DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT I THINK THERE'S AN ALLIGATOR BEHIND ME

AB and the kids are having fun in Jackson this week. AB is taking it easy on her maternity leave, but she managed to muster enough energy to take the kids to the Wildlife museum. Gracie really dug the alligators.

2-11-08

Practice Run

Addie is getting excited about the arrival of her new sister. Last
night Bubba and Kimberly let her take John Burton for a test drive. We
think she's ready.

Dancing Queen

2-2-08

Sometimes, you just have to boogie. Gracie was feeling pretty good about herself in her "tank top" shorts and flip flops yesterday morning, so she danced a jig for me.

Saturday Afternoon with Friends

2-2-08

Saturday, Bill Davis brought William, Grace Anne, George, and McTyiere up to ride four-wheelers and tromp through the woods. We had a big time, and it was the perfect cure for the bad case of cabin fever from which we have all been suffering. It gave Lori a chance to rest too. She had her second round of chemotherapy Thursday. The weather was perfect.

Live From Bathtime

Addie's New Do

1-30-08

Addie wore her hair in a poney tail for the first time Tuesday. Here's the pics. In other developments, Gracie had her first bloody nose Monday night. To her credit she slept through the entire episode. She's a chip off the old block. I remember I bloodied my share of pillows when I was a kid.

Weekend at Cindy's

1-28-08

Most of the pictures in the posts below this one can be found in the attached album. Easier to browse. Have a great week!

On the Way Home From Cindy's House

Trying to stretch those naps as many miles as I can!

Where's Gracie?

The kids are tucked in their beds. As you can see from the pictures
they had quite a day. Let me know if you can find Gracie.

I posted throughout the day today, mainly for the benefit of AB, who didn't get to make the trip to Jackson and is home sick with bronchitis. I wanted her to have something fun to look at today while she coughed. Get well ABA. See you tomorrow.

Ready for Dessert

Superstar!

The sidewalk in front of Primos.

The Little Cousins

Heading to Dinner

Addie and Gang

Gracie, Brooke, and Uncle Bailey

Buffalo Wild Wings

Me and Bailey hit the bar to watch the Ole Miss game during naps.

Chillin Before Naps

More Playground Fun

The Playground at Chick-Fil-A

Jarhead

Dragon at Cindy's House

Posted with my iPhone

Just sitting around pondering my new blog (see post below). I am testing my iPhone. Seems to work well. Man, I'm bored! Sorry. It may sleet here tonight. Exciting huh? Not to worry. I'll keep you posted.

Eli Manning is going to the Super Bowl. We watched the NFC championship from the Man Club Sunday night. I was sorry Favre lost because he's long been a hero of mine, but seeing Eli lead the Giants to the Super Bowl is a memory I will never forget. Even Anita Beth was mildly amused. Go Giants!

To Blog or Not to Blog

1-21-08

Saturday, AB and I rendezvoused with Cindy in Oxford to deliver Gracie for a nodoubt funfilled week in Jackson. We lunched at Boure and then toddled over to Oxford Kids Company before snapping Gracie into Cindy's car and heading back to our respective homes. It's been a good break for AB. This third pregnancy has been her toughest to date. Google sciatic nerve to learn more.

Lately I have been pondering blogging. The blog used well, has alot of power. I have been reading this one guy's blog for the last few weeks. I discovered it on the WallStreetJournal website. It's www.insurancecoverageblog.com -- unexciting I know, but the guy has gotten all kinds of press and is becoming known for being an expert or at least the goto guy on all things related to Dickie Scruggs. It wouldn't suprise me if he eventually got a bookdeal. And it really is simple what he does. He goes to Google, writes "Scruggs" and hits enter. Then he highlights the latest news developments on his blog. Any idiot could do it. Which gets me to wondering--what could this idiot (me) blog about and get some recognition? I would want it to be something I am passionate about, or at the very least enjoy, so it would not be monotonous work to do the blog entries. One key to a successful blog is constant updates. If you don't enjoy it, you'll quit updating and your readership will fall away. I don't know if just blogging about the Adams family would appeal to the masses, and if it would, I don't think I would want it to. I could blog about Ole Miss sports, but forty other morons are already doing that and I don't live close enough to Oxford to really provide inside information. I need a niche. I'm open to any ideas any of you out there may have as to an idea for a blog.

Meet Baby Bubba

1-18-08

Or John Burton Labas, if you prefer. Our friends Bubba and Kimberly Labas had their first child last Friday and AB and I met the little guy Tuesday night.

Addie had swollen tonsils last weekend, but she's over that now. Not much else to report. Have a great weekend!

Too Much of a Good Thing

Well, its that time of year again. Christmas is over, all the best football of the year is on the tellie every other night, and Anita Beth is about to sponaneously combust in a jealous rage because she is so sick of me watching football. I told her I have an addiction. She doesn't care. Is there such a thing as football rehab? Usually when the celebrities go to rehab they get a bunch of public sympathy. I wonder if that would work for Anita Beth? What really stinks about the way this whole football thing is set up is that you work hard all year, trying to watch all the good games as the seasons build up to championships, bowl games, playoffs and the Super Bowl and then when those things finally all culminate in the bliss of January, your spouse is so sick of football she is about to slap you across the face with a ham hock. So after a a long weekend of the playoffs, including watching Eli kick tail against Tampa Bay (that's my boy!), I bailed on the Chargers-Titans to go to Henco and Wal-Mart with the AB and the kids. Don't tell me I'm not a family man! Still, I couldn't help but notice while we were inside Wal-Mart that every check-out aisle was empty. It seems every other person in Selmer was at home watching the game. On the way home, I asked AB if she noticed how empty the store was. I hypothesized that it probably had something to do with the fact that the TENNESSEE Titans were playing their biggest game of the year. She seemed unmoved. Keep me in your thoughts tonight as I try to watch the National Championship. In fact, tonight would be a good time for any of you who feel so led to call my house to distract AB from noticing that I am watching MORE FOOTBALL!

Saturday (before the first kickoff) we went to David and Aprils for her very large birthday bash. I posted a few pics.

1-07-08

Also, here are a few shots Libby sent me from Christmas, including the fabulous flying princess. Enjoy. Geoux LSU!

12-31-07 libby pics

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE MAN CLUB

 
 
 

AB kicked me and the kids out of the house New Years Day so she and her helpers could deChristmas the house. Luckily, we had the Man Club as a refuge on College Football's biggest day. Gracie and Addie happily went with me. Turns out they really liked the Man Club. I didn't have the heart to tell them that one day they would be a violation of Man Club rules and regulations. The picture of Gracie in the hat was taken at the Man Club. The picture of Gracie with the sunglasses was taken this morning. She tells me when I need to take pictures now, which I think is kind of funny. She instructed that I take each of these. Have a great day!

More Christmas Pictures.

Ray Ray posted her Christmas pics today. She has a good camera. Her pictures always have perfect lighting and are so clear. I downloaded the ones that feature the Jake AB clan. Check em out. Libby and Brian, I'm still waiting on yours.

1-01-08

Adams Family Christmas 2007

12-31-07

Where to begin. It was a real Adams Family Christmas. The December celebration known to some as Christmas and to us as the four weeks of Gracie's Birthday is finally behind us. What a trip. I am still tired. Thanks to Mom for being such a great hostess. No Christmas would be complete without a few of my favorite food groups. This year, thanks to Cynbad, we had all of them--except Krispy Kreme donuts. Maybe next year. We all had a wonderful time. Gracie loved her birthday party. The space jump was awesome! Those pictures aren't included here, but hopefully Libby Lu will forward them on. Gracie The Flying Princess must make the blog. Gracie probably summed it up best the night before we left to come back to Selmer, "Dad, I sure did have fun with your Mom."

And of course Christmas morning was fabulous. I really liked the stocking stuffer and the present from Evie. Anita Beth had a good time too, though she has started frequently grabbing her ear lobes and muttering "my preciouses", while spending vast amounts of time shut up in the closet with the lights out. Not sure what brought that on. Gracie just wants to go back to Big Brake. Turns out deer hunting with Diego is her idea of a perfect afternoon. As you can see from the pics, Addie wasn't hard to please. We can't wait for the next Adams family Holiday. Next time, there'll be FIVE of us!

I think the pictures tell the story best. Enjoy.

Christmas at Granny's

We had pizza and presents at Granny's house last night. Gracie is stacking them deep. Presents I mean. She has now had two birthday celebrations and a Christmas. More to come. So far she really seems to like the baby doll. She slept with her last night. She named her Audrey. Addie came out well too. She got some blocks and watch. Her favorite thing to do with the blocks is to put them in the bucket and then dump the bucket over her head. She tries to wear the watch like a pair of sunglasses. We're working with her.

12-19-07

The Birthday Party

12-17-07

Gracie's bouncy party was Saturday. There was so much bouncing. And cake. And presents. Two birthday parties down--one to go. Poor kid.

Here's some pic from the first birthday party. When Gracie's grandfather came to visit.

12-9-07

Wanna see my belly button?

11-26-07

It was an eventful and exciting Thanksgiving holiday. Obviously, everyone now knows about the new calf. Friday, AB and family decorated the entire house for Christmas in one giant swoop, complete with our first fake pre-lit tree. It saved about two hours of decorating and allowed me to focus on the Ole Miss game, which was awful. I'm glad he was fired. And then Gracie got the stomach bug. We think Orgeron caused the illness by choosing to go for it on Fourth and 1 with a 14-0 lead and 8 minutes left in the game, but that's just speculation. Sunday morning, Addie followed suit--on the way to church. Luckily, we were in two cars. I took the little belly-button monster home and AB, Gracie, Brian and Iris made it to church. The illness did save me a trip to the Memphis airport yesterday. Addie and I had some good bonding time. She is now a huge football fan. Somehow AB and I have remained bug free. For now.

Kicking Off Christmas

11-23-07

Gracie wanted to go ahead and talk to Santa about coordinating the event with her birthday, just so there wouldn't be any last minute confusion. It never hurts to plan.

Henrietta

Thanksgiving 2007

We welcome to the Farm, Henrietta, daughter of Maude. She was born Thanksgiving night around 8:30 pm. Gracie and I went to get a look at her in the daylight this morning. She's a cutie. Still a little gooey. When she fluffs up I'll post more photos. We are expecting two more calves soon. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

11-20-07

Addie Goes to School

Check out these cute pictures of my big girl. Oh yeah, and it looks like we're going to have ANOTHER girl. Don't worry, I'm very excited.

11-15-07

The Cat and the Bee

10-29-07

Not much time for a post, but pictures tell 1000 words, so you guessed it... Halloweed is here. Gracie is a cat and Addie is a bee.

For those of you keeping score at home, Gracie has woken up the last two nights and come downstairs. Last night she tried to climb in our bed. Fun fun. I miss my good little sleeper. I thought if I threatened to buy her a crib like Addie I would make a point to her, but it backfired...she got excited about it.

The Imperfect Pose

I bought myself an iphone a couple weeks ago and I have been testing out the camera. Cindy sent the girls these cute little outfits and so I tried to snap some pics this morning. The iphone does not have a flash and is a tad slow. When you have a two year old and one year old as your subjects you need quickness and a good flash. Enjoy the proof.

10-23-07

Newsom

Les Newsom (RUF Ole Miss) preached at Trinity Sunday. His Sunday School lesson has really stuck with me the last 24 hours. The lesson was on suffering and the scripture reading was from I Peter 1. In Christ we can only be tested by fire, but not burned.

"in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you(AE) by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven,(AF) things into which angels long to look." I Peter 1:12

The angels long to look at God's plan of salvation and the work of Christ. Jesus took on the full wrath of God so that in our suffering, if we are in Christ by faith, we cannot be burned by the fire. We will survive into eternity. Any suffering we endure is but temporary, no matter what or how bad it may be! One day we will be...

before the throne of God,
and(U) serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne(V) will shelter them with his presence.
16(W) They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
(X) the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17For the Lamb in the midst of the throne(Y) will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of(Z) living water,
and(AA) God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Revelation 7:15

I could say so much about this lesson, but alas, I must go bill some hours. Praise be to God our Father who loves us so much that he undertook to pour his full wrath on his own Son in order that we may one day be with him. And he will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Sleeping Disorder

10-19-07

Everyone who has ever spent any time with us the last two years knows the Lord blessed us with a couple kids who love to sleep. AB and I always joke that its because the Lord knows our limitations--that we would never be able handle having a bad sleeper. Well, we're about to find out. It seems one week of sleeping with Mom in Uncle Brian's small New York apartment was enough to totally disrupt two years of blissful uninterrupted rest. Ever since Gracie has been home she has been scared of the dark. The other night she begged me to sleep with her. She told me she was scared the dogs would bark (I know, it didn't make sense to me either). Later that night I heard the pitter patter of feet and heard the door to her room slam, but I was in the middle of a Monday Night Football game so I waited a few minutes to go check on her. I walked upstairs and she wasn't in her bed or in her room! My heart skipped a beat, but then I looked out in the upstairs living room and she was curled up asleep in the chair. She was so out that she didn't stir when I picked her up and took her to bed. As I layed her down, without opening her eyes, she grabbed my arm. I gently moved it and she slept through the night.

Wednesday, Savanna (the nanny) said Gracie did not nap well at all. She would wake up screaming and tell Savanna she was scared.

Last night at about 3:30 I awoke with a start, hearing the sound of feet pounding across the upstairs floor. I walked upstairs to find Gracie sitting at Anita Beth's desk--wide awake! She said "Hey Daddy!" as though it was time for breakfast.

This morning, for the first time that I can remember in her short life, Gracie came downstairs before I went up to get her. Not good.

Note to parents everywhere: DO NOT EVER SLEEP WITH YOUR CHILDREN! IT CAN ONLY LEAD TO TROUBLE!

So much for my perfect little sleeper.

Special Family Time

Rachel sent me some pictures from the week that we gathered as a family to be with and remember my grandmother, Evie. It was really a special time. We were so blessed to be able to come together as a family to say good bye to dear Evie. Libby and Brian traveled all the way from Savannah twice, once to tell Evie they loved her and once again the next weekend for the funeral. Seeing them two weeks in a row was really great. Funerals are actually a weird mix of sadness, sorrow, and joy. It is fun to be around people you love and don't see very often. I guess that is part of the reason we have funerals. God gives us community to love one another and be with one another. Imagine how sad it would be to say good bye to someone if you were all alone. We really are blessed.

10-01-07

New York

AB took the kids to New York last week and somehow didn't come home with any good pics for me to share. Here are the highlights as I know them:
1. They visited the Bronx Zoo where Gracie and Grannie rode a real live camel together.
2. So much asian food was consumed that Anita Beth came home requesting American food.
3. Gracie got carsick in a taxi on the way to visit our friend Cory and Kari Jo and soiled herself and Addie. Luckily KJ had a washing machine. Gracie said she "throwed".
4. Gracie got her own digital camera. She takes my picture now.
5. Addie, Gracie, and AB rode the Farris Wheel.
6. They all rode the subway.

Guys Weekend

I joined my buddies Kirk, Ryan, and Matt for a guys weekend in Oxford. We saw Ole Miss almost beat Alabama. What a heart-breaker. I think we were robbed. Obviously the guy that posted this video does, too.




After the game we hit the Grove. Luckily, beer still tasted good. And co-eds were still pretty. After an hour or two of that we headed to the car, which was parked in Matt's "secret" parking spot. As we rounded the corner to where his car should have been parked, we were a little shocked to observe that it was very noticably missing! The towing company was nice enough to leave a sign with telephone number on the curb where Matt's car should have been. When Matt called the wrecker service guy told him that for the low low price of $125 he could have it back. He even offered to come pick ole Matty up.

While Matt was bailing his Tahoe out, the rest of us hit this great bar on the square called the Library. It was around when I was in school ten years ago, but not near as cool. They had TV's everywhere. I don't think I would have ever left if it had been around when I was in school. What a great place to watch games. We saw Kentucky upset LSU and Auburn's narrow victory over Arkansas. I am looking forward to another guy's weekend.

10-15-07

Evelyn Grace

10-3-07

This has been a sad time at our house. Gracie's great-grandmother is almost gone. We drove to Jackson for the weekend to say our goodbyes. Gracie gave Evie a big kiss on the forehead and said, "I love you Evie" with her best smile. Evie seemed to smile and said, "I love you, too." It was a precious moment that I want to memorialize. Addie was there too, contributing joy in her own way, mostly just by looking cute and posing for more chocolate chex from Pam Pam. Of course, Anita Beth and I both told Evie how much we loved her. I read Psalm 139 to her and she seemed moved by it though it was hard to tell.

Anita Beth and Gracie love Evie so much, which I find so endearing. Gracie has never known Evie outside of a small sanitary room in a nursing home and yet Gracie loves going to see Evie. St. Catherine's village is "Evie's House" to Gracie. Anita Beth's first memory of Evie is watching Tennessee win the national championship on her sofa back in 1999, when we were still engaged. I had taken her to Evie's to show off my my bride, score some visited with grandmother points with Evie and Mom, and simulateously catch some college football action. I am so self-centered. Anyway, Anita Beth has always been good at making conversation with Evie, one-sided though it may be, when I could not think of anything good to say and just wanted to look at the television for an escape. I did have a chance to share my favorite memory of Evie with her last weekend on one of our visits. It's when I was 15 years old and just starting to drive. She let me drive her all the way home to Jackson from Destin in her big Lexus--fully equipped with a radar detector. I'll bet the speedometer never read anything below 80 the whole way. She never said a word other than, "You sure are a good driver Jake." That was a great day for me. We will all miss Evie. We love you Evie and we know we will see you again one day someday, in glorification.

Monday we drove home to Selmer. That night Granny brought the girls ballerina outfits. They created some good picture opportunities.

Got Milk?

9-24-07

Well, I probably don't have to tell most of you that the last month has been a crazy one. For the record, I'll document a few things. AB is expecting in April! The girls are growing fast. Little Addie is just walking all over the house and everywhere else. There was another journey to visit Elmo and his friends. Our friends John and Paige had a baby boy last week. His name is Jack. And AB and I are involved in the biggest trial in our lives. At least thus far. I would write the name of the trial but am afraid the blog would start showing up on google. There is lots of excitement everywhere. Enjoy the pictures.

Elmo and the Ducks

Elmo and the Ducks 8-8-07

As promised, pictures from our journey to see Elmo and the Ducks. A special thanks to Rachel for the pictures. Somehow in all the excitement I forgot my camera.

July

8-03-07

Good news! I am so busy at work that I have been neglecting the blog. Anyway, here are some cute pics. Most of them are from Trinity Presbyterian Church's first anniversary. It was a fun celebration and we were thankful.