Happy Birthday to my oldest baby boy!

He may be 32 yrs. old today but he'll always be my baby boy............even tho in one month, he'll become a dad to his very own little boy!!! Wow. Talk about the circle of life!

"By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong." ~Charles Wadsworth

Da Sisterhood!

Ya know? Those good ol' college days were just pure magic! Even as long ago as it was, I can still recollect some of the best times of my life during those years.....with some of the coolest chicks ever! We were all so close back then and even now, some 35 yrs later, when we all get together, it's as if time has stood still. We laugh, we talk and talk and talk and we remember. We've shared the best of times and we've shared the worst of times with each other....and every single one of us know that, no matter what, if we need one another.........we're there for each other. In a heartbeat. Last night, two sisters were flying in for a surprise party for their dad in a neighboring town, so they made the calls and gathered the troops. Luckily for me, we met up in the town where I live but others drove in from all over the state just for the night. For a chance for us to have drinks and a nice dinner together. A few of them I hadn't seen in many yrs...but did it matter? Nada.

Man, oh man...........I love these girls.......these Phi Mooooo Sistahs!!!!

~~"Woman's best friends last you only 20 years, but woman's best sisters will last you for the rest of your life."~~

Snapshots of Christmas 2011

Would ya'll PLEASE come on??!!!FAMILY!! FOOD!! FUN!!!

LOVE!! ...until next year.....!!!

It's Time!!!!

Have been in the kitchen since early morn and cooking like a little elf!! My first set of kiddos are set to arrive in about 2 hours!!! and I'm so excited to have everyone gathered together tomorrow. I've made every single thing, except one pie, in advance of tomorrow night's meal so I can just sit back tomorrow and watch. And play.

To all my family, friends and bloggin' buddies..........HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS FILLED WITH LOVE AND A WHOLE LOT OF LAUGHING!!

Individual gingerbread/pumpkin pudding trifles!!!

Guess who's getting all "gussied" up for Santa??

I had forgotten how much fun Christmas time is thru a child's eyes!! So. Much. Fun!!

Hot Cocoa....

...on a cold winter's night

will make little girl's and boy's hearts warm thru and thru....

especially when they find some just for them underneath the Christmas tree!!!

Let this day stand...

...as the beginning of a new swing tree era!!!! May she stand tall and strong with branches reaching toward the horizons for many, many years to come.....providing good times for grandchildren and sophiejanes alike!! (not to mention a yaya)! My boyfriend hung my swing in a grand tree, set in a landscape of reds and greens and rolling pastureland, not too far from the house. Best Christmas present EVER!! the sky was beautiful and because the red of the trees downplayed the swing, I put an arrow pointing toward it. Glorious, eh??my boyfriend laughed when I said I really needed to get the clouds into this picture...so he took my pic taking the pics!!







(note to my chirren: always, always keep a swing swinging at our home...plz!)

Twas the Saturday before Christmas....

...and all thru the house, not a creature was stirring.......not even a mouse!!! My morning today? Loving the peace and quiet of the "not a creature was stirring" part!! It's a hunting weekend around here, which means that the hunters are all at the deer camp....which translates into mama having a weekend to herself!! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE hunting season??!!!!

So, this morning ms. sophiejane and I woke up to a thick layer of fog covering the landscape and cooler temps. My plan is to do some of the Christmas cooking that I can freeze ahead of time, finish with some gift wrapping and clean the house before the fun next weekend. But right now? We are buried under a big blanket, catching up on some blogs and watching Christmas cooking shows on the Food Channel drinking hot chocolate!!! Sooooooo comforting!

Giada's Down Home Christmas celebration show! What are YOU doing on this last weekend before Christmas 2011??

Polishing and Buffing...

...things are looking pretty shiny around here......getting ready for the family Christmas meal!!

They're Baaaaaaack!!

Those crazy lookin' elves that I love everso! My friends think I'm a leetle bit nuts for liking these sometimes scary looking little people....Nah.....they're sweet!

Did anyone see that full moon last weekend? It was beautiful here and I got a fun shot of it inside a wreath that is hanging in my sunroom.
How I love Christmas decorations!!

sniff, sniff....

In reference to my winter banner above, most of you have read about our swing tree saga. That the tree was prolly 50-60 yrs old and was HUGE. A beautiful, concrete symbol of God's creation. My boyfriend hung a swing in it for me to enjoy the grace of our property and the pond that was right beside it. SophieJane and I sat many afternoons watching the sun set as well as afternoons in the fall, winter and summer. Until last summer. We had a huge drought with temps in the triple digits for over three months with no rain. The swing tree died. We don't know exactly why, except that many, many trees died all around our area after the horried summer weather. I was really sad about the tree but when I came down the driveway one afternoon a few weeks ago.........well, sniff...sniff!
We're clearing alot of our woodsy area out and they took care of this while they're out there. It's sad. But never fear!!! We've already spotted another tree to put the swing in and SJ and I will be back "swangin'" before you know it!!!

Ooopsie......

That old myth that Santa and Mrs. Clause are just the nicest kids in town is basically true.....until they hang out at a Crazy Cruisin' Chick's place and begin to P-A-R-T-Y!!!! Who knew Mrs. Clause was a thong kinda gal???!!
Happy Saturday!!!

Should I??...

...that's what she was thinking.....what ms. sweetcheeks was thinking! Do I really want to sit on that white haired man's lap? The one with the big belly and the bright red clothes? I think I'll just hang back by the white fence and see how this works. See what the other kids are doing on his lap....um...........I think she decided he really wasn't all that!!
Don't take it personally, Santa. She is such a GOOD girl. Take MY word for it!!!!

Austin's Bebe Shower 12-3-2011

Whew! What a great day! Family, friends, surprises for the new baby, Babymama with a smile on her face from ear to ear.......AND LSU wins the SEC championship headed for the national championship game in New Orleans......heheheh, take THAT Alabama. Come on over to the dome, Bama, and let the Tiger fans welcome you!!!! But let me show you how much fun we had showering! Because of the rough and tough little boy that will soon grace us, decided on a camoflaged theme with vintage toys for him to have in his room. So, we had green camo in the dining area and blue camo in the sunroom for desserts. The invitation read, "Hot Gumbo in the Pot at 1 o'clock" so I served that from the island and used the table for the frosted sandwich and vegetable cups.(the peace signs on the camo fabric were just too perfect!!)centerpiece was made from old deer antlers that the boys had collected over the yrs from their hunting. M&M's are a fave of the babymama so it was a great filler for the white lillies!vintage toy trucks held diapers and the lil army truck carried forks!I always make this because my girls love it everso! A frosted sandwich composed of a layer of chicken salad, pimento salad and egg salad with an icing made of cream cheese and dill.this is an idea I got from my peep, ms. plucky! Vegetable cups with the dip already in the bottom of the cup. Easy to pick up to put on place and easy to clean up! At the back of the table was a wood and berry tree that was filled with hunting ornaments for Austin's Christmas tree! just a tad bit of choclolate on this table in the form of this: (and these because they were so darned funny!)
The gumbo area with rice, potato salad and mini cornbread muffins. Had a really cute container to hold the spoons but had to pitch that in favor of a salute to LSU......spoons in the mug!
Next..............onto the desserts! I just fell in love with this lil babe's expression, so I went with it!

The clothes hanging on the line belonged to Austin's daddy! The shirt hanging on the far right is one that brought tears to my eyes when I pulled it out....for I can remember SO many times and places he wore that shirt. Going now to take a pic of a pic I have of him wearing it as a toddler....!

Mom with all her loot!! (see that smile?!)

she even got a blue jean jacket exactly like the one she was wearing!

Of course, ms. Lilli was with us and another good friend had lots of lil girls piled up on her!

How LUCKY am I to be surrounded by all of this love??!!!!!

And when it was time to go, we had a special treat for all of her guests!