Halloween festivities: Part II

In our little town there was kinda two nights of trick or treatin'

We saw Dawson, Bryson & McKenzie on Sunday night...

 DAWSON

a creepy scary thing...

with a weapon

McKENZIE

the Progressive Insurance girl

a homemade costume complete with hair bump-it

BRYSON

from Swamp People tv show...

they kill gators while in little fishing boats

Then on Monday night we had some more treaters...

RILEY

a cowboy

with leather chaps, authentic cowboy hat & boots and of course a gun

Anthony's cousin Ashley has two beautiful blond daughters that were all dolled up and precious.

Anthony's cousin Nicole has a 6 month old son and he was the cutest monkey you ever did see!

Later partners.

Til next year.

Boooooo

Halloween festivities: Part I

Friday afternoon I got a text from Leslie (surprise #1, she rarely texts) sayin that they were havin Mom & Dad up for supper and we could come, too. Yay! Surprise #2 And we could carve pumpkins (surprise #3). Sweet!

Easy as 1 - 2 - 3 !

1 bein pickin out a pattern the boys would like
2 bein gettin the proper toolios
3 bein tapin the pattern to the punkin (not your glove Les!) and then a-carvin
Mario was Cullen's choice and Frankenstein was Cam's Not pictured here is Mom, our worthy assistant :-) And for the record I had the pumpkin with the thickest wall EVER!

At work we have a party and costume contest ...that was on Friday, too! I was pumped this year because I had seen this idea online a couple years ago and wanted to do it, but knew it was beyond my abilities. WAY BEYOND...

Bird in a cage

BUT since my daddy isn't pastoring full-time any mo, he has some extree time on his hands ya see... so his favorite daughter (yes, I'm the ONLY daughter he does have) asked him ever so nicely if he thought he could build this cage. He was up for the task! I just needed to find all the stuff. Not as easy as I'd thought, but I got it all. Hula hoop, wooden dowels, styrofoam topper (FYI styro is high-o!), tape, spray paint and some cardboard for the bottom. Mom was straight with the sewing project - got the feather boa at Party City and a shirt & skirt from Goodwill. Leggings were a $5 find on Amazon.com oh yeah!

Notice the bottom of my cage - newspaper... he he he MY idea... Mom said I should put the feathers in there like I was molting. I molted all over the office. We were still findin feathers TODAY.  lol

Mom did a fab job on the feather work and she gets 100% cred for the awesome headband - wanted you to see it cuz it was kinda hidden behind the big mask. Also wanted you to see my eyeshadow - top right inset - I striped it up! Yellow purple pink blue 

Anthony said I was crazy and thought I was askin too much of Dad to build this contraption, but... I bet his butt will sit in the Cracker Barrel rocker I won and enjoy a trip to the movies thanks to the passes I won. I love being #1.

Two of my best gal pals at the office are Brandi and Angela -

Brandi made a superb Hermione from Harry Potter
She MADE the hat. It is awesome!

And Angela was straight out the 70s !

Complete with pick in the fro.

Check back soon loyal readers - I'll post some pics of the trick or treaters we gave sugary candy to.

a WICKED good time

WICKED is in town and I've been looking forward to seeing it for a lifetime months... Bridgett and I went to the 2:00 show on Saturday.

It was super fun and our seats were UH - MAZE - ING no joke. Orchestra level center, 'bout where you could see detail but also still get the full effect of all the stage movement & choreography. If you've been living under a rock, this is the story of the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz. Oh, and it's a musical.

Costumes were gorgeous. Lighting was soo effective. Stage sets unbelievable. Choreography was near perfection. Actors were humongo talented and the singing?? Wow. And that Elphaba (that's the wicked witch's name) was flawless in all her songs. There was a lot of funny stuff in the show, too. There was so much to see in every scene I told Bridge I wish I had two sets of eyes. I'd go back again it was soo good! If you'd like to take me, gimme a call.

Was dyin' to have this shirt, but the price tag? Um 39 chops. I don't think so Ozlanders. Nope. Yall can keep that un.

We thought about eating downtown but ended up at one of our fave places - Texas Roadhouse. Had me some ribs. There was finger lickin' involved.

Andy Armadillo wanted a pic with us hott chics so we obliged. (No worries peeps - my hubby took this pic cuz he was lonesome & bored so we invited him to join us for dinner. Andy didn't put the moves on us. He just wanted a pic.)

Why are you still reading?
GO
SEE
WICKED.........

Last weekend: football, a birthday celebray-shun & Riley time

FOOTBALL

Saturday. Dawson. Age 8. Grade 3. Running back. Linebacker. Victory.

Um, looking older than 8 here, right? Kids grow up too fast.

o o o o o o o o

BIRTHDAY FALLAPALOOZA

Saturday. Bryson. Age 7. Grade 1. Swamp people. Gator cake.
Camp fire. Cute kids. Trampoline jumpin.
Weenie & marshmellow roastin. Hay ride.

On the second hay ride, the goal was to scare the 13-14 yr olds with some chainsaw terror. Scared us adults instead. LOL (btw it was cold, like 40 degrees brrrr)

Made the kiddos walk through the cemetery. . . creeeeepy..... tried to coast away (in neutral) but the kiddos were hip to our jive. Ran back on the wagon as we rolled away.

o o o o o o o o

RILEY TIME

Sunday. Riley. Age 3. Preschool. Sweet & energetic.

Sunday afternoon the house phone rung, then my cell. No message. Called Lisa back and whadya know, she needed to drop Riley off with us for a spell. Of course we were glad to help out. He brings fun and hugs to the house.

He looooves football, much like his mom & dad... a Titans fan he is

Told me he wanted a piggyback ride so he immediately got his wish.

Just call me genie.

Bridgett swung by for a few and Riley remembered her from the last time - he likes when she reads him a book. I think she read him three. :-) She's gonna be a elementary school teacher real soon so it's good practice for her.

We played some football, played cars, snacked and I even let him play my iPod. He's a good boy and is never ready to leave when they come to pick him up. I think that's a sign...yep, he likes loves us! That's good cuz we like love him a whoooole lot, too.

That's a wrap...picture wise any the hoooo...we did other stuff, but nuthin worth mentionin here.

Annual fall cookout...

I'm a week behind (as usual)... this was LAST Sat.

See, my inlaws bumped the annual fall cookout back a week to accommodate our beach trip. Ain't that sweet?! We had a lotta fun and enjoyed hangin' with all the fam on Terry's side...

Cornhole is usually played mostly by the guys, but Christy always gets in a game... not sure who the champs were this year. I heard Anthony say he wasn't playing very well.

 Kiddos are wrestling Dawson for the football.

I love this shot I got of Dawson - will go in Janice's photo calendar for sure!

This little gal - me and her share something in common...

we got the same first name 'cept they spell hers different.

Hay ride came a little early, but it was still plenty fun...

This little sweetie was enjoyin' her very first hay ride... so much so it lulled her to sleep (awww)

Nuttin better than weenies and marshmellows on an open fire...

except maybe....

 SMORES!!!!

 Mitchell and Stacy played a game called Chubby Bunny. You keep stuffing your mouth with marshmellows (no chewing allowed) and saying Chubby Bunny til someone can't fit any more marshmellows and a winner is declared. Seems like a kinda dumb game to me, but who am I to say?

Remember Sid from Toy Story? Anthony's step brother has a son that seemed awfully enamored with fire... just sayin' .... there were similarities....

the evil laugh.... the braces... even his voice....

My morning so far

Bridgett came over last night and stayed til a little after 2. Yeah. That's A M (as in the morning)... So I got up this mornin about 10 til 9.
Cook eggs & toast (sensible breakfast)
Check
Use the bathroom (TMI?)
Check
Empty dishwasher 
Check
Sort laundry
Check
Put a load in
Check
Run 5 miles (in 52 minutes btw)
Check
Lay down on the road by the mailbox (literally, down there with the ants)
Check
Walk one tenth of mile up the MASSIVELY HILLY driveway to my home
Check

Next up: Shower, Dawson's football game, probably more laundry, Bryson's birthday party, watch UT/Bama game

My oh my what a day ....

Beach getaway recap

If you thought you'd endured all the pics from our beachy keen weekend, ha! Shows what YOU know!

Friday night we looked like this .... to go here...

My sweet friend Brandi said her and her hubby loved this joint. It was nice and the food was good. But our first problem happened when we asked a few questions of our kind young waiter. 
So we need to PEEL the shrimp?
Yeah, but it's no big deal.
We've never peeled shrimp.
You just take your thumb and run it up from the head. It's easy.
So the shrimp have heads? 
Yes (grin & stifled laugh).
But we can get them taken off? 
Yeah, but there's a $2 charge and I personally think it's a waste of money. 
Well, I really don't know if I can handle lookin at those little eyes, so let's behead the little guys.
(chuckle) Ok..
So when these formerly breathing, swimming creatures arrive at our table I was a smidge creeped out, I ain't gonna lie. They had legs, lotsuvem. I was brave and started peeling... the slimy little guys tried to get away from me. When they say fresh, they mean it. lol But I ate em and they tasted good. I noticed Anth was focused on his crab legs and thought about offering to peel summa his shrimp, but I was elbow deep in my own. Ha! The taties (potatoes) and corn were yummy too btw. About midway through my plate, I started noticing POOP in my shrimp. Criminy! I didn't realize they weren't necessarily deveined. And nobody told me how to do that, so I didn't eat all of em. I was full by then anyhoo.
Oh well, makes for a good story. Right?

Saturday and Sunday I tried to be the best BEACH BUM I could be.

Finished a book while we were there. Yay me.
Sorry my hair is lookin like somethin outta the 70s - it was really windy all weekend.

We ran to the B&B Saturday afternoon to make sure we knew where the wedding was and all, so we swung by the Donut Hole for a piece of key lime pie. They charge $3.50 a slice, so they talked us into a whole pie, which was a mere $12.50. Disappointed. Not as yummy as expected. Had a WHANG to it as my daddy would say.

Since there weren't a ton of peeps on the beach, the seagulls thought it was their zip code. And yes, I finally succumbed to the temptation... I got up and ran over to a group of em and chased em away. And I giggled the whole time. I felt like I was three years old again. HA
I think I saw a stranger nearby looking at me with amusement. I.don't.care.cuz.it.wuz.fun.

And there was a bit of shoppin' to do... but before that, we had to lose one of our room keys...and search for it for like 30 minutes in the room and on the beach and everything in between...and in the meantime get irritated with each other playing the "blame game" but all's well that ends well... the key was in a secret side pocket of the beach bag. Crisis averted. Well sorta...

SOMEbody needed a new polo shirt. Mmm hmm yeah, cuz we don't already have like two dozen.
I know I should hush. I have like 10 times as many clothes and shoes as my man...

Anthony's scoping out the beef jerky. Like ten million varieties. He was in man heaven pretty much. He may have grunted like Tim Allen at one point, Idk. Ended up with a couple bags and some nasty boiled peanuts. $35 later..... ask me if any of it made it back to Tennessee...

A funny shirt, dontcha think?

They had others equally as amusing...

PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals
There's Room for All God's Creatures - Right Next to my Mashed Potatoes
Tree Huggin' is OK... as long as you're climbin' up to your deer stand

Sunday night we ended up havin' dinner at Pompano Joe's with the newlyweds and some of the folks that stuck around after the wedding. It was nice visiting with them. And the food was YUMMY! Oh, and did I mention I got to hold little Avery? Yeah. He was sweet and grinned at me a lot. I think he wants to come live with us.

Ate kinda light at the PJ so we could go back
to our favorite treat spot - Shake's

Anth had chocolate of course and I tried the turtle this time.

The key lime pie one I had back in the summer was better.

But friends, all good things must come to an end. What a shame.

This view from our condo balcony?
I could so get used to it... like 24/7 365