Practice makes perfect!

Tonight, Brad and I are getting to keep our niece, Reece, OVERNIGHT! She is April's daughter and she just turned one. This is a very big deal because Reece has never spent the night away from home. And we need all the practice we can get before we start our own family! We started the night off eating dinner at Logan's with Brooke and TB (and Brad!). Dinner went perfectly. Reece ate a roll and about half of her macaroni and cheese....AND she flirted with the waiter (blowing him kisses and waving to him)! She was a perfect angel! After dinner, we went to Mom's house (where we are currently awaiting the new year) and we put on her pajamas. She then took her night-time bottle and after playing with MiMi, Pop, Katie, Douglas, Me and Brad, she fell right asleep, after we watched some of Maid in Manhattan! I can only pray that our children will be so perfect! I seriously love that kid (well all of April's kids) so much that I really wonder if I could possibly love my own more. And speaking of April's kids, today I was talking with Peyton about his candy he got from school today. He showed me a few pieces, asking me which one I wanted, and I said, "Oh, sweettarts!" To which his cute little face completely LIT UP and he said, "I didn't know you could read!!!" Ha! Love him!

3 down, 22 to go!

I know it's been a while since I posted about my quilt, but good grief, it takes forever to sew all those little hexagons together! The first flower took me about six hours to complete, the second about five and the third one about four and a half hours. So I'm getting a little quicker. So far I have about sixteen hours invested into the quilt, as you see in the picture. I really think it's going to look great once it's done. I'm thinking about trying my Mom's sewing machine out instead of doing the whole thing by hand like I have been doing, just because it is soooo time consuming. But there you have it, my quilt to date!

Seven Pounds

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. I saw this movie a few days ago with Brad and his parents. I'm the only one that actually liked the movie, but I really liked it. I can't really tell you what it's about because you don't really know what it's about until the very end and I don't want to spoil it for you! I think Will Smith is probably one of the best actors of all time (and Tom Hanks). Definitely go see this movie. 5 out of 5 stars!

Christmas 2008

What a great Christmas! We started the day early-7:00am to be exact! Brad cooked breakfast for me, Mom, Doug, Dad, Big Mama, Katie and Ben! And it was delicious! Then after breakfast, Brad and I opened our presents from each other. Brad's favorite present was:

His grill! And my favorites were:

My houndstooth rainboots and......

My Sony 300 digital camera! Woo hoo!!! So after we opened presents, the whole crew headed over to April's house to see what all Santa brought the kids. They were all so cute in their matching pajamas, which reminds me-When I told Peyton how cute his 'pjs' were he said, "They are pajamas, you silly silly girl." Ha! After April's house, we went to Brad's brother Keith's house to see what our other nephews got from Santa. And after THAT, we headed to Brad's mom's house for Christmas dinner. I have tons of pictures from dinner because my camera wasn't charged until then!

Some of the family playing my new game, Yahtzee Free For All!

Papa Carl and Forrest opening gifts


Ann and Harper

Greyson


Me and Harper

We hope you all had a great Christmas! I'm so glad we are all off work until Monday! Today, Brad, me and his parents are going to see Seven Pounds (with Will Smith) and we are having lunch with two really good friends, Brooke and TB! This is the life!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Hot Dog it's Christmas Eve!!!!!!! I'm so excited! Brad and I are starting many family traditions this Christmas, being our very first married Christmas! His contribution to our new family traditions was suggesting that each year, we buy each other our Christmas pajamas and we get to open that present on Christmas Eve so that we can wear those pajamas to bed and on Christmas morning! Well I've been thinking about one of the traditions that I wanted to contribute and I came up with this: shaking one present on Christmas Eve Eve. Not very clever, but I'm all about shaking my presents and Brad NEVER lets me do it! So last night, I picked out Brad's present for him to shake. He shook and shook and couldn't figure out what it was. Then it was MY turn! I told him that I really wanted to shake the smallest present because it just looked so enticing! So he obliged and let me shake that one. Before I shook it, I thought it must have been jewelry or something, but when he handed it to me, it was very heavy and it sounded like it had liquid in it. I knew immediately what it was! I was running low on my perfume and I told Brad that I needed some more earlier. HA! Then the conversation went as follows:

Me: "I know what it is!!! Can I tell you to see if I'm right?"
Brad: "No! That's exactly why I didn't want you to shake any presents!"

He knows that I know. Hee hee haa haa. And it is killing him! So I doubt MY tradition will make it to next year. So sad.

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

My Lucky Day

On September 23rd, I got a fortune cookie that read, "Remember three months from today. Good things will happen to you." Today's the day people! I'll let you know what lucky something happens!

UPDATE: Well my lucky day started out with me hitting my thumb with a hammer but ended with me getting my big fat Christmas bonus! It really was my lucky day!

George Update

Brad went across town and got George yesterday afternoon. And the lady that called me about him came over to the house to see him. And as it turns out, the girl went to school with Brad. She stuck her hand out to George and he came right to her! He never goes to a stranger! So hopefully they will get along! If not, I'm back to square one again.

Sick and George

I am sick AGAIN. Although it has nothing to do with my earlier prediction. I think I just have a small bug. Every single bone in my body aches. But since I've been in the bed all day, I'm beginning to feel a little better. I am going to miss our Christmas service at church tonight that I'm supposed to be singing at. That sucks.

Now about George. I put an ad in the newspaper for him last week and Thursday I received a phone call from a sweet old lady asking about him. She said she wasn't able to drive so Brad and I told her that we would bring George to her Friday night. We did just that and they seemed like they would get along. And then today, in the middle of my nap, my cell phone rang. It was the old lady. She said, "Sweetheart, will you please come get this cat? I haven't slept a wink since he got here. He keeps waking me up." CRAP. So I had to send Brad across town to go pick George up. And while Brad was gone, I got another phone call from someone wanting to look at George. She's on her way over now. Maybe they will make a good match!

My chinese-lady voice

Those that know me well know that on occasion, I'll answer my phone in the voice of a Chinese lady. I don't know why. But frankly, it cracks me up and usually the person on the other end. Well I have placed an ad in the newspaper for my cat, George. I have only gotten one phone call for him within the past 3 days the ad has been in the paper. Just a second ago, my cell phone rang. My caller id flashed BFGoodrich, where my step-dad works. Trying to make him smile, I pick up the phone and say, "Helllllooooo????" in my Chinese lady voice. And then I hear a lady say, "Umm...yes ma'am....I'm calling about your cat in the paper." I was so shocked that I hung up on her! Poor lady. I bet she thinks I'm crazy!

A Prediction

Today's weather in Tuscaloosa is strangely warm. It should be in the low 70's! Monday morning, the temperature is going to be 20 degrees!!!!! What the CRAP! So here is my prediction, are you ready for it?? Allison will be sick on Christmas! Remember this post. I'll remind you of it while I'm laid up in the bed on Christmas morning!

MIA

Our maintenance man is missing! Yesterday around lunchtime he wasn't feeling well so he went to the doctor and that was the last time we heard from him. He is supposed to show up at the office at 8:00am every morning, but he never came in today. We've talked to his friend that also works for us and he hasn't heard from him. We've called both local hospitals to see if he was admitted and he hasn't been. I've checked the jail website, just in case! He is no where to be found! This is not like him and I'm worried! I hope he turns up soon!

Wordless Wednesday

I've been tagged!

So the point of this tag is to look in your 4th picture album on your computer and post the 4th pic, then explain what it is. There can't be any cheating, picking another picture or cropping! Here goes:





This GORGEOUS picture was taken in January 2007 when April, Dad and I went to the Bahamas. This was at the Atlantis hotel, looking out from a fountain to the ocean. It looks like a postcard! I want to go back so bad!

And now I have to tag 4 more people:
1. April
2. Brooke
3. Doug
4. and YOU!

Santa Claus came to town!

So I was sitting at my desk at work when all of a sudden he appeared!



Santa Claus came to see us and he came bearing gifts! Chocolate covered cookies and pretzels! YUM!

Not Me! Monday

This weekend, I most certainly did not almost kidnap my good friend's child after church. She was not so darn cute that I wanted to stick her in my purse and run toward the car. I also did not work on my quilt sooooo much all weekend that I did not already complete TWO flowers! Last night, I did not dream that I was having an affair with our favorite cook from Benkei....weird.

Ok, so I'm not very good at the whole Not Me! thing......my life is boring!!

I quilt like an old lady

After much anticipation, I present to you.....my quilt in the making!! I've spent much of my weekend cutting hundreds of these hexagons:





And last night, after a total of six hours of work, I completed my first flower of the quilt!





And of course, Bella Sue had to help Mommy make the new baby a quilt!





I am so excited about this quilt! I think it's going to look great once it's finished!

S-I-C-K

Remember when I said I wasn't feeling well on Tuesday? When I got off work that afternoon and picked Brad up from work, he said he wasn't feeling well either. In fact, he had even been throwing up! So we headed to the new Med-Express place that just opened down the street. We got there at about 5:30pm and they closed at 6:00pm. We were the ONLY people in there so we didn't have to wait long. However, instead of a nurse taking my vitals and asking about my medical history, I had a teenager-in normal, everyday clothes and whom had obviously never done this before. She informed me, while taking my blood pressure, that I needed a chest x-ray. I told her that I really didn't think I needed a chest x-ray because my congestion wasn't in my chest, it was in my head. She said, "Ok, well, follow me into the exam room!" And she takes off walking......with me still sitting in the chair with the blood pressure cuff on!! So I take the cuff off myself and follow her. She apologizes once she realized what she did. Meanwhile, Brad is getting checked on, by the same girl, in the other room. I sat and waited for the doctor. When the doctor came in, I thoroughly explained all my symptoms (I thought I had a sinus infection) and he prescribed me Zyrtec! He wrote me a prescription for something I could get over the counter?? I take it and go back out to sit in the waiting room and wait for Brad. The stupid teenager girl comes out and says, "Ohhhhh, did you get a shot?" "No." "Welllllllll, are you waiting on someone?" "Um, yes, my husband, the only other patient here." "Oooohhhhhh. Ok" And she then proceeds to turn all the lights off in the waiting room, where I am sitting, and locks all the doors. So I am sitting there, IN THE DARK, waiting for Brad to come out. He finally does and we have to get Stupid to unlock the door so we could leave! Brad tells me in the car that he had a 100.6 degree fever! And the stupid doctor told Brad to go buy some Pedialite! What the crap? Well I took my Zyrtec like I was told that night, went to work on Wednesday, went to work on Thursday....and still felt like CRAP. So Thursday I worked for a couple of hours and went home to bed! Today, I woke up feeling worse so I went to my normal doctor and got on some antibiotics. Hopefully I will get better soon! And Brad is 100% back to his normal self. He must have just had a bug. In quilting news, my houndstooth fabric I ordered came in the mail today so this weekend, I'll be a lean, mean quilting machine!

Property Management Part 2

I mean, really. Is it necessary to completely destroy someone ELSE'S house that they work hard to maintain? Is it realllllly necessary to destroy carpet?



Is it really necessary to throw grease on the walls? Or to leave your nasty trash every where when you move out?



And please tell me, is it really necessary to demolish an entire wall?



Is it really necessary to NEVER clean your house, leaving behind this mass of SPIDERS on the ceiling when you leave?



I THINK NOT!!!!!!

Pass the sickies please!

Remember this post about my ironic happenings? Well I've done it again, my friends. Everyone (and I do mean EVERYone) of my family members has been sick lately with either strep throat, bad colds, etc. The bug has gone around my sister's house twice! So Monday I think to myself, "Look at me! I'm so great at cloroxing and sanitizing! I'm the only one who hasn't gotten sick!" HA! Guess who has been up half the night sneezing, coughing and blowing their sickly nose?? ME! And when I get sick, I get crazy! So don't come around me for a while unless you enjoy hearing my sickly version of J-I-N-G-L-E Bells! Ask my sister! I've been driving her nuts all day! In other news, remember this post about the quilt I was starting to make? Well I started last night! The pattern is called Grandmother's Flower Garden, because it looks like a bunch of flowers, but I'm going to make it crimson, white and houndstooth so it can be used whether we have a boy OR a girl! A Quad blanket, as my Mom called it. (Because it will be used on the Quad, tailgating. Not because we will have 4 babies! At least I hope not!) The quilt is made from a gazillion little hexagons. I started cutting them out last night and I can already see that it's going to take a loooooong time. I'll take some pictures of it as I go. But until then, does anyone know of something that will repair my raw, sickly nose???? It hurts!

Sad

I'm sad. I just found out that a distant friend of mine, Kathryn, had a miscarriage. And she was 20-something weeks along. So she will have to actually deliver her dead baby. That just breaks my heart for her. Why is it that bad things always happen to good people? Her husband is a local church's youth leader and she is an elementary school teacher (or does something with the school.) Can you imagine having to deliver your baby, knowing that when it gets here, you won't get to take it home with you? She was far enough along to know that her baby was a boy, named Lucas. I feel so so sorry for her and her husband. Please say a prayer today for Kathryn and her husband. I think she was going to be induced this morning.

Not Me! Monday

So you probably know at this point that I'm a little obsessed with MckMama's blog, My Charming Kids. Just a little. And I've tried putting off the Not Me! Monday thing for a while now, but I can't hold myself back any longer. So here goes:

Today I did not talk with my grandmother about quilt patterns for the quilt I will not soon be making for my nonexistant child. I am not weird and most certainly do not fantasize about my nonexistant child and her girliness. Not Me! I also have not already picked out my baby furniture for my nonexistant child.

There. It's short and sweet, but I DID IT! I'm proud of myself for Not Me-ing. Yay me!

Happy 100th Post to Me!

I have found over the last 100 posts that I absolutely love blogging. I love going back and reading posts of how I was feeling before we got married and I'm sure I'll love looking back to the way we were before we had children! (No, I'm not pregnant!....YET!) I love stalking other people's blogs. Ask my husband! So in honor of my 100th post, I'm going to ask you to De-Lurk! Comment and let me know that you read my blog! If I know you in real life, know you in blog life or if I don't know you at all! Don't be shy! Let me know who you are and how you found me! I know a lot of you are out there, anonymously reading my blog! De-Lurk me! And remember:

Morning talks with my mother

Me: "Now that I've finally gotten my pistol permit, I need to get a gun! I need you to go with me to help me pick it out."
Mom: "You probably need one like mine, a (some number I can't remember.)"
Me: "I wonder if they come in different colors, like pink. Or red. That would be cute! A pink gun!
Mom: "Guns don't come in cute, they come in deadly!"

Roll Tide!

This is it. The big game. We are about to battle the Florida Gators for the SEC Championship!!! Brad and I are at my Mom's house with some of their friends and they have the television SO LOUD I can hardly hear myself think!! Oh well. ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!

Update: So now it's the 4th quarter. Florida is winning 31-20 and they have the ball. Needless to say, we are going to lose the SEC Championship, which means we won't be playing for the National Championship. It's a sad, sad day in Alabama.

Ahh the joys of property management...

I manage about 150 rental houses for a living. I love my job, but like any other job, it has it's good qualities and bad. Today, I experienced the bad. Really bad. Usually when a tenant moves out of a property, I go and assess the damage and take pictures (in case they owe us money for the damages and I need proof in court that there actually WAS damage). The house I went to today is officially the worst house I have been in in my entire career (which is 21 years...I've been doing this my entire life!) Wouldn't you like to see some of the pictures I took? I thought so! But I warn you, they will make you cringe:

This is a picture of a wall. Lovely grease stains there.


Lovely living room set. And a wonderfully clean floor.


Ahh yes. This is my favorite. This my friends, is where the television sat. The stuff on the wall is roach feces. The stuff on the table you ask? More roach feces and baby roaches! Now doesn't that just make you all warm inside?


These pictures really don't do the place justice. Normally I take somewhere between 15-30 pictures, depending on how bad the place is. At this house, I took 67. And I wish I could have captured the smell in there. I had my jacket covering my nose, breathing out of my mouth and STILL I could hardly concentrate on picture-taking because of the smell. Now doesn't this make you want to join my line of work?? I thought so.

What a pretty leaf!

This morning, Mom and I are out as usual checking on rental property. I'm sitting in the car waiting on her to finish her cigarette (I'm trying to get her to quit. It's a nasty, nasty, unhealthy addiction MOTHER!). She opens the door with this in her hand:



And she says, "Oh my goodness! LOOK at this leaf! It's just gorgeous! The colors are so pretty and it's just PERFECT! I've never seen such a perfect, pretty leaf! Feel it! It's just like velvet!"
"Umm...Mom...it's fake." "No it's not! It's real!" At this point, I turn the leaf over to show her the plastic stems and I pull at it to show her it doesn't tear. "Oh." Extreme laughter is had by me at this point. "Shut up."

Ahh, I love my Mom!

Roll Tide!

That's right. We beat Auburn for the first time in SIX YEARS! 36-0 as a matter of fact. So we didn't just beat them, we SPANKED them! HA! So remember my earlier post about rain boots? We found some at Academy Saturday morning! And here they are:

They are cuter in person, believe me. They only had this pattern and leopard print boots (not in my size or I would have gotten those!) I heard that Target.com sells houndstooth rainboots, so I will be ordering those shortly! ANYWAY, we were quite surprised before the game when they announced that Sara Evans would be singing the National Anthem! You know I love me some Sara Evans! Here she is right above the middle flag girl:

And here's a closer picture, courtesy of the jumbo-tron:

She did great! Oh, and did I mention that it RAINED the entire game? Yeah. I was pretty miserable. Hence my expression below.

But the bad weather didn't damper Brad's mood when it came time to sing "Rammer Jammer." He made us stay until the very end of the game so that he could sing RJ. As he said, "I've been waiting six years to sing RJ to them!!" He couldn't even stop singing to smile for the camera!

Stupid, Stupid Day After Thanksgiving

I have a problem. I can admit it. If I get something in my mind, and then that something doesn't go as planned, I tend to get mad. And this happening happenned today, just a few minutes ago to be exact. Let me just start by saying that I realize that today is the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year, so there's no need to remind me. The day started out fantastic. Brad got up and left at about 6:15am this morning and I because I couldn't go back to sleep after he left, I read blogs for a few hours. The rest of the morning was wonderful, too. I laid around, watched some movies, read some blogs and even put up all the Christmas decorations inside the house. Brad finally got home and we decided that because we had such a fun time the night before at his Mom's, that we would go back. So I put on a little makeup, threw my hair back in a ponytail and threw on some pjs. (My pjs consisted of a red shirt that's 15 years old, hot pink sweatpants and some Crocs. Remember this because it will be important later.) We ate some leftovers and played another 3 hour game of Phase 10. And get this, I WON! The day couldn't get any better! By this time, it's 9:00pm. Well everybody in Tuscaloosa knows that THE football game is tomorrow. And by THE football game, I mean the Alabama vs. Auburn game! It's very serious business here in T-town. The forecast for tomorrow doesn't look all that great. It's supposed to be rainy (it's been raining all day today, too) so it's sure to be muddy tailgating. So I get the FABULOUS idea of going to Target to get some rainboots! Target has a lot of very cute rainboots. And as I talked about the rainboots, my mother-in-law told me that Academy was selling pink rainsuits as well! PINK! My favorite color! GREAT! I call Academy and they closed at 9:00pm. No big deal, we can just swing by there in the morning before we head to the quad. I call Target and they are open until 11:00pm! YES! So Brad and I, at 9:15pm, drive the 15-20 minute drive across town to Target. Remember my cute outfit I had on? The red shirt, hot pink pants and Crocs? Now normally I wouldn't be caught DEAD dressed this way in public, but I was reallllly looking forward to those cute rainboots. Plus, who actually shops at Target after 9:00pm anyway, right? So we get to Target and it's raining. The closest park I can find is about 6 spaces from Target's front door, but the stupid driver in the next space is parked over the line! No problem, I think to myself. I can squeeeeze in there! I do and we run in the store. To my surprise, there are a number of people in Target at 9:30pm. So I grab my husband's hand and drag him as fast as I can to the shoe section, hoping to not be seen by anyone I knew. We get to the cute rainboot section....and there are NO. RAIN. BOOTS. LEFT. I take that back. There was one really ugly pair of boots that were size 10. Not anywhere CLOSE to my size 7 1/2 foot. I AM PISSED. BEYOND PISSED. I felt like burning something. Like setting Target on fire! How DARE them be out of cute rainboots when clearly it's going to rain tomorrow! It's like every other woman in Tuscaloosa had MY same idea. And it's not like they had a special 'shoe' sale for Black Friday. They had plenty of shoes, just NO rainboots! Well what the hay am I supposed to do now???? I mean, I drove alllll the way across town, go into Target in the rain, with my non-matching PAJAMAS on for NOTHING. NO RAINBOOTS. Please, someone just shoot me now!!! I threw a bit of a temper tantrum right there in the rainboot aisle. I tell Brad, "Let's just GO!!!" I grab him and head toward the door. THEN I see one of our deacons from church with his wife up ahead! Crap. I immediately turn the other way, Brad in tow. We head out of Target on the far far far other side to avoid being seen by them. And by doing this, we had to walk ALL the way back to the car IN THE RAIN. Today sucks. Bad. Stupid Target and their Stupid sold out rainboots on this Stupid, Stupid Day After Thanksgiving. Boo

Side note: I wrote this on the day after Thanksgiving but as SOON as I finished typing this, my internet stopped working. What a wonderful day! My wonderful husband just fixed the problem, so we are up and running again! Whoo Hoo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We started off the day pretty early, heading to my Mom's at about 9:00am. Wasn't Bella just gorgeous this morning in her matching hair bow??



While I helped Mom cook/clean/prepare for the big lunch, my husband planned his Black Friday attack, newspapers in hand. Needless to say, while Brad goes shopping at the crack of dawn with his Mom and Aunt Becky, I'll be keeping the bed warm!



Here's Mom carving the turkey:


Bella and I

My sister April and my favorite niece, Reece!

My hubby and I

Reece and I

After we all ate lunch, we headed to the house for a MUCH needed nap! Then, we headed over to Brad's Mom's house for dinner. We got to spend time with his aunt, uncle and cousins that we rarely get to see, so that was a real treat! Brad, his mom-Ann, his aunt-Becky, his cousin-Maggie, his cousin-Morgan and I all played a 3 hour game of Phase 10. I came in second.......to his Mom! And it was her first time playing the game! We had so much fun that we are going back tomorrow! And hopefully the rain will subside sometime tomorrow so that Brad and I can go get a Christmas tree and hang the lights outside!

We had such a wonderful day and we truely have so much to be thankful for. Our new little family, each other, our friends, our Bella, our wonderful house, our jobs, our many many blessings, but most of all, we are thankful for our Lord and Savior, our salvation and knowing that our eternal home in glory is secure! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hubby's 1st Fire!

After much anticipation, Brad built his very first fire in out fire pit last night! We went down to the farm this past weekend to chop down fire wood and yesterday I went to Lowe's and bought him a fire poker set. We had a wonderful time with no tv, no lights (besides the glow of the fire!), and each other! We roasted hot dogs, made smores and I had a blast burning anything I could get my hands on! I can't believe I left my camera at work and didn't get any pictures! I'm so disappointed! As soon as Brad's favorite person, my step-dad Doug, got off work, he headed down to the house, too! We stayed outside until about 9:30pm! You can believe it? I'm getting pretty good about staying up late. In fact, I didn't go to bed last night until 10:00pm! You know I had to read a few blogs before I went to sleep!

Well isn't that ironic...

I am notorious for speeding. If the speed limit is 55mph, I'll go 60-65mph. The interstate automatically means at least 80mph. I've always been this way and I've never gotten a ticket. After thinking about why I've never gotten a ticket (or been pulled over more than I have, which has been 3 times), I came to this conclusion: we tithe. We tithe regularly. That's why we have never had the extra expense of a speeding ticket because we obey God's command, therefore He blesses us for obeying. When I came to this conclusion Saturday, I told Brad. "I've figured it out! The reason I have never gotten a speeding ticket is because we tithe!" He agreed and we went about our business. Fast forward to Monday morning. Mom and I are checking our rental property to make sure everything is ok from the freezing weekend. We were allllmost done, I'm bee-bopping along down the road and then I see it.....a cop clocked me. I was pretty sure the speed limit was 50mph, and I was only going 60mph, so I figured I was in the clear. Nope. Blue and red lights. Crap. I immediately pulled over. Officer Robertson informed me that I was going 54mph in a 35mph zone!!! I looked at him and said, "WHAT! I thought it was 50mph!" He then said, "I need to see your license." Umm....ok. Then my mother screams, "Do you know Josh??" (My brother-in-law that's a cop.) He looked at her funny and said, "Uhh..no." And he walked away. Crap, that didn't work! Then about 5 minutes later he came back, handed me my license and said, "Have a great day!" PRAISE THE LORD! No ticket! God has a funny sense of humor sometimes. :)

Sunday afternoon

My wonderful husband has been chomping at the bit to put the Christmas decorations up. Last year after Christmas, we were walking through Wal-Mart when we saw a 6 foot, pre-lit tree for half off! I had forgotten about the thing, but Brad remembered and put it up today.

I didn't realize how skimpy the tree looked until it was assembled. We always get a real tree for Christmas to put in the living room, but Brad has always wanted another tree that can be seen from the road in front of our house. So the skimpy tree will serve that purpose!

After that feat was accomplished, we headed over to Mom's to spend some time with them. So many leaves have fallen in their backyard and Bella (along with Sophie and Rosie) loves playing in them! Bella is in the Easter sweater, Sophie in the Christmas sweater, and Rosie is naked. :)

Don't you just love that smile??

My gorgeous baby girl!


After the babies were done playing in the leaves, Doug, Mom, Brad and I headed down to the farm to chop down some fire wood. And in the process, we also made a fire while we were there.

As you can see, it got pretty big, so we took pictures in front of it...in true Alabama redneck fashion!

If you know my husband, Brad, and my step-dad, Doug, then this picture is sure to make you laugh. We always joke with the two of them about how much they are alike. This picture proves that!

April and her kiddos soon joined us down at the farm and we stayed until dark. Check her blog soon...she took lots of pictures!

Oh, and just a little side note. Brad and I had a GREAT time at our Sunday school party Saturday night. We played Dirty Turkey (like Dirty Santa, but for Thanksgiving) and I came home with a candle and Brad came home with....Brokeback Mountain.....the gift that HE brought! His plan backfired on him! After dinner, some of us got a game of Phase 10 going. That one game lasted FOUR HOURS!! We didn't leave until after midnight! I was so proud of myself for staying up so late!

I hope you all had as wonderful of a weekend as we did! And this coming work week is only 3 days long! I love the holidays!