Flashin' Back for a Tag

So, many moons ago I was tagged by my friend Heather to post the 4th photo in my 4th photo folder and tell about it. I'm agreeing to this tag because it doesn't require me to make a list of 100 things or use my brain in any way that becomes uncomfortable. Here it is:
This is actually one of my favorite pictures. It's of Grant in 2006 during our fall leaves photo shoot. We were at my mom's house and she has a beautiful red maple in her side yard that makes for incredible color in the fall. This was before the day of editing every photo with some Photoshop and all that hooha. Not that I do that now with EVERY photo but I look at this one and think I could really jazz up the color a bit and do some fun things with it. I'll write that on a post it note and get to it in 2011 when I have time for that kind of thing. For now, this one will have to suffice. Have fun gazing at his cuteness.

I Can Stand for This One

Finally, I've found a Wii game that doesn't send pangs of guilt running through my veins when the children request just one more hour of playtime. I definitely lost my Mother of the Year nomination over the Christmas break when Rhett was sick and I let the other two play Star Wars Lego's for 12 hours straight. I did offer them nourishment and I'm sure they broke for bathroom...............well, I know Cade did. Grant you never can tell. He'd do good in Times Square on New Year's Eve if you catch my drift. Anyway, it's the Wii Outdoor Challenge. See the physical activity involved?Cade is all about it. Breaking records. Getting "Legend" status. I decided that I can't be outdone either. I play a pretty mean log jumper. I had to get my mind ready for the challenge. So help me if I let a first grader beat me at something physical. Check out these upps! They didn't call me "Springs" in high school volleyball for nothin'! hehe. Cade comes up from playing this and he is completely sweaty. I LOVE it!! It's like a mini bootcamp for kids. Grant is still a little intimidated unless he has an unsuspecting friend over that he knows is going to be worse at it than him. Then he's all about playing. I'm putting my stamp of approval on this one. I'll be writing the committee to let them know I'm willing to be put back on the table for a possible MOTY nomination again. I think this time I'll have something to stand on.

A Birssday Party

Last night concluded my "birssday weekend" celebration. Grant cannot (or will not) pronounce birthday correctly despite my many attempts at correction. Therefore, it has become a household word. I guess if you can't beat him then you join him, right? Thursday was my official birthday and I celebrated with my parents and Bobby's parents with some scrumptious cupcakes and a dinner at Jeffery's. Thank goodness my age was not truly reflected in the cupcake. Hence the reason I chose cupcakes instead of a regular sheet cake. I am, however, embracing my age this year. Does it really matter that I'm no longer able to touch the twenties? Nah. No one says I have to act like it :)I got some good birthday lovin' from my boys. At least there was one day out of the 365 that obeying was top priority for them!

Then, Friday night I had a little GNO with some friends. We ate big bowls of goodness at Ghenghis and then headed to the movies to catch a girly flick. We had a great time and I was so glad that my sis was able to come up and join the fun!It's not really a complete girl's night out without dessert so we had to make a trip to the ice creamery after the show. A late hour and freezing temperatures do not stop a bunch of women from chowing on some ice cream. Thanks girls for making my night memorable!

Last night Bobby took me to dinner and to see a great movie. I highly recommend Slumdog Millionaire. I jokingly say that it's about a rapper and a prostitute because I feel like the title eludes to such, but it's not. It was definitely worth the moola.

Happy Birthday to Me! And another one bites the dust........

What Have You Been Doing All Year??

We kicked off the new year with a trip up to the "big movies" at Opry Mills. I learned a couple lessons that day. First off, you probably don't need to pay extra to Fandango your tickets if the movie you are seeing has been out for two months. It was pretty easy to find a seat since we were the ONLY family in the entire theater. That left approximately 552 seats to choose from. Secondly, it doesn't really benefit one to drive 30 extra minutes to the IMAX theater if, once again, the movie you're seeing has been out for 2 months in which case the said movie will be played on a regular screen...........just like the one you passed 15 minutes into the 45 minute drive. It was still a nice family adventure and the boys liked the 3D glasses.

Then, for this first time this year I got to hold baby Crosby! I never got to lay eyes on him at the hospital since he was in the NICU but on Tuesday I made my way up to his house to get some baby lovin'.......and I loved every minute of it! He's a tiny little peanut and still so young that I barely saw his eyeballs. Here's the little mama doing well. I would venture to say that this is where Crosby spends most of his time! It was music to my ears the other day when I called her and said the usual, "What are you doing?" and her answer was "Feeding the BABY." I've waited for a long time to hear those words on the other end of the line! God is good.

I can't wait to get up there and get my baby fix again! So far I'm likin' 2009!

And That's A Wrap!

I can't believe that 2008 is already seeing it's way out the door. This year has been full of great things, several not great at all things, and a lot of things that are just a blur of memories. It's been a life saver to have this blog again to be able to refresh my memory on all that has happened over the past 12 months. I had over a hundred things to post about! I even had a record breaking post with 17 comments! That's pretty good for a small town gal like myself!

We had a couple fun trips this year: Costa Rica and Florida.

I saw several famous people: "Jennifer" from Days, Brad Paisely, Kenny Chesney, my bff Leann Rimes and her cute black pumps, Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift.

2008 ushered in 2 costume parties at the Morgan Casa.

2 things that have been a long time coming came to fruition in 08: My dad retired and Rhett stopped wearing diapers!

Cade finished Kindergarten and became a first grader that rides the bus all in this year.

We spent a lot of time at soccer games and t-ball games. I tried my hand at frying something and failed. And while perusing this past year I noted that a lot of posts had to do with Rhett and his crazy antics.

And, I will say, that just in time to be included in this post, one of my MOST favorite things about this year is this:

My dearest friend of 17 years holding her precious newborn baby boy after 2 tragic losses and 18 weeks of bedrest. Praise God! I couldn't have asked for a better way to close out this year.

I'm expecting big things for 2009. I'm not making any crazy resoultions, just keeping my heart and mind hopeful (and of course prayerful) that 09 brings a face to the little girl that runs through my dreams. It's not too much to ask is it??

Happy New Year!

Three Days of Christmas

We started out our Christmas celebration the weekend before so that we could spend time with my sister. She was on call the entire week of Christmas and wasn't able to travel here. Bummer! We headed to mom's house for some good dinner and family time. As usual, she was in her bedroom finishing up wrapping presents. My camera starting acting weird on this night. I only got a couple pics. Then by Christmas Eve it was completely on the fritz. That does not make me a happy camper being that I LOVE to take photos. Lucky for me, my husband loves me dearly and knows what an appendage my camera is to me so he's ordered me a new one.

The boys had fun playing with Aunt Tracie.

And they were thoroughly excited to see that she had gotten them "what they have always wanted!"..... Star Wars the Clone Wars for Wii.She also brought their favorite cousin on this side of the family: Chico Boy.


Dad had a reindeer search planned out. The boys had to look all around and find the hidden paper reindeer. Grant was the winner but due to the political correctness of this generation everyone received a prize.

Christmas Eve we headed to Bobby's mom and dad's for Christmas with his family. My camera was completely dead so I had to steal this picture from Bobby's sister, Wendy. The boys had a great time, as usual, hanging out with their cousins and they really racked up on some Lego's. So this get-together was definitely a hit for them!

As odd as it is, our kids slept later on Christmas Day than they have the entire 2008 year. I had to go and wake Rhett up. Our tradition is to read the Christmas story out of the Bible and then head down to do presents. This year we only had one complainer and that was Grant. He stated, "Well, I'm not EVEN going to listen to the story. Besides, I totally already know what's going to happen!" I'm glad he's so well informed.

This is one of the very few pictures I have from Christmas morning. I know. It's a sad story. Hopefully these Christmas memories will be forever ingrained in my memory. I'll remember that we made homemade sugar cookies and decorated them together and that I ate approximately forty two of them. I'll remember that nearly every gift under the tree was related to Star Wars. I'll remember how Bobby convinced me that GRANT really wanted Laser Tag guns and then I'll remember how he ran around the house that morning like a ten year old, hiding behind furniture and shooting at me. I'll also remember how blessed we are that we have a reason to celebrate and that God's precious gift is irrevocable. You don't need a camera to remember that one.

I Heart Christmas

Only four more days to count down and then shortly thereafter all of this has to be put away. I LOVE having Christmas lights on the outside of the house. We added several new things this year......bush lights, snowflakes and a little tree. Much to the dismay of Cade we, once again, vetoed the blow-up dooflachies in the yard. We can totally be friends if you have them. That's fine. But for me personally they drive me slightly bonzo. One of my most favorite things about Thanksgiving passing and Christmas being around the corner are the lovely red berry wreaths I get to hang out. I would prefer that they stay on the door year round but I feel that it's just not seasonally acceptable.

Ever since we moved into this house I have been telling Bobby that I wished we could have a little tree to put in the foyer. This year my Christmas wish came true when Lowe's decided to put theirs on sale fifty percent off and in a strange twist of fate I decided randomly to stop in. I immediately snatched it up because it was the last one and brought it straight home to put the little tiny Christmas ornaments on it that I found on sale at the Tarjay. I placed approximately 20 on the tree and thus far only five have met their maker. This is the third Christmas we've spent here and this is the third place that we've put the tree. It keeps getting the boot from it's former space. This spot looks like a keeper. And, hopefully next year there will be one more stocking on that fireplace mantle.

Ahhh, my little train set. I started collecting the pieces to this right after Bobby and I got married. I think I'm lacking just a few pieces but they don't make them anymore. Cade had the privilege of putting the set out this year and was extremely excited about it.
In fact, as I was snapping the photo of the train above I looked a little closer and noticed this. Can you see it?

Did you know that Rudolph used to be a Storm Trooper? Neither did I. Apparently one of the boys thought that would be an appropriate place for a lego helmet. I left it. After being made fun of so much, Rudolph can be whatever the stink he wants to be.

Then there is our Elfie tradition. The boys are once again getting such a big kick out of finding this little elf all over the house. Cade made the comment the other day while shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, "You know? I mean, it's the weirdest thing........He doesn't even really LOOK real. Hmmm." Good times.


This is definitely one of my favorite times of year. I love the activity, the excitement, and the joy of getting to share the birthday of our Savior with the boys. I'll admit though, it's a daunting task to put all the junk back in the rubbermaids to wait patiently again for the next year to come. I'm pretty sure it will look like we've partially moved out of the house. By the middle of January I'll get back to feeling normal without twinkling lights surrounding me. Hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas day!