Flashback Friday

The hair.

As I was going through more pictures, I simply could not stop laughing at pictures of my hair!  I have to be honest, though...I miss the days of big hair.  Check out this one.  Prom -- Freshman year -- and I need to tell you that the only reason my parents let me go to prom as a Freshman was because my brother agreed to double date with me.  Poor guy!  (Don't you like the way I blocked the face to protect the innocent? ;-)  Very professional, huh?!)  I'm especially digging the black hose and shoes.  Oy my!

 What about this?  Sophomore year -- I recycled the same dress for a Try-Hi-Y dance.  Only this time, I opted for nude hose.  The hair!!  Permed and hot rolled, ladies!  I can remember vividly working on my bangs until they were curled perfectly!  And, check out my friend's dresses... beautiful! ;-)

Same dance posing with my neighbor {{he was like my second dad!}} -- um, what am I, Michael Jackson??  Nice glove.

More curls!  Still permed and hot rolled.  This is Prom, Junior year...still protecting the innocent!  Ha!  Dyed shoes to match the dress...Thank you, PayLess Shoe Source!

Still Junior year, practicing to sing a song at church -- don't stand too close to me or you will run into my hair!  Check out all the tight rolled jeans...

And, a little tamer, just bigger bangs at my high school graduation.  I think I was going for less hot roll and more perm.

Good times, people, good times!  I think I will be making a trip to WalMart today for some hot rollers...

does anyone else have this?

Please tell me I am not alone.

Tell me that you are just as unorganized as me.

And, if you aren't, then lie.

Do you guys have this in your home?

~~The STACK~~

Or, as I like to refer to it...THE CRAP STACK.

It is stuff that you can't file away yet.  Current bills,  sheets with important info on it for school, to do lists, stuff to do for your husband because he thinks you are his secretary...

If I didn't have this STACK, I could keep my counters virtually clutter free.  You guys!! -- it drives me bonkers and I don't have a solution for it.  I've tried sticking it all in a drawer, but I forget about it.  When people come to visit, I move it to the top of the dryer. ;-)

Anyone out there have a good system for your stuff?  Anyone?

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving for us was really special this year.  It was incredibly busy, but that is a good thing because it means that we have lots of family around us to share it with!  We started our day off with a fun tradition...meeting Mamaw and Papaw at Cracker Barrel!  

 My in-laws are such laid back and giving people and they make no fuss or demands of our time.  We decided years ago that meeting to go out and eat served our family perfectly and I absolutely love this tradition.  My mother-in-law never, ever gets tired of visiting with her "sweet baby girl".  Love this picture of them!

 Trying to get a good picture with my little boy these days is torture.

 He chooses to be silly as much as he possibly can.  Especially when a camera is pointed in his direction.

After a wonderful brunch, we headed to my Aunt Frances' house.  People -- Aunt Frances' house is where it's at.  Seriously, my kids love going to her house.  I think Levi would live there if he could!

The reason that our holiday was extra special this year is because our Miller family from Texas came in to spend it with us and we could not have been happier!  We did some fun things with them and I have more stories and pictures to share in another post, but I just wanted to share this picture for now.

{very back row: DJ, Travis, Danny, Daniel, John, Uncle Larry, Uncle Donald

second to back: my dad, me, Christi, Toni, Jenny, Tricia, my mom, Destiny, Jonathan, Stacey, Tabitha, Aunt Teresa

front row: Maggie, Eric, Max, Levi, Casey, Emmy, Granny, Bailey, Papa, Griffin, Aunt Frances (in front)}

This was the first time that all of us have been together as a family in over 20 years!  A few of us flew to Dallas for my cousin's wedding 11 years ago, but not everyone was able to go.  This right here is my "Thanks"giving.  So thankful that we were all together, under one roof, laughing, sharing, reminiscing and loving.  I will share more about our weekend soon!

giving olan mills a run for their money

Levi brought home his school pictures today.  He had to have re-takes done because he was sick on the first scheduled day for pictures.  It is so cute - and funny!  It kind of looks like he is half happy, half scared. ;-)

 And, in other news, Maggie got her picture taken, too!

At Chuck E. Cheese.  Seriously, we have about 600 of these stupid precious pictures.  And, they are such great quality photos.

I mean, does Olan Mills even compare to this?  I'm thinking this one may be our Christmas card photo...?  Yes, no?

This was our fifth visit this month to CEC.  Insane, you say?  I say brilliant.  One of the only places on Earth where you can drop a paycheck and come out with a pack of Smarties and a plastic ring.  But, sometimes a paycheck is worth it when your kids run off and play on their own for 90 minutes.

Tonight, we celebrated Cooper's 5th birthday!  I'm pretty sure it is safe to say that all the kids had a blast.  Levi even went back and asked Jami for a 2nd piece of birthday cake!  Little sneak. ;-)

We were lucky enough to have these guys as our dinner guests!  I just love Alicia!!  She is so sweet and always makes me laugh.  And, who wouldn't love watching little Nora chow down on some pizza and cake?!!

Maggie is surprising me these days.  She likes to ride the bigger rides like the bull ride...okay, so it's not really a bull ride, but the horse does gallop really fast!

And, she even goes up to dance and sing with Chuck E now!

 Oh, and how about this face when I tell him we are out of tokens and not buying any more...

Ha!  Thanks, Steve & Jami for having a kid -- we had fun celebrating with you! :-)

let's talk about Eric...

I don't have any fun pictures to post tonight, but I am in a chatty mood, so you get the privilege of reading my ramblings. :-)  I've got a busy mind and I lost my husband about an hour ago to the xbox.  I don't mind, though, because over the last 20 months, he hasn't had a lot of down time.  Tonight, I can honestly say that I am happy to watch him relieve some stress by shooting people. Ha!

I cannot believe that it has been 20 months since Eric started school.  Maggie was just a little baby!  I haven't talked about Eric's job or the details of his schooling on the blog just because I wanted to keep those private for him.  {He has given me permission to share this stuff. :-)}  If you don't know, he works as the Assistant Transportation Director for one of our larger public school corporations.  He loves his job.  He is very passionate about his job.  And, while he plans to continue in his job for many, many years, it is also a very political job, as are a lot of public school administrative positions.  When he decided to go back to school, it wasn't for a career change, but more of a safety net, just in case he ever needed something to fall back on.  He has always been fascinated with the medical field and decided to take up a degree in nursing.  Lord willing, he will graduate in December with his LPN.  I am so proud of him and this accomplishment!  He plans to continue on and get his BSN, but probably at a slightly slower pace. ;-)  For now, he would like to find somewhere to work {mostly a couple weekend shifts here and there} that will pay for the rest of his schooling.

These last {almost} two years have been hard on us.  I, selfishly, tend to focus on being a single mom.  I start a lot of sentences with "I"... I help with homework.  I feed the kids, get them ready for bed, run all the errands.  I take Levi to soccer practice.  I deal with the discipline.  I see the smiles when we get good news.  I take them to church.  I take them to family functions and to the park.  And, rarely do I focus on what Eric has given up.  He has given up time with us.  He has given up being here for dinner.  He has given up soccer practice and family functions and the park.  He sits and studies for hours on end just so that he can make sure his family will be provided for.  And, while we have both sacrificed, neither sacrifice outweighs the other.  Now it is time to learn how to be a family again.  How to have fun together again.  How to fix the things that are broken and make them so much better!  How to jump back in and make us a "we" instead of two "I's".  I'm excited to see how God will use this time to bless our family.  I think it is fitting that this season of our lives is coming to a close right as we enter into the actual season of Thanksgiving!  We have many things to be thankful for.  And, tonight, I am thankful for my husband...even as he sits here next to me blowing people up and getting angry when someone attacks him with a knife from behind. ;-)

Flashback Friday

Sometimes, you can go through old pictures of yourself as a child and think, seriously -- how adorable?!!

That's me, second from the left, getting ready for a parade in my dance costume. 

And then other times, you come across a picture of yourself as a child and think, REALLY, MOM?!!

That's me, on the right, in my pastel jumpsuit and in all my full-on-mullet glory.  Really, Mom?

I just wonder if Maggie will look back at pictures of herself one day and think, Really Mom? I'm sure she will! ;-)

I can be thankful, too!

I know a lot of people are doing their THANKFUL posts on Facebook.  I decided to take a little different spin and do a photo-a-day of thankful stuff on Instagram.  If you follow me on Twitter or IG, you will have seen these.  So, you can just go with the flow and watch me be thankful...yet again. ;-)  Here is the first batch.  Enjoy!

Thankful: Day 1

My awesome little boy.

Thankful: Day 2
My beautiful little girl.

Thankful: Days 3&4
Spending time with these girls tonight.

Thankful: Day 6
My right to vote.

Thankful: Day 7
Bubble baths.

Thankful: Day 8
My baby daddy. Even though he can drive me crazy -- I love him.

Thankful: Day 9
Diet Coke. On Friday morning. Plus, it's sunny. And warm.

Thankful: Day 10
Chai tea. {And my sister-in-law for introducing me to it.}

Thankful: Day 11
Xtra Cheddar's where it's at.

Thankful: Day 12
The peppermint hot chocolate my hubby just brought me.

Thankful: Day 13
Melanie = my Barnabas {she is the best encourager ever!}

a few funnies

Guess who spent some time on Pinterest last night?  

Thought I would share some funnies with you. Hope you enjoy! 

 All the time.

Yes.