GO LADY CHARGERS!

I'm so excited for my niece, Natalie. She plays college basketball. Her team barely survived the Gulf Conference Tourneys this past weekend. We had a big group here to watch her play on ESPN 3. Unfortunately, the game ended up being blocked for the whole Southeast. It was a bummer. We did get to listen to it on the radio. The Lady Chargers started out great, but in the end lost 86-72. Natalie was on fire in this game with rebounds, tips, and free shots. She did make all tournament for this game.

Doug forwarded this interview video from WAAY 31. The reporter asked Natalie how she felt learning that they will be playing Delta next Friday. Playing Delta once or twice before, Lady Chargers feel good revisiting this team in Florida.  I can't help it, but when I see Natalie's excitement makes me get all choked up. I'm so proud of her and her accomplishments. She is being flying the first time to her first NCAA Tournament.  Please keep her in your prayers and I just wish her the best next Friday.

GO LADY CHARGERS!!!!

Happy 75th Birthday Mom!

Last night, the family came together in honor of our mom's 75th birthday.

She looks fabulous! 

We are so blessed to still have her around. 

She told me that she doesn't feel 75, but much much younger. 

 She never in her wildest dreams ever thought that she would make it to 75, but so happy she did. 

We had our celebration at Chamblee's Restaurant.  They were great to work with, very attentive and made the night special.  I was so glad that most everyone got to attend, a total 25 people showed.

"Happy Birthday Mom"

I look a lot like my mom.  Don't I?

Opening up presents

Pretty African Violet and card Sandy and Wade gave mom.

Sandy, mom told that you hit the nail on the head.  She has been really wanting another violet. 

She absolutely loves it!  Thank you!

My mom's favorite flower/plant

The roses represent mom's children - 5 pink roses are her 5 baby girls; 1 white rose is dad and the other flowers are all of her grandbabies and great grandbabies. Look what she created = 5 girls, 5 boys (in-laws), 10 grandchildren and 8 great grandbabies.  

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve, we went to a birthday luncheon at Logan's Restaurant. I love their chicken tenders and rolls. Yum! Doug's cousin invited us to come celebrate her husband's birthday. Afterwards, Millard and Peggy took the kids shopping and then back home with them, while Doug and I went to watch Natalie's basketball game.

We had a great time, visiting with everyone and watching UAH blast Tennessee Temple. I believe Natalie made 7 or 8 points in this game. Natalie plays on the starter team. They were so far into the game, point wise, that coach began putting in the second string. They didn't even slow down our second string because we were still putting the points on the scoreboard. I believe the final score ended up being 117 (UAH) to 37.

After the game, Natalie and Leslie invited Doug and I to meet up with them and their boyfriends at "Buffalo Wild Wings." We had a good time and their Honey BBQ Boneless wings were delish. Maryann ordered the Parmesan Garlic wings. It sounds yuck, but I tried them and they were really good. Maryann and I were discussing how good it would on a baked chicken breast. I will have to work on that dish. 

That night, Millard and Peggy came to our house to help celebrate the new year.  We had our own private party.  Doug bought the XBOX 360 Forza Motorsport 4 some time back, but I never really got to play it until over the Christmas vacation.  We were telling Millard and Peggy how much fun it was.  We talked ourselves into getting it out and playing a few races.  We even got Peggy to try it out.  We laughed so much.  Katie loved driving just so she could see how bad her car looked after the game was over.  So funny to see how beat up your car gets.  I absolutely recommend this game.  It's just a lot of fun. 



Millard and Peggy didn't stay with us until midnight.  They were wiped out and ready for bedtime.  We stayed up long enough to watch the Moon Pie in Mobile to fall and a little New Year's Rockin' Eve party.  The only ones up to say "Happy New Years" were me and Katie, sitting next to me in bed.  Uh, we were exhausted the next morning. 

On New Year's Day, we always go to Doug's parents for a big pot of greens, cabbage on my part, and black-eyed peas.  It's a sin that we ate so much.  But I told Peggy that I had better enjoy it while I can because when everything gets back to normal, we are changing our eating habit.  I'm cutting back on sodas and sweets.  Drinking more water and taking time to do a low cardio exercise each day.  Nicholas and I have been discussing my weight loss plan and exercise.  He just finished a complete study on good nutrition and weight loss at school.  I've told him what I've been doing in the past and he is helping me tweak it a little and showing me where I might be making mistakes with my weight loss plans.  He has been very helpful.  I've done a little research on cancer fighting foods, getting fit, and possible calorie burning foods.  Really, it's a lot more food than I first thought.  Basically, Nick told me to shop my groceries around the outside of the aisles and stay away from the food aisles.  That's your produce, breads, meats, and poultry.  Pray for me.  I need all the strength and prayers that I can get.  I have to watch my sodium, sugars and carbs.  Everything has carbs!  That's why he wants me away from the inside food aisles.  Makes sense. 

Today, Pat, June and Nick came over for a visit.  While the guys watched ballgames, us girls played one of Katie's games, "Cinderella."  Later, June, Nick and I played "Rummikub" and a card game called "Golf."  June won all the Rummikub games and I think I overall won Golf, I love that game.  We also got out the Motorsport XBOX 360 game for everyone to try out too.  That is until the bowl games started going good.  LOL!

Katie is so happy that she gets one more day of vacation before she has to start back to school.  She misses school, but we (all) have enjoyed sleeping-in in the mornings.  Come Wednesday, it's going to KILL us.  Katie and I both have stayed up late every night and slept in every morning.  Ahhh! 

Happy New Year! 

Christmas Recap

Kids acting silly



Another Blissful Christmas ~

We visited friends and family during the holiday weekend.  Ms. E was so sweet to bake us some goodies.  I guess she and I had the same idea because we gave her a tin full of butter cookies, which according to her is one of her favorite cookies. 

On Christmas morning, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and blew out His candles for him.  I split the Holiday Bon Bon recipe and made a small birthday cake to Jesus.  I iced it with peppermint icing and decorated it with crushed peppermint candy.  I would have taken a picture, but the next day the peppermint candy melted on the icing.  Ugh!  Oh well.  It was still good. 

Here are a few photos just to recap all that we celebrate and are thankful for this Christmas:

The kids got exactly what they wanted from Santa Claus.  They couldn't believe that he remember them. 

Peggy playing Uno "Moo" with the kids on Christmas morning

My parents gave Colton this Spiderman mask.  He absolutely loves it!  He is really BIG into the Super heroes right now. 

Colton is shooting his web at the camera for me

Colton wanted dad to try on his mask.  Too funny! I think we got more laughes with that crazy thing.

Zayden's First Christmas! He is 3 months old now.  He is such a sweetheart.

Me and my family gave Zayden this cute little bear for Christmas.  The bear talks - says "Peek-a-Boo" and moves it's arms.  So sweet. I think he likes it.

Sue and Tim's clan

Mom and Katie talking it over

I have to tell you this little tidbit before ending my post.  While getting ready for bed the other night, Colton was following me around like a little puppy.  He does every night.  I began asking him questions like: "Do you have a birthday coming up?"  and "How old will you be?"  Then, I asked him if he wants a Mickey Mouse party for his birthday.  I said this because I really want to throw a Mickey Mouse party, I think it would be fun and there are so many cute ideas out there.  Well, he let me know right then and there that he doesn't want a Mickey Mouse birthday party.  Instead, he said "I wanna Hulk party."  Trying to convince him otherwise, I told him "no, you don't want a Hulk party.  You would like a Mickey Mouse party better."  He didn't like the idea of me trying to change his mind.  "No, mommy.  I not wanna Mickey Mouse.  I wanna Hulk party."  When I asked him why.  He said, "'cause I said so."  Oh no. He used my own playing card on me.  Yikes!  Needless to say, after much negotiation I did convince him to let me throw him a "Super Heroes" party instead.  If you don't know, the Super Heroes are every one of the super heroes (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, Ironman, etc.).  Now, I'll have something to work with instead of HULK - GREEN.  Ugh!  It reminds me convincing Katie at this age to have a Fancy Nancy party instead of Shrek. 

For Christmas, Millard and Peggy gave Colton characters to go along with his Batcave, like Joker, Riddler, Penguin.  It's cute, seeing him using his imagination playing with the action figures.  We were puzzled for a while when he kept telling us about a "Puckin'".  We would look at one another, shake our heads, asking "what's a 'puckin'?"  FINALLY!  We figured it out.  He calls Penguin, "Puckin'".  It's quite hilarious.  Now, we all call Penguin - PUCKIN'.  And everytime, Peggy will begin laughing and the rest of us will at least crack a grin.  LOL!  My little Flash is such a character, but I wouldn't have him any other way.   He always knows how to get put a smile on his momma's face. 

At the beginning of the new year, Colton and I are going to get this potty training thing down.  I hope to get serious about it.  Please pray for me.  I also have a few projects lined up starting at the beginning of the year.  I promised Leslie that I would create a cookbook with all of my favorite recipes as a present for her.  I went ahead and got started this morning.  I'm going through Blurb to get it published.  I guess they were really the only ones I could find that would help create cookbooks.  Now, I have to gather ALL thoses food pictures I had taken for my past blog posts.  Ugh!  I knew I should have named thoses photos.  Maryann wants to get together in the next month to begin planning Leslie's bridal shower.  I pulled some ideas into my Pinterest, to go over with her along with a few possible bridal shower games.  Then, I've got a Super Heroes birthday party to prepare for.  I've been getting a few ideas from Pinterest and online.  I've been playing around with an idea.  We'll see how it turns out.  Wish me luck! 

Katie received some books and art books for Christmas, so she has gotten pretty wrapped up in them.  I really thought that she would put the books down during Christmas vacation and not even think about it.  In fact, she's been playing school in Colton's room with her bag of books.  She loves to read to Colton.  It is so touching.  Christmas morning, she read a story to her grandma Peggy and Colton.  She still says that she wants to be a teacher and  I think she would make a great educator. 

Congratulations Leslie!

Last night my niece, Leslie, received her bachelor's degree in Nursing.  We are so proud of her.  It is tradition for every nurse to have a separate and more intimate Candle Light or Pinning Ceremony the night before graduation.  Unfortunately, Leslie's ceremony was on a Thursday night (school night) and we couldn't make it, but she understood.  We had the opportunity to go to Ryan's Pinning Ceremony and it is very moving.  I was thrilled to be able to make Leslie's graduation though. 

Isn't she pretty?

We are so proud of her and wish her all the best on her new adventures

Zayden's Baptismal 2011

This afternoon the family came together to witness my great nephew's baptismal. Zayden's three months old now and such a sweetheart. After pictures, we all met up at Zayne and Whitney's for hors d'oeuvres. It was so nice to sit and visit with those that we haven't met yet like Zayne's aunts and uncles. It was also great to visit with those we haven't seen in a while. They had a very nice little party and of course, passed Zayden around like a sack of potatoes. LOL! Enjoy the pictures.

Photo taken right after the baptismal celebration

Proud Parents

Proud Grandparents

and Great Grandparents!

Thanks-Giving Day 11 & Family Update

I'm thankful for God blessing me with such a beautiful day, so I may take pictures of my children.  I've been planning this for a long time and so glad I was able to do it.  My drive everyday to pick up Katie from school, I've noticed this patch of woods that is so picturesque.  You'll have to stay tuned . . .

I thought I would take this time to put aside the Thanksgiving crafts and recipes and give you a family update.

Doug and I are busy as ever with work, school and preparing for the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday. As you may know, Doug and I will be hosting this year's Thanksgiving Day family dinner. I think Thanksgiving comes second to Christmas as being my favorite holiday. I absolutely LOVE the whole traditions of Thanksgiving. Watching the Macy's Day Parade in the morning, picking out which float is my favorite. Thanking God for all He has done for us and our blessings. Having a table or in our case, multiple tables full of food. The turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatos, and a sea of different kinds of pies, cookies and other desserts. Doug suggested us going nontraditional with this year's Thanksgiving meal. I love turkey and dressing, especially the way we cook the turkey. We deep fry our turkey. It is so juicy and tender, like butter. Of course, my heart sank that brief moment when Doug suggested having a breakfast or some other course that is nontradition. Needless to say, we're fry up that turkey come the 24th of November.

We got Katie's report card last week and we are very pleased, all A's. When I told her what was on her report card, she was all grins. She has worked very hard for those good grades too, especially putting up with me. LOL! Her being the youngest in her class, she will have to stay on top of her studies and practice, practice, practice. She is doing so great reading. Now that reading comes a little easier for her, she likes it. Mrs. G has her reading a level F. I think a level F is probably equivalent to a level 2 because that's what Katie can read from our library at home. I know she can read the Dr. Seuss books real well. Right now, Mrs. G and I are trying to work on her reading comprehension. It's okay, but I can tell there is a little difficulty. I was the same way. Of course, I wasn't 6 years old either. Her main comprehension problem comes from solving math problems. You give her 5 sheets of nothing but typical math problems and she can answer them in nothing flat. You give her 1 question in the form of a story to solve and there is no telling what answer she'll come up with. She can read the question just fine. It's understanding the question in order to solve it is the problem. I've started working with her this past Wednesday, by typing out some word problems for her to solve. She worked on 3 of the 20 problems. She had a little trouble understanding, but I know in time she'll learn how to solve those type of problems. Meanwhile, I've asked Mrs. G for extra problems in this area. She's suppose to be working on getting them to me by next week, hopefully. I think if Katie practices on a daily basis, she'll get it and I think Mrs. G will agree. Her math is great. She can count by 2's, 5's and 10's up to 100.

I can not believe I haven't posted this until now. Ugh! Where is my brain? LOL! Anyway, at the beginning of school. I would ask Katie how school was and what did she do? I would always hear, "good" and "I don't remember." I got tired of hearing the same old thing every single day. I remember my mother would beg me to tell her about my day. I don't know my reasons for not telling her, but I guess I'm paying for my raising. Well, since then we've come up with a game on the drive home. It started out she had to tell me 3 things that actually happened at school that day. If she told me 3 things before we got home, she got a treat. The treat would be anything from yogurt raisins, a couple cookies or a few gold fish. About a month ago, she answers 5 facts that happened at school. She loves playing this game that she brings it up as soon as she gets in the car. Yesterday when I picked her up, she asked me if she could tell me 6 things that happened at school before we get home. It's race against the clock. It's amazing how we went from not saying anything all the way home, to talking all the way home. She tells me everything that happens at school, including who was being mean or nice to her. I just hope she takes my advice when it's needed.

Colton is a very curious little toddler. He does things that Katie, at that age, never would have thought of. For instance, he has put his dirty diaper in the toilet the other day. Yesterday, Doug walked into the bathroom just to find a toilet filled with toys. There is something about this toilet. In a few years from now, we might read this and get a good chuckle, but right now he is adding more gray hair to my head. He has developed a love for comic heroes such as Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. So every time we see one of these super comic hero, he goes crazy. He has gotten at the age now that he enjoys me reading to him and sing songs. In a good mood, I can get him to copy the hand motions.

Ol' Timer's Day

Sunday, my in-laws' church planned an Ol' Timer's Day. Most everyone came to church dressed in special costumes to represent those of the old days, coming to the Lord's house. It was fun!  Diva and I did the best we could, dressing up for the occasion. I told a couple of ladies that we were representing the 60s and 70s decades. LOL!

I think the kids had a good time. One of the guys, Perry, rode up on his horse. As you may know, Flash loves horses. I was surprised how easy he was to be placed on the back of Perry's horse. The horse was very gentle with the kids.





The kids did pretty good during church. I thought a time or two that we were going to have to take Flash out because he was being so loud. It was pretty funny whenever we or the choir stopped singing, Flash would announce "we're done!"

After church, we had a very nice luncheon with the church family. It was the best food put in your mouth. Yum! Fried chicken, homemade pies, cakes, and other goodies. It was so good. No one went hungry, trust me. A few of us photographers in the making, had fun taking pictures of couples and groups to document the special occasion.

Back at the farm . . .



the kids played on the tractor, with their paw-paw right beside them. Meanwhile, this mama went pine cone hunting for future holiday decorations.

Colton Meets Zayden

Colton didn't know what to think about Zayden.  He wanted so bad to touch him.  For a little while, he thought he was a toy.  Susan was the one holding Zayden and talking to Colton about him.  Some how Sue asked Colton, "what is this?"  Colton answered her "a toy."  LOL!  Mom and Susan cracked up laughing at him.  Then Susan asked him something like where did he come from.  Colton told her, very serious I might add, "Target."  Too cute! 

Doug's parents came by and Colton had to show them all the Halloween decorations and tell them about seeing the baby.  It was priceless!  I don't think he took a breath between subjects.  He is so funny because it seems like he starts talking from the time he gets out of bed to the time he goes to bed.  LOL!  He talks about everything.  There are times when he gets so excited and wound up that he begins to stumble and stutter his words.

While entertaining mom and Susan, Katie and Colton were playing kick boxing in the Living Room.  They were acting this way not only because they had new people around to watch them act crazy as a bed bug, but mom helped by giving them a load of chocolate candy before supper.  Thanks mom!  They were bouncing off the walls.  We had to start laughing at Colton because Katie has taught him before the Karate chop to stand just so and motion your hand out to your opponent like he is saying "come on, I dare you."  When he did that all authority and control (on my end) went right out the window because everyone was laughing.  Ugh, my son.  He is such a clown.

For the past couple of months he comes up with these sayings or names that I have to write down before I forget.  They are:

• He calls the blow-up Frankenstein (Halloween decoration) outside - "Einstein".
• He calls Fruit Loop cereal "Donut cereal"
• He couldn't get over Zayden having his diaper changed.  "That babe pooh, poohed?" "Change diaper."  He said with his eyes wide open and pointing his finger at Zayden. 
• "I watch Mickey."  This means, he wants you to either turn Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the TV or put in the movie. 

Colton's changing everyday:
Not only is Colton growing out of his 24 month clothes, but changing everyday.  Here are just a few things:

• He is into playing games more now.  His favorite games are: Go Fish, Don't Break the Ice and Elefun.
• He likes to be read to now, especially at bedtime.  His favorite books right now are: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear," "I Love You, Stinky Face," "The Monster at the End of This Book," and "Miss Spider and The Sunny Patch Kids".  I found the neatest thing on YouTube.  Movies of some of his favorite books being read or animated.  Yay!  It occupies him, while I'm helping Katie with her homework.
• His new favorite toys that he would rather play with are: Hot Wheels cars, toy trains, balls, Batman figurines, stuffed animals, small simple puzzles.  He has stopped putting together the peg puzzles.  I guess he got bored with them.  LOL! 
• His favorite TV shows are: Good Luck Charlie, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Super Why, Martha Speaks, America's Funniest Home Videos.
• His favorite movies are: Disney's Cars, Disney's Tarzan, Baby Einsteins Mozart, Baby Einsteins World Animals, Scooby Doo meets Batman, Mickey meets Santa, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo-Choo Express. 
• He absolutely loves it when his sister comes home from school.  He misses her throughout the day.  He doesn't like it when I spend time with her during homework time, which takes a little over an hour a day to complete.  He doesn't like it at all when she doesn't want to do what he wants to do. 

I've been working with him during the day, while Katie is at school.  We are learning our colors, shapes, numbers, alphabet, sorting, and matching.  I got most of my material from 1+1+1=1.  She has a Tot Homeschool section filled with lapbooks, games, crafts and lots of resources.  Making Learning Fun is another great source because they go by themes or favorite storybooks to make learning more appealing.  Colton loves it! This week, we've done the worksheets based on the Bill Martin Jr. book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."  Add in the You Tube
story read by Bill Martin Jr. himself and you've got a great lesson about colors. Colton loves this video and I hope you enjoy it as well.