On this day, eleven years ago...

two weeks late,
after hours and hours of some pretty tough labor
(and Gary begging doctors, nurses, and assorted medical professionals to get me some relief "or else!" lol),
we had a wonderful little baby enter our lives,
and we've never been the same!

Today, our sweet Delaney Elizabeth turns 11 years old!!

It's really hard to believe that it's been 11 years since she was born. Since the moment that Gary held her for the first time (and looked, I think, the most surprised by the love he could feel!)

It's really hard to believe that Delaney is getting so big and growing up so fast. I know--from my experience seeing McKenna turn into a young lady overnight--that these years go by so fast. So, I must treasure them every day!

On this day,
I realize that Delaney is a special kind of joy. She is a marvelously talented, smart, and beautiful girl. She is also my most challenging of children. I will freely admit that I have to work hardest on my relationship with her. She is so stubborn and strong-willed (she takes after her Pop! lol) and we butt heads on a regular basis. But the reward for the work are those nights that she lingers with her hugs and tells me that she loves me (she may be my most stubborn, but she is also my most demonstrative and a night doesn't go by that I don't get at least three or four "I love you"s. That is VERY special and one of my favorite things about her!)

She is... smart, pretty, athletic, dramatic, full-throttled (she does nothing half-way), kind-hearted, and sensitive. You always know where you stand with her; if she's mad, boy do you know it! If she's sad, you know it just as well. She loves lost causes and roots for the underdog. She would eat ice cream everyday for breakfast, if she could get away with it.

She's my sweet Birthday Girl! And I love her!!!

So...Happy Birthday Delaney!! We will party this week like it's 1999 this week and celebrate BIG!!!

Now... how about a weekend update? (You know you want it!! ha!!)

We headed up to Huntsville (about an hour and a half away) on Friday afternoon for a softball tournament with Delaney's team. At the same time, I knew that I'd have to come back around 11 that night to Birmingham to pick up McKenna from the airport. She had a wonderful time in Europe, but was just about ready to be back home. I told her she could go to her grandparents, take a shower, and sleep, but she said she wanted to be with us! (She is very adventurous, but she even admitted that she missed us all! lol)

Well...that afternoon, I got a call from McKenna saying that there were weather problems in Detroit (where they were flying from NYC) and all flights were cancelled. They had to go to La Guardia (they'd been at JFK) and sleep overnight in the airport! (We later learned, and saw on CNN, that weather was not the problem, but actually a computer glitch.)

She ended up sleeping just for about three hours on a luggage cart and then flew out the next morning. She arrived in Birmingham around noon, and I drove her back up to Huntsville with the rest of us. (Where she promptly put a sleeping bag on the top row of bleachers and slept for about three hours!! lol)

She had a WONDERFUL trip, as did my Mom. They had so many great stories to tell (and, thank goodness, Mom made it even with her weak health!!) and already said they were ready to go back!!

McKenna brought home more than 700 pictures and I plan on sharing some of them with you all tomorrow!!!

In the meantime, here are a few pics from our weekend!

(of course, we had to do some bed-jumping! I was excited to finally get Gary in action ...)



(a few action shots of Delaney...)


(McKenna getting a little bit of shut-eye...)

(Sydney with her friends Clayton, who she calls her "boyfriend" and who I officially saw kiss her this weekend, lol; and with her best buddy Anna...

(we got a much-needed shower and when it cleared, we had a gorgeous sunset on Friday night...)

(and a little teaser for tomorrow...)


Hope you all had a great weekend as well! I hope to get to some blogs this morning and check out everyone's activities going on right now!! Then...I've got to get down to business...because I have an EXTREMELY busy week coming up! Tomorrow, we are doing a get-together with some of Delaney's best friends and I've got to do some planning for it! Then, I've got a TON Of stuff to do to get ready for our writer's conference this weekend. It will be a busy, busy week and I'm just crossing my fingers right now that I will survive!

The good news is that in the midst of all the busy-ness and activities are such HAPPY times that it's all completely worth it!! Delaney's birthday, a visit from my grandmother, uncle, and cousins (who are coming to the conference), and just some good family time. NOTHING better than that!!

So...I'm taking a deep breath and diving into this week!!

See ya again soon!