I Have A Son...

who:

-wears a hooded, zip up fleece as a "coat" when the thermometer downtown is showing 26 degreees
-hates to wear long sleeve t-shirts unless there is a short sleeve shirt on top of it
-has sensory issues (newly discovered and serious, not a joke) with certain fabrics - like nylon shoe strings
-has an attitude that sucks, most of the time
-will be 8 in April, so...he is still only 7
-thinks he is all-knowing at this wise old age
-is so much fun to be around when he doesn't have an attitude or think he knows it all
-so easily influenced by his friends and what he thinks their opinion of his long sleeve shirt might be (do 7 & 8 year old boys really look at what each other is wearing)
-thinks that an Auburn football jersey can be worn to any event on any occassion
-does not like "collar shirts" - aka golf type, polo type shirt
-is deep, belly laugh kind of hilarious - especially when he has a deep belly laugh
-is very concerned about his weight (thanks Artisha)
-is 7 years and 9 months old...combined with the previous statement, makes me sad
-folded laundry for the first time yesterday, not without a fight
-does not have a pretty face when he balls up his fists by his side in rebellion
-likes to brush his hair straight forward, onto his forehead
-can and did pack his own lunch for school

I have a son who has a mom, that:

-picks her battles
-reminds him that he will freeze with these temperatures
-got a long sleeve t-shirt out for him and encouraged him to NOT wear his Opelika swim dogs t-shirt over the long sleeve (he actually bought into it)
-helps him with his hair, in passing of course
-encourages him to hold his breath and tie his shoes quickly so he won't have chill bumps for long -reminds him that he is only 7 years, 9 months and I am much wiser at my wise old age
-loves to laugh with her hilarious son
-loves watching him play with his younger sister - when they are playing nicely
-is reminded of her own attitude that sucked when she was growing up (my poor mother, rest her soul)
-tells herself that this wonderful boy is herself walking around at this age, 29 years later
-got a parking place in the front of her building this morning, even after having morning drop off duty b/c his dad is out of town.
-chose the battle over laundy and won...

It will be a good day. Any takers who want to guess how our life is these days? :-)
I have a son...and I love him!

Getting Closer to the Present (time, not gift, ha ha) - December

Let's see.....when I think of December, of course Christmas comes to mind. We were busy, but not with so many parties. Just busy.
A lot happened in December. Since I really do not like the way you upload photos to a blogger blog, I am not sure how many photos I will post. I think I might just share a link to the albums on Facebook or Shutterfly - depending on where they are stored. I like that idea.
One of the first Christmas events for us was the parade in our home-town. I have said this before, probably on Facebook, that this parade is nothing like the one we went to growing up. I say "we" because Mark and I grew up in the same town and went to the same candy-throwin' parade each year. However, this is how things roll at our evening Christmas parade. I have to admit it is so much calmer. Also, I am not as worried about a child being run over by a parade float.
Moving on. The hanging of the greens service shows up next in my chronological list of photos. I don't have permission from all of the parents to share photos on the internet, so I won't post the entire album. Here are a few from that evening...

Remember waaayyyy back in November when I said that I liked to cook meals - especially large meals. I had the priviledge of preparing a meal for the college students of our church. It was so much fun working with Ruth on this. There are many photos, taken by Jason Summers. I can't remember if they are on Facebook or not. So many of them though.

There was a teddy bear tea that E and I went to. We went along with some friends. Following this there were Christmas card photo attempts, school Christmas programs, and then our trip to Mobile (aka Saraland). Not everyone knows where Saraland is, but most know where Mobile is. Anyway...the circus trip to Mobile was the weekend before Christmas. We left on Saturday morning with the Saraland Christmas parade being our first venue. Then to my dads, his mother's house, then Sunday lunch at Mark's mom's, then Sunday evening with my mother's mom and my siblings/family. We left Sunday evening for the beach. Our friends the Donald's invited us back to spend a couple of days there. On Monday I had the wonderful chance to have lunch with dear friends from my school days. Sonda and Danielle. So much fun. Sonda's daughter, Logan, joined us for lunch too. They (Sonda and Danielle) have had exciting things happening in their lives this year. Such a fun time spent with them.

After our trip south, we came back home for Christmas at home. The kids had a great Christmas. We all received a Wii from Santa. We have had a fun time playing with it since that morning. After a few days at home, we were ready to go again. The four of us along with Mark's mom headed out early Sunday morning for Williamsburg, VA. Our two kiddos seem to travel really well. Most of the time. We left at 5 am or a little after. We enjoyed 3 full days there. The trip home was a little longer. More potty breaks, stopped for lunch and dinner (Varsity in Atlanta for dinner - woo hoo). The weather wasn't so nice either. Rain and fog. We made it safely home. That was on New Years Eve. B stayed up to see the ball drop on TV. He wasn't really impressed. Unless you are actually in Times Square, is it really that impressive?

Now that you have read (if you really have) an account of Oct - Dec 2009, I will stop posting for today. I really wanted to chronicle this for us. I wanted this blog to be some kind (even lacking my ability to "say" what I want to say) of journal for us. At least I have somewhat thrown together the last 3 months.

Maybe with more diligent blogging - I will have deeper thoughts. I may actually start another blog that is just for my own history and past. Some of the things - other than the death of my mother - that shaped me to be who I am today. Once I do that I have to be ready to see and face those skeletons.

Well, happy 2010. A great year for us thus far. I hope it has been for your & yours too.

What November held for us...

It is funny. I must look at the photos to remember what happened. Thankfully, I have A LOT of photos to go through. I will spare many of the details. I LOVE cooking and having people visit in our home. I especially like making a large meal, like the ones normally served on Thanksgiving. I have to admit something about this year though. E's daycare class took canned goods to our Community Market. This market is for those who qualify to receive a certain amount of food amount. After this field trip, I left the market and ventured out to purchase what I needed for our meal. I went to 4 stores, yes FOUR. I was looking for fresh herbs - sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary. So, when I couldn't find it at one place, I went to 3 others. It was crazy for me to do this. When I left the 4th retail store, I decided to stop at a local nursery that has recently opened a market. They didn't have what I wanted either, so I just bought sage plants. I did. JUST for a meal. I dont' know at what point it hit me. I had just driven all over our town - not terribly big, but still - looking for herbs and spices. There are MANY who wouldn't eat a special meal on Thursday of that week. Some wouldn't eat a meal at all. And I drove around looking for herbs and spices. It still makes me a little sick to think that I did that. So, the herbs and spices were used and yes, they tasted good. Here is what part of them were used for.




Well, it looks like Thanksgiving is all that we did in the month of November. I know that isn't the case, but I do have photos of that day. This year for Thanksgiving, we had friends and family with us for that day. Mark's mom was here with us. I was happy that my cousin, Alison, her husband and son were here. They have only been to our house a couple of times now. Once in Atlanta, once in Opelika, one other time in Auburn, and this past November. Alison and I were born 4 days apart. Our mothers were sisters. We were close growing up. I love her! She brought me a fun gift - pilgrim salt and pepper shakers! I love them too!! The Cannon family joined us for lunch too - minus their oldest daughter who was with their family that weekend. I was thankful they spent the day with us. Photos are mostly of the guys playing football that day. The power went off right as lunch was ready. We ate lunch with just daylight. It was nice. There was a china plate and a crystal goblet broken. However, I have never minded if something like that is broken, really. Alison was worried. It is hard to convince someone who has just broken your china and crystal that it really ok. It was and it is, OK.

B & Daniel

B and Ian

B & Cole...my cousin's son

The day after Thanksgiving, you know...Black Friday....my mother in law and I decided we would venture out shopping. This was my first Black Friday experience. I can't remember how early, but we were up early. I had programmed the coffee pot the night before, just to make things a little easier. It was a productive morning though.

On the Saturday following Thanksgiving, there was a football game played. A big game for our state. The Iron Bowl. Mark and B went to the game - the clothing B wears throughout the photos on this blog clearly shows who our family pulls for in this game. E & I stayed at home that Saturday and put up our artificial Christmas tree. That evening, after the loss our team suffered, we all decorated the tree. Here are some photos of our ornaments . Each (well most) of them have a special story to go along with it. Some of them are just ornaments. This year I seemed a little more sentimental about them. I even shed a tear or two while unwrapping them. I love decorating the Christmas tree and all of the white lights. The kids wanted multi-color lights this year. I don't think I can. I didn't this year and I am not sure that I will be able to use them. I don't know why...just not my lights for Christmas. Maybe the mini white lights and the large "old-time" large bulbs too? hmmm...not sure.

So, there you have the month of November.

October...

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year - spring being the other one. So, I love October. I also turned 36 in October this past year. Mark likes to remind me that I am on the other side of the half-way point of my 30's. While he is still on the other side. Three more months and he will be mid-way to 40. Anyway...fun times in October...

Flag Football:

Not the best photos...but you get the idea

Next up...tailgating at B's school. Most all schools (I think) in this town have a tailgating day. If you don't live in a university town with a football team, this sounds really ridiculous. Just a day to party at school. The toilet paper is an Auburn thing.

E learned to tie her shoes!!!

Pumpkin Carving....and Halloween.........

Our October ended with a stomach virus. E had it first and B rounded it out. He was sick for longer than the rest of us. He went to one house to trick or treat, thinking he felt better and could go. That wasn't the case. In our town, we celebrated Halloween Thursday before Halloween - which fell on a Saturday this past year. Why you might ask? Well in a town where football is really important - there was a high school game on Friday night and the local university played on Saturday. So, Thursday it was. Strange but it worked.

Playing Catch Up

I am not really sure how to catch up for so much time lost on my blog. I thought about photos from each month - October up until now. That may be what I do. Will depend on the time I have.

Not too many updates on us. We still do the same thing day in and day out. I still wish I had a 24/7 audio/video recorder of our children. So many funny things that they say and do. By the time I get to blogging ( 4 months later) I have forgotten most of it. We are blessed, very blessed. Not a big reason why, we just are. When I stop and think of how healthy we have been and are, we have a warm house, we all seem to love each other on most days...things are good and we shouldn't complain. Although, we have complaints. You know, like..."work is awful" - however, grateful for a job!

So, I may try to chronicle the last 4 months with photos that I have taken. That might be the easiest way to do it.

One other thing. I have found a great blog. It consumed a large chunk of my time over the weekend. I find it so interesting to hear and read about other people's lives and how they live. I am sure most of the population already knows about The Pioneer Woman (she has something like 38K fans on Facebook). I on the other hand am a new fan of hers. If you have hours to spend on this kind of thing and enjoy reading blogs, go for it.