The Latest Kyle Addition

My "baby" brother got married August 2nd, and we are so thankful and happy to have Caylen as part of our family. (Aunt Cay-K as Eli calls her). Caylen just got her wedding pictures back, so I thought I would share a few pictures from the wedding. They just moved to Phoenix, Arizona where David has begun medical school. I have never seen David happier, but Scott and I look forward to the day when we are no longer living 30 hours apart from them.....

I think they love each other!!!!

Pre-Wedding: The Kyle Clan (minus Caylen and Eli)

wow-- Caylen!!!
Eli sitting patiently with Nana

Tattoos and Tailgating

The highlight of our weekend was Eli's first CCU ballgame on Saturday. A little different than Auburn... but a perfect environment for a toddler. We wanted to introduce him to tailgating in the proper fashion so of course, the tattoo of Chancey-- the Chanticleers mascot, came first. Eli was mesmerized by this event. He sat perfectly still, for the first time in his life, while his little artwork was being soaked in. This morning he woke up, ran into our bathroom to see Scott, holds out his hand and says---oooohh Chancey. He was so excited to still have his tat. Hum: do you think it would be rude if I bring tattoos to church and glue them all over his body during the service to get him to be still?

He then was introduced to Chancey the mascot. Surprisingly, he was a little intimidated at first, until he realized that this big rooster could give massive high fives.

We met our great friends Brooke, Patrick, and Baby Walker at the Alumni tailgate. This was Walker and Eli's first CCU game. By this time, Eli was on his second brownie and had already finger touched every cookie on the food table. Did I mention we had only been at the tailgate for 15 minutes?

The pictures below are highlights from the game. Eli loved it all. I think most of all he loved being able to scream to the top of his lungs without being asked to "Shhhhh" and go to time out. He gave everyone below us and above us high-fives and flirted with the two college students beside us for the first quarter. For our little socialite, football games are his cup of tea. We hope for many more tattoos and tailgating in the future.



Fireworks at halftime...

Just Beachy

This weekend was a lazy weekend at the beach. Eli started a runny nose Friday night that kept us up Friday night and some Saturday night. It's amazing how kids feel so sick when they have to go to bed, and miraculously they wake up as if they are on top of the world. Since he was feeling better, we took Eli to our neighborhood pool Saturday. Scott decided to show him the proper techniques of jumping into the pool. Eli thought that was absolutely hilarious so the rest of the evening at the pool was spent watching Scott jump. I was thoroughly entertained myself.
I have included some other pics of Eli in his "Myrtle Turtle" shirt. He gave his cousin Grayson one just like it for her 2nd birthday. We were sad to miss her party, but he wanted Grayson to be able to see him in his shirt that is just like hers.


I hope you all had a great weekend. It was great to be able to watch Auburn play a great soccer game Saturday :o).

A Pleasant Pause

I am currently reading "The Shack" by WM Paul Young. After our visit by Tropical Storm Hanna 2 weekends ago, a paragraph in the book really grasped my attention.

"There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. You are suddenly released from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of appointments and schedules..... Everyone understands and shares in this singular justification, and the sudden alleviation of the pressure to produce makes the heart merry."

As much as I dreaded the possibility of losing power as the storm approached, there was still a small part of me that embraced the opportunity. Forcibly, there were no errands to run, no sales to shop for, no hearty meals to cook, no deadlines to meet. Just quiet time with my family-- still time. I believe our primary responsibility as Christians is too serve-- but in our society, I think we take this to such an extreme that we leave little time to just "Be still, and know that He is God." It's almost as if we feel guilty if we take a few minutes to do nothing-- anxiously analyzing what on our list will not get crossed off at the end of the day. That Friday was a "still" day; a day spent counting my blessings and spending uninterrupted and peaceful time with my family. Instead of a quiet calm after the storm, it was a quiet calm during one.

Category 4 Hurricane

And it's not Ike or Josephine..... but much more destructive....his name is Eli. I am staring at our playroom upstairs where Eli (our 21 month old) has distributed out about 17 old Southern Living magazines, dumped over his toy basket, taken suitcases out of the closets, and strategically put his books in about 10 different locations all over the room. Like most boys I have seen his age, he is occupied with a task for about 5 minutes (if that) and then something else is urgently brought to his attention. We just finished eating lunch with a friend who recently moved to our area and has a 15 week old. Eli could not understand for the life of him why Baby Will did not want a french fry. I have a feeling that our little girl, due in January, is in store for a lot of tasty treats from her big brother.

I have included some pictures from our most recent Smokey Mountain Trip in August. Eli absolutely loved it. He loved the streams and all the rocks that he could throw from them. It was a true vacation for us because it was so relaxing. Relaxing these days is cherished with basketball season approaching fast. With this blog, I look forward to sharing a piece of our life with you-- from the perspective of both a mom and a coach's wife. Our life is adventurous and crazy at times, but for us, it's simply Stapler.

Following the Leader

The time has finally come.... it is now time for me to join something that I have long avoided.... the blogging world. I never thought that I could actually have a blog since I still have pictures from Christmas 2007 that have not been downloaded off of our camera as of September 1, 2008--- a goal for this Labor Day weekend. Now that I have family living across the country, I have no choice but to blog so that they can still feel a part of our lives here on the east coast. Thanks Caylen for the inspiration......



I hope that you are all are enjoying a great holiday. I'm off to give Eli some fruit snacks.