It was a very Merry one!

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Happy Anniversary

This is my grandparents 59th anniversary. My grandmother always said it was so hard to have an anniversary this time of year, and I think she regretted getting married on the day that they did.

I wore her wedding dress when I got married 13 1/2 years ago. That made her very happy.

This is going to be a hard Christmas for us, because for the first time in my life, my grandparents won't be at Christmas. They are both suffering, among other things, dementia and/or Alzheimer's disease. It would just be too hard for them. We can go see them later, but it's hard knowing that they won't be with us.

They certainly don't know that it's their Anniversary, and they barely know each other at this point. I want to always remember this day for them, because they were so happy. That's easy to see.

Today is sentimental too, since Allen and I got engaged today, 14 years ago. I'm glad I get to share this day with my grandparents in a small way.

Our Tree

O Christmas Tree...

I realized after all that, I didn't have a picture of the final product! I'll work on that...Click the pic!

From 12-6-08

Allen and the Governor

A strange thing happened this week

I had a child turn 2 years and 5 months, and no new born arrived. This is the oldest my youngest has been without a new baby arriving. This will also be the first Christmas in *7* years that I haven't had a new born or been pregnant.

I am glad about these things. Very, very glad.

Granted, had Jude been my last child, I might be morning the passing of these years more. Or at all. But seeing as how last night was the first night that Zane has slept all night since my Twilight excursion-and good timing too, since Laney threw up all night-I am greatly looking forward to having big kids.

Ironically, Allen has had pangs of the loss of the baby years. It's funny to watch, since he really didn't want 3 kids and wouldn't even discuss 4. My queries about adoption are met with a panic stricken look, and he managed to croak out once that as far as adoption goes, no child under the age of 3 was allowed in this house. I think it's safe to say that Zane has worn us out.

He is a really cool kid, though, and gets more so each day. He's hilarious too, the other day explaining to me that he was no longer a baby, but a big kid, because he can get on Laney's top bunk. I'm thankful for him, and what God has taught me through him.

I'm not sad to see these years pass on, though. I hear that we will miss these days, and I'm sure that's only because we will have forgotten how hard they were. I look forward to having big kids, and doing big kid things. I have recently been blessed with sweet friends who have older kids and teenagers. And guess what? They love having teenagers. I'm so excited to learn from them, watching how they follow in Christ's footsteps by honoring and loving their teens. I love gleaning information from them, storing it away for future reference. God is so good to light my path with those that love Him and are serving Him. He is always with His blessings.

So farewell newborn days. I loved you, but I don't miss you! I really love my big kids!!!!!

The Best Laney Ever

We're going to see the "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" next week at Children's Theater, so I wanted to read Laney the book before we got there. I had forgotten HOW much I love love love this book. We laughed our way through the first chapter. As I was closing the book, I noticed that the girl on the front looked a lot like Laney. She got a kick out of that! We can't wait for the play.

Christmas Portrait

It's portrait time again! The kids did great, and I'm pretty pleased with the final result. My most favorite part is comparing the one from last year with the one from this year. Whew, they grew!!!!!

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And to think I wanted a Thanksgiving Apron...

I believe I'll wear this instead....

Poxy Jude

It's Jude's turn to have the chicken pox! He felt really great yesterday, but felt itchy today. I have him some Benadryl, and evidently, it knocked him out! He and I had a long nap, all snuggled up in the recliner. He's up now, playing Candyland with Allen, Laney and Zane. He's good, now, but he's really covered!

It's a good weekend to be at home. Lots of good football, cold and windy outside. We do miss friends, and I really, really miss church. It will all be over soon, though, and it really hasn't been bad at all.

Cute little poxy boy! The pictures of the front of him were out of focus. It's been awhile since I've used my other camera. I'll get one of the cute front of him tomorrow!

Shrek Juice

One of my favorite things are green smoothies. This one makes us laugh, because it's so green! That's why we call it Shrek Juice!

We drink these a lot, but especially when we're having a bad dinner. This smoothie has fresh pineapple, frozen mangos and peaches, plain yogurt, rice milk and orange juice. Then you add fresh spinach. You really, really can't taste the spinach. This smoothie tastes like the old Orange Julius orange shakes. Or the orange push up pops from the ice cream man. Man, I loved those!

Or other favorite smoothie is the strawberry and banana smoothie. Still has plain yogurt and rice milk, frozen strawberries and a banana. I put honey in it too. Then the spinach. You can use romaine lettuce or anything green and leafy. This smoothie is mostly pink, but a little green.

The other one we do is the berry mix. I love the blueberry/raspberry/blackberry frozen mix bag from Costco. It's organic and pretty cheap. This smoothie most disguises the spinach. It's just a purple one!

Even though it's cold outside, we still drink these up. Hopefully they'll help keep us well through the winter!!!!! They're good too. Trust me!

Veteran's Day 2008

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American Village

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More funnies to rememer

Laney was telling me how excited she was about Christmas coming. I suspected why that was. I reminded her that Christmas is about celebrating Jesus and His love for us. About spending time with family, decorating and baking yummy goodies to eat. Looking at houses all decorated for Christmas, and time off from school. She listened patiently, and then replied, "Well, that's what grownups say, but all kids really care about is the presents."


Not one of my proudest parenting moments. Shall I give her credit for honesty???


Literally two seconds later, Jude, who was sitting beside Laney at the table during this exchange, said, "Hey mama, why did the chicken cross the road?"


I said, "Why Jude?"


He said, "So he could get to the other side."


I laughed and said, "Is that funny, Jude?"


He totally deadpanned, and replied, "No, not really." Serious as can be. I wish you could have seen his face...

We have the pox!

And yes, it's a good thing! It's a shot that we knew we wouldn't get, and if you want to know reasons why, I'll be glad to give you that info. Otherwise it's incredibly boring! Anyway, I always hated the idea of exposing them on purpose, but God took care of that! We got it from our friends at a play date! I did take Zane back to the friends house, to make sure he was exposed, because my fear was that he would get them after the older two did.

Laney is fine. She's laying on the couch, eating and watching movies. This is mild compared to some of the stuff we've dealth with. I'm not sure the anything will ever be as bad as the 9 day throw up virus. That beat even the pneumonia. I also have a homeopathic arsonal that I'm about to start using!

The boys have no spots yet, and I'm hoping the get them soon or we're going to be doing another one of the 10-21 day quarentines again waiting for them to get it. But then at least we'll be done forever! And this is a good time of year to be hanging around the house. Great weather, no obligations, good baking weather. I'm hoping to get the door and last bathroom painted too. We actually love staying at home! Oddly enough. We're just weird that way...

And we are having fun too! This is Zane, dressed partly as Spidermun, and party as Dora. Oh me. Just never, never a dull moment. He even followed me into the bathroom this morning, and I said, "Zane, will you please close the door so Mommy can have some privacy?" He was glad to. He came right into the bathroom and closed the door. Then he tried to sit in my lap. Bring on the teenagers, man. I know they're tough, but won't I at least get to go to the bathroom by myself? I'd do a lot to be able to pee alone. Maybe he's just figured out that I hide in there sometimes. He's a smart one, that one. Dang it.

Happy Halloween!

We had such a great Halloween. Allen came home early and carved the pumpkin. We had our traditional chili dinner, although everyone was so excited, they could hardly eat. Laney and I got all made up. This was the 3rd Halloween activity the kids had done so far, and I got tickled that they all dug into their closets and chose old costumes. I think we'll buy our costumes RIGHT before Halloween next year. I actually didn't care that much, since they'd already been wearing their other costumes for 2 weeks. The kids play dress up constantly, so I think we'll get our money's worth. I hope.

Anyway, Laney was Giselle, but it dawned on me after she got ready that she looked a little like a one of those tiny beauty queen kids. Yuck. Oh well. She was happy, so I didn't burst her bubble. I'd better be careful, since she reads my blog now. Yes, edited by an almost 7 year old.

Jude is currently in an "Underdog" phase, and Zane stays in his "Spiderman" phase. (Remember the correct pronunciation is "Spidermun" said very quickly.) So they were all happy with their costumes.

We didn't trick or treat for long. Allen did the first shift, and I did a quick second shift. I didn't really want them to get tons of candy, and they were happy with their small jaunt around the cul-de-sac. We let them have a few bits of their treats before we threw them in the bath and in the bed. Allen had some work to do for a wedding he's playing today, so Harry Potter and I climbed in the bed. It was a great night, and I think we are officially now Halloweened out.

Laney has now started the coundown to her birthday!!! Oh my goodness...

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My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe

I have stunk at blogging this week, so I thought I'd sling up my chocolate chip cookie recipe. There is only one person I know that doesn't like this recipe, and I love her tons, so I forgive her!!!! :)

http://www.bigbiteappetite.com/2007/07/here-it-is-my-no-fail-from-scratch-no.html

A fun, crazy weekend!

I know I'm (in)famous for my "It was a crazy week" comments, but holy cow. It really was! Between the no-door-on-the-house fiasco to some other giant things we had going on last week, I was worn out by Friday, like I usually am. This weekend was a NO REST weekend, though. I had a blast, and loved every minute of it, although I am more than beat this morning!

Allen started the craziness by playing on Good Day Alabama on Friday morning. Here is the link, for those of you who were mad at me for not telling them he was going to be on television. I am a bad wife, okay? Back off now!!!!! ;)

http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=2954C13B6F4C2D141B65A18DF8155515?contentId=7714162&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

It's good that he's playing with this guy. He had a band that played at the White House this year, and they are playing the Governor's Christmas party in December. How fun is that?

There was an art show here too, and we had a blast walking about looking at all the wonderful artsy stuff. I love doing that sort of thing, and it's something that we haven't done as much since Zane was born. I am ready to get back to doing fun stuff like that! I love it.

That's my mama. She always seems to be there to help out, and that's really great. She loves to boss me around, and actually that works for me, since *I* get tired of bossing people and like to have someone else take over every now and then. :):):)

Then, after watching a bit of the Alabama game (ROLL TIDE) some of the girls met up for dinner to celebrate my not-biological-sister Jennifer. We all adore her and just had a great time laughing and eating Mexican and lemon squares. Her precious baby E joined us, and I just love that kid. Really almost too much.

My Jenn loves owls, and I found one for her at the art show. I'm not sure which is cuter, her or the owl. She makes me laugh, and we get each other. Most of the time. Some times we look at each other like, "Waaaaa?????" The beauty of friendship.

My twinkie, other half, my sister and my treasure. I just would rather not live life unless she were there. She wouldn't want to get to Heaven before me anyway. I want to see her face when she gets there! She wants to be there more than any person I know. Such sweet devotion she has to our Jesus. She's an inspiration, I tell ya. Smart one too. I call her my "walking Google." Ah, enough. I could go on about her forever.... ;)

Ahhhh the Shelby Crossings Fall Ball. We just had to go back to see old friends. The kids were looking forward to it all week. It was so good to see those that we've missed so much.

Laney's other half. Her twinkie... you know. Her twinkie just happens to be the daughter of my twinkie. Funny how that worked out, isn't it?

Zane was okay with Will holding him, as long as he could pretend that Will wasn't holding him. I have the craziest kids. I love them to death, and they have their quirks, for sure.

Mimi was Susan from Narnia to match Laney. Laney was thrilled with that...

TWO Sarah Palins???? I'll not make a joke here.... Isn't she cute, though?

The party lines are blurred....

WAAAAAY BLURRED....

Jenn was Tiger Lily from Peter Pan. E, the baby, was Peter Pan. Get it? :)

My sweet girls....

Zane was terrified of Barack.( No surprise there...) No jokes here either. So we hid it from him. You know, keep your friends close and your enemies closer....

Write it down. A card carrying Republican for one night. "I'm not a Republican. I just play one on Halloween..."

Whew. We aren't even doing school today. We are going to clean and rest. And hibernate. If you don't hear from me for awhile, don't worry. I'm just here, puttering around, digging us out of a huge mess. And waiting on the chicken pox. But that's a post for another day.... ;)