those eyes! those ears!

This isn't the biggest or most fun thing to happen recently, it's just the cutest.

today i get to babysit this for a few hours:

quick re-cap

back in my college days we would often do a re-cap at the end of a long but fun night of partying it up. it usually involved me and becca calling each other as we went to sleep in the wee hours of the morning and talking about the various events of the evening. this is going to be like a really quick version of that - except via blog, and you probably weren't there for the real thing:

- purnell vacay 2010! hilton head island, boogie boarding (surfing for sam), cookbook reading, seafood cooking, cabana lounging, free margarita drinking. i love my family.

- sam purnell staying with us for a couple days. we mostly watched x-files, courtesy of netflix.

- the summer has started. i've already been out of town for more than half of the days in june. thanks to a staff retreat and a mission trip. this is the insanity of our summer schedule, and every year it is a harsh reality. i find myself thinking "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" as we power through june and july with nary time for a breath.

-said staff retreat full of great food, fun with our colleagues that we love so much, and paul's poison ivy face. we frolicked in meadows and took hikes to ponds full of giant tadpoles. we cooked smores in the chimney remnant of the 'old homestead' and played nerts (until my constant losing led to waves of hilarious self-deprication. what? it's how i deal, and i'm funny while i deal with it).

-mission trip to Palmer Home in Hernando, Mississippi. We keep having too many kids sign up for retreats, so there were 60 of us in one house. mayhem. but really fun mayhem. i think the highlight of the trip for me was our nightly jaunts to velevet cream, a local drive up burger and ice cream place. OH and memphis - the famous rendevous restaurant wasn't ready for this girl who could (and did) shamelessly finish off a full rack of ribs. by myself. get off my back - i really like ribs.

- oh, and we're moving to st. louis in august. more on that later.

that's all the time i have. i'll be back later. thanks for reading!

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old mcdonald had a farm . . .

yesterday was a jam-packed day. we (the huensches, the steakleys, the littens) had 3 parties. 3! we kicked it off with a farm party and it's the only one I have pictures of. there was 4 wheel-ing, fishing, pig chasing, pig eating, baby goat and chicken holding, and lots of quality time with people we love in our church family. but since a picture is worth a thousand words. . .

me and one of the baby chickens. so. cute. i want chickens. and fresh eggs. and some chickens that stay babies forever.

kala and fish number 1 - i think she caught five in all, and only fished for 10 minutes.

sara and heidi with the baby goat. i'm pretty sure sara and i are both looking into getting one of these for our next pets. unless i find i sheep, i think i would like a sheep.

i don't know this guy - but he was the kid who caught the greased pig. that's said pig being put on his shoulders.

the best part though? seeing a huge part of our church family just enjoying being together. In the words of Mr. John Denver, "thank God I'm a country boy" (or girl).

Happy Mother's Day!

just a quick little note to let the world wide web know that this woman:

is the greatest mom ever. she is much to be thanked (or perhaps blamed) for my intense love of food. she is a fantastic cook - whether it's the best shrimp and grits you've ever put in your mouth or a late night snack invented out of the odds and ends found in our kitchen and pantry. her talents do not end there, however. she can also plan an entire wedding from out of state, find you almost exactly what you want for half of what you were willing to spend or make 25 guests feel just as welcome as the 2 she thought were coming over. we did that to her. a lot. that's my mom. and i am so proud of her.

I also have to recognize this woman:

(isn't she so foxy? she would die if she knew i put this on the internet). this is jean brown, my grandmother, with my late grandfather. seriously - how gorgeous are they? going back to the food issue, i guess it all started with her. and i just got a little piece of early inheritance in the form of her cast iron skillet. it's now been used in 3 kitchens (it was her mom's) to add love and perfectly browned bottoms to countless pieces of cornbread and ham. i thank her for my rich southern heritage, my DAR membership and the occasional ability to get whatever i want from strangers. (" so, what are my chances. . . " i use that one a lot). one time grandmama needed a ride home from the atlanta airport because she lives on a farm about 45 minutes away. you know who drove her home? the pilot. only jean brown. my mom will try to make you think she didn't get these genes, but she did. as did i. they just seem to get a little diluted with each generation. anyway - i have so much to be thankful for in my grandmama. she's a go getter, and will do anything to see her kids, grandkids and great grandkids. she's lived through the depression, gone to college when it was not the easiest thing to do and taught JUNIOR HIGH for, like 30 something years. you can now find her scooting around her little south georgia town in her candy apple red caddy. can't nobody hold her down. she cracks me up.

but i'm not done! there is no way i could NOT mention my newest mom:

Dori!! she's my mother-in-law and i could not be luckier. she has made me feel so welcome in their family, and she never lets me go hungry (are you catching the theme here?). she has such a well defined sense of style and she is FUN. and the boys she brought up? let's just say she raised them right. she trained them to open doors, send flowers, shop for hours (which i should appreciate way more than i do - i'm not a shopper) and best of all - wash dishes. sigh. i really couldn't have it any better.

i love you all and truly hope you have had the wonderful mother's day that you deserve!!

just call me snow white

If someone asks me what i'm up to these days, i just say i'm hanging out and rescuing animals. sunday it was the ferret, wednesday it was a bird. no joke. two animal rescues in one week. here's what happened:

as i left the office wednesday i heard one of our high school kids yelling "no way. no way. huh uh." from his car. so i went over and he yelled (because he was pretty worked up). "there's a BIRD in my CAR. i left the sunroof open!" and sure enough, there was a pretty good sized bird in the back of his SUV. he is not a frequent animal rescuer, so he didn't know what to do. honestly, it took me almost a whole minute to realize that we could just open the back of his car. so he unlocked it, and of course, asked "mom" to do it. and i DID it. and the bird flipped out and but eventually realized that we had released it from captivity and flew away. we patted ourselves on the back, and as i walked away, i heard another "no way!!" i went back to the car and laughed so hard, because there on the arm rest was a big ol' pile of bird poop. guess that bird was pretty scared. and that high schooler has some cleaning to do.

a weekend full of adventures

this weekend was fantastic. I got to start it riiiigghtt on thursday night at a birmingham barrons game. for those not familiar with "thirsty thursdays" i'll give a brief explanation. you pay $7 to get into a minor league baseball game and then only $1 for every adult beverage you get. mix in a few really fun friends (even a couple out-of-towners) and you've got yourself a rockin thursday night.

then friday i went to the lake with 20 junior high girls. if you know me well, you know that i love this. tubing, swimming, playing games and eating when we're not hungry at ALL - this is a jr high lake trip. i love it. i got super bronzed. oh wait, no, i slathered on the spf 50 and by 5 pm looked like i had just stayed inside.

then last night, oh last night. that was the unexpected adventure. i was home alone for the evening (thus experimenting with kale - that's for a later post), until about 9 pm when j practically bursts down the door in excitement, yelling "wife man - the ferret, i saw the ferret!!" he started digging through our trash for a flyer we had received friday about a lost ferret (yes, we both looked at the flyer, laughed, and flippently said 'that ferret is long gone'). i quickly grabbed an empty laundry basket and we ran down to the bottom floor where j had allegedly seen this missing ferret. yep, there it was - poking its little head out of a storage closet. we quickly devised a plan: i would stay with the ferret, keep it in the vicinity, while j ran to find another flyer. there i was alone with the ferret ( on the phone with sara - because i couldn't think of anyone more likely to keep a lost pet flyer) for at least 7 minutes. we bonded, he sniffed, i patted. and by the time j got back, having already called the ferret - losers, me and yoki were fast friends. the distraught couple showed up about 5 minutes later to find us playing with a ferret in a laundry basket and were so grateful that the guy offered us the shirt off of his back. we politely declined and said that the satisfaction of seeing yoki returned was the only necessary reward. just kidding. we didn't say that. somehow we didn't get a single picture, but this is pretty accurate:

if you ask me. . .

these are the things that you should be looking into and at these days. you can thank me in the comments section.

Mumford and Sons. get their cd. i apologize in advance for the profanity, but despite the occasional cuss, the entire album is quite redemptive. and if you ask me, that matters.

The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine. If you have kids, work with kids, hang out with teenagers, or grew up in an affluent or success driven family, you should read it. It's easy to get through, and very informative.

David Gray in concert. SO STINKIN GOOD. seriously, it was incredible. if you get the chance to go listen to him play - take it. you won't regret it. justin and i went to see him at the ryman (for justin's birthday) and it was the best birthday present i ever got him.