December 2011

**Although, I wasn't blogging this month, I do want to include pictures from this month just for memory's sake. Here are pictures and a few thoughts from that month.

 

Adventurous fishing trip in the mountains, complete with boiled peanuts and reading material for me.  Oh, and no fish caught!  But we did have a good time together.

 The first bloom on our camellia bush

 Christmas at the SC State House - Jury Duty session Dec. 2011

 Beautiful roses from my sweetheart.

 How can Thumpy be comfortable?

 A little bowling fun!

 Chris had to buy this little magic trick worm for Laurel for Christmas.

Did I mention they were buy one get one free? ... so he has one too!

 Aubrey styling in her glasses.

 Ran into family at Wal-Mart after a Christmas family dinner.  Imagine that. 

 Our 2011 Christmas tree.  Which took a tumble in the middle of the night once and broke two of our special ornaments.  :(

 Me and mine at the Gaither Homecoming in Atlanta New Year's Eve.

 Happy 2012!!!

November 2011

**Although, I wasn't blogging this month, I do want to include pictures from this month just for memory's sake.  Here are pictures and a few thoughts from that month.

 

Taking a nap with my two. 

I took the picture (pretending to be asleep)

 L with Ava at mom's one Sunday at lunch.

 This silly little girl can make me smile anytime. 

She used this "scary face" to scare her doctor upon entering the exam room.  :)

 New t-shirt - I love the looks and comments that I get from others when I wear this!

 We took advantage of the vacation days at Thanksgiving and retreated to the mountains for a few days of much needed rest and relaxation.

Me with my sweetie at one of the mountain overlooks.

 Celebrating Chris' 30th birthday at Los Amigos - complete with sombrero, fried ice cream, and whip cream on the nose.

 Chris' birthday card from Thumpy - pawprint signature and all

   This was a quote that I repeated often and clung too during the rough days.

 



it's beginning to look like autumn

Here in South Carolina, the "natural" fall decoration is really beginning to show.

The leaves on the trees are changing more each day.
The weather has been PERFECT the past few days.

These are a few pictures of the fall decorations outside of our house.

This flag isn't really 'fall-ish' ... I changed it, because I thought the black color blended better than the American flag I had hanging.  And the wreath is on the front door.

 Here are three little pumpkins on our front steps.

 

And this bucket hangs by the front door under the porch light.

This wreath hangs on the door at our side entrance.

I arranged the little table with some old milk glasses and branches.  

I hot-glued the fake leaves on.  :)

 

Also, I potted a few mums - yellow and purple-ish.

Now that fall has really set in ... it reminds me that Christmas is just around the corner.

I'm starting to feel a little pressure that it will be here soon (2 months).  But, I hope and plan to take my time, enjoy fall, and start planning now for Christmas decor/gifts/cards, etc.  So much can be prepared for ahead of time -- I just gotta kick the procrastination habit.  ;)

Starring: Thumpy

Today, over at Kelly's Korner blog, it is Show us your life: Show us your pets.
Sno I'm showing off our Thumpy-girl!

She is a 7-year old mixed-breed ... don't really know what breeds.
Her daddy is Ickes (our dog that recently died)
and her mom was a feist (if I remember correctly).
She looks like a miniature lab of sorts.
But we don't really care about that.
 We got Thumpy and her brother, JD, in May of 2004.
(That is a long story in of itself)
And they were both outside dogs.

In September of 2005, she had a litter of 9 puppies (more mutts) ;)
(that's another long story)
We moved her and pups into the back fence to keep an eye on them.
We gave all the puppies away and immediately had her spayed.
We brought her in the kitchen while she recovered from surgery.
After that she would sit at our back french doors and beg to come in.
For a while, we only let her in the kitchen periodically.
Soon after she went all over the house,
but we always put her out when we left home and at night.
Well, the rest is history.  Now, she stays in all the time.
Only going out to do business, take walks, or hang out with us.

We love her so much.  She helps in filling the void in our home.

We fight over her.  And try to figure out who she loves most.

I think she loves me the most.

This is what Chris does before he leaves for work and when he comes home:

She is one of the sweetest dogs -  mild-mannered, good-natured, and so smart.
The only thing that bothers her - is someone taking her food.
She travels well and goes with us all the time.
She loves kids, even though she is not accustomed to their loud play.
When children play quietly, she will lay right beside them and wants to be close.
If she hears a baby cry, she looks on concernedly.


This is a recent picture.
When the alarm goes off, she hops on the bed and stands over us,
waiting on us to get up and let her out.

We never intended to have an inside dog.
but somehow it just happened over time.  
She won our affection and she is very much a part of our life.
And now we wouldn't want it any other way.
We love our four-legged, furry girl so much (shedding and all).

decorating for fall {inside}

 I love decorating for the different seasons and occasions.

Chris thinks I'm crazy ... oh well.

I decorated for fall last week, since Thursday was the official beginning.

And because Christmas is less than 100 days away ... it will soon be time for all that.

I found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest.  

This is the mantle in our den:

 Lentils, black beans, and kidney beans in a vase with a candle

 This idea was from Pinterest - love that the "picture" becomes 3D.

 Found this mirror at a thrift store, hot glued a piece of burlap to cover the mirror, and then glued on the leaf.  Hopefully I will be able to easily remove afterward.

 Mantle in our living room:

The wreath is another Pinterest idea!  A quick and easy project.

 Kitchen table.  Wreath-from-last-year-turned-candle-ring.

 Wanted to show this sweet flower arrangement in the kitchen.  Last Thursday, after decorating, I was hosting a ladies group from church.  My kind mother-in-law came over to help me put the finishing touches on our meal and she surprised me with these flowers.  Thanks, Teresa!  (the bag in the background is Chris' Pizza Doritos - you tried them? - reminds me of Pizzeria chips)

 Little painted pumpkins.  Once again -- Pinterest.  I used fake pumpkins, so I can use them again next year, if I'd like.  Easy and inexpensive ... but the striped and argyle pumpkins were a little tedious and time-consuming getting the lines straight.  The pedestal bowl is a thrift store find.  It is wood, but I wanted it painted.  Chris didn't want me to paint it - he told me I was covering up the beautiful wood.  So, I told him if I ever wanted a wooden bowl again, I'd just have him sand off all the paint.  :)

Happy fall!

October 5th

It's my daddy's birthday

51 years old, but only 38 years of life.

17 of his birthdays I celebrated with him.

(too few in my opinion)

Since we said "good-bye," 13 birthdays have come and gone.

Thirteen birthdays that I have not been able to celebrate with him.

There are no more birthday cakes, no gifts to be bought, no birthday phone calls to be made,
no parties to throw, no birthday hugs to give ...
... only overwhelming sadness and hard moments of missing him on days like this.

Don't take me wrong, I don't wish him back to this ugly world.

I know his joyful celebration is far beyond my imagination.

But in my human flesh, the grief is still so real and painful.

The physical absence of him in my life is so difficult to bear.

This continued grief and absence makes October 5th a tough day.

"Happiest of birthdays to my sweet Daddy.  

I'm sure your heavenly celebration is "out-of-this-world."

September

Wow - September is over.  Each year, it seems that the months fly by more quickly.  Christmas will be here in less than 100 days.  September was a busy, but fun month.  Here's the highlights:

On Labor Day, the McAlister family came over and we had a cook out - except that we were mostly stuck IN, due to rain from a hurricane.  The guys were troopers and grilled in the rain hoovering under the patio table umbrella.  However, they still got soaked.  Those burgers and hot dogs sure tasted good, though.  Homemade ice cream (peanut butter and vanilla w/ toppings) topped the meal off with a hit.  After rain subsided, Logan insisted on swimming.  He had looked forward to it for quite sometime and didn't want to be let down.  So he took a quick dip.

And isn't Riley too cute - see his sweet dimples.  :)

 

The next weekend was the Apple Festival in our little town.  Years ago, on one of the highways going out of town, there was numerous apple orchards.  This was the 50th Apple Festival celebration - with booths, rides, concerts, rodeos, parades, and other events, etc.  On Friday, Leigh and her girls came over and we walked downtown to watch the parade.

 

Cheesing!  As you see Aubrey could smile, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the action.  :)  We were a little disappointed that we didn't get much candy -  we were at the beginning, so the parade participants must have been anticipating running out of candy - so then went skimpy on us.

 

The third weekend, South Carolina was graced with the presence of the Dottry Family.  Carmin and Libby  moved to Kentucky several years ago.  We haven't seen them in over 3 years.  And we were so excited to get together with them for lunch at the Woods' place.  

 

The kiddos formed a band.  I absolutely LOVE this picture.  It cracks me up every time I look at it.  This was not staged.  They were all singing - all a different song - and seriously playing those guitars like mad.  It was great!

 And the last weekend, our church hosted a Youth Day for children and teenagers with outdoor games, crafts, devotions, food, and lots of fun!   This 'human ball' was a hit!

 

And now time marches on into OCTOBER!