golf buddies

you may not know this, but I have known my husband since I was about 8 years old. We went to church together and he even "dated" my best pal Beth for a short while when they were kids. She use to love to tell me how he'd send her up the tree first just so he could stare up her skirt...he denies it, but it's still funny thinking of those two at that age climbing trees together, Brandon as sneaky then as he is now:) I spent MANY a Sunday afternoon watching him and our friends play football, baseball, and basketball. You wouldn't think by looking at my hubby, who is not the huskiest guy in the world, that he would truly enjoy playing these sports, but trust me, he does....and he jumps in with more force and more gutso than men twice his size:) He's always been that way.....even going so far to jump in a boxing ring with a guy quadruple his size AND put a nice hurting on him...something about speed??lol



Anyhow, because of his lung condition (spontaneous pnemothorax, which he had surgery to repair last summer, but it still gives him trouble) he can't play these contact or high energy sports as much as he use to. This hasn't stopped him from keeping on track sports wise......he has found a new hobby that is apparently just as addictive for him as the other sports that he's had to give up in the past few years.





GOLF. He started playing about 2 and a half years ago and the obsession has grown. He's gotten very good *although I swear I jinx him b/c everytime I play WITH him, he sucks!* and he loves the sport. Bub got a set of clubs back in November and Brandon is just going crazy to get him into lessons. He plays at least 2 times a week, most weeks 3, and he is always asking me and the kiddos to tag along with him. I usually beg off, claiming that I have a headache or simply have too much to do, but this week I decided to go:) So we bundled up the kids took off to CrickenTree:) We had a great afternoon.....I spent a lot of my time kicking up mud in the golf cart....the kids had a blast running up and down the hills.....and for once, Brandon played pretty well even though I was with him:)

sad

I found out yesterday that I am going to be "losing" another friend soon. NOt just any friend either. One of my nearest, verrrry dearest friends. I don't want to spill her beans, but I am just devastated, shocked, and so sad. There, can't even write anymore.

Pluck Pluck

My girl.

She pulled a fast one on me this morning and shocked even ME, the unshockable! Bub and I were downstairs playing Lego Star Wars when she comes running downstairs acting very puffed up and proud of herself. She comes and stands right in front of me and stares me right in the face. When I look up to tell her to move, I see that she has.....shaved her eyebrows!! I freak out and start to get on to her about shaving them when she puts out her hand and shows me......TWEEZERS!!! My crazy diva girl plucked her very own eyebrows. Something I can't even do!! I can't quite get my mind around how she took the pain. This is no one or two hair plucking, this is a massacre on her eyebrows. I've asked her how she did it without it hurting and she tells me that it did hurt. She just wanted them to be pretty so she didn't care that it hurt. ahhhhh, this is a whole new can of worms for me. I am not the girly girl and never have been, yet here I am having to figure out a little mite that is beyond her years already.....it's very strange to me:)

Sign:)

Lori and I were leaving Target last week and we saw this sign. We both did a double take and laughed our bums off! I even stopped traffic in the middle of the road to get this pic. I went back yesterday and the sign was changed to "in town". LOL!

For its full effect you'll need to click on it to enlarge the picture:)

Hair......RIP

Brooke has been begging me to cut her hair for some time now. I haven't wanted to because I adore her little curls~but they are the bane of her existence. Everywhere we go people point them out and make a big deal of them. It's all very flattering to me, but it has really started bothering Brooke. Over the past 6 months or so, she's started complaining to me that people are always talking about her curls and she doesn't like it. I explain to her that they do it because they think her curls are pretty and they wish THEY had curls too, but it still bothers her.

So I gave in....and we cut her hair!!! I know I said I would never do it, but you would be surprised what doing so has done for Brooke's self esteem....in only 4 short days! She loves her new haircut, and while I think it makes her look older (which I don't like...) I must say, the girl wears the new cut very well:)

boys

When I found out that I was pregnant with a boy over 5 years ago, I was horrified. Growing up as the only girl in a family of all very much 100% boys, you'd think I would know what to expect and what to do with a boy, but you'd be wrong. I spent most of the pregnancy fretting over what I would DO with him! How do I play cars? How would I play pretend city demolition? HOW would I relate to a BOY?

Brooke was easy breezy. She's been a diva since day one. VERY much the girly girl. There was never a question as to what to do with her. Spoil her, doll her up, give her what she wants, and give her all of your attention. Like any diva, she was happy with all of the above. Granted, "All of the above" was easier when there was only one, but I have to give her credit and say that she adjusted well:)

Now my boy surprised me. He was a little fusspot the first few months of his life....but we soon discovered that it was due to tummy troubles. After we fixed that, he was the BEST baby ever! He was always content to play on his own. He was ABLE to play on his own and be happy. He didn't have to be the center of attention at all times, better yet, he actually preferred to be left alone. He was content to give all the glory to his high maintenance sister.

After those first 3 months of his early life, I began to detect a change.....in ME. Somehow, this little bit of a boy that had made me so nervous before he was even here....began to wrap bits of me around his pinky finger. Until one day, 5 and a half years later, I find myself smiling a bit bigger when he hugs me. I find myself getting that warm and fuzzy feeling when he wraps himself around my legs as I am cooking dinner. When he says "I wuv you mommy", I feel as if I am the most important person in the world...and to him, I know I am:) He is ALL momma's boy and he knows that he can get away with just about anything with just a crinkling of eyes over those sweet freckled cheeks.

Such a sweet little boy I have.

Imagine my shock last Saturday as I was standing in line at Victoria's Secret....I hear this muffled laugh and glance over my shoulder to see this man and his wife/girlfriend trying to cover their laughter with their hands......then I turn to find my sweet little boy with his arms wrapped around a poster of a Victorias Secret model and his lips are pressed to her bare stomach. The line was no shorter than 10 people long and I still had a 10 minute wait ahead of me. What to do.....here is my sweet freckle face BABY making out with a paper doll.

so I did what any other self respecting mother would do....and blamed it on his father

"Boys......he's just like his dad....and he's making him proud"

The one hundred mile block

Every trip back home to dad's I stop at the site of Ricky's accident. In the spring, I pick a flower, or a weed...whatever is flowering at the moment....and stick it on my dashboard, only to be replaced the next time I go through. This time the earth was brittle and all there was to pick were a few blades of brown grass, so I took a picture instead. It was 9 years this December that Ricky was snatched away from us....I miss him as much today, if not more, than I did the day we buried him. I often wonder what he would be like today....would he be married? Would he have children? What would he be doing? Who would HE be today? Not a day goes by that he doesn't cross my mind....our "song", "Fishin' in the Dark", still makes me laugh...and cry at the odd moment that it catches me off guard. Every now and again I can see the twinkle of his eye in the eyes of my own son. Ricky's been gone for nine shortly long years....but he is far from forgotten. My dad goes, I don't know how often, to the spot of his accident and paints the post in his memory. I am sure no one ever notices it, but every time I pass that "Golden Triangle" exit, it seems to me that it is painted in the brightest of pinks. The speed limit sign is almost mocking me. It's always as if I am driving in slow motion....even at 65 miles an hour. It's funny how a stretch of space....not even two blocks long....can be an eternity to someone who never made it past that speed limit sign.

Christmas at home......

I am finally getting around to posting these pics. Christmas morning was a lot of fun here. The kids actually slept in!!! This was a good thing because it gave me time to sweep some of the reindeer food off of our front step:) I was also able to get the ham in the oven and get a few things started for our Christmas dinner.
Bub was the first to come downstairs and I don't think I've ever seen him so bright eyed that early in the morning! Brooke followed shortly...and went first to check the reindeer food! She was a bit disappointed that it wasn't all gone, but I distracted her by asking if she wanted to open her gifts...easy breezy!

Bub got what he'd been begging for since September (Lego Star Wars 2) and he fell backwards when he opened it (see pic below). He was also super hyper to get EVERYTHING Star Wars this year. All Brooke really wanted this year was a purple CD player.....I was unable to find a purple one, so luckily she was content with the pink one! She also got a lot of what she wanted, but especially loved her mile high Bratz doll....that sucker is HUGE!

Here are the pics, and they are the last that I am posting of my Christmas....so YES, it is FINALLY over for me this year! and wouldn't you know it.....YEHAW!!!

Getting ready for Christmas at home

The kids love getting the house ready the night before Christmas. When I say "get ready" I mean sprinkling reindeer food on our front step, setting out cookies and milk for Santa, and singing Merry Merry Christmas out the window as they are laying in their bed. Before they open their presents, they check to see if Santa REALLY came. They were tickled to see that Santa had left half of one cookie and very little milk in his cup, but they were a little miffed that the reindeer didn't eat all of their food! I had to explain to them that if the Reindeer ate all of the food that every little boy and girl left for them, then they would be too heavy to fly Santa home to make new presents for next year:)

Sunset at Dad's

I just had to post this pic for Lori, who LOVES pictures like this. I stepped onto my dad's back porch last week and was greeted by the most beautiful sunset that I have seen in a very long time. The picture didn't begin to capture the spectacular beauty of this sunset!

Christmas at Daddy's

We go home to daddy's for Christmas every year. It is really the highlight of my entire year!!! This year was a little crazy and things were really busy.....Ginger and I ended up cooking 98% of the entire Christmas meal (which I have to admit, I LOVED doing!) and I made one KILLER sweet potato casserole (recipe is long lost in the recesses of my mind).....I love love LOOOOOVE going home. It's so funny to me that when I was a kid(20 and younger...lol), I never imagined being content to sit around the house and do absolutely nothing but talk and sit around goofing off with my family. Now, it's all I want to do when I go home. I look forward to Daryl's big bear hug. I look forward to seeing my daddy and Sandra rushing around doing things that don't really need to be done....watching the kids play with Noah....seeing family that I only see twice a year. I had the best time this year....I say that every year, but maybe it really does keep on getting better:) I am the luckiest girl in the world....REALLY....to have my daddy, Daryl, Sandra, Ginger, Shlebey, and Noah....these people who love me for me....always waiting over in "Missippi" (yes, that's how we Mississippian's SAY Missippi...lol) with arms wide open and a big ole smile on their face. Thank you daddy and Sandra for always making Christmas special for me. I love and miss you guys already!!

Christmas......part 1

I have a lot of pictures from our holiday season this year. I am beginning with the kiddos class parties. I am classroom mom for BOTH classes this year (yes, bit off more than I can chew yet again!) so I was in charge of planning the entire event for BOTH classes. We ordered pizzas for both classes, had cupcakes and an odd variety of Christmas (oops, HOLIDAY) sweets. We presented the teachers with their class gifts (hunted down over a period of three looooong weeks by yours truly....and everything went off without a hitch! (yehaw) The kids had a blast and so did the teachers.