Thanksgiving, Decorating for Christmas & ROLL TIDE!!!

What a BIG weekend we have had! Thanksgiving was great! We gathered at Mama Sally and Granddaddy's house for lunch. My parents joined us and we missed Amy this year as she spent Thanksgiving with the Drinkard's! We had way too much food and had to go back for supper!! Since Amy had to go into work at 3pm, Will brought Mary Hollis over!

We always get our tree the day after Thanksgiving and the Iron Bowl put a little kink in our plan but we managed to get it done just in time for the game! We get our tree every year from The Starlings. They have the prettiest trees in town! This year I picked out the first one Buddy showed me! It is probably the prettiest one we have had in a couple of years. We left our stand with the tree and LA came to pick it up for us and take it to our house. We then went home to fix some snacks to take to Lizzie and Brett's for THE GAME!!

We finally got t0 Lizzie and Brett's for the Iron Bowl. I was sick the entire game. I hate this game every year. No matter if we are 7-4 or 11-0. Game time was also Kate's nap time however she didn't nap. By the last 4 minutes of the game she was miserable. Jason went into Brett's tv room during the 3rd quarter to watch the game by himself. She couldn't decide if she wanted him or me. I went into the kitchen and tried to hold her in the football grip until she went to sleep but she would not go, so I just put her down. She then laid on the floor to pitch her fit. Finally, with a minute and a half left in the game she quit fighting and went to sleep on the kitchen floor! The game, in all sense of the word, wore her out!! I do LOVE Alabama Football but there are so many things that are so more important. While we were all caught up in the game The Patterson's were praying that their son would pull through it and The Johnson's were waiting in the waiting room of Children's Hospital to find out if their 3 year old daughter had cancer or not. So next time you get so caught up in your team losing a game, be thankful they are losing a game, things could be a lot worse!! Please do pray for the Patterson Family and the Johnson Family.

We stayed around for a little bit and then went home to start on the tree!! It was so late, well not that late, when we got home that I only got the lights and 8 ornaments on the tree! Those ornaments are the ones we get at Disney every year. I put the ones from last year on and then took the kids picture with the ones I got them this year. Kate was devastated when I took hers away and hung it on the tree. I decided that I wouldn't get the tree finished until she was napping the next day! Off to bed I went.....

Saturday I got all the fall decorations put up while Jason pressure washed the front of the house. He got the front porch done which was long overdue! Thanks, Jason! After all that was done I got the other decorations out. I accomplished a lot! Got the dining room table done, then I got my village out. Several of my light bulbs were out and I was out of snow so I had to make a run to Wal-Mart. While at Wal-Mart we ran into Lizzie and Brett and they bought Kate her very own Christmas tree! It is pink!! Got home, fed Kate and put her down for her nap. It was now time for power decorating so in the 2 hours she slept, I finished the tree, finished my village, decorated the outside of the house and then I began to clean up my mess as well as the mess the boys constantly leave around!! Then Lizzie and Walker came over to bring Kate her tree and help her decorate it! She knew just what to do and she was so proud of the finished product!! It has been a long day and so I am now off to bed!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I am thankful this year for my family, my friends, my health and all the many blessings God has given me.

Trying to get the perfect Christmas Card picture!!

Is that even possible? Since I got a new camera for my birthday I wanted to take my own picture for my Christmas card this year. I just knew I could do as good as any professional. What I have learned is that it is possible but next time I will do it when Kate has had a full nap and is not getting sick and I must have something really good to bribe the boys with!

Take 1 - is okay of the boys but Kate wasn't looking at the camera! Plus I decided that I needed the to be in front of the door!

Take 3 - This one is okay of Kate, The boys, don't know what they are doing!!

Take 4 - Great of Ben and Kate but I have no clue what Will and Drew are looking at. You would think an 8 and 9 year old knew what it meant when I said look at the camera!!

Take 6 - This time Will and Drew are looking and smiling, Ben well he is smirking and Kate is not in the mood!!

Take 12 - Lizzie, Lacey and Walker pull up and that made Kate really excited!!

Take 14 - Trying to get a picture for Bibbie and Deeda

Take 18 - Trying to get a picture of 6 is much harder to do that getting one of 4!

Take 33 - Lacey kept trying to fix her hair!

Take 46 - Back to trying to get one for myself!

Take 50 - Drew trying to get Kate to look at Lacey and smile...

Take 51 - It is not working...

Take 58 - What is Drew looking at?

Take 71 - This one was almost perfect but Drew has his head too into Will!!

Take 126 - No words by now, This was the last take and I had had it. After 126 pictures, I got 1, just 1 I could use. Of course, I am not going to show it to you because then I would have not reason to send out cards. But I will tell you it was the 11th picture I took!! If I had only known...I would have been in a much better mood last night!! Oh, well! Better luck next time!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kate!!

Two years ago today our sweet little girl was born. I can remember the feeling of relief when she was actually born. As soon as I found out i was pregnant, I was terrified that something would happen. We had tried for so long...So, November 16, 2007 at 12:41 pm I was in awe...she was the 4th most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on (the other 3 were her brothers of course!). I always said after Ben was born that he was it. I wasn't going to have anymore. The boys had all come so close to one another that I honestly didn't think I could go through it all again. But as they got older and less dependent on me for most things I began to feel the need for 1 more baby. A year and half before I got pregnant is when we decided we would like to just have 1 more. Every month I just knew it would happen and then i would discover that it didn't. I initially got upset but then got over it quickly. I knew that if it was in God's plan then He would send us another baby when it was time. In January of 2007, I decided that it just wasn't going to happen. I started cleaning out the boys baby things and either selling it on ebay or giving it away. This I could shoot myself for now but that is just the way it goes. In March of 2007, Jason and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. We went to Disney World, just the 2 of us for a long weekend. I never asked for a gift but received the best gift I could have ever asked for! Yes, Kate was born 9 months after our trip!! I think this is why she LOVES Mickey Mouse and LOVES to go to Disney World!!
We found out at the first of April but didn't tell anyone. We were so excited but we wanted to keep it to ourselves as long as we could. You know people can be so rude and we just didn't want them to ruin our happiness! That plan ended the first weekend in May when I got the stomach virus. I do not think I had been that sick for as long as I can remember. I ended up getting de-hydrated and had to be admitted in the hospital for fluids. Well, once I was admitted we had to tell. Even though your hospital records and stuff are suppose to be confidential, in small town Alabama that is not the case! So I made Jason call our family and I called my friends! I knew they wouldn't be mad at me and I wasn't so sure what remarks I would get from our family so I thought Jason could handle it better than me!! Thankfully, they were all excited! Everything was going well except for the fact that Jason was having a horrible time with his back. In June, he had to have surgery again and was only out of the hospital 2 weeks when it was time to find out what we were having and if everything was okay with the baby. He was in such pain that he thought he wouldn't make it, but something got him up that day. I had talked myself into it being a boy. And was totally fine with that but everything about this pregnancy was different than with the boys. Theirs were all the same so I thought deep, deep down that it just might be a girl but I never said it out loud because then that might jinks me!! So, I kept it to myself. I was so totally shocked when the ultrasound tech said it was a girl. You would think after seeing 3 boys on an ultrasound that I would know the difference but I didn't. Jason could tell right away! I was still in shock, I couldn't cry, I couldn't laugh I could hardly talk. I couldn't believe it. Jason of course said "don't you know I always give you what you want!!" Everyone else in our family and close friends cried, they were all so excited that we finally had a girl! I sometimes hate when people say "you finally got your girl". It makes it sound like we had set out to have a girl when we started having children and that just isn't the case with our family. Jason always wanted 5, I always wanted 3 so 4 is perfect! I am thankful for each one of them and feel so blessed that God picked us to be their parents!
Kate brings so much joy into our lives. From the moment she was born she has been them best baby. She slept when she was suppose to, ate like she was suppose to and pooped like she was suppose to! She is so laid back, which is a blessing since from the time she was 2 weeks old she has been on the go! With 3 older brothers she didn't have a choice!! I love to watch her sleep, play, eat, and what ever else she may do. She has 3 big brothers that love her to the moon and will do anything for her! She has them and her daddy wrapped around her little finger but she is a mama's girl and I LOVE it!! She is so different than her brothers which is proof she is like me and they are like their daddy!!LOL She loves to help around the house and likes all things in their place!! She loves shoes, which she gets from her Aunt Lizzie!! She is beginning to get a little personality and it is just precious! She loves to dance which totally makes her Bibbie the happiest grandmother in the world! She can also work my iPhone!! She is just amazing!! I am so thankful for her and can't imagine what my life would be like if she weren't in it! She is such a blessing and so are her 3 big brothers!
Happy 2nd Birthday Kate!! We love you very much!!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

That is what kind of birthday party Kate had! You all have heard me say that she loves Mickey Mouse so that is the birthday she had!! We invited a few of her friends and most of my friends children that are so very special to me. Most of my friends kids are boys so they had a football game going on in the front yard too!! With only 4 of my special friends being girls they opted out of football to play with the babies!! Since Jason and i were gone for most of this past week, I had to have Kate's entire party planned before I left. I did pretty good I think! I ordered the cake them same time I ordered Drew's and got all her party supplies when I got his so that was pretty easy! I stressed over what the little kids would do, I hated to rent an inflatable that I would pay so much for and then send it back. That is just such a waste of money so I search on the internet for a Mickey Mouse inflatable and found a Small one that you can set up yourself. The only problem was that is was sold out or discontinued on every website I found it on! Next search was ebay...there was one. I watched it for 2 days and then registered for esnipe and set my bid. In the very last second I won it!!! I was so excited!! It was her present from Bibbie and Deeda. She loves it!! There is a picture of Mickey and each of his friends at each corner of the bounce house. She loves to run up to each one of them and give them hugs!! It is so cute! It not only is a bounce house but also it has a slide and a soft ball pit!
It was the perfect afternoon to celebrate! It certainly didn't feel like the middle of November, it felt more like the middle of June!!

Happy 8th Birthday Drew!!!

I can hardly believe that 8 years ago today that I was handed the most precious baby boy ever! He came into the world as fast as he could and has not slowed down not one bit! I expected to be in labor with him all day long since I was 13 1/2 months before with Will! Maybe the fact that it was only 13 1/2 months before that my body was still not completely back to normal! Even though Drew spit up nearly every bottle he drank, he was the happiest most laid back baby! Since Will was still "a baby" too, I would put Drew in his bouncy seat on top of the kitchen table and then put a gate at the door so there was no way that Will could get to Drew! I was so worried that Will would hurt him and not realize it. He never did, well at least when he was a baby!!! Drew would go to sleep by himself and would wake up in the morning so happy! Drew wasn't planned by me and Jason but God planned him for us! I learned then that God's plans were so much better than mine!! Drew by far is the BEST surprise I have ever been given. I love to watch him. He is the most observant little boy I have ever been around! It doesn't take him long to figure out anything or anybody! He LOVES trailers and anything you can pull a trailer with. If he doesn't have a trailer, he will find something he can pull with his bike or scooter. He can make anything a ramp to drive tractors or trucks onto a trailer with. He amazes me everyday! I love mostly watching him with Kate. I can tell he loves her so much and is going to be very protective of her. He loves to play with her and help her get he babies where they need to be. His favorite thing to do is to push her in her pink battery operated car. It has a long handle on it and he loves to connect the laundry basket it to it so she can pull "a trailer"!! He has the best personality and if you aren't careful he will tell you just what you may not want to hear!! He is the kindest and most loving child even though he sometimes doesn't act like it. You can see his heart, it is huge!! Happy Birthday Drewbaby, you make daddy and me so proud!!! We Love you so very much!!!

Drew's Birthday Party

Drew will be 8 tomorrow so we celebrated his birthday today. We went back to Dream Field Farms and Pumpkin Patch. It was the best place to have Drew's party since he so loves a farm! I highly recommend it for a party or just if you want to take your family. We had only close friends and family with our very own Party hostess that took around and did all the acitivties with us. Several of the favorites were the corn boxes, pig races, and the cow train!! The inflatables are most fun too!! It was the perfect afternoon for his party, it actually felt like fall! While sitting here typing this post I realized that his 1st birthday was farm themed too! He has had 2 John Deere tractor parties!! So, I guess this little boy does really love the farm!! We had a great time today celebrating Drew's 8th birthday!! We love you!!