Christmas ...

I can't believe I haven't mentioned Christmas. I never knew before I was a parent that Christmas day could be so exhausting. I guess when you stay up late getting everything in order for Christmas Day then you get woken up early to see what Santa left, there is a reason for being so tired.
We let Carson & Emilia open one gift on Christmas Eve night and they chose gifts from their Aunt Rhonda that lives in Georgia. She had sent them pottery barn Santa sacks that were monogrammed with their names and it was so cute. We left them out in the living room for Santa to put their things in and he did!!!
I always like to cook a good breakfast that we don't normally have on Christmas morning. Normally it's sausage and egg casserole b/c you can make it up and put in it the oven the next morning. This year I found a recipe from Paula Deen that was french toast casserole, which was similar, you made it the night before and put it in the fridge and then just baked it the next morning. We normally have fruit pizza and monkey bread as well but this year we had sausage balls, bacon and eggs.
My parents always like to come over Christmas morning to see what Santa brought but this year since they had no plans on Christmas Eve they came to over to eat supper with us and some friends that don't' have family here and spent the night. It was neat having us all here together to get up and see what Santa left and then open our gifts from each other.
After all the gifts, eating and playing we finally got dressed that afternoon out of our PJ's and then took a nap. I had looked on line at the movie schedule and saw that The Tale of Despereaux was showing at 5:05 that afternoon and asked Carson & Emilia if they would like to go after a nap. They said yes, so we all went to the movie and it was really cute. Nannie got us all popcorn and cokes and we had a great time. We then came back home to eat supper (tenderloin and some veggies) and then Nannie and Papa went back home to New Albany.
On Christmas Eve night, our friends, Ben & Angie and their children Madelyn and Jackson came over for supper. We had Cornish hens, sweet potato casserole, broccoli Parmesan, strawberry salad and sweet potato biscuits, then Angie brought chocolate chip pound cake, Vince's favorite. We have enjoyed having them the past three years now, since their family is out of town, it's just a fun time to eat, visit and play games. This year the kids made reindeer food to put in the yard that night.
Today is the end of yet another year, and I wish you all a HAPPY 2009 with lots more memories to be made. I'm looking forward to it!!!!

Thanks Sonya...

Yeah, I finally figured it out with short instructions from my friend Sonya!!
I just picked the first one I came upon to see if I could get it to work and it did, so expect to see this one for a while :)
We sure have been enjoying this warm weather and sunshine!!! The kids and I have been able to take walks, ride bikes and wash the car and it was so nice to just be outside and not in rain or freezing. We're going to bed now! Yeah.

Help ME!!!!

I keep going to cutest blog on the block, picking me out a new background, copying it, going to add a gadget, clicking on HTML or whatever, pasting the blah blah and clicking save, just like the instructions say and NOTHING happens. Please send me some elementary instructions on how to change this stuff!!!!

Almost Christmas....

My goodness, I keep saying, I need to update this thing but can never find the time!!!! I just looked and saw that it was November 11 since my last post (and I was getting on to Amy for not keeping up!)
So many things have happened since then. I have had so much fun participating in things with Carson's kindergarten class, of course I wrote about the pumpkin patch but since then, we've made a trip to the Christmas Tree Farm in Hatley. It was on Friday, Dec. 5 and it was SOOOOO cold that day. We drove down that morning and the class got to pick a tree for their school room. They had so much fun. I love Frasier fur trees and normally we get one here in Tupelo but I had made my mind up that since I was going with Carson's class that we would also pick us out a tree while there. Little did I know that they only had cypress trees. I was a little disappointed b/c I really wanted a fur but one of his teachers told me how great they held up by getting one that was fresh cut. So after hearing that and seeing that this tree farm donates proceeds from the trees to scholarships in memory of their daughter, whose name was also Shawna, spelled the same as me, I gave in and got the cypress. And might I add that our tree is beautiful. I hope to add pictures soon. We immediately put it in water when we got home and have had hardly any needles fall off, it still looks great!! We decorated it the same weekend, with the big, colored, Charlie Brown, lights and our ornaments and I love it.
Then another exciting thing we did was this past Friday night, December 12, my parents and the four of us made a short road trip to Birmingham, AL to ride the Polar Express. Carson and Emilia LOVE this movie and watch it ALOT. I was looking back in the summer about going to ride Thomas the Train somewhere and ran upon this. I made a note on my calendar that the tickets went on sale on October 27 and got on-line that day to order our tickets. It was so much fun. They do the rides starting the weekend after Thanksgiving through the weekend before Christmas. All the rides are at night and you can wear your PJ's!!!!! What fun!!!! My mom bought Carson and Emilia new "polar" bear PJ's and red robes to wear and she and I also wore our PJ's. My dad and Vince opted to keep their jeans on. Anyway, you board the train car your ticket is for and it starts going.... you hear the story of the Polar Express and then you eventually end up at the North Pole. There, Santa, Ms. Santa and the Elves are waiting for you. The elves board the train first and give everyone a bell, then Santa and Ms. Santa board for autographs and pictures. Then the chefs come on with cookies and chocolate milk, then the elves come back on and give all the children a polar express Christmas Tree ornament. And I forgot to mention that the whole train sings Christmas carols so that Santa could hear us coming. What fun it was, and oh my, the memories we'll have of this.
I think that's all, considering that Christmas is now 7 days away..... time flies, and I still have the same wallpaper on this blog that Amy put on here when I first started. I go to Roan Johnson's and think how cute and neat it looks and look at mine and think how it never changes. Oh well, maybe one day I'll have time to figure it out!!!!!If I don't get back on here before next Thursday, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The Smokey Mountains

Well, I added pictures from our recent trip to the mountains but haven't gotten around to a post until now. We went to visit my grandmother, the last grandparent I have living, the third week in October, who lives in in Sevierville, TN. She lives in an absolutely beautiful area overlooking the French Broad River with the mountains in view from her living room window. Anyway, I try to go visit her at least every 6 months and it was time to go. I was also trying to plan it with the leaves changing color although I think we could have waited a week or so longer. We did go up to to Wears Valley the day after we got there to make "Christmas Card" pictures which are some that I have posted. Then we rode through Cades Cove, the kids love looking for animals. We saw about 200 deer that day. We were able to go to my first cousins daughters 5th birthday party while we were there as well, which was at a bounce house in Knoxville that was really fun.
We did a little shopping and just visited with family, but had a great time.

Pumpkin Patch at Blue Mountain

This year Carson's kindergarten class went to the Pumpkin Patch in Blue Mountain, MS. We had been as a family a couple of times before and really enjoy this Pumpkin Patch. All of the kids but two could ride on the Church Bus this year so Madelyn and Carson rode with me since I was taking Emilia with us too. And Madelyn's mom, Angie and my mom also went. We had a really good time. We got there first thing before the other schools and were able to be first in line at everything since we were the first one's to start and that was nice. The children got to feed and pet the animals at the barn, we saw a peacock, ponies, goats, sheep and chickens, we each got to pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and then we ended the morning with a sack lunch at the picnic tables. It was fun watching Carson with his school friends and being able to be a part of this day. There were lots of moms (and a few dads) who went and all of the children were very well behaved. I would also like to add that Carson's teachers are wonderful, Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Fredda, they are two of the sweetest ladies I have ever met and they are obviously teaching these children so much! I appreciate them and try to lift them up in prayer everyday. Thanks Ladies!!

Wise Farms - Corn Maze, Ecru, MS

I guess we started the family tradition of going to Wise Farms in Ecru, MS with my parents 2-3 years ago. This is another Fall activity that we really enjoy doing. Vince has not gotten to go with us due work conflicts and I do hope that one day he will be able to join us. Wise Farms is a farm in Ecru that is the neatest place. They are open the month of October until Halloween. There is a corn maze that is always cut to be some kind of character or picture. This year they had the 8 acre maze which is the larger one and then a smaller one that was 1 acre. They have pumpkin shooting, a wagon ride, a pumpkin patch, a huge hay stack for the kids to play on, a trough of corn, a smaller barrel ride for the kids, and they even had pony pulled carriages this year. It's a great place to go as a family or even as a group since they also offer bon fires with hotdogs and such.
There is a web site wisefarmer.com if anyone that reads this is interested.
I forgot to mention that normally my brother and his family meet us there but they were not able to come this year so we took a friend of ours from church who also goes to kindergarten with Carson with us, Madelyn. She had a great time.

Memphis Zoo

The second weekend in October we made our annual (we have skipped once or twice) trip to the Memphis Zoo with our friends Jason, Cary, Julia and Rachel. We started going when Julia and Carson were just babies and have tried to make this a family/friend trip each year. This year we went on a Friday b/c of work schedules but it was a beautiful day. We waited until lunch time to leave and then went out for supper while we were in Memphis. Because of waiting later our children did not have naps that day and as you can see from the pictures Emilia didn't make it. She did wait until we were on our way out of the zoo and Vince had stopped by this water fall to look at something, and I guess the sound of the water just soothed her right on off.
We were fortunate to see a baby giraffe while there that was really cute.
We look forward to this trip each fall to see the animals and be with each other as well as good friends.

New Kittens

Well, we have new kittens. Back in September we were on our way to my parents house in New Albany and passed another house with a "free kittens" sign in the yard. I really didn't think much of it and then when we got to my parents, my mom thought it would be neat to take Carson & Emilia to just "look at them". Of course when they came back they both wanted kittens and had picked out the ones they wanted. I told them we had to talk to their daddy before we just brought kittens home. We ended up discussing the kittens for a week and daddy finally agreed so we went the first weekend in October to pick them up. They had each named them before we got there, Carson wanting the black kitten, which is named Midnight, and after a visit to the vet, is confirmed a girl and Emilia wanting the yellow and white kitten, which is named Buttercup and is now confirmed a boy. I guess it won't matter that their names are not appropriate for their sex since they will just both be "cats" in about four months......
I have to say that they are LOVING their kittens and have had lots of fun playing with them and watching them play with each other. And we are enjoying watching Carson & Emilia with them as well.

Fireproof

Well, Vince and I had a "rushed date" this past Thursday night. I had told him that I REALLY wanted to go see the new movie Fireproof and he asked me when, so after looking at the calendar and around everything that was already scheduled I picked Thursday night, thinking it would be easier to get one of our babysitters since it wasn't the night of a high school football game. Anyway, got the first babysitter lined up and everything was a go. Then Wednesday afternoon she called to say her grandfather had passed away that morning (our thoughts and prayers go out to Anne's family) so Wednesday night at church I approached our other babysitter (we only have two that we love, and I trust). Thankfully Carlye could come. So, plans on again. THEN, Thursday morning I was in line to pick Carson up at Calvary from kindergarten and my phone rings, a number I did not recognize, it was Carson's soccer coach to tell us to be at the game early that night to get their uniforms, I was completely lost. I know he thought I had really lost my mind, so after telling him sure, we'll be there, blah blah, (thank goodness the game started at 6 and they only play one hour) I called Vince. You see, Vince has been taking Carson to practices on Monday b/c I've been working on Monday nights. I had asked him Tuesday if Carson had a soccer game schedule yet but never got an answer so went on. And we had again discussed the movie, what time it started, how long it lasted, etc Thursday morning before Vince went to work. O.K. all that to say,when Vince answered I asked him if he knew what day it was and what other plans we had besides the movie, he immediately started apologizing and I broke down in tears. I could never miss Carson's first soccer game, I was so looking forward to this movie and I had no idea if we didn't go that night when we'd go. SO, here we go again... I thought, are we not suppose to see this movie or is this the devil trying to keep us from it??? Which I have decided was the last. So, I go by the movie to buy tickets, well, they are closed until later and Emilia had gymnastics so I went home, got on-line and bought our tickets. I called a dear friend who has a business on hwy 145 to see if we could leave one car there, b/c this would save time in getting from the soccer game to the movie, I called Carlye and told her to meet us here at 7, the movie started at 7:10, so we drove two cars to the soccer game, left as soon as it was over, met Carlye, let her drive my van to our house with the kids since they were already in their car seats, left Carlye's car there, drove Vince's truck to the movie and only missed a very few seconds/minutes at the beginning. And oh my, what an awesome movie. I knew from the get go, satan was trying his best to mess up our plans, but we won! I know not many people have access to my postings b/c I don't really talk about this but if you are married, go see this movie!!!! You'll understand this if you have seen it but I have to say we also now have the book, The Love Dare and I'm really excited about reading it.
O.K. Just wanted to advertise a little for FIREPROOF!!!

Atlanta ....

Well, we left Friday afternoon for Atlanta, Vince and his brother-in-law went to see MSU and Georgia Tech play Saturday morning and his sister and her two kids, Carson, Emilia & I went to Six Flags to Thomas Town. We were there for about six hours. I was exhausted, I pulled Carson & Emilia around in a wagon all day with about five different bags strapped to my back, shoulders and whatever else they would hang from!!! Needless to say, my back, legs and arms were quite sore when I got up Sunday morning. We did get to ride on Thomas the Train and he was very cute. We also rode a "family roller coaster" that I have to say, went pretty fast for me, let alone a three year old.
Sunday we got up and planned to go downtown to take pictures by the big CNN sign of Carson & Emilia and at the Olympic Park, little did we know that the Atlanta Falcons were also playing in Atlanta that day, and if you've never seen Atlanta traffic on a day that the Falcons AND the Braves are playing, let me just say, try to avoid it. To sum it all up, we never made it to get the pictures made, by the time we found an available parking lot that cost $20 to park in, we didn't have time to walk two miles to get to the landmarks and then get to Turner Field for the Braves game, so we just headed on to the stadium.
I have been to some other MLB games in the past but never to see the Braves and I have to say it was pretty fun. It was alright in the beginning b/c they were getting beat but then in about the 7th inning they really started playing ball and got ahead, it then got really exciting. We did have to leave in the top of the ninth just so we could get home before 11.
We were all really tired but had a good time and made lots of memories. I'll try to post more pictures from the trip when I have more time.

My New Blue Jeans

I forgot to mention my new blue jeans.... I know I mention my friend Amy alot on my blog but goodness, so many things remind me of her. I only had one decent pair of jeans to my name before my Memphis trip. I was at TJMaxx b/c I have to buy everything on SALE. I was just looking through the jeans b/c I have to have talls, not expecting to find any. Well, you must know that I almost passed out when Amy introduced me to Lucky and Seven jeans - I cannot believe anyone could not feel guilty about spending that much money on a pair of jeans, I could find 2-3 pairs for that. Anyway, what did I find at TJMaxx ??? A pair of both, and b/c they were only $34 and $30 I tried them on, the whole time saying, I cannot buy these, even if they are cheap. Well, my goodness, the Lucky ones fit PERFECT, or at least I thought they did, now if Amy or Laura Jo or Jacqueline saw me in them they might say different but since they weren't there, I bought them and am actually excited about wearing them. (You can tell I don't get much for myself!!) And Amy, I really proud I found them for a bargain.

Learning my way around Memphis...

Well, Vince finally finished his hospital orientation at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis today, he had to work nights this week at his full-time job in Tupelo and b/c I was concerned about his safety, I asked my mom to spend the night Wed. and Thurs. nights so I could get up at five and meet Vince at the hospital and drive him to Memphis on Thursday and Friday. (He thought he could work all night and do this himself, not to mention staying awake all day while there). I finally told him that I had arranged to go on Wednesday night and he didn't argue with me. He had me two maps printed off for mall areas but if you know anything about me, you know I can't read maps!!! I actually did pretty good and made it from the hospital to the Wolfechase area on Thursday and made it back and made it to another area where a strip mall is today and made it back!! I did have to check in with our good friend Jason periodically for directions since he also works at St. Francis.
I had gone to the library on Wednesday and checked out four books b/c I had anticipated that I'd be sitting in a lobby somewhere reading all day both days. I'm embarrassed to say, I got about 50 pages of ONE book read.
Maybe I'll finish that one before it's due back at the library.
I can officially say I've started my Christmas shopping - I bought two things while I was there for Christmas.
I missed my babies ALOT and am ready to be home with them and be the one to take Carson to school next week and pick him up but I can say, it's a lot easier to shop without them.
And b/c of my shopping, I can say, I'm so thankful my husband is getting a part time job!!!!!
Since I have to be at work in the morning myself at 0530 I better get in bed.

Thanks, Amy --

O.K. I finally had to give my pass word to my friend Amy who started all this so she could add some wallpaper and tickers. I'm still waiting on a list to be able to access other blogs from my site, and since I've been visiting other blogs, I think I would like to add some music too. Who knows when I'll figure that part out or get Amy to do it for me!!! :) Maybe I can meet Megan Johnson via blogs and she can help me out. Amy, it looks great, I really appreciate it.

Still Trying..

Well, I got some instructions on how to make this thing cute but my goodness, I can't figure out how to get the cute stuff from the websites to my page!!!! I think I'm going to have to have some one on one.
We've survived the first week of kindergarten at Calvary and things are actually going good. Carson is excited and can't believe that he gets to go EVERY day. The first day was a little on the sad side but I did hold things together until after he got in the door. It was when he was walking down the side walk with Ms. Anne and I was trying to get some pictures of him with his backpack on his back, he held his hand up with all his fingers spread out and said, "I'm FIVE!" That's when I had to turn the other way, and then of course Emilia chimes in with, "Mama, why are you crying?" So, there we were. But it has gotten better. I was sad that he's already big enough to go to kindergarten and it seems that time has flown, and I can't remember ALL of it, then I had a moment of just thinking of how many parents are in the world that would give ANYTHING for this day, who for some reason or another didn't have the opprotunity to experience the first day of kindergarten with their child, and my heart broke for them in a different way. So, with all of this, I'm thankful that God has blessed me with the little boy he did and that I was able to experience his first day of kindergarten. I Love You Carson (and I'll try to post that picture sometime soon)

New at this....

Well, I have to say I have no idea what I'm doing and I can't find anything to make my blog page as cute as my friends. I was inspired by my friend Amy to "Just try this....." who was inspired by the wife of the physician she works for, Roan..... and so here I am. (Thanks Roan and Amy!!!) So, I'm going to try to find all the cute things ya'll have on your blogs to put on mine and then maybe I'll figure out how to add some pictures!!