Christmas recap - part 2

My fam . . . 
prepare for lotsa pics
We normally do my immediate fam on Christmas Eve night. But Jonathan and Michelle were in Haiti picking up new family members :-) They flew in Christmas morning safe and sound. So that night we did our thang.
Santa stopped by . . . 

Kerby and Kerlandy had never met Santa. Awww 

The grandkids, er my nieces & nephews 

new additions: Kerby (14) and Kerlandy (8) 

 Miles of smiles

 Trevor may have to go as the Fonz for Halloween if he keeps this up

One of the highlights of Christmas at my mom & dad's every year is the photo calendar for Mom. This year it was Leslie's turn and she turned it up a notch by doing one that's like a scrapbook.   

The fellas gathered round to see all the pics in the calendar and add their commentary. *sigh* Silly boys.

 Our fam loves GAMES!

Anthony, Caleb and Phil had a mini concert in the sunroom.

SOMEBODY sure is growin this year... whew

So skinny it's like huggin a skeleton.

The boys were excited to get the Kinect for their Xbox.

Kerby and Kerlandy like to "take photo" so I'm personally very happy to welcome this sweet addition to the fam. They're the only ones who don't fuss every time I try to take a pic LOL

Mom gave Kerlandy the Santa hat, which looked adorable on her She was all about Mom's singing and dancing Santas. Played with em a bunch, pushing every button over and over. She also showed us how she writes her name in cursive and draws flowers. She may be creative and artistic like Michelle. 

Kerby is a gamer. Video games that is. And I hear he loves to play on the computer, too. Cullen and Camden were so sweet with him, sharing the Nintendo 3DS and watching Kerby play it. Dad showed him how to play the Wii, too. He got comfortable with us and made himself at home on the couch. :-) Sweet guy tripped over my feet once and told me "excuse me." Good manners. Hope big bro Caleb doesn't teach him bad habits. ha 
My family is blessed, always. But this Christmas was extra special. It was a one of a kind experience and I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful, beautiful family!  

Christmas recap - part I

The hub's fam . . . 

knows how to do breakfast, ya hear me?

Phase 1 - Christmas breakfast December 17th with the uncles and cousins, etc.


That's right. We southerners know how to eat in the mornin. Country ham, sausage, bacon, sausage balls, homemade gravy and biscuits (none of the canned prepackaged junk), scrambled eggs and some other stuff I just can't 'member. I do 'member bein real full though. (groan)

Little uns are so fun at Christmas. Anthony's cousins have some cuties, too! 

 Significant event alert: Dawson lost a tooth at breakfast. 

Phase 2 - Christmas with the immediate fam December 23rd

• Kendall got a Kindle tee hee 
• Kyle screamed like a banshee when he opened his PSP (somethin he's wanted forever)
• McKenzie unwrapped an empty paint bucket - Christy's gonna paint her room cuz Kenz has a baby brother on the way who's about to kick her outta her room
• Bryson piled up the Christmas wrap like you do fall leaves and jumped into the pile a few times
• Christy brought the boyfriend... we really thought he was make believe for a while cuz she ain't been bringin' him around the fam. You know, like an imaginary friend. 
• Dawson acted kinda weird most of the night - maybe because the boyfriend was there  ??? Idk, I can't call it, but I did ask Christy if he had taken goofy pills before he got there
• Terry got a fast money changer (think Sonic car hop)
• Janice referred to wine as being used for municipal purposes... upon further discussion and much laughter, I straightened her out, she retracted her statement and said it was sometimes used for medicinal purposes, but not before sayin "Aw crrrap, this is gonna go on Lyndy's blog." Yep, true dat mom-in-law, true dat.
• Anthony, Bryson and Dawson had a Nerf gun fight. Perhaps war would be more appropriate... the battlefield was the entire house... 

Good times. Good good times.

We make the kiddos huddle up for a pic for Janice before opening gifts. Yeah, it's kinda like bribery. This year Janice wanted em in front of the tree.

You gotta do the silly pic. It's a must. 

Loyal readers - check back for the recap of MY SIDE OF THE FAM. 

Video is missing

Friends, I didn't upload the vidjo on the previous post cuz it was takin too stinkin long to do... I'll do it sometime another.


Til then
peace and a bottle of hair grease

My gift to you

Some bloggers may be gettin' all serious and what not today, and that's fine. It is the day we set aside to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. We attended church this morning, sung some Christmas tunes and heard a Christmas sermon.
But I'm shifting to my silly side and if ya know me, that's just how I roll.


Consider this my gift to you my loyal blog followers. I said I wouldn't share, but I'm the first to make fun of ME so .... remember the ugly sweater party? I had to dance an Irish jig while singing The Wheels on the Bus. This is just a snipit of my performance. 


Hope it doesn't go viral....

Enjoy 

and have a 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This made me feel DUMB

My day started out with a bang.


I was of course excited that this was our last day of work until after Christmas. Can I get a woo hoo?


We were having a breakfast "staff meeting" at Cracker Barrel. Already had my mind on cinnamon streusel french toast.


And then there was the other 15 things on my mental to do list runnin through my head.


I went out to the garage and opened the garage door for my bay, as usual.


As I opened my car door, I realized Anthony and I were swapping cars for the day. So I shut the door and went over to his car and plopped right on in.


Smartly I had put my friends' gifts in the car the night before so all I had to do was put my purse and myself in the car and then I'd be ret to go.


Eyeglasses on, switch the radio to 92.9 and off the CD Anthony had apparently been enjoying. Gotta hear my Christmas tunes yall. 


Reverse.


Bang!!!


Loud scream, followed by panic, chased by the thought "did that just happen or am I dreaming, what do I do, oh crap etc."


Yep, it's what you're thinkin Lincoln. I skipped a step. A very important step. Opening the garage door.


Now don't you feel better about yourself? Bet you've never done that before, have ya?

Our first time at the local parade

We built our house in '07 so we've been residents of this little community a while. But we've never been to their parade. It may be smaller than the one "in town" but we hear it's better.


Back when Anthony's grandmother was alive, she always went with Anthony's mom. Her sister is still alive and she went with us...she's a spry 85

We went to the parade in part because of this little race car driver. . . 

Even though he was concentrating on driving, he took the time to wish me a happy birthday. Sweet boy.

The grand marshall of the parade was the man who sold us our land that we built our house on. His name is Brownie (not sure if that's a nickname).

Y'all know I ain't a dog person, but these little guys were too cute.

Mini horses with mini cowgirls

 Mini diesels (these were sooo cute)

 Thank goodness for firemen !

Joey & Bryson rode their four wheelers. This was Bry's debut on McKenzie's four wheeler. He seemed to do fine, but I could tell 
he was concentrating hard! 

 McKenzie was all smiles with her Pa tossing out candy

I'm sure Jen couldn't be in the parade because SHE'S WITH CHILD...lol 
It limits her.

There were lots of old cars and trucks in the parade. Even some tractors. A few Gators and the usual horses. Some with wagons and carriages, and 

some ..... 

with ......

 Overalls and sunglasses... 

funniest thing I saw 

Probably  be even funnier to see em 
puttin the doggone overalls on the poor horse

Santa was lookin niiiice ! 

Do it Santa.

We loved the parade and we love you!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party 2011

Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of an ugly Christmas sweater party. How bout you?
Apparently they're becoming "a thing."
Here is our rowdy crew and our "we put the UG in ugly" sweaters. . . . 
and since I'm a pretty silly girl and it was a pretty silly-icious night, I'm starting this photo tour with a silly pic. 
                Deal with it.

 Crazy times!

Our hostess with the mostest

Brandi is the only person I know who can pull off a full sweater ensemble such as this and look so dang cute. Geez, if I didn't LOVE HER so much I'd hate her. bahaha

 Ang showing off her tree...er, shirt

She bought that shirt last year after Chrimu. 
You were wrong for that Ang. W-R-O-N-G

She won a prize for best (worst) sweater.

Jenny and her daughter were headed to another ugly sweater party so they dined and dashed. They found these treasures at the Goodwill. 
Gotta love the Goodwill. And you gotta wonder who thought lace would make a good snowman... and puff paint all over the pants, really? On the back of one leg, someone with good penmanship wrote Let it snow. Apparently they wanted it to snow on their overalls.

Tonyia improvised and did a lil sewing. One ornament casualty happened in the car on the ride over when she turned the steering wheel kinda sharp Oops easy now. 
And Cin admits she probably wore the Snoopy sweater a few years ago and would still be wearin' him if we wouldn't ride her like Sea Biscuit about it. We keep it real like that. Can't be having our peeps rollin' up in work lookin' a hot mess. 

The pants - another Goodwill find. 

She won a prize for best accessories. She had stuff pinned and poked all over.

Lemme explain this pic of me - 
this is how you look when you're playing a game and the card you draw says: Dance an Irish jig while singing The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round. 


Have I mentioned Lyndy doesn't dance? 


But Lyndy is very competitive, so bump modesty and any sliver of pride. Dance we shall.

I barely got the words out while laughing hysterically and dancing horribly. 


My dear friend Brandi has a fancy dancy camera that I forgot takes VIDEO. And yes, she recorded me without my permission of course but I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it yet. And don't be lookin' for it on this blog any time soon.  

I won BEST ENSEMBLE 

When I was getting dressed Anthony said, I didn't think it was a Halloween party.

Pretty sure he was glad it was a girls only event.

Brandi actually loaned me the sweater. My skirt was a Goodwill find and the leggings you will remember from my bird in a cage costume circa October 31. Had the snowman socks and red shoes already, and my mom supplied the Santa football necklace and crocheted Santa pin. The red snowflake in my hair is courtesy of a lovely Bath & Body Works package. lol 


Notice Jenny's black bar shades (think back page of Glamour)... we all needed a pair 

Here's hopin' this becomes an annual event. 

Today is a SPECIAL DAY

It's my birthday today. For about another hour I'm entitled to celebrate. So don't try to stop me. 


I got up this morning and took a shower, like every day. And Tinsley curled up on the bath mat whilest I donned my makeup and floofed my hair. She's been doin that a lot lately.

We had Christmas breakfast with some of Anthony's fam. I'll post pics later. 

Anthony gave me the newest Kelly Clarkson CD and Taylor Swift's latest. And some M&Ms. After all, what's a birthday without some sweets? And speakin of sweets, he gave me a sweet card. I'd type the text here but it might embarrass him. 


We try to keep the birthdays pretty low key (his is Thanksgiving and mine's so close to Christmas) and just do a small gift or two and dinner out. I'm easy to please.


We went to the local parade this afternoon. A certain sweetie pie (ahem Riley) was in it. I'll obviously post pics of that later, too.  


When we got back I ran 2 miles in 20 minutes. It was brrr cold! ! !

We had dinner with friends to round out the birthday celebration.

When ya have a birthday the week before Christmas there's bound to be some blending.

On the way home we drove through some neighborhoods with lotsa Christmas lights. One place even had a train - Riley loved that! Shoot, so did we! 

Anyhooooo....Blessed to have another year here.

what a HANDSOME birthday boy

Somebody's havin' a birthday today .... 
what a cutie pie he is!  

He's getting so grown up looking now... so tall he's grown this year

We went to his game last night and he did great! They won in overtime. Cullen hit at least one three-pointer. He had his toe on the line a couple times or he'd have had more threes. I think he had about 18 points and several good assists. It was a great game to watch. I might be a smidge hoarse from hollering...

Happy 14th birthday Cu Cu ~

let the birthday celebrations begin

My birthday is comin' up this weekend and today my work peeps took me to a local BBQ joint for lunch.

These two gals are the funniest NUTs you ever been around. Love em, love em!

The taller NUT above is an awesome cook. She's 'specially great at 
D-E-S-S-E-R-T !

Strawberry Semifreddo Shortcake

If the internet had taste buds, they'd be watering somethin' fierce. Southern Living wasn't joshin' when they said "parlor perfect ice cream cake." I'm in their corner on this one. 


If you wanna try to make it for me here's how - click & make me.


It has ice cream in it, sorbet, pureed strawberries, lady fingers & some other sweet ingredients. Mmm d to the lish, ya hear me?!


Glad to have these sweet ladies as coworkers and friends. Also glad the birthday celebratin' has begun tee hee

News on the technology front

Indeed we did.

In the comfort of my pjs Thanksgiving night, circa 12:05 Lyndy went to a little place called the world wide web and purchased our household a lovely little high tech fancy dancy laptop. 

This was one of my teasers from the previous blog post. Wasn't it worth the wait?!

Yeah, we're doin big thangs.

We think we're pretty much the last people on the planet to get a laptop. And just to keep it real so you folks don't get the notion we are high fallutin the ole desktop computer was on its last leg, it had been saved once by our good friend B dubs and acted crazy more often than not of late. 

And I'm here to tell ya, you can just bury me 6 feet under if I ever lose all my pics. No bed of roses or satin needed...

And I did the nasty task this weekend - burned pics to DVDs and put em in the fire proof safe. Took sorta forever, but it had to be done.

So anyway... now, when ya read this here blog you can picture me somethin like this - - 

a little somethin-somethin and teasers

First and foremost, I sit here at this computer SO EARLY cuz I forgot we have our church services at 11 now steda 10. Shoot! Could-be-sleeping-now.

Oh well, my Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal makes up for it a little and I was able to catch up on my blogging buddies whilest sittin here.

Friday night we had a Christmas dinner to go to for Anthony's work. The food was delish. I ate a big ole steak. Somebody told me it takes three days to digest red meat. Ew, guess that'll be hangin out in my bod til Tuesday or so, huh? I know...gross.

Yesterday my mom and I went Christmas shopping. Gorgeous unseasonably warm day and we got a lot done! We're both very close to being finished. Yay! Have I mentioned I LOVE MY MOMMA and going shopping with her is pretty dang cool? Well now I have. So now you know.

The other day my mother-in-law gave us a treat. More on that later.

We got ourselves a little treat on Black Friday (online). More on that later, too. Cuz I know inquiring minds gotta know.

Now I'm off to decide what to wear for church. Is it a pants day cuz it's supposed to rain? Or is it a skirt or dress day since I took the time to shave my legs? Decisions, decisions...

Tinsley and the Christmas trees

I already toldja about our Thanksgiving. And our hall decking.

I got the two Christmas trees up this weekend (one in the living room and the other in the office) and I was so proud and pooped. I didn't even take a nap this weekend cuz I was sooo bizzy deckin the halls. No boughs of holly here. Do people still use that stuff?

Well dontcha know I already got a smidge of a section of lights out on one of my trees...grrrr Not sure if it's just bad lights or a certain fat cat that won't keep her furry self outta the trees, out from under the skirts and away from the ornaments. She apparently has an inclination toward the jingly and glittery ornaments. In the wee hours of the mornin earlier this week I heard a jingle jingle and lemme tell ya it was not ole Saint Nick. Nope. It was Tinsley the tree terrorizer. Ugh.

Last night mega late I heard a clatter and I got outta the recliner to see what was the matter. No sleighs or reindeer. Tinsley the terrible strikes again. She had managed to pull off a sparkly ornament. Did I mention she's declawed? All four. Yeah, but that doesn't stop her not-one-bit. Anyway, as I picked her up and gave her a good stern talkin' to I told her her face wouldn't be all sparkly if she would just leave the tree and its adornments alone. She didn't seem to understand me. It was almost like she was mocking me.

If When she continues to totally disobey me and tears up the tree and its pretties, I'm sure I'll eventually get a pic of the furry little brat.

Stay tuned.

SO MUCH 2b THANKFUL FOR

Thanksgiving has come and gone once again. Um, can someone please slow the clock down?!

*WARNING* lotsa pics ahead... proceed with patience

We went to do the meal with Anthony's fam last Sunday.. and you will recall that COUNTRY HAM is always on the menu there. MMM! There's turkey and lotsa other great stuff, too.
Ate.too.much.

Pretty early on, there was some kinda incident... Dawson said Kyle hit him. His nose bled a little. Boys will be boys.

The grandparents gave each of the grandkids a set of the state quarters. It was cool to see em all together like that.  

The process of the kiddos giving us grown ups their Christmas lists was entertaining. It took FOREVER for Kyle to decide what he wanted. McKenzie was ready to strangle him before it was said & done. (She was the scribe.) 

Bryson is learning to tie his shoes so that led to a "well how do YOU do it" thing that was kinda funny... I always make fun of how Anthony ties his shoes. We agreed he had the weirdest method... 

On Thanksgiving day, we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Janice & Terry and Christy. It was yummy. We went early enough so we'd be hungry for lunch because we went to my friend Brandi's house for what I'll call Thanksgiving FEAST. We had never had turkey that had been cooked in peanut oil in one of those fryer thingys ... I don't know what they're called but that was some awesome turkey. It was so tender and juicy. They had injected it with some kind of Cajun seasoning. Money as Guy Fieri would say. Everything was super good because Brandi is an awesome cook. I wished for a second stomach. So glad friends will adopt us and allow us to horn in on their family time. Plus I had fun playing with Lauren, their 3 year old doll of a girl.

My family got together Friday night. Brandi had shared a sweet potato casserole recipe with me and I gave her a whirl....  

It was pretty tasty, even if I say so myself. I also took Oreo balls. And we had ham and all the bestest fixins to go with.
Ate.too.much.again.

Yeah, my nephew is a NUT and so is my beloved. They like to do the Barry Gibbs skit from SNL (Jimmy Fallon style) every time they're together...

Here's the whole bunch - -

And the silly shot... always gotta do a silly shot

Anthony's birthday was on Thanksgiving day this year... we didn't really celebrate it per se, but I gave him a couple gifts and a sweet birthday card. He's older than me for the next 3 weeks-ish. He he he

Over the weekend I was a busy bee decking the halls... put up both trees this year and have the garland and wreaths on the porch railing. Gotta put lights on that though. Had to BUY lights first - this was the year that most of my strands were dead. Ugh! Once she's fully decked, I'll post pics. That is if my cat doesn't UNdeck em before I get the chance to get pics...

Anyway, I'm thankful for our family and all the blessings we sure don't deserve. God is a gracious and loving God; I continue to be in awe of how much He does for me and blesses me with.