You might be a redneck if...

You spend your wedding anniversary at deer camp...

We dropped the girls at a friends house, loaded the dog, (and our overnight bags) into the truck. Before you start thinking WOW how cool is that, know that the overnight bag was not necessary. If you know me you know I am not outdoorsy. I have NEVER been to deer camp, and never fired a gun. For our anniversary I did both. This is me in the deer stand with my honey.

No, I was not (and did not) shooting this ?rifle?

Can you tell how much fun Ollie is having? He LOVES the water. And I am afraid that he has the ear infection to go with it. After the mud slopping, he stayed in the camper while we went "hunting".

Feeding the deer?? Really? As if ?

This ranks it the top 3 of anniversaries. We had so much fun, I giggled so much I probably will not be invited back. Apparently the deer do not come running at the sound of laughter. When Shane admonished me walking through the woods for "stepping on leaves and twigs" I lost it....I laughed for the next hour at the entire 'process' of deer hunting. I still do not understand it. Really, not necessary. In the middle of the giggling I started thinking about being in the middle of nowhere, with no on around. I freaked out! I must watch too much TV, because in my head I was going through seasons of NCIS, CSI, and Criminal Minds. How many of those episodes are set in the woods???

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you!

I know I am 3 days late, we have been busy...I know everyone is busy this time of year. Nothing special about that!

Here is a quick rundown of our holiday.

On Christmas Eve after our 6 hour drive to Kansas City, MO we stopped in Lee's Summit to say a quick hello to Shane's grandma and grandpa. While there we changed from our travel clothes to our church clothes to meet the family at the other grandparents (picture below) church for candlelight service at 7:30. My eldest daughter forgot to load her toiletry bag into the car so after church at 8:30 we went to Walgreens to get her a few things. By the time we left there at 9:00 we were STARVING so we had Christmas Eve dinner at Denny's-yep I said Denny's. We generally end up there when nothing else is open, it is on the way to Shane's moms house and it is always yummy. (maybe b/c we do not stop until we are STARVING)

We woke Christmas morning to find Santa had visited and left a 19" TV & a Samsung Propel for Em, and a pretty purple digital camera and Samsung Propel for SJ. Both girls were quite happy with their Christmas gifts. I think this year we all received what we really wanted. Christmas Day is a busy one. We gathered the family at one set of grandparents at 11:00. Had a GREAT time seeing everyone. This year we did things differently than past years, playing dirty Santa with the gift exchange. It was a hoot. Certainly more fun than I thought it would be.

Afterwards we went to the assisted living center to see Shane's other Grandparents, Mom and Earl, and Sister and her family. We were not there long before we left and went to Mom and Earl's house to have a nice Christmas dinner and open (more) gifts. As always everyone did way too much....and Thank you! I have always, since day one felt loved and welcomed by Shane's family. I hear people complain about their in-laws and I know how special (and rare) mine are.

Nanaw & Grandad

Riley's Moonwalk from Santa~

he must have been a very good boy

Em & SJ Christmas Morning

Sarah Jane~Emily
Will~Riley

Christmas Baseball

The Samsung Propel

A Nanaw Sandwich

I think those boys love Nanaw

On the day after Christmas Mom, Lori, Will, and Riley went with the girls and I to see Marley and me. That Marley is a MESS! Nothing like my Ollie! I have to mention that after the movie it took the girls and I an hour and 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot of the strip mall where the movie theater was. OH MY!!! After the movie we went to Lori and Tracey's to see the MOONWALK! It is so cool. I loved it....Riley even let me jump in it! Thanks for sharing Riley.

We woke Saturday morning to a cold front rolling in and packed loaded and left within 30 minutes of waking up!!!! After driving in the rain for 6 hours we were quite happy to get home. Maybe soon the boxes will unpack themselves, while the laundry is doing itself, of course!

Making memories

So, my skills in the kitchen leave a lot to be desired! I can live with that. In spite of that, with the help of my friend Betty Crocker for the first time we were able to roll out the cookie dough and use our cookie cutters passed down to us from Shane's grandmother! As you will see below Emily was busy getting ready to go to a birthday party and did not want to make cookies.

The finished cookies......

Ready to go into the oven

Sarah's friends were playing out in the front yard, and came in to help with the last 2 batches. On the last batch the girls tried putting sprinkles on before the cookies go into the oven. I know little about how to make it work. I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun Sarah had, she wanted to mix the dough, roll it out, and use the cookie cutters. Then she still wanted to decorate each cookie as they came out of the oven. She could have a future as a baker!

Goofy Girl...that right there next to Emily(aka Rudolph) is the ironing board. We have had it for 8 months, this is its debut! (I don't iron or bake either)

SJ's School Christmas Party

Sarah had a fun Christmas party at school. I am afraid it is my last Christmas party at school with my children....7th grade (next year) is a whole new world. The parent turnout and involvement was great for this party. Below is several pictures for us to help us remember the occasion.

This is a group shot of the kids that were still there when we realized we had not taken a group picture.

Just the girls
The group played a fun game that was a combination of charades/pictionary (SJ's is the one on the front row in the Santa hat). They did a great job, they had to describe a phrase or a song title. The teams were split boys vs girls, the boys beat the girls by 1 point, for the prize the boys were first to go through the taco buffet line.

This is Sarah and her friend Mallory~note the puzzled expression!

They also made an ornament out of a styrofoam ball, attaching gum drop candies with toothpicks. They turned out really cute.

I had to giggle when I noticed that the sweet girl sitting behind SJ had her candies separated by color and all lined up in a row! NOT my sweet girl! She crafts like she lives life~by the seat of her pants enjoying all the chaos! I love that girl!

?Snow Day?

So this is what is considered to be a snow day in Arkansas. This is a redneck snow day in the South. Don't get me wrong! We are happy to have it, E has finals this week, this postpones her pre-Algebra final until after the break. She is inside lounging in her PJ's

If you look closely to the left you can see the trail of Sarah's scooter wheel.

Tree Trimming

We trimmed our first 'artifical tree' last Sunday. We have spent a couple of years debating on live vs artifical, artificial won for health reasons. I have been quite sick the last several Decembers and when you look at the facts, it makes since that it the tree. Artificial or not it had to be the BIGGEST I told Shane I could find. (you know what that means) shhhh dont tell him they come bigger. We have a beautiful pre~lit 12 ft. tree.
The babies thought the pictures would be good taken from up on the ladder, we indulged them, and had many cutes pictures to choose from

This is Sarah Jane laying on the floor playing with a snow globe

-she sure loves the snow globes

The tree really looks very pretty

While I was snapping this one Shane said-

"Have you ever shoved a tree up an angels butt?"

Probably not going to be found in a Christmas Card

But, Funny!

Ollie liked everyone having so much fun

Such Great News!

Shane had his procedure yesterday-we had the best news possible. The doctor felt like he would not benefit from placing a stent. After testing the blood flow and watching the heart for over an HOUR! the doctor came and told me that Shane's heart is working beautifully, he is very pleased with the bypass of 7 years ago and he should enjoy a long life free of cardiac worries! Thanks so much for all your prayers. Our GOD is good!

The things they do!!!

Last weekend we had a couple of funnies that I wanted to share before they leave my mind never to be reclaimed.

The first was at Shane's sister Lori's house. She had not been feeling well and went to the Dr. after work leaving her boys (7 and 5) with their Daddy. From what I understand they thought that Daddy should take them to BK to play and eat dinner. As well as go to the movies and play laser tag. (apparently they are in the same building) When Daddy told them no and they went on home they were FURIOUS! Like on small children can be when they don't get their way. Now, my BIL works nights and this is the time he is sleeping, yet not today b/c he is helping out with the kiddos and lays down and dozes. Lori was LIVID when she was telling me this story so I hope she was exaggerating. They boys had decided they were going to Grandma's they didn't just pack a bag. According to Lori they packed every bag they could find in the house. Tote bags, duffel bags, old diaper bags, backpacks, plastic grocery bags! The way I understand it they even packed some groceries from the pantry. SO FUNNY! Unless you have to clean up after this mess. They are welcome to pack their bag and come live with Aunt Lynn.

The next is about my sweet Sarah Jane. We are fortunate enough to have a yard company that takes care of our yard for us. We pay them plenty of money and in the winter the cut down the frequency quite a bit. I was tickled when they showed up on Friday and cleaned up all the leaves, and we had plenty. The yard looked so pretty. Saturday afternoon I ran to Kroger and came home to find Sarah and her buddies wanted to pile the leaves up so they could jump in them....usually no problem. They went to the neighbors yard with their BIG black trash bag 4 times and dumped these bags right into the middle of my yard like they had just fallen. UGH I know this is a small thing, and so sweet. So, I am not sweating the small stuff! She lives on. at top of post (pictures of them bagging the leaves to go to the curb)

The last- I grilled chicken for dinner and asked the girls how is your chicken? Sarah said "I don't know about any chicken, but my steak is good" we did not try to convince her she was mistaken. Decided to be happy she was eating.

Happy Birthday to Shane......

Happy Birthday to Shane!!!!

Today is Shane's 41st Birthday- I am assuming that is not a secret! HA

Some of you have heard that on Thursday he is going to have an angiogram and angioplasty. If you have read my post from Thanksgiving you have the background on his cardiac issues. When I wrote about that I did not know about this. Over the holiday he was "not feeling quite right" went to the cardiologist the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, had a CT scan of his heart on Friday, bringing us to the angioplasty. We ask that you pray, pray, pray!

This is the birthday boy with his babies! That ball of fire behind them is the candles on his cake. Homemade (from a box) devils food, with milk chocolate frosting (from a can) It was fresh, and yummy!

Happy Birthday to Shane!

~and many more

A pilgrimage

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we headed North to visit Shane great family! You know they are also my family. I sure love them lots, everyone is looking good. Shane he is 40 (hehehehe) and still has all 4 of his Grandparents. We are blessed to know them, and even more so because they love all of us so very much. We were able to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner Thursday and Friday. Thanks to Lori and Tracey-you did a great job on the ???? it was all great. I was very thankful that you planned the 2nd meal for us, I was feeling a bit Scroogeish about the questionable Thursday meal! (HA) On Thursday night we went to the Country Club Plaza for the lighting of the Christmas lights. This is the kickoff to the holiday season. And no, my tree still is not up! It is ONLY December 5th!!!!! It will happen. Maybe even this weekend. I will post pictures for all to marvel in the beauty!

Playing with toys they drug out of the toy closet and Grandma's house.


Emily & I at the Plaza
it was BRRRRR cold

Can you guess who cut Sarah's head off in this one?

Sorry baby, you are a cutie!

Will (7) ,Emily, Riley (4 yrs 11 months), and Sarah

When we drove in Wednesday night Mom, Earl, Lori and the boys met us at the new Bass Pro Shops for dinner. Pictures with Santa were FREE, and at that they got a free kids meal. The girls were good sports about taking the pic with Santa, since they are still expecting him to show up Christmas Eve night.