Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas cards this year! I designed both and took the photos in the top one. My MIL took our family photo.

We hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a BLESSED NEW YEAR!
Bill, Amanda, Parker, and Cole

A WONDERFUL day!

My very sweet boy! Went to ICE How the Grinch Stole Christmas in Nashville today with Grammy and Papa....ummm BRRRRRRRR! Here is our little penguin. lol
It was really awesome to see all of this made out of ice.

WOW!
After the ICE we went to Opryland and walked FOREVER then went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. Yummo!

Today's ramblings...

Parker told Bill this morning to tell me to get my camera and to take a picture. This is what I came into Coley's room and found. How sweet! Of course now Cole wants to climb up in the glider now by himself. Great!

Misc things that happened today....a little venting...maybe

We were out and about all of us for a bit today and were almost hit THREE times within like 10 minutes. Two of those were probably half mile from each other. People not paying attention and wanting to pull out from side streets. One was an elderly ladythat we tested our anti-lock brakes on and then she had the nerve to cut in a long line of traffic turning left. She wasn't hesitant about it either she gassed on it after holding up traffic. Some people.

Let's see the mail came today and STILL NO FREAKING SANTA PICTURES! I ordered them on December 10 from Sam's Club photo online. DO NOT EVER USE THEM PLEASE. I've called and emailed and when I call oh they were mailed on the 12th and probably got put into regular mail instead of the PRIORITY (in which I paid extra for) in that case she told me 5-7 days. That was Wednesday when I called. I was like HELLO 7 days would have been TODAY (when I called Wed.). She did say she would refund my shipping. Well I get an email response back today and it says my photos were mailed ON OR AROUND 12/20. What in the heck? So I call the 1 800 number to ask about my order this afternoon and they know NOTHING of the emailed response and under my order number it says they were mailed on the 11th. Ughh! And she states that they don't know who did the email because they don't handle that. Double ughh! So I replied back to the email telling them to just give me a refund because I have NO CONFIDENCE in them getting me my photos. I also mentioned the I WILL NEVER use them AGAIN and I will tell my friends that too. I have yet
to hear back on that. So I guess I'll just stick with my trusted sites when it comes to pictures.

Then I went to Dillards with both boys to get Bill a gift. The lady that was helping me handed me off to another girl so she could help someone else. Well she was going to wrap what I was buying for me...I looked desperate chasing both boys around Dillards...lol. Well the new girl said oh I wrapped a bunch of those earlier. So I get home tonight to put a bow on it as they were all out and low and behold the chick gave me the WRONG one. I saw the sticker on the wrapping paper and I noticed it wasn't correct so I opened it. So nowI get to go back to the mall this weekend amidst all the crazy shoppers who have not finished their shopping. UGHH!

I forgot to mention that when we came home there was a HUGE box at my door. Luckily we came home the back way from Sams and P didn't see the box at the door. Well it was the boys' train table. Well I couldn't figure how to get that darn 100 lb box either in the house or into the garage...yes I did actually think and try to get it there too. Only made it about a 5 inches. My next idea was to sneek in the front door and drag it as quickly as possible to my closet since the boys were eating dinner in the kitchen (Bill is working tonight thats why he's not helping). I have to say it was a success and P didn't even know that I moved anything inside. lol Thank goodness he was hungry. Only thing is my wrists are a little scratched up from the box.

Whew, if you made it this far your good. Lol just my ramblings....

What I've been working on the past 2 days!

I've been working on this knitting needle case for a christmas present and finally finished it this afternoon. I made the pattern myself and it was really quite simple. I think I'll be making one for myself also. I LOVE the funky fabric...so fun. The flap folds down and then you roll it up.
Tie it and it looks like this! Not crazy about the yellow ribbon now but its too late to change it. It also matches a bit better IRL.
Parker's teachers gifts. Homemade hot chocolate, chocolate covered pretzels, and gingersnaps. YUMMY!

Shopping amongst the STARS!

So this morning we went to the Mall of Green Hills in Nashville. We were in Pottery Barn Kids just looking around when Bill comes up to me with a HUGE grin on his face. I was like what. He said look over there it's TIM MCGRAW and FAITH HILL. Sure enough I look up to the registers and there they stand. OMG I was about to freak out a bit but I kept my composure. LOL We continued to look around some more and as I was getting ready to check out P was pushing a stroller around and well almost ran it right into Faith Hill. I was like P watch out honey and she said oh he's alright! OMG she talked to us! lol Totally made my day. They also followed us to Willams Sonoma where I bought some super yummy hot chocolate and peppermint bark. Tim was shopping right behind me as I was waiting in line to check out. I could have seriously turned around and touched him. If it wasn't for Bill recognizing them I probably wouldn't have. They were dressed like us everyday folk. So fun to see 2 country stars out and about shopping. I just had to share this as it totally made my day even BETTER than it already was.

Gingerbread house!

So today we did our gingerbread house and both boys took part in it too. Coley only got to "play" with the buttons on the gingerbread boy and then he was off to bed for a nap. Parker not too long after we started told me he was tired of doing the house. lol I think that was after he tasted the frosting and it wasn't to his liking. lol The roof was a mess because the frosting wouldn't spread. I should have waited til the end to do the top because the icing was so warm from being in my hands it was just dripping everywhere. Oh well we still had fun and P still wants to surprise Daddy with it tonight when he gets home from work.
No Martha house that's for sure!

Am I losing my mind by letting a 13 month old boy finger paint.....YES! Although he didn't do too bad at all. He thought that since it was on his hand meant it was FOOD...hence the BIG brush in his hand. I thought I would get the crayons and let him color with those while P painted. WRONG this boys HAS to be doing EVERYTHING HIS BROTHER IS! I swear he thinks he is 5 years old already. What led us to finger painting this evening was a crafty christmas project for the Grandma's. Well we painted his hands and here he was doing just that himself. I said Parker don't paint your hands honey paint on the paper. P replied: I'm just painting my hands like you did only by myself. Well how do you argue with that? Of course immediately after the picture he insisted I wash it off because he can't stand anything sticky on his hands. Silly boy!
Am I in trouble or what? He climbed up on the rocking chair himself and was STUCK. He thought he could climb up there and get onto P's bed....HAHAHA no sir! He can get up but not down yet. He also uses the step stool to climb but can't quite get his leg up onto the bed yet. He is going to be my climber for sure. Tonight after his bath I turned on his CD player that sits on top of his small bookcase. Well he LOVED the music but was really interested in the CD player. So he was reaching and just inches away from pulling it down when all of a sudden he started lifting his chubby little leg to climb the bookcase. Umm that ended rather quickly. I can add bolting all our furniture to the walls to Bill's honey do list...he will LOVE me even more for sure. :)

Christmas lights!

Tonight we took a stroll down the riverwalk since it was such a BEAUTIFUL evening to look at the lights...70 degrees still at 7:45 p.m. The kids enjoyed all the lights and on the way home we went through downtown and I caught this picture on Franklin Street.

I survived!

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I ended up moving the location due to unforeseen circumstances but it worked out...I think. I am VERY SURE I didn't have the lights set up correctly to high and I know the left light was just too far away. Anyhow they are better than Walmart's pics right?! Here is one of our boys that Bill took. Cole actually didn't cry. Can you believe that? P didn't want to sit on his lap, but wouldn't stand still so I put him up there anyway and this was the "look" I got. It was almost like he was frozen. LOL I am really bummed that the christmas tree lights didn't show up better. See it was those darn lights that I DON'T know how too use. All I know is Kerrie can have those lights back ASAP...I'll stick to natural light. Oh and I did get a mom wanting me to take pics next weekend of her daughter's christening. Not sure if I'll do that though.

Anway, I survived, pics are downloaded. I've picked out the keepers got rid of the yucky ones, and my tree is up and redecorated yet again. All is well here...nighty night!

It's finally here...

the day to take Santa photos. I'm not exactly sure WHY I volunteered to do this, but I didn't even think for a minute about whether I should or shouldn't do it when I got the email about needing a photographer for the party. So today is the day and I've been working diligently to make sure everything is PERFECT! Yes, I am a perfectionist. So here is a photo of some of the paperwork I've been working on. Bill also helped me out to make a sign in sheet with Excel...thanks honey. I am going for the professional look...did I accomplish that? I also going to FAKE confidence in my work BIG TIME tonight...hopefully! LOL Who knows maybe this will lead me to a "new" venture in my life. Oh and by the way I am volunteering for this and am in NO WAY getting paid for this...silly or what, huh? I got my Uppercase Living order yesterday and had to put 2 of the 3 up. This is a Welcome sign in copper on our front door...LOVE IT. We also put one above our bed, but our room is in no shape to take a picture of now, maybe tomorrow or next week. Check out their stuff at www.uppercaseliving.com and I might be having a party in January or February if you want to place an order. :)
A pic of the pile of "stuff" I have to take with me this afternoon. This pile DOES NOT include the tree, the 8 x10 area rug, or the photo lights that are already in the van. Oh yeah and my camera is missing from the bag because I was taking the pic and it's still right next to me. NOTE TO SELF: put the camera back in the bag ASAP. That would stink BIG TIME!
So be thinking of me this afternoon/evening and maybe say a little prayer for my patience. Thanks! A~

To my sister...

Happy 2oth Birthday Jennie!

We hope you enjoy your special day. We're thinking of you and LOVE you lots.

All our love,

Bill, Mandy, Parker, and Cole

Random photos

My roses...so beautiful! Loving there beauty as I pass in and out of the kitchen throughout the day. Our tree. This year we decided to put it here instead of in the front of the window. I can't handle how much light it blocks during the day...the winter is gloomy enough. So this works just as well. The presents all wrapped are just "faux" presents for the Moms Club Santa photos I'll be taking Saturday. We'll be using our tree, the presents, and our area rug. I'm praying that everything will look AWESOME and the pictures will go smoothly.
The "slightly baked" wreath on our front door. It was between the doors until I realized I was baking it in the sun and warm temps, so I moved it to the screen door.

Cupcakes!

We got around to making the cupcakes today instead of yesterday. P had a blast...loves to help. I took this pick after he licked the "green sugar" sprinkles off the top. He wasn't too sure about it but still ate it. Coley eating his cupcake.
Such a busy week. Lots of lists happening. I have 4 going right now. Ughh. It'll be so much better after Saturday is over. I'm kind of dreading the Santa pictures that I volunteered to take for Moms Club. It'll go smooth...I hope.

I have in my busyness taught myself how to knit this past weekend. It wasn't good at first as I was ALL THUMBS and I got frustrated very easily as what I was reading wasn't clicking. AT ALL. So then I got some bamboo needles and wool at Hobby Lobby Saturday. With a fresh mind and my new supplies I got it. I have to say that even my hubby gave it a try and I'm happy to say he got just as frustrated as I did in the beginning. He was really trying to show me up. lol My hubby is jack of all trades but sorry to say knitting isn't one of them. LOL Now decorating cakes...he's up there.

Speaking of my hubby, he was such a sweetie and brought home a dozen red roses for me today along with a card. I cried of course. My day was good and he made it GREAT. I love him.

Off to wrap some presents and mark things off of my to do list. :)

My little baker boy!

Unpacking the christmas decorations last week ,we came upon this apron and hat that I purchased at the after christmas sale last year. P couldn't wait to wear it and bake some cookies. So on Friday after a trip to the store we came home and made some chocolate chip cookes...yummy. Not only did P help make them but he actually was eating the cookie dough as well. That is BIG! Thank goodness these cookies were only for us, as his little fingers were in and out of the bowl many many times. He wouldn't try a cookie, but the baby steps he took are just as good. Today he woke up and first thing asked if we could make cupcakes. So we'll make another trip to the store and then make some cupcakes this afternoon. Saturday we went to a parade downtown to welcome Santa. It was the boys' first parade and I didn't get a really good pic of either of them. They both had a blast though with all the christmas lights. P loved the firetrucks and the motorcycles. Cole just really wanted to walk in the street and visit with everyone.

We have a VERY BUSY week ahead filled with LOTS of Moms Club activities. I can't wait til next Sunday...it will all be over.

'Tis the season...to be busy!

Took this of P yesterday. I found this cute chef's hat in the Target $1 section. He was dancin and cookin. Well the trees are up (put a small one in P's room) and the stockings are hung.The outside lights are up. And can you believe my hubby after only 5 years FINALLY hung the icicle lights ON the house. They aren't actually lit yet but hopefully tomorrow they will be. Thanks baby! It was so much easier this year only putting up 1 big tree instead of 2. Lots of stuff is going to Goodwill too. I LOVE cleaning out a bit. I also decided to go with FRESH greenery outside this year. Ahhh I LOVE it...really so refreshing and smells WONDERFUL. Hmmm I'll have to take a pic.

Today we finally finished up the front landscaping. The small pile of mulch had been sitting in our driveway forever. We actually went to the nursery today and bought 2 Autumn Empress Azalea's and then I split my monkey grass and put in front. Topped it off with mulch and it looks GREAT. I also put all the outdoor stuff in the shed for the winter.

Lots of stuff getting crossed off the to do list lately. One thing that kind of just ENDED was the table. I was putting a coat of poly on the top and it just started bubbling up and peeling off. I was furious and still don't know why that happened. That whole project is now in the porch (awaiting a truck ride to either the dump or Goodwill) and our dining room table is in the kitchen nook. So I totally took something that was perfectly good and RUINED it. Lesson learned there. Next time, just convince your hubby that you REALLY do NEED a NEW table because the color just doesn't match any of your other furniture. LOL

Anyway, doing another project for Moms Club...ughhh it will be done tomorrow. Then onto the next one. I hope to have time to SIT DOWN and learn to knit in the next week or so.

My first "real" photoshoot!

I had the wonderful pleasure of photographing this BEAUTIFUL family while in IL this weekend. This is my BESTEST FRIEND Stephanie, Maggie, and Brian. It was SUPER COLD outside and they were troopers to say the least. Thanks guys for letting me take your photos.

Leaves, leaves

It was just Parker and I outside this afternoon while Coley napped. We planted 100 red tulip bulbs...can't wait til spring. Then we played in the leaves.

Fall frolic!

Late this afternoon while getting the mail I notice all these leaves in our yard from our beautiful maple trees. I had to take advantage of the leaves and the gloomy day and have a little photoshoot with the boys. Aren't they the cutest? The only one of P in focus, smiling, and looking at me. These are RARE!

I love how I cropped this one in camera even though P's head is cut off a bit.
A bit of volunteering today. Parker and I were "bell ringers" at Walmart for the Salvation Army today for an hour. Our Moms Club voluntered a few hours and this photo was taken as we were relieving Kelly (in pic). I did most of the ringing and P handed out lollipops. He LOVED that part. He also shouted HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone coming and going...he brought in lots of money. He did get upset though because people didn't hear him, as in acknowledge him. He did great though and I think we'll do it again in December.

Bad Blogger!

I've been a bad blogger lately, sorry! I've got a major project going on right now (staining our kitchen table and chairs) and it's taking forever. Yeah silly me starting a project right before the holidays. So heres a couple from yesterday. The boys were in the toybox emptying all the toys out. Hey, it occupied them for about 25 minutes. lol
Update on Coley. He's walking like 6-7 feet at a time now. He even tried running a little tonight he was so excited to get to P's Lucky Ducks game. He's got another tooth and possibly another...it's been a few days since I last checked. That makes a total of 5 possibly 6. Eats everything in sight. Oh and get this he SIGNS. Finally after signing to him for 4 months this past week he has signed "eat" and "drink." He's been doing "all finished" for a few weeks now. I however don't think he's going to be our most polite child as he's not using please and thank you. He points and screams a lot instead. He's also into tantrums big time. Been taking lessons from his brother I guess. It's all or nothing with him. He also loves tractors just like P and today he screamed and wanted down as we passed them coming out of Lowe's. He wanted to "drive" them like P always does. The funny thing is P wasn't with us. He's also starting to say "bye" and wave all the time. He's been clapping a lot too. I think thats about it for him.

Update on P. Well he's still 3 and thinks he can do whatever he wants. Today it was so funny. I bought a rotisserie chicken from Sam's for dinner. Here is our conversation:
P: Mom what's that?
me: A chicken?
P: an animal?
me: yeah a dead one
P: Oh Mommy put it away don't eat it! You can't eat it Mama NO!
me: Look see it's just meat!
P: No mama covering his eyes! (He was freaked out about a turkey on the tv this morning too and was covering his eyes then too and saying turn it off, turn it off.) LOL
me: Oh honey it's just a big hunk of meat!
P: haha Mommy I'm just kidding it's not an animal, it's just a big hunk of meat!

I think he's going to be a vegetarian at this rate. Oh wait I guess he would have to eat veggies then, right?! LOL Lucky for us he got over it before we ate or we would have been pretty hungry.

Not sure if I'm going to be a better blogger this week...busy busy and traveling to IL.

The zoo!

Yesterday we spent the day at the zoo. Perfect weather and not so many people. I tried getting a picture of the boys together for christmas cards but that didn't so much as happen. It was mostly P goofing around. Ughh I even bribed him which just got him to look at me...god forbid he SMILE. Gee whiz! :)

P.S. Something is seriously wrong with blogger. I can't view any of my new posts (this one and the last one) unless I go into edit posts and view. Hmm.

ughh!

Trying to upload pics and there is an error. Oh well I've tried twice. I'll try again
in the morning.

Oh and I've tried to change my music but apparently I can't access it anymore. I've
tried changing my password and getting it emailed to me and both have failed. I could delete it but well I really don't want to do that. So there ya have it.

Cherry Pie!

I've been craving some cherry pie and tonight I satisfied that craving. I finally used my new pie plate I bought a couple months ago too. I was a little creative too. ;)

Not too much of an exciting week. My camera has sat in its bag since Monday until tonight. Nothing new really to take pictures of. Well Cole and his walking but that's pretty hard to capture without video. I've done that but I'm really to lazy read the manual to see if I can download it to the computer...the camera is about 5 years old or more.

Cole's walking more and more. Yesterday he was walking A LOT and we were so proud of him. He even started clapping while walking. My baby is too big!

Tonight Cole was taking a couple steps from the couch to the coffee table, fell and hit his forehead on it. He has a nice goose egg on his forehead above his right eye. Nice.(I'm surprised I didn't get a picture of that.) He was himself about 10 minutes after it happened. I was the wreck. Oh and today I trimmed up Cole's hair a bit. A little around the ears and at his neck. The curls are still there, he just doesn't have bozo hair quite so much. Daddy wanted me to cut his curls off but I'm not ready. I've learned my lesson there with P. So I'll keep them as long as I can this go around.

P is still a feisty 3 year old. Tests our patience EVERYDAY, but we love him.

Hopefully I'll be better with the camera this week.

I took this the other morning of Coley playing on his firetruck. He LOVES that thing the past few days. Since he's starting to walk more he likes to walk behind while he pushes it. If you look closely you can see his 2 bottom teeth. LOL I can't wait til I can capture a pic of both the top and bottoms...looks so funny right now.

Well chunky monkey had his 12 month well baby visit on Friday. He weighs in at a whopping 23 lbs. 11 oz., 29 inches long, and has a HUGE head. So for his age he's kinda chunky, a little short, and has a HUGE head. LOL He got 4 shots and didn't do too bad at all. No fussiness at all afterwards, yay! I surprised Parker and got his flu shot too while we were there. He didn't like it and cried for a total of like 2 minutes, shook his leg, and then said "lets go to Shipley's to get some ball donuts (donut holes)." He just wanted those donuts and they took his mind off the shot.

Well our prayers for a babysitter were answered last week. A nice high school girl that lives like 6 houses down too...who knew. All it took is me telling about everyone I know at church and then some to find one. Rick, our neighbor, taught her last year and introduced me to her. She babysat Friday night for us while we went to bible study. It was her 1st time babysitting and well our first time having a sitter. Worked out well though. Cole was in bed before we left and Parker watched Blues Clues the whole time...thank goodness for On Demand. So all was well on that front and I think she wants to babysit again. Yay! I think that means we might actually be able to have "date nights" on a regular basis rather than like 2 times a year.

Not much else going on here.

Photos from the past 2 days!

Did a little shoot at home of Cole on his birthday. Had to do them in his "birthday suit" just one last time...he's getting too big. Went to lunch at Chuck E. Cheese. The boys had a blast, so did Gramma and I!
Got this one of him standing up. He's doing that more and more and will even bend down and pick stuff up and stand back up again by himself. He's even taking a few steps at a time.

After eating his cupcake I had to put on his party hat, which he hated.
The boys and Gramma ready to go in their costumes. We went to First Baptist's fall festival. That was way more fun than trick or treating. Lots of inflatables, candy, and food and it was all

FREE.
Lastly, our pumpkins. Bill did the pirate ship. I did the "upside down bat"! LOL I put the pattern on upside down...silly me!
Mom did this one. I also carved a small jack o lantern for the boys...not shown.