Superdad Archives - Palmettos and Pigtails

Captain Dave

January 7, 2012 posted by Shara

My husband loves to fish. He knows the guys that work at the fishing store by name. They give him free tee-shirts….and sell him hundreds of dollars worth of fishing ~~stuff~~ “gear.” In his spare time, he likes to arrange and rearrange his tackle box…..mostly strange, sticky lures that are supposed to resemble frogs, lizards and fish.

We have three ponds in our neighborhood. Dave loves them all. He can walk to them from our house, and often takes his lunch breaks there. All I know is he comes home with mud on his boots and smells like pondmudfishoutside. But, nevertheless, I love him. And I love that he loves fishing. And I support him. And the boats he buys. (Thanks Michael!!!) That’s right, we bought a boat last weekend. Friends of ours were getting rid of theirs, and Dave had been wanting one, so it worked out nicely.

It was “a little” dirty….

But after a good powerwashing, it looked a lot better. Good enough for Loo Loo to get excited about!

Since Monday was a holiday, we decided to take her on her maiden voyage.

She floats!

Now we just need a name for our little dingy. Any suggestions?

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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

December 14, 2011 posted by Shara

We had a million things to do. Christmas shop. Clean up the house. Get dinner ready for some guests. Go pick up the girls from Sue Sue’s. Cut David’s hair.

Wait…..back up!!! I don’t do haircuts. Dave goes down into town to old Mr. Simmons to do that. He pays his $15 for a nice shave and a little off the top. And then he stocks up on supplies. You know. Hair stuff. Stuff I tease him about all the time since he uses way more than I ever did!

However, I recently splurged on a haircut and some highlights…which I may or may not have gotten to hide a stray gray or two (which I’ll never admit to, of course). But in order to keep up my lovely cut and sunkissed streaks, we decided to make a few cuts. Literally.

Dave was overdue for a trim. In fact….he reminded me of Lloyd, Jim Carrey’s character in Dumb and Dumber.

So we stripped him down and sat him outside. I had bought a Wahl hair trimming kit from TJ Maxx, thanks to a recommendation from my stylist.

I was super nervous at first….I’ve never cut anyone’s hair before. Not even really trimming bangs. Let alone buzz cutting Dave’s hair. Right before Christmas. But I strapped on a number 7 blade cover and started doing the sides. Dave wanted a mohawk….here was my best attempt without putting any stuff in it!

Maybe I should shave his back next?!?! =)

When I finished, it was short. Way shorter than before. But he likes it as it reminds him of his Navy days, and I like it because that’s $15 every three weeks that I can put toward my streaks! I’m sure in a couple of days when it grows out a little, it will look even better!

Jayna thinks it’s her turn next….but I think I will leave what’s left of her precious curls to the ladies down at Karnival Kuts!

Anyone need a cut? I charge $15. =)

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Dear Mom Mom,

November 7, 2011 posted by Shara

I am so sorry for the grief I gave you as a toddler. I apologize for having a love/hate relationship with you, where I wanted to be around you, but was a complete pain in the rear when I was! I regret banging on my bedroom door and screaming at the top of my lungs. As for any stickers I may have put on the walls…..I promise to peel them off next time I visit!! And even though I was just a two-year old, I am terribly sorry for any mean names I may or may not have called you.

Apparently I was hit by Karma today and got a taste of my own medicine! I finally had to admit defeat and called Dave to come home early for work and “deal” with Buggy. I’m spent. What goes around, comes around…..

Love,

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The Big 3-0!

October 17, 2011 posted by Shara

That’s right….my darling Dave can no longer gleefully proclaim he is married to a 20-something! I turned 30 on Friday and celebrated the entire weekend!

My weekend started on Friday, as I was given the entire day OFF! As in, I could do anything that I wanted!!! So I bummed around the house a bit in the morning and then went to our church’s Tea Room for lunch with Loo and the girls. Their shrimp and grits (hold the shrimp, please!) is to die for, and we each got a piece of cake to finish off our meal. Jayna especially enjoyed hers!

After lunch I took off on my own for the afternoon and headed to Lowes first. I love browsing their garden section, and I wanted to check out some of their garden decor as I start to plan for my vegetable garden and flowers for the yard (coming this spring, hopefully!). I picked up a couple of yellow and white mums for the front porch.

After Lowes, I headed into town to visit my two favorite places…Michaels and Hancock Fabrics!

It’s amazing how just gazing at all of these little rows of patterns and textures can make me so relaxed…and happy! I coulda stayed there all day! So…..I did! For the most part….it was so nice to just browse Michaels without having to worry about taking anyone to the bathroom, or double checking the basket for incidental shoplifted items. All I had to do, was think about all of the fun projects I don’t have time to start, much less complete! But I did get a few things with a few simple projects for the house in mind. Got any ideas of what I’ll do with this stuff? Hmmm….I feel a tutorial or two coming…..

Since Loo had watched the girls all day, we gave her the night off =) and sent her to an oyster roast with some friends, while Dave and I went to our favorite restaurant in our town, The Mustard Seed, for dinner.

The next day, Linds and I had a lazy morning, sleeping in with the girls. Then she cooked me pumpkin pancakes and we went for a walk in our new neighborhood. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was about 80 degrees. Beautiful! Remind me to just read this post if I’m ever caught whining about living here!

Saturday night, a driver came and picked Dave and me up and drove us into Charleston. We hopped on the Sandlapper, a sunset cruise boat, and took a two hour tour around the coast of Charleston.

Dave and I did a little dream shopping for yachts. This was one of our favorites….both for the ironic name, and for the mini cooper on the second deck!

I swear I only had one glass of wine on the cruise!

After the cruise, we caught a rickshaw over to our new favorite Charleston restaurant….SNOB. Where we both were so predictable and got exactly what we ordered last time! We switched it up with our appetizers though…I got a sweet potato ravioli and Dave got a salad with seared tuna. Fruit with a passionfruit sauce was for desert! (Along with a chocolate martini!)

While we were out playing grown-ups for once, this is what was happening at home….

We love free babysitting Loo! Thanks for all your help this weekend!

Back to my fabulous weekend….

I got the chance to skip Sunday School and sleep in a bit (and contrary to popular belief, it had nothing to do with the sangria I had with Saturday night’s dinner!), and then Linds and I took the girls to buy pumpkins from a local church.

We ended up straying from the normal round orange ones, and chose some of these more interesting ones. We have some ideas to use them as part of the decor for our upcoming Halloween Party.

My weekend ended with yet another surprise from my fabulous husband! He whisked me away on Sunday night and we ended up meeting some of our great friends for a surprise dinner at Wasabi. Good food, good company, GREAT weekend!

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Date Night!

September 6, 2011 posted by Shara

My wonderful husband decided to take advantage of our live in babysitter (we love you Loo Loo!!), and whisked me away this weekend for a night out on the town. I had no idea he had such plans up his sleeve! First, he had Loo Loo book me a facial at my favorite spa (which, due to scheduling conflicts, I actually got to enjoy the day after!). Then, he informed me that I would need a cocktail dress and to be ready to leave by 4:30. When I walked downstairs, I was greeted by a driver, who loaded Dave and me into a town car and drove us into Charleston.

We arrived a little early for our dinner reservation, so Dave and I walked a couple of blocks down to one of our favorite hotels, The Market Pavillion Hotel, which is where we stayed on our wedding night. We decided to have a quick drink at their lobby bar. Dave was a bit boring and just ordered a red wine. I, on the other hand, decided to go out on a limb and order the strangest (and most expensive) martini I have ever seen!

I ordered a Firefly lemonade (one of my favorites!), made with Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka and Lemonade. But then the drink was infused with several shots of liquid nitrogen, which made the fog effect on the drink, as well as making it super cold (like -320 degrees!). I even had to wait about 2 minutes before drinking it, to make sure it was a “warm enough” temperature to drink! The nitrogen also formed a cold, icy film on the top of the martini that kept it super cold the whole time I was drinking it. It was so neat!

For dinner, we walked over to Slightly North of Broad (also known as S.N.O.B.). Dave and I have been meaning to try this famous Charlestonian spot for awhile now, so it was quite exciting to me that he finally snagged us reservations for our big night out!

The inside is quite nice, with fancy schmancy tables (with actual table cloths…..a far cry from the Chick-fil-a children’s placemat I’m used to!), and an open kitchen surrounded by exposed brick walls.

Dave and I each had deliciousness for dinner. I can’t remember what he ordered, as I was so focused on my goat cheese and arugula salad with balsamic. Followed by chicken, roasted vegetables and fried goat cheese (can you tell I’ve been missing it during my pregnancy?!?!). It was sooooooo good! Dave and I split a sort of cookie dough pecan pie with chocolate sauce, vanilla bean ice cream and strawberries for dinner. Am I making you hungry? =)

After dinner, we wandered over to the Dock Street Theater. Dave still wouldn’t tell me where we were going so I was puzzled as we passed several churches, The Footlight Players (another local theater group) and a carriage tour. When we reached the theater and found our seats, I realized it was opening night for Chicago! (one of my favorite musicals!).

The show was fabulous!! There were four resident actors who played the main characters…..their singing and dancing were especially spectacular. Even Dave enjoyed it!

Thank you Dave for a wonderful night out on the town….it was such a treat to have an evening alone with you! I love you!

On another note, make sure you check out my new page called Reviews. I’ve been using a lot of local vendors lately, so I decided to start a page (off of my Home Page), where you can see what I thought of various products and see some examples. The first Review I have listed on there is my fabulous newborn photo shoot with Rachel Weber last week. So look at the top of this page (right under where it says Palmettos and Pigtails) and click on Reviews to see more pictures of Amelia and Jayna courtesy of Rachel Weber Photography!

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I made that!

September 3, 2011 posted by Shara

Well, I’m jumping ahead of myself! Let me back up and tell you the whole story…

Well, technically, it started about 9 months ago….but you don’t need to hear any of those details! So…as far as you are concerned, it started about three weeks ago (around the 14th of August or so). I began having contractions on a regular basis. I had been going to my doctor on a weekly basis, and to make things simple, she said things “were moving along.” So, in the light of the contractions, we began to prepare for little Amelia’s possible early arrival. That weekend, I was having contractions about a minute apart and a minute long. I called the doctor both Saturday and Sunday nights, wondering if “this was it” and I needed to head into the hospital….but because I was only feeling pressure, and no pain….I was told to wait it out. And I’m so glad I did, because it turns out I was only slightly dehydrated, which was causing the contractions! So I went to my normal appointment on the 18th and was told that I was “far enough along” that we needed to schedule an induction for early Saturday morning.

So, we arrived at the hospital at 6 am on Saturday the 20th. Mom Mom and GP had arrived the night before, so they and Sue Sue and Papaw entertained Buggy for the day. Loo Loo met us up at the hospital after we were admitted. My favorite part of the morning was when I first walked up to the admitting window, and informed the girl there that I was there to be induced. She promptly replied, “Induced for what?” and then, “OMG, I didn’t even realize you were pregnant!!!” I love that girl.

It was a long day, but it went fast, as my progression also was pretty quick. Loo Loo kept busy by decorating my delivery room.

Dave took a nap.

I watched 6 hours of HGTV (and saw this chandelier that I really liked!).

The nurse came in and broke my water. Loo Loo read a magazine. I got an epidural. Dave took another nap.

Next thing I know they are informing me that I am 8cm and they are paging my doctor. My epidural kicks in and I can no longer feel my legs. Or butt. Or lower back. The nurse gets Amelia’s little bed ready.

It’s 1:50, and Dr. Campbell arrives and announces that It’s Time. We wake up Dave. Somebody has to hold my legs….. after all, they are about 347 lbs each!

I’ll spare you the nitty gritty details, but Amelia Josephine was born at 2:10. HUGE thanks to my SuperHubby and my WonderSister who were my cheerleaders, leg-holders, joke-tellers, water-getters, and overall just a fabulous support system in the delivery room! I love you both!

She got to stay with us for about an hour before the nurses whisked her off for her first bath, and I attempted to gain back the feeling in my legs!

We were soooooo happy to have our favorite people there to help with the birth…Dr. Campbell (who also delivered Jayna) and Nurse Tracey (who also stuck it out with us waaaaay after her shift ended when Jayna was born). It was so nice that they both were able to be there!

We were finally released from the hospital on Monday afternoon and have been so blessed to have wonderful friends visiting and bringing us meals ever since then!

So, I apologize that I haven’t been around as much…..but with our impending move in two weeks (and yes, we are STILL packing!) and trying to get some sort of routine down with Amelia and Jayna, blogging has been a bit on the back burner! But, don’t worry! We had some professional pictures taken last week which I will get up on here with my first review, AND some new pictures of the house (it’s almost done….!). Thanks for all of your comments…its great to know y’all are sticking with me!

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Happy First Day of School!

August 18, 2011 posted by Shara

Just thought I would post a couple of First Day of School pics! Courtesy of Loo Loo and Dave, that is. I unfortunately had a doctor’s appointment, so I missed my Buggy’s first day! Apparently she did just fine, running into the room without even a backwards glance! It helps that her one of her teachers was from last year, and one is a Sunday School teacher too…oh, and she isn’t shy at all!

And I’m happy to report, Dave did very well with Jayna’s first day of school too!

On the baby front, I’d like to give a shout out to my awesome friends from church (Melissa, Rebecca, Minde, Christy, Tara and Allison) who “pounded” me with diapers last night! I much appreciate it! And thank you so much to Ashley for hosting! It was a fantastic party….so good to hang out with my girls! I think we are finally ready for this baby to come now!

(Clockwise from back left) Rebecca, Melissa, Christy, Ashley, Loo Loo, Shara, Minde

Guilty Pleasures

July 13, 2011 posted by Shara

I should have named this One Lazy Post #2. Because that is how I’m feeling these days. Rumor has it that the heat index was 115 today. I wouldn’t know because I ran my errands and was tucked back nicely in my air-conditioned house before it hit 100! I was wildly accomplished today as well….well, this morning anyway. I signed Buggy up for swim lessons ($30 for two weeks, every day!), bought a used pump from a girlfriend (who generously threw in TONS of accessories), put away the last of the newborn baby clothes (the most nesting I can do in our partially packed house), and actually cooked dinner (with fresh veggies no less!).

And then the laziness kicked in. In addition to a nice, long (and overdue)phone chat with my favorite Canadian, this is what I did this evening:

While this is what I was supposed to be doing……

I should have known that there were also hi-jinks to be had while said boxes were being assembled by my darling hubby and daughter!

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Puppet Theaters!

January 27, 2011 posted by Shara

First of all, can I just give a shout out to my AMAZING husband? We are frantically trying to plan Buggy’s birthday party for next weekend and I got the crazy idea in my head on Saturday that there should be a puppet area. Complete with a puppet theater. Which we don’t have.

Enter Amazing Dave. By Sunday night, I had a puppet theater handmade and painted white set up in my living room. It is just awaiting Amazing Dave’s wife, Slacker Shara, to make a curtain for it. And tada! Here it is!