My bad...

I am sooooo sorry that I have been so awful about posting lately! November flew by and I didn't even get any pictures of Thanksgiving (I'm blaming the tryptophan). So here is a little taste of what we've been up to...

Christmas Day

Surprisingly, the kids slept in until after 8 am! Great-Grandma, on the other hand, was up at 7 am...opening her presents!! I guess she just couldn't bare the excitement any longer! Tara Lynn made us a delicious breakfast quiche (actually, they ate while I napped. 5 hours when you have a cold just isn't sufficient). It was fun watching Shawn get excited as he meticulously put together Michael & Garret's Millennium Falcon that Santa brought. Not to mention Russ generously sacrificing his peaceful Christmas morning to "test" M & G's new Wii. I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids!

Izzy & Shnook with their Santa gifts...Good morning Nanna!




Russ & Tara Lynn's old tennis rivalry was re-kindled this Christmas day. (I wont say who won)


Isabelle cuddling with Brooklynn's new "Bolt" super-dog.

Christmas Eve

This year everyone came to Great-Grandma's house for plenty of food, friends, family and fun. Erica & Mark were able to visit from Utah and Shawn & Tara stayed here this year so Buster and Lorna were able to have ALL of their kids home for Christmas. Neal's bunch came to dinner and the Elders also joined us. After dinner, several of us went caroling to a few houses and took goodies along with a pamphlet about The Restoration. It was sooo much fun! Later, we had a big sleepover at Great-Grandma's house. Tara Lynn, Shawn, Michael & Garret all slept in one bedroom while Russ, Izzy, & Brooklynn slept in the other. What about me...I stayed up with Izzy until 2 am (too much excitement, I guess) and when she finally went to bed, Russ looked too comfortable sprawled out in that little double bed, so I crashed (literally) on the futon in the TV room.

Elders Wilkerson & Smith...................... Nora & her funky-bunch!


The 3 Amigos!


Izzy was fascinated by Great-Grandma's Nativity scene. She kept wanting to kiss baby Jesus and hug the shepherd. Ok, everyone together..."Aaaaaaahhhh".

I wonder if they're dreaming of sugar-plums...or Reese's Cups!

Class Christmas Party

On the 18th we went to Brooklynn's class Christmas party! Isabelle LOVED sitting at the table with the BIG kids and she thoroughly enjoyed her candy-cane...but I think her favorite part was just sitting back and watching all the kids run around and act like wild animals!

Here is Brooklynn's "best friend" Jessica. From what Brooklynn says, Jessica is just as big of a goof-ball as Brooklynn. At the beginning of the year, these two got in trouble almost every day for talking. But since they've been separated, the teacher says Brooklynn has calmed down and is an excellent student. She is at the top of the class in reading and the teacher has even put Brooklynn in charge of different groups of students so she can help them with their reading if they need it!

Shhh...they're listening.

Another conversation with Brooklynn...

Scene: All four of us are playing and wrestling around when in the midst of our family frolicking Brooklynn says...

B: "You guys fuss too much."

-Russ and I look at each other with a quizzical and slightly stunned look.

Me: “We do not! What makes you say that? What do you think Mommy and Daddy fuss too much about?”

B: replies rather matter-of-factly: “About McCain”

-Russ and I look at each other and bust up laughing!

Me: “Brooklynn…Mommy and Daddy may get frustrated at some of the things we see and hear on TV and we may get a little too loud about it sometimes…but we aren’t being frustrated at each other. We love each other very much, okay?"

-Russ and I continued to laugh the rest of the night...so now Brooklynn thinks "McCain" is some kind of punchline and tries to insert it into her daily conversations in hopes of getting the laughs that she did the first time. Granted, the election didn't turn out the way we had hoped, but at least we have something to look back and laugh about!!!

In a child's mind...

Conversation between me and my 5 year old:

Brooklynn: “Mom, what does waffle mean"?

Me: "Well, I don't know what waffle means but you know what a waffle is".

Brooklynn: "Noooo. What does waffle MEAN? You know, like a "waffle wedded wife""?

Me: Loud, boisterous laughter for several minutes. "You mean "lawful wedded wife"!

Aren't kids great!!!

booooo

We had a blast at our annual Trunk-or-Treat party last night. This year we had a chili pot-luck followed by

candy-apple decorating for the kids. However, it was quite

cold and rainy so we had to forego our usual trunk-or-treat in the parking lot and opt for a trick-or-treat up and down the church hall. Brooklynn said her favorite part was decorating her apple and if Isabelle could talk, I'm sure she would say that her favortie part was running away from me to go begging for candy from all the adults. :~) She finally got the wrapper off of her lollipop and was lovin' life!!

Happy Fall Y'all

Brooklynn was feeling a little jealous and neglected lately so we decided to have a Mommy-Daughter date. I've always wanted to check out the "Boo at the Zoo" in Knoxville, so we decided to check it out together. I wasn't that impressed, but Brooklynn enjoyed herself...which is the whole point. But most of all, I think/hope she enjoyed the one-on-one time we had together.

Lorna actually made this costume for her daughters like 20 years ago and recently passed it down to Brooklynn. I just added some wings, a wand and put glitter and jewels on Brooklynn's face and...VIOLA...a Beautiful Fairy!

Brooklynn always enjoys the camel rides!

Here is the "Haunted Carousel" that went backwards!!! Ooooooooo, scary!!!

The next morning was our 3rd annual visit to the Pumkin Patch with Michael & Garret. It's become a special tradition where both of my girls were present...even though WE didn't know it!

*2006~I was 3 weeks pregnant with Izzy & didn't know it yet.

*2007~Our 2nd trip to The P. Patch and this time Izzy got to experience it outside of the womb!

*2008~Our 3rd trip and it just gets better every year. Aren't these kids just precious?!

Going, Going, Gone...

As many of you know, I have decided to scale back

on my Mary Kay inventory this year and am selling my inventory at 50-70% off!! I really just had way too big of an inventory to only be working at it part time. The eye shadows and blushes are discontinued since the company has chaged their formula and the shape of the packaging. In fact, the new colors wont fit into the "old" compacts, requiring you to buy NEW compacts...so now is a good time to stock up on your favorite colors that will still fit into your current compacts.

Here is a general list of the items I have left: Medium & Full Coverage Foundations, Eyesicles Eye Color, Crème to Powder Foundation, Day Radiance Foundation, Concealer, Blush, Eye Shadows, Eye & Brow Liner, Lipsticks, Lip Gloss, Satin Lips Set, TimeWise Lip Primer, Mirrors, Gift Bags, Gift Sets, “Look” Sample Cards, Gift Mug.

Email me for a full list of colors. Please pass the message on to fellow Mary Kay addicts!

Hello again...

Hello dear friends and family. Sorry I've been away so long. Our little family has had quite a bit on our plates over the past few weeks so I just haven't had the time to update the blog. Here is some of what we've been up to...

TN Valley Fair

This was my (and my girls) first trip to the TN Valley Fair. Russ' parents took him and his siblings several times when they were younger so Russ has alot of fond memories. I gotta say...I really enjoyed it! Russ, Amber and I took turns staying with the kids while we got to ride some very cool (and sometimes scary) big-kid rides. But it was just as fun getting to watch Brooklynn, as well as Izzy, enjoy their kiddie-rides. I hope to be able to go next year, too.

Brooklynn buzzin' around!

Isabelle wasn't quite sure what to think about all this craziness...

...but she was a good-sport, as always! :)

Isabelle's favorite part was seeing all the animals up-close.
Okay, this was scary and also hilarious! This slide is very, VERY big and Brooklynn has never been on a slide this big before. I figured "It's a slide...how bad can it be?" Right?
Wrong! Once you pick up some speed, you tend to bounce up in the air when you hit those bumps on the slide...and when you don't weigh that much, you really get some air! Also, notice the lack of net or fence to the left of them!! I was slightly FREAKED out and you can tell by Brooklynn's face that she felt the same. I tried not to let her see my concern and cheered for her when she made it to the bottom, which made her look of worry slowly fade to a look of fake-happiness. My baby will NOT be riding this again for several more years, if EVER!!
Another look of fear/excitement. :~)
Now this look is PURE JOY! Brookynn has been addicted to swings since she was a newborn.

Stake Fall Festival

Our Stake put on an AMAZING Fall Festival this year!! There were games, food, crafts, food, a bounce-house, food, pony rides and...did I mention FOOD? Chili, breads, sweets, home-made rootbeer and cotton candy...and all for FREE! (Well, pot-luck) We can't wait until next year!

Isabelle's first cotton-candy. She's a big fan!
Michael's getting to be a good horse rider!
Brooklynn was a little nervous at first, but still LOVED it, of course.
What a handsome cowboy!
Sweet Great-Grandma hanging out with Izzy.

Can we say "MOOD SWING"?

Crocodile Tears...

...Crocodile Grin. Go figure!

Smokey Mountain High

For Labor Day weekend, we went up to the Smokey Mountains to a place called GreenBriar where Russ' family would often visit when he was a child. The scenery was breathtaking as was the chilly water! :~) I admit that at first I really just wanted to stay home and relax, but I am very glad that Russ talked me into going.

Brooklynn, Garret & Michael playing on the rocks at the picnic area. Don't you just love Michael's hair in this pic?


Where the waterfall went behind that rock in the background, it created a kind of natural water-ride. We would slip off of the rock into the rushing water and it would "woosh" you down stream a bit. It was soooo much fun! I can't wait to go back next year!

Handsome Boys! Couldn't you just eat them up?!