Happy Birthday Matt!

On this Thanksgiving Day, I am especially thankful for my husband because it is also his birthday! Matt is a wonderful husband and an even better Daddy to our two little blessings. Growing up, I was probably like most other little girls that daydreamed about who they would someday marry. Thankfully, God had the perfect man in mind for me, and I am so thankful.

Because we had so much food on Thanksgiving Day, we waited until Friday to celebrate Matt's birthday. As is our custom, we celebrated his special day with a red velvet cake, his favorite. Caroline helped me and Mamaw Kat make the cake and enjoyed taste testing it during the process. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready to partake of the cake, Will had gone to sleep. That explains why I don't have a family shot around the cake. Happy Birthday, Matt!

Shopaholics

When Nana comes to town, Caroline knows she to get her purse ready because she and Nana are bound to go shopping at some point during her visit. This time, the dynamic duo were on a mission to buy Will a Christmas present. Of course they also had to make a stop at Chick-fil-A, their favorite place to eat!

Professor Willgy

In case you're wondering, Willgy is a nickname Caroline came up with for her brother. And let's just hope his infatuation with Mardi Gras beads is just a phase he's going through right now....

Pre-Thanksgiving Fun

We went to Philly this past weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving early with my family. During our visit, my kids entertained themselves with an air mattress and a set of drums. Who needs toys when you can talk your grandparents into letting you jump on an air mattress and play a real drum set?

Future Catch

What woman wouldn't want to marry a handsome young man who likes to clean house in nothing but a pair of bluejeans so that his nice sculpted upper body could truly be appreciated? Ladies, get ready...I'm raising my little man right and he's bound to be a good catch one day!

The big kill

As luck would have it, I married a hunter. Thankfully, he is not addicted to it so I am never really a "widow of the woods" during season, but Matt does enjoy spending a little time on the deer stand. Unfortunately, it seems that I put a curse on him because ever since I've known him (8+ years), he has not killed a deer. Granted, he has had a few opportunities, but didn't want to kill a doe. Instead, he was waiting for "Big Boy". Well, after being the subject of many a joke, he decided NO MORE. This weekend, he shot down a "Big Girl". I was thrilled because maybe this means the spell has been broken. Plus, it was time he put some deer meat on the table! He told me not to put this on the blog, but I told him there wasn't a chance that I wouldn't document this big event. Hopefully the next deer that appears on our blog will indeed be "Big Boy".

Big Girl Haircut

A week or so ago, I decided to try my luck at giving Caroline a "big girl haircut". Caroline has never had much hair until now, so there was no need to even think about a haircut. Aunt KK gave Caroline her first hair "trim" a few months ago, and since then, her hair has really started to grow and thicken. (Maybe Mammaw is right after all about how a trim can really make hair thicken and grow...at least that was her philosophy when I was little.) Anyway, I've never cut anyone's hair, but decided to give it a try. I wacked a good bit off and in the end, I think her hair cut is precious! It makes her look so much older. She's definitely a little girl now and not my little baby. Oh, how bittersweet! If you're wondering, Caroline really likes her new "hairdo" and has told everyone about it.

Indian Princess

Introducing.....

Moon Princess

Caroline's playschool teacher helped all of the kids make the cutest little Indian outfits for Thanksgiving and then assigned each of them their own Indian name. Caroline's chosen name was Moon Princess. On Thursday, they all celebrated Thanksgiving together. Caroline took some green cupcakes that she helped me make. According to Ms. Candace and the mouths of all of the kids, they were a big hit. When I picked Moon Princess up after her big celebration, I was able to get a picture of her with her buddy, Olivia.

The Louisiana Sled Ride

I should know by now that Mississippians aren't the only ones who can come up with some crazy ways to have fun because this weekend, Louisianians proved to be just as creative, or shall I say redneck, in having a good time. While we were visiting Matt's parents, I was summoned outside by Erin only to discover that my little darling was going on a "sled ride". Since there was no snow on the ground, you might wonder what in the world I am talking about. So, I've included a little picture for visualization. According to Mamaw Kat, using a pile of pine straw as a sled was Caroline's idea, but I think that is suspect. Regardless, Caroline loved putting a beach towel over the pine straw to create a comfy little ride. From the looks and sounds of everyone who participated in this redneck sled ride, I think it provided for a good workout too.

On another note, Aunt Erin gave Caroline her first Barbie doll. This Barbie was extra special because she had her very own golden retriever just like our Bama. This little puppy also pooped like our Bama. No, I am not kidding, the doll came with a pooping puppy. Aunt Erin said she didn't realize it when she bought it, but it did make for a good laugh. You feed the dog, wag its tail and it poops it out. It even came with a pooper scooper! What will they come up with next?

Will's 1-year-old photo shoot

I took Will to the portrait studio on Tuesday since he just turned one. I could just eat him up in these pictures!



I couldn't resist...I had to have a picture taken with my little man.

Happy Birthday Pappaw!

Today is Pappaw's (Matt's Dad) birthday. For those that know us, Pappaw and I like to give each other a lot of grief. It makes things interesting. In all seriousness though, I'm fortunate to have such a great father-in-law. He is always willing to lend a helping hand when we need it and he is a wonderful Pappaw to my kids. I would normally insert a little joke here, but I'm going to lay off for his birthday! Happy birthday, Pappaw!

My sleepy helper

Last night as I was doing the dishes, Caroline decided she would keep me company. Since she was sleepy and ready for bed, yet still wanted to hang out with me, this was her solution:
Surely life doesn't get any sweeter than this!

Cereal anyone?

When I was feeding the kids breakfast yesterday, I turned my back for less than a minute to fix my breakfast. Within that minute, Caroline decided she would help her brother eat his cereal. He, in turn, decided he could do it himself. This is what I turned around to find:

I'm a big kid now!

The world has just gotten a lot bigger in Will's eyes because on Sunday we put him in a big boy car seat. No longer will he have to just look at the back of the seat, instead he has the best view in the Tahoe. Needless to say, he was quite excited about the transition. Caroline even enjoys it as well because it makes it is easier to share snacks!

My new shoes

Watch out...Elmo and Will are on the move and believe it or not, he is faster when he has these on!

Having fun with my cousin

On Saturday, Mamaw Kat, Aunt Charlotte, Janet and Mason made a trip to Mistletoe Marketplace. I decided to join them for a little while even though I had already been earlier in the week. Since I knew Mason would rather be playing than shopping, I volunteered to take him home with me so that Janet could shop a little longer. Caroline was very excited that I brought her cousin home to play with her. Her only complaint was that Mamaw Kat didn't come as well. We attempted a picnic outside, but both kids were more interested in making the other one laugh than they were in eating. Watching toddlers play together always amuses me. While she was swinging, Caroline kept asking Mason to look at her swining "high in the sky". He was too busy playing but soon realized she was not going to let up until he acknowledged her. Just like a man, he turned around quickly and said, "yep". That's all the acknowledgment she needed because after that, she quit bugging him to watch her.

A visit from the Hensons

What I am about to write is rather sad when I look back at my life over the years. In college I had a great friend, Laura Baria. We were basically inseparable. We would take trips home together, go on long tennis trips together, study together (well, maybe not because I didn't do a lot of that), you name it, where you found one, you usually found the other. Then the dreaded day came...graduation. I moved to Birmingham for graduate school and she went to Ole Miss for pharmacy school. We still managed to get together pretty often but then the next big life event happened...marriage. I moved to Dothan and she moved to Jackson. Then shortly after, we started having babies. Between the husbands, the kids and the distance, we never see each other. To be exact, it has been almost 2 years since I had seen her last and neither of us had met the other's youngest child until Wednesday. Finally! Though the visit was short, it was great to see my old pal. Hopefully, since I've moved back to Mississippi the time between our visits will be shortened. Nevertheless, at least we have phones and blogs to keep us updated as to what's happening with our families. Believe it or not, I failed to get a picture to mark the occasion, so I decided to swipe a photo of Laura's cute little boys, William and Wes, off of her blog instead.

They're Sleepy

I walked into our living room the other morning to find this:According to Caroline, all of the animals were sleepy, so she thought she would join them for a quick "nippy nap" as we call them.

Farmer Will's Birthday Party

On Saturday, our family came over to help us celebrate Will's 1st birthday. We were so excited to have so many of our family members take time out of their own busy lives to spend the afternoon with us. In total, we had over 30 people stop by, so needless to say, our house was rocking. I guess this is one of the many benefits of living closer. Of all the guests, perhaps the VIPs of the party were Matt's grandmother, Mamaw Elsie, and my grandparents, Mommaw and Pappaw Bill. Though they all told us they wanted to come, we knew that we shouldn't assume they would actually come until we actually saw them walk (or stroll) through our front doors.

Since I'm staying home with the kids these days, I decided I would embrace the homemaker role for once and try my luck at putting together and printing the invitations, baking the cake, planning the entertainment for the kids and cooking enough food to feed the masses. Thankfully, it all turned out pretty well....well, that is if you don't count the baked beans that I left in the oven ALL afternoon. Yes, these delicious beans baked for over 4 hours and caused all of the women at the party to search my kitchen up and down to find the curious smell. Matt's Dad was the only one who thought to check the oven, only to determine that he thought I was baking brownies! Finally, my Mom and I found the scorched, unidentifiable beans in which I made a special trip to the grocery store. Enough about that....

Though we had a jumper for the kids to play in, swings, a sandbox, a pinata and even a hay ride to provide the kids with plenty of entertainment, the birthday boy stole the show when cake time arrived. He held nothing back and almost burnt his little finger when trying to get a bite before his candle was blown out. I think he truly enjoyed his day as being the center of attention. Wait a minute...what am I saying? He thinks he's the center of attention everyday. Anyway, the day was a lot of fun and well worth all the time and effort that went into it. Matt and I would definitely like to thank Mamaw Kat and Pappaw for all of their help in getting everything ready for the party....we couldn't have done it without them! To wrap things up...we just hope everyone had as much fun as the four of us and are so thankful we have such a sweet little guy in our lives.

Trick or Treat

Halloween proved to be a lot of fun for all of us. Kevin, Mecie, Hunter and Helen came over for "witches stew" and "mummy dogs" just before we all loaded on a trailer that Kevin pulled behind his mule. (To avoid any confusion, the mule I'm referring to is motorized....not the animal.) Anyway, our neighborhood really gets into Halloween with most of the houses sporting some sort of decoration. Since Matt's parents arrived early to help us get ready for Will's birthday party, Mamaw Kat decided she would join us for the hayride. That left Pappaw at the house by himself to give out candy to the many trick-or-treaters we had come by our house.
By the way, I couldn't be totally outdone by all the neighbors, so I pulled some decor together to spruce up our place as well. This is how it turned out. Of course the best thing about this picture are the two little faces looking out the window at me.