must be a good hiding spot

william (14 months)


wes (18 months)

33 degrees is a little cold

on saturday morning, we attended the much anticipated christmas parade in downtown. as most of you know, i am not a fan of cold weather. so, when i looked at the temperature that morning and saw that it was 33 degrees, i was not exactly over the top excited about sitting out in that weather watching trucks and marching bands creep by me. but, i donned the long johns, about 4 shirts, and no telling how many pairs of socks and ended up making it through in one piece!!

this is our crew hanging out on the curb waiting on the parade to get started...


do you think my kids actually sat on the curb and quietly watched the parade with the rest of their friends? absolutely not. if you are sitting down, then apparently you are unable to dance to the music of the cars and the bands...


after a while, though, the dancing had to take a break, and daddy made a nice chair...


2 hours later (yes, 2 whole hours) santa FINALLY made his arrival. it had to be the longest parade in the history of the world!!


but the little people loved it, and we are already looking forward to next year's parade. actually, we're looking forward to the end of the parade! sadly, william's favorite part of the entire parade was what followed santa...

i think all the adults there would agree with me...we were glad to see that street sweeper, too!!

who knew bass pro shop was so entertaining?

a few weeks ago, we went to bass pro shop with honey and g. the intent was to "see" santa. neither of my boys gives a flip about santa, so they glanced at him and moved on to better things! what a great place for free fun!!

look at the fish, g!


mama, i want this!


and one of these, too!!


and while wes is off chasing remote control jeeps, my other kid is trying his hand at a red ryder bb gun!


then he finds yet another shooting station!

dad and br, y'all better watch out! get him in the woods, and he may put y'all to shame!

how wrong is this?

ok, i saw this on a few different blogs, and i had to give it a try. you upload the parents' pictures, and then it creates a picture of what your kid will look like.

every blog that i have seen this on has been a blog of a pregnant person. let me just make it known to those preggo people that makemebabies.com doesn't even come close to what god made. thank goodness!!!

i'll take my two cute kids...




over this poor thing anyday!! i mean, what's with the elf ears?

happy 2nd birthday, walt!!

train cake, ice cream and trains all on a rainy, sunday afternoon. does it get any better? happy birthday, little man!!



this picture has nothing to do with the birthday boy, but i have never, ever, ever seen ben and william sit this still...ever. (well, except for the one time that they shared a sucker while sitting in the rocking chairs on the front porch...obviously i wasn't paying enough attention!) anyway, i had to post it as proof that the two of them (while together) can be still for more than a millisecond. it may very well never happen again!!

the safest tree on the block

a present to myself

a few weeks ago, i made a purchase online, and i am still oh-so-excited about it! i was actually looking for a magnetic doorstop, but instead i found my new most favorite thing!

i know that mandy is going to read this and roll her eyes. and actually, i think the only person that will really appreciate this is my mom. and maybe marty. i'm not sure why i think marty would like this, but it seems like something that would be right up her alley.

anyway, for as long as i've known me i have had a huge box full of wrapping paper, ribbons, tags, gift bags, tape, etc. it has always gotten on my nerves because it was so unorganized, and i swore to do something about it every time that i wrapped a gift. yeah...never happened.

until now!!!

yes!! this is my new handy, dandy wrapping paper organizer. complete with a zip top spot for ribbons and whatnot. and side pockets for tags and tissue paper!



i was so giddy when it came in the mail that i sat down immediately and got everything in its spot. so unfortunately i do not have a before picture.

but i do have an after pic of the aforementioned box and the nice organization of the gift bags and gift boxes that now occupies that space!


yes, i know i'm a dork. but i can say with confidence...bring on the christmas season. i am more than ready!!