big boy birthday

it's boomy's first birthday!

and it was a circus!

and he was the ringleader

there were presents

and cake.

yum?

and party animals

and clowns!

happy birthday to my favorite nephew!

weekend scenes :: trip home

i went home for the fourth of july.

the fourth of july is one of my favorite holidays.

i love fireworks. i love being outside. i love america.

my sister, brother in-law, and nephew came home too.

unfortunately, the weather wasn't always cooperative. 

we played by the pool when we got the chance.

now feast your eyes on a bunch of pictures of boom boom:

he loves to swing.

he loves to eat.

fruit salad. 

he loves tiny b.

he loves his car.

he and uncle geg make the same faces...

he loves to fly!

he loves us!

boom!

weekend scenes :: my sunny and me

* warning *

there will be many pictures of my dog

sunny and i hung out all weekend.

we went for a walk.

watered the flowers.

threw the tennis ball.

cuddled on the couch.

and..

went to mj and pj's for dinner and dessert.

exciting, i know.

happy friday

it's me again!

i just wanted to say that i hope everyone has a happy friday AND weekend.

my mother came wednesday to help me with my classroom. we had a painting marathon (9am to 6pm straight, no lunch). it went from caution tape yellow (or what the paint store calls "citrus") to sanctuary green. there will be before and after pictures. right now, there aren't really afters. painting made me sore.

in other news, i organized some of the folders on my computer. i save a lot of crap. but now, it's organized crap. and i'm trying to make an effort to add apostrophes when i type.

k, bye friends!

weekend scenes

kyla, christanka, helen, moi

this weekend, i went to a recipe and bbq shower for my friend helen.
it was at her grandparents house here in bham. her g-rents house was crazy! it didnt look that big from the outside, but it kept growing as you walked through it. it was like a museum. there were cabinets EVERYWHERE housing dolls, figurines, and knick knacks. they also had two old juke boxes and a piano that had other instruments connected to it. besides all that stuff, there were three pinball machines. and one i have plans to steal:

it was a dolly pinball machine!!!

yes, i played it. and it was awesome. it would "mess up" and just keep giving you points. i like to think we had a connection.

on sunday morning i drove home for mother's day.

we had a photo shoot.

i wore my uber dressy white tshirt.

uncle nick, moi, daddy, mama helen, cousin delaney

later, we picked two strawberries.

and played with the dogs.

then i had to drive back today! but i had a navigation system to help me make it back thanks to my sweet parents! i'll never be lost again!

t.m.i. tuesday

this image has nothing to do with this post

recently, i have been asked a few times where my parents got the name "mollie joy."

hang on, im about to debunk all myths.

mollie is a family name on my mother's side. it is my great great grandmother's name, molly brown. no, not THE unsinkable molly brown, just molly brown from alabama. some people, despite my objection, like to think the unsinkable molly brown is my kin. but no. 

joy is on both sides of my family (ha). my grandmother on my mother's side is helen joy. my great aunt on my father's side is named joy. double the joy.

obviously, my parents had to alter the spelling of molly to mollie so that it would look good on christmas cards with my mother and sister's name (ritchIE and kellIE). 

other name facts:

my auburn id was blackmj. i remembered it as "black michael jackson." RIP.

it doesnt really bother me when people spell my name with a Y. whatev.

my family has a tendency to call me mollie joyous one. 

on my birth announcement, they thought my mom was the dad (ritchie) and that it must be a typo for my dad's name (jay for joy). so ritchie and joy welcomed their baby, mollie joy.

my cooperating teacher at the high school commented that i had a really good name, that it sounded like the name of someone in american folklore. i responded that i liked my name. ive always identified with it. :)

weekend scenes

greg scoping out his next rock.

this weekend, greg and i went to the rock climbing gym!

it was really fun/neat.

it really gives you a workout... especially your hands and fingers.

look at me being hardcore!

just a tad bit scary if you are afraid of heights.

we ate at a new place (to us) in english village.

we sat outside and got a really yummy pizza.

then we finished the night with some coffee and dessert :)

easter sunday it was beautiful out.

we ate lunch at my great aunts.

it was really nice.

funniest part of the meal was when my grandmother and her 3 sisters and 1 sister in law were trying to figure out a date to get together to go through old pictures. my great aunt leaned over to me and said, "see what happens when you get old... you have to coordinate doctor appointments."

then we came back and walked the dogs.

hope the easter bunny was good to you!

i quit the easter bunny years ago when i thought he was hiding behind my bedroom door.

true story.

happy friday

riddle me this...

what nickname did hockey great bernie geoffrion, boxing champ ray mancini, and tennis phenom boris becker have in common?

boom boom!

have a great weekend, friends :)

ps. thank you greg for the amazing trivia facts calendar.

weekend scenes

it is my spring break and i am in south carolina!

while ive been here...

 

we fed the (not so little) little boom boom...

we played with boom...

 we fed ourselves...

i ran with this beauty. or she ran me...

and more playtime.

yay, fun!

weekend scenes

 

 me, christanka, & kyky

we took a mini road trip to auburn to see our optional (levels 7, 8, &9) gymnasts compete.

level 7

 

me and tina went to cvs... we found the 90% off cart and bought a whole lot of crap for kyla (who waited in the car). she was surprised. i bought 3 loofas for 50 cents and some valtentine handcuffs for 9 cents!

little sunny bunny stayed with mj and pj. 

she loves them more than me.

they spoil her more than me.