February 29

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Save February, with twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine each leap year.

It's been a dreary, rainy day here with not much going on, but I could not resist having a post stamped with today's special date.

Hmmm...I wonder...if you were born on this day would you celebrate on the 28th or March 1? I don't think I would like it so much as a child, but there is something to be said for only growing older once every four years once reach a certain age.

Happy Leap Year Day, my friends!

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Happy New Year!!!

Well, folks...here we are. January 1. Now, if you are southern like moi you surely know of the tradition of eating hog jowl and black eyed peas on New Year's for prosperity in the coming year. However, if you find your pantry bare of these two items substitutions may be allowed. At least, I'm hoping they're allowed. I ate some ham that was cooked in my Cracker Barrel turnip greens for lunch today and I just watched "Boom Boom Pow" (the clean version) on YouTube. Yep, luck will be coursing through my veins in no time flat!

Christmas Recap 2011

Hello, friends. Can you believe another year will be coming to an end in just a few short hours? My dad joked this past Monday night, the 26th (the night my family gathered we each other) that another Christmas was less than a year away. By the displays now hanging in the stores we have skipped January entirely and are now celebrating Valentine's Day.

So, before the year comes to an official close (and swimsuits and beach towels begin lining the shelves) I thought I would go ahead and post some pictures from Christmas 2011.

Our Christmas seasons usually begin with a couple dinners shared with extended family. Alas, this year both my mom's side of the family and dad's side of the family ended up scheduling get-togethers on the same night. Which one did we go to? Neither. Why? Because Ren's football banquet fell on that very same night.

Here she is posing for a pic before heading to the school.

...and at the banquet with some of her coaches and buddies. Even though she only dishes out water and towels she absolutely loves being part of this group!

John-Heath celebrated at a class party with friends...

and his teacher Ms. Timberly.

On the 24th it was time for our traditional Christmas Eve gift exchange. The kids are allowed to open two gifts (of my choosing). John-Heath still gets excited about this, but Ren has long since figured out it is always the same gifts...a dated Hallmark ornament and a new pair of pajamas.

Pictures by the tree (which was almost solely decorated by John-Heath) in some NEW P.J.'s. Yaayyyy, Ren!

On Christmas morning, I awakened to John-Heath crawling up in bed beside me to exclaim, "Mommy, Santa didn't bring you anything." What a lonely looking little stocking! lol

FINALLY! After a two year letter writing campaign to the man in red, John-Heath gets his trombone. It's a good thing Santa knows a local band director who happened to be surplusing some old, seen-better-days equipment.

Ren with one of her presents - Law & Order: SVU... the show behind her desire to work in the criminal justice field. If only all crimes could be solved in one hour and all cops were as goodlooking as Stabler.

For a very long time there was a large box under the tree with John-Heath's name on it. When it was time to unwrap his presents from us he grabbed it up quick as a wink! It was taped pretty tight. He would need help from the sis. What could it be? Oh boy! A box full of clothes, guaranteed to kill a six-year-old's excitement in 0.5 seconds.

Luckily, there was a surprise under the tree. Now, Santa has always left his gifts to the kids unwrapped and setting in various locations in the living room. Well, this one was wrapped and tucked deep under the tree. It even came with a note, to which John-Heath grabbed a pen and quickly added a reply. As luck would have it though the contents of this little package were of the wearable varierty, too.

YES! A quick shake brought forth hope with this package...LEGOS!!!

Go Lady Vols!!!

My family on the 26th preparing to eat. I'm hoping I snapped this pic before the blessing actually began. Otherwise, there are a few who may have ended up on a new naughty list.

It's almost time to open presents.

Who wants to play Santa this year? Don't everyone jump at once!

Ren gets a fairy tale ring. Now, she just needs to find her Prince Charming to go with it (and I need to keep quiet when one shows up. You know how it is with teenage daughters and parents...if the parents make too big a splash about liking him, the defiant daughter will make it a point not to).

Last gifts of the night...the Christmas Crackers off the tree.

And everyone gets a crown!

Now, time to figure out how all the new stuff works.

I hope you each had a very merry Christmas! May God richly bless you all in the coming year.

Now, time to go get ready for game night at my parents. I hope my mom knew I was serious when I suggested it last week. I guess I should call and remind her.

Happy New Year Everybody!!!

Independence Day Recap

My family usually celebrates the 4th of July at my sister's, where my brother-n-law grills out hamburgers and hotdogs (burning a couple dogs for me) or cooks up a big batch of his yummy bbq. This year we had the pig with all the fixins'.

Here's Ren posing with one of the desserts - patriotic cupcakes.

The neighbors (several of them, in fact) put on quite the fireworks show, which would rival those of many small towns. It was the best kind of entertaiment. Not only was it freee, we had great seats on my sister's patio and didn't have to fight the traffic to watch the one which was being held in our nearby county seat. Actually, that one was cancelled at the last minute because the pyro company never showed. I'm just glad we weren't among the thousands sitting around waiting for the show or, rather, no-show.

Anyway, we had promised the boys we would pick up a few fireworks of our own to shoot when it got dark, so we headed up the road to a stand.

My question is this...when did fireworks get sexy? My nephew Jonathan said it best when he remarked, "I don't know if I'm at a fireworks stand or an adult book store." To me, the funniest picture of the night is the one below of the boys taking a gander at some of the descriptions. I think they were rather shocked. Even John-Heath, who is not yet a full-fledged reader, seemed a bit stunned.

When you have two children it's all about equality. Here Jonathan is making sure everything is evenly divided in his sons' basket.

John-Heath making sure everything he had in his basket gets in the sack. Megan is in the background being all stuck up. Just kidding. Actually, she was throwing her hair out of her face.

After only asking "can we shoot them now" about a hundred times, John-Heath finally gets his hands on a sparkler. Last year, he called them sprinklers. He was also sick last year and missed out on the family party.

Who knew they could create so much smoke?

The boys and Jessie watch from a safe distance.

We gave the neighbors quite a run for their money with our airplanes, tanks, and pooping puppies (wish I had taken a picture of that!). I'm sure they were just soooo envious.

"You didn't make it, Goose."

- Jonathan.

A few final shots of the grands and great-grands on the steps. Because of the one in the gray shirt, the only teacher in the shot by the way, we had to take this picture about ten times, and between each take John-Heath would head to the door trying to get to the kitchen for something to drink. Eating 5 cupcakes makes a boy thirsty.

Family time is the best! Hope your 4th was as bright as ours.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July to you all! Personally, even though there are times I feel our country is headed in a downward spiral, there is simply no other place I'd rather live. It is a fortunate feeling in being able to call one's self an American.

I also want to send out birthday wishes to my nephew Jon who turns 34 today. Happy birthday, Jonathan!!! I remember making a very lame joke about putting a firecracker in your diaper so often it became old very fast. Hey, I was only 7. What can you expect?

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Happy Father's Day...

...to all our dads out there, including my two favorite ones.

My children's daddy, John.

My daddy, Gene.

Wearin' Dad's Clothes - Father's Day Photographs

Well, the search for a Father’s Day gift idea was not in vain. In cases like mine, it’s a good thing the internet exists because I am just nowhere near being the creative soul I was a wee few years ago. Of course, maybe the internet is partly to blame for that. Why be creative when you can Google?

Anyway, Ren and I are going out of town tomorrow afternoon with my sister and niece for a few days on a girls only trip, so I thought I would share with you what my children will be giving their dad and granddad on their special day a day early. I don’t think it will spoil the surprise factor - my dad doesn’t own a computer and John only reads this blog when I need to feed my ego and I have him read something on which I feel iffy.

A few more goodies await them inside their gift bags, made from lunch sacks and scrapbooking paper.

Working fast and secretively, I took some pictures of my children wearing some of their dad’s clothing, and later their Pa Gene’s clothing, and printed some 5x7 and 8x10 enlargements. A trip to T.J.Maxx produced some manly wood frames (or as close to wood as gets produced these days) in which the pics would be placed. I think they turned out pretty good. This idea is even sweeter when the children are all small and the shoes and clothes are over-sized in a more exaggerated way.

For John's pictures, Ren wears one of her dad's sweater vests and belt and John-Heath has on a tie and a pair of his shoes.

One shot in Dad's study.

Then it was time to head down to Pa Gene's and snap a few pics. John-Heath chose to wear his work boots and one of his old tool belts, while Ren opted for his mowing hat.

The three of us can hardly wait to give them their gifts tomorrow. Homemade gifts really are the best!