Wishing Julie the Best

Today was my friends Julie's last day of work until January. She is having a baby boy any day. I am really going to miss her while she is gone, but I know she will love spending time with her babies. Our 4th grade surprised her with a little shower Thursday. I wish her the best of luck and cannot wait to meet Baby Ethan.

I Can't Pull It Off

You know how you see people out and they look super cute no matter what they have on. Well, I am NOT that person!! I see people out shopping all ages and sizes who are wearing sweat suits, and they look great. I look horrible in them! This past Wednesday, we had the Booster-Thon Fun Run at school. We (the teachers) were the coaches. We had our coaches t-shirts and were told to wear athletic wear. Well, I have none unless you count that really gross stuff I clean house in. Anyway, I go out and buy me a sweatsuit. I thought it looked pretty cute hanging on the rack at K-Mart. I even brought a little nicer one because I thought this would be great to wear shopping sometimes. Wednesday rolls around and I get dressed. By the time I got to school I was already feeling pretty sloppy. By the time the day was over, I felt and looked even worse. I do believe that made me instantly look like I gained 25 pounds!!

So, I am writing this to say, kudos to those that look great in sweats, but as for me I will just stick to dress pants.

Love Hate Relationship

For as long as I can remember, I have loved this time of year. The weather has a chill to it. Just yesterday, I walked outside for bus duty after school and it even had that Christmas time smell. It felt like time to put up the tree. The days are shorter and the nights are longer. This usually means more time at home with the family. It is getting close to Thanksgiving so this begins the deliciously long food indulgence of heavy meals, finger foods, and lots of yummy treats. Christmas shopping, crowds for the mad rush, and bargains are my adrenaline rush. Decorating the house, wrapping gifts, and baking cookies are a few of my favorite things.

Now for the hate part of this relationship. As all of you know, Donnie is a UPS driver. I am very thankful that he has a wonderful job that provides for the needs of our family. This time of year though is harder than the rest of the year. The UPS men become Santa's helpers. This means longer than normal hours. Then to top it all off Donnie comes home last night and tells me that he will be working even later from now on. They will also be starting later because all of the packages cannot get there early. He will now start at 8:50 which means he could still have 12 hour days with an hour of lunch meaning that he could work until 9:50!! This means he would not get home until about 10:50!!! At least it will be over by the middle of January. Oh the life of a UPS widow!!

Take Two....

This afternoon, we tried again to get the perfect picture for Christmas. I won't show it to you just yet. You will have to wait on your card. :) I do want to show you some of the other cute ones.

Gingko tree

Just hanging around...

watch out for the squirrels
that dress was just in her way

Thanks to Grammie and Poppie for helping
What trip to ASU would be complete without checking out the bear!

Thanks Aunt Kitty and Uncle Wez

Friday night, Aunt Kitty, Uncle Wez, and Grammie came over for supper. Katie Lee has been talking about Aunt Kitty coming to her "new house" for days now. Earlier in the week, Katie Lee was talking about Aunt Kitty coming to her house and I asked her if she wanted Aunt Kitty to come over real bad. She answered me, "No, Mommy not bad. I want Aunt Kitty come over HAPPY." I thought that was too cute. Anyway, they brought Katie Lee a surprise. A huge floor puzzle of the world. She was super excited about it and had to have Uncle Wez help her put it together right then. Thanks, Aunt Kitty and Uncle Wez.

Pictures Around Town

Today I decided to try my first attempt for this year of the perfect Christmas card picture. I think I don't want to try to get one in front of our Christmas tree this year since our tree may have to be down-sized. I thought that outside pictures always do best so downtown Elkmont is a great spot. Today however, was a little too windy. I'll try again another day.
At the park
Window shopping

Red Caboose
Depot

Pearls Pearls Pearls

What southern girl doesn't love pearls!! Check out Bunnys Bungalow. She is giving away pearls. :)

http://thebunnysbungalow.blogspot.com/

Birthday Weekend

Friday was my 32nd birthday. Boy did I have a great one!
We had one busy and very fun weekend. Friday, Mother, Kathryn, Betty, Katie Lee, and I went to Birmingham to the Christmas Village. It is the best craft show! We shopped all day at the show and then went to Home Goods to check out there great deals. If only I had a place to store new things for our next house. :) We got home about 7:30. When Donnie got home and got ready we left and headed north to Lebanon, TN. We spent the night there before heading to the Tennessee/Memphis game in Knoxville on Saturday. It just so happens that Lebanon is about half way between here and Knoxville and it just so happens to have a great outlet. On Saturday before heading to the game, we headed for the outlets. (My highlight of the trip.) It has a Coach store so I got a new purse for my birthday from Donnie.


We got to Knoxville and found a place to park about a mile from the stadium. It was homecoming for TN. We got a bite to eat and then headed to the stadium just in time to see the band come over the hill playing Rocky Top.

We had great seats on the 50 about 17 rows up!!


Tennessee Walking Horse Champion
Smokey

We got home Sunday afternoon. We could not wait to see Katie Lee. This is the first time we've ever left her for two nights. I am not sure who was more excited to see the other us or her.

Sunday night after church, we had my birthday supper at Mother and Daddy's house. It was really good and then banana pudding for my cake. Mother and Daddy gave me some clothes and then surprised me with a picture of Katie Lee that Mother had gotten this man to draw for me. I was really excited over that. Kathryn and Zeb got me a bracelet. The sweetest gift was from Katie Lee. She picked me out bunny ears a few weeks ago while shopping with Grammie and told her that she needed to get them for me for my birthday. She was so proud of her gift that she picked out all by herself along with a pretty Mickey Mouse card. She even wrapped the bunny ears in her favorite Elmo gift wrap.


Needless to say, I had a wonderful birthday. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

House to a Home

Today I am joining Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.

As many of you know, we recently sold our home and moved into a rental until our new home is built. Due to many computer issues, I have not gotten to put any pictures of our new temporary home. I thought I would share some of the metamorphosis of our rental home that we have made over the last few weeks. We painted the master bedroom and Katie Lee's bedroom. The living room and the kitchen had some recent redo's so we just cleaned and decorated those rooms. I am pleased with our little house that we made into our home. Next week I will post our kitchen.

Master Bedroom Before:
The owners has a teenage daughter and all of her friends signed her wall.

Master Bedroom After



Living Room Before
Living Room After

Katie Lee's Bedroom Before
Katie Lee's room after.

As we were decorating Katie Lee's bedroom, I was busy hanging pictures and I came to the Baby's Room sign that I had gotten from my cousin, Laura. It is one of my favorites. Katie Lee saw it and told me, "no Mommie, I am a big girl now." It made me sad to know that my baby is growing up.

Leaves and Lollipops

Cooler days and sunny afternoons make for a perfect time to play outside.