Let Me Get a Group Photo...Um, Thanks, Layton...

I tried to get a group shot of my children playing with their cousin Charsy.

Layton found a way to be the star of it. Oh, Layton. Whatever will I do with him?

Snowmen I Saw...

Someone in our neighborhood made this fellow....

Jay worked hard at helping the children make a snowman. The children got cold and abandoned him. Ella came back out for a few moments after it was done for a photo op. Yes, she gave the snowman bunny ears. Ha!

I failed to buy charcoal ahead of time, so we didn't have anything to  use on his face but a carrot. Luckily, beer tops work just as well. He he.

Charsy and Hadley...

My baby sister and I used to be super close. I am several years older than her though! Hadley and Charsy are almost the same exact number of years and months apart as KK and I are, so I think it's neat that they love to play together. Sweet cousins.

Going to Give It a Whirl...

Admittedly, I am not very crafty or blessed with artistic talent. My older brother got all of the genes in that area. :)
I am more of a black and white, net bottom line, type of gal. Maybe that's why I am an accountant. Boring. Something I do love though is taking pictures of my babies. While my pictures are rarely all that good, they are memories of moments that I will keep and treasure for all of my life. In an effort to take better pictures, I am adding the following item to my camera bag:




















After it arrives, I'll take a few pictures with and without it to let you see the difference. From what I've heard though, it will make a big difference with the gosh awful flash that seems to glare off of Ella's glasses.

I'll give it a whirl!!

Did I Mention They Were Adorable in the Snow?...

For once, I got a picture of all three smiling. True, they are not all looking at the camera, but hey, they are in fact all smiling!!

Layton is just the sweetest little man I ever did see.

Hadley chose to eat some of the snow.

This was an awesome day! We slept late, played in the snow, took a short four wheel drive drive, and played in the snow some more.

Run, Layton, Run...

The Three Adorable Ones in the Snow...

Hadley...

Layton...

Ella...

Some more Layton cuteness that just had to be shared...

Snow Days...

We have gotten so much snow in the last 24 hours! I mean, it's Alabama, so we don't get snow very often. When we do get snow, it pretty much shuts everything down since none of us are used to driving in the snow/ice. The folks at my house are not afraid to pop a vehicle into four wheel drive and venture out for a short drive though. Here are a few shots of my beloved downtown area covered in snow.

Layton goes to preschool at this church. It's the Methodist church in town. Just in case you're curious, churches are pretty much the only option for preschool in the Bible belt.

This is one of the creeks that we drove over to get to downtown. It was so lovely to see all the trees covered in snow and the bridge covered in sand. There aren't any sand/salt trucks here, so the city just sends out a few guys with some shovels and truckload of sand to hit the bridges.

Last and certainly not least, is our court house. Covered in white. We have some old, old photographs that Jay's grandfather took of the courthouse covered in snow in the 1970's that I keep in a photo album. It's from this exact same angle. The trees are so little in that picture though!

Nutcrackers Are Gone...For a Year...

The decorations are gone. My house is back to normal. That means chaos without a tree in the dining room.

I miss the decorations though. There is always something sad about taking down the Christmas fun.

Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom...

Sing the title to the Tum's jingle. Wasn't that fun? Ok, I'm done being goofy now!

Several months ago my mother took Ella to a store in Madison called Young at Heart. It is a doll store. Unfortunately, the owner was experiencing some health problems and was going to close the store. Ella fell in love with this baby doll and begged to get him. My mother bought it for her and declared it to be her Christmas present. Ella named him Tom. She has been awaiting Tom's arrival ever since. She nested. She got a baby bed ready for him. Picked out additional clothes. Selected toys suitable for Tom. And made a sign for all of this...it said...Tom's Stuff. When it finally came time to exchange presents with my mother, Ella was about to burst because she knew the box with her name on it contained Tom.

By the way, Tom has been going everywhere we go. He sleeps in Ella's bed with her. And Ella refers to me as grandmother. Someone send Prozac...STAT!

A Spear From Layton...

We took a trip to Tuscaloosa to visit with my grandmother recently. Layton and Jay went outside to play for a while. Layton made a spear out of a stick and couldn't wait to show it to me. Of course.

I was afraid he was going to poke my eye out! HA!

The Side I Don't Enable...

Here are all five of the grandchildren with the hubs parents. This is the side of the family that I don't enable! HA! I took this picture on Christmas. It was so nice to all be in the same room for a change!

If my children look catatonic in the picture, it's because they were. They had gotten up at a positively unseemly hour to do Santa. Jay and I went back to bed after that.

Just Too Sweet....Shorter Now...

Hadley and her hair. Where to begin? She loves her hair to be down and doing its own thing. I would prefer it be pulled out of her face. As a mom though, I try to be very picky about the things I go to war over. Hair? Not really at the top of my list. Going to bed? Brushing teeth? Yes, I will do battle for those.

Anywhoodle. This is Hadley's hair. A stringy mess atop her little face.

It's coming off though. I am finally forcing her to get a cut. We'll see how it goes. Have no fear; there will be "after" pictures coming soon.

An Award, For Me?...Someone is a Sucker...Just Kidding...

Shari gave me the Trendy Blog Award! I cannot believe it.

Rules:

*Blog About the Award
*Give the Award to Ten Other Blogs
*Let them know you gave them an award
*Leave a link to the button

Now, I have to pass this award to TEN blogs!!! Drumroll please..........................................These are a few blogs that I read....a fairly eclectic selection....like me!

Float On

Air Force Wife Life

Welcome to the Zoo

Alabama Slacker Mom

Grass Stains

Working Wonders

The Bee Hive

Thoughts From a Twenty Something

Forever Young

A Series of Small Serendipities

He Loves His Little Cousin...

Chesley may not always like to be around Layton, but Layton sure does love to love on Chesley.

What Little Faces...

Back Up Folks, I Need to Punt...

Guys, I am seriously far behind on reading blogs. I am the world's worst about scheduling blog posts and not logging in until later to read blogs. I am SOOOOOOO far behind on reading blogs. If I haven't commented on your blog lately, I promise I will be back to it soon. I'm just still enjoying my Christmas break. :)

She is Such a Ham...

The Flash...Again...

Ella has worn glasses for most of the last year. I cannot for the life of me take a picture of her without seeing the dreaded reflection of the flash in her glasses. Help! What's the best way to eliminate this when a flash is needed in a darker room?

Bowling Babes...

So, I loaded up all three of the kidlets and took them bowling one afternoon. They love to bowl. I'm not sure why, but it is the ultimate treat in their eyes.

Hadley actually slung the ball backwards once. She was mortified that I caught it on my camera!

 Over all, it was a successful outing for us. I was worn out by the time we left. Refereeing three children while taking pictures was a lot of work! More than I thought it would be! :)

An Afternoon of Fun....

What did I do with the children while they were out for Christmas break?

More to follow...

New Year...New Me?...

Happy New Year!!! It's time for resolutions. Or, as I like to call it, time to make promises that I don't intend to keep. Ha!

This year I have decided to take a page from my journals to create resolutions. Journals? Yes. I have three. One for each of my children. I write letters to them. Not every day or even every month. But periodically I write a letter to each of my precious children. Letters about what they are doing, their favorite toys, milestones that have been reached, about how much I love them. Things of that nature. Someday when I am gone, they can read these letters and know that I loved them with everything that I am and everything I hope to become. To me there is something so intimate about reading a person's thoughts and feelings in their own hand rather than in Times New Roman. Each of my children will feel the indentations in the pages that I scribed just for them and smell the smell of old ink doused in love.

I tell them how badly I want them to be happy. I tell them how much I want them to feel love. I tell them how each of them has changed my life for the better. I also try to impart little tidbits of advice. Two things I want for them are now going to become my two resolutions for the new year.

First, live big. Eat breakfast off the fine china on a Tuesday for no good reason. Iron clothes in your wedding dress. Embrace the good with the bad. Wear your finest peals to pump gas.This is the only life I have, so I have to live it big with no regrets. You can bring back memories, but you can never go back. Live it now, and live it big.

Second, be generous. Be generous with your time and your love. Be generous with your ears because sometimes other people just need to be heard. Be generous with your forte no matter what it may be. Give freely of yourself, and you will receive far more in return.

So that's it folks. This is what I hope to accomplish in the new year. A heart that gives and loves and has no regrets. A heart that my children might be proud of.

Oh What a Face....

Why So Small, Hadley?...

We'll Sleep If We Want to...

Even during a parade in the back of another family's car...

Um, Get the Camera Out of My Face...

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

Sex, There I Said It...

Sex. Is it a dirty word?

Not really.

I have to admit though, there are a lot of negative connotations associated with the word Sex. I am past thirty, and I can't bare to say the word sex in front of my mother. Clearly, everyone knows I've been having sex, or I wouldn't have three children. It's not like they were immaculately conceived. Or I can pretend that in front of my grandmother.

On occasion, my girlfriends and I will joke about sex or talk about the joys of sex after children. Don't even pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. "I'm really tired. Can I just lay there?" or right in the throws of passion, a child gets out of bed, knocks on your door, and declares that some one vomited in the middle of the night. Talk about a mood killer. I once even told the hubs he had 15 minutes. Not anytime minutes. No rollover minutes allowed. And he would incur roaming charges if he went over. That's what parenthood will do to a sex life.

Even though sex isn't something that is often blogged about, it's obvious that we've all been having it. A mommy blog cannot exist without first having sex to conceive a child or trying to conceive a child. Why is it such a taboo subject? Even the most religious of individuals has something of a sex guide.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—


for your love is more delightful than wine.

3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;

your name is like perfume poured out.
Song of Solomon

Oh yes, even in the Good Book, sex is a topic touched on more than once. So, I ask. Why are we hiding sex talk? I'm not talking about the nitty, gritty details. I'm talking about frank discussions on how sex changes throughout life. For example:

Early 20's before kids: Honey, it's raining. We can't go hiking. What do you want to do? Well, I guess we could have sex to pass the time.
20's trying to conceive: No, now. You have to have sex with me in the next five hours! I am ovulating. I don't care what football game is on. You have to perform. Now!
20's after kids: Holy cow! The baby is asleep. We should have sex. The odds of me being remotely interested in it in an hour are slim. Get it while it's being offered. And no, I'm not taking my top off.
30's: I had one too many glasses of wine with dinner. The kids are at your parents. Let's get it on. (in my best sexy voice)

I'm throwing down the gauntlet. Blog about sex. I will probably read it, or I will be in the witness relocation program after this post is read by all 5 of my readers and an angry mob comes for me. Either way, put it out there.

Family Game Night...For a Gift?...

When the children wrote their letters to Santa, Layton and Ella both put "Family Game Night" as one of the things they wanted. Obviously, they've seen the commercials for the games and heard the voice over talking about family game night. So, what was Santa to do?

I'm guessing we'll be playing some games in the future. As a family! Ha!

What, Did Donkey Say Something Funny?...

Gosh, I need some warm weather.

Pottery Schmottery...

Just Because I Love His Name...

...But, I love him more.

What Cute Bags You Have....

They're better to hold lots of Christmas goodies.

Thank you, Grandmother.