The Thick of It

This is a brag of my husband post. Sorry for those of you that are offended by these types of posts. ;)

I've heard the 7th year of marriage is the hardest. I know statistics show most couples divorce in the 7th year of marriage. I was ready to fight the good fight and push through to year 8. Turns out, so far - so good. We're halfway there! I can honestly say this has been the best year of my marriage so far. I didn't know I could love this man so much! Which is strange, considering I have loved him for almost 13 years now. I guess the more you go through, the more you love and respect your husband. There is certainly thick and thin, but lately I feel the need to tell him (and anyone else who cares to listen) how happy I am. How much I love him. How blessed life is. 

This is the thick of it. This is the for better. Thin will come, worse will come. Such is life. But let's relish the thick of it. Let's tell ourselves every day how freakin wonderful life is and how much we love each other. We'll need these memories for the thin. Bring on 2013!

Daddy cooked breakfast! Any way we can get this girl to eat breakfast, we will try. She is not a big breakfast fan. But if there's bacon, she'll give it a shot!

Entertainment by Avery

This girl is my daily entertainment, y'all. Since she's our first, I'm not sure if every 4 year old is this funny, but she cracks.me.UP. As her vocabulary expands, the funnier it gets. Daily I think "Did she just say THAT!?!" I'm sure this thought will NOT be funny at 13. But I will soak up this sweet hilarity as long as I can!

Facebook friends, these will all be repeats. I copied and pasted to make sure I would have these on my blog!

• "Mommy, guess what? My dance teacher said Santa's watchin us. Must have a camera somewhere up there?"
• I said, "Avery, we should go look at Christmas lights. Think we can talk daddy into it?" She said, "I think we gonna have to trick him. I'll say, 'Daddddy, come get in the car. We goin to Eskamoes...don't you want some nachos?!?"
• Avery very loudly while we're out to eat: Mama, if you see a snake, run. But if you have a gun you can kill it. And if you have a pocket knife you can cut it. And then we can eat that snake!" 
• Avery listening to Charlie be silly this morning: "My daddy's so silly. I'm happy I have a silly daddy. I'm pretty sure if I didn't I'd be mad. My daddy's perfect just the way he is!" Can you say daddy's girl?
• Avery: Mommy, I'm not being ugly. I'm just taking all your patience from you!
• Avery says "Momma, I didn't play with Kara today. I played with Jeremiah instead. We played boyfriend/girlfriend."  Avery will begin homeschool on Monday. ;)

I tried to convince Avery to get a paint by number. She said, "Mom, hello! I'm 4 1/2 now. I don't paint anymore. That's so lame!" Instead, she chose Dollar Tree hair extensions..

This is a picture of me on Geek Day in high school. Avery showed it to me this morning and said, "Look at you mom. You hideous!"

I told Avery we were going to see a beauty queen (Miss LA) at Newk's tonight. She said "Mama, I don't get it. Queens and princesses live in castles, not at Newk's!"

Halloween 2012

Better late than never right? At least I got this post in before the New Year!

I was at Target one day and found a cute, affordable costume that was Avery's size (well...kind of). She actually agreed to it, so that decision was made! However, I fear this is our last year as a big, stuffed animal. She wore this to school on Halloween for a field trip and was NOT happy when she realized she could have been a princess and wore makeup and jewelry like the other girls. It didn't make matters better when one rude little girl laughed because she had a 'big belly'. I guess 4 is when girls start making fun of other girls because of the way they look? Argh! I thought she was the cutest, sweetest little owl ever!

We had a great time trick or treating with a few of our neighborhood friends!

My little owl on a field trip...

Blowing Sunshine...

At work, I am often accused of "blowing sunshine up people's butts." I will always end my emails with "Thanks!" and I expect a 'thanks' when I go out of my way to do something for you. You can bet your bottom dollar you will get a 'yw'. If you ask me to do something that is not my job or something I REALLY don't want to do, I will still tell you it's no problem at all. Some people think this is  a waste of time, all this 'please and thank you' nonsense. I just don't. I think this is a necessity. 

On my birthday, one of my sweet coworkers made me this cake, which is quite fitting. "happy birthday - may it be filled with rainbows and sunshine!" Too cute!

Dress Up

Cleaning out the hope chest always means a chance to play dress up!

Fun in Vidalia

Life is always nice in Vidalia. At least in my world! And while I used to really, really want to move there forever, I do find like our little life. I like having lots of shopping and restaurants and great jobs and an excellent school for Avery where we live. And I love taking the drive to my free vacation getaway spot. My weekend happy place. VIDALIA!

Avery just loves her cousin! She is not sure why he doesn't want to hug her as much as she wants to hug him. Boys will be boys!

And if we HAVE to practice killing wild animals, I prefer bows over firearms when small children are present. :)

I don't think Mark could find a more perfect girlfriend. I don't own a piece of camo, but this girl can rock it. And when I tell you she can hit a target, I mean it. If the end of the world comes, we're moving in with Uncle Mark, he can not only protect us but kill enough deer and ducks to feed us until the end of time!

This girl loves her Nonna...

She even trusts her to swing in the hammock...

The hammock is all fun and games, until someone gets hurt. Man down!

Uh oh...someone is taking after Nonna!

Merry Christmas 2012

As you may be able to tell, I typically write 20-30 posts on one day and schedule them throughout the month. So this will post on Christmas morning but I'm writing this the weekend of the CT school shooting. I feel guilty about Christmas this year. It feels unfair to celebrate it and to laugh and relax and enjoy your family. I can't stop thinking about the presents under the tree for those children that will never get to open them. I heard people were taking down Christmas decorations in Newtown. I thought about being really somber this Christmas. I felt like maybe celebrating too much, being too happy would be disrespectful to those families.

And then it hit me. We're not celebrating our lives. Or even our children's lives. We're not celebrating new electronics and fried turkeys. That is not what this is about. This is about the birth of a Savior. A Savior wrapped in skin. Who didn't have to come. Who didn't have to die. Our hope. Our only hope. This is about celebrating the only reason those children live in heaven now. Celebrating that no matter what anyone does on this Earth to harm someone, we get to spend eternity with Jesus. Those parents can spend eternity with their sweet children. This is about HOPE! So today, I will laugh. And watch happily with excitement as we rip into our gifts and stuff ourselves silly with turkey. Evil cannot dampen this day. Today is a day of hope. Our only hope is Jesus Christ.

Childlike Faith

"Look Mama, I found this rock God made for me!"

Heart shaped rock

We Love Fall

Isn't Fall just the best? Beautiful trees, nice weather. my birthday! 

My beautiful girl...

Fall decorations...Can you tell I don't use Pinterest? LOL I seriously wish I could afford a decorator for each season, but this is the best I could come up with!

I do love my fall flowers!

What's Fall without a trip to the pumpkin patch?

Sweet, precious girls!

Love those ringlets and blue eyes. I realize I'm biased!

I couldn't ask for a better teacher. During Thanksgiving break, Avery asked day after day when she got to go back to school. She also said, "Mama, I love Ms. S." and "Mama, I miss Ms. S." And Ms. S loves Avery too. :)

Beautiful Fall wedding on the lake...

Mother of the Year decided to volunteer for PTO. Cause that's what Mothers of the Year do, ya know? No one told said Mother that mothers got to eat Thanksgiving Dinner with their child. So, she signed up to sell tickets to the dinner DURING the dinner for her daughter's class on purpose. She thought she would be one of the only parent's at the school and her sweet little girl would think that was special. Epic fail. I ran back between Avery and the ticket table during her lunch. My poor sweetie! Live and learn. Sorry if the pic is blurry, I was in a rush!

My poor sweetie was sick too, can you tell?

Happy Birthday Bram!

Avery had a blast at Bram's birthday party. There were fireworks and four wheelers and all kinds of fun boy stuff to do! Who doesn't love an LSU themed party?

Charlie with his mom and sister

Layne and Bram

I Survived No Shave November

It always starts of subtle ...

Then begins to darken...

But when you come home to a man with a mustache and sideburns, someone MUST stop the madness

Thank God this only lasted for a few hours. I turned down a date to Red Lobster and cooked at home to keep this under wraps, then he posted it to Facebook and now the whole world thinks he really had a trash stache. That is just my crazy husband for ya! The rule for next year is, if you're going to rock this mustache for Prostate Cancer Awareness, I'm making you an appointment for a prostate exam! :)

School Projects

Avery LOVES homework. This may change in a year or so, but I can tell you right now if homework is in the yellow folder, Gracie is squealing!

This was one she did at school and brought home... Love the little red specks in her hair :)

Thank God for Nonnas! I am probably the least craftiest person I know. Nonna is training me....

Operation Scarecrow...

Success!

I love  how she is squatting like the Scarecrow's legs!

Then Nonna went out of town. And just like that, I put on my craft hat and went to town. Although, some people told me this turkey was unrecognizable, I loved our Tutu Turkey! When Nonna came home, she noticed our Tutu Turkey didn't have a tutu. No need to fear! Nonna found the perfect ribbon to make a tutu and saved the day! :)

Speaking of fun projects, Ms. Avery spent last weekend with Nonna so her mom could help Santa finish his list. And look what she got to help make! TOO CUTE!