and like I can do anything that I want to do!  And I sure as heck would rather wear it than poop!  So, if I feel that strongly about the way I smell then why on earth would I let me heart be any different!  Poop or perfume, I choose perfume! 

Bless Him!

You've heard me talk about Wells and his blue blanky before.  I have lost it in the grocery store and on neighborhood walks.  I also tried in January to have him leave it in the bed which has not been a 100% success.  And I realize now...who am I to judge?  Bless him, he gets it honestly! 

Me at age (way too old for paci and blanky!)

Tonight and a Preview

It's Monday Night...and I must say I am almost sad that The Bachelor will be over!  I kinda feel like I am reading the last chapter of a really good book, you know, like when you are dying to see how it ends but feel like you'll be saying good-bye to a dear friend.  Yea, well, that's how I feel today!  Emily or Chantal?  That is the question!  Just like my buddy Ten June said this morning, I am "Team Emily!" all the way too! :)
On another note we had such a great weekend and Katherine and Johnny are now living it up in Jamaica!  Here's a preview pic from the weekend...more to come ladies and gentlemen, more to come! 
Happy Monday Ya'll!

All I Want To Do...

We are heading to see Sugarland tonight as a kick-off to Kat and Johnny's wedding weekend!  I am totally pumped!  Judge me if you must but I love country music!  And I can't wait to hear just a few of these favorites:
Stuck Like Glue
All I Want to Do (wo wo wo woo...)
Stay
Already Gone
and Something More, just to name a few! 
It's going to be such a fun night and a great start to the weekend!  So, I will catch you guys next week with lots of wedding updates!  Have a great weekend!

My Boys

This week as I was going through pictures I came across this:

You guessed it...this is my sweet hubby at 17 months!  I mean, how cute was he?  I bet he was a stud at preschool! :) 

And here's Wells at 17 months:

I know, I too was totally shocked at how different these little fellas look!  It's strange because there are so many times when I look at Wells I see so much of Graham...but it seems as if I am looking at Graham now and not Graham as a baby!  It was so fun to find the picture and to see what my husband looked like at the exact age our son is right now!  Regardless, I'm thinking about keeping them!

The Time We Ran Away!

In honor of my sister's wedding this weekend I thought I would tell a funny little story from our childhood.  You see, Kat and I are only 17 months apart so as you can imagine we had one heck of time growing up!  People usually asked my mom if we were twins!  It was fun!  (most of the time!)
Anyhoo, one day Katherine and I decided to run away!  You know, times are tough when you're 6 and 7 years old!  Don't you remember?  We had to do things like finish our homework before playing outside and we had to make our beds...it was a prison I tell ya!  And we had reached our limit!  So, we left!  We went far too...we moved into our neighbor's yard!  Here we are, I am the one with the bow!

 

The picture doesn't tell the whole story unfortunatley so let me fill you in on the details.  We decided to leave.  We started to pack.  Katherine grabbed clothes, toys, her favorite stuffed animal, and even managed to sneak some snacks.  I on the other hand only carried two things: a roll of toilet paper and our baby training potty!  I seemed to realize at a very young age that you could run into a lot of poop in the real world and a girl had better be prepared!  True story!  I am sure you can figure out the rest...we went back home before dinner!  But it made for good memories and what I hope to be a good post for a Monday morning! :)

Happy Wedding Week Kat-Bird!  Here's to you and your new partner in crime!

The Dangly Kind

One of my husbands most repeated quotes from Home Alone is "...a whole show box full of them dangly ones!"  The grouchy old man says this of his wife as Kevin's mom is begging them for their plane tickets.  It may seem to be a strange quote to repeat but in our house it actually fits really well!  You see, I love earrings!  Like, I really love them!  Now, I don't keep mine in a shoebox, just a drawer dedicated to them in my dresser.  You will be hard-pressed to find me without earrings at almost any given time!  In fact, as I was preparing to deliver Wells the nurse told me I had to take my earrings out and Graham and I both looked at her in total horror!  And, it is very rare for us to see the Caudills when Craig doesn't say to me "Wearing your small earrings tonight, huh?"  I just love them...they are the prefect accessory!  And I firmly believe that they can make or break any outfit!  Here are some of my favorites:

I can honestly tell you that I am obsessed with these pearls!  I found them about 7 years ago in

Wilmington, NC and had a fit over them!  These are like: "If you could only take 5 things with you what you take?" kind of earrings! 

Ahh, the leaves!  I have these in gold and silver and wear them at least 3 times a week!  They go with everything and I love 'em!

These too can be found in silver and gold in my drawer!  I mean, if it ain't broke?

Call me crazy, but I love a good shell!  Old school or not, still love them!

And last but not least...the cascade!  I am loving this style earring right now...gold or silver! 

 So, there you have it!  An entire post on earrings! 

Happy Thursday!