Santa was good to us.......

Plans Change.........

Tuesday morning Rodney woke with a fever, by Thursday the fever still was not gone so to see Dr. Amason we went. Turns out he has the flu. So instead of packing up and heading to Tallahassee to be with my family. We prepared for Christmas in Birmingham. This was quite stressful for several hours, as I had had my mother buy the doll house Santa was bringing to Lizzy in Tallahassee. So here we are in Birmingham with all Rodney's things, but missing Lizzy's major gift. Jeff goes on a mission and thank goodness finds another similar doll house.

Now the only problem is I have to cook Christmas dinner (which is not my specialty). I found a Turkey Breast Recipe on AllRecipes.com that sounded good. Made my standard sweet potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, and let Sister Schubert handle the rolls! Pecan pie for dessert and we had our first at home Christmas!

Seeing Santa

We went to Zoo Lights to find the Big Man. After a chilly train ride, we found Santa. The goal was to inform him that we would be at Nana's for Christmas and please come see us there. No one was scared of Santa this year, which is a first.

Christmas Card Picture Outtakes

Can you tell they are all saying Warrrr Eagle..


These did not make the card....

SEC Championship

Jeff and I received an early Christmas present from my parents in tickets to the SEC Championship. It was freezing cold, but nice a warm inside the dome. Great victory for Auburn and Cam!

Ooo Waa Ooo Waa Shoot the Arrow

Lizzy has been singing Ten Little Indians for weeks, it from her Thanksgiving Program at school. She was a cute little Indian. There is also a picture of her favorite new friend, Juhi.

Halloween

Some I did not get very many pictures, but they had a great time! Pumpkin Carving, Crestline Parade, dinner at home with neighbors and friends, then Trick or Treating our street. Amanda and Ben were back again this year, so we had twin BumbleBee Transformers, and the Kitty Kat.Rodney was a skeleton for school on Friday, I bought the t-shirt but made the pants to go with it. They kids picked out our pumpkin designs....

Pictures at the Park

Here are some shots I took at the park of the kids playing.

Brookwood Forest Boosterthon

Instead of selling wrapping paper or candy, Rodney's school does a fun run. Each child runs between 25-35 laps and gets friends and family to sponsor them per lap. Rodney ran all 35 laps, and then Popsicles for all.

Lake Life Labor Day

This past weekend Labor Day we visited Amanda and Ben on Lake Lanier. The weather was perfect and the lake the beautiful. Amanda has a pontoon boat, which the kids loved. We found a great little beach on a small island, it was perfect for swimming, grilling and watching the boat go by!

Jeff became the Grill Master

Kids loving the boat rides!

Robert and Liz came up from Atlanta and joined us for Saturday night and Sunday, Mr. Robert and Rodney were on a mission to catch a BIG fish. They never got the big one, but caught several very entertaining brim.

Lizzy loved the boat and even had a nice long nap in the shade.

Lizzy's 3rd!

All the neighborhood boys came over for cupcakes and sang to Lizzy on her actual birthday.

New Bike for Birthday

Lizzy's Tinkerbell Tea Party

The girls all played dress-up with lots of jewelery, boas and fake hair from the dollar store, we took each girls picture and she decorated a picture frame. After Tinkerbell cupcakes, the girls just ran wild! They had a great time.

Kindergarten

Rodney started Brookwood Forrest kindergarten this morning, the same school where his dad and Uncle Wade when to elementary school. In fact Uncle Wade's first grade teacher is now the principal. Rodney has a great teacher and several of his friends on in his class. He loved the first day and came home very excited about the library. He was very excited about his "tie" shoes.

Wyatt's 1st Birthday- Shark Attack!!!!

In my family it's a tradition for the mom to makes the kid's birthday cake. I made Rodney a Fire Truck, and recently bowling pins. Lizzy had Butterflies for her first. So with my nephew's first birthday Carrie and I decided to tackle sharks. The body of the shark is a Twinkie, glued to the cupcake with icing. The fin half an Oreo, then the whole thing gets dipped in icing.

Bouy's, for the sharks to swim around.

Life Preservers for saving lives.......

Lastly our completed shark, it took most of the day Saturday for Carrie, Jeremy and I make all of this. Jeremy did a great job on the gills, my hands shake to bad for small detail work.

Our own Gulf Of Mexico. Everyone love it and Wyatt enjoyed eating some of the cake and the lighthouse.

Mexico Beach- No Oil!!!!!!!!

Little Miss Teacher/Boss Lady

The Three Musketeers

Pt. Clear -The Colony Pool

Big fun was had by all at The Colony Pool (part of Lakewood Golf Club). Rodney and Daddy had mastered the slide by the time Lizzy and I arrived. Lizzy (Miss No-Fear) wanted to go down first thing, however she had to have an adult with her. Daddy went 3 or 4 times, then it was Mommy's turn. Rodney was the slide King along with cousin Laura Beth, he told me he had done the slide 31 times already! After our pool time, we all had a quick change and joined BB & Granddad for dinner poolside. The food was great, wonderful pizza and even better Mojito's!

My "Slighty" Gourmet Dinner

So this month's Southern Living had a wonderful recipe for "Okra-and-Corn Maque Choux", it looked so good!!!
It's got all the best summer veggie in it and sausage. Conecuch to be exact, which by the way it a county in Alabama.


Southern Living said it should take 28 minutes, prep and make 8 servings, it took me a lot longer and only made 4 servings (which might mean its really good).