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Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Day!!!!

Well well well...


Christmas is definitely among us. We spent last night at my grandma's in Selma and luckily for us it was short and sweet this year.
Mom, Grandma and my Uncle Tim.Cousin Bud, Aubrey and Alyson

Cutler got a big boy bike from G and Pampaw and as soon as we got home last night he HAD to ride it through the kitchen, dining room and living room. It was his personal race track.


And now for a sneak peak of this morning:

Santa dropped off an organized Crayola carrying case and a TV for Cutler's room. More to come but time for me to go spend some time with my family...Nana and Papa are here.

Later, Merry Christmas,

L

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

And stockings are hung on the chimney...

So surgery went well and I have been bored to tears today! In an effort to boost my Christmas spirit I decided to take pictures of the Christmassy (Is that a word, I think I made it up) areas in my house to share with you! First here is the Christmas tree, we went with Red, Green and Gold this year.

Next are the stockings hung on the mantle.

And now the dining room table.

And a few other areas of the house. So enough about my Christmas decorations, you know what I am truly excited about? One of my guilty pleasures:
I have officially finished the "vampire" series by Stephanie Meyer and I have to say it was AWESOME! You all know me well enough to know that I have no interest in vampires and such but these books were all about a wonderful love story!

On to Cutler, he is spending some time with his G and PamPaw and Papa and Nana while I am recovering from surgery. Before he left, his dad and he decided to bake some holiday bread.
Aren't those the cutest pictures you have ever seen?
So that is it for now, I will post more on our adventures through the holiday season, keep checking you might just find a picture of yourself on here soon!

Later,
L

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Shotgun shells...oops wrong song!

Tis the holiday season and how do I know this? Well...a few of you had heard me say my calendar looks like someone threw up on it, let's just say a family of little elves have officially thrown up on my calendar!
We headed up to Huntsville yesterday morning bright and early to spend Christmas with my mom, step-dad, step-brother and sister in law who is 37 weeks pregnant. We all had a wonderful time without turning the TV on until the last 30 minutes. The day was long but good times were had by all...well except for one little thing. You know I can't go somewhere without something happening, I got a ticket...wait TWO tickets actually on the way up there. One for speeding and one for not having my drivers license with me. We were in my mom's car and I left my purse in my truck and anyway, who's idea was it to give tickets for not having a little piece of plastic with you. THAT SUCKS!
So now we are home and today we had our last small group meeting of the year and played a little game to see how well we all knew each other, we have been together for almost a year and surprisingly we don't know each other very well at all, heheh!

Tomorrow I am scheduled for surgery at 12:30, nothing major in and out, Wednesday we are heading to grandma's for Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Wednesday night my dad and step mom will come to our house and help us bake cookies for Santa and drink hot chocolate. We will get up Thursday morning and spend the morning with them, and head out to Anthony's mom's house that evening for a sure to be eventful evening. You guys might want to start praying now that I don't 1.) cuss his mother out for doing something absolutely stupid or 2.) punch his step-dad in the face for undressing me with his eyes. Finally we will return home to sleep and leave early Friday morning heading to my Honey's house ( for those of you who don't know who Honey is, this is my dad's dad and I have always called him this). They live on the northern edge of Georgia on the North Carolina line. We will stay there through Monday morning spending time with my uncles and aunts that I rarely get to see. Monday morning we will be heading west to Murfreesboro, Tn. We plan to spend about a week with our great friends, Megan and Jason, and Katie and George. I am pretty sure Cutler will be spending most of his time with his little buddy George Alex. So prayers are welcome as we start this adventurous journey through the holiday season.


Oh yeah, Anthony received a call from a company he really wants to work for, they told him he got the job but they are waiting on their finance committee before they can give him an official offer. Should happen around the first of the year but it sure was nice to get that news prior to the holidays!


Peace and love to all of you!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Remember what CHRISTmas is all about and make sure your children know as well!

Later,
L

Monday, December 15, 2008

This week's menu

Time for this week's menu:

Monday: Homeade Waffles, Sausage, Eggs
Tuesday: Mini Meatloaf, Garlic Mashed Potato, Sweet Peas
Wednesday: Slow Cooked Boston Butt, Green Bean Bundles, Rice
Thursday: Black Beans, Yellow Rice, Smoked Sausage
Friday: Chicken and Dumplings
We will be out of town this weekend for Holiday Celebrations so no cooking for us, YEAH!!!!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Weekly Menu 12/7/2008-12/13/2008

Most of you know we are a very organized family and my husband and I both love to cook. A few people have recently asked me to start posting my menus weekly to help spark some ideas. I will try to do this each week and see how it goes... (BTW this is just our dinner menu)

Sunday: Sloppy Joe Pizza
Monday: Chicken Cordon Blue, Parmesan Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans Almondine
Tuesday: Chili
Wednesday: Chicken Quesadillas with refried beans and rice
Thursday: Chicken Sandwich and Baked Fries
Friday: Fat Burgers, Parmesan Angel Hair and Broccoli
Saturday: Family Christmas with my Step-mothers family

If you ever want the recipes for these items, let me know, I always share:)

Later,
l

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Christmas is among us

Anthony and I hosted a Christmas party for those who work for me in the US and their spouses this past Friday night. It was wonderful, everyone ate, played dirty Santa, and overall had great time. One thing happened that I will never forget. One of my employees, Lori yes spelled the same and we even have the same middle name, boyfriend brought his guitar. After everyone else left he sat on the couch in the living room with nothing but the light of the Christmas tree and played and sand some hank, David Allen Cove, Eagles and more. I started to get homesick so quick that I actually teared up but decided it was not a good thing to cry in front of them. Sitting around at night, singing those songs, drinking beer 9which we did not this time) reminds me so much of all the fun I always had in good old Selma, Alabama. I wish things were still as simple as they were when I lived there, part of that was the age I was and the other part is the simple fact that things just move at a much slower pace in Selma, Alabama. Everyone has people over in the summer for cookouts and playing in the pool, or they all go to the river. In the winter everyone hunts and the family gets together after the sun has set to hang out, eat, drink beer, and listen or play those awesome country songs. Somehow, someway I am going to make my life simple again, no more go go go...well I did say someday, don't think that will happen today!




Here is a pic of some of my staff members at the party:


The staff also posed this morning for a pic to send to my staff in the other countries:


Please continue to keep our family in your prayers as Anthony is still on the job hunt. Good things are coming I know, he has had a few great interviews that we are waiting to hear back on now.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." ~~~Hebrews 11:1

Later,

L



Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I told you I was going to get better about posting!

I only have one thing to show you




More to come after I decide on my Christmas cards...and a big THANK YOU to one of my dearest friends, Crystal Champion Daniels for taking this.



Later,


Lori

Do you remember...

Do you remember the door to door Watkins man????


If not read more and it might jog your memory.
So a friend of mine of decided to join the Watkins team recently and I went to her house this past weekend for an open house extravaganza. I promise if you would have seen her house you would call it an extravaganza too...oh you can see it, go check out her blog...http://goodtastings.blogspot.com/2008/11/grand-opening-success.html
See, I told you it was awesome! Anyway, I have decided to join forces with her and become a Watkins Independent Associate myself and am thrilled to have made this decision. I will be hosting parties, attending fall festivals, and most of all knocking on the doors in my subdivision. We all know I live in a geriatric neighborhood and most of the older generation still remember the door to door Watkins guy that sold the oh so famous "Liniment"


So check out the catalog at http://www.watkinsonline.com/ and let me know if you want to order anything. You can order directly online by using my Associate ID # 382014 or let me know and I can incorporate your order and save you a ton on shipping. I love these products and think you will love them too.
If you are in the Alabaster area Friday night or Saturday afternoon, come on by our booth at CreekView Elementary School during their Winter festival.
Later,
Lori

Monday, November 17, 2008

Not Dead...

So I guess all of my followers have given up on me by now. I had a few things going on that kept my mind occupied most of the time and I was not sure that I needed to let all of that out at once. But...I am back. We have had an eventful few weeks. Halloween was wonderful, my dad and Dena came up to go to the church festival with us an keep an eye on "Optimus Prime" aka Cutler. Since then we have tiled the downstairs hallway and laundry room, attended a football party, and gotten a few incomplete projects around the house finally completed. Most of you already know that Anthony was laid off a few weeks ago and I hope that you continue to pray that God leads him to a job that is meant for him. Since Anthony has had a few weeks worth of vacation, little projects that were almost complete in our house are now finally completed and I am one of the happiest women in the world. I have two pics to share with you for now and I promise to start blogging a lot more...








Later,
Lori

Monday, October 27, 2008

No energy to Post

A lot has gone on in our family over the last week and I ask that you keep us in our prayers and lift us up in this time. I promise to write more soon but for now enjoy the pics from this weekend.





Later...

L

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Crafts

Here is how I spent last night.







Making this:


and this:


If I did not have a few things to do tonight, I am sure I would be doing more of the above as well as another craft I have decided to do this holiday season. Stay tuned for more pics of my new crafts.


Oh and here are two more pictures from my birthday. This is the cake Cutler and Anthony bought for me. Cutler insisted on helping me blow out my candles.


Later,
L

Monday, October 13, 2008

Catching Up

Well last week is finally over. Customer Service Week, Cutler's birthday, my birthday, and my second camping trip. So customer service week was wonderful and I have received a ton of compliments from it. Cutler had a wonderful birthday as did I. Our second camping trip was great, we actually relaxed the whole time and it was definitely needed in my book. Here are a few pics from camping.


Very relaxing weekend with great friends and great food. I planned to run all weekend but got lazy and decided to just give in and relax. Weighing in this morning made me hold my breath but believe it or not I stayed exactly the same (and that is impressive due to the amount of food I consumed this weekend). We are planning a winter camping trip at the end of December and I am super excited about it. Cold weather, hot chocolate, camp fires, no Internet, no cell phone, what else could I possibly want?



Oh and one more picture:


we had ice cream sundaes at work one day and I forgot to take my ice cream scoop out of my purse so Anthony took a picture of it since I have been carrying it around for a week.

L


Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Turning 30

I finally did it, I turned 30. No idea what all the fuss is about either. I am fine with and really looking forward to what is ahead in life. I had a great 30th birthday, too! This week is customer service week nationwide and I am organizing the festivities within my office (well, I am the customer service manager so I guess it is part of my job description or something). We have played BINGO, had "happy hour", taken personality tests and worn items that reflected this. And on yesterday, my birthday, we had a decorate your cube contest. My cube (office) was "the destruction zone of my twenties," I had a blast doing it and everyone was so nice all day. I got home and Anthony had a new Ipod and cake for me. We went out to eat and started packing for our camping trip this weekend. The girls at work did let me take a few pictures of them so here they are.


Personality test...
Destruction Zone...
Everyone...
So, this thirty thing, I thought I was going to cry all day and absolutely flip out about being 30, but I didn't, I realized that I am in a great place in life and I can't wait to see what is in store for the next 30 years. People say your 30's are the best years of your life...if that is so these next few years are going to be awesome because I have already had some truly awesome years prior to now. I guess I am saying I worked myself up over nothing at all, I anticipated the worst and it was nothing more than a dud. Check out the pics on my Picasa web, the link is on the left hand side of the page, for more pics of Cutler's bday and soon to be pics of my bday as well.
Later,
L




Monday, October 6, 2008

3 Years Old!

Cutler's third birthday party was this weekend at SportsBlast, and boy did he ever have a blast.

Most of his friends and family were there and he played soccer for an hour, what more could he want.
I have to say this birthday in a box idea is wonderful, no more birthday parties at my house! We arrived with very few items in hand, the party room was already set up, the instructor was ready for the kids, pizza ordered, cake on the table, and a super friendly staff.




Well Honey and Nanny are coming through town today on their way back from Texas and I plan to meet them for lunch. This week is also Customer Service week at work and the crew is playing match the baby picture, bingo, decorate your cube, personality profile and a few other fun games.

If they let me take their picture I will be sure to post some!

L

Friday, October 3, 2008

A boy after my own heart...and Kid's Market

This week has been by far one of the most hectic weeks ever. Tuesday night Anthony, Cutler and I went to the Masonic Lodge in Alabaster for family night and dinner. We all met some of the people Anthony hangs with every week and had a good time. All week long we have been preparing for Cutler's 3rd birthday party which is tomorrow, OH MY GOSH! HE IS TURNING 3! OK I am better now. Last night Anthony took Cutler to his very first soccer fundamentals class ever and from the pictures and Cutler talking 100 miles per hour about it this morning, I take it he had the time of his life. See for yourself, and by the way, I think he is a natural athlete already. I couldn't be prouder.



And while Anthony and Cutler were playing soccer, I was...


With my buddy K!



Yep, you guessed it, I missed my sons very first soccer class to go to KIDS MARKET.
I told you guys it was a cult and there is no way I was losing a limb over soccer:)

Wish us luck tomorrow at the soccer birthday party.

L