Consignment Fever....

Ok, today marks the halfway point for the bi-annual consignment sale (hell?) frenzy. I LOVE the excitement of hunting through clothes, toys and shoes for THE perfect items. However, the 'hell' part comes from assembling my old things to put in the sale.

Here is how it works.......
(1) you sign up 6 months prior to the sale for the privilege of putting your items in,
(2) you promise to work AND put in items so that you can go in 2 hours prior to the public,
(3) you put each and every item that you no longer want on a hanger, attach a specially printed card with a safety pin, and hope that they don't reject it for a dotted stain of baby food.

Sure, it would be much easier to go out and buy everything new - but, what is the fun in that?

Happy Birthday Granddaddy!

Granddaddy at the Farm. Happy Birthday!

One of the 'perks' of back dating my blog is that I have this cool shot of Jim in his element from this next weekend! We had a blast with all the animals, family, creeks and ponds.

PINK DAY!

Today was 'Pink' Day at Montessori. She is checking out her (too) big, pink boots.

Happy Birthday...

Lisa!

Still looking for a photo! Hope you have a great one!

Happy Birthday Luke and Andy!

Luke and Andy celebrated with an Astronaut Theme today. Priss is completely fascinated with the Space Shuttle (along with her Daddy) - so, it was extra fun playing with the blow-up space shuttles, etc. Of course, she also enjoys jumping and playing in the 'bouncy' castles and gauntlets. (Daddy didn't mind playing in them either!)

Aren't they the cutest 'Big Boys' up on the thrown!

Wishing the Happiest Birthday!

Saturdays CAN Be Wild!

We have been 'cooped' up every weekend either (a) being sick, (b) cleaning house, or (c) being lame. There have also been weekends away with family - not lame, but, not home. SO, we decided to have a family day. Nothing crazy, we just went to the local Wild Animal Park (about 20 minutes down the road).

We had a GREAT time. It was fun to see all the animals, and to be silly. The fact that admission is free for our county residents for the month of February didn't hurt either (saved us about $45 for our family of 3).

Needless to say, the animals are up close and personal. I highly recommend paying the $11 to rent a 'safari vehicle'. The animals are so eager to get the park food, that they will jump right in and join you on your journey.

Would you really want to see this coming into your newly detailed vehicle?

It was nice just hanging out with Hubby and Priss.

We should do this again sometime!

What's For Dinner?

In an attempt to get the entire family on board for 'Good Eats' - I have done a couple of things.

1 - I am planning meals for the week, in advance. This takes lots of stress off of me when 5:30pm rolls around.

2 - I am incorporating more and more vegetables/fruits into each meal.

3 - Every gets to pitch in, when applicable.

While I realize that many people do this all the time - it is something that we are starting to do on a very regular basis. I love it!

By the way - tonight, we had Pineapple Chicken Kebobs. The chicken strip coating had bread crumbs, flax seed meal, sweet potato puree and pineapple juice. YUM! Also, we enjoyed brown rice and fruit kebobs that Priss helped build.

On the Mend?

SICK MAN WALKING

May I just say that my sweet hubby has been incredibly sick over the last week (not in this photo - it is a 'stock photo'). I have never seen him as sick (well, there was a 3 day period in May of 2006 - but, we shouldn't go there). This is a man that never even takes aspirin, Tylenol, etc. However, he was pushed to take the pain medication that was prescribed after being diagnosed with the flu (just once though). He only missed 1 1/2 days of work (which he promptly made up on Sunday). I hope that he is, now, on the mend. I hate to see my sweetie suffer.

In addition, I hope that my Dad, sister, and sister-in-law, that also have it - are doing well.

Love you Q!

President's Day

...in our little town. We were driving through town, running errands, and noticed that the flags were waving. Having the camera with me at most times...I just rolled down the window and snapped a shot.

I just love it when the square is decorated.

Old McDavidson's Farm

Happy Birthday to Joel and Jay!

Their Mommy (and I'm sure, Daddy, too) did a great job with the Farm Theme. The boys were too cute!

It was a very dry day! The kids had a great time on the playground.

Any chance to have fun AND ham it up for the cameras - the older kids were IN!

Our little one enjoyed the animal petting zoo. That is, after she warmed up to the idea of being in the pen with the Llama, sheep, bunny and goats. No warm up was required for the pony ride.

After most of the kids had gone home, she enjoyed running full tilt in the open field. She fell one time and skinned up one cheek. Daddy was on the way to help, and Joel stepped in, ran ahead and took over. Her Hero!

Sweetest Day

My little one and I spent last night cutting, baking and decorating Valentine's cookies for her friends at school, at music class, and a couple of other special friends. Needless to say, with reciprocal gifts, and those from grandparents/parents - we are on a sugar high around our house. Well, a chocolate high, at the very least.

I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day with your Sweetie!

Pretending with Grammie

When we came home from all the doctor's appointments that Mommy and Daddy had this morning, this is what I found. Lots of playing pretend. Today, she isn't 'Karen' from Frosty the Snowman...she is 'Mowgli' from The Jungle Book. At least he has a little more adventure in his life! I wonder who she will be tomorrow?

My Mom was truly wonderful this week. She planned to come for a visit, and ended up hanging out with Miss Priss most of the time (she wasn't completely heartbroken!). Thank you so much for helping. We will miss you!

Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln....

I catered a lovely party to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday. It was a fun excuse to have a party - don't you think?

Here is the view as I entered the amazing old plantation farmhouse. The sky was so pretty. Just the most beautiful home and people you could know.

Future Pianist?

Take note that this our little girl is sitting. She has been a bit under the weather for several days. Cough, runny nose, sneezing, fever - your standard cold. YUK! However, she did get to practice piano with those long, pretty (Grandmother Vice) fingers. Grammie was here for a visit, and enjoyed seeing her follow in her Mother's footsteps. Although it has been a long time, I enjoyed playing along with her.

The book that she is playing once belonged to my Aunt Becky and Uncles Nathan and Daniel. It is older than me!

Stripes!

Sunday morning at Papa and Bebe's house means 'family breakfast'. Bebe cooks eggs, muffins, biscuits, grits...and Papa helps, but, mostly makes the bacon and sausage. YUM! We were all about to pop afterward.

We paused to notice the unplanned fashion coordination between my little one and her Aunt Jill.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Brenda and Dad treated the 'kids' to a wonderful evening out to celebrate Dad's 62nd birthday. We had a great time with all 8 of us there.

Trent and Jill being sweet and googly, as soon-to-be-parents often are. I'm telling you, GET SLEEP NOW!

Thad and Leslie in, what we called, The Prom Shot. We got one of everyone - too goofy to pass up!

After all, you know that we are silly!

Reluctance

We decided to load up all of the 'baby' things in our storage (the guest room closet) and take them to Uncle Trent and Aunt Jill. Baby Girl Brown will arrive in April - and they can sure use them more than we can right now. Miss Priss was very excited about doing so, until she saw everything. "See, I'm not too big." Note that her knees are touching the base.

Out of the house, she was kicking and screaming. However, she was such a big girl when we unloaded everything at their house.

Butterfly for Belle

Just a little something I was working on today. My business is supposed to be 'on a break'. Yeah, right! I can't seem to say no! I just love making cute little cakes. This one was nice and chocolate on the inside. Happy birthday Belle!

ALL GIRL!

Have I mentioned just how much she LOVES playing in the water? After the mild storms this morning (what a blessing that we didn't get what Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama got) - there were several puddles in the yard. When we went outside to play soccer and/or football, she just couldn't resist the temptation to stomp around in the water.

Of course, as you can see, she is wet up to her knees. She came over to me complaining that her hands were dirty. "Just wipe them on your pants Sweetie." "Oh", she says - "not a problem."

I'm glad she isn't too much of a Priss to play in the mud/dirt/water. Aren't you supposed to get dirty when you are a kid!

A Peachy Thing To Do...

It's SUPER TUESDAY! A HUGE day in the life of our Country and our family. If it isn't in yours - make a change!

I got up this morning - Hubby and I had our last minute political discussions over breakfast - and I went to vote. I truly try to never miss a single election. If you do nothing else politically - you must vote. Think of all the people in our history, and throughout the world that have fought and died for the opportunity to vote. In the last presidential election - 64% of voting aged citizens voted. Only 72% of the voting age population is even registered. (these numbers are according to the Census Bureau) The sad part is - those numbers were the highest since 1992, when 68% voted. Even more sad is the fact that only a fraction of those people vote in local/state elections. These elections can often impact your lives much more directly than the national campaign. Anyway, I'm stepping off of my soapbox, and presenting...

PLEASE get out there today (if your state is voting today). Here are the candidates that I consider, the Contenders - alphabetically. (It is my blog - sorry to Huckabee[MUCH too conservative for this girl] and Paul[sometimes a little 'out there' for me]) .

Try this, instead of listening to any outspoken friends or family members (the most influencial to most people), or reading crazy/untrue emails - go read their website information, and decide for yourself. You may be surprised by what you read.

Also, please don't be one of those people that is out there to anti-vote for someone by voting for another. This is one of the biggest elections in the history of our country. We have lots of irons in the fire - and we need to start pulling them out - one by one. Vote FOR someone today.

Let me know if you braved the polls today! We did! (2 votes for....in our household)

Dress-Up Monday!

Priss was so excited this morning, because Lou came over to play.

They played dress-up, among other things, while she was here.

After she left, Priss decided to keep on going...

She even got her 'friends', Lucky, Blanco, Marshmallow(not pictured), and Hugh(also not pictured) in on the action. She was so excited that her stuffed animals were also in the pictures, that she actually let me take lots of photos.

Of course, the funny side note to this photo is....she was so excited and willing to pose for photos - that she forgot basic 'big girl' functions - and had an accident. So lucky for Mommy that I didn't find out until I decided to sit down for a minute after she was off to slumber. Oh well, that is just part of the job.

Dora Day!

Our Miss Priss knows nothing (not much) of this 'Dora' - but, she knows that Ryleigh's Mommy (Beth) can throw one heck of a party! The birthday girl celebrated her 2nd birthday - and we had a great time. It was all she could talk about - from picking out the present (an Olivia book like we have and love), to the fact that maybe she would get to have some birthday cake and enjoying time with those sliceable wooden treats in the play room.

You would think that all this fun would mean a really long nap - think again!