Christmas

I guess I will start at the beginning… Thanksgiving day, we had dinner at my grandparent’s home and Matt’s aunt’s. We typically decorate the tree on Thanksgiving but unforeseen circumstances (i.e. supposed to get a new tree) caused a delay so we put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. And yes, it is still the old tree! My nephew came home with us and we held our tradition of everyone getting new pajamas for cutesy pictures. Bailey got in to the candy canes while we were decorating! I took the kids out that afternoon and got some Christmas pictures of them. However, it is now the day after Christmas and guess who still hasn’t developed any of those pictures.

The weekend before Christmas, our best friend’s came over and we got a special gift for their girls and ours. They are all getting to take ice skating lessons, which I hope they enjoy. Bailey also got to open one of his presents, a Snuggie. We had Gondolier’s pizza for dinner which happens to be one of my favorites and we received great presents.

We visited Matt’s aunt and family on the night before Christmas Eve. We had KFC and opened presents. Matt’s cousin just had surgery so it was a very laid back event.

Matt’s cousin and family came to visit from Kentucky and the girls opened presents with them.

Bailey watching Matt fry the ham

We celebrate Christmas Eve with our girls and I went overboard yet again. Matt and I fixed a wonderful breakfast with country ham, homemade biscuits, gravy, and scrambled eggs. The girls were in Heaven! I have to admit the gravy turned out a little better. Maybe practice does make perfect.

Matt received his Ipod Touch that he just had to have. He also got the Black Ops game for his PS3 and some other small items. I received a new purse, the Twilight Saga books (because you just have to read them more than once…one hundred times), Scene It Twilight Saga board game, and some M&M stuff. Our special treat was matching Vols shirts for me and the girls. They have Hello Kitty on them and say “Hello Kitty, Hello Volunteers.” We have tickets to the New Year’s Eve game this year. Bailey received dog bones, dog food-the good stuff, two new stuffed-or actually unstuffed dog toys, and two candy cane bones. One of the bones was wrapped with Sweet Potato and he had it chewed off within minutes of me finally getting it open for him. He absolutely loves the Sweet Potatoes!

Pumpkin Pie received a new rug, storage chest, luggage, clothes, video games, books, computer games, American Girl accessories, a memory foam pillow (she asked for it), a back pillow, and a volleyball. Sweet Pea received Olivia the Pig toys, Teacup Piggies and accessories, pig kitchen items (she asked for them), luggage, clothes, and a back pillow. Did you notice the pig theme with Sweet Pea! She even asked for a real live miniature pig and I (YES, I) even considered getting one. I spoke with a lady about one after doing some research but opted out because I was fearful that the pig would not be able to walk up the stairs on those stumps for legs and the bed would be crowded for Sweet Pea when the pig reached its full size of about 60lb. Maybe next year we can get the pig! I was also concerned about how Bailey would get along with another pet in the house. Unfortunately, we would not be able to name the pig “Piglet” since that name is already taken by my sweet cousin’s dog. However, Sweet Pea was trying to choose between “Cinderella” for a girl and “Harold” for a boy. Cinderella I understood but I honestly have no idea where Harold came from.

Sweet Pea's present pile

Pumpkin Pie's present pile


Matt's present pile


Bailey's present pile


My present pile

Matt dancing...so funny!

Me and my brother


Me and my sweet love

On a side note, Sweet Pea and Pumpkin Pie went to work with me several days the week before last because of the weather and school being out. A woman (Kathy) in our office questioned the girls about what Santa would be bringing them for Christmas. Sweet Pea gave me the look and I stated that it was all right. Sweet Pea proceeded to inform Kathy that “Santa’s dead.” Kathy politely looked at Sweet Pea and informed her that she had now ruined Kathy’s Christmas. Sweet Pea actually thought it was funny that Kathy believes in Santa.

Christmas Day, we went to my Grandparent’s and ate until none of us could possibly hold anymore food. The girls (and Matt and I) received more wonderful presents. We are so spoiled. After we left my Grandparent’s, we went to my best friend’s house. After opening yet more presents, one of which I received in October (a blow up M&M for my yard), the kids played the Xbox 360. Matt even got involved and did some dancing to Bel Biv Devoe. If you don’t remember them, you are too young!

It started snowing on the way home and a little over halfway home, the roads started to get slick. We thankfully made it home safely and I managed to get most of the Christmas presents put away neatly. I am already looking forward to taking down the Christmas decorations and getting my house cleaned back up and in order. I always look forward to that one day each week (sometimes every two weeks) that everything is clean and in its place. It doesn’t last long so I have to savor it. Matt will be staying home with the girls this week so I don’t plan to clean before mid-week or I know I won’t get to enjoy any of it. We have been blessed tremendously and have really enjoyed the holidays with our family and friends this year. It is always a good thing to say the holidays were rather uneventful in my family. I have also enjoyed time home with the kids and relaxing. We caught up on some movies and video game time. All of the American Girl doll stuff is neatly organized (one of mine and Sweet Pea’s favorite things to do) and Pumpkin Pie’s room is fairly organized right now too, thanks to me.

End of October and November

Making Gingerbread Houses this weekend. Each of the four girls decorated one and Kari and I decorated the fifth one. It is the North Pole village!


Bailey with his elephant. We are huge fans of these unstuffed plush toys for dogs. Bailey has always loved plush toys but ate the stuffing out of them within a day. It is cute to watch him with the elephant though because he carries it everywhere like a security item.

We went to Disney on Ice several weeks ago and had wonderful seats. We were on the second row so we were right in front of all of the action. The girls loved being so close and I have to admit that it was pretty nice.


I had a kidney stone at the time of Pumpkin Pie's birthday. We made her a cake but the decorative icing I bought for it ended up being a clear yellow so it did not show up well (or look that well but I am not a cake decorator). Sweet Pea chose a cheesecake for her birthday, which we bought because I have no idea how to make cheesecake. Pumpkin Pie chose doughnuts to take to school and Sweet Pea chose mini-cupcakes.





We also had to make a shopping trip the week after Pumpkin Pie's birthday. In the matter of several weeks, she managed to outgrow nearly everything she had for the winter. We bought Sweet Pea a couple of things too just so she wouldn't feel quite so left out with always getting the hand-me-downs.

The weekend before last, we went to eat with my best friend and her family. I love Red Lobster!!! Afterward, we did a little shopping.
Last weekend, we went ice skating with our best friends. We had a great time but those ice skates can hurt your feet.
This weekend, we had Thanksgiving dinner with our best friends. My Papaw is in the hospital again with pneumonia so we are not sure about our family Thanksgiving. I was so looking forward to it too...biscuits, gravy, fried chicken, country ham, mashed potatoes, okra, spaghetti with tomato juice...my Mamaw has me spoiled (and overweight!).
I have over half of my Christmas shopping done and I am pretty sure that I will be doing the majority of the rest of it online because I have had "shopping rage". People can be so rude during the holidays, or any other time of year for that matter but it seems to be worse right now with more people already coming out to shop. My mouth tends to get me in trouble and it would be better for the world if I stay home and not be so rude to others.

All the way into October...

Matt and his BFIL (Best Friend In Law)
Matt attempting to play football with his friends.

A rare happening...someone took a picture of me!

Matt chilling in the heated pool at last weekends party! It was beautiful.

The really neat party favors that I worked so hard on.



I finally took my nephew's 3rd birthday pictures but I haven't checked with my sister to see if it is all right to post any of them yet. They did turn out really cute and I do have a favorite!

We attended the Shriner's Circus last weekend but I did not take any pictures then. We also attended a birthday party for one of my best friend's two children. It was at a beautiful location and the girls (and my nephew) had so much fun, especially swimming in a heated pool in October.

I finally cleaned out all of the baby stuff and sold almost everything I have. We also have a small fund going for our trip to Disney World next year, which I continue to remain super excited about. We have several meals booked and have started purchasing cute outfits for the kids for the trip.

We had the girls birthday party this weekend, despite my battle with a kidney stone since last Sunday at 2 a.m. I did go to the hospital and it is only 3mm but dang, it hurts! I still haven't passed it and have had to miss four days of work. I did work one day last week but I only had two sessions and I left a little bit early, if that counts for working.
The girls party was wonderful and we are such a blessed family to have friends that love us, despite my personality! The girls received many gifts but their favorites were their new American Girl dolls. Sweet Pea got Mia and Pumpkin Pie got Julie. They also got some new clothes for their dolls and new Vera Bradley messenger bags, wallets, and money to go in their new wallets. My kids are soooo spoiled and I seem to continue that trend! We had a Mickey Mouse theme this year since we have planned the Disney World trip (have I mentioned that yet?!) and the party favors turned out cute, even if I did them myself and have to brag about it myself.

So we are off to another week and I am praying to pass this stone. I have had so much time to think of corny jokes about it, such as plans to start my own pet rock collection, rock band, etc...
We are in the works of making plans for this coming weekend. We are working on party, Dollywood, or Boo at the Zoo, and maybe a couple of other options. We also have plans to attend Disney on Ice in two weeks and dinner with friends, and maybe a Halloween party that is less Halloween and more kid friendly. I guess we will wait and see.

August (and some from July)

Kendra and Larry
Me and Kendra (I am starting to show my age)
K-Dog's cake
Pumpkin Pie's back to school present
Sweet Pea's back to school present

Matt chasing my sister with cake icing

Bugaboo's birthday cake

I’ll try to remember the highlights of the past few weeks but it all seems to run together anymore.

Towards the end of July, we attended K-Dog’s birthday party and took my nephew along, knowing he would have a blast. I really have been slacking with pictures, even at a birthday party!

My Papaw was back in the hospital for a little while and we made the trip to Kingsport to visit him and to celebrate my Mamaw’s birthday, if you can call a hospital room a celebration place. My Papaw is back home for now, although he still does not feel well and his strength continues to decrease (and not come back) each time he is sick.

I have spent some time preparing for the school consignment sell because we are finally getting rid of all of our baby stuff. Sweet Pea is almost 7 and I think it is high time that we put thoughts of more children aside.

The girls have started back to school. Sweet Pea chose two Olivia the Pig play sets for her back to school gift and Pumpkin Pie received more American Girl books. Sweet Pea is starting to give her a run for her money on reading though. Sweet Pea got a new backpack this year, although I didn’t take a picture. Pumpkin Pie still had three brand new backpacks so we are using those before we buy another one for her. Both girls are loving their teachers and doing well so far. Music lessons start back again in a couple of weeks and Sweet Pea will be with her original teacher, who blessed us with her return this year! We aren’t sure who Pumpkin Pie’s teacher will be for music yet and she is currently contemplating joining the band to play the Clarinet.

We went to my nephew’s birthday party this past Friday. Saturday, we met my mom and sister at Dollywood. Matt’s mom went with us and within an hour of being there, she passed out and became very ill. We have been working towards a medical issue that she has been having for some time and think the passing out is related. Matt spent the remainder of the day in a hospital emergency room with her. She has two more doctor’s appointments in the next week and a half so we are in prayer that they can find the source of the brain blockage and resolve it easily. Sunday, we attempted to make Dollywood up to the kids and went back for another three-four hours. It wasn’t very crowded and the girls got to ride the remainder of the rides that they missed on Saturday.

I am still working on completing the rest of the stuff for the consignment sale and we are celebrating Matt’s grandfather’s birthday this weekend. My family also has several birthdays’ coming up so lots of cake and ice cream in my future. Yum!

Sweet Pea came to my husband and I the other night and stated that she could not use her mouthwash. Keep in mind she has three loose teeth that she refuses to let us wiggle. Sweet Pea states, “I can’t use my mouthwash because it builds strong teeth. That is why my teeth won’t fall out.”

Ahh, the logic!

We have been super busy this week- Monday we mowed, Tuesday we went to the grocery store, and Wednesday I had to clean the house. Tuesday, when we were leaving Walmart, we saw a guy hang gliding. Pumpkin Pie pointed him out and then got in the vehicle. Sweet Pea asked who the guy was, insisting on knowing his name. I replied, “Bob, me and him go way back.” Sweet Pea was fine with this answer and got in the vehicle. As we were leaving the parking lot, the guy was a lot closer and Pumpkin Pie pointed this out. Sweet Pea looks at her sister and says, “Hey, do you know who that is?” Pumpkin Pie says, “No, who?” Sweet Pea says, “That is Bob. Mom knew him way back.” We all laughed!

Wow, a month...what did you miss?!

I guess you could say we continue to live our hectic lives. However, it hasn't felt as hectic as usual, maybe I am actually relaxing a little more. That would be funny, wouldn't it!
For my birthday, Matt got me a new Coach purse and a scrapbook drawer organizer thingamabob (that is an actual word right). One of my best friend's got me a M&M lunchbox and a plant, which I am infamous for killing. My other best friend got me a Pandora bracelet and several charms. I have to say I am one spoiled chick!
I can't remember if I shared what I got for Mother's day so you get to hear it again possibly-the first four seasons of Ghost Whisperer. I know the show can be a bit cheesy but I happen to like it.
The girls and I got Matt a Blu-ray player and a leaf blower for Father's day. Tell me how horrible that is- we don't have a single tree in our yard but he wanted a leaf blower so he doesn't have to sweep the grass from the sidewalk after I mow. Yes, you heard me...I have been mowing the whole yard all by myself. Matt still does the weed eating but I am woman, hear me roar!
We have spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and enjoying the summer. We have spent several occasions at our friend's neighborhood pool and we of course have a blow up pool in our back yard. It has also been so hot outside that we have spent quite a bit of time inside reading, hanging out, and watching television. One could say that television could rot the brain but I figure mine was probably rotten to begin with.
We visited Matt's grandparents in Asheville for his grandmother's 90th birthday! She looks good to be so old! It was good visiting with his family too. Unfortunately, my fibromyalgia was killing me so I wasn't in the best mood for traveling. The girls are counting down the weeks until school starts back and we are already getting psyched about school supplies, which ranks really high up with Christmas stuff for me! We have plans for the next few weeks so I hope that the girls enjoy their last few weeks of freedom.
Matt and I have also recently decided that if we continue to wait around for extra money to fall from the sky, we are never going to get to Disney world. So we are attempting to plan an all expense charged trip for the spring. I don't want the girls to be so old that they don't enjoy it. If you have planning to tips to share, that would be great! Or if you would like to donate to our "Save our sanity- give us a vacation fund" , contact me and I will tell you how. Just joking!
On another note- I put off ever watching Twilight because I thought that it was a teeny bopper thing and didn't want to go there. I finally broke down and watched it and I am now addicted. I read all four books in 8 days! I had to wait on the additional Bree Tanner book because it was out at the library or it would have been completed in there too. Then I had to watch New Moon and for my anniversary, Matt took me to see Eclipse. Matt has now decided to listen to all of the books via audio book, because he is not as big of a reader as I am. I think it is cute that my husband actually enjoys it as much as I do.
My papaw has been in the hospital for the past 2 1/2 weeks and hopefully will get to come home this week. Keep him and my mamaw in your prayers. It seems that antibiotics just don't fight his infections very well and he seems to stay sick.
So now you have the past few weeks in a condensed version. I haven't been much into the pictures lately and what I do have includes the kids so sorry that I don't have to much to share at this time. I will try to get some to share soon. Hope everyone else is enjoying summer as much as we are.
We took the girls to my mom's to ride the miniature horses.

Matt with one of his Father's Day Presents.

Bailey climbed into the clothes that just came out of the dryer!

What a nice short vacation

I am blog illiterate so i am struggling with the photo thing. Typically, it shows my pictures and I can type under them but this time, it is showing the HTML junk so I will just have to give you a run down. All of the pictures are from Sunday afternoon and not in any particular order but I feel confident that you will be able to figure them out...1.J wearing his "Indiana Jones" hat, 2. The ducks as Matt was chasing them, 3. Matt fishing, 4. J having to bait Matt's hook because he is scared of worms :), 5. L taking a fish off the hook (for Matt)- you have to love a pretty woman who isn't afraid of worms or fish, 6. large mouth bass that J caught, and 7. Skeeter in her dress. Cassie was still at the house or I would have a picture of her in a dress as well.

I guess we will start at the beginning of our four day stay-cation...
Friday:
Matt's friend, Cody came over to hang out. The girls played on the slip-n-slide and a wet trampoline. I became a little more than nervous about the trampoline so it didn't last too long. After running around in the backyard all evening, Matt, Cody, and I watched "Alice in Wonderland" and Matt and Cody played video games. It was a nice start to a vacation.

Saturday:
We filled up the kiddie pool and played outside most of the morning. Late afternoon, we joined our best friends at their community pool, swam, ate pizza and cupcakes, swam some more and finally headed home around 8:30. After giving the girls their showers, we pretty much crashed.

Sunday:
We enjoyed a nice morning at church and then headed to Kentucky to visit my best friend from college and Matt's best friend from forever. The kids went swimming in their pool (which Matt remembers swimming in when he was a kid, it's just moved locations), then to the jacuzzi, ate some pizza, and headed out for more fun. The kids got to ride on the Rhino (a 4x4 utility vehicle). They chased the ducks, played with the dogs, and fed the goat. They went fishing in the pond and Pumpkin Pie caught the first fish, which happened to be the biggest catfish caught from it. Sweet Pea had to of course fall in the mud and get her behind filthy. Bugaboo (J and L's daughter) is a hoot...she was kissing the fish, trying to stick them in her daddy's pocket, and even tried to feed one the worms that they were using for bait (which makes sense). They threw back all of the fish that they caught but Bugaboo had to play with each one for a minute before she would allow it to be thrown back. J gave each of the girls time in the tree swing which essentially sent each child propelling about 15 feet into the air with tree limbs all above them. At least they were strapped in and he was willing to do the same with his own child. The kids loved it. J made a camp fire and the kids got to roast marshmallows and eat smores, although my girls had to be difficult. Pumpkin Pie only wanted graham crackers and chocolate bar. Sweet Pea only wanted an unroasted marshmallow with chocolate bar in between. We relaxed for a while and the girls rode around on the power-wheels and took turns for trips on the Rhino again. We left Kentucky around 8:30 so it was nearly 10 when we got home, bathed the girls, and crashed again.

Monday:
We joined our best friends at Cracker Barrel for a delicious breakfast before heading over to Dollywood. We hung out there for several hours and enjoyed many rides with the kids, along with my favorite thing about Dollywood- frozen cherry lemonade. After Dollywood, we headed to Tanger so I could pick up a present for a friend's son's party in two weeks and we headed home. After we got home, we mowed the yard and cleaned off some outside toys to get rid of. You can imagine by that point, I was exhausted.

Tuesday:
We got up today and cleaned up, then headed out to take some pictures of the girls since I haven't taken any in a while. Unfortunately, the sun was so bright and the day was so muggy that the girls were not into it and I only got a few good shots. We ran a couple of errands and headed back home for another afternoon of playing outside. It was very noticeable that the kids are completely run down and looking forward to returning to their normal schedule tomorrow. I have definitely enjoyed the time with the kids and with some great friends. My body couldn't handle too much more of this vacation stuff.

Our weekends are full for the next four weeks at least. I get to spend next weekend with my best friend and we have a birthday party each of the following weekends to attend. I will also be celebrating my 8th wedding anniversary in a few more weeks. More about that when the time comes. I also have to fit Father's day in two weeks as well. Hmmm, where is the time to sleep and rest!