Weekend Recap

This weekend I was quite the sewing bee. Hanna needed a Christmas dress, so on Friday the whole family headed to Hobby Lobby. I got some fabric and ribbon and came up with this. . .

Saturday night I popped some popcorn, lit the fireplace, made some hot chocolate, and put in my very favorite movie of ALL TIMES . . . It's a Wonderful Life. The kids have never seen the movie before and they really liked it. Poor little Hanna couldn't hang. . . she fell asleep during it.

Sunday morning Jon wore a coat to church. He looked so grown up and so.very.handsome. The kids snapped a picture for me. . . I don't particularly like this picture of me. . . but Jon looks so handsome, I just had to post it.

My girls and I had to leave church a little earlier. We were meeting some other moms and their girls for brunch to have a little Christmas get together. It was a lot of fun for the girls to see their friends and the moms to see one another.

Suzanne dropped the girls and I off at home, and I headed straight for the bed for my, very much anticipated, Sunday nap. . .

After my nap, we were all sitting on the couch watching TV. Hanna got up to go do something. She came back and said, "I lost my tooth". I think she may have swallowed it. We searched and searched for it, but so far, it hasn't turned up anywhere. . .

I can't believe my baby has lost her first tooth!!

Sunday night we headed back to church to see the adult Christmas program. It was WONDERFUL!!! I'm so glad we went. . . Two of my dearest and closest friends sang their hearts out. The acting was great. . . the singing and orchestra were out of this world. . .

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

Mrs. Raising Rascals meets Mama in High Heels

If you read Amber or Tiffani's blogs at all, it won't take you long to realize what a special relationship these two girls have and how very dear and precious they are to one another. When Amber came down this past week they were so very sweet to allow me to share just a small portion of their time together. I know how important it was to the both of them just to be able to soak one another up . . . so, I was very thankful that they took their time together and met up with me for a couple of hours.

We had plan A (where to meet). They were closed. Then off to Plan B. When I arrived their they were closing. So it was Plan C. . . which was the park . .. on a cold day.

It's so very funny when you meet someone face to face that you read about their lives on a very regular basis. You feel as if you already know one another, so there is certainly no need for a formal introduction.

Amber's blog is one of the funniest I read. ... sometimes so funny even. . . I'll even have my hubby go over there and read her writings. . . she definitely makes me laugh out loud. She is such an interesting gal!

In person? She is so very sweet and funny. . . very genuine. Actually I expected her voice to be much more southern, being that she's from Arkansas and all. . . because here in Georgia we add a syllable to every spoken word. . . We talked as if we were truly friends meeting up in the park for a playdate. In fact, I had such a good time when I got home I texted Tiff and invited them over for lunch the next day. . . .these girls already had plans the following day . . .

I felt so very tall. . I even slumped down some to compensate. . . I do LOVE being tall though. . . even if I do feel like Amazon woman next to my short friends. . .hee!hee!

Here we are doing the Amb. . . See how she always kicks that leg out? That is her signature on her pictures. . . just like mine is the head turn. . .

Thanks again Tiffani and Amber for allowing me to share in your time together. I had a really good time. My kids also had a really fun time with her boys. When we got in the car they started talking about how nice everyone was. . . it was a GREAT first meet in-real life!!!

Christmas Parade

Although we've lived in our town for the past 11 years, we've NEVER been to the Christmas parade . . . what a bunch of Scrooges. . . just kidding. I love small-town life, and this little small-town parade made it all the more special because 2 of my very favorite people in the whole world were apart of it.

Ash got to ride on the Upward float. Poor thing, her uniform had not come in yet. . . so she was without a uniform. .. and quite frankly this MORTIFIED her. . . with her Dad's quick thinking and the kindness of one of the coaches, Ash was able to wear a referee uniform. This calmed my sweet girl's nerves. Isn't she darling?

Good thing Hanna had Nanna by her side. . . these 2 fought tooth and nail to collect candy.

Oh, and when I saw my boy and his band come up to the hill, I sped-walked to where the float was. I was like the paparazzi with these guys.

There was this one spectator clapping her hands. . . I went up beside her and said, "Don't they sound good? There's my baby up there." She and her crew started clapping and cheering loudly.

I also got to have fun hanging out with this fun lady!!! We laughed lots especially at my mom trying to get candy for her Hanna Boo.

Love, love, love this hat. . . Wish it were mine. It was Suzanne's. . . .going today to get me one!!

Check out the loot Mama and Hanna got. . .

What a fun day!

Footsteps. . . I love their matching hats!

Oh Starry Night

. . . was the name of the Christmas play the children were apart of at our new church. I, personally, think it should have been renamed to Oh Precious Night because that is what this night was. . .

When Christ, our Savior, was born . . . what a precious night. . .

And the night these precious children sang loudly about the birth of our Savior . . . again, a precious night. . .

This play was hands-down (see my sweet girl and one of her friends holding hands . . . precious) the BEST children's Christmas play I've ever seen. It was filled with some humor. . .unplanned, of course. . . like one little girl holding herself because she had to go to the bathroom (*wink*wink* Lisa) and then going off stage during the performance to get her mom.

One little girl started covering her ears because the child next to her was singing so loudly. Another little girl started making her fingers look like glasses to cover her eyes.

When the director of the program informed that Hanna had a speaking part and a solo, I was S-H-O-C-K-E-D. Then when she told me Hanna volunteered for it, I almost fell onto the floor.

Hanna is my child that speaks hardly anyone. She will not make eye contact. She is just extremely introverted (like her Daddy) . . . or so I thought.

Honestly I thought she would freeze when she got on stage and just stare at everyone. There is a story Jon told me about a time when he was little and he was supposed to sing in front of the church. He got up there with his mom and just froze. He said or sang NOTHING!!! I thought this would be a repeat of history.

So far, so good. . . there she is. . . very close to the microphone. . .

Microphone in hand. . . now what? That girl SANG!! Loudly and on tune and just perfect!!! I thought we were going to jump out of our seats we were so excited. . .

She also had 2 speaking parts at separate times. . . I knew she had 1, but not 2. She was so good. She knew what she was supposed to practice, and she did. . . I never once had to hound her or even help her, for that matter. She spoke loudly and clearly, not just in a hush. . . WOW!

My sweet little angel. . . I'm so proud of you!

Poor Ash. . . she has no problem whatsoever being the center of attention. Honestly, she loves it. But, for her age group. . . they were the ones who had the power behind the song. Her time will come in the spring performance. . .

When I asked Hanna after the dress rehearsal what she thought about singing in the microphone, Ashley chimed in,"Well, I get to stand near a microphone." Bless.her.heart. Basketball season is just around the corner, so she'll have her time to shine again. I promise.

This play was so very heartwarming. If it didn't warm every person's heart who saw it, they most have hearts of stone. . . It was so very good to see children so excited about our Savior!!Precious. . . . just absolutely precious!

Ornament Palooza

I've been friends with a wonderful group of girls for many, many years now. I don't even know how we all started getting together. . . well, we all homeschool and have been friends for many years. . . maybe that was the beginning? Our husbands are all pretty good friends and so are our kiddos. . . I'm not quite sure where it all started, but I'm so very thankful it DID!!!

I think it all may have started after we moved into our house. I had them all over for dinner one night. . .

We had so much fun. . .

Then . . . we decided to go out for Faith's birthday. . . to treat her to real special night. . . we closed DOWN the restaurant. . . then I left to go crawl into the bed. They all stayed talking in Jennifer's car until I think into the wee hours of the morning. .. 1:00 AM, maybe?

Next, we got together for Lisa's birthday. . . girls only, of course. I, again, bailed to go home to go to sleep. They all stayed in Jennifer's car talking as I was having sweet and peaceful dreams. We decided even then we COULD NOT wait for my birthday to come around to all go out again. . . so Lisa, came up with a wonderful idea. . .

Why not do an ornament swap at Christmas?

Y'all I was SO determined to hang with them. I lasted until about 11:15 (in Jennifer's car, of course). Oh what fun these girls are!!! We laugh, we talk about nothing and everything all at the same time. We talk about our joys, our struggles, our fears, our frustrations. . .

Our hubbies all get along really well too (which is an added bonus). Our kids love spending time with another (another bonus). We even all had a Thanksgiving dinner together at Lisa's house. (I forgot my camera, and I have this blogger disease called "it is hard for me to blog about something unless I have a picture")

We encourage one another in just LIFE period. A merry heart does doeth like good medicine (Proverbs 17:22). We all planned a camping trip together back in October, but only Jennifer's and Lisa's families could go.. . I think they were secretly glad my family didn't go because it rained most of the time and they predicted we would have bailed out and came back home. .. I think Tim even gave a "Jon impersonation" on what he would have said. . . our friends know us well. . . we would have SOOOO bailed. . . we'd been like "We love y'all, but we are going home where it is warm and DRY."

And. . . the amazing thing is . . . we could all go for weeks without having the time to pick up the phone and check on one another. . . or, between the hustle and bustle of life, quickly say "Hey" to one another as we pass each other at church.. . but, we ALWAYS just pick up right where we left off.

Thank you my sweet friends for such a fun night. Thanks for journeying with me on this thing called LIFE. Thank you for your sweet words. Each of you added more love to my Christmas tree and to my heart! I love you all dearly!

Terri Turns 40!!!

A few weeks ago some friends and I got together to celebrate my sweet friend's, Terri, 40th birthday. I'm so glad 40 is the new 30. Terri looks amazing and we all had a fabulous time. I have lots of pictures, but I just posted a few for the ole' memories sake.

Nicki, Andrea, Julie

Christen and Liz

Me and Terri (other than my "tall friend", Jennifer, I feel this tall next to ALL my friends). . . it's because of the high heels.

Dawn, Me, Terri, Veronica, Suzanne

What girl doesn't love chocolate?

There's the birthday girl. At first it was going to be a "couples" party, but then Terri decided she wanted GIRLS ONLY!!! Jon was relieved he didn't have to go and be social. . .

Terri's sweet mama and aunt. Talk about weird? Terri and I met when Alec started swimming. We immediately formed a bond and have been friends ever since. The town where we live now is about an hour from my home town. She and I both grew up in the same hometown. Her high school friends are some of the older sisters of my high school friends. I thought this was really cool. Small world, huh? Another cool thing is she and I both went to the same college.

Terri's mom wanted to do an "over the hill" theme, but, thankfully, for Terri's sake it got pushed under the rug. Her mom loved this big cell phone though, so for Ms. Lillian, I had to take a picture of Terri with the cell phone . . . this pretty lady with her is one of Terri's best friends from college.

When the crowd trickled down and we started cleaning up we were listening to this 80s CD Jon had made for us. Silly Suzanne started bustin' a move!!! SO.MUCH.FUN!!!

Here are most of the girls that helped with the party. Lonnie, Julie, and Pam had already left by the time we got to take a picture.

Happy Birthday Terri!! I hope 40 is the best year of your life!