First Christmas

I'm not even exaggerating when I say that buying sippy cups and teething toys to put in Elaina's stocking got me choked up. I can't believe that she's finally here.....prayers answered. I'm not sure when it's going to wear off. I hope it never does because it sure is great to have a constant reminder of God's goodness.

I came across this little outfit just last week and knew right away that Lanie needed

this number. I mean, she didn't have any outfits with a santa head. Well, that's a lie. She has one....but it wasn't a pant set. It was a dress and that's completely different. Needless to say, since Christmas is next week, she's going to be wearing this pretty much every day so don't be surprised. I need to get my money's worth!

I sat her down in front of the tree and told her about the reason for Christmas celebration which is Jesus' birthday. She agreed. She knew about it from baby Sunday School. The big shocker came when I told her about Santa and that she'd be getting a present:
She could hardly believe her ears. I hope she gets all she's wishing for!!

Snow! Again?

In a rare turn of events we had some December snow! It's kind of odd for us to have so much snow in one calender year. If you remember, we had the Blizzard of 2010 in January of this year so I thought we had met our white stuff quota. Guess not. Little Tee-Tiny was just THRILLED to sit outside for 5 seconds in her baby bunting.

After a stiff breeze got her cheeks she did let one grin slip out.
Then she tried to make a snow angel. Silly girl.
Given that the temperature was negative one or something absurd she didn't get to sled with her brothers. Maybe next time. As for now this was a good introduction to the precipitation that makes Snowbird famous and the boys squeal with delight. Lanie was the only one captured on film for this snow day. If you want to see what the rest of us look like playing in the snow you can check out the last snow day blog and then picture us in only slightly different redneck getups and with a bit less snow. The mental picture alone should suffice!

Extremely Corny

Bobby and I failed to plan our annual Halloween party. So, in lieu of that yearly shindig we decided to host a Corny Christmas bash! It turned out to be quite hysterical and Goodwill met their December sales quota from our party invitation list alone. Did you know that that place has clothes from every decade imaginable? I scored Bobby a happenin' jean shirt ("jean shirt" alone is quite tacky) with some great memaw embroidered cats (yes, cats) and wreaths. It was atrocious. Paired with his red polyester pants and red sequin tie, his outfit was a go. And, should he for any reason, need to quit his day job and become a Christmas stripper, he'll already have that great tie. As one of my friends stated, I looked like a mom straight out of a 1982 PTA meeting. Shoulder pads and stirrup pants. Doesn't get much tackier than that.

The Joneses in their corny attire:
The Sellers: Between Samantha's caked on eye make-up, and Wes's womans turtle neck, I could hardly contain my laughter.
The Lays and Brad's Cousin Eddie outfit that left nothing to the imagination. "Pooooor Ashley"! :)
Mama Ashlee and her sweet husband
Pulling out all the stops with handmade bottoms, it's the Harrells. Crafty Kelly whipped out some seriously festive attire and Michael added his touch with oddly placed mistletoe. Hmmm.
Jon stylized according to Elf and Tonya accessorized with a holiday purse. Nothin' like your granny's purse to spiff up for Christmas.
Ashman pulled off Cousin Eddie flawlessly and A'lyce dug in the closet to resurrect a bridesmaid dress that she actually sported and loved back in the day... or she's wearing a curtain. I'm not sure which.
For a little friendly competition Bobby and I planned out several Minute to Win It games. The 20 pencil toss was one that was getting everyone.
Skillz.


Samantha tried to tackle the can stacking but after 3 dented cans we decided to nix this game for the final round.
If Wes cracked me up once, he cracked me up a thousand times. His Sansabelt pants proved to have quite a bit of flexibility when it came to the Buckethead game. You need to be able to move to catch that ping pong ball!
Noodling Around. Jon was a smooth pro. Most everyone conquered this one.


Some of the tackiest gals I know:
Bobby donned the pantyhose head to defeat the Elephant March game.
I don't think wearing pantyhose is anything new to Brad.
Or Brent.
Crackup moment number 452....After seeing Wes in a woman's turtleneck, Mardi Gras beads, and a backwards wig I could hardly contain myself. He said this is going to be his picture should he ever become a best selling author. If that happens, judging by the picture, I feel like his name should be Freida Mashburn. I don't know why.....I also don't know why looking at this picture makes me so happy. But it does.
Some corniness:




The Lays were the couples' competition winners. Brad is a pretty mean balloon juggler.
One last look at all the party goin' gals:
And, just for the record, most of the clothes in the next picture came from the SAME woman's closet. What a sport to let us borrow her winter wear!
Party goin' guys:
The Cousin Eddies
And the whole gang!
Thousands of laughs, friendly competition, crazy outfits, and time with great friends. Can't wait until the next one!

It's Coming!

Christmas is right around the corner and I'm SUPER excited about it! I started working the day after Thanksgiving and got most of my decorations up. I have yet to get my ever-growing snow globe collection out. I do truly love it but I don't love all the styrofoamy thingamabobs that encase them in all of their boxes. It's messy. And it feels weird. Something tells me I'll do it tomorrow despite my angst regarding all the foam.

I did get the tree up and it makes me smile.

The thing that makes me smile the most, however is this:
Way back in 2008, a year and some change into our adoption process I was wishing the next year would bring the extra stocking. Much to my disappointment it didn't come by Christmas that year.....oh, but THIS year, THIS one, my mantle is proudly displaying a stocking pink and frilly with a ballerina (even though my girl is going to be a soccer player :) )
This year I'll be most happy to watch Tee-Tiny (who's not so tee-tiny any more!) eat the wrapping paper from her presents and slobber all over her new smocked Christmas dress 'cause, frankly, it doesn't get much better than that!
So, I was lying in the floor snapping some pics of 'Ol Christmas tree admiring the bokeh from my 50mm lens when I noticed something. Do you see me?
Look closely. I'm in that gold ball! After I downloaded them I noticed I could see me in there! I'm glad it's slightly distorted. Me in sweaty work out clothes with greasy hair isn't exactly the image I want saved into infinity in my blog scrapbook.
Although, if you work at Publix then that's the only way you know me. It's a good thing those people are taught to love unashamedly and without prejudice . Greasy and sweaty or not, that old man is pushing my cart and calling me sweetie. Gotta love that! 22 days to go!

The Clubhouse

While outside with Rhett doing what he likes to call "Extreme Swinging" (because I push him so high it gets "dangerous") my eye wandered down the hill to the area known as The Clubhouse.

There is no house in The Clubhouse, nor is there really a club but the boys think it's an awesome place nonetheless. Normally this area is covered by leaves on the trees and with the low hanging branches you can't see in unless you venture through the little opening in the weeds.
However, due to fall being upon us and the leaves all tumbling to the ground, I was able to see into their wooded area of secrecy. (Is that a knight's shield?)
I walked down and the first thing that caught my eye was their clubhouse sign.
In case you can't read it, here it is a little closer: It only took me one second to figure out who's handiwork this is. Along with his looks, Cade also picked up his father's lack of spelling/english knowledge.
I was a little terrified when I read that there was a "calw of darrkness". I didn't know where the claw was coming from so I didn't stay around too long.
I did make note of their crafted meeting table. I guess it's for important discussions between The Clubhouse members.
I am a little curious as to where they came upon all the cut firewood. I know a lot of stuff floats down our way in the creek but I can't help but to think somewhere through the trees some man is wondering why no matter how much wood he chops he still doesn't have enough to start a fire in his fire pit. My fear is that he'll wander into The Clubhouse and be rendered incapacitated by the Calw of Darrkness. I guess it's my duty to put out a neighborhood warning. Consider this it.