Happy Birthday Mom!

I couldn't let this day pass without wishing my mom a Happy Birthday. Wish I could be in Southaven to celebrate the day with her! I hope you have a great day, Mom. I took these pictures when she was here for Thanksgiving. My mom loves my kids so much. She is such a great Nana.

A 4-wheelin' Christmas Good Time

Oh, yes, let's not forget to post about the most exciting thing at our house on Christmas. The 4-Wheelers! One of the benefits of living in the boonies (as I prefer to refer to the area where we live) is lots of land to ride! What kid can live in the boonies and not have some type all off-road vehicle to ride? Not ours, of course, especially since they are half breed Alabama redneck children (they get that from their dad's side!). We bought the 4-wheelers back before Thanksgivng and have had the helmets wrapped under the tree since then. The kids had no idea what could be in such a big box. We made them wait to open those gifts last, after every other gift from Santa and everyone else had been opened. Note the expression of absolute confusion on their faces as the box revealed the helmets!


They had no idea what they had gotten helmets for. I snuck out into the garage so I could capture what I had hoped would be looks of surprise and excitement on their faces as the mystery of the helmets came into an understanding of why they would need them. Colin definitely delivered on the facial expression.






So, I'm sure you can imagine what our Christmas day was spent doing. You guessed it, riding 4-wheelers. The kids had so much fun. I had no idea Madilyn was such a dare devil. She hopped on that thing and took off, no fear. Colin surprised us. We thought he would be the one that had no fear, but instead, he was actually a little afraid at first. He would hardly press the gas at all, and wanted to stop after just a few minutes. But he eventually got the hang of it. He wasn't about to let his sister show him up. Everyone got good and muddy (thanks, Mother Nature, for the Christmas Eve downpour of rain - always a nice touch!) and had a blast.

Christmas Morning

Donny and I have always been lucky on Christmas to have kids that actually sleep in, instead of waking up at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. Madilyn came and woke us up and 8:00 am with the news that Santa HAD come, after all, (for a while it was doubtful, what with all the bad behavior and fighting and stuff). Christmas morning started out like this,


And ended like this. . .


In between, there were lots of gifts from Santa, some ohhhs and ahhhs, some "What, Clothes? Santa doesn't give clothes", some "I love clothes, even from Santa", and lots of actual joy and happiness! It was a Christmas miracle.

Merry Christmas, Tux!

What do you get a giant dog for Christmas?

Well, a giant bone, of course!



Enjoy, Tux!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas at home, just us five and the giant dog. After some time in time-out for fighting (what kids in their right mind would fight on Christmas eve? MINE!), we opened gifts from family that were under the tree.




We almost lost one kid to the mess. . .


And of course, the traditional setting out of cookies and milk for Santa.



Then, it's off to bed, with visions of sugar plums bouncing out of their heads!

My favorite Gift

Just what I always wanted, A BOX. . .


filled with one crazy little boy!


The fun never ends!

Tux turns Two!

Our giant dog, Tux celebrated his 2nd birthday yesterday. We got him an Alabama collar to celebrate the occasion. Donny said it was time the dog started to "represent". Put a trunk on his face, spray paint him gray, and he could pass as an elephant any day!

And in case you are wondering, What does a family do with a giant dog when they go on trips out of town? Well, we take the giant dog with us, of course. Tux has his own spot on the back row with Colin.


Tux truly is a member of this crazy family! Good thing we drive a big ole SUV!

Christmas with the Langley's

While in Alabama, we celebrated Christmas with Donny's family. The kids got some great gifts from Memaw and Pepaw.

Madilyn got a Nintendo DS.


Colin got a basketball goal.


And Philip got a new bike.


Merry Christmas, Memaw and Pepaw. Thanks for the great gifts!

Emmie's Birthday Party

We celebrated Emmie's birthday party on Saturday. She looked so cute in her little party dress. She was being camera shy, and wouldn't give me many smiles, but she is still a super cutie. Her blue eyes are so pretty.



Jacquelyn and I stayed up until about 2:00 am the night before making the cake. Jacquelyn had never made a cake before, and so she asked me to lend my "expert" advise. Yeah, right, I am no expert by any means, but the cake turned out so beautifully. It was so delicious, too, and that is what really counts! It physically hurt me to cut it after all that work!



And, of course, following in the 1st birthday tradition, Emmie had her own little special cake. She could not wait to get into it. Jacquelyn had to hold her hands back while we sang happy birthday to her!


After the song and a change of clothes, it didn't take Emmie long to make her mark on her pretty little cake.




Presents - what little girl doesn't love ripping into presents? She knew exactly what to do with wrapping paper. Jacquelyn said she has been practicing by unwrapping the Christmas presents under the Christmas tree.



Oh, I cannot wait to see how Jacquelyn and Stephen tackle toddlerhood. This is when the real introduction to parenthood begins!! Good luck, guys. You will need it!

Happy Birthday Emmie Leigh!

Wow, I can't believe it! Little Emmie Leigh turns 1 year old today. Emmie Leight is Donny's little sister, Jacquelyn's baby girl. She is the cutest little thing!! She reminds me so much of Madilyn at that age. They don't look anything alike, but she is petite and little like Madilyn was. She is also a baldy like Madilyn was. We are going to Alabama today to celebrate her birthday. It should be a fun party!


Happy 1st Birthday Emmie! We love you!

Some humor to keep you going . . .

How to maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice!

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

5. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Marijuana'

6. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.

7. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

8. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'.

9. Sing Along At The Opera.

10. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache..

11. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'

12. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'

13. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'

Ashley Park = Great Photo Ops

After Madilyn's Choir concert on Saturday, we headed over to Ashley Park to do some shopping and take advantage of all the great photo ops. For those of you who don't live in Newnan, Ashley Park is our new open-air mall. It is soooooooo nice. The landscaping alone is completely amazing. I find myself driving through somedays just to see all the beautiful plants, flowers, and waterfalls. The mall itself was designed to look like a small town or village. The fronts of the stores are all unique and look like homes all lines up next to each other. It is very beautiful. Very unique and classy! So here are some pictures we took at Ashley Park, all decked out for the holidays.








Oh, Colin, always in the mood to have his picture taken!

The giant tree was so beautiful. Look closely and you will Madilyn and Colin standing at the base of the tree. The tree was gigantic!