Happy Birthday To Meeeeeeeeee!!!!

It's no secret.
There is a man in my life.
A man that makes me smile every morning.
A man that makes me giggle every night.
A man who loves every single part of me....good and bad,
A man who listens to every word I have to say (ALL of them...)
A man who accepts everything about me,
and loves all 3 of the littles that trail behind me.
He is my knight in shining armor.
He is what keeps me strong.
He is amazing.
I love you, E.

This year for my birthday, we went to Savannah for the weekend.
A-MAZE-ING!!!
3 days in beautiful south GA.
We got there and as we
pulled into the resort, I touched the window of the car
and said to Eric,
"Um, it's warm outside!"

That explains it all.
We stayed at the Westin Resort,
Ate so many oysters it would make you sick,
and slept, and slept, and slept!!!

Enjoy the pics.....

Fountain buttocks in Savannah... :o)

The old Savannah Cotton Exchange.
On the other side on the bottom is the pub
we ate tons of oysters and crawfish at.
Look down below....

In the lobby at the Westin was the largest gingerbread
display I'd ever seen. It was the town of Savannah.
If you look below to the picture of the bridge,
this is their gingerbread rendition of it.

A bigger pic of the gingerbread town.

I love this pic. I love the piano.
I love that my birthday is at Christmas.

How cute, eh?
The waitress at our restaurant on
my birthday drew this on our doggie box.
love it.

View of the capitol from our room.

There was a wedding on my birthday at the resort.

We couldn't help but watch the entire thing.
It finally got cold, and the entire ceremony lasted 30 mins.

Bride and Groom having a kiss after they were marrhhwweeed...

and then she VERY quickly ran inside!
Brides are so cute.

The ferry that took us back and forth from the

resort to River Street.

Soooo cute and so convenient!!!

We are too cute!!!

Paula Deen's store!!!
This one is for Maddie!!!

This was someone's backyard!!!

This one too!!! LOVE what they did with the place!!

You know me and those old church's!!

Manger scene in the church.

Seriously love the church.

Very cool old houses turned into very cool businesses.

This one is for T. Biggest dog I've ever seen!!!

It was called "Dalmatian something or other....."

Ok, back up to the gingerbread bridge in the hotel....
This is it!!!
Super cool bridge you have to cross to get to the resort!

Super cool, big ole' houses outside the resort.

Story Time!!

We L-O-V-E the baby commercial about golf where
he says "shankapotamus". Laugh about it all the time.

Make the kids laugh about it all the time.
We sat down at the bottom of the old Cotton Mill
(note picture above)
and in front of Eric was engraved the above pic.
How funny is that?
I can't wait to show the kids!!!

More cool pub pics!!

Cool pic of the gingerbread town in the light. :o)

Yep, it's love. I am madly in love.

Kisses to you EC....

I miss my babies......

Yep...miss the heck out of them.

They are off in Oklahoma enjoying time with the other side of the family...
which I love for them! How awesome to have two huge families
that love the heck out of you????
They are happy, they are sooooo healthy
(cross all fingers and toes and knock on everything wood around you!!!)
and they are soooooooooooooooooooooooooo loved.
I couldn't ask for more for them. Ok...picture time!!! Enjoy!!!

Where you will find my fave 8 year old most of the time.
On Mom's new computer. :o) Never thought I'd miss this sight.

Our awesome tree...
Missing some kids around it.

T in L-O-V-E with his train that Eric sent over.
It plays music, blows smoke, the whole 9 yards....
T and E love it. When he's not on Mom's computer,
this is where you will find him.

My amazing girls and my amazing mom!
Watching Polar Express in 3-D.
I've never seen anything so cozy in my life.
They had the surround sound blaring,
and I've never been so happy to have it!!!

*No comment about how amazingly cute I look. I had the most
unbelievable migraine I've ever had...and on my 33rd to boot!!!*

My amazing kids with the help of my amazing sister, Kathy
gave me the bestest birthday E-V-E-R!!!
Come to my house to see what they did for me!!!!


Best birthday cake E-V-E-R!!!!
Three hearts for the babes,
and one chocolate one for me!!!!


T-messy faced Bastings with Auntie Kathy!!!
I guess the pizza was good!!!

Ok, I love em!!!

More posts to come!!!

2 days and counting.....

.....oh yeah....only 2 more days.

.......you still have time.

.........I'm not picky!

..............you know who you are!!!

11.22.99.....10 Years old and counting.....

Amazing date, Amazing girl, Amazing life.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Sariah!!!!!

10 years ago I went into labor at some ridiculous hour of the morning,
and to this day, she won't sleep past 7am.

10 years ago, the nurse checked me, said, "you're doing great",
and the minute she left the room I said to my mom,
"something is wrong...." and Sariah was born 15 minutes later...
on a Sunday, by a nurse, just like her mama.

10 years ago, I had my second baby girl and the next love of my life.

She's 10 years old. She's stronger than an ox. She LOVES her family. She is amazing.

I love you Sariah Alexis.....I love you!!!

(and who pulls off red glasses better than that pretty girl?????)

Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

By far, the crappiest day I've had in a LOOOOOOOONG time.
Until 10:27pm.

Tanner: Mom, (after finding my tape measure out on the table)
"Can I measure "things"?

Mom: Sure, just don't break "things".

Tanner: Awesome.

10 minutes later.......

Tanner: (Pulling on tape measure standing next to mom in the kitchen) "I wanna be just like Papa. Measurin' and stuff and building things all the time."

Mom: (said to self) Ok, today doesn't suck THAT bad....

I have a great Dad....and a great son who I hope grows up just like him. :o)

EHC...More awesome video....

Ok, so maybe we need to invest in a good camcorder.
Fine. Oh, Santa.......

This was Maddie's favorite director.
He was loud and energetic and fun and they loved
every minute of him.



And then they sang this with him.....

I love how he's not afraid to talk to them while he's directing!!!

He actually wrote this song.
It got cut off at the end....we ran out of video space. :o(

EHC Video.....

This is soooo cool to watch.
If you have any kind of respect for

(1) 10 to 11 year old attention spans...
(2) Counting beats while clapping accents to another beat...
(3) Adults who can teach kids who have zero "professional" training...

You will LOVE THIS!!!

FAVE SONG OF ALL TIME!!!

Find the pole in the center of the stage....
Maddie is on the top row to the right of the pole.
(such a good clapper!!!)

And pay no attention to the RETARD who didn't turn his
blankety, blank cell phone off......
Yep, paid $20 to have THAT recorded!!!!!

2009 EHC

WOW!!! Maybe words don't do it justice to me
because she's mine, but WOW!!!
I'll post some pics of Maddie's amazing day,
and then the video of 3 of her 4 songs.
She LOVED her male conductor.
He's the super cool one in purple pants who REALLY conducts.
I loved him. I got to listen to how he coached them and
how he engaged them in the music.
He loves the work he does, and that impresses me most.
He loves those kids, and the proof was in the
children when they introduced him.
Man, that must be an amazing feeling.
Reminds me so much of my high school choir teacher. Awesome!

Ok, on with the show!!!!!

Ms. Jacobs, Maddie, Ms. Johnson
Awesome Music Teachers!!!

Maddie and Destiny...
Waiting for the show to start.
(look at the creepy kid two down from Maddie...."i will taze you with me eyes!")

Riah, being so patient. Love you, Riah!!

Tanner, being sick as a dog. Poor guy.

(When you are looking at the pic of the choir and looking for Maddie,
look for the pole in the center of the stage, Maddie is on the top
row directly to the right. Easy, peasy to spot!)

A pic of her whole choir.

This was only 150 kids. They split them into
two choirs......so they'd all fit on the stage! :o)

Allgood Elementary Superstars!!!!
Aren't they cute!?!?!?!

Ok, super cool story about this performance center.
Look at the pic above. See the circle on the ceiling?
The circle is there because that side of the room
(yes, this pic is exactly 1/2 of the room....big!!)
actually turns. When it swivels, it becomes the room
they practiced in. How cool is that????
Go back to the post before this one and look at the
practice room. At the bottom of the 1st row, you can see
where it swivels there as well.
I just think it's the neatest thing!!

Ok, I'll post a video of it next!!!

2009 Elementary Honor Chorus

Never in a million years could I have imagined the day one of my littles was doing the exact same thing I was doing some 19....yep, I said, NINETEEN, years ago. Madeline was chosen to participate with 300 other elementary age students from the state of Georgia in the GMEA (Georgia Music Educators Association) Elementary Honor Chorus. I took her today. We got her name tag, we bought the t-shirt, we found her practice studio. It was all hum-drum normal....until they started to sing. They started to sing and I got goose bumps all over my body. They were amazing. Little 5th grade voices, singing like angels. And that was before their conductor got a hold of them. I can't wait to post the video. Here are a few pics from today....

Clayton County Schools Performing Arts Center.....very nice....
Can't wait to tell you what tricks they have in this neat place!!

Maddie in her seat after a short break. The phrase:
"Mom, stooooooooooooop!!!"
Screams loud and clear!!!

Better pic of the practice auditorium...

Maddie and Maddie

Maddie and Mom

Ms. Johnson (Her choir teacher) and Maddie

Maddie, A friend, another friend, Maddie

More to come tomorrow!!!