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catching up…

Since it is Thanksgiving Break and I have a second to catch my breath, I thought I would catch up on my blogging before the Christmas Chaos!

Before football season even started, Christy and I decided that we would tailgate during the LSU/Alabama game. As the season progressed, we came to realize that this would be THE game of the season. We braved the crowds and the traffic and had the best time tailgating. Although the day ended in a loss for the Tide, it was a fun day with good friends! Here are a few pictures from the day… and from the next weeks game which we watched at Morgan’s new house!

Since my last post, I have been super busy in the classroom. We made a turkey out of everything you could imagine – from a coffee filter to a paper bag! The kids had fun and we really learned a lot but whew – this is one tired teacher. I am pretty sure I dreamed about paper bag turkeys one night!

I also finally got moved into my new old bedroom. Quick story… when we moved in this house, I was three. I was also the only girl and baby – those things combined = spoiled rotten. Anyways, I got the bedroom upstairs that had a walk in closet, private bath, and more square footage than any other room. The boys had almost identical rooms at the other end of the hall where they shared a bathroom. When Morgan graduated high school and moved out and moved back in, he somehow convinced me to trade rooms with him. I should mention here that I thought Morgan hung the moon at age 13 and he probably could have told me to sleep outside and I would have :/ I was certain he wouldn’t be here many more years and I would be right back in my big room! WRONG – ten years later, I am finally back in my room. It is so nice to have my own space. It was also sad to pack up and try to throw away ten years worth of things. I tried to say that if I wasn’t taking it to Daniel’s when we got married that I wasn’t taking it to the new room. Some things were hard to part with so I am holding on to them for at least 6 more months.

WHOA – did I say SIX months? Yes, that’s right. In a little over six months, I get to marry my best friend. While I am super excited and happy, I am also nervous about all the little things that need to be done. Momma and I went for the first dress fitting last week. We go back December 19 and if all is well, we can finally bring my dress home. At least it will be sitting in a closet at our house so I can peek at it any time I want.

After five years of collecting dust, I was finally able to find someone to make a t-shirt quilt from all my high school, college, and special shirts. Long story short, Mary Reeves was one of my students at the Campus School and her momma and daddy (Meaghan and Wes) are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. They have an amazing story which you can read here.

While reading their blog a few months back, Meaghan posted a picture of a quilt her mom made. I got in touch with Ms. Mitsy and she whipped me up a quilt. I got it this morning and I *love* it. All of the shirts bring back so many GOOD memories. I know this will be something I will treasure for years to come.

The yellow sea-n-suds shirt is the one that I was wearing the night Cole was born eleven years ago!

I feel like I am babbling…. but I got my first *school* teacher pictures since I was in high school. I must say, these are some of the better pictures I have taken. Such a dork… I am still wondering what I will do with two 5x7s of myself!?!?

Last Friday, I watched the final episode of Live with Regis and Kelly and I cried. See, they are my people – the ones who are sure to make me laugh. I have spent numerous summer mornings laughing, staring at Kelly’s arms, and loving their silly banter. I will miss Regis but I still love my girl Kelly and I know she will do great on her own!

Sweet Belle is getting HUGE and spotted. She has always had spots underneath but now they are showing through her coat and she is even more beautiful!! Belle also got a new home away from home. Uncle Ty was kind enough to let us Daniel build Belle a pen in his backyard. Daddy and Daniel worked on this and then Daddy built the house and completed it with a personalized name plate. As Tyler put it… pretty swanky for a home away from home!

Speaking of Daniel, his birthday is Thursday and he will be the BIG 3-0. I don’t know that he is really excited or even cares. I am excited about giving him his present and celebrating him! Daniel is so giving to me all the time and I love the one day a year that we get to celebrate Daniel – and of course, Thanksgiving this year!!

I think that is it for now. I feel like I just exploded all of this on here in no order whatsoever. I will be back soon to post Thanksgiving/Birthday pictures! I know that we all have so much to be thankful for so Happy Thanksgiving.

pictures

Remember my camera/phone/computer would not cooperate. Here goes another try...

Me and Katie during our first Homecoming together as teachers.
 If I dug, I could probably find this same picture of us from high school :)

Big Girl Belle :)

Belle and her Mommy

Dancing with Mommy - she has got to learn the difference in dancing and JUMPING!

Rhett got his second big boy haircut yesterday and I almost cried. He looks way older than 2!

That should do it for pictures/posts for now. I still need to post about ButlerFest but that will have to wait!

busy times flying by.

** The beginning of the post was started last week.**

whew. That should be enough to explain my weekend. While this was one of the busiest weekends I have had in a while, it was also one of the most fun! Technically not the weekend, I enjoyed "keeping" (or whatever you do with an eleven year old) Cole Wednesday and Thursday night. He is so much fun and always keeps me on my toes. We even took Tyler out for some yummy Mexican Wednesday - unlike Rhett, Cole thinks he is too cool for pictures but take my word for it- he's super handsome :)

Friday was a crazy day at school. If you are a teacher then you know last week was fire prevention week. We ended the week with a fire safety presentation by the local fire departments. The highlight of the day was the tour of the fire truck - i.e. getting to blow the horn really loudly -

it really is a lot of fun to watch kids explore something as common as a fire truck.

After school on Friday, I headed to Beaver Creek (near Sweet Water) to Sage’s sister’s house to retrieve Rhett for the weekend. Amanda had a ladies golf trip and Aunt Court needed some one-on-one Rhett time. We had the best weekend. I have to say that of all the times I have kept him, this was the most fun. We spent Friday afternoon outside at the Country Club, enjoyed supper and then headed home to get in the “big tub” – I will only post one bathtub picture because he may read this one day ;)

On Saturday morning, we woke up really early to head to Meridian for the Walk for Alzheimer’s. This is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. My sweet Granny has Alzheimer’s and while it does not cause the physical pain like other diseases, the mental pain is just as bad. Alzheimer’s is a disease that goes unnoticed by many. With the help of friends and family, I was able to raise $600 for the walk. About $20,000 was raised at Saturday’s walk alone. I was so glad to have Momma there to walk with me and even Rhett enjoyed the ride. It was a beautiful day and I hope to become more involved with this cause in the future.

Saturday afternoon was spent napping until DD came home from work. Once DD came home and Aunt Curt and Rhett were rested, the playing began again. We headed to Morgan’s new house to watch Alabama beat the Ole Miss Rebs and enjoyed some country play time.

On Sunday, Cotton woke Daniel and I up barking. I thought Rhett was in the bed with Daniel and Daniel thought Rhett was in the bed with me – turns out Rhett was up and petting the deer. Thank goodness for Cotton or he may have been headed down the stairs!

The busy weekend was a fun start to a busy, busy week... HOMECOMING. I have experienced homecoming as a student and LOVED it. Homecoming as a teacher is a much different story. Talk about rowdy kiddos! Monday was pajama day and the kids were calm and quiet.

Tuesday was the funniest day of the week - Senior Citizen Day. I shopped around in Granny's closet and found some nice pants and a Christmas sweater that I deemed "senior citizeny" enough to make the cut! My kids (who I thought would not enjoy this day) went above and beyond. One even had a walker and an oxygen line. This is our group picture - I am also including the boy/girl picture so you can see a close up.

Mrs. Emily and I were the only teachers who dressed up - leave it to the new ones :)

Wednesday was Costume Day and while my kiddos ranged from Rocky Balboa to Top Gun, I opted out of this day. My costume days are long gone and I was a little unprepared. Here is the class group picture. Top Gun was by far my favorite!

The theme for this year was "Rockin' with the Saints" so Thursday was 50s Day. One of our room mothers for the year made all of the girls (and Ms. Courtney) a poodle skirt. All the boys were greased up and ready for the 50s.

Friday was Spirit Day - as always! The day was filled with movie watching, playground playing, parade riding, and cheering for the Saints. It was so nice to be on campus for the day as a teacher. I can't say enough good things about being a Saint! There is a feeling about being there and being home. Once a saint, always a SAINT!

They were less than pumped during this picture - it was after the parade and they had been told about 122384791823475498239 times that their bottoms needed to touch the heels of their feet!

The busy week ended with a relaxing weekend at Daniel's. We did nothing and I LOVED every second of it! I had a productive Saturday cleaning house and then enjoyed watching the TIDE roll over TN. I hope they do as well in a couple of weeks when we tailgate for the LSU game. RTR! Sunday, Daniel and I went on a date. I hate to admit it but I have never seen the original movie Footloose. It's just not something I have ever sat down to watch. Anyways, we went to see the new one and I LOVED it! Definitely going to be watching the original soon. I had Fall Break yesterday and today. Yesterday I did little to nothing. I did watch the movie Bridesmaids which I do not recommend. I enjoyed some play time with Belle who has become quite the big girl. Yesterday, she weighed 50.8 pounds. Daniel and I like to joke that big girls need loving, too! I will post some new pictures of Belle soon! My phone/e-mail/computer are not all cooperating right now!

Today, I went around the world to come home. I had to go through Demopolis to pick up my weekend passes to the River Jam this weekend. I never win contests... ever... and I won two passes to River Jam this weekend from Win 98.5. I am pretty pumped! I came home to celebrate Momma's 52nd birthday. The epitome of unselfishness and a perfect momma - she really does deserve the best. This *short* week at school will hold lots of reviews and probably some retraining since we have been off and were so laid back last week!

update :)

As of right now, I need to post about ButlerFest, my weekend with Rhett, and  Homecoming week. Just wanted to say hello to those of you who read and let you know that at some point in the near future, I plan to have three posts - or one really long one! Happy Friday and Happy Homecoming at Patrician!

Court

one is the loneliest number….

for 23 years, 241 Country Club Drive has been the home to five people (and Cotton) as of today, we are down to three – 1 kiddo and 2 parents… and cotton! Morgan has been talking about moving out for some time now – and this weekend, he DID it. No warning, just moved – not really but that is what it seemed like. I should also mention that I hate change – not that I want to be in the same place for the rest of my life but change all at once is a little much. Not two months ago, Tyler moved out. As weird as it is, one moving out was not too bad. Tyler’s house is on my way home from school and I can stop any day I want to. I guess because Morgan is the last one – the straw that broke the camel’s back if you will – it was a little much. When I walked in his new house yesterday, I found it hard to hold back the tears – and I couldn’t. Morgan insisted that I stop but I couldn’t – it was too much. I am proud of him and his new house but on the selfish side, I want my brothers back. All the fussing I have done over the years about cold showers and being blocked in when I was running late is over… and I miss it already. Another reason I am sad about Morgan moving out is because we are also losing Sara. For almost two years, she has been a part of our weekend family. It has been nice having another girl around. Though I know she is not leaving, she won’t be back to our house – side note – she also shed some tears over leaving the house, too. I have already told Mo and ty that I am making a schedule for my spend the night parties – which will happen regularly! I said yesterday to Momma and Daddy that I didn’t want to be the only child at home but then again, I am leaving in just a short eight months. At 29, 25, and 23, it is time for us all to fly the coop and spread our wings – I know that change is good but that doesn’t make it any easier!

 

*next post, Butler Fest, pictures of Morgan’s house, and our new class pet Peanut!

check. check.

the first check – I found my wedding dress this weekend. The second check – I found my bridesmaids dresses this weekend. By saying '” I” found my dresses, I really mean my wonderful family and friends helped me find my dresses! On Saturday morning, momma, Mrs. Mary Ann, Amanda, Kaley, Christy, and me loaded up (thank goodness for Amanda’s mom vehicle) and headed to Jasper dress shopping. Long story short, Momma and I went to Birmingham a few weeks ago and found the *perfect* dress. WE hesitated ordering because it was a lot of money. Mom – and her techy self – was browsing online and found another dress by the same designer that was almost identical. We located the dress at a store in Jasper, made an appointment, and off we went. I found the dress we went for and several others and headed to the dressing room. I will admit that I loved every second of trying on dresses. I am relieved to have found “the one” but I am also sad that I will not get to do this again. Anyways, I tried on all the dresses and narrowed it down to two. After consulting everyone, we decided one was a little less dressy than the other and that I needed the dressier one. Let me tell you, I LOVE the one I we finally chose. I wish I could put it on right now. However, even though it is ordered, we will be waiting until around January for it to come in. After finding my dress, it was to the bridesmaids room to look. Here was my problem – I knew what color, material, and style I wanted and I couldn’t find it. I would find a dress I loved and hate the color "gray" it came in or I would find the color I loved and hate the material. Long story short, I was really tired of looking for dresses. Thank goodness for friends who carry on when you are tired because Christy and Momma headed back for one more run through the hundreds of dresses and came out with the most perfect dress. The top of the dress is almost identical to mine, the material is perfect, and while the color is darker than I had imagined, it is PERFECT!

The weekend got even more perfect when I got to visit Daniel Saturday night. It was so nice to have nothing to do. We relaxed, went to Wal-mart, ate supper, watched Country Strong, and went to bed! Sunday, I had a yummy breakfast in bed, we watched The Lincoln Lawyer which was fabulous and we went to visit the Vick’s in Tuscaloosa. weekends like that are few and far between since we are both so busy.  I am headed back up there this weekend to do some crafting and fall decorating!

Now that the dresses are taken care of, we are onto finding flowers that we like and food to eat! The wedding is slowly but surely coming together!

p.s. I hate to blog without pictures but the only ones I have are of the dress and those will have to wait until next June!