It's HERE...It's HERE...

First, for the record, we made it back home to Georgia safely. Thank you God and thank you Marque.

Now on to serious business. Remember in my last posting, Jayla was a little concerned about one of her gifts? I informed her at that time that she would have to show a little patience and see if it was back at home. Well, it was! The Dora the Explorer Talking Kitchen was waiting for her when we arrived home. And along with that was a trunk full of dress up outfits with all the accessories (those pictures are gonna be TOO cute once I get those together). Oh, and the fun doesn't stop here. Markell had a few things on his list that didn't make the trek to Mobile. His slight disappointment was quickly deminished once he opened the boxes containing his new Nikes, the Ferrari XV race track and the Call of Duty 2 computer game. And did I mention, his brand new bike? It's so pretty...oh, excuse me, it's not "pretty"... it's SWEEEETT!! (insert rolling eyes here).




Now THIS is what Christmas is all about!!! Making those we love happy.

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS (day)

Merry Christmas again everyone. Ok, there's no snow on the ground in Mobile. But I swear to you, I saw a penguin coming out of the bathroom this morning. It is FREEZING in this house!!! Guess mom's just trying to get everyone in the spirit :-).

The kids have had a ball already since we've been here. Peter even took some time to teach the kids how to shoot a bow & arrow in the back yard.

On Christmas Eve, Peter's parents, my grandparents and my uncle came over for dinner. Oh my goodness, it was so good. I would tell you what all we had, but I don't think my mom would want a bunch of strangers knocking on her front door trying to place an order to go :-). My mother is such a trooper. I think she spent about 85% of the time we were there in the kitchen. Thanks mom & Peter, dinner was fabulous.

On Christmas day, the kids got up early and headed to the living room. There were twice as many gifts under the tree compared to what they saw the night before. Probably because my sister was up all night doing last minute wrapping :-). I think they both were very happy with the gifts they got. Although, it was a little hard to explain to Jayla that there were more gifts to open back in Atlanta. She was a little upset that the Dora The Explorer Talking Kitchen didn't make it to Mobile. Who knows? Maybe it's at home....

Later in the day on Christmas, we got to go visit my great grandmother, Mama Gaitwood. I love that lady so much. Are you ready for this? She turned 101 years old back in July. Her memory is fading a bit, but I'm glad to say that she always remembers me and the fact that I love powdered donuts.

On Christmas night, MORE family came over and mom and Peter worked the kitchen once again. I think there were about 30 + - people there. We had a blast playing the Dirty Santa game and everyone did really well with the gifts. And there were no fights over gifts being stolen :-).

Mom and Peter, you guys are such wonderful hosts. And we were honored to spend Christmas with you. We love you!!! And I'm not even mad that one of the gifts I got while we were there was a cold.....A-A-AACHUUUU!!!!!!! :-)

YES! We're there yet...(finally)

Alrighty now, we made it safely to Mobile. And in record time I might add. I forgot to mention that my husband has not been to Mobile in a little over 2 years...all because of the drive. Thank GOD, he and I weren't together back in the 70's & early 80's when the ride use to take over 6 hours (thank heavens for highway 65!) To us, Mobile is one of those places you HAVE to drive to because it would take longer to drive to the airport from our house than it would to fly. I think the flight is, what, 35-45 minutes or something. Anyway, back to this trip. We made it to my moms house just in time to go to Walmart...you know, it's ONLY open 26 hours! And in time for a big ole pot of chili. THAT, my friend, is the benefit of suffering through that long drive... the food. Have mercy!! My mom and Peter sure can cook!!! And I hear there's more to come over the next couple of days.. Stay tuned.

The LONG journey....

Once upon a time, in a far away land (known to those who live in Georgia as Powder Springs), there lived a family. Oh what fun it is to see this family get ready for a looooonngg journey together to a far away place called Mobile, Alabama :-). This is where the family will spend Christmas. But first, at 8:00am the puppy has to be dropped off to be boarded for a few days. Then we have to load the van with all the luggage AND gifts (THIS should've been done the night before). Then we finally leave the house at 9:05am to drop grandma back off at her house as she'll be spending Christmas with her grandson and his family. THEN it's off to IHOP for breakfast. FINALLY, the long, borning journey to lovely, Mobile, Alabama begins. I sure wish I had thought to bring some sort of sedative or MORE scrapbook magazines... as this has GOT to be the most boring 4.5 hours a family can spend together. We have successfully taught the kids NOT to ask..."Are we there YET?" However, I will admit those words did silently cross my lips during our ride. For the record, and if you've ever wondered, there are approximately 600 million trees between Montgomery and Mobile...and NOTHING else!!!

Merry Christmas!!

I know I've already posted once today. But I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone who takes a moment to read here, a wonderfully Merry Christmas. Remember, this is a time of giving, sharing, remembering and loving those who God has placed in our lives. If it wasn't for Him, there'd be no us. I know we all have some sort of "list" of things we might want and/or need for Christmas. But it's not just about what we can GET from others. It's more about what we can GIVE to others. I wish those of you that are going away for Christmas, safe travels to and fro. And for those staying close to home, you too be safe. Until I write again, have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Anniversary Layout

I don't normally post my LO's my BLOG. But I was so pleased with how this one came out, I thought I'd show my "creativeness" here for a change. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I did creating it.

Ok, Adrienne...for you...AGAIN!

I LOVe these Things!
So I TOTALLY stole this off Cynthia's Blog, But I wanted to play too! LOL *insert pout here*The rules for this particular tagging are as follows:Remove the blog name in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add yourself to the bottom slot.
1. Dawn (Scrappin til Dawn)
2. Adrienne {A Glimpse OF ME; A peek into my world...}
3.
4.
5.

Then you get to select five people to pass the love on to.
1. Stacey
2. Mandy
3. Traci
4. Kris
5. Tiffany

Now, on to the questions!

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Working at BellSouth

What were you doing one year ago?
Getting use to my new job as a SAHM

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. Raisinets!!!!!!!
2. Chocolate chip & walnut cookies
3. KC Masterpiece BBQ Chips
4. Buttered popcorn
5. Pretzels

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1. Anything by Anita Baker
2. I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me
3. He Loves Me by Beyonce and a bunch of other people from The Fighting Temptations soundtrack
4. Posse on Broadway by Sir Mix A lot :-)
5. Home by Stephanie Mills from the movie the Wiz

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Build a new house COMPLETE with the ultimate scrapbook room.
2. Buy my husband the car of his dreams. Today that is the new Lexus GS300 and me the Caddilac Escalade
3. Put away for the kids education.
4. Buy a car for my sister and my mom.
5. Put the rest aside for a “rainy day”.

Five bad habits:
1. Fussing at the kids
2. Biting my nails
3. Not scrapping as much as I should/want to.
4. Not cleaning the house as much as it’s needed. (I’ll get to it when the kids move out J)
5. Not keeping my van clean (I’ll get to that when the kids move out too J)

Five things you like doing:
1. Sleeping late
2. Scrapbooking by myself or with my friends
3. Cuddling with my husband....
4. SHOPPING
5. Spending time talking with, emailing, IM'ing my friends! (Good one!)

Five things you would never wear, buy, or get new again:
1. Mini skirts
2. SKIN TIGHT ANYTHING.
3. BIG HAIR
4. Cheap shoes
5. Body piercings...NOT my thing..ditto

Five favorite toys:
1. My computer.
2. My puppy, Trae
3. My Camera
4. My scrapbook stuff
5. My cell phone!

Woo Hoo...it's OUTTA here.....

YAY! I went in today for my follow up appt on my broken ankle. The doctor told me that I no longer have to wear the brace, as it has done it's job. Yippy!!! However (there's always a however), I do still have a little pain if I touch the area that was broken, or if I stand/walk too long, or if my foot just "flops" the wrong way. Therefore (there's always a therefore too) I will have to go through therapy. Probably not for long. But long enough for me not to "limp" anymore when I walk and for me to get my mobility back. The doc has warned me that the therapy WILL be painful. Great!! Anyway, the good news is, I'm not in that dumb brace anymore and maybe I can start back wearing TWO shoes. Oh, the little things in life :-).

It's Our Anniversary...

I am SOOO lucky...wait, BLESSED is more like it. (I don't believe in "luck"). I have been married to the man of my dreams for 17 years as of today, December 17, 2005. Trust me when I say, it hasn't been all wine and roses the entire 17 years. We have had our trials. But for the most part, our marriage has been quite special. We often look back to the times when we were barely making ends meet. I mean, our power and phone service were often cut off. And we had to take the little bit of food we had either to a friends house or to my moms house so it wouldn't go bad. Our one and only car died a slow, miserable death ON our wedding day (that was an INTERESTING day). I even think at one point or another, we have owed money to EVERY single person or company on the planet :-). We have lived in some places we'd rather not remember. We've been through both proud moments and trials with our oldest daughter, Briyanna. We were blessed to be able to raise my nephew, Markell, from the age of 7 days to today, when he's almost 11 years old. And we were blessed with our youngest daughter, Jayla, for whom we prayed for for 11 LONG years. Today, we live in a beautiful home, we have 2 vehicles (that both work...smile) and I am able to be a stay at home mom to raise the kids. Ya know, life really doesn't get much better than that. For our anniversary, we went to our favorite restaurant, Fogo De Chao. Talk about delicious! I was almost nervous and giddy about being out (alone) on a date with my husband. We laughed and talked and simply had a ball with eachother. When we ordered our desserts, I asked the waiter if they had an "anniversary" dessert. He laughed and said they did. Soon, he brought out my slice of chocolate mousse cake and Marque's Key Lime Pie, both with one lit candle in it. And on the plates, they wrote HAPPY ANNIVERSARY in a raspberry puree. It was perfect. We blew out our candles and made a wish. A wish for another, wonderful 17 years together. And I guess next year, when we do this again for #18, we'll wish for another 18 together, and so on. That way, we'll be together forever, just as we vowed to eachother back on December 17, 1988. Happy Anniversary Marque, I love you!!

We are DONE!! (Christmas shopping that is)

Woooo Hooooo....We are done with our kids Christmas shopping. Today, me and my dear husband spent the day together shopping for the kids. First we dropped Jayla off at a friends house to play. Next, we went to IHOP for a nice pancake breakfast. Then off to Toys R Us we went! We had so much fun together. I get to see a totally different side of my husband when he's in a toy store. We start off our shopping quest looking for things together. We quickly come to realize that we should've gotten two shopping carts :-). Somewhere around the isles of Barbie stuff and the remote control cars, we split up. Weird! It happens every year. I get to pick out the "girly" stuff for Jayla and he gets to pick out the "manly" stuff for Markell. For a minute there, I thought we'd need a 3rd cart. But we held out and even met up at the cashier at the same time. We finished our shopping in record time, even after stopping by Target for a couple more things. Then we headed home to drop off the goods before I went to pick Jayla up and Markell got home. We are GOOD...we got all the kids shopping done and hid it in the basement...all while "under the radar" (they had no idea what we were doing today). Now I've got to figure out when I'm gonna wrap all this stuff.

My Early Christmas Gifts

I'm sure that by now, everyone has heard the statement, "Wow, I can't believe it's ALREADY Christmas!". Well, I'm gonna add to the mix and say..."Wow, I can't believe it's ALREADY Christmas!" :-) I can't!! Because it seems like we just got back from our summer (July) vacation in Destin, Florida. Ok, that's pushing it a bit, huh? Anyway, regardless if Christmas IS next Sunday, I'm not ready yet! Just one more month, that oughta do it!! Can you believe I haven't even started shopping yet? We don't do too much shopping actually. My husband and I will start (and finish) our shopping this coming Friday, the 16th. We plan to spend the day together and do all the shopping for the kids and our parents. That's about it. Not sure yet what the plan is for shopping for eachother. Hmmm, I'd better look into that. Thankfully, we've ONLY got 3 kids to buy for. Our oldest is pretty easy to buy for. She doesn't live at home anymore so that sounds like a gift certificate to me. The 10 year old has a MASSIVE list. Looks like we need to be a little selective with him. And the 4 year old has been adding to her list for the past 2 months....the same 3 or 4 items...but adding nonetheless. As far as my husband, he only wants a telescope. Have you ever priced those things before? Have MERCY!! THOUSANDS of dollars for the ones that look just past the street lights :-). We saw one that was ONLY $25,000 and there was a guy standing next to it with a lab coat on. Wonder if he was figured into the $25K? Oh well, may have to look into that one too. Now I will admit there are FEW things that I want too. But if you don't mind my being a little cliche', I really got my Christmas gifts early this month. I got them last weekend as a matter of fact, when my oldest daughter came over to do a family picture. Ok, part of the family. We decided to just do the kids and the dog this year. And if I must say so myself, the picture came out great. The one above is not the one we sent out with our Christmas letter this year. But it's still one of my favorites. So with that, enjoy my early Christmas gifts. We call the "gifts", Briyanna, Markell, Jayla and Trae. Merry Christmas to you all!!!

How much longer???

This coming Saturday (Dec. 17th) will not only be my 17th wedding anniversary. But it will also mark the 6 week anniversary of me breaking my ankle. I go back to the doctor on Monday the 19th. And I can't help but wonder how much longer I'm gonna have to wear this brace!! I am SICK of limping and hobbling around. But I will admit that I won't be surprised if I have to wear this for a little longer...I'm a bad patient. I haven't used my crutches in about 3 weeks and I've been driving around. Acutally, I started driving less than 2 weeks after the break (I had things to do and places to go). Oh well, I guess Monday we'll get the answer to whether or not I'll still be hobbling around on Christmas.

YUM-MY!!!

Oh my goodness....Have I stumbled on a confection gold mine! Several months ago, I was watching Food Network and they were talking about some of the best bakeries in the country. Well, one of them was this place called LeVain Bakery in New York City. Let me tell you, they showed these HUMONGOUS cookies that they say weigh almost 1 lb. each. And they looked absolutely DEVINE! My interest had been peeked. Reason being, my dad lives in New York. So the next day, I check them out on the internet (www.levainbakery.com) and I write down the address. So, I sent my dad an email asking if he's ever heard of the place. He hadn't but knew exactly where it was. Anyway, to make a long story short, he goes to the bakery, buys me a box of cookies SOMEthing happened and he wasn't able to send them...could be because he ATE them!. So he tries again. And a friend of ours was supposed to deliver them to me personally for my birthday last month. SOMEthing else happened and she wasn't able to come (we're thinking she may have been over the weight limit to fly here because she ate MY cookies :-) (Love ya Gwen). FINALLY, today, I get myUPS package with my cookies. Oh MY...they are wonderful!!! And they are MASSIVE. The picture above doesn't do it any justice. This is about 3/4 of one of the cookies and they are literally as big around as a softball and about 1 inch thick! This particular one is the Chocolate Chip Walnut. Ya'll, the box they came in weighed in at 6 lbs!!! If you EVER get the chance...TRY THESE!!! It is SOOO worth it. Thanks Dad!!!

Legally Legal...

Oh my goodness, my oldest daughter is 21 years old today! Did you hear (read) that? I have a 21 year old. It was enough for me to come to terms with my "baby" turning 4. Now my FIRST baby is T-W-E-N-T-Y O-N-E!! Wow, how time flys. And what a blessing that she has survived this long being MY daughter :-). Briyanna has grown into a beautiful, semi-independent young lady. And for that I am thankful, greatful and proud. Not sure what she will do with her new "legalness". I just hope and pray that she will fall back on what she's been taught and make not only us, but herself proud. I also pray that she will remember that GOD is in control of her life and that through Him...alone... will she find PEACE. I love you, Bri! Have a wonderful 21st birthday...I deserve it :-).

Oh Christmas Tree...

Alrighty, yesterday I spoke of my slight dissatisfaction with my Christmas tree this year. Well, my little problem has been solved. I replaced some of my gold ornaments with new silver ones. And I have found yet another use for spray paint. I had some nice gold ornaments that I wanted to use, but I just didn't want them to be gold anymore. They're silver now!! I also made a new bow topper with some pretty silver ribbon I found. I simply took my old gold and burgandy bow apart and remade it with the silver (and burgandy) Ok, I'm happy now. My tree now looks (very close to) how I want it to look. I just have a few more "transformations" to make on some gold french horns, and I'll be done. Now where's that spray paint????

I'm getting ready...already!

Here it is, the 4th of December and I already have my Christmas decorations up and my Christmas letter typed. Do I sound shocked? Well I am. I'm normally not one to decorate so soon after Thanksgiving. Being honest, I usually don't bring my stuff up from the basement until the 2nd or 3rd week in December. Nothing personal...I just dont. This year, though, I'm having issues. I want to change part of my Christmas decoroating color scheme, but I can't "justify" that to my DH. Maybe next year. As far as my Christmas letters go, I've actually been working on those since November. So that's not too bad. But my delimma now is printing...ARGH!!! Alright, I'm through venting. Wait, I'm not venting. I'm proud of myself and just as excited that I've got these 2 tasks behind me. The kids love it and the puppy hasn't knocked the tree down once yet! Cool!!! What's funny about this is, we won't even be here for Christmas this year. We're going to my moms in Alabama. So actually, we won't even be here to enjoy the decorations on Christmas Day. Maybe, subconsciously, I did everything earlier so we could enjoy it longer...well DUH!!! :-) Sometimes it takes me a minute...

He's getting HUGE!!!

For those of you who follow my BLOG, you may remember an entry from the first part of October. Remember our new doggie, Trae? We'll he's HUGE now! But my goodness, he sure is a cutie. He's almost 15 weeks old now and he's pushing 25 lbs. He continues to torture the kids by chewing up all the toys they leave laying around. He has me and "daddy' wandering around the house looking like fools as we search for our "other" shoe (or sock). And we won't even discuss what the laundry room looks like after Trae spends a few hours in there serving time on "lock down" :-). What's so funny about this crazy canine, is he truly thinks he's a lap dog and loves to snuggle (I promise, I had NOTHING to do with this!!...hee hee) I have to admit though, he is a sweetheart. I can't imagine our home without him.

"What's my personality?"

Your Personality Profile

You are pure, moral, and adaptable. You tend to blend into your surroundings. Shy on the outside, you're outspoken to your friends. You believe that you live a virtuous life... And you tend to judge others with a harsh eye. As a result, people tend to crave your approval.

The World's Shortest Personality Test